Catfish Fishing, Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery

Catfishing 

Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold, West Sussex, UK.

Roaman Lake At Furnance Lake Fishery

With spring in full blossom, and daffodils, hyacinths, and bluebells appearing, my attention has turned to revisiting my favourite Fishing complex, and target the mighty Wels Catfish, this is one of my most anticipated ventures of the year, catching PB's each time I go and potentially a chance of catching the fish of a life time surrounded by beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife, I had a week booked off work, and me and my brother Scott were going for a Sunday to Tuesday 40 hour session, the weather looked good as well, 10 mph with slight gusts of up to 18 mph and sunshine with no rain forecast, and temperatures during the day of 17 degrees Celsius dropping at night to 5 degrees Celsius. Nothing was going to stop us, not even the fact my bait wasn't delivered in time for me to take. making do with some old bait, I could always buy some more on site in the tackle shop if the need arose.

What Did They Ever Do For Us?

It always amazes me how much tackle we take, and with it all ready and waiting blocking my hallway, I thought "do we really need all this?" I took stock, and the fishing tackle and bait accounted for about 1/4 another 1/4 was food and drink, and 1/2 was a chair, sleeping bag, bed, bivey and table, I thought about leaving some of the non essentials behind but without the chair and table the pile of gear just didn't look any smaller, a futile attempt, so they went along anyways. Scott picked me up ahead of schedule as I phoned and cheekily demanded he come round early as the wait was killing me, I was like a hungry dog with a biscuit balanced on my nose, and I bet he was too. We arrived at Furnace and a new tackle shop/office had been built and we discovered new owners had taken over the business, the shop was a lot bigger and a handy burger stall was now on site. We paid our moneys, and decided to fish Roman lake, unfortunately the swims we were after were all taken, but we still had 4 options of swims to pick from allowing us to fish together, and in a blink of eye ourselves and our gear were ferried by an ATV with a trailer to our homes for the next few nights.

Ever Watchfull Even Whilst Making Rigs

We decided to toss a coin for which swim we had, I won, and I picked the centre swim, I knew the other swim was more likely to produce being in the corner but I have to admit I like space and thought with an empty swim to the left I could cover more water, and with the opposite bank empty though it was unlikely that someone would pick to fish there. I set up my 3 x 12' Greys Prodigy GT5 3lb test curves paired with 3 x Shimano Super Baitrunner Aero XTE-A 8000, one loaded with 16lb Fox Exocet main line for Carp and 2 loaded with Korda Subline 20lb for Catfish. I baited an area with 250grams of small 10mm boilees as I set up and fished a single 14mm boilees on a hair rig with a size 8 barbless hook, although I was there for Catfish, I couldn't resist using 1 rod for Carp as there are more than enough big carp that would smash my UK PB to make it worth a shot, I then fished a Catfish rod on the left and right one on the far bank and the other on the inside bank margins, both running legers baited with double 21mm Halibut pellets mounted on a 40lb Catlink hair rig with a size 1 Sakuma Chinu hook, with a large pva bag of mixed smaller pellets to give scent and offer a tidy little pile of bait around my hook bait just big enough to make it worth while for any enquiring Catfish.

Snotty And Snotty, That's All

It seemed an eternity till I was settled in my camp, The mountain of gear had been unpacked, built up and sorted into a well arranged and familiar set up, with only a few hours till dark, I sat down with exhaustion but confident that it would be worth it. I done a little walk around the lake, and discovered that most the Catfish that had been caught had been on Spam (pork luncheon meat), with the known biggest of 47lb, A last minute trip to the on site tackle shop to buy the last tin of Spam and a change of tactics as I replaced one of my pellet baits for a large cube of Spam. Apart from the occasional knocks of optimistic Bream trying to eat baits that were far too big for their mouths, although I did manage to hook one of 2lb 12oz, at least I was off the starting block. I have to admit by this point in the trip, I was having a run of bad luck and planning, My camera battery was dead, Scott had asked if I had scales, which I did, so he left his in the van, but then I realised that mine only weighed up to 33lb, I'd lost 2 rigs to the island with a few poor casts, and even managed to run out of Catlink, so was unable to make anymore rigs, and had none spare now, I'd left half the condiments and food still in the fridge, anything else? oh yes, the kilo of boilees I'd thrown out for the carp rod were all eaten up by swans as I must of been fishing in very shallow wate, should of used a marker rod and checked the depths!, and all this on top of about 15 geese, 2 swans, and about 10 mallards all ferociously fighting in my and Scott's swim over nesting grounds, seriously it was like WW3 had broken out, no chance of any shy fish hanging around.

Warmongering Geese On The Lookout

As the birds settled for the night so did we, after having a small BBQ of pork and beef kebabs with salad, pita breads and fiery ketchup, washed down with a few tins of beer, I tucked my self into bed as the temp was dropping fast and we both were feeling the cold. I was immediately woken by Scott, he had a run and was into a fish, and definitely a Catfish, as the fight continued I realised by the bend in the rod and the length of the runs that this was a big fish he had hooked, the fish went to ground for almost 20mins leaving Scott no choice but to keep the pressure on and wait till he decided to move, giving me time to ask a neighbour if I could borrow some scales, which he kindly did, by the time I got back the fish had decided to move and headed back the opposite way weaving his way along the inside margins, through trees and tangled with all my 3 rods, if I didn't have had back leads on, the fish would of just gone under them but that was how my day was going, the fish then buried itself in a large reed bed to the inside left of my swim, unknown to Scott I set about untangling the 3 lines and then started untangling his line from the trees between our swims, having done as much as I could, I rejoined him where it was another long wait.

Scotty's New UK PB Wels Catfish Weighing 66lb 2 oz

29lb Wels Catfish For Me

The fish had been in the reeds for 30mins, their was no way to move him, having to be patient again, the fish then decided to make his own way out, as soon as he was on the move, Scott was able to gain line and slowly teased the fish back into his swim, I saw a flash of the fish as it turned in the water and really thought its really not a big fish, I was very wrong, as I often am! this fish was long and as I attempted to land it with the net I realised just how big this monster was, our neighbour had made his way over to help out and being a experience Catfish angler chinned the fish for us, as he pulled it out the water on to the bank using the landing mat as a slide, I could hardly contain my excitement! Scott was ecstatic, the fish tipped the scales at 66lb 2oz, a new PB for him, and a really good achievement for his second time Catfish fishing, and hats off to him, he may of lacked experience before today, but learnt fast, he played the fish carefully when he could, was very patient when he needed to be and fully deserved this fish, the 1.5 hour fight had left Scott absolutely knackered, and understandably he didn't fish for the rest of the night. I recast my 3 rods, and by now if was freezing cold, literary freezing!, 5 degrees Celsius the weather forecast said!! more like -1!! my bivey was covered in frost, the net had frozen, and I was freezing! but I tucked my self into bed and fell into a deep sleep happily knowing that this trip had been totally worth it already.

A Beutifal Dawn To Be Awoken To

I wasn't awoken till my Halibut pellet rod alarm sounded, clambering out of bed into a dark and misty cold dawn, I grabbed the rod and struck, I was on, after a relative short fight I had a Catfish in the net, weighing 29lbs, a decent fish which I was over the moon with. This day on the other hand went quite peacefully, we had got Scott's big scales from the van, stocked up on Spam, made a few spare rigs, but neither of us lost anymore for the rest of the trip. We passed the time catching float fishing for Roach and Bream on a short spinning rod, the only thing that didn't bode well for us was the wildlife, with the daylight, WW3 had restarted! with the geese fighting, splashing, squawking in our swim, I knew it was very unlikely to get a run during the daylight, even though others around the lake were catching during the day, I didn't mind though, the thought of moving was way too much effort to even consider, so I heavily baited with boilees and pellets my 3 fishing spots, and would just have to wait till night and hope I'd put enough bait down to stop any patroling fish under the cover of darkness.

My Best Of The Session a 32lb 4oz Taking a Huge Cube Of Spam

Whopping Me Again With A 34lb 8oz

The following night Scott lost a fish, but by the morning we had banked a Catfish each on Spam, his going 34lb 8oz, and mine going 32lb 4oz. and we was both lucky enough to see our neighbour catch a new PB of 69 lb with a beast of a fish, it was short but looked like it had been down the gym pumping weights and steroids all its life. This had been a very memorable and enjoyable session for myself with 2 30lb fish I really couldn't complain, even though they were dwarfed by these 60lbers, I love fish and fishing, and almost, just almost, get as excited for other people's fish than my own. I am over the moon for my brother with his new PB, taking a massive leap from 30lb to 66lb, and I will take any brotherly stick from him firmly on the chin with a big smile, it took 3 of us to get this fish on land, and when Fishing for big fish, Carp included, it is sometimes very difficult to land these big fish by yourself, and knowing the prize that could be lost, all help is very much appreciated, Its really nice to know that strangers on the bank will selflessly help each other in the middle of the night, to reel in rods, land, photo and weigh big fish, and a big thank you to our neighbour who helped with Scott's big fish, and for Scott who took some lovley photos that I used for this. Furnace hadn't let me down again! I really love this place, I only mange to get the time go once a year though, but I may make an exception this year and have a session solely devoted to Carp as it full of big specimens, and it really is time I beat my miserly UK Carp PB of 18lbs.

Catfish Fishing, Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery

Reward For Missing Cat

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold, Horsham, W. Sussex. RH13 0QZ

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery

A long wait for an exceptionally long and cold winter to end, and time to visit my favorite venue ever, for many reasons. Spring has sprung and with a three day holiday booked, it was time to return to Furnace lakes fishery. I had lost a monster Catfish here last season which I have blogged about on "The One That Got Away", I had one goal, to spend the next 48 hours and to try to hook then harder still, land the biggest Catfish I could, I was ready for revenge, but were the fish? I set off early to arrive at opening to ensure that I got a swim on Roman Lake, which holds the biggest head of Catfish at the venue, upon arrival at the cabin to pay my ticket, I was told the fishing's been really good, with lots of Catfish being caught, everything was looking up, even the weather forecast had gone from rain to sun with clouds. I made my way to my swim where I spent a hour watching the water for signs of fish, before having my gear transported to the swim in the quad bike service.

Ready, Set, GO!

I eagerly set up camp and my rods, using 3 x Fox Ranger  XTS 3lb test, matched with Shimano Super bait runners XTR 8000RA spooled with 20lb Korda Subline. My first rod was at distance tight against the island under a overhanging willow tree, a favorite spot, that had been successful for me in the past, baited with a 1" cube of luncheon meat. My second rod was baited with double 21mm halibut pellet, which I cast out tight to some reeds that a big fish was frequently disturbing. And for my third rod, I used my light spinning rod to float fish for live bait, and easily with every cast caught plenty of Roach and small Bream with a single maggot on a size 20 hook. After a hour I had enough small 5" Roach in the keep net, I now set up the third rod for live baiting on a dumbell rig which I fished in the margins. The day had gone quietly and not a bite, but fish were being caught elsewhere on the lake, and I was still confident of a catch.

Snotty Bream That Thinks He's Still A Skimmer

Night had fallen and I changed my live bait rig for a running leger hair rig, baited with 6 lob worms which I threaded onto the hair about 10mm at the head of the worm (if that's what you call it) and then injected a small amount of air into each tail, to make the 6 worms tails float and sway and wriggle vertically above the hook, it was very fiddly, and took way to many attempts, but once I got it right, it looked spectacular when I tested it in some shallow margins, how can a Catfish turn his nose up at that! I had one bite all night, and yes it was on the worms! I struck into what I though was going to be a big fish, and to my surprise a fish immediately surfaced during the strike, and then skimmed 3m across the surface before skidding onto the bank at my feet. I looked down, and was surprised to see a very sizable Bream, which tipped the scales at 4lb 8oz, Not the best way to land a fish, but a very welcome catch.

Its secret to power is from the long tail!

With the lack of any real takes during the night I felt the dawn, with its poor light, rising sun, mist still rolling like clouds across the lake and the incredible sound of the local wild life beginning to wake up, this had to be the time for a bite, but it didn't happen, after 2 hours of sitting by my rods in the damp cold after a very disturbed and excitable nights sleep left me very tired, so I decided to get back into the bivey and have a sleep. I must of only been asleep 30 minutes when I awoke to the sound of a screaming reel, Line was being stripped off the reel on the double halibut rod, the bobbin was on the ground and the bite alarm was silent! I never did work out why, it was turned on and I watched the line going through it just before striking. As soon as I struck I felt the rod pull hard and slow away from me in a very big curve, I was on and it was big!! line continued to be taken for at least another 20 meters before I even tried to take some line back. The adrenalin kicked in! this was a powerful fish! and memories of the fight with the lost monster last year came flooding back! my body began to feel the strain, catfish are very powerful! and patience is needed to land these fish, as we played the tick for tack battle of gain a few yards lose 10 yards, and vise versa, the shaking and big wobbles the fish puts through the rod as it twists and turns in the water was making me feel very nervous, but 15mins later I had done enough to tired the fish, and I had the biggest Catfish I've ever caught in the net! not only a 21lb 14oz PB Catfish fish for me, but the first fish I have caught in the UK that was over 20lb in 30 years of fishing!!

Donkey Chokers Aka Halibut Pellets

Buzzing with the excitement of the catch and covered in slime, I decided to go to the lodge for a wash and brush my teeth, on the way I spoke to several fishermen about their catches during the night, paying attention I learnt that no carp were being caught, and all the catfish were coming out on halibut pellet, and not from the shallow margins but from deeper water. and with several stories of braided hook links being severed by the tiny rasping teeth of the Catfish I decided to change all my rigs, to 18" long rigs made with 40lb cat link with size 2/0 eagle wave Catfish hooks baited with double 21mm halibut pellet with a large PVA bag filled with a variety of different size pellets as feed on each cast. I also changed the spots of where I was casting to, 2 of my rods that were tight to the island I then started dropping the baits about 7 meters from the island, which was in about 8' of water just at the bottom on the steep incline toward the island, my margin rod was now being cast straight into the middle of the corner of the lake where the deep channel of the lake narrowed before turning into the corner, which I thought would be like a bottle neck for any fish cruising along the deep.

One Little Brute Of A Beautiful Fish

The morning went by without a bite until a almighty crash in the reeds just to the left of my swim made me literally jump out my skin, without hesitation, I reeled in a rod, and crept quietly through the soft mud and dropped my rig right where the fish crashed. I let off enough line to fish a slack line and then set up the rod rests in the reeds and carefully lay my line between the reeds so to avoid a tangle. It took only five minutes before the alarm was bleeping sporadically, I crept over to the rod and watched the slack line as it tugged gently at the reeds, my rig had moved a meter along the reeds, and just started to move again, except this time the line straightened and what was on the end started to take line, I struck! It was fish on! The fish headed straight out towards the middle of the lake, which gave me the opportunity to reposition myself at my swim, now the reeds weren't in the way, The fish put up a really good fight, but I knew it wasn't as big as the last one, It weight 12lb 6oz, but it was a beautiful fish and looked quiet different to the other Catfish I'd seen caught, it had 5 whiskers, darker in colour, and way more stockier, when I released the fish it darted straight back in to reeds where I had caught him from, coincidence? or was that his territory?

New Catfish PB And My Biggest UK Fish To Date 27lb

Well, I was happy as Larry, even my cousin Jerry who turned up and was fishing the next swim along managed to land his second hooked fish and banked his first ever Catfish at 29lb, so we had both done what we wanted to do, but it wasn't over yet, I still had one night left. my rods had been out since 6pm and just after I'd finished eating sausages cooked on the BBQ at midnight, my left hand rod bobbin gently rose and then the bait runner kicked in, I struck immediately, and straight away the rod slowly but powerfully curved round till the drag on the reel gave line, this was bigger than the last, this fish went powering through and past the next swim and onwards before I stopped it, admittedly I was giving it more stick due to the bigger hook and cat link I was now using, I had to, or it would of kept going I'm sure, the extra pressure I was exerting on the rod was killing my back, I think the fight only lasted 20mins and my arms were shaking, but all that is forgotten as soon as the fish is in the net! This one tipped the scales at 31lb on the nose, minus 4lb for the sling, left me with a new PB of 27lb, I was dancing in joy, as I've been known to do on occasions. what a day! I recast the three rods with the last three PVA bags full of pellets I had left, and went to sleep a very happy man.

Couldn't Resist, Even Cuter Than A Cat

I have found that there is something magical about Furnace Lakes Fishery, even if I blanked it would be worth the visit, it's such a beautiful location, with stunning scenery, the abundant wild life is amazing, with rabbits, bats and birds galore, at night the place seems misty and magical and the crashes of big fish just remind you that every bite is worth the effort as it could easily be the fish of a lifetime. I came here to catch a big Catfish after losing one last year, mission accomplished? definitely yes! I know the fish I caught weren't big as far as Catfish are concerned. but two of them were the biggest fish I've caught in UK waters in 30 years of fishing. so I have accomplished my mission!  and you know what the best thing about it is? I got a reason to go again! next time I'm going for a 30lb plus!!! and that will be another story.

Carp and Catfish Fishing, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold

One Rod Army!!!

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Horsham, West Sussex. UK.

Furnace Lakes Fishery

A week off work!! what to do?!? now that's a silly question if you know me! Fishing! With the bitter after taste of losing a monster Catfish estimated 60lb+ earlier on in the season, burning inside me, which I blogged about The One That Got Away.  It is revenge I want! And a new PB, I've fished this place enough times by now, and somehow I haven't managed to catch my first fish over 20lb., and it's really beginning to bug me now. Its full of big fish! and I cant think of anywhere better to catch my first 20lb, so the plan was simple, fish big, for the biggest fish!

The superb Shimano super baitrunner XTR

I set off at silly o'clock, which is probably normal for most anglers, and arrived at 7am, armed with a lot of new tackle and equipment which I've been amassing over the last few months for a imminent Carp fishing trip to France. not only did this give me a brilliant opportunity to test the equipment, but was exactly what I needed for fishing here. 3 x 12" Fox Ranger XTS 3lb test, 3 x Shimano Super Baitrunner XTR 8000RA spooled with 20lb Korda Subline. All I needed now was a fish!

homemade boilie rig.

I was to fish one rod, very close in the margins with a simple running leger with ridiculously large 4" cubes of Spam (luncheon meat) hair rigged onto a homemade rig, made from 40lb Catlink and a eagle wave 2/0 barbless hook, this was to be heavily ground baited with loose cubes of Spam. My second rod was to be a live bait rod, using a ready made Catfish pro polyball live bait rig which was to be fished here, there, and everywhere I could. And my third rod......well, I couldn't resist! I left this for carp, a homemade 15lb braid, size 8 hook boilie rig. to be fished tight against the far bank, with 12 boilies be catapulted out every cast.

Ready and waiting.

After 2 arduous hours of setting up! I was finally ready to fish! I cast out my boilie and Spam rods, and using the live bait rod set up a quick and very crude float rig with the smallest size hook I had on me, a size 10!!!, bad planning, I know! Using 1" pieces of lobs worms I set about catching my bait. Luckily! the  tiny fish didn't seem bothered by the 20lb line and big hook, and it wasn't long before I enough Roach to start live baiting. I lost the first live bait straight away as it simply shook itself off the barbless hook and landed in the water to make his escape even before I'd even cast!! so a quick think and rummage through my tackle box saw me find a very small rubber corn which I placed on the hook and pushed down to the bend of the hook after the fish to keep them on. First cast was 1 meter from the far bank underneath a over hanging willow tree. I let the poly ball float on the surface as a visual aid, it didn't matter to much I was barely fishing in 2' of water.

First fish, a beautiful common carp

All three rods were out. as I took the time to relax. I could see the backs of several big carp just breaking the surface swimming along the far bank, I fired 2 boilies at my baited area with the catapult, the distinctive sound made from the elastic snap followed by a  "plonk, Plonk" as the boilies hit the water. Immediately two of the carp accelerated towards my baited area, and a third fish even turned around to follow them before they disappeared under the surface. I couldn't believe what I'd just seen,  I rubbed my hand in excitement and waited, I could see the fishes tails break the surface occasionally in the baited area, I knew they were feeding. My plan to spread loose boilies over a large area had worked, and now I had the fish confidently looking around and feeding on my loose Monster Tigernut 15mm boilies. It wasn't long before I had my first run. In the next four hours, I took 6 carp from 13lb to 18lb all from the same area.

Last carp of the session

The night was a different story, my boilie rod fell silent as the Carp seemed to change their habit, probably going on patrol around the lakes island. I hadn't had a touch on either of the Catfish rods yet, but I felt this would change during the night. It didn't!, just the occasional big tug of the live bait was just enough to make the alarm bleep once, The rods were silent all night. Even though, I stuck to my guns, I knew these tactics were working for other anglers on the lake, one of which had 7 Catfish to 32lb during the same night only a few swims down from me. At 3am the boilie rod kicked off again keeping me up for the rest of the night, but it wasn't Carp this time, small bream had taken their place, I managed to hook and land 6 even though I missed most of the runs because the fish were fairly small and probaly couln't get the boilie in their mouth. and then a surprise catch, again on the boilie rod the smallest kitten Catfish I'd ever seen, about 1' long and weighing a whopping 1 lb 3 oz, OK it wasn't the monster I was after! Not even close lol, but it was so cute! I really wanted to show a picture, but due to a broken camera that couldn't focus, and low battery on my phone that refused to allow the flash to work, I had to release him without a photo shoot, his day will come I'm sure!

The fish with the biggest smile :-)

Morning was quiet, the Catfish rods were still doing nothing, I landed one more Carp about 14lb on the boilie rod, but that was going to end shortly as I was down to my last handful of boilies. So I decided to pack up before the heavy rain showers that were forecast reached me. With the other two rods packed away, the boilie rod baited with my very last boilie, went screaming off, I took my time to strike this time, to savour the moment and enjoy what was going to be my last fish. I struck................the rod bent, bent a bit more and what was on the end pulled harder and swam further than any of the fish I'd caught so far. Was this Carp over 20lb?, it definitely felt like it! I played the fish tentatively as I didn't want to loose it. The fish didn't surface till the very end and by the way the fight went with slow powerful runs, and lots of those horrible moments when it feels like your fishing line is being pluked like a giant guitar string, causing a nervous wobble of the rod tip, I wasn't suprised to see a Catfish poke his smiling head out the water. Finally what I'd come for!!! still not a monster! and definitely not my PB weighing in at little over 8lb, but a very fitting end to a surreal 24hour session. I would almost count on catching catfish here at Roman lake, whilst the crafty carp are very difficult to catch, but today that got turned on its head. Just like the fact that I've never been so successful with boilies, I've never been a big fan, normally opting for baits such as worms, sweetcorn or bread, but they proved their worth today. And with all the tackle and bait I had with me, all I needed was just one rod, and 1 kilo of boilies. I still haven't beat my PB, and I'm really beginning to wonder why??? I think god may have other plans for me. but in the meantime there's nothing more fun, than trying!