Woodpecker Pool Newsletter May 2012

Welcome to our first newsletter of our new season and we hope you are all keeping well. We hope you all had a good winter, we had a good winter until February then we had some snow but the worst was the freezing cold temperatures, down to -20c at night and not getting above -3c to -5c in the day, now we know what a hermit feels like!! It was bitter cold and apparently the longest cold spell in our area for over 40 years, thank goodness we now have the summer to look forward to.

As we enter our seventh season we have been staggered every year how our little lake can produce so many staggering fish and so many of you come every year and beat your personal bests, 2012 is no exception as most of you that have been this year have once again done that, what will the rest of the year hold for us we don't know but judging by what has been caught so far we are looking forward to another very exciting year.

Back in March we had friends Pauline and Alan over for a few days, Alan rarely fishes so it was very nice to go and fish for a few hours as I never seem to get much time these days to wet a line and very often on my own do not have the inclination. We only fished for 3.5 hours on the first day and probably 5 hours the second. On the first day Alan had carp of 21lb and 34lb and I had a new PB Common of 42lb, my previous best Common was a fish of 36lb 8oz some years ago so to catch a PB off our own lake made it even more special. Alan was the only one to catch the second day with a Catfish of 74lb 8oz after quite a battle. Only a few hours fished but spent in great company and some lovely fish and weather.

Our first week of our season we had friends the Allen family, Elsie, Terry and Anthony they generally do quite well so what would their week have in store for them.

Well after the usual banter when they first arrived they got off to a great start, only 2 rods out and straight away Anthony is in to a big Catfish, a few minutes later the other rod was away and Terry is now fighting another Catfish, pandemonium or what!!! Anyway eventually Anthony's fish is ready for landing and it was big, in fact a new lake record at 95lb, wow what a start and shortly after Terry landed his, a fish of 52lb a tiddler according to brother Anthony!!!

They had a total of 25 fish for the week including the best Mirror of 40lb 1oz to Terry, best Common of 38lb to Elsie and the biggest of the Catfish at 95lb to Anthony. Anthony did a bit of stalking and managed to take his biggest carp on a float, a Mirror of 37lb 14oz, well done. The total weight was 1007lb 10oz for an average of 40lb 5oz. The catch was made up of 2 doubles, 3 x 20s, 11 x 30s, 2x 40s one carp and the Diamond Back, 2 x 50s catfish, 2 x 70s catfish, 1 x 80s catfish and the 95lb catfish.

Thank you for your company and will look forward to seeing you later in the year.

Our next guests were Gary Thompson who is a regular and two new guys to Woodpecker, Andy Robinson and Gary Clarke so how would their week work out?

They had a good week and some stunning fish with personal bests for the two new guys, hopefully you will beat yours Gary T when you return in August!! Quite a lot of banter this week but we would expect nothing less and it was a pleasure to meet you properly Andy and Gary.

Their total for the week was 23 fish for a total weight of 699lb 9oz for an average of 30lb 6oz, there was one Grass Carp caught and no Catfish. The catch was made up of 2 doubles, 7 x 20s, 11 x 30s and 2 x 40s, the carp and the Diamond Back.

Thank you all for your company and hope to see you Andy and Gary in the future and look forward to seeing you Gary with Alison in August.

Our next guests were Mark Brown with his mum Marg and dad Phil, first time here for Mark's parents so would good fortune smile on them this week.

Well it turned out to be an excellent and very special week for us, you may remember that Mark was the first angler to catch a 40lb carp from here, well he went one better and caught Woodpecker's first 50 a beautiful Mirror of 50lb 1oz, don't know if it has sunk in yet Mark but many congratulations on your achievement. Dad Phil was not to be outdone as he had the biggest Common of the week at 42lb 1oz.

Their total for the week was 23 fish for a total weight of 800lb 5oz for an average of 34lb 13oz. The catch was made up of 2 doubles, 6 x 20s, 10 x 30s, 1 x 40, 3 x 50s one carp and 2 catfish and 1 x 86lb 2oz catfish.

It was a pleasure to meet you Marg and Phil and great to have you hear again Mark, thank you for your company during the week and we look forward to seeing you all again in the future.

After this week we returned to England for our friends daughters wedding and our youngest Grandson Alfie's christening, we had a great time but very hectic and it was really nice to catch up with a few people while we were there. When we returned our friends Jan and Steve joined us for the week, a few jobs done and the grass sorted out we managed a few hours on the rods.

We had 11 carp to 38lb 10oz, 2 catfish to 71lb 4oz and a grass carp of 27lb 12oz fishing for a few hours a day spread over five days, great company and good fun. Looking forward to your next visit Jan and Steve in September.

Our next guests are regulars, Jan, Cid and Trevor they had some lovely fish and a few PBs to boot, but a strange week in some ways with some days producing a few fish and other days producing the odd one or nothing.

They had a total of 18 fish for a total weight of 567lb with an average of 31lb 8oz, the best Mirror was 39lb, best Common 42lb, best Grass Carp 32lb and one Catfish 55lb. The catch was made up of 5 x 20s, 9 x 30s, 1 x 40 and the one Catfish.

Thank you for your company during the week and we look forward to seeing you again in September Jan and Cid and see you in two years Trevor.

Our next guests are regulars also, Helen, Alan and Dave. Helen and Alan were hear last October with other members of the family and had one of the toughest weeks we have known since Woodpecker has been open, would things be different this time?

Well the fishing started off extremely well with Alan doing particularly well but as the week went on and the weather got warmer, the rain stopped and the fishing slowed to a halt unfortunately, but they still had a great week with some extremely good fish and several PBs for Alan, Dave had a few fish but not the numbers and weights of his brother which Alan took great delight in ribbing his brother about.

The total was 23 fish for a total weight of 711lb for an average of 31lb. The catch was made up of 1 x single, 3 x doubles, 10 x 20s, 5 x 30s, 3 x 40s and the one catfish.

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

Well that is it for this time, some fabulous catches, congratulations to all of you who have beaten their personal bests and we will look forward to seeing you all again at some point.

We look forward to seeing all of you that have still to come this year and for those of you that are not we hope to see you again in the future.

Thank you for your loyalty to Sue and I and Woodpecker and stay healthy and happy.

Till next time all the very best,

Sue & Doug

© Woodpecker Pool 2006-2023