Well it started off sunny...but then

Cudmore Fisheries
Pleck Lane, Whitmore, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 5HW

Milo Lake

Luke suggested that we all get out on the bankside last week and so we began to find a new venue to fish at the weekend.  He is getting married soon and his partner Jo, wants him from under her feet as she plans everything so he has been given a lot of free passes lately and tries to get on the bankside as often as possible.  We can all see what is going to happen once that ring is on her finger, so he is making hay while the sun shines and building up a bank of memories to reflect upon when the free passes suddenly cease and we are all sat bankside and he is cutting the grass or trimming the hedge on a Sunday morning.

He suggested that we pay a visit to either Cudmore or Furnace Mill on the Saturday and it was quickly agreed that a days fishing was something we could all do with and so we had to chose the venue.  I did say that I thought Furnace Mill would be a little too far for Richard to travel to from Northants, and I knew Damian wouldn't be too chuffed either because the fishery wasn't in Nottinghamshire, although to be fair to him he has travelled quite extensively lately to Northants, Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire for our little fishing adventures so he is improving.  We settled on Cudmore after looking at the website and saw that one lake, Tara, held Catfish up to 65lbs, Carp up to 32lbs, Pike up to 20lbs and Perch at 4lbs.

This meant there would be something for everyone, Damian and Richard could go after the Cats, Luke, John and myself could try and land a pretty decent Perch and there would be lots of smaller fish to keep us all busy.  It was decided then that we would head to what has become the Wembley of Coarse Angling and the home of the Fish 'O' Mania Final.  I was really looking forward to it and headed into the weekend full of confidence that I may break the 10lbs barrier for a Carp.  It was also the first time that I could use some of the new tackle that a mate Kirk James, had given me and I had plans to get my new(ish) 16 metre pole out of the holdall for the first time and see what all the fuss about pole fishing was about.  Unfortunately Richard had to pull out because he had been working in Ireland during the week and wanted some time with his kids, so it would be just the four of us and whichever members of Luke's tribe came with him.

It was agreed that an early start would be in order because with it being a Bank Holiday weekend, there may be quite a few heading out to get some fishing done and so we all said we would meet up at the fishery at about 07:00.  Now arriving anywhere on time is not my strongest trait, a fact that is well known amongst those who know me, so at around 06:00 I had a call from Damian to check I was on my way and I could happily tell him that I was indeed about to eave the house and head up the M6 to the Potteries.  I set off accordingly with that little nagging feeling that I had left something important behind.  As I sat at the lights, waiting to go up the slip road at Junction 2, M5, I checked the van's well in the top of the dashboard and quickly realised that I had left my glasses on the kitchen worktop....Bumholes !!!!! 

Cudmore Map

After a quick turnaround and retrieval of the aforementioned specs I was on my way again, but I had added an unnecessary 20minutes to the journey and the 07:00 start was looking like yet another broken promise to be on time.  I flew along the motorway with the cruise control set to 80 mph in the vain hope I would make up some of the lost time but it was not to be and I got off the M6 at Junction 15 at 07:10, not too bad and certainly not as late as usual, so I was taking what positives I could from the situation.  I then noticed a car ahead with a trailer attached and realised it was Luke and John so another positive because I would arrive at the same time as they did.  I followed Luke down some country lane, slightly concerned that the trailer was going to overturn as it bounced rather than rolled through the many potholes, and eventually into the fishery.

Damian was already there and had been up to the cafe / shop and been told that Tara lake was being used for those who were there for the night fishing and that we would have to go to another lake.  This wasn't really a problem for myself, Luke or John because we were not going to arget the big Cats or Carp, but Damian had prepared for those type of fish with some huge 32mm pop ups for the Cats, huge Size 4 barbless hooks etc.  Now he was going to have to rethink his tactics.

After a bit of a chat about pegs we all set off to the shop to pay and have a look at what baits were available.  I only needed maggots because I was planning on using the Method Feeder with green bethaine 4mm pellets mixed with 2mm feed pellets and a can of sweetcorn mixed in and then one or two kernels on the hook.  The rest went off into the used tackle section of the shop and had a look around before paying and heading to the lake.  John then appeared from the used tackle section laiden down with a bivvy, day shelter and trolley which he got for under £100, so he had a proper little result there.

We all set up on our chosen pegs, Damian and myself at the end of the lake facing a small island with the wind blowing into our faces, and Luke and John around to our left also facing the island but with the added feature of a few over hanging trees away to their left.  We felt that we had all bases covered and had set up accordingly following the generally accepted rules of fishing into the wind tight to the bank of the island etc.  However, the fish did not appear to have been sent the script and for the first 2 or 3 hours it looked as though we could all be on for a Blankety Blank cheque book and pen if things didn't improve.

My old school bite alarm

I had been using one of the carp rods that Kirk had given me and I had found a very old bite alarm amongst some tackle I had bought last year, so I had this set up on the rod pod with the Method Feeder out near the island.  Nothing had happened on the line for ages and so I went off for a cuppa by my van when I heard an alarm going off.  I was looking around to see who was on with a fish when I saw Damian running down to my peg and striking the rod.  It had been my alarm that had been going off and I had forgotten that I had it out.  Unfortunately the fish got away with it this time but I had provided the rest of them with a good laugh which I doubt they are going to let me forget in a while.  After much laughing at my expense, everyone returned to what they were doing and it was around this time that Damian pointed out the colour of the sky to the east of us and which was heading our way.  The clouds were the colour of slate and moving very quickly towards us.  Both Damian and myself rushed to our vans and moved them a few yards back to be directly behind out pegs, I put my umbrella up in the newly purchased extension arms that I had fitted to my new(ish) seat-box and we waited for the downpour.

Biggest hail I have ever seen

The grey clouds got darker and darker, the temperature dropped dramatically and the first few spots began to fall.  I remember feeling them hitting my knees, which were just sticking out from underneath the cover of the umbrella, and thinking that I wasn't getting wet.  It was then that I saw the hail on the floor in front of me and realised that we were getting a mixture of rain and hail, but then things changed again and we were bombarded with just hail, the biggest hail I had ever seen.  The little balls of ice were the size of processed peas, not the usual garden pea size I'm used to.  A quick glance from under the umbrella told me that it may be time to leave the peg for the shelter of the van as the lake surface looked as if it was boiling as the hail smashed onto it.  It was like a curtain travelling at speed across the lake and I had real concerns that they would rip through the material on the umbrella.  The sound of a van door slamming shut told me that Damian had already done one, so I began to make my way to my van as well.  It was at this point that one icy missile found it's target and pinged me in the right goolie and I was left almost doubled up in pain, but then to add insult to injury a second one managed to hit me right on the end of the winky.  That was enough for me and I abandoned my peg and sort of hobbled to the van, where I sat feeling very sorry for myself with a throbbing knacker and sore winky.

The situation around by Luke and John was equally as bad, but whilst John and Luke's three kids, Lauren, Rhys and Fin, took shelter from the hail, Luke just zipped his coat right up, pulled his hat further down and sat like a little hunkered up hero throughout it all.  Nothing it seemed, was going to deny him a single second of his fishing.  What a man !!!!!....When the weather improved and we were all back in our pegs it was time to assess the damage caused.  My umbrella had caught the wind and blown inside out and tipped my seat-box over.  The result was I had maggots mixed in with the corn, my loose pellets and on the floor and so I began the now usual task of trying to retrieve what I could from the mess.  This has happened to me on the last three outings and it is beginning to get a little tiresome now.

Damian had not had a single bit of interest in his swim and he was hoping that the hail hitting the water would have put more oxygen into the lake and might be a little bit of a kickstart for the fish to begin feeding, but we were all suffering from a lack of interest, all except Lauren that is.  She had been fishing next to her Dad, and had been catching quite a few, putting us all to shame.  It was time to change tactics.  I decided to abandon the method feeder and go with a maggot feeder instead, so a quick swap over was called for and I was away.  The results were almost immediate and I soon had my first fish of the day, a small Chub.  The fish were responding to the change as I had hoped and pretty soon I was catching regularly, nothing too big but as they say a fish is a fish.

I have always struggled with having two rods out at the same time, I always ended up getting myself snagged up on the lines and so it isn't something I have ever done with much confidence, but Damian kept saying that I should give it a go and so I fetched the float rod from the van and set it up with a loaded waggler, a new quick change adaptor for the hook length (I've always used snap swivels before but now these little plastic beads are my preferred method) and a short hook length to a size 16 hook.  Size 16 is a nice size if I got into anything bigger than a few pounds but small enough not to put the smaller fish off and soon I was catching on both rods.

In between periods of rain I managed a final haul of :

8 x Chub
9 x Perch
7 x Gudgeon
6 x Roach

30 fish wasn't a bad return at the end of the day and even Damian had a few when he had a go on the float rod so he wouldn't blank.  John and Luke had also been catching and had about 20 fish a piece so it ended up a good day all round.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the fishery though, it didn't quite deliver what I was expecting and seemed a little bit subdued.  I was probably expecting more than it could deliver and because of it's coverage on Sky TV with the Fish 'O' Mania Final, I had set myself up for a bit of an anti-climactic feeling, but the general appearance of the place didn't do much for it.  I think with so many lakes so close to each other there isn't much space for many bushes and trees, which I think create a nice atmosphere for fishing, and whilst Cudmore does have quite a few trees around it, there were big open spaces that gave a feeling of it being too open if that makes sense.

Anyway, it was still a day out on the bankside and that can never be a bad thing, and we did have some entertainment when an attractive blonde pulled up on the path behind us and made her way down to where those fishing either 24 or 48 hours were.  I'm not sure what went on but she returned pretty quickly and was in a very emotional state and muttering "F*****g b*****d" under her breath.  Damian said he was going to see if she was okay but when he heard her swearing he realised that it was a domestic and stayed out of the way.  Both Luke and Damian then saw her head back down to someone's swim where she was very animated and stood in front of him obviously shouting and waving her finger at him, but like a real man's man, the object of her anger just calmly sat there and continued fishing.  The next thing we were aware of was a car door slamming, a bit of a wheelspin and the roar of an engine as she sped off into the distance.  I think Wayne (Damian heard her curse his name) could be on short rations this week.

Anyway....See you on the bankside (Except Wayne of course.  He may not be allowed)....

Carp Rating

Carp Anglers - My Observations

In my brief time on the bankside I have come across a strange group of anglers who are a little obsessed by one species of fish and will go to almost any length to catch the biggest Carp in a particular pool or lake.  I had known that there were these strange creatures who targeted Carp, there is always some programme on Discovery Shed with some loud-mouth Cockney creeping around in some lakeside bush or a hyperactive Turkish bloke jumping around in someone's swim, so to be amongst them was, and continues to be, a bit of a revelation.  The thing I noticed about this group is that there are sub-groups amongst them and that two of these sub-groups could not be any more diametrically opposed to each other.

The Chav Angler

Typically attired Chav angler

You see this group at any commercial venue at some point throughout a session, but not for long as they usually only appear for around 2 or 3 hours before heading off somewhere else.  They arrive in a souped up Corsa or similar boy racer car, sometimes in their work mini van though, and usually have some young lady, who believes that she could make it as a model but will more than likely end up on a cheap Babe Station rip off or in a down market lap dancing club, in tow who will sit texting in the vehicle while he fishes.  Invariably he will be dressed in the latest offerings from Sports Direct, JD Sports or rip off Armani E7 clothing with the standard Nike or Adidas trainers on.  They don't carry huge amounts of kit usually a rod, landing net and a bucket of boillies, bag of dog mixers or a single loaf of cheap white bread, which is all they need and they always seem to time it just right to arrive and leave in between the times when the Bailiff does the rounds for the fees.

Even celebrity Chavs enjoy fishing

They fish the same way they try to live their lives, fast and loud, but annoyingly they never seem to blank and regularly catch fish in the double figures, much to the consternation of everyone else around the lake.  No one really knows where these people get their baits or equipment from because you never see them in an angling shop, but they do seem to have an understanding of the fish and their habits and, as mentioned earlier, very rarely blank before packing up and leaving as quickly as they arrived to go to some other venue, local McDonalds or wherever it is that they go.

Another venue where you will see this group will be on a local park boating lake, though the variety who fish there do differ slightly from the others and will have a bivvy set up and may even fish through the night.

The Regular Angler

A typical carpers swim set up

This group are possibly the most rounded and level headed of the three sub-groups and can be found on pretty much any commercial lake or pond though some do like to favour one particular venue and may be a member of a syndicate group.  This group are easily identified by their bivvy set-up which is invariably olive green in colour and includes a bed, camping stove, camping cooker, water container and, if they are planning a 24 or 48 hour session, a cooler box in which they will have bacon, sausage and the other usual ingredients required for a fry up in the mornings.  There will also be a back pack or holdall with tins of things like curry, chilli or soups for evening meals, though some are known to favour the local takeaways around the venue and the one thing that you can guarantee to be present will be a kettle with coffee or tea, milk and sugar for a brew up at a moments notice and/or the odd bottle of beer or three.  There may also be a Carp Chair outside of the bivvy set up facing the lake and within easy reach of the rod pod which will invariably have two or three rods set up on alarms but a lot of them will just sit on their bed in the bivvy.

The smelly spod mix

 They will also have three or four buckets (sometimes with a camo pattern on them) with a variety of baits for loose feeding and one will be a kind of messy semi dry mix for 'spodding' which usually stinks to high heaven thanks to the additives poured into it. (Damian's van is particularly ripe after some sessions)

This group will research each venue and find out as much info as possible about what bait works best, which swims are producing the biggest fish, which rigs work and which rigs don't, how other anglers have approached their sessions and which tactics work.  Part of the fun for this group is the researching and Damian is a prime example of this practice, looking at venue after venue and deciding on baits beforehand, choosing his rigs and tactics and then spending up to 47 hours (as he did at Farlows) just gazing out across the lake.  A hardy bunch who just want that 'big one' but this is often their downfall as they chase a new PB.

The Stealth Angler

Stealth Carper bivvy

This group are the ones that provide me with the most amusement being clad head to foot in camouflage patterns along with just about every bit of their kit.  They are very secretive and give little way about their rigs or baits and go to great lengths to keep any info to themselves, not daring to divulge anything to anyone just in case someone beats them to a big catch.  You see them at the bigger commercial venues like Cudmore or Makins where there are some huge fish, but less so at the smaller venues like Hunnington or Dayhouse Farm fisheries, where there are more pleasure anglers.  This lot are 'hardcore' Carpers and seemingly regard the pleasure angling venues as ones to be avoided but the capture of a 20lb plus Carp will get their interest.

The all important DPM pillow

The inside of the bivvy will reveal the extent of their love of DPM camouflage patterns.  Everything will be a blur of brown, green and black from the pillow on their bed-chair to their phone covers, bait buckets to rod pods,sleeping bag to socks...If there is an area void of DPM then they are not happy.  The funniest thing about these anglers is that if you were to ask them why so much camo, the reply is usually "Because the fish can't see me and get spooked".  Okay, fair point, but then they go and cast their lines about 70 to 80 yards out into the lake....Even I would struggle to see you from that distance let alone a fish.

These anglers do provide me with some amusement though, they'll arrive all cammo'd up, set up their hides (there is no way it can be called a bivvy), sneak around all very quiet....and then like a bloke I once saw at Weston Moat in Derbyshire, sit in his shelter, which has been strategically placed behind a bush, with 10, yes TEN, lines out, and put the radio on.  This group spend thousands each year on the latest 'must have' gadgets and manufacturers seem to know that as long as they finish their item off in DPM material then someone will buy it.

To be honest this post has been written with the tongue very firmly inside the cheek and I mean no malice or offence to anyone who recognises themselves in either group.  It's just a light hearted view on the world of Carpers.....Pleas don't send Danny Fairbrass round to bore me to death.

See you on the bankside.....

How Fishing Has Helped....

The majority of my posts have centred around the fishing and very little, if any mention, of the depression and after all that was the reason behind the blog, so I could keep a record of my journey dealing with this debilitating illness.  It hasn't been easy but then again it hasn't been especially difficult either considering the medication and the support I have received from friends, family and colleagues.

The realisation that I was suffering from depression meant that a lot of things about how I had been feeling now made sense. There are some psychological symptoms that everyone should be aware of so they can seek the help they need if they experience some of these symptoms for most of the day, every day for more than two weeks.

Continuous low mood or sadness
Feeling hopeless and helpless
Having low self-esteem
Feeling tearful
Feeling guilt-ridden
Feeling irritable and intolerant of others
Having no motivation or interest in things
Finding it difficult to make decisions
Not getting any enjoyment out of life
Feeling anxious or worried
Having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself


Depression creeps up on you gradually, so it can be difficult to notice something is wrong, and many people continue to try to cope with their symptoms without realising they are ill. It can take a friend or family member to suggest something is wrong, which often leads to conflict. Going to the Doctors and getting help is of paramount importance and then the road to recovery can begin when the type of depression has been identified. 

Mild depression has some impact on your daily life

Moderate depression has a significant impact on your daily life

Severe depression makes it almost impossible to get through daily life and unfortunately a few people with severe depression may have psychotic symptoms


The trigger for my depression was the death of my Mum and it can be hard to distinguish between grief and depression because they share many of the same characteristics, but there are important differences between them. Grief is an entirely natural response to a loss, while depression is an illness and people who are grieving find their feelings of loss and sadness come and go, but they're still able to enjoy things and look forward to the future. In contrast, people who are depressed have a constant feeling of sadness and struggle to enjoy anything, finding it hard to be positive about the future.

So how has fishing helped me then ?

Never a truer word

I can't say that I had a bad childhood, but I wish I had a different one if that makes sense.  My Dad was the type who would show me how to do something once and expect me to grasp it immediately.  If I didn't do it perfect within the first few attempts his patience would wear very thin, very quickly and he would start to get angry.  The result was that I felt useless and my fear of trying new things grew and grew and has followed me into my adult life. I honestly believe that this has been one of the underlying factors behind my depression and has affected every area of my life.  I grew up thinking that I was useless at everything and had no confidence in myself.

I'm not going to sit here and blame him for everything because there were times when I spent some very happy times with him, I just wish he had a little more patience with me and was less critical of my efforts.  When he tried to teach me how to fish I was given a 6 foot cane rod and spent hours down in the car park of the flats where we then lived learning how to cast.  There were some garages about 10 to 15 yards from the path and I was told that before he would take me fishing, I had to be able to cast my float and reach the garages.  He set me up with the float, shot and hook and tried to teach me to cast in a sideways motion, after opening the bale arm and pulling a length of line out so the float moved upwards towards the tip of the rod.  Even today I can't cast with this technique so as a 8 or 9 year old I had no chance.  Not once did I manage to hit the garage doors, and again I felt that I had let my Dad down and was a complete failure.

I think what I am trying to say in a round about way is that learning to fish now has proved to me that I am not useless that I can try new things and be a success at them and that I should believe in myself more.  My confidence has been boosted and it really is becoming apparent in other areas of my life as well, both personal and professional.  I have realised my worth at work and what I can achieve, not getting stressed out when faced with new challenges and improving my performances.  In my personal life I am trying new things and doing DIY jobs which I would have steered clear of this time last year.  I just need to work on a few other things like socialising with others and I think I will be a much more improved me.

I honestly believe that fishing has played a large part in this transformation because I had no idea about anything to do with the sport before, I didn't know how to set up, what the best tactics were, what bait to use or anything.  I now approach every session with confidence that I have developed enough knowledge and skill to catch fish  and if it looks like I could blank, it has given me the confidence to try a new approach and not just give up thinking I was a failure like I would have at one time.  I would recommend anyone with depression to find something that works for them the way fishing has for me.  I am seeing the glass more half full these days......

See you on the bankside.....

intense emotions of anxiety, hopelessness, negativity and helplessness - See more at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/d/depression#sthash.ECU5lbs3.dpuf

intense emotions of anxiety, hopelessness, negativity and helplessness - See more at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/d/depression#sthash.ECU5lbs3.dthat people are always judging you, that they

What A Day !!!!

Furnace Mill Fishery, Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, DY14 8NR
Peg 37, Mucky Meadow Pool

I have wanted to fish this complex since I started fishing last year but never quite got around to it until now.  It is another of those fisheries that is owned and run by anglers for anglers, the type that I love, and I wish I had gone there earlier.  Situated in the Wyre Forest, about 3 or 4 miles west of the town of Bewdley, it really is a little gem of a place.  Angling legend and TV presenter Matt Hayes says that it is his favourite commercial venue and has featured in his programmes in the past, and it is not difficult to see why.  There are four lakes to fish Furnace, Willow, Mucky Meadow and Mill Pools, which are fed by a nearby brook and the fishery sits in a wonderfully secluded valley with woods around it which are part of the complex and have been turned into ranges for shooting air rifles.

This week's adventures saw me fishing with two young lads that went to school with my son Jake, and one lad that the other two knew from fishing at Furnace Mill previously. Ryan had played football for me when I ran Warley Albion FC and has only been into fishing for about a year or two and is as obsessed with the sport as I am.  Ryan, Daniel and Ed had already set up when I arrived and had decided that we were going to go onto the Mucky Meadow pool, despite having told me that they may be on either Willow or Furnace.  I pulled up in the car park facing the cafe / bait shop and went to ask which pool was Willow because I had seen Furnace on the way in after dipping my landing net in the disinfectant, and there was no sign of them on there.  However before I could get out of the van, the owner Jane had come out of the cafe and was gesturing to me to turn my van around and park correctly.  Nice one Stu...Less than two minutes on the site and I've been told off by the owner.

I sheepishly parked the van correctly and went in search of the others, too scared to ask where Willow Pool was, and just mumbled that I was looking for mates who were on Willow.  Jane said there were a few on that pool and pointed in the general direction.  As I made my way across to the area indicated a little head popped up from behind a bank and I found them, nowhere near where they said they would be.  Still, I had found them and it was time to get the rods out.

I had bought a Preston Innovations seat box from ebay in the week, a real bargain for £42, and I was eager to get it set up and try it out so made my way down to the bankside and found a nice looking peg.  The pegs are spacious and well constructed with a hardcore base or platform so there wouldn't be any sloshing around in mud but getting to them could prove something of a challenge for someone of the larger frame, like myself.  I had to walk along the bank where we were fishing until thebank and path met though this was still quite a precarious descent owing to the wet grass which made things slippy.  As I gingerly made my way down the short but steep section I had visions of either slipping on my backside or launching myself head first into the pool.

I made it down without mishap and made my way along to the chosen peg and set up ready for the day ahead.  I decided to start with the feeder rod with a running maggot feeder above a snap swivel with two float beads to act as a buffer between the feeder and the swivel with a size 16 hook on a 5 inch hook-length. I put three maggots on the hook and filled the feeder with a mix of casters and maggots and cast out about 30 to 40 yards slightly to my left so there would be a small kick on the quiver tip so I could see any bites.  Now regular readers of this blog will know that the majority of my adventures on the bankside involve some sort of calamity or disaster and today was to be no exception.  In my haste to get onto the new seat-box and start fishing I hadn't tightened the brackets on the left-hand side of the legs.  I had just just watched my rod tip bend around rather forcefully and picked up the rod to strike when everything dropped from underneath me.

I dropped like a stone to my left, rolled over the edge of the seat-box, knocked my bait tub full of maggots off the tray and sat kind of dazed for a few seconds wondering what had happened.  It was when I felt the rod jerking in my hand that I came to my senses and realised what had happened but I still had the fish on so the rest could wait until it was safely landed, unhooked and released.I got the fish to the surface but it was putting up a great fight and the swirls coming up from the pool told me it was a decent fish.  The water was bubbling and swirling around as we fought it out but it soon tired and I was able to get my landing net, which had got bent in the fall from grace.  It was a Common Carp about 3lbs in weight, but my phone had been catapulted just out of reach so no photo this time.

I unhooked the fish and returned it to the water from the landing net and set about sorting my peg out and retrieving as many of my maggots as I could.  Luckily they fell into a pile and didn't scatter about so I had the majority back in the box in no time and there were a few dozen in amongst the grass which a Robin helped to clear.

Sat waiting patiently for a bonus feed of spilled maggots

I managed to get everything sorted and securely fixed the seat-box at the correct height and started fishing again.  I had been watching Ryan and where he was fishing and he seemed to have found a shoal of Chub, now I had never caught a Chub so I decided to see if I could get one as well and cast out remembering what I had read in my "Tommy Pickering's Complete Guide to Coarse Fishing" book about casting short of where another angler casts because there is a chance that the fish would be sitting further back in a kind of safe zone.  It wasn't long before the rod bent round but this time it was a violent, hard take as the fish grabbed my hook and there wasn't any need to strike.  It looked as if the speed and ferocity of the take had done that job for me.  I've often heard Richard, Damian and Luke talk about the fight in a fish and because I usually set up for the smaller fish, I don't really get to experience this feeling, but this fish was certainly giving my shoulders and arms a workout.  It turned out that I had got it bang on and hooked myself a Chub of about 2.5lbs, my first Chub and therefore a new PB.  I was ecstatic.....This was worth the £7.50 entrance money alone...

There is that old phrase often used for buses about wait for hours and then three come along at once, well that could be used for what happened after that first Chub and I landed another 4 over the course of the next 45 minutes, the best being a 3lb beast, so two PB's in under an hour.

3lb Chub

As the day wore on the fishery became busier and busier but it was mainly air gun enthusiasts heading off into the woods to the ranges the owners have built there and it looked like there was a competition of sorts going on.  I have to admit to having a little giggle at some of them dressed head to foot in camo gear.  Gun cases, bags, trousers, hats and just about everything else decked out in camouflage patterns even though they were shooting metal targets which they hardly had to hide from.  I'm not knocking them, each to their own, but it did make me smile.

The bites dropped off for everyone for a few hours but then as suddenly as they stopped, they began again and I swapped over to the float rod with a loaded waggler and tried my luck along the margins where a few small roach sacrificed themselves to my hook.  Ryan was having some decent fish out with his new pole, Daniel was on the feeder still (mainly in everyone elses swims and not his own....there is always one) and Ed was busy with the float and having some luck.

The rain came and went but it did not spoil the enjoyment of being in the lovely surroundings of the fishery, and it was just a wonderfully relaxing and chilled out day but the excitement didn't end there.  Ryan hooked into a real lump of a fish but it snapped him off just as Daniel had the landing net underneath it, Daniel had a fish take his hook as soon as it entered the water, snapping the line instantly but he said that it was a huge fish judging by the shadow that raced away just under the surface and Ed came close to picking up a Carp from the surface but a white duck grabbed his floating bait and hooked itself.  The flapping and noise that the bird made in it's panic spooked the fish so after unhooking the bird Ed had missed out.

Ryan had to leave earlier than the rest of us because he had promised his girlfriend an evening out and shortly after he left I felt that familiar snap as the rod bent around and I could feel a decent fish starting to fight.  At first I thought I had a Carp or Chub on, but to my surprise it was a Bream and it was a huge thing.  Usually Bream just give up as soon as they are hooked, well the small ones do, but this one was darting around, diving for cover, coming back up to the surface and putting up a really good fight.  After three or four minutes it finally surfaced, rolled onto its side and I was able to land it.  It was like a big saucepan lid and the scales read 4lbs dead on....My previous best Bream had been 8 ounces, so a third PB in one day !!!!!

4lbs on the nail....A third PB of the day

I had to start thinking about packing away myself but there was one last burst of excitement in store for me when I hooked into a Common Carp of 5lbs and that really tested my float rod as it fought hard.  The line was making those strange creaks, the rod was bent almost double as it ran for some roots that lay just under the water.  I had noticed the dark shape swimming right in front of my peg for a while and just dropped the waggler in, almost at the rod tip, to see if it would take the bait.  There was a splash as the tail broke the surface and it was off, diving down the shelf taking the float with it.  I let the clutch run and took my time not wanting to lose the fish, and I let it run where it wanted but had to work hard at times to prevent it reaching the root system.  My shoulders and arms had been given a proper workout all day and there was no let up with this fish.  When I finally got it into the net I was surprised to see that it was foul hooked in the tail and so considered myself very fortunate to have managed to hang onto it while it fought me.

5lb of solid muscle

A few more casts produced nothing more than just a few line bites or nudges and I then had to pack up and make my way home to be at a previously arranged appointment in time, but I had caught my first ever Chub setting one PB, then beat that PB with the next fish and also beat my previous PB for a Bream, so I went home very very happy.

The Furnace Mill Fishery now ranks in joint first position of my favourite fisheries, along with Willow Park in Farnborough, and I have no doubt I will be making the short trip (only 25 miles) over to the Wyre Forest a lot more from now on.

Only the second fishery to ever get five Carp on Stu's Carp Rating -

See you on the bankside.....

 

Another Bonus Day....

Orchard Lakes, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5TD
Peg 16, Match Lake
16th March 2016

Every so often the planets align and everything seems to fall nicely into place, when you find yourself in pleasant surroundings with a bit of time on your hands.  This was the situation I found myself in this week when I was scheduled to work down on the Isle of Wight on Monday, in Yeovil Tuesday and then finish off on Wednesday in Salisbury.  The work isn't too difficult or taxing and for the most part I can be done within three hours or thereabouts, so it is fair to say that I have had it pretty cushy for the last 3 months or so.  When we were doing the first part of this contract last summer, I was able to find a few nice fisheries and Orchard was one of them and I have wanted to get back since.  Last time I visited I was still learning the basics and stuck to fishing the margins with my float rod so it would be interesting to see if I could venture further out and try the feeder rod this time.

I decided that I would leave for my job in Salisbury, straight from the fishery and had to set myself a strict time to leave to ensure I wasn't late on site.  It's one thing to be late because of traffic but I think Luke might have something to say if the reason I was late because I was fishing and he was stuck behind his laptop in the office.  I had to be out of the gate by 4pm, allowing 30 minutes for any congestion I may encounter but I was confident that once I was clear of the M27 then I wouldn't get much until I hit Salisbury's ring road.  With a time imprinted in my mind and my bags packed I left the hotel and made my way to the lakes, arriving around 10am, giving me 6 hours of fishing.

At Orchard you have to go into the tackle and bait shop before making your way down to a lake and pay the £10 fee.  If you don't and they have to come to the bankside the fee is doubled, plus they sell the fattest and juiciest red maggots I have ever used.  After making my purchases in the shop (bait and float stops) it was time to get a line in the water and there are a number of lakes to choose from but I decided to go onto the snake lake again, but this time I would go around to where the lake split into three at the 'T' junction on peg 16.  This gave me a variety of areas to fish and would hopefully bag me some decent fish.

My peg was just to the right

 I had seen a rig in Improve Your Coarse Fishing where the maggot feeder was fixed on the main line with the hook length on a sort of heli-rig attached via a small swivel on the main line and locked into place with two float stops and a short length of silicon tubing over part of the hook length and swivel to prevent tangles.  I wasn't too sure at first because I hadn't used this set-up before and I was on my own, Damian, Luke or Richard were not with me and I do suffer from a little bit of doubt over my tactics or set-up without them.  However, my fears were soon put to the back of my mind as soon as I made the first cast and I felt more relaxed.

The rig I used

 I think my confidence will build with time but I like fishing with the lads, they laugh at me for catching tiddlers but they are always there for me if I need any advice or help.  Anyway, the article I saw the rig in advised leaving the feeder in the water for around 30 minutes before casting out again into the same area.  Now patience is something I have little of when it comes to fishing and I do sometimes find myself chasing a bite, but today I was determined to control the urge to reel in and re-cast.  The rod was placed into the rod rest with the tip slightly bent, just enough to show any activity on the hook and just off the surface of the water.  The wind was blowing a little and causing a few ripples which made the rod tip look like it was bouncing but I remembered what Rich had told me when we were at Makin's and resisted the urge to strike.  After about 20 minutes the end of the rod bent round and I knew I was in.  I picked up the rod and struck, feeling the resistance on the line as the hook did it's job I began to reel in.  I could tell it was a big fish from the feel of it through the rod and finally understood what Matt Hayes and Mick Brown meant when they would say it was this fish or that fish when they were on TV.  Quite how they can tell what species they have on the line must be something that comes with experience because I didn't have a clue what I had hooked.

After two or three minutes of playing the fish I finally managed to get it into my landing net and was pleasantly surprised to see it was a bit of a beast.  My scales read 5lb, but I took a pound off because the unhooking mat was waterlogged and quite heavy, so my first fish was a lovely Common Carp in great condition.  After that things died off a bit and I decided that maybe it was time to switch to a loaded waggler just on the edge of the shelf where the lake bed dropped a bit.  I didn't have to wait long and soon I was into a shoal of roach and it was in, out, in, out fishing for about an hour or so until the fish moved on.

I was catching at a steady pace and switching between float and feeder every hour or so and just having a really enjoyable session though in the back of my mind I was aware that I had a job to do in Salisbury and so I packed up around 3.30pm.  As I left the lakes I was aware of someone in a mobility scooter just past the gate on the road, what I didn't expect was the sight before me.  There was an elderly gentleman shooting squirrels in a tree from his mobility scooter and getting quite angry at his dog.  If I hadn't of taken the photo below I doubt anyone would have believed me.

You see some strange things when fishing

Once I stopped laughing at the way the bloke was shouting at the dog and blaming the poor mutt for him missing the squirrels I made my to Salisbury and the daily grind.....

See you on the bankside......

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.....