Winter is passing

Daylight is at last lengthening and following several freezing nights, next month will see the beginning of Spring. We reopened for our 2022 season on Saturday 12th March when it was good to meet Members both old and new.

2022 Reservations

Accommodation with discounted Fishing

Accommodation with Fishing reservations for 2022 are now being accepted at 2021 rates – see www.manor-fisheries.co.uk/rates-1 for details and all Availability can be seen online at www.manor-fisheries.co.uk/availability.

Payments

As expected, at the beginning of the season there is a surge in the volume of payments received. To quickly provide visitors their corresponding receipt it is very important to include a reference relating to who is visiting (not paying). At the very least a name would help but the following example is preferred:

Name initials and visit date (e.g., John Smith and 15 May becomes JS 15/05)

When we receive payments without any way of identifying “what it is for or who it is from” we unfortunately cannot forward receipts in a timely manner.

Membership

For the 2022 season Manor Fisheries is a 100% Members only Fishery for all anglers aged 18 years old or more and Membership numbers will be strictly limited.

2022 Memberships are filling faster than previous years, noting they are allocated on a “First come, first served” basis. Applications for 2022 Membership are now being accepted – see www.manor-fisheries.co.uk/night-fishing for details noting 2022 Fishing rates remain unchanged from 2021 rates.

Gift Vouchers

Fishing Holiday Gift Voucher

A pre-paid holiday voucher may be ordered via the Reservation tab by indicating in the Comments section a 2022 Holiday Voucher is requested. The recipient of the Gift Voucher may choose their preferred dates subject to availability.

Member Gift Voucher

Pre-paid Day and Night tickets may be ordered for a Member via the Reservation tab by indicating in the Comments section a 2022 Voucher is requested. Should the date for fishing not be known, show the date as unknown and the recipient of the Gift Voucher may choose their preferred date subject to availability.

Fishery Maintenance

Introduction

The grounds have become very soft this month following considerable rain and occasional heavy frost. The Canadian and Greylag geese, together with a lone white goose, have returned plus several Coots, which have joined the many resident Mallards and Moorhens.

Maintenance Summary

Since closing the fishery for the winter, the recent wet weather hampered several planned maintenance days. Nevertheless, good progress was made:

Grounds, Apartments and Cabin Maintenance and with valuable help from David Hodge, Lakes Management continued including completion of cutting back of many overhanging trees on all three lakes.
Completion of daily fish feeding across all the lakes using the remainder of 1,000kg high quality feed.
As part of our lakes management program, a team of 8 x Hadlow College students led by Brian Bailey, Commercial Fisheries Manager and Tim O'Brine, Fisheries Lecturer; visited on the 9th March and netted Lake 3 (Mixed). We are pleased to report that no Catfish were found. Along with silver fish many quality Carp were returned to the lake. Our thanks to Terry Keard for supplying the photographs below.

Swim Repairs

Having repaired swims this month, we request anglers do not cause unnecessary damage requiring more repairs.

Several swims contain concrete for strength where the use of a rod pod is ideal. Although the use of bank sticks is still fine, when fishing near to the water’s edge avoid damage through banging into the concrete which will also scare fish away from your swim. Locate your rods (and bank sticks) in the water and further back from the water’s edge to completely avoid the concrete.

Stray leads/hooks

When carrying out maintenance work many stray leads/hooks were retrieved from over-hanging branches. In spite of fixed leads and Cat hooks being banned, it was disappointing to come across several of these rigs. If in doubt as to what constitutes a Running Ledger see www.manor-fisheries.co.uk/fixed-or-running-ledgers. Better still, dispense with a lead clip and use a more fish friendly Run-Ring.

A Running lead is the most basic ledger rig possible. It is fish friendly (safe) and almost a guaranteed catcher.

The main line must be able to run freely when there is a take.

That is why we recommend it!!

Keeping with the simplicity theme, we believe the easiest and the best way of attaching a lead is a “Running lead” setup. To do this simply thread the lead onto the mainline, then a bead and swivel and then tie on your hook length/hook (40lbs braid for Cats).

This running ledger rig, with exception of the knotless knot, has been used for almost hundreds of years in one guise or another and cannot be beaten if you are fishing close range or you are stalking. If you are specimen fishing for Carp, Cats or Tench this is the rig to be used at Manor Fisheries. It is simple and effective and allows concentration on more important things such as watercraft and bait placement.

Please note Membership will be withdrawn from any angler found using a bolt rig (fixed lead) or Cat hook and there will be no exception.

A number of Cats have been lost due to the straightening of poor-quality hooks. Hooks for Lake 2 (Carp/Catfish) should be barbless and forged (not wire or Cat hooks). A strong hook with a larger eye than most brands (good for making hair rigs); that is competitively priced, can be sourced from Wicked Rigs (Hand Made in the UK).

This is an eBay seller (kevash123uk) and their eBay ID is: 192301880534.

Fishing Report – 12th March 2022 to 31st March 2022

Introduction

It has been a welcome return of many regulars and meeting some new visitors. Congratulations to all the anglers who have already featured in our three 2022 Leader Boards which are up and running.

Lake 1 (Carp) Logbook Catch Reports

Andy Cayford visited on the 14th March and using Tiger nut and Toffee wafter bait over a bed of crushed boilies with some “free” tempters, he soon topped the 2022 Carp Leader Board with a 20lbs Mirror and a 15lbs Common completed his catch.

It was the welcome return of regular Nigel Hidson on the 17th March and using sweetcorn bait landed a 12lbs 12ozs Common and a 11lbs Mirror.
Visiting on the 19th march Kenny Darvill persevered and ended the day with a 9lbs 2ozs Common.
Visiting on the 21st March Lewis Bracy used a boilie/maggot cocktail over a small amount of freebees and ended with a 14lbs Mirror.
Arriving on the 21st March for a 24-hour session, Tony Corkett had success using sweetcorn and krill baits to land 4 x Commons weighing 19lbs 10ozs, 18lbs, 16lbs 5ozs and 14lbs.
Paul Teakle returned on the 22nd March and landed a 16lbs 2ozs Common using boilie baits.
Using pacific tuna boilie baits on the 22nd March, Terry Hare landed 2 x Commons weighing 15lbs and 13lbs.
Karl Hallewell landed a 15lbs Common on the 23rd March using S7 DNA 12mm boilie bait.
Returning on the 23rd March regular Danny Smith caught 2 x Commons weighing 18lbs and 17lbs in the margins using krill boilie pop-up bait.
Fishing in the margin on the 25th March Fred Little caught a 13lbs 3ozs Carp where a manilla boilie was the successful bait.
Toby Ryland began his 48-hour session on the 25th March and landed 3 x Carp including Mirrors weighing 13lbs 7ozs and 10lbs plus a 14lbs 2ozs Common.
Mark and Danny Donnelly visited on the 26th March and each caught a Common weighing 16lbs 4ozs and 11lbs 6ozs respectively.
It was the return of Anthony Cook on the 28th March and using squid and krill boilies finished his day session by topping the Carp Leader Board with a 21lbs Common plus two more weighing 17lbs 8ozs and 15lbs 4ozs.

Lake 2 (Carp/Catfish) Logbook Catch Reports

Sean and Maria Fletcher arrived on the 26th March for their early season 24-hour session and used luncheon meat baits. At 2.10am on the 27th March Maria was alerted with a take which resulted in a 28lbs Cat to top the Catfish Leader Board – very well done.

Lake 3 (Mixed) Logbook Catch Reports

It was the welcome return of regular Matthew Smith on opening day the 12th Match
- Who ledgered with boilie and pellet baits and was rewarded with Commons weighing 6lbs 2ozs and 4lbs 8ozs and Bream weighing 4lbs 11ozs, 4lbs 2ozs and 3lbs.
- Switching to float and double caster bait on the 16 March Matthew caught 100+ Roach, Rudd, and Perch plus 2 x Bream.
- Switching back to ledgering on the 18th March and using 6mm Wafter plus a mini PVA bag, Matthew landed a 6lbs 8ozs Mirror, a 5lbs 2ozs Common and 2 x Tench weighing 3lbs 10ozs and 3lbs 4ozs to top the Tench Leader Board.
- On the 23rd March Matthew ledgered prawn bait and landed Commons weighing 6lbs 2ozs and 5lbs 2ozs plus Mirrors of 7lbs 5ozs and 4lbs 1oz and switching to a waggler with sweetcorn, caught a further 20 Roach and Rudd.
- It was back to using a feeder and wafter bait on the 30th March when Matthew finished with a 5lbs 3ozs Common, a 4lbs 2ozs Bream and 8 x Roach.
It was the welcome return of regular James Crank on the 16th March who ended his visit with a 7lbs Carp.
It was the welcome return of regular Andy Bush on the 28th March and pole fishing using worm and sweetcorn baits, finished with a 2lbs Tench, 40 x Rudd, 4 x Roach and 7 x Perch.

2022 Awards and Competitions

2022 - PIN Awards

Every angler is awarded a PIN when meeting the qualifying weight to commemorate catching their first Manor Fisheries specimen fish and for each species shown below:

2022 - Leader Board

The 2022 Leader Board competition will run throughout our 2022 Season and commence on Saturday 12th March 2022. Prizes will be awarded for the following specimens caught by or on Sunday 9th October 2022 and in the event these “Target weights” are not met, the prizes below will be awarded for the heaviest verified Carp, Catfish and Tench specimens recorded in the Cabin Logbook:

£50.00 for the first verified 50lbs+ Catfish
£50.00 for the first verified 30lbs+ Carp
£50.00 for the first verified 8lbs+ Tench

In addition to recording Cats weighing over 30lbs, please record Carp over 20lbs as this forms the basis of our Monthly News Report and provides valuable input to our lake management plans.

2022 - 1,000lbs Club

Every angler landing 1,000lbs or more in a single contiguous session will awarded becoming a member of the prodigious Manor Fisheries 1,000lbs Club.

Comments and Feedback

You are a valued visitor, and we welcome receiving any feedback you may wish to give with respect to the accommodation, fishing, or facilities at the lakes. Please send us your comments via https://www.manor-fisheries.co.uk/comments-feedback.

NEWS 1 March 2022 to 31 March 2022