Start of 2009 season news from Woodpecker Pool

Our new season has got underway after a very up and down winter.The lake was under ice for 3 weeks with daytime temperatures not getting above -1c and night time temperatures down to -10c causing the ice on the lake to be so thick you could have walked across it, but we are not that foolhardy to do that.

We managed to acquire a few very pretty scaly mirrors to add to our existing stock, carp are not born at 30lb plus so these although only small now will grow on. These fish weighed when stocked from 3lb 8oz up to 14lb 8oz, these fish have given us another gene pool to addvariety and strength. These are not particularly fast growing fish compared to someof our others but are very pretty and they will grow given time and will be very attractive fish to catch.

Now onto something totally different and to dispel any rumours you may have heard or may hear in the coming weeks or months.

Sue and I have decided to go on our own from 2010 due to family reasons and no other.

Sue and I and Colin and Chris are still very good friends, we have not fallen out and we will always be there to help each other out when needed.

We cannot thank Colin and Chris enough for their help and the faith they put in us when we started out with this venture.

So what does this mean for you our loyal clients?

We will no longer go under the Personal Best banner or be on their web site as our agents.

We now have our own web site www.woodpecker-pool.co.uk all the information you need like contact phone numbers, email addresses and booking information etc are all on there.

All bookings for Woodpecker Pool for 2010 season must now be done through Sue and I or Claire and Paul(our daughter and son in law)please do not disturb Colin and Chris over bookings etc for Woodpecker Pool as they are very busy people, if you require any information please speak to us.

So in effect not too many changes at all, nothing complicated just basically dealing direct with Sue and I in the future.

Now let’s move onto the thing most of you want to read about the results of the catches so far this season

There is not a lot to report on at the moment as we have sadly had a couple of cancellations due to people going out of work, those of you in this position Sue and I hope that you will soon be able to sort out your problems and get back into employment once again and hopefully see you return to Woodpecker once more.

For our first week this season 10th April we welcomed back the Allen family, Elsie, Terry and Anthony.

They had an up and down week weather wise but caught some nice fish along the way. They had a total of 43 fish including 14 x 20s, 10 x 30s and 2 different 40s all carp, best Mirror 41lb 6oz to Anthony, best Common 37lb 10oz which was a personal best for Terry, super mum Elsie also had a few nice carp.They also had 4 x 30lb plus catfish and 1 catfish of 62lb 8oz, both sturgeon a few times also and a 9lb 7oz Pike to Anthony that was plaguing him whilst fishing for roach.

The total weight for the week was 1322lb 5oz with an average of 30lb 12oz.

Thank you all for your company during the week and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.

The following week 18th April we welcomed back Jim Parkyn, Jim is the guy who caught the second albino catfish from the lake last October, and this time he came with first timers here Nicky Mills and Jim's son James.

They had a reasonable week weather wise and a decent weeks fishing. They had a total of 34 fish including 14 x 20s, 10 x 30s and 1 x 40 all carp, the best Mirror to James at 44lb and the best Common to Nicky at 33lb, they also had1 catfish of 36lb and both sturgeon.

The total weight for the week was 980lbs with an average of 28lb 12oz. It was nice to see you again Jim and a pleasure to meet both Nicky and James. Thank you all for your company during the week and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Now into the third week of our season 25thApril and we welcomed back a good friend from Wales, John Owen. We were really looking forward to this week but this time John was without his normal partner in crime Chris Davies (you were really missed Chris, but hopefully see you next time)but John brought along another friend for his first time here Steve Pawluck, Steve has fished several venues in France so what would he make of here. He absolutely loved the place and had an excellent weeks fishing, John was in a very laid back mode and just enjoyed relaxing that was until he had to net Steve's catches for him.

They had a total of 50 fish, under normal circumstances I would not write the following but I know John will understand, out of the 50 fish caught 45 of these fell to Steve but John wasn't complaining. The catch included 27 x 20s, 11 x 30s and 2 x 40s carp including a new 40 for here at 44lb 4oz.

Steve also had aNEW LAKE RECORD Common of 39lb 8oz, also included in the catch were 2 catfish to 39lb 8oz and both sturgeon a few times. They also hooked and lost a few very big catfish during the week so who knows what the total weight could have been. As it turned out the total weight for the week for the pair was 1455lb 8oz, with the total for Steve of 1299lb 8oz, now that is a very impressive catch by one angler. The average was 30lb 9oz. Great weeks fishing and thank you both for your company during the week and we look forward to your return.

Our next angler's on after no one being here for two weeks due to bookings being cancelled sadly because of people losing their jobs were the lads from Macclesfield, three of them have been before, Carl, Robert (AKA Fred) and Ed and the new member of the party Andy, so how would they do this time around. They had a very up and down week, the carp had spawned 10 days previous to their visit and they seemed to be engrossed in feeding on naturals and not showing a lot of interest in boilies and pellet. They still managed to catch some nice fish and all had personal bests during the week. The total catch was 32 fish including several doubles, 5 x 20s, 4 x 30s and 1 x 40 carp, 5 catfish of which there was 1 x 63lb 1oz, 1 x 56lb, 2 x 40s and 1 x 30. Both sturgeons were caught a few times during the week also. The best mirror was 42lb 5oz and the total weight for the week was 1028lb 6oz for an average of 32lb 4oz, not a bad week considering the carp were playing really hard to get.

We look forward to seeing the photographs of the fish caught.

Thank you all for your company once again and we look forward to seeing you all again in the future.

That is the end of the fishing news for the moment but nature has its way of giving us added bonuses along the way. Last week we had a swarm of honey bees arrive in one of our apple trees, we managed to get hold of a local beekeeper that came out and collected the swarm to make a new hive.

Well that is about it for now and we look forward to seeing everyone who has still to come this season.

All the very best till next time.

Sue & Doug

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