Fishing Lakeside

Many years ago I had friends who fished a syndicate lake near tadley called Lakeside Fishery and always reported big fish and was slightly jealous that I couldn't fish it. Luckily the venue has now been taken over and changed to a day ticket. And we couldn't wait to fish it.

I picked Steve up in the morning and we headed the whole 20 minutes up the road to the fishery. The owner Kate arrived near enough when we did as was let onto the fishery. We was the first people there so had a chance to have a good look around. We decided to fish the the add on section as it gave us a margin to cast to with ease and could bait up by walking around. We was targeting anything that swam on this trip and I was beggining on a medium feeder rod fixed spool reel with 5lb mainline to a 3lb hooklink, 16 hook with a couple maggots. I had opted for the flat bed feeder method for a flawless presentation. Once we was sat in the swim we had a walk around the other side to put a bit of bait in and in doing so saw a few carp moving in the area.

Eager to cast in I headed back and cast out. We could tell it was going to be a strange day weather wise and was already feeling muggy. I was getting a few knocks on the feeder but not enough to strike. I was casting every 5 minutes or so just to keep the swim topped up and soon had a drop back I tried to tighten up but it wouldn't. It took a moment for me to realise the fish has swam towards me. Once connected it was like I hooked a train. It was great fun on a light rod and took a while to get in. Masterly netted by Steve we had it on the bank and not a bad fish either. It went 11lb 13oz on the scales and I was chuffed for my first Carp from Lakeside. After that the swim went very quiet. So after a good look round decided move onto the main bowl of the lake to see what we could catch. The sun was getting quite hot now and could feel a rise in the air pressure.

Sadly we could also see a lot of Carp cruising around together in formation so was apparent they has other things on their minds. Which Is fair enough.

The good thing about the Carp starting to breed is they show themselves a lot and although it was obviously going to stop the Carp fishing we could see plenty of really nice looking and big Carp.

Steve had a nice Carp before the action stopped completely and we did more observing than fishing. But now we have seen the potential we look forward to returning for a good go after spawning. This fishery is under new ownership and the new owners are very helpful and doing a great job on this stunning looking fishery.