With my colleague Józsi Ács we usually plan our summer sessions on mine lakes as in this type of deep water the heat is much more bearable, and the fish are more active. The water of these lakes is fresher and cooler thanks to the depth and the springs flowing out from the ground.
I’d been here a few times before, but back then I only had my spinning tackle with me as the lake has an excellent stock of perch. During my predator sessions, I walked around huge areas on the shore and saw lots of swims which seemed suitable for our nearly 1 week-long trip. Later I visited the lake again with Józsi to shoot a film. We arrived at peg 12. The weather was extremely hot, and the heat lasted until the end of our trip. We set up our camp and tackle in the early morning. Using boats is of course allowed on the lake, therefore we decided to place our rigs on the spots by boat. Using boats was useful also because the bottom of the lake was full of depressions and humps. With the help of a fish finder we quickly located a good spot, which we marked with an H buoy. We found mussel beds around many humps. Mussel is the natural food source for carp, however, it makes angling fairly difficult during playing the fish as the shells can easily cut the line. For this reason, we decided to play each fish from the boat. We’d been told that, besides carp, there was also a huge number of grass carp living in the lake, so when feeding, I tried to use ingredients that were suitable for both species. The Gold series is one of the best products for this purpose. I mixed together some Gold particle mix and boiled boilies then poured some Gold Groundbait on it. I also hair rigged Gold baits: a 24mm boiled boilie for one of the feeds and a 12mm pop-up for the other one.
Not only can we fish on the lake, there is also a quality beach in front of our peg, with plenty of opportunities to do water sports. I placed my further buoy near one of the wakeboard poles, where the water was approximately 5 m deep. Józsi and I were thinking that we would probably have our first bite in the evening when the water was cooler. However, the fish thought otherwise. Despite the long distance, the first take was intense. After an exciting fish playing I landed my first Lupa carp.
It seemed that the Gold feeding and baits worked well. The 24-mil boilie brought good results within a relatively short time. We were surprised at the number of bites we had. We went on the water to play the fish in turns. One fish came after another until evening and then the alarms remained silent.
We redid our rods at the crack of dawn. We didn’t have any reason to change our feed or baits. It’s worth highlighting that all the fish we caught were in excellent condition. When playing 6-7 kg specimens we thought that they were over 10 kg fish. We could see that the fish love it there, as they live in a water of excellent quality with plenty of natural food source. Most of the time we used all 4 buoys and the fish were coming continuously. We often had double bites with Józsi. To be perfectly honest we had a feeling of déjà vu on the second day of the trip as we were playing fish one after another just like on the first day. The carp and grass carp living in Lupa didn’t let us rest! The heat lasted until the afternoon when some cirrostratus arrived. The gloomy weather, however, didn’t disturb the fish at all. Grass carp were especially active. We held quite a few specimens above the cradle.
We’d been catching fish continuously until we retrieved our rigs from the water. We landed numerous carp and grass carp during these days. Unfortunately, we couldn’t catch any real big ones even though we’d tried to select by changing the size of our hookbait and the place of our rig. I would recommend visiting this lake to everyone. Nevertheless, you should be very prepared in order to find the right spots and play the fish humanely.
Information:
The gravel pit lake is situated in the picturesque environment of the Pilis next to the M0 ring road and main road 11 around Budakalász. The formation of the lake can be dated at the 1940s and lasted until 2012. Due to mining a 90 hectare-big area was created. Water depth varies between 1,5-10m. The bottom is full of depressions, humps, flat areas, ditches, and mussel beds. There are also numerous snags under the water.
Only Catch and Release!
Daily tickets:
Adult (12 hours): 3.000 HUF // Adult (24 hours): 6.000 HUF
Weekend pass (60 hours): 12.000 HUF // Weekly pass: 35.000 HUF
Other types of extension ticket are also available!
Rules:
Local ticket can be issued only with a valid state license and an official document with a photo. Camping in the area is allowed only after discussing it with the fish officer. Every angler shall use a carp cradle of good quality. The cradle shall be wet when placing the fish on it. It is compulsory to use a landing net with a thick and wide mesh. It is compulsory to use fish care liquids. Fishing is allowed from the shore, pier, or boat within the marked sectors. (Only spinning is allowed on boat in the specified season and area.) Anglers can, however, place their rig on the spots by boat.
Written by Norbert Paál
Photos: Norbert Paál, József Ács, Gergely Farkas
Translated by Mihály Köntös