Dave Moore with the Big Lin at 42lb 4oz
Molyneux Report to 15th September 2012…
This week’s anglers arrived all together at around mid-morning. Dave phoned to say he and his mate Richard were at the main gate, and asking if I could let them in. By the time I had walked round to them, the second party, old friends Steve Moore and his son Dave were sat behind them queuing to be allowed in. This year Dave had booked the cabin, as his girlfriend Charlotte was joining them for her first fishing trip to keep him company.
We had a cuppa, caught up with our old friends, Steve and Dave, and chatted about the lake and its inhabitants, and then when everybody was ready we went for a wander round.
34lb 1oz Mirror for Dave FI pointed out some of the best spots and described as well as I could the topography and makeup of the lakebed in certain areas.
The guys had a chat amongst themselves upon arriving back at the kitchen. They decided without the aid of a draw on their swims for the week. With Dave Moore already decided upon the cabin swim, and dad Steve choosing to fish the shallow end of the lake from the shower block, Dave and Richard chose to fish from Social’s 1 and 2 respectively.
With the water level down at present due to the spell of warm dry weather we have enjoyed I was concerned about the depth Steve would find out in front of him, without doubt the fish were still prevalent in the area, it was more the unwanted attention from the birdlife that concerned me. He decided it was worth the effort required though and chose to give it a go.
The guys set up during the early afternoon, and went about getting their rods out.
At 5pm Dave F as I shall refer to him in Social 1, was first to hook a fish. After a short but spirited fight the first fish of the week was landed, No monster at 13lb 8oz, but a very pretty common none the less. At 6.30 he had his second, this time the fight was a little more prolonged and the resulting 33lb 8oz mirror was a cracking fish. Steve who was as I feared, having problems with the swans feeding over his baited spots, had a run at 8.30pm which resulted in a 30lb 8oz mirror. The last of the evening was to fall once again to Dave F; he lifted into a fish which simply took off, taking lots of line with it. Eventually he managed to subdue it, and bring it to the net. It was a stunning long mirror of 41lb 12oz, known to us as the big linear; she was looking very well and obviously starting the feed up for winter.
At just after midnight his mate Richard landed his first of the week with a 28lb 3oz mirror, as he landed this fish, Dave F’s left hand rod let rip again, and he was into another fish. This was to be a mirror of 28lb 10oz. During the course of the night Steve, fishing the shallows lost what felt like a good fish. At 8am, Dave F was away once more. This mirror when landed and weighed proved to be 31lb 8oz.
With everyone else around the lake struggling to get a bite of any sort, Dave F then went on a run of fish, catching seven between the hours of 12 noon, and 7pm. They were as follow 30lb 4oz mirror, 17lb common, 21lb 14oz common, 13lb common, 34lb 7oz mirror, 25lb 7oz mirror, and a 33lb 10oz mirror. Sadly at 9pm he had a proper drama after catching another very good thirty. During the fight to get it to the net it had managed to go in and out of all his lines. He and Richard unhooked it and got it into the weigh sling which Richard held in the water, while Dave untangled his lines quickly in case of another run before they had dealt with the fish in the sling. Unfortunately what neither of them realised in their haste to sort things out was that the far end of the sling had not been zipped up and so when the sling was lifted back out of the water there was no fish in it, it having swum off no doubt chuckling away to itself. I think at this point Richard left Dave to bang his head off the nearest tree as he retreated to the relative safety of his bivvy.
37lb 4oz Mirror for Dave FOvernight as some consolation Dave F landed another thirty this time of 31lb 13oz. At 9.45am he followed it up with another mirror of 26lb 15oz.
The following morning Steve decided on a move having been pestered by our resident swans, which had quickly cottoned onto his baited area, he decided to try his luck in deeper water further down the lake, and so moved his gear around to the double swim. This move was proved to be the best decision he could have made, when he was fortunate enough to catch the next three fish between 12.30pm and 3.15pm, with three mirrors weighing in at 28lb 8oz, 33lb 12oz, and 29lb 8oz. It is so nice when someone goes to the effort of moving as they “feel” where they are isn’t quite right, and it pays off, good move and very well done fella.
Between 4.30pm and 5pm, when the guys were due round to eat there was a flurry of action in the social swims. Dave F, first with another thirty plus mirror, this one weighing 32lb 14oz, followed up by Richard catching two in ten minutes, a 24lb mirror, and a 27lb 11oz common.
Dinner was enjoyed by all, and off they all headed back to their swims for another night. 8pm saw Steve bank another mirror of 29lb. Around 10.30pm, Dave F landed a 29lb 14oz mirror. Midnight saw Steve catch his biggest of the week to date with a stunning mirror of 37lb 4oz.
Five minutes later Dave F landed a 23lb 7oz mirror, whilst Richard followed a short while later with a 17lb Grasscarp. 30 minutes later they were out of their bags again; as Dave F had another mirror of 26lb 2oz. Steve in the double swim caught another at 2am, a 27lb 6oz mirror.
First light brought yet another flurry of activity all around the lake. Richard caught a very small, estimated at around 1lb mirror, much to his mate Dave F’s amusement. He then showed Richard where he was going wrong when ten minutes later he landed a 34lb 4oz mirror. Dave in the cabin, then finally got in on the action, despite losing a few fish over the preceding nights, he finally managed to hook and land one of 37lb 4oz, a nice long mirror. Richard then caught a small double figure catfish, followed by Dave F once again smashing the thirty pound barrier with a 34lb 14oz beast.
After breakfast things slowed down and it was lunchtime before the next fish came. Steve had it, with another 28lb 8oz mirror, followed 20 minutes later with a 14lb 8oz catfish. At 3pm Steve had another mirror of 28lb 12oz.
Around 5pm Steve landed his third 28lb mirror of the day with this one being 28lb on the nose.
Richards 27lb 1oz commonDave F then had two gorgeous mirrors of 34lb 1oz, and 35lb 5oz within an hour of each other.
Then as the evening wore on Steve landed a brace of thirties of 30lb 2oz, and 35lb 12oz.
Midnight saw Dave F land a 30lb plus catfish, not his favourite species apparently, so sadly there are no pictures of this.
2.45am saw Richard land another cat of 22lb 14oz. Dave Moore landed a 28lb mirror at 6.30am, followed a couple of hours later by his dad landing a double figure catfish of 13lb 8oz. Dave F finished the morning off with a mirror of 28lb 1oz landed at 9.30am.
At 1.30pm Dave Moore landed a 17lb catfish. This was followed by his dad Steve who was stalking in the Willow swim and bagged a 24lb 4oz mirror, he followed this up from the same swim a short while later with a 45lb 6oz Catfish, very unusual to see the larger catfish out during the day, they were obviously feeding up for winter.
Nothing else was caught that evening. It had been a quiet day for the two lads in the social swims, with the weather having changed with cloud cover during the day and a chill breeze cooling the lake. During the evening the rain came, slowly getting heavier as the evening wore on.
Just after midnight Dave F was off again, though unfortunately it was only to be a 15lb catfish which brought him running from his nice warm sleeping bag.
At 1.15am Dave Moore, landed a 18lb 12oz Grasscarp. 2.30am and Steve Moore, landed a carp which bottomed out his 30lb scales, with it pouring with rain, and it to his eye not being a monster, and only a little over the thirty pound mark he didn’t raise his son, so all we will ever know was that it was above thirty, but probably not by much.
That was to be it until 10.15am when Richard in Social 2 landed a 25lb 8oz mirror, at midday Dave F next to him, netted another large mirror which pulled the scales around to 34lb 4oz.
That afternoon, following his dad’s lead of the day before Dave Moore had an afternoon dabble in the willow swim. He was rewarded for his efforts with a hard fighting mirror of 32lb 4oz. Half an hour later and he was taking photos of a cracker that his dad had caught, weighing in at 37lb 4oz. At 4.10pm Dave F caught a small but perfectly formed common of 15lb 8oz.
That evening Dave Moore who was by this time back in the cabin swim had a double take resulting in 31lb and 12lb 6oz catfish.
Just after midnight Dave F caught another gorgeous small common, this time weighing 15lb 9oz, Richard had two fish between 2.15 am and 3.15am, a 17lb 6oz mirror, and a 14lb 10oz catfish.
Just before breakfast Steve caught a lovely 25lb 6oz common. Dave F had another double figure catfish around this time. At 11.30am Steve caught a 30lb 12oz mirror. Dave in the cabin followed this up with a 29lb 4oz mirror a few minutes later.
At 1pm Richard finally caught his first 30lb fish of the week with a 30lb 10oz mirror, bizarre considering his mate in the swim next to him had caught so many.
Steve snuck back into the Willow swim that afternoon and pinched another bonus fish, a 25lb 2oz mirror. Shortly afterward, Dave F had a double take, him landing the first a 27lb 7oz mirror, Richard landing the second a 21lb 14oz common. Just before packing up to come round for dinner, Steve managed another from the Willow swim, a clonking 37lb 14oz mirror. At 5pm Dave hooked and landed a 34lb mirror from his third rod, having reeled the first in, and being halfway through reeling the second in to head round for dinner.
Steve with a 37lb 4oz MirrorThat night at 11.30pm Steve landed a 33lb 12oz mirror, and twenty minutes later Dave Moore landed the same forty pound fish that Dave F caught on the first night, the Big Linear, this time at a weight of 42lb 4oz, she had obviously been eating well all week, putting on 8oz in the process.
Dave F had another of his favourite creature’s a catfish of 25lb at just after midnight, his buddy Richard catching a 20lb 6oz Cat a few minutes later.
Dave in the cabin, caught a 12lb cat around 2.30am, and Dave F finished the week off with his final thirty in fine style with a 33lb 12oz specimen at 6.30am on Saturday morning.
An incredible weeks fishing, with 80 carp and catfish caught between four anglers…..
With thirty 30lb plus fish and three 40lb plus fish amongst them. This was a record number of fish caught from Molyneux in one week beating the previous best by almost thirty fish. Good competent anglers, prepared to work at their fishing, combined with almost perfect conditions for most of the week, proving that although not a runs water, Molyneux has the potential to challenge and enthrall the very best anglers out there.
Dave F had personally landed an incredible 34 carp and cats in total, , another huge record for the venue as the most fish to one individual in a week 16 of those fish being over thirty pounds, one of which being a forty. Congratulation buddy, that was incredible angling.
French carp lakes – Molyneux
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