The convoy met at Wrotham hill and consisted of Paul and Nic in the van and Jim, Claire and I in their Peugeot.
Unfortunately mid journey to Portsmouth the Peugeot decided it was not going to be a smooth journey and the AA was required. Very luckily all was not lost. The van seated three and the BMW touring bike was used to successfully reunite all by the lake at just gone midnight.
Nic, Paul and I were able to just manage to do a spot of necessary shopping before arriving at the lake and using playing cards, fairly selected the preference of swims. By this time we were all essentially set-up ready for the night and ready for fishing. Nic had already started to fish and managed to wangle out a fish and again learnt lessons previously known "don't use poor and faulty rigs".
The weather good warm; circa 30 degrees Celsius with little recent rain or change in weather and clear skies.
The swims were as follows;
Claire: Field swim
Jim: House swim
Nic: Top bay (small fish corner)
Rich (Me): Point
Paul: Bendy Bivvy
Whilst the following days saw good fishing with the below attached catch list the fishing was, we believe hampered a little by the relentless dry constant heat over 30 degrees Celsius.
Through conversations with other anglers it seems, however, the only lake to be at; it is the most beautiful lake and also when all other lakes switch off (certainly the carp) with the peak heat, Bertie still offers the chance to catch through either stalking or sensible fishing.
My first full night and day saw a 34lb 6oz Mirror fall to Stickybaits Krill boilie and trimmed almond goo fed pop-up critically balanced on a Fox Armo SR size 4 KD rig.
Also a couple of Bertie's gorgeous French commons and an always surprisingly agile sturgeon were caught on Mainline Activ-Maple 8 and Cell Snowman rig respectively.
Fish were regularly landed through the days although it took me a bit of a reminder course from Paul on the skills or stalking before I was able to hook my first on double maize. By Christ was it a steep learning curve following in Paul's footsteps with a cracking fully scaled mirror from near the far end outlet.
Noting this, Maize is, to date, probably the most successful all round bait although it did appear that whenever Activ-Maple 8 or Cell was used with the already successful Tiger Nut flour boilies and extract serious activity wasn't far away.
By far the most enjoyable time was after dusk; often as late as midnight when a sudden random noises came from bite alarms from Nic, Paul and my swims. One night this "crazy time" resulted in a triple hook up and 3 happy lads..... the crazy commons....... (left to right 27lb, 25lb and 26lb I think)
The catfish fishing has progressed immensely since the first year and experience along with true angling has enabled us to draw out some monsters from the water.
