A Bonus Day....

Willow Park Fishery, Youngs Drive, Ash Vale, Farnborough, GU12 6RE
Stock Pond and Small Lake

Luke has had me working down south this week and had planned to get at least one day on the bankside but the only fisheries I could find around Dorking, where I was staying, were really pricey compared to what I am used to paying.  One wanted £15 for a day ticket but I suppose the prices reflect the area and Dorking is right at the heart of the stockbroker belt, so I shouldn't have been too surprised.  My last job of the week was in Farnborough, an area I know quite well after working for a company based down there, and I knew that there were a few coarse fisheries in the area.  A quick search online and I had a few to choose from and quickly decided on trying Willow Park Fisheries after having had a look at their website.

http://www.willowparkfishery.co.uk/

I decided that I would check out of the hotel early(ish) on Thursday morning and head over there and spend the day fishing before heading off to Farnborough for my last job of the week and then home, back to Birmingham afterwards.

The weather didn't seem to want to play along with my plan and looking out of the hotel room window it was misty, grey and damp.  I checked the fishery website again and had a look at the weather link they have on there which was predicting cloud with a little sunshine breaking through and a temperature of around 9 or 10c.  Hopefully this grey miserable weather was confined to the Surrey Hills and things were brighter elsewhere, so I got my stuff together and set off, but after negotiating the delights of Guildford my hopes were dashed as I made my way along the top of the Hogs Back, a well known part of the North Downs, in fairly heavy mist.  The realisation that the weather wasn't going to improve didn't deter me, I was going to have a good day however drab the conditions were because as Billy Connolly said once, "There is no such thing as the wrong weather, just the wrong choice of clothes".

I arrived at Willow Park around 10.00am, and parked up on the large car park adjacent to the Small Lake and made my way into the site Bait & Tackle shop.  Now this is where I got my first surprise, how they manage to get so much tackle and bait into such a small space is beyond my reasoning and I was faced with floor to ceiling shelving containing just about anything that an angler, especially a carp angler, would need.  There were pellets, boillies, groundbaits, additives of various types and flavours, colourful displays of floats for both rod and poles, wagglers, stick floats, artificial baits, rigs, hairlines, hooks and main line, in fact it may be easier to list what they didn't have.  The shop can't be any bigger than 25 foot square and just how they have managed to get so much kit in there and keep it looking as ordered and tidy is, like I said, beyond me. All I could think as I looked around was that Damian and Richard would run the risk of coming away from there completely broke if they were to visit.

I nicked this from the fishery website but there is more tackle in the shop now

Bream

The owner came from the cafe and after explaining that I was still a novice angler he suggested that I should start off on the small stock pond where he could guarantee I would be busy if I fed little and often.  I bought a pint of mixed maggots, paid my £10.50 for one rod and set off for the little pond next to the cafe and bait shop which the website described as being ideal for children and beginners and which held carp, roach, bream, crucians, perch & the odd chub.  Now as many of you will be aware from previous posts, I try to learn something new every session I have on the bankside and today was no exception.  In my eagerness to get set up and start fishing I failed to notice the rope strung out across the lake which the aerator was attached to and now I had limited myself to fishing in just one small area of the pond.  I really should have looked around and noticed the obstacles in front of me, so a valuable lesson learned.  I could have moved but I just wanted to start fishing so stayed where I was and I set up the float rod with a loaded waggler float and three No 9 Stotz on the line with a Size 20 hook.

The best of the roach

After my last two sessions I wasn't expecting much to happen but the owner had said that if I feed little and often then he could guarantee I would be busy and he wasn't wrong.  In two and a half hours I had bagged up 15 skimmers, 11 roach, 1 small crucian carp and 1 bream.  Not huge fish and the majority were less than 1 ounce, but the sight of the float tip dipping below the surface was fantastic, especially after my previous outings.  I had missed that rush of adrenaline you get when you know you have a fish on and it felt brilliant.  I had planned on having the morning on the Stock Pond and then moving over to the Small Lake and getting the feeder rod out, so I decided to move over and try my luck on there.

The weather hadn't improved at all and the temperature was around 8 C, but it felt colder and I was in need of a cup of tea and sandwich.  I moved my gear over and found myself a nice corner peg which gave me a nice area to fish into, avoiding the two carpers who were fishing two pegs away on my left and right.  I hadn't heard their alarms going off through the morning and had wondered if the carp here were going to be as hard to tempt as they were at Makins or Friezeland.  Before setting my feeder rod up I had to get something warm in my belly and so I went into the cafe and had a lovely bacon and sausage cob made by Mrs. Orford and a very welcome cuppa.

After warming myself up I set up the feeder and made my first cast into the lake which the website said held carp, tench, crucians, bream, perch, roach & the odd chub.  I had 6lb main line with a free running swim feeder and a Size 16 hook on a 4lb lead.  I had put a float stop on the line to prevent the feeder from catching on the snap swivel and I was ready.  I packed the feeder with maggots and made my first cast.  There was no wind and the water was very calm so hopefully I wouldn't keep thinking there was some movement on the tip and keep striking for no reason.  I settled down in my chair and waited....and waited....and waited.  The bloke to my right had packed up so this opened up more of the lake for me, but there didn't seem to be much action anywhere.  Two blokes across from my seemed to be busy but the were fishing on the float and I started to question whether I had made a mistake and should change back to the float rod.

Just as I was about to make the swap the tip of the rod started bouncing around, maybe I was being a bit premature on making the change.  I waited to see if there was any more movement but it had stopped for now, though I was sure it would not be long before I was going to catch.  I am a bit of a nightmare for not sticking to one area if I don't catch and will cast into different areas looking for that first bite and this really isn't the best way to fish and I really should have more patience and stick with an area.  With this in mind I thought I would clip my line this time so as long as I got within a certain area, I would be in roughly the right place for the bait I had already put out on the bottom.  I clipped up at about 30 to 40 metres out and looked to the far bank for something to aim for on my next cast so I had both the length and direction to cast to every time.

I had been fishing this peg since 1pm and I had to leave for my job in the town by at least 4.15pm so I didn't have too long left to get a bite but I continued to keep casting out to my chosen area and build up the base of bait that would be crawling around on the lake bed and hopefully attracting some carp or ideally a nice tench.  I've only ever caught one tench before and I have heard that they are feisty little things that fight as hard as a carp.  There was more movement on the tip of the rod so I knew something was out there and must be knocking the line as it scoffed all of the freebies.

I looked at my phone to check the time and it was 3.30pm, I had 45 minutes before I had to start packing up and then leave when suddenly the tip of the rod bent round and started bouncing.  I was in !!!!!....I picked up the rod and struck the line and knew straight away I had something decent on.  The fish started heading towards the bank to my left and I had to get it back in front of me because there was a small bank on the left with a few bushes on it.  If I let the fish get there I would struggle to land it and so I had tighten the clutch up a little to put a bit of resistance on the line and try to drag the fish to where I wanted it and not where it wanted to go.  I could hear Damian, Luke and Richard in my head telling me to do this, that or the other as I fought the fish and tried to remain calm and not rush things and have the fish snap me off.  After about two or three minutes I could see the fish on the surface and got my landing net ready to scoop it up in.  It was a wonderful golden colour and the scales really stood out as I finally got it into the safety of the net.  When I got it onto my unhooking mat it put up a bit of a struggle as I got the hook out of it's mouth and you could feel the power of the fish, it was just a lump of solid muscle.

Carp from the Small Lake

The picture doesn't do this fish justice, it was thick around the body and the colours really popped a rich golden bronze kind of colour and weighed in at 5lb on my scales.  However because you have to dip your landing mat (and net) before starting to fish my mat was waterlogged so I took off half of a pound and settled on 4.5lbs.  I was really pleased with the catch and it had made my day.

Time came for me to leave and as I was making my way back to the van Mr. Orford, the owner, came out of the bait shop and asked how it had gone.  I got talking to him about the fishery and he told me that the Big Lake has been producing some big carp which are averaging between 15 and 23lb regularly and that they had recently had a 30lb carp out of there.  I told him that Richard and Damian like to fish either 24 or 48 hour sessions and he said that there was a £5 deposit for night fishing on the Big Lake but as long as people call up and pre-book a night session with 7 days notice this is refundable, so a 24 hour session would cost just £20 for two rods and a 48 hour session would cost £37.  The website has a list of other longer sessions that people can fish if they wish.

What struck me was that this is a fishery owned and run by anglers for anglers and that the fish are well cared for which is reflected in the condition of them.  The silvers I caught were very bright with good scale patterns and no damage to them and the carp was in brilliant condition.  It makes a change for a fishery to be just a fishery, lots are located on farms and make up just part of the day to day business so the facilities are nowhere near as good as they are at Willow Park.  Proper toilets, an exceptionally well stocked bait and tackle shop and a great cafe with the usual favourites on the menu all contribute to making any anglers day out more pleasurable and Willow Park does just that.....I had a great time.  From now on I am going to be rating my experiences at fisheries with carp like the star system they use on fancy restaurants so today Willow Park becomes the first to be rated and I will award them top marks and they are the first 5-Carp fishery.

A fantastic fishery, friendly staff and brilliant fish.....I did tell Mr. Orford that my only criticism is that they are not closer to Birmingham and I will definitely be returning.....

See you on the bankside.....

Early Spring Adventures...

Saturday 5th March 2016
Makins Fishery, Bramcote, Warwickshire
Lake 1, Phase 1

The first outing of the PIDs Fishing Club of 2016 saw us heading over to Makins Fishery, in Warwickshire, a fishery that is used as a qualifier venue in the Sky Sports "Fish 'O' Mania" competition, and regarded as one of the best fisheries in the UK.  With 18 pools spread out across three phases we had plenty to choose from but the chat on the fishing forums was that Lake 1 on Phase 1, was the best for lots of action from the big carp which would satisfy the requirements of Damian and Richard, and loads of silvers coming out for John, Luke and myself to catch.  It promised to be a very interesting and productive day if the websites were to be believed.

The decision to fish here was very quickly taken and everyone began reading up on the venue, what tactics would work, what baits were proving to be a hit with the fish and it would be fair to say that there was a little bit of excitement in the air as we all looked forward to a day out.  Following my last session when I had got just about everything wrong I wasn't going to take any chances with bait choice and took along 2 pints of mixed maggots, two tins of luncheon meat, one tin of sweetcorn, half a loaf, hemp seeds for loose feeding and some extra mature cheese that I raided from my fridge.  The fishery has a sponsorship deal with Dynamite Baits, so you could only use their feed pellets which were available from the bait shop on site, so armed with all of my supplies and cash for pellets I was sorted.

A trip to the bankside with this lot is always guaranteed to be memorable and today was no different for me.  I had started out at about 06.30, to make the 45 minute journey down to Junction 2 of the M6 at Coventry, before heading the few miles around the Warwickshire countryside to the lakes.  I don't know if anyone else experiences this but whenever I go away with work or out for the day, I get a strange feeling that I have left something behind in the house, and over the years when I get this feeling I trust my gut feeling.  I was aware of this niggling sense as I drove down City Road heading towards the Aston Expressway at Newtown and knew something was wrong.  I checked the the cab of the van as I drove along, ciggies, check, lighter, check, wallet...bollocks !!!! By now I had gone past the City Hospital and was in deepest, darkest Hockley just about the go past the Birmingham Mint.

I turned around and headed back home to pick up my missing wallet and added an extra 30 minutes to my journey.  Just as I got home Damian rang to make sure I was up and on my way and while chatting with him I noticed that not only had I forgotten my wallet, my fishing chair was still in the porch....DOH !!!!  Once I was all sorted and had checked that I had everything I was on my way again and arrived just on 08.00.

The others were there on the pegs on the bankside and so I settled down in a corner peg and began to set up on the new Maver Abyss X 12' Match rod that my eldest son, Alex had bought me for my birthday.  I was going to use the Middy Pellet Waggler with a lump of cheese on a size 14 hook and see if the bigger carp would fancy a bit of cheese for breakfast.  While I was setting up, John, who was in the peg next to me, came trudging down the bank from the direction of the bait shop with a landing net pole in his hand.  He told me that he had forgotten his landing net and had just parted company with £15 for a net and then found out that the pole wasn't included in the price.  Suddenly my extra 30 minutes seemed like a small price to pay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My view at Makins

There was no action on any rod all morning and I decided to double my chances of catching by getting the feeder rod out and fishing close to the island in case the bigger lumps were hanging out there.  I had a swim feeder free-running on the main line with a size 16 hook on the nylon attached by a snap swivel to the main line.  I packed the feeder with maggots and cast out to a point about two thirds across to the lake.  I had read that bigger roach tend to stay in more open water figured that there may have been some decent sized roach waiting for a maggoty-feast, but there weren't.  Richard came down to see how I was doing and he had a look at my set-up and suggested a change because it was obvious there had been some activity on the hook because the maggots were chewed up but the feeder had snagged the snap swivel and caused me to miss the bite.  He suggested a float stop on the main line to prevent it happening again and to switch to fishing the margins where there may be fish there looking for any freebies thrown in by other anglers.  After making the changes suggested I cast over to the reeds by the empty peg next to me and waited.

 I had decided to change things on the float rod as well and took the pellet waggler was replaced with a loaded waggler float with 3 x No.10 stotz from the Preston Innovations range down the mainline to make the bait fall more naturally and a No. 18 hook with two or three maggots on the hook.  I now started to feed loose hemp along the margins in an attempt to draw the smaller roach and perch from the reeds while I waited.  After about 30 minutes the feeder rod started moving around and pulling i the direction of the reeds and I knew I was in.  I reeled in and there were the familiar sensations of a fish on the line, a sensation I'd missed over the cold winter months and had missed on the last session at Friezeland.  John came down to my peg with is new net, a carp specimen net that must have been around 3 feet wide at the top edge and about 2 1/2 feet on the sides.  He reminded me of the child catcher in Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, as he came round the bank, and soon the roach was in the massive net looking completely lost inside it.

My only catch of the day

 There isn't really anything else to add about the day other than we had rain, sun, snow and a little bit of wind throughout the day as we all sat in the cold waiting for a bite.  John managed to catch a couple, though the first catch was a bit dubious because he was stood wafting Luke's smaller landing net around in front of his peg and the smallest perch I have ever seen got caught up in it.  Like a man possessed he made sure everyone in our group saw his tiddler.  His second catch was more conventional and he reeled in a nice 6oz roach, which again looked completely lost in the cavernous landing net.  That was it for all of us after that and we spent the remainder of the day giving the fish a free feed.

Again I came away having learned some new tactics and picked up a few new tips from the more experienced anglers in the group, so it wasn't a totally wasted trip for me, plus I was out doing something enjoyable with great company.  The worst part of depression for me is how I have cut myself off from people and become very scared in social settings, avoiding them like the plague because I think I am being judged by people.  It doesn't help that I was told by my ex-wife that the friends I had were just using me for their own gains, and you do start to believe it when you're told something often enough.  To my eternal shame I had believed her and the fear of being judged or laughed at grew inside me.  I don't understand why I get so concerned about being laughed at considering I love making people laugh, but again I have always used humour as a shield because I have always felt that if you can make people laugh then they will like you.  This stems from my childhood when I was desperate for my Dad's approval and thought that he must like me if I made him laugh.  He was never the most outgoing of people towards me and I can't remember him ever telling me that he loved me, but I was desperate for him to if that makes sense, and so I became Stu the Joker.

Anyway, enough doom and gloom.  See you on the bankside.....