Finch Farm Fishery

Further to my earlier post on cat gear, here’s a list of suggestions from the Catfish Conservation Group. While they won’t fit everyone’s tackle or budget, they’re really worth trying to get as near to as possible…

We've just had another instance of someone snapping their rod up at the cat lake bringing in a decent-but-not-massively-sized unit. So I guess that it's time to underline that we really would prefer you to use adequate tackle when you're fishing for the big kitties - it's not only better for the fish, but it means that you don't have to spend your hard-earned on another rod.

We must also remind you that we require a large landing mat and landing net, and that you use large barbless hooks. On top of that, we'd be happiest if you used long braided non-metal traces with rubber tubing to protect the fish, as we're getting a lot coming in with nasty looking scars all over them. (But we'd also prefer you not to use an entire reel of braid, as that leads to other problems). And don't forget to buy a cat care kit before you come to treat any wounds you may see.

We are currently updating our rules and regs for the whole fishery, and they will be out soon, but we want to keep our cats in the finest condition possible for you, while giving you the best chance of bringing them in. So please help us to help you!

It looks like Stefan might have caught Caspar the great big ghostie! What a chunk that is! OK, so he's doing the elbows and holding it out a bit to make it look a bit bigger than it is - don't judge, we've all done it! - but it's still a bit of a unit!

Nice work mister!

This has come up a few times in the last couple of weeks, so I thought I’d better reiterate it here for full clarity.

Finch Farm Fishery - as with most UK fisheries - is a catch-and-release venue, meaning that you have to put anything you catch back into the lakes, and you cannot take them home with you.

While it may be common with game fish, and some public waters abroad, we are a pleasure and match fishing water, and if you took our fish we wouldn’t have a business.

We realise that most of you fully understand this, but it’s a question that we get asked frequently enough that we thought it worth mentioning here.

No piles-ons for any specific group of people, please. It’s an honest question from people who genuinely don’t know. But please, everyone, put ‘em back!

We were having a chat about brown goldfish yesterday, when both Ian and Larissa sent us pics of these beauts they got out of the main lake. We knew we had fantails, but not lovely bronzy ones like this!

If any of you catch any more weird and wonderful hybrid beasts from our waters, do send us your pics, ‘cos we’d love to see them!

Right then, while we’re taking about records there’s still a few more species we need up on the board… if they all still exist in the water!

Next one to catch any of these worth weighing gets on the old burger van blackboard!

Brown Goldfish
Bream
Koi
Chub *
Barbel
Dace **
Bleak **
Zander***

* They are in there, honest!
** They have been in here but we’re not sure if they still are.
*** We don’t think the legend is true, but just in case!

We also reckon there ought to be some kind of record for freaky weird hybrids, but there’s so many of them now we wouldn’t know what to call it!

Tadpoles don’t count!

Right then, who’s up for a challenge?!

Mrs Finch Farm got so fed up that no one had registered a record roach up here yet, that she made a point of going out to catch one - despite the fact that she’s never been fishing in her life before.

And look, she got one! OK, so it’s barely bigger than a fry, and it didn’t register on our big scales, so we’re estimating it as half an ounce! But it’s still a record, and it’s on the board!

So come on you lot, you can beat that easy! And we still need a bream and a few others on there too!

Sunday 25 May - swim availability update.

Because of the match and some weekender cat fishers, we’ve got very limited availability at the moment.

All we have left today as it stands are:

Main Lake - 2 swims

Anaconda - 4 swims

Cat Lake - 3 swims

We’ll update this list throughout the day as people arrive and leave

We’ve had a late cancellation on the Cat Lake (Saturday May 24)today, so if anyone was sat at home twiddling their thumbs and fancies a go, pop on down and get your hooks wet!

Our Best Cat Before August competition got off to a flyer last weekend. First off, Ricky caught this sweet 38lb 5oz until from Anaconda, but the very next day Mark’s boy here just edged by it with a 39lb 1oz lump - also from Anaconda - but he was too small to hold it, so his Dad did the photo honours instead!

Both great fish, but still very beatable - so get out there and see what you can pull out!

And we have a new lake record! Frank’s 6lb 2oz Tench here is one of the nicest fish we’ve seen out of here in a while! Good work, fella!

Your Bank Holiday weekend alerts!

We have an open match at the weekend (Sunday 25 May) if you’d like to come and join in. The draw is at 8am, so if you’ve not entered before but fancy it, come and say hello to Stan, Marco and the crew and give it a go!

This means that the bottom end of the lake will be out of service for pleasure anglers. So if you just fancy a day’s regular fishing, get in early to ensure a swim.

As for the Cat Lake, the whole thing is booked out for Saturday (24 May), and possibly Sunday morning. But there may be one or two swims available on Anaconda if you get in early.

Apart from that, at this point, the long weekend is yours!