Western Reservoir Catch Reports 2019

Well, it’s been a while coming…

You’re reading these Catch Reports on our rebuilt and updated website, the Catch Report section hadn’t displayed or worked properly since 30th May 2018; something to do with it being hosted via Tumblr and all this GDPR stuff that is now in place.

It’s been a challenge to get the website rebuilt, but now it’s done I’ll be updating the Catch Reports and Galleries on a regular basis, hopefully you’ll like the site and visit occasionally to check out what’s been going on.

Best fishes to you all for the year ahead.

Steve

It’s been a while since my last report…

I’ve been working away a lot over the last few months, so, lack of time and a couple of health issues just hasn’t allowed the opportunity for me to get on the key board and bash out an update.

Anyhow; following on from August not very many Members graced the banks during the autumn months; possibly due to some pretty ‘wild and wet’ conditions that prevailed throughout the period, time to buy some better water proof’s lads, lol!

A handful or so of Members did venture out though and getting amongst them over the last few weeks have been:

Ryan on one of his short sessions managing three nice ones to 18lb 13oz, also fishing a few short sessions was the ever-consistent Stephen D he managed several hits of fish mainly comprising of home-grown carp around the 11lb stamp, great fun if you’re catching 3 or 4 a visit mind!

Ryan’s 18lb 13oz one of three on a short session

Stephen did manage a canny brace in October when he banked carp of 11lb and 24lb good going and well done that man!

Another Member who only fish’s brief sessions is Peter who banked a cracking new PB in the shape of a 21lb 10oz mirror he commented;

“I’d had an uneventful few hours from 11.00 to 16.00 and was just about to pack up for domestic duties when a couple of lifts on the bobbin made me think that some fish had finally moved in. I decided to give it another 15 minutes, and the run came 10 minutes later, so a real last gasp fish.”

Congratulation on your new PB, I reckon the low double common you had a couple of days later wouldn’t have pulled quite as hard!!

Only a couple of Members fished overnighters;

Jonathan landed six a string of mirrors and commons to 11lb 2oz, having eventually fed off the hungry home-grown fish the best carp he banked during his session was a 16lb mirror, nice…

Adie managed fish to mid doubles into November his best hit being four to upper doubles during horrendous ‘wet and wild’ conditions, well done for getting bank side when there’s a big blow on, most avoid such challenging conditions but the reservoir can fish really well when those big low pressure fronts howl through…

All the best for the Festive Season to you all, Steve

Canny Carp 24lb

August can be a tricky month to catch carp, the fish have spawned and had their post spawn feed up, natural food is abundant and the fish may have visited the bank or been hooked and lost during the preceding few weeks; in old school terminology on most waters it’s ‘ scratching time’ scratching around trying to buy a bite…

While it’s scratching time on most other venues the Western fishes really well and multiple catches aren’t at all unusual.

Very few Members fished throughout the month, family and holiday commitments during the peak summer season tend to restrict the time to cast a line!

That said another great month’s fishing was enjoyed by those who were able to gain enough brownie points to sling a lead into the reservoir for a few hours or manage a quick overnighter.

Amongst those catching and leading the way with their short session success’s this month were:

The ever-consistent Joe, who banked a couple of low doubles to 13lb+ on two separate visits before bagging a home grown @ 7lb 8oz and a lovely 19lb 2oz mirror for a nice brace during a 3 hour session on his third visit, just shows when the bait runner goes you can never tell what size of fish will pull back!

Peter chipped in with a brace of home-grown carp to just shy of double figures on a flying 4-hour session.

Ryan kept at them netting a brace of doubles to 13lb 15oz and another 13lber on a couple of quick after work visits.

One Member who’s certainly getting his fishing sussed out is Stephen D, Stephen only fishes day sessions on visit 1 he weighed in with a 11lb 2oz mirror, visit 2 a hattrick of low doubles to 11lb. visit 3 was third trip lucky when he had a seven fish hit and weighed in fish of: 8lb, 10lb, 12lb, 13lb 8oz, 14lb, 16lb and 18lb, trip 4 was another 13lb 8oz mirror and trip 5 concluded with a brace of low doubles to 12lb, well done that man great sport!

18lb one of seven on a busy day session 

A couple of Members managed a night or two including Adie who had a canny haul fish of 8lb, 11lb, 13lb 14lb 8oz, and a cracking brace of twenties @ 20lb10oz and 23lb kept him busy during his session, congrats to you sir!

Jonathan hat a hat trick of double @ 13lb 4oz and 15lb 3oz and 15lb 4oz on his first trip of the month his second yielded 5 home gown carp to 11lb 2oz and a lovely 16lber.

I’ve previously mentioned about the amount of commons coming through in the Western and that it’s a bit unusual as I didn’t stock very many in there, it continues to surprise me how many are featuring in the Catch Reports I receive, but this takes the biscuit, or rather the boilie!

Wayne managed a 50-hour session, nothing doing for the first 30 hours and then… during the last 20 hours he caught 9 fish ALL commons all in pristine condition his haul included fish of; 9lb 11oz, 10lb, 10lb 4oz, 10lb 8oz, 10lb 13oz, 11lb 2oz, 14lb 3oz, 14lb 12oz and 17lb 8oz, fantastic fishing and a great result, not sure what the statistics of catching nine commons in succession is, but good going and definitely common crazy!

Two tone twenty three, all the t’s 23lb

Those catching well aren’t shy of applying the bait, boilies only is the best approach and keep topping up and introducing bait regularly is the way to achieve those multiple fish hauls.

The Western continued to fish well throughout July.

The majority of Members caught on almost every visit, which is enjoyable fishing especially when you take into account that most have only been fishing short 3-6-hour sessions…

Carrying on catching during their short sessions this month were;

Peter who weighed in with a 15lb mirror.

Stephen D who banked a couple of home-grown carp to 8lb along with a handful of low doubles to 12lb 10oz.

Joe kept at them and banked a string of carp including home growns to 9lb and mirrors of 10lb 5oz, 13lb, 13lb 10oz, 13lb 11oz, 14lb 10oz and a 15lb 10oz common, great fun!

Wayne who joined the Syndicate in July didn’t take long to acquaint himself with a few Northumbrian carp a couple of short after work sessions saw him land a home grown 9lb mirror and home-grown commons of 9lb 8ozs and 10lb 5oz, better was yet to come while fishing his first overnight session;

Wayne started with a 9lb mirror followed by a brace of 14lbers @ 14lb 9oz and 14lb 11oz he saved the biggest until last when he banked a cracking 25lb 2oz mirror, a nice result, well done that man!!

Wayne’s Western Whacker 25lb 2oz

Ryan continued catching well starting with 4 home grown commons to 9lb 2oz on the trot, a brace of home-grown mirrors of similar size and a couple of good doubles @ 14lb and 16lb, great fun for ‘a few hour’s fishing’.

Michael chipped in with a handful of mirrors including doubles of 14lb 1oz, 15lb 1oz and 15lb 12oz.

Jonathan managed a 48-hour session starting with a home-grown mirror of 7lb 8oz he followed it up with mirrors of 14lb 6oz, 16lb and 21lb 7oz, which is another new twenty pound plus fish for the venue, congratulations to you!

Don’t be shy with the boilies, feed them and they will come…

Another new reservoir twenty 21lb 7oz

June was dominated by low pressure systems that saw notably cooler conditions prevail for most of the month.

Despite the temperamental weather the reservoir fished well!

Joe continued his run of short session success’s from last month, he managed to land a number of low to mid double figure fish to 15lb 14oz, his best two sessions saw him bank a brace of doubles at 10lb 5oz and 13lb 10oz, and a quad trick of carp at 8lb, 14lb 10oz, 15lb 2oz and 18lb, good fishing especially when you consider Joe rarely fish sessions that are longer than 3-4 hours, well done that man!

Dan on a quick overnighter had a low double and a 15lb common, also fishing a quick overnighter was Stephen J who netted a hat trick of low doubles to 13lb 8oz, and Jamie who got off the mark with an 8lb 8oz home grown before returning a few days later to bag a low double and his first twenty from the venue in the shape of a cracking 22lb 14oz mirror, great stuff!

Ryan was still on good form; an overnight session produced five carp, four of which were doubles to 15lb 8oz, his best hit of the month came during a ‘few hours fishing’ when he netted fish of 8lb 14oz, 12lb, 12lb 4oz, 15lb, 16lb 2oz and 18lb, he even let his Dad have a go at landing one which just happened to be the 18lber…

Go on Dad have a go…

I closed last month’s report by telling everyone to; ‘keep the feed going in carry on catching’;

Jonathan did just that during an enjoyable two-night session he got through 12 kilo of boilies and nearly a full 17 litre bucket of 12mm and 17mm pellets to keep the carp on the munch.

But it was worth it as he managed 16 takes and banked 13 carp; 10lb 15oz, 11lb 1oz, 12lb 4oz, 12lb 5oz, 12lb 14oz, 13lb 13oz, 13lb 15oz, 14lb 9oz, 15lb 11oz, 15lb 12oz, 16lb 1oz, 19lb 11oz and 23lb 11oz, now that’s a canny haul anywhere but in the North East that’s fantastic fishing, well done that man!!

Stephen D caught the biggest fish from the Western so far this year when he banked a cracking 25lb mirror, it’s a new twenty pound plus carp for the venue and was well spawned out, I wonder what size she might make in a couple of months when she comes back into condition?

Massive congratulations to you Stephen, well done!

Unfortunately, Stephen only got a pic on the mat, still it’s a great result, there can’t be many carp north of the A69 that have grown to that size….

25lb mirror on the mat

April’s chilly easterly breezes gave way to more favourable winds from the west and as the weather continued to improve throughout the month the catches increased.

Amongst the more notable captures were:

Joe fishing his usual short 2-4 hour sessions managed to catch on most visits, he kicked off with commons of 9lb 14oz and 15lb 10oz, returning a few days later he banked a 16lb common a different fish to the 15lber he had on his previous session, he then followed up with a low double common; that was 4 commons on the bounce on three visits, unusual as there aren’t that many commons in the Western.

Joe also pestered the mirrors bagging a few just to show he hadn’t gone common crazy… his best two going 14lb and 15lb 14oz.

Ryan did what he does best, catching steadily away banking a string of double figure mirrors the best couple going 14lb 8oz and 17lb 1oz.

Michael had a good hit of fish during a 24-hour session banking 8 carp mainly all doubles his best two being a 14lb+ common and a 17lb+ mirror, a busy session you had there Michael, great fun!

Adie increased his tally of carp for the year so far from the Western to 26, he captured most during the latter half of the month. I’m waiting for his full Catch Report but do know he netted an 18lb 2oz common, a Lake Record common for the Western, congrats Adie!

As I mentioned earlier not many commons in the Western so nice to see as many feature in this write up!

Peter had a fantastic result hooking six and landing 5 during a short but busy three hour session, he found them feeding well and weighed in with fish of 9lb 6oz, 10lb 10oz, 11lb, 14lb and 17lb 8oz, exciting and frantic fishing, and a great result I’m sure you all agree, well done Peter!

Keep the feed going in carry on catching…

Lake Record common 18lb 2oz

A chilly month with prevailing easterly winds keeping the temperature pegged below the seasonal norm, although it was dry and sunny by mid-month widespread overnight frosts, and even sleet and snow showers made the fishing unpredictable for the less than a handful of Members who ventured out to wet a line.

Carp were still on the move and active and they did follow the easterly winds, but low water temperatures meant they were tricky to tempt.

The ever-consistent Adie, managed a few chances on the 14th and bagged fish of 11lb 4oz, 11lb 10oz, 15lb 12oz and 16lb 10oz during one of his overnight sessions, happy days and a nice result, all fish taken off the bottom and one bumped shows the new bait has a bit of promise!

Easter arrived and conditions went from oooh its bloody cold to agggh its flaming hot, the fish knew which way was up though…

They were up in the surface layers, not easy to see though as an early season algal bloom had kicked off!

Top tip for early season fishing on deeper waters is;

Put a rod out on a zig… start at half depth and work your way up through the water column, a bit of black foam is a good starting point… oh and the occasional cast towards a showing fish won’t harm your chances!

You can’t expect to receive many chances off the bottom when they want to be in the top 6ft of water…

Ever-consistent 16lb 10oz

Very few Members ventured out to wet a line during the month, the weather was pretty poor which didn’t help matters, in fact March 2019 ended up being the 5th wettest month on record.

It turned drier towards the end of the month but a series of overnight frosts kept the water temperature pegged below 7oc; the carp were still moving and showing though and they went with the wind the majority of the time, even readily following some rather strong and cold easterly breezes.

Joe banked the first carp of the year on the 12th March on a short-day session when he banked a lovely 15lb 8oz mirror, he reported the water temperature at 6.7oc and mentioned that it was his third move of his session, so a case of third move lucky!

Jonathan chipped in with a low double towards the end of the month, a bonny fish that that’s grown 3lb 8oz in just over a year.

Hopefully Easter might see a few more Members bank side banking fish…

Joe’s Mad March Mirror