October 2025

With nights getting longer and water temperatures starting to drop, autumn is often a very productive period for anglers as fish often feed with less caution in order to pack on reserves before winter arrives. Gary Taylor has spent two productive sessions pike fishing at Little Paxton that have produced 5 double figure pike topped by a fish of 14lb 9oz. Stuarts Bragg’s recent overnight session at Broom Lake produced a ghost carp of 25lb 14oz. Terry Smith’s recent sessions at The Airman have resulted in six carp in the 14lb-18lb bracket and the highlight was his daughter Lauren landing her first ever catfish of 32lb.

Phil Smith has only recently joined SDAA and had not done any fishing for over a year. Phil’s first ever visit to The Airman produced a 22lb 12oz mirror, and Phil unfortunately lost two more fish. The carp was identified as a fish stocked as a C3 in 2009 at just 6lb, which did not feature in catch reports until 2022 when it was caught at 18lb.

James Turvey spent late summer and early autumn mainly targeting the catfish at The Airman and managed to land numerous catfish across a wide range of sizes. James’s catfish tackle has now been put away until next season whilst he concentrates on other species, so he is now happy to publicise some of his catfish catches. James often dedicated one of his rods targeting the small ‘kittens’ and managed several catfish below 2lb, with his smallest weighing in at just 10oz. At the other end of the scale James also managed to successfully land the largest catfish officially reported from The Airman at 78lb 2oz. James’s daughter Emily also managed a 31lb 3oz catfish during her first night session at The Airman. SDAA members specifically targeting the catfish at The Airman should note that their tackle should be capable of safely landing, unhooking and returning the large resident catfish.