Our year started off on the 3rd of March with a couple of lads from Kent catching 23 cats including 6 over a ton, a very promising start considering the water temperature was only 5.5 degrees on day one but it did rise to 7.5 by the end of the week. The water temp continued to rise up to 13 degrees by the end of the third week, during which time we had a few ton plus fish to 132lb. But at the beginning of the fourth week the wind increased considerably and changed to a north / north westerly straight off the Pyrenees which kindly brought along some snow on the 28th March reducing the water temp back to 7.8. Now the last week of March was our best week of the year for 2002 (116 cats 10 ton+) and 2003 (164 cats 30 ton+) this year with the sudden drop in temp we only had 22 cats 2 ton plus Inc. a 140lb to Geoff Neville. Total for month 75 cats 12 tons

During April and the first half of May the water temp was between 7 and 9 degrees lower than 2003 and the fishing was quite hard at times, so now looking back on the results for April I was somewhat surprised to see that we had a better than last year by having far more ton plus fish. Total for the month 172 cats 32 tons.

 The cats have spawned the first week May for the last three years but with the cold water this year they did not spawn until the end of the second / start of the third week. Not only were they not spawning they were not feeding either, we only had 13 cats in the first 11 days of May. Once the cats had spawned they came on the feed big style and by the end of the month we had a reasonable return. Total for the month 160 cats 19 tons.

 The good fishing continued in June now that the water had warmed up, with the first week giving us our second highest return of 19 ton plus fish. Now the fishing remained good but around this time the number of anglers drop off why? is it because its too hot or maybe the wife or girlfriend wants a summer holiday by the beach, what ever there is still good fishing to be had. Total for the month 194 cats 40 tons.

Mid summer can be very hot, but the sun lovers can still catch good fish. this year we only had one guide for the school holidays I went home to look after my son. We had two or three anglers each week throughout the summer. From late June to early August the water level drops about 25ft and the banks can be a bit muddy.

July 46 cats 7 tons

August 78 cats 12 tons

Late August early September sees early evening thunder storms develop putting fresh water into the system. This fresh water seems to really stir up the smaller cats and some large catches can be had. As the September moves on the catches decline but the number of bigger fish increases. Total for the month 152 cats 28 tons

We started a heavy pre-baiting programme (with halibut pellets) in selected swims on the top lake for carp fishing. My son Jonny fished for a week over one of the baited areas at the beginning of October and had 3x30's and 25x20's a carp of 23lb was taken by a catfish during the fight, left it badly marked. He also had a cat of 95lb on pellets in only 2ft of water. Catfishing steady but no big catches. Total for the month 155 cats 30 tons

First week November catting continued steady, but the second week was almost one continuous storm dropping the water temp from 13 to 6 degrees in three days, it resulted in our first two guided blankers (week), one of them did manage to lose four fish. Yes you guessed it the morning they leave it’s dead calm and the following week fished its head off. We had two groups of three carp anglers fishing for three days each and two catfishing for a week, between them they had 64 carp 39 twenties 8 thirties and 46 catfish of which 10 were over a ton, up to 145lb. In fact catfish anglers last day was our best result of the year, fishing with three hair rigged pellets on a 1/0 they had 17 carp to 28lb and 15 cats to 116lb. Total for the month 79 cats 16 tons

Our year ended with two Americans who caught 32 catfish, seven over a ton also up to 145lb and a new best carp of 42lb with several 30's and plenty of 20's. Not bad fishing for December. Total for the month 32 cats 7 tons