Old Bury Hill Fishery. Milton Lake. August 22nd, 2004.

Hawthorne AC club match.

 Sunday found me making my way down to Dorking for a Hawthorne AC club match on Milton Lake at Old Bury Hill. One of the most popular venues in this part of the country, and the usual suspects turned up along with along with a couple of guests, Omega Mike from TotalFishing.Com and Peter9000uk, both eager to guest and have the chance of getting amongst the Crucians and Tench that the venue is so well known for.

Everything looked lovely at the draw and I found myself with peg 19. (The same as I had drawn in our last club match there)

Peg 19

Shortly after the all in at 9am however, it soon became clear that all was not well, as the fish seemed to have almost entirely switched off. I have never seen this lake fish so badly, whether it was the rainwater that had gone in the previous week, or the couple of cold nights leading up to the match I don’t know, but the half time weigh-in took all of 5 mins as only a couple of anglers had enough to trouble the scalesmen.
Omega Mike decided that the comforts of home were more attractive and left half way through and I can’t say I blamed him. Stiffy, another TotalFishing poster turned up for a short chat as he was fishing the Estate Lake and had a similar tale of woe as all but a couple of pegs on there were struggling too.

I finally managed to extract 4 Crucians and a similar number of Rudd for a grand total of 4lbs 9ozs and 7th place. The winner managing 33lbs 1oz off of peg 4 which is an out and out flyer, but with 3 dry nets and a similar number only weighing in ounces, it was overall a very disappointing day.

Just to add insult to injury walking back to the car park I passed Bonds Lake only to see 7 anglers all playing carp at the same time. How can 2 lakes just 10 yards apart fish so differently on the same day??????

Hartleylands Farm Fishery, Woodside Pond . August 21st, 2004.

It all started with a phone call a couple of weeks ago. “I need to take Fraser fishing, where and when can we go?” 
It was Maria’s brother Chris asking the questions, so Saturday was chosen with the venue being Hartleylands Farm.
Now Chris being Chris, didn’t arrive at my place till just after 9am, so we didn’t arrive at the fishery till just after 10am.

I knew that I could guarantee that they would catch a few fish and with only The Reservoir booked we had our pick of the ponds and lakes. We settled on Woodside Pond which is the smallest of the original ponds on the site with only 5 pegs, it’s tucked away at the back of the fishery and doesn’t get much pressure, but if it didn’t produce the goods it’s only a short hop over to the newer Peartree match lake.

Woodside Pond

Chris and Fraser settled in to peg 5 while I set up on peg 4. Chris set up a small feeder for himself and a light waggler for Fraser, with bait being maggot and corn, while I set up my pole and went with expander pellet as bait.

Father & Son

With a couple of feet in the margins and maybe five feet down the middle it’s nice simple fishing and Chris was soon off the mark with a small Carp. Fraser and I were soon following, me with a Carp and Fraser with his 1st ever Tench.

Chris

Fraser

All day long sport continued with a succession of small Carp and Tench keeping things interesting for both Father and Son. I sneaked over to Peartree for a final couple of hours and found that the bottom must have been carpeted with small Tench, nothing big, with a pounder being a bonus but a fish virtually every put-in.

All to soon, it was time to pack away the gear, and seeing them off from the car park the final site was Fraser’s grinning face looking back and waving. I don’t think it will be to long before they’re back.

Old Bury Hill Fishery. The Estate Lake. August 15th, 2004.

NKHC in the punts at Old Bury Hill.

A most enjoyable day.

Today there's a group of lads from Maggotdrowning.com meeting up at Old Bury Hill fishery just outside Dorking for a social days fishing in the punts on the Old Estate Lake that had been organised by Beebs.

 I was drafted into HMS Pension Book to bring down the average age of the crew, and by the time we set sail it looked more like a naval review moored up in The Jungle so we settled for mooring just off of a reed bed (somewhere around peg 75 where the Island bank meets the edge of The Jungle, for those of you that are familiar with OBH.)

The weather was warm and there was plenty of cloud cover, but recent rain had added a fair bit of cold water to the lake, which didn’t bode well.
Anchored on our port side was HMS Taffy, and Geoff's 1st Perch soon elicited the familiar refrain of “It’s a fish, I haven’t blanked”.

Dave the Fish managed to winkle out a few Skimmers on his jelly pellets, Colin despite ringing the changes bait wise was getting nowhere fast and I resorted to fishing out into open water to snare a couple of better examples of the resident Bream.
The Highlight of the morning however had to be the sight of Jason aboard HMS Bag-up doing battle “Stand up & Fight” fashion with a cracking Carp, A super fish of 26lbs 8ozs at any time, but from a punt, it has to be something special.

With nothing really having it where we were, we upped sticks (in fact the mud weights) and moved across to the island, Dave and Colin fishing towards it and me fishing out into open water again. Colin hit into what was obviously a Carp, and despite doing the hard bit and keeping it out of the undergrowth surrounding the island was unlucky to have the hook pull once the fish was into open water.
I’d managed another couple of Bream when the swim was wrecked by  HMS Bag-up ploughing through bearing a mooning Beebs !! (No photo’s, this is a family blog)

This so traumatised our crew, that at this point we were forced to return to the boathouse for burgers and tea.

Nerves calmed and refreshed we returned to the Island. Sport was slow for myself and Dave, but Colin found a few Perch and silvers while I very briefly connected with a Carp for all of a couple of seconds till the hook pulled.
Almost straight after this Colin connected with another Carp on his double maggot set up and this time despite it putting up a spirited fight, it was in the net. Not up to Jason's standard at 8lbs, but very welcome none the less.

All this commotion having trashed the swim, it was time for one last move round the island, and having settled into a new spot my 1st cast resulted in a positive bite. A brief scrap and a nice Tench which when weighed went 4lbs 4ozs proved to be the final fish for HMS Pension book.

On the row back we passed HMS Taffy who had returned Geoff to port suffering from a bit to much sun.
A final cup of tea and a session feeding the tame Carp under the boathouse (Mr Wilson’s swim?) ended the day. Not the most prolific session, but still a good day out in good company which is what it was really all about.

Yaddlethorpe Ponds. Lincolnshire. August 6th-8th, 2004

Maggotdrowning.com

 Fish-in.

Dave the Fish and I arrived at about 3pm having endured the road to hell that is the A1. (road works & roundabouts) A few of the lads were already fishing, so we decided to set up camp in Maggotville. The 1st challenge was to set up my Defender bivvy that had never been out of its bag, and of course doesn’t come with any instructions!!!!!! Luckily Alan P has a 2 man Defender and was able to supply a few clues as to where everything went.

So all set up and settled in, it was time for a stroll around to see what was on offer. It’s quite strange to find a fishery like this which is essentially set on the edge of an Industrial Estate, but with the heavily wooded surroundings you would never know it. Paths through the woods lead to lots of small ponds and lakes dotted all over the complex, and sitting on the Tench pond I came across Norm and his young son Chris who were busy getting amongst the small Carp & Tench which inhabit it…………………

Carrying on round the complex it was becoming apparent that all the ponds and lakes contained not a lot of colour, in fact the water was amazingly clear, also the lilies had been allowed to run riot and could do with some serious attention. Marginal shelves appeared to be almost non existent, and most of the anglers fishing appeared to have at least 5ft of water just a rod length out.

The Match Lake.

Looking across the Match Lake which is the largest lake on the complex, lots of Carp could be seen cruising around and topping everywhere, although they didn’t seem to be all that interested in feeding. On the way back, I bumped into Dave (Red Leader) who was trying to tempt one of the Carp on a mixer. To say that these Carp were wise to the method would be a bit of an understatement, as they proved to be very well practiced at mopping up the freebies and ignoring the one with a hook in it. Finally dapping a bait in the lilies resulted in a take, but the action proved to be short lived as the hook parted from the line, due it appeared to a poorly tied knot.
The frustrated Stalker.
At this point Beebs finally arrived having also endured the road to hell, and a few of us decided to retire to the local pub (The Mallard) and partake of the carvery and a couple of pints. Returning fully refreshed I couldn’t resist having an hours dabble on the match lake, but with not a single bite and the light fading fast, it was back to base camp to christen the barrel of beer and a bit of banter before turning in for the night.

7am saw myself and Red Leader setting up for a feederfan match on the match lake. To say that sport was fast and furious would be a total lie. A heavy mist that covered the lake at first soon burnt off and we were obviously in for another scorching day.
My 1st bite resulted in an obvious foulhooker that set off for the other side of the lake before the hook pulled. It would be nice to say that everyone bagged up, but a combination of gin clear water, scorching sun and mostly flat calm conditions meant that most struggled on the day. Dave and I ended our session with honours even with 3 Carp each!
My Catch.
Dave the Fish who had spent the day in the swim to my right finished with 6 Carp, all taken on dapped pellet for a total bag that must have approached 30lb.

Graham further up the lake had managed 4 with the best being a nice Common, estimated at around the 15lb mark, while bigladwigan managed to get amongst a few late on fishing casters.
A wander around the lakes during the day found Jeff and Dave Scouse fishing the Scummy pond next to the Tench pond, and merrily baggin up on the stockies, but getting sorted out by some of the larger samples that weren’t meant to be in there!

Saturday night was Barbecue night with hot dogs and burgers all round and another attempt at emptying the beer barrel.
“Deckchair Pants” made sure that the raffle ran smoothly, Well done Haydn.
Then once more it was banter time with discussions ranging from leg length, to gratitude, female attendance at fish-ins, Hovis and various other subjects till midnight.

Sunday morning, and a chance of a final couple of hours before packing up and heading home saw me and Dave the Fish on the scummy pond.

A few small Carp and Tench, with a few better examples to Dave and his dapped pellets made for a pleasant morning.
A chat with me, no I wasn’t talking to myself but me (Simon) and another with bigladwigan as he got himself amongst a few of the small Carp was interrupted when Chris decided to plunge into the pond head first, while Norm to his credit got his priorities right by saving the pole before helping Chris out.
Simon and a small stockie.
Strolling back past the match lake to pack up and Craig (Bashy) was into one on the corner peg and despite a few nervous moments soon had it in the net.

Dave, a couple of swims along was also putting a few into the net, but for us it was time to pack up and get going, Via the M1 this time rather than face the A1.

So there it is for another year, impressions of Yaddlethorpe? Hard to truly judge given the heat wave conditions, but I would say that it needs some serious management to get to grips with the lilies that appear to have run riot and make life very difficult in most swims on all the lakes. A lovely looking venue though that really brings a touch of the countryside to an urban area.

To Dave and Stu, thanks for all your efforts over the course of the weekend once again, and to all those that attended, Thanks for your support. It was great as usual to meet some new faces and catch up with others met at previous Fish-ins once again.
The fishing itself may not have been up to much, but the company and banter was superb as usual.

Framfield Fishery. Spring Lake. August 1st, 2004.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Up with the lark this morning for the drive down to Framfield Park Fishery, just outside the village of Uckfield. The sun was up as I pulled into the car park, promising a second hot day on the trot, Summer must be here at last.

Lots of banter and catching up over a Bacon sandwich and a cuppa as I had missed the last 2 club matches. We were fishing Spring Lake, a noted “bag-up” water down here in the SE, and this had encouraged a good turn out of 23 anglers.

Into the drawbag and it’s the early pegs in the 50′s that everyone wanted, but it was peg 45 for me, not the best of pegs as there’s only a maximum of 3ft of water and the island is out of pole reach at 20mtrs+.

Having already missed 2 club matches and with the prospect of missing at least another 4 during the course of the season, I’ve made up my mind this year to just enjoy the days fishing and I wanted to use today to try and get to grips with fishing paste, a bait that I don’t use very often, and a method that I really need to improve on.

Peg 45.
Plumbing up revealed a change of depth of just 4″ from the margin to 14mtrs and a couple of slurping sounds from the vegetation growing in the left hand margin made my mind up that that would be my main area to fish.

By the time of the all-in there were a good number of fish cruising around but despite a number of anglers targeting them they seemed reluctant to feed. Meanwhile I was sitting on my hands and trying to resist hitting every little dip and dink of the float as hordes of little Roach descended on my paste.
An hour in and the float just buried and the elastic ripped out of the pole as Carp no1, a nice Ghostie of about 3lbs got me off the mark.

The next few hours were what you might call character forming!!!
Lots of tail patterns in the swim with apparent sail away bites being nothing more than liners. Fiddling with the rig and laying about 6″ of line on the deck and cutting back the feed meant that I managed another 9 fish, so that with just over an hour to go I probably had about 25lbs in the net.

Meanwhile news was traveling down that a couple of the lads on the 50′s were sacking up and were in with a chance of doing the ton.
Me? I decided to increase the size of paste that I was fishing from a thumbnail piece to a bit the size of a 10p in the hope that the silvers wouldn’t whittle it completely away before the Carp found it.

Well, whether it was sheer luck or inspiration I’m not sure but it certainly did the trick. The last hour was hectic to say the least as nearly every put in resulted in a sail-away bite and a Carp on the end. I couldn’t get a bait in the water quickly enough and I had them queuing up.

When the scales arrived, sure enough 2 of the lads on the 50′s had recorded tons, Paul (The club champ) with 119lbs 11ozs and Andy with a superb 159lbs 3ozs for a new club record weight.
Me? Thanks to that final hectic hour I managed 80lbs 12ozs which proved to be good enough for 3rd on the day.

The 23 members present managed to put a total of 1151lbs 9ozs on the scales today, representing an average of over 50lbs per man, A cracking days fishing by any standards.

Paste then, Have I cracked it? Probably not, but a fun day that got me thinking about my fishing and definitely something that I shall be using on a more regular basis.