Angling Lines Blog

A session with Paul Cooper & Paul Brookes on Molyneux last Spring (March 2011).

Full article here.

Well finally our first year at Molyneux is drawing to a close. Helen and I are busy making ready to head back to the UK to spend Christmas and the New Year with friends and family.

It has been a fantastic experience, one which we wouldn’t have swapped for the world. We have worked very hard to make Molyneux into the sort of venue that we would like to visit ourselves. We have shed blood sweat and tears in the attempt, and would like to think we have made some major headway. There is still work we want to do, and in truth were we here for another twenty years I am sure there would still be more to do. That though is the beauty of the job, it is and always will be a work in progress. The lake itself is a stunningly beautiful place, as those that have visited will testify. Our aim is simply to enhance that natural beauty and make improvements where we can. continue reading…

Molyneux in its Autumn colours

The Molyneux bailiff, Wally, tells us about an October overnighter;

It has been rare this year for the lake to be devoid of anglers, so when recently I found myself with the lake to myself it was too good an opportunity to miss. We were busy strimming brush and cutting down trees around the place so most nights I was absolutely shattered, but I managed to squeeze in a quick overnighter.

The weather over here in Normandy has been similar to that which you have been experiencing back home at least in the South East. The wind was a relatively warm Southerly, and the willows around the lake were swaying slowly in time with the sound of the ripples pushing into the edge of the swim. I set up in the double swim, one of my favourites on the lake as it allows you to cover so much water, with the island margins in front of me and open water to my left I was spoilt for choice. I decided to put one bait out toward the corner where two island meet, a spot I had enjoyed some success from before. After a cast of approx 95 yds, I felt the lead land on firmish ground. A kd rig formed the trap baited with a 15mm Ghurka Spice boilie. I topped this up with approx 30 more boilies scattered around the general area.

My second rod was cast to the far margin to my left, again a Ghurka Spice with a small pva bag of broken and whole boilies. Again approx 30 boilies followed it out to the mark.

My last rig went further left into open water, approx 80yds, I spodded approx 2kg of hemp and Maize over this area, and added another 30 Gurka’s to the mix.

I settled back with a cold stubby, and enjoyed the last of the daylight watching herons and our resident Great Egret stalking their prey down at the shallow end of the lake. continue reading…

Indian Summer at Molyneux

We have now been re-open since the end of August a little over four weeks and I thought it prudent to report on the weed situation as I would hate the fact that we had a problem this year to put off prospective guests to the lake from booking next year.

I can almost positively assure everybody the weed problem we encountered this year at Molyneux  was a one off. The lake has suffered from small areas of weed in the past, in specific areas. This has never caused the lake to close, nor any swims to be unavailable to fish. It normally occurs on a four year cycle, and lasts for approx eight weeks before dying back completely.

It is an unusual weed, one that I have never encountered before. It came from absolutely nowhere following a very hot sunny period during May and June when the water level dropped. One week there was no sign at all, then the following week it literally exploded and put Jacks swim out of commission. Over the next week or two the rest of the lake quickly became affected at such a speed we were powerless to do anything about it.

Thankfully it has died and cleared as quickly as it appeared and each and every day over the last few weeks there has been less and less. At this moment in time, all swims are now re-open and fishable without any problem apart from Jacks swim which I have left closed as a precaution due to it being shallow water in front of it, and patches of weed still visible when drifting across in the boat.

We at Molyneux were extremely honest with all of the anglers booked on and did not try to hide the problem, we kept all customers informed via telephone or email leading up to their trip, and when we took the decision as anglers ourselves that the weed was a serious issue and decided very sadly to close the lake to guests to give us a chance to clear it. We did so purely with Anglers in mind. No customers lost their holiday as Angling Lines worked hard to relocate each and every one to an alternative lake of their choice.

In the five weeks since we re-opened we have enjoyed a very good September anglers visiting during this time.  Between them they have caught a total of 112 fish, including Carp, Grass Carp and Catfish. Of those 43 have been thirties, and 5 have been forties. A very good average weight and all fish are in Stunning Condition.

The weed is not a problem we expect to see back at the lake during the remainder of our tenure, and I hope I have gone some way to reassure all those thinking of visiting us next year that whatever happens your holiday is safe. We are anglers, and we are totally honest in all our dealings. If there is the slightest hint of a reoccurrence of the problem then you will be first to know.

Regards, Wally

A very wet Sid with his 33lb Mirror