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Witch Lake by the unknow fisherman

Hidden deep amongst woods in the Suffolk countryside is a small 5 acre lake that just blows your mind.

Witch lake is a reed lined hole in the ground that is just stuffed full of fish, and not just any fish, yes it has Carp, hundreds of Carp in fact, it has Roach, Perch and the usual other course fish etc, but it also crammed to bursting point with massive Catfish and Sturgeon, yes Sturgeon and big ones too.

After hearing about this day ticket water I decided to give it a go, I had caught small Sturgeon in France, but nothing on the scale of what was lurking in here, and as it is only 90 mins from my house I would be crazy not to.

I arrived at the lake nice and early (0430hrs) and met Bob the bailiff, we walked around the lake for a while as he told me the rules and then he left me to get on with my fishing.

Chunks of Mackerel hair rigged on a size 2 barbless hook were the chosen method, so with my two rods cast out I sat back and waited.

Mid morning saw my first action, a steady run on my left rod and I was into a very hard fighting fish, a tiring 20 minutes and my first Sturgeon was on the mat a magnificent 48lb 12oz specimen, followed 2 hours later by another of 47lb 13oz, What awesome fish these Diamond back Sturgeon were and what a day I had had, I drove home a very happy man reliving it all time and time again.

I couldn't wait to go back and decided to go the following week, I was hoping to break the 50 lb barrier but little was I know just how my next session was to turn out.

I again arrived early and got the point swim favoured by most anglers who arrive to find an empty lake, this swim allows you to cover a lot of open water and also to cast to the reed bed of an island on the far bank.

The lake was full by 0730hrs and the action was real slow, too many lines in the water ?, too much noise ?, whatever the reason, nothing much happened for any of the 10 anglers present, I tried several different approaches, baits and methods to tempt the fish but to no avail.

Amazingly all the other anglers started packing up at around 6pm, crazy I thought as most anglers know dawn or dusk to be the best times of the day for fish feeding spells, by 7pm the lake was empty apart from myself and my friend Roy who had turned up at 5pm expecting to wait until after dark to be able to set up.

We rebaited with the trusty Mackerel chunks and sat back to have a cuppa when suddenly one of my rods screamed into life, I tightened into a good hard fighting fish which kept deep and took what seemed like ages to beat and slide into the net.

I lifted the net and immediately knew it was a very good fish, It was huge and topped the scale at a massive 59lb 13oz, followed shortly after by by another very big fish of 54lb 10oz, I was knackered.

Roy had two fish through the night and broke his PB twice at 50lb 2oz and 52lb 9oz, well done mate......

I managed to catch another 5 fish during the night, 2 Cats at 55lb and 32lb 2oz, and 3 more Sturgeon at 50lb, 49lb and 47lb, the 50lb fish took a surface fished livebait meant for one of the big Cats.

What a nights fishing and I will be going back again for certain when I need to get a bend in the rods after a few blank sessions.