4 Day Fish....ish.

Wednesday

Today was the first day of our 4 day fish, we had originally decided to have 3 days and 3 nights at Strokins then a day session at Bishops Green, but as usual things did not quite go to plan.

We arrived at Strokins at about 7am and had a good look around to try and find signs of fish. A couple of shows in the far corners saw us lugging our gear to the far end of the pond, each in a corner as we did the last time we fished here. Base camp was half set up but with the sun creeping up and temperatures rising we set off down the other end of the pond for a spot of surface fishing. We both missed fish then Steve cracked out the float gear and a worm and after a bit of a wait he had a Carp on, about 5lb which is small for here but a Carp none the less and in these conditions a hard one to catch.

From the moment we arrived we had been baiting the margins with pellet to fish over later in the day, and after a hearty BBQ that’s exactly what we did.

For this trip I was mirroring my method last year as it worked well then, solid PVA bag set up, short uncoated hook link, size 10 curved hook with a pellet on the hair soaked in Betalin,a leader, 10lb fluorocarbon mainline, 3lb test Carp rods to Big Pit reels, I would not normally use my big Carp gear for a pond this small, I would normally use the Barbel rods and free spools, but there are a few monsters lurking here, Carp to over 40lb, so I decided to step up.

All was quiet on the fish front, we sat there chatting and watching motionless bobbins wondering when/if it may happen.

We was both absolutely knackered and feeling a bit rough due to the hot sun, and over eating so rather than leave the rods out we wound in for a good kip.

Thursday

I had a shit nights sleep thanks to low flying helicopters, rats eating all I own outside of the bivvy, and owls, but was still up at 5:30am to try and catch one using stalking tactics, sadly just as we was setting up to head down the far end some anglers turned up, which when the pond is this small that means you stay where you are, damn it.

We rebaited the rods, put some pellets in the margins and set our traps, then it was time for the greatest part of night fishing, the bacon sarnie, or two.

We had decided to do the day here then pack up before the weather got nasty.

Fishing was really hard going, not helped by a freezing night and very warm temperatures during the day but we cracked on, Steve was in first, then at last I had one, a lovely scaly Mirror and very welcome.

It got to about 3pm Steve had had another Carp which didn’t fight in the slightest it just seemed to give up, strange, then it was my turn and the Dekims screamed into life with a lovely Common.

With the fish back I packed up the gear, bar the rods hoping for one last fish, but it didn’t happen.

Friday

I picked Steve up at 6am and headed to Bishops Green, we was happy to find an empty lake on our arrival.

We headed down to the far end of the lake as the margins can be very prolific due the the reeds.

I was using my Barbel rods for a bit more fun, solid bags set ups at the ready and lowered into the margins, then sat on the delkims ready to scream, which didn’t take long.

Around 10 minutes later it was away, and as usual for these fish it went absolutely mad.

Not a big fish for Bishops at about 6-7lb but welcome all the same.

I continued baiting margins either side whilst feeding doggies on the surface as they had already started to top.

Once the fish where feeding ravenously on the surface I brought one of the margin rods in and tried my luck on the surface, cast past the fish and brought it over them slowly. I started on bread but the fish where just knocking it off with there tails so I put a side hooked fake doggie on which after a while resulted in a Carp of a similar size to the last, as they where really hard to get of the surface I went back to the margins.

All was quiet for about an hour so I up sticks and went to a swim round the corner, which must have been some kind of Carp nursery as they all seemed about 1-2lb, but still fought like a train. I did hook a nice fish and an easy double but it came off after about 5 minutes.

We decided to call it a day, an early one at that as it was not even midday but we had pre-decided to go and visit a few old venues to check out rules etc. so we can update the site.

First on our list was a visit to a new tackle shop in Newbury called Experience Fish. It comes highly recommended from us due to its good size and stock of products.

The first lake we visited was Wylies Lake which is on the R.D.A.A ticket but available on day ticket. Although we fished here twice we had next to no luck, but it still looks very fishy and with depths of over 15ft and Tench over 10lb its hard not to want to return.

Next on the list was Court Farm, the ticket prices have sadly not changed and still far to high for this venue, but the lakes are looking very nice with willows hanging into the lake and some nice swims, really pictures s, but not worth the £9 PER ROD, as is lake 2.

Lake 3 is also looking nice, good marginal growth with some lilies, but worth £11 PER ROD.......NO.

Next we popped into Seven Lakes, we are very impressed with the progress of this venue so far, trees cut back, swims created on lake 6 and 7 and looking good, lets just hope in continues onto the other lakes and a re-stocking programme introduced.

Last on our list is an old favourite of ours Aldermaston Mill on the river Kennet, a special venue for both me and Steve as it holds both of our Barbel pb's, my Chub pb and Steve's Perch pb.

But we was very disappointed at how it looked, obviously the mill and grounds themselves look stunning, but the river not so much. The back water is very low, there is so much silt in the margins that you would need a 5m landing net to reach the fish, and there is only really a couple of swims. The lawn swims are not much better, only a couple fish able which have had special landing stages to try to get over the silt. Its a real shame so we can just hope it will improve back to its former glory as there is not many stretches of the River Kennet on a day ticket.

So a productive day, a few fish and an updated website, nice.