Hunnington Coarse Fishery, Hunnington, Worcestershire, B62 0JX
Mallard Pool
After a disastrous Bank Holiday weekend when I discovered that I had a leak on the central heating system, a ceiling collapse in a cupboard and a faulty gas meter, I was looking forward to losing myself on the bankside for a few hours either through the week when I had no scheduled work or on Saturday or Sunday. I just needed some time to recharge the batteries and indulge myself in a bit of maggot dangling. It was going to be a solo trip because Damian had arranged a weekend climb of Snowdon for work and both he and Luke would be trekking up the mountain. I never feel as confident fishing without the lads with me and even though John and Richard were not going on the walk/climb, it would have been too far for Richard to have come and John's little scooter wouldn't have made it with all of his gear.
I absolutely love this fishery, it was one of the regular haunts from last year and I have learned a lot from fishing there, it is a great place to learn how to fish and has a good regular bunch of anglers who are only too willing to pass on advice, hints or tips. It has a lovely family feel about it which I suppose comes from it being a family run fishery on a working farm. The site has five main pools and unless there is a match on it's very much a turn up and fish wherever kind of place. The only thing you MUST be mindful of is closing the gates because of the sheep that are often in the field grazing. Other than that it's the usual fishery rules that are the same almost everywhere you go.
The weather app on my phone promised sunshine all day, though these apps are sometimes far from accurate, so I decided to venture over for an afternoon next to the water once I had done my household chores. One of the things about living on your own is there is usually just one plate, one cup and one set of knives and forks to wash up so that didn't take too long, I threw a load of work clothes in the washing machine and let that run and generally cleaned up a bit and I was ready. A quick stop at the local Angling Direct on Long Lane, Halesowen, for 2 pints of mixed maggots, 2 bags of 2mm micro pellets, a bag of silver fish groundbait and something I had never used before, a bottle of Halibut flavoured additive and I was ready. I was also going to try out a new approach for larger Carp and bought a can of chick peas and hot chilli powder from the local Tesco Express, to see if that would tempt them to sacrifice themselves for my amusement.
The sun was blazing down when I reached the fishery and made my way down to the pools and there were obviously quite a few who had had the same idea as me but they were all concentrated on the big main pool, so I went into the field with the sheep and had a look at the other two pools in there.
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| Mallard Pool |
The Carp were patrolling the edges and you could see their shadowy shapes just below the surface, but this pool held some big Tench and I wanted one of those if I could get them interested in the maggots with added Halibut flavouring. I set up the feeder rod and cast out to about two rod lengths from the peg and waited. It wasn't long before the rod snapped round and I had to grab it before it was dragged out of the rest and into the water. I didn't have to strike, the fish had hooked itself so it was a case of just keeping a calm head, using the clutch on the reel and bringing the fish in. Whatever I had on the hook, it was putting up a great fight and took me a good 4 or 5 minutes before I got a glimpse of it under the surface. I managed to get my new landing net (if you remember I slammed the van door on my old one on the last trip and snapped the handle) underneath it and hauled it in. It was my first ever Ghost Carp, almost white with the lustre of Mother of Pearl, I had seen them on TV and in books, but to actually catch one and see just how wonderful their colours are was fantastic.
My first fish bought a new PB, nothing huge in terms of weight and I didn't manage to get a photo because I had left my phone in the van, but a very rough estimate (I had no scales) would put it around 2lbs. Over the next hour or so I managed to catch a nice Rudd and a couple more Carp, but it felt as if feeder fishing was going to be slow with the big Carp high in the water. Time for a change, so I set up the Carp rod with the pellet waggler and tried the chick pea approach. At first I had difficulty getting my range with the catapult and overshot the area where the fish were gathering and they disappeared from view for a while. I must have spooked them, so I reduced the length of cast and fed some freebies just in front. Straight away the waggler bobbed under the surface and came straight back up. I reeled in, remembering what I had read in my Steve Ringer Guide to Fishing Commercials, to cast just beyond where I had been feeding in case any fish were hanging back a little, then draw the waggler into the area, thus enabling two chances of catching.
The tactic bought me loads of interest but no fish, the waggler would disappear almost as soon as it hit the water but when I reeled in the chick pea had gone. They had worked out that by taking the bait and giving it a good shake, it was coming off the hook, they're not daft these fish. I had to try another approach so decided to start reeling in almost straight away and hope they would hook themselves as the bait travelled through the water. It worked a few times and I landed another two Carp, around about 3lbs each. The sun was blazing and I was starting to feel my arms burn after nearly 3 hours under its glare and not being a sun worshipper kind of person I was starting to feel a little jaded by it. I thought about packing up but as usual I always have to have 'one last cast'. I tried the same tactic and began reeling in and had almost reached the bank when out of nowhere, a big Carp shot from the depths and wolfed down the chick pea. It set off for the cover of an overhanging tree next to the peg on my left and I had to strike hard to stop it in it's tracks or I would be in tree roots and branches. The line was flying off the reel and I had somehow got a huge tangle hurtling along the rod through the guides. Thankfully the diameter of them didn't stop the tangle from going through them and I decided that the time to worry about it would be later when this fish was in the net.
I had to fight hard to stop it from heading further out into the middle of the pool and just let it tire itself out and just pull it back bit by bit until I could get the net under it. I managed to get it within range of the net but it saw it and made another dash for cover, three times it did this. I'd heard Luke saying before that they got spooked by the sight of the landing net bit had never experienced it myself before, but eventually I got it over the net and pulled it in. I hadn't realised just how big it was, I suppose the adrenaline had kicked in and I had concentrated more on the fight than the fish, but now as I lifted it out of the water I realised just how much of the net it filled and how heavy it was. This was either a new PB or close to my current PB of 8lbs. Having no scales I couldn't claim a new PB, but I was happy enough with the catch. I later posted the picture on facebook and Damian commented that it was around the 8lbs mark judging from the photo, so I was happy with that.
I'm still not sure what type of Carp it is, hardly any scales on it except for by the tail, and they have the look of a Mirror Carp about them, so I'd say it was a Mirror.
The fight to land this fish in the heat had taken its toll on me and I was exhausted so I decided to get a drink from the van. The sheep had been grazing around the peg and even come and had some of the chilli infused chick peas off me, but I hadn't seen much of them for about an hour so thought they must have gone off to another part of the field. Imagine my surprise when I walked around the back of the van and there they were, about 15 of them all sheltering from the sun in the shade of the van. I'm not sure who was more surprised, me or them. I jumped out of my skin and they all bolted in different directions. Most of them were lambs, but one or two of the ewes were there, but they all split up and went flying off in all directions.
After getting a drink I decided to have the last hour on the float rod and so put the feeder rod away, laid the Carp rod down next to the landing net and set up the waggler float. I'd been feeding the margins with freebies all through the session and within seconds I had interest in the swim. I finished off with a total of 9 x Perch, 5 x Roach, 1 x Rudd, 4 x Carp and a small Dace. Now usually I have some sort of disaster on my adventures on the bank side and today was to be no exception. I had got a fish on and stood up to keep it from the reeds and stepped to the side, realising at the last moment that my landing net handle was there I managed to move my foot back but stood on the reel on the Carp rod and snapped the bail arm off...Oh well It should be easy enough to repair and it wouldn't be a good days fishing if I didn't step on something.....
I took this as sign to leave and packed all the gear away and made my way home, tired, sunburnt but very chilled out and relaxed....
See you on the bankside.........
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