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Sunday just gone a change from the norm was in order and 4 weeks ago i decided it was time to try lure from a boat so booked up at Blenheim Palace.  The fishfinder was ordered and a few new lures in the vain hope that we could hit into some of the gems of the Palace lake.  The alarm was set for 4am and i was looking forward to what would hopefully be a great day afloat.

I picked up Jon my fishing bud at 5am and set off on the drive to Oxford.  A short and enthusiastic 2 hours later and we drove through the gates to be greeted by our first view of the lake.  The only word i can think to describe this place is ‘wow’.

The boat was loaded and off we went in search of some action!  The fishfinder ( a garmin 140 ) was mounted so we could quickly gauge the depth and the first lure was cast as the sun broke onto the surface from behind the bank hugging tree line.  Wow this place was stunning!

With temperatures around -2 on the journey over and with ice in the top end of the lake we knew it wouldn’t be the easiest of days, and after two hours of plugging we hadnt seen much at all.  The fishfinder led us to some deep spots of 14-15′ at the dam end and had shown signs of fish below the surface but no matter how many variations of lures we had tried nothing was showing a liking to the bait.  We decided to head up towards the other end to see if our fortunes would change.

We rowed for around 15-20 minutes keeping an eye on the depth and decided to work our way along the Palace bank.  Again nothing was obliging and despite there being 7 other boats out we were yet to see any fish taken.

We turned the corner towards the bridge and again were greeted by another stunning view, this lake was extremely pleasing to the eye!  It was just a shame it wasn’t to be an overly productive day.  We dropped the anchor around 10-15m from the bridge and set about our luring regime again.  After two casts of the Spro Ultralight rod ‘bang’… the 2.5″ chartreuse Kopyto had done the business – i was in!  Bang bang bang on the tip and i thought i’d been lucky and hit into a stripey (perch).  Then the fish picked up speed and the banging stopped, the fish rose up and a pike was in the net!  I didn’t bother weighing the little chap but was more than chuffed at landing my first Blenheim fish!  We plugged away in the area for a further 30-45 mins but none of his friends were willing to give chase.

After our success at the bridge we tried various other areas but unfortunately were not to be blessed with anymore fish.  Although this little chap (below) did stop by to say hello, and i have to say i was equally pleased to get such a good picture of a kingfisher as normally when the camera is out they elude me.

All in all it was a great day afloat, the fishfinder worked well and so did the camera.  Hopefully next time and there will definately be a next time there will be more action to the rods.  It wasn’t that we hadn’t tried our damdest we slung everything into the water, but i think with mixed weather on the lead up to our visit and the freezing temps the fish were never going to be over active.  But hey ho that’s fishing.  Fingers crossed we will get back there when the new season opens, and i’ll be sure to post another report and more pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.
Mark