16th September 2007
Name:
Richard Bonney
AGE: 35
Home town: HARLOW
Occupation: MECHANIC
After a long break from fishing I returned to the
sport about six month's ago, My main interest being carp fishing.
On the 16th September
I fished peg 3 on the larger of the two lakes at Lake john fishery. I was using
two 2.5lb TC rods both with 10lb mono main line, and using luncheon meat on hair
rigs, My first catch of the day was a 18lb 8oz mirror carp which was soon
followed by a 38lb mirror carp, both these fish beat my previous personal best,
which until this day had been 12lb 8oz.
MANY THANKS FOR A GREAT DAY AT LAKE JOHN!!!!!!
Friday 23rd June 2006
Roding Valley High school special day out,
This hand full of
kids from Roding Valley High school have put in a lot of extra hard work this
year to earn a special treat, a days fishing
at Lake John Fishery, and what a day they had, they caught nets full of fish
between them and had a great time on what turned out to be a lovely day.
Well done guy's hopefully we'll see you back at Lake John real soon.
Friday 28th October 2005
The date was Friday 28th Oct 2005 and my son Daniel and my mate Mark where fishing Lake John top lake with myself. We arrived at the lake at 5.30am so we could set up early and have a full days fishing. By 6.30am we were all set up and rods were out and then the rain started in force. At this stage Daniel had only had his rod in the water for about 2 mins when he had his 1st screamer. Maybe its not going to be a bad day after all. After Dan I had a nice run and pulled out a nice 14lb mirror and had several others throughout the day.
Even though I had a
good days fishing my son and mate had better ones. Daniel by about 10am had a
run and landed a 4lb Golden Tench which was one of the best looking fish I have
ever seen, and though it wasn't one of the biggie Carps from the lake it made
his day because it will take years to catch a better looking fish than that one.
To finish the day of right on last knockings my mate then hooked into a lovely
29.5lb carp his new PB only just having beaten his old PB two weeks earily with
a 24lb from the same swim.
There will be a fight to see who gets that swim next time, or I will just have
to make sure I get there before him (lucky sod). But as usual a great days
fishing from a top lake. Thanks Colin. (bait used was pre drill 14mm marine
pellets from The Bait & Feed company)
Tuesday 26th November 2002
Still Catching the Biggies
Pictured below is Old man Les (as he is affectionately known to all at Lake John) Les Ewald is probably the most regular visitor at the lakes, at the tender age of 82 years young, he still shows the lads how to do it!!!!
Good on ya Les, keep up the good work.
Thursday 5th September 2002
As told by Len Parker & Craig Belsey
Thursday is our day off from running Hancock's
Cycles of Cheshunt.
Craig had emailed Colin prior to our arrival, to get the most up to date information
on the best swims and which baits to use, we went along to Simpsons at Turnford for our
bait and Tackle, We had a nice early start, arriving at 4.30am for a 5.00am start,
I set up at peg 11 and Craig set up at peg 10, At 7.15am My personal best catch
was a 31lb 8oz mirror carp, this beat my old record by 20 lb, this was followed by a 19lb
Leather carp.
Craig started slowly, but by the end of the day, he had landed no less than 17 double
figure carp, the largest being an 18lb 8 oz mirror carp.
All of the fish were caught on donkley choker
pellets, with a size 4 hook and 15lb line.
"What a great days fishing, well worth the day ticket price of £10.00
Many thanks to Colin and his excellent fishery".
It all started with the usual preparation
and last minute checks to the website for the latest on form baits, and a disciplined
night away from the pub, so they would be nice and fresh for the early start of 3.30am as
they set off from there sleepy village in Stevenage, so that this would see them first in
the Queue, come 5am for the grand opening of the gates, all was going well as they made
good time on the motorway, until there was a strange noise coming from their ever reliable
trusted Volkswagen camper, as the noise grew so did there concerns, as a wobble had
started to get a little too much to ignore, so the hard shoulder was the first unplanned
stop and a good job too, for after a close inspection and a quick piece of arithmetic,
Terry's mate Bazza soon realised that two wheel nuts had decided to jump ship, and two
more were also about mutiny, 15 minutes later, and Terry's only concern was that he was
going to miss the spot at the front of the Queue, that he had promised his pal Barry, and
not the near death experience they had both nearly encountered.
From now on the rest of the journey would be steady as she goes, so as not to incur any
more hickups, finally the end was in sight, only to find that this short pit stop had cost
them a couple of places (you blokes are keen) as arrival time was just a touch past
4.15am, this was of great relief to Terry and Barry, all this unbeknown to myself, I
dragged my way to the gates just after 5am as per-usual and a small precession of 15 or so
cars followed on, Terry and Bazza had claimed there spot (pegs 34 and 35) for the day, and
as it turned out, it was all worth it.
A bit of a slow day all round on the lake, one or two Carp had started to show, but Terry
was soon to change all this as his p.b of 6lb was about to be smashed to bits, fishing a
free running lead and 8 maggots to the hook Terry who has only been fishing a year spent
the early part of the morning baiting his peg close to the island, and just as the morning
was ending, and the afternoon beginning, Terry struck into a sensational bite, and in his
relative inexperience, wondered what the hell to do next, this is when Bazza the wheel nut
counter of that morning, and all round top bloke, talked him thought the next few minutes
of his day, not one hickup this time as Terry William's had put his first Lake John Carp
on the unhooking mat, at an amazing 31lb 7oz... and only just under the lake record, a big
well done mate from all at lake John (photo above).
Plugging a Leak
As many of the regulars to the lake will know, the
bottom lake has over a period of two years developed a leak which in the height of summer
can see the water level fall by nearly 3ft.
The bad area of ground runs from peg 17 to 19 it only allows the water to fall so
far but when the average depth is 4ft, the lake can really suffer.
So on January 2nd 2002 at 7.30am after wishing that I had won the lottery and
would never have to work again, I jumped into the 1.5 ton machine and I started to dig.
The plan is to take out the out the bad ground and replace it with a clay
bung.
It is now 23rd Jan and I am about 75% complete, so fingers crossed this is the
answer to the problem,
But we will soon know this summer...
