Fishing this month at Hawkhurst has continued to produce captures of mid to upper 20s and to the delight of our Catfish anglers, yet again, several big cats have made an appearance.
At times fishing has slowed but generally the fish are still showing themselves on the bank on a regular basis to all types of baits. Catfish anglers have continued to have great results both during the day and night with many cats over the 30lb mark dominating the banks.
August can be a tough month to catch carp; it can often be difficult to achieve any kind of consistency at this time of the year. But we don’t doubt that the catch reports will still come flooding in from those of you that like a challenge!
We would like to congratulate our ‘June’ Fish of the Month Winner…. JOHN STONESTREET for his 23lb Ghost Carp caught from the Specimen Lake – a rare but beautiful sight! John won 24hrs free fishing for this stunner.
Main Lake – The catfish have been really active with several upper thirties being reported, the largest from this lake weighing in at 48lb. Sonny Jarvis fished swim 14 hooking 2 Cats of 36lb and 37.5lb on maggots. Mark Schoultz netted a 36lb Cat in a 24hr session. Lee Ost caught his very first Catfish weighing in at a respectable 19.5lb along with several carp up to the 16lb mark. Martin Clark fished a 48hr session having an 18 fish haul, mostly upper doubles including a few cats and a couple of 20’s. Nath Wood had Cats of 30lb and 38lb on pellet and a 20lb Common caught from the bottom on a tutty fruity. Billy Lloyd tamed a lovely 20lb 12oz Common into his net on cell along with two low doubles. Ashley Manville had an impressive 40lb Catfish. Martin Blessing fished from swim 3, fishing the mid water in-between the two islands and landed a massive 48lb Cat on crafty catchers’ coconut and GLM wafter over a size 6 curve shank hook with a small pva bag of pellet. Graham Cheyne fished for less than 12hrs from swim 5 with the aim of targeting our big cats and managed to net 2 stunners hitting the scales at 35lb and a 40lb – Grahams new PB! Our monstrous cats do like a good scrap so this was an impressive feat considering the length of his session! Both came to crab and krill, critically balanced boilies and groundbait. Benjamin Rolfe had a cracking 24 hour session reeling in 8 carp ranging from 17lb to 27lb, plus cats of 35lb and 43lb. Ben smashed a few PB’s on this session so well done Ben. Brain Wheeler had a 22lb 8oz Common and his brother David Wheeler a 29lb 12oz Catfish and finally yet another greedy Cat to report weighing in at 35lb 8oz caught by Alex Page.
Dove Lake – Has been producing very well recently with the biggest carp reported weighing in at 38lb and many have been seen on the bank well over the 20lb mark. We are sure whoever caught the 38lber would have had a good chance of winning fish of the month but no catch report was handed in! Please let us know what you have been catching especially you Dove Lake anglers!
Specimen Lake – The effects of months of angler pressure has made carp that were previously relatively easy to catch, quite hard to tempt. The bites have been coming during just one or two short ‘windows of opportunity’. Timings vary, but just after first light and again during the evening as temperatures slowly begin to drop seem to be typical bite times. John Stonestreet our ‘June’ Fish of the Month winner netted a 33lb Catfish and a pristine 26lb Common along with his prize winning, stunning 23lb Ghostie. All came to homemade wafter hook baits over particle and pellet. David Burton netted a hard-fighting 37lb Catfish after his trip down form Essex! Adam Eckley fished peg 1 and had a 36lb Cat.