Hartleylands Farm Fishery, Finches Pond. April 3rd, 2005.

Watching the weather forecast last night before Match of the Day, Maria remarked “Looks like being nice tomorrow, Why don’t you pop out fishing?”

Well no further invitation was needed, so 7am saw me loading the tackle into the car. I had decided to go down to Hartleylands Farm, as with 8 different lakes & ponds you can normally find somewhere to fish on even the busiest day. Well on arrival 6 of these were booked for matches, just leaving a choice of 2 of the smaller ponds, Finches & Woodside.


I popped up to Finches and with only 3 other anglers fishing at the far end settled on a swim to the right of peg 7. This is the narrowest point, being just 8mtrs to the far bank.

Bait owing to the unplanned nature of the trip, was to be whatever was in my holdall, which was 4mm & 6mm GOT Baits expanders and sweetcorn.

The rig was simplicity itself, an eyed series2 fox match, knotless knotted to 2½ft of 0·17 Carpteck with a Drennan Carp1 cocked with a no6 and a no10 dropper.

An underarm flick with a pinch of 4mm pellets and 6 grains of corn primed the swim and off I went. Within a couple of minutes the float slid away and a gentle lift contacted the 1st fish of the day which proved to be a fighting fit Mirror Carp of around 2½lbs.

The pattern continued for most of the session, the disruption caused by each fish necessitating refeeding and a patient wait till the next found the bait. Around 11am an angler who had set up next to me on peg 6 came round for a chat as he couldn’t buy a bite.
I ended up giving him one of my identical rigs and some corn, but for him it was not to be and he packed up at 1pm without so much as a bite.

I carried on getting fish probably every 15mins, and when I decided to pack up at around 2pm, the obligatory ‘Last Cast’ produced the best fish of the session at around 6lb.

A nice finish to an unplanned session with 21 carp for around 50lb+ of fish on a sunny spring day.

Monk Lakes Fishery. Puma Lake. March 28th, 2005.

I had arranged a day out with Dave Collier today which led to us meeting up in the car park at Monk’s just after 7·30am. The 1st thing on the agenda was breakfast, kindly paid for by Dave. Duly fortified we made our way down the left hand side of Puma Lake and selected a couple of swims for ourselves, in fact Dave ended up in the same swim that Andy (The Hat) had fished when we visited last December at Simon’s invitation.

Dave and I both set up our poles to fish at around 11mtrs which offered a comfortable 4½-5ft of water. Feed wise Dave elected to cup in hemp while I adopted a loose feed approach with pellet, maggot and a few grains of corn.

Almost straight away small Chub found our baits taking them on the drop, so a quick delve into my winder tray found a margin dibber rig more suited to Carp that was added to a top kit with green dual core (6-10) And I soon had some more small Chub on double maggot fished 2ft deep.

What we really wanted was to get amongst the better fish so back onto the bottom rigs and Dave soon had something a little better pulling back, which resulted in……


………….A Goldie for Dave.
Soon we were getting amongst the Skimmers and small Tinca’s while still attracting a few Chub, Most of my Tench were of the usual green variety but occasionally one of the Goldies would put in an appearance to brighten things up for me too.


Don’t mention the Goldies to The Hat.
Around noon Simon (The Monk) and his good lady appeared for a chat, and while we chatted away Simon decided to have a go with my gear…

Well he may have bred every fish in the lakes, but they obviously decided that being netted by him once was enough, so shut up shop and refused to bite for him.

Throughout the morning a few of the larger Carp had been cruising around, in fact earlier one had cruised past Dave’s feet in the margins and despite Dave hanging a bait in front of it, it had carried on its merry way.

Well as Dave and I stood chatting, having said farewell to Simon, one cruised into the margin of my peg, I threw a few grains of corn in front of it and it went straight down for them. Grabbing my up in the water rig and hooking a grain of corn on I dropped it in only to see the Carp suck it in straight away. STRIKE and it’s on and it’s then I remembered that it’s only a light elastic. Thankfully it was more of a plodder than a turbo nutter and 5 mins later Dave is doing the honours with the net.
It looked to have a little bit of damage so rather than weigh it I slipped it straight back, as we both agreed that it was probably a scraper double.

 

The afternoon wore on and I stuck to corn for hook bait and feed. I managed another 5 small carp in amongst the Tench and Chub that kept coming at regular intervals.

Typical Puma stockie.

while Dave managed a few more Goldies and Skimmers among the ever present Chub.
4pm saw us call it a day as a cool wind sprung up. All in all a most enjoyable day in good company, with things looking good for the Southern Friendly MD’s match in May.

Framfield Fishery. Spring Lake. March 13th, 2005.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well stupidity overcame common sense this morning, as instead of just rolling over and staying under a nice warm duvet cuddled up with the wife when the alarm went off at 6am, I got up and decided to give it a go on my club’s match.

 So at 7am there I was loading the tackle into the car for the drive down to Framfield Lakes just outside the village of Uckfield. Frost on the car didn’t bode well, and the frost on the surrounding countryside got heavier as I approached the venue.

On arrival more disappointment entered the equation as the onsite catering wagon was closed, so no hot cuppa or bacon sarnie to start the day.

Now there are about 7 pegs you don’t really want to draw as you can’t reach the islands from them, so of course I drew peg 60 which is probably as far away from an island as it’s possible to get. Out came the waggler, while the next peg set up a bomb rod, so between us we would see if anything was about. I also set up 4 sections of pole to target a dead reed bed in the margin to my right.

10am and all-in was called, and after an hour the waggler had produced just a couple of tiny Roach, while next door hadn’t had a touch. Also a cold crosswind had sprung up ruining presentation, so it was pole time. Targeting a small gap about a foot square between the reeds, it was a question of feeding 4 grains of corn and fishing a single grain till a bite or fish arrived.

Well apart from watching those fishing to the island catching, I actually managed to winkle a few small Carp out and at the final whistle managed to put a level 19lbs on the scales which was enough for 6th place on the day.

So hard work in the cold and wind, but given the limitations of my peg on the day I was reasonably happy with the result.

Horsham Lake. Upchurch. February 13th, 2005.

Hawthorne AC club match.

Well I have to say that not for the first time I was doubting my own sanity this morning as I loaded the kit into the car. A near gale force wind and rain didn’t bode well for a club match on a venue that was new to me.
The venue in question is called Horsham lake, just outside the village of Upchurch in Kent. Nothing out of the ordinary, holding around 35 pegs, but a tad exposed as it’s situated about a mile inland from where the River Medway enters the Thames Estuary.

Into the draw bag and Peg 5 was mine for the day, and by now the wind was gusting to Gale Force. Thankfully the wind was blowing onto my back, and there was a small island in front of me at 14mtrs.
Peg 5

The picture below shows the view behind me, not a lot of shelter and the next stop is the Thames Estuary!!!!

Plumbing up revealed 3ft all the way across, not a dip nor a hump to be found anywhere, but with the wind behind me at least I could fish the pole across. I had been told that it was mostly small stuff with Carp and Rudd in the majority, so I started as light as I could with single maggot on a 20 to begin with.

I have a digital thermometer that I take with me and the water temp was 6°C but the air temp at the 10am start was only 4·5°C and by midday it had dropped to just 2°C.

Keeping it tight was the name of the game, just 12 maggots in a T-Pot at the start, with another 4 after every bite or fish, kept just enough interest going with the odd small Carp and Rudd visiting the keepnet at regular intervals.

All around anglers were struggling to cope with the conditions with those on the opposite bank finding the pole an impossibility to fish in the conditions, indeed 4 packed up rather than risk hypothermia, while the rest resorted to feeder rods.

Just after 1pm we were treated to snow and hail. This caused 3 more of the lads to pack up, but with the odd fish still coming I stuck it out till the whistle at 3pm.

Round came the scales and I was pleasantly surprised to see 23lbs 2ozs register on the scales.

Back to the car park and I found that I’d finished 3rd, second beat me by an ounce while 1st was a further 6lbs in front. Still a nice little brown envelope for me, hard earned but very welcome.

Tanyards Lakes. The Tench Pond. January 3rd, 2005.

First outing of 2005.

I don’t know about you, but the 1st trip out of the New Year is one that I always look forward to, so that when Dave the Fish sent me a PM asking if I would like to join him and Colin for a session at Tanyards Lakes, a water that I hadn’t visited before, I was only to pleased to accept.

Leaving home at 6·30am to meet up I noticed it was quite mild, 8°C according to the car thermometer. However as we got closer the temperature dropped, till on arrival it said only 3°C with a heavy frost on the ground and cat ice in the margins of the lakes.

The decision was made to fish the Tench Pond, as both Dave and Colin had fished it previously, and they reckoned that it didn’t contain any of the large Carp that are present in most of the lakes, and which Tanyards is renowned for.

As we unloaded the kit, the bailiff appeared, so we paid our day tickets and got some info that the end nearest to the car park was fishing the best. We also spoke to a Carp Angler who was just packing up after a 3 day session, who had only had one run (from an 8lb Bream)

Well by the time I got to the pond, Colin and Dave had claimed the 2 swims at the bottom end either side of a dead reed bed, so being the youngest I wandered up to the opposite end where there was another dead reed bed.

With no large Carp and a good head of silvers allegedly, I set up on the pole, finding an even 2½ft of water everywhere, so fed 2 swims, the 1st at 11mtrs straight out into open water, the 2nd into a gap in the reeds to my left. Bait was either single or double maggot and all feeding was with a small T-pot with just a pinch of micro pellet and 4 or 5 maggots each put in.

With such shallow water coupled with the heavy frost, I wasn’t expecting any action to begin with, although Colin was soon of the mark with a couple of fish including a nice Perch weighing 1lb 6ozs.

My first bite came from the open water swim and resulted in a nice Roach of around 12ozs, and was followed around 10mins later by a Bream  of around 2lbs.

1st Fish of 2005

At this point we adjourned to the lodge with its wood burning stove for breakfast and a mug of hot tea.

Suitably fortified we returned and Dave was among the Perch as well, one of them a new P.B. for Dave at 2lbs.

My 1st fish from the reed swim was a small golden Carp of about 2lbs, and by alternating between the 2 swims I managed to keep the fish coming regularly nearly all day. Variety was the catch word, with Roach, Rudd, Bream, a Crucian, various ornamentals, Tench and even a humble Gudgeon making up my catch.

   

   

My best fish of the day was a Tench of 2lbs 15ozs ............

My total bag must have been close to 30lbs, which was a lovely way to get 2005 off the mark .
Thanks to Dave and Colin for the company, It certainly won’t be my last visit to Tanyards.