Previous seasons reports and newsletters in the ARCHIVE on photos page

Updated 21/01/11 This is a picture of my utility boat used for lake maintainence. Do not be fooled by it's appearance because it is jam packed with high technology which would make Jaques Cousteau proud. It has fish finder sonar which tells me where and how many salmon are cruising, an underwater camera for locating and removing dead fish, even in 15ft of water, maybe you can just see the spear in the picture. I fitted a window in the bottom to see what I could see, but not a lot as it turned out. The white stuff is powderered chalk which I put in the lake to prevent a brown algal bloom which can appear at this time of year and upset the salmon. ( the chalk precipitates the iron out of the water). It fits in the van a treat, and is one piece of plastic!

28/02/11 Cheers to those we saw at the Newark Shooting show, I think the angling side could have been better advertised. I don't think we will be doing that one again, but we did have fun looking at all the guns. In fact it gave me a chance to upgrade the anti poacher kit. I settled on this sniper rifle (a 50cal TTR for those in the know!) for a long range take out- and this AK47 for close up work.Notice my crazed Taleban expression when I get a trusty assault rifle in my hands, look out! Joking aside I have banned anglers for taking extra fish. They only gain a bit of meat and I have plenty of spare salmon, but they have given up the chance of a fish of a lifetime and ruined their reputation to boot.

03/02/11 This should go in the 'Events' page but it's little used so likely to be missed. We have a stand at the British Shooting and Countryman Show at the Newark Showground so if you are there come and say hello to me and Carol.

24/01/11The salmon eggs have eyed up so they can be handled and sorted. I put a few in a measuring cylinder for this photo. I have some eggs and fry surplus so if anyone has a home for them contact me. Ben 

15/12/10 Today Lee Devonshire from Nottingham raised the fishery record by half a pound to 34lb 12oz. He caught it on a black dog nobbler with a pink flasherboo in the tail. . This was the first salmon to have it's length measured, coming in at 41 inches long.

13/12/10 Two days ago we had a visit from Iain Barr and a film crew from Sky tv. I'll let the programme give you the story and it will be worth watching as Iain caught this 33 pounder just as the crew were packing up to go home! It will be on in the New Year and I'll post the exact times etc. as soon as I get them.

22/11/10 I spoke too soon when I said two 30s had been landed in 2 weeks for there was still Sunday left and John Lewis from Sutton Coldfield proved me wrong with a magnificent salmon of 34lb 4oz which equals exactly John Heley's fishery record set in April this year.  It took a shrimp pattern with a savage take on an  intermediate line. Unlike most big salmon (which give a deep dogged fight) it lept out of the water 4 times which must have been quite a sight, he even broke his rod on the landing net when it was finally banked! I couldn't have wished this fish on anyone more diserving; John had only caught one 6lb salmon on his last 3 visits here but I suppose thats fishing for you. 07/12/10 I've been meaning to add that John caught this fish all on his own, as the only angler at the lake at the time he had to net it onto the bank as well as play it. Imagine how he felt doing that!

I must have accidently deleted this photo so here it is again,  

26/10/10 Yesterday the record for the total number of salmon caught at the fishery was raised to 35, mostly 5-10 pounders, a sprinkling of 10-20s and a couple of 20 pounders. Considering the slow start to October it was amazing, but it must have much to do with the weather which was sunny, breezy and cold. Contrast that with today when 4 anglers only had 4 fish on the bank on a warm overcast day when the rain never let up. I can't say the anglers weren't so skilled either because 2 anglers , Dick Yetton and Wayne Salmon, fished  both days. They made the trip from Alicante, Spain just to fish here and they weren't disappointed.landing 10 salmon between them. They even took some home on the plane! Here is Wayne, with Dick, holding his biggest, a 17 pounder.

10/10/10 The new season started on the 5th October marked by a visit by a team from the Trout Fisherman who are at this moment creating an article for their magazine. It will all be there if you can get hold of a copy, 5 salmon were landed but no large fish which was a disappointment as it would have looked good but I suppose that's fishing. I even had a go myself and did have the pleasure of landing this one on my new 10 weight pike fly rod. I hadn't fished for at least a year so it is good to feel a heavy rod bent right over and remind myself what a supremely powerful fish a salmon is. Here is another nice picture of Peter Gathercole with one of his salmon.