Bashing Bishops.........
Sadly I was having a fishing trip without my fishing partner in crime Steve due to a prior engagement but as I was itching for a fish and the weather near perfect it had to be done.

I spent a while deciding where to go, the choices were between Marsh Farm in Godalming or Bishops Green near Newbury.

An old school friend of mine asked for a day out on the bank and as his style of fishing steered towards Carp it was decided we would target the Carp at Bishops Green.

With Bishops now quite a popular place to fish even with a day ticket increase I felt we needed to be there early so I picked James up at 5:45am and we headed for Bishops. And as I hoped for we had arrived first, paid in the dog house, and made our way down to the lake.

After a lap we decided the far end of the lake looked favorable as there was a few bubblers in the edge, which was where I planned on fishing.

I have fished Bishops Green a lot in the past, it's a great place to take the kids, as I have done many times, there's a lot of Roach and Gudgeon present so the kids love float fishing for them which is a great way to start, whilst I have a couple of cheeky Carp rods out on alarms, perfect.

Over the years I have chopped and changed a few different methods but have found two that I use and have never failed, and on this occasion they really done me proud.

The first and normally the most prolific starts the moment I get in the swim, where I will put two handfuls of Halibut Pellet either side of my swim right next to the bank and in this case next to some rushes either side. Method wise I use solid Pva bags, small bags stuffed with 4mm Halibut Pellet nice and tight with a 12mm halibut pellet on the hair topped with plastic corn of any colour soaked in Betalin, strong size 10 hook as I have seen the Carp in here snap hooks with their brutal fights, a short 3-4inch hook link of a supple Braid to an inline lead of 2-3oz all on a leadcore leader of a couple of foot.

The second method is simple floater fishing tactics with either a controller float held by rubbers and a size 10/12 surface style hook or straight to the hook for close in work, a couple of simple methods which really do the business.

Whilst setting up base camp with mat etc and a shelter with a possibility of rain and every few minutes I put a bit more Pellet on the spots.

With alarms in place, rods put together and one of the 20 ready made pva bag/leader setups on either rod and dropped right in the edge a few feet from the alarms.

It took all of about 20 seconds for the first run which resulted in a little Common of a around 2lb, but off the mark, before a new bag was put on the other rod was away with a similar sized common.

The bites where so frantic for the first couple of hours that it was hard to have both rods in at the same time.

There was a few anglers on but not many fish out, it seemed all the fish were in the edge with me, well all the small ones so far.

James had had a couple using similar tactics but without pva and I wasn't even putting a bag on every time anymore as they were so frantic it wasn't needed.

Whilst fishing I had my camera out doing a bit of filming for an upcoming YouTube video so decided after over 15 Carp to nearly 13lb and being about midday I would have a rest, and try to get some shots also I had caught that many fish I was getting fatigue in my right forearm causing my muscle to pop out, not something that has ever happened to me and not something I wish to ever happen again.

After a long lunch break and some really strong wind resulting in my camera on its pod to go flying and my mat to disappear into the hedge, I got back to job in hand, there was fish to be caught so I carried on, pegging the mat and pod down.

Although the wind was being a pain there was fish coming up for the odd floating dog biscuit so I set up my Barbel rod on a simple setup of just 6lb mainline straight to a 12 hook and stalking around the edges near our swims as there was no one fishing up near us.

After a few tense minutes I had a nice Ghostie on the bank of around 11lb, followed by another similar size Common.

With my arm still giving me gip we decided to call it a day and with over 20 Carp and half being doubles to my name I was happy and having comments whilst walking back to the car asking what on earth I was doing felt like I must have been doing something right, for once.

A Well Deserved Fish.

After a very stressful day at work and now with 9 days off I decided to pop to Ashmoor for an evening's surface fishing with Steve in toe.

I wasn't going to bother to be honest as I was knackered by the time I got home about 6:30pm and was wondering if there was going to be enough time for a fish, but I shouldn't of worried.

We pulled into the car park about 7pm and had the lakes to ourselves, which was nice, tackle could not have been more simple, Barbel rod, medium sized freespool reel and a size 12 hook baited with a bit of crust, no floats or shot etc, simple fishing, just how I like it.

As time was limited we walked around the lakes baiting all the areas we know to produce, after the lap it was time to grab the gear and find some fish, which took about 10 seconds and I had a Mirror on, only a couple of pounds but any fish after the day I've had was very welcome.

The bites came steadily throughout the couple of hours fishing, I had so many I lost count after 10.

As usual Ashmoor provided some cracking sport with Carp to over 8lbish and an unbeatable way to relieve stress.

And with a few days off hopefully I can get a few more days down here as its always been a home from home and the fact its owned by my good friend Steve's Grandparents makes it just perfect.

Family Fishing at Bishops Green

Today was a family fishing day, which can be a right faff.

I had a struggle deciding where to go to cater for all, we needed some small fish for my daughter Ellie as she hasn't done a lot of fishing so starting her off small, my son Liam has done a bit and was progressing through the different styles of fishing and he wanted to try some feeder fishing, and as I was going to be helping the kids most of the time I wanted a venue which catered for me having a couple of rods out on alarms.

We left home at about 8am which for me was very late, but as there was women in toe they needed more beauty sleep.

We popped into Frobury farm and it was rammed and looking very strange with recently astro turfed swims, so we decided to pop further up the road to Bishops Green where we decided to fish.

After a quick walk around the lake I decided to fish the car park end as everyone else was fishing the far end, after paying we set up, Liam on the feeder, Ellie on the float with her little bright pink Princess rod, and my rods set on alarms fishing PVA bags in the margins for Carp.

Ellie was soon in on the Gudgeon and the Carp soon sprung into life with long lean Commons soon on the mat one after the other.

The feeder was producing nothing so I switched Liam to a float so he could get a few Gudgeon and maybe a Roach which he did.

My Carp setups where producing the goods throughout the day fishing solid PVA 2ft from the bank with a handful of pellets every 30 minutes or so with fish to around 10lb, great fun.

I decided to try and catch one off the top just to finish the day off, and after feeding the ducks off I started feeding the Carp little and often with some dog biscuits, after about 15 minutes I had a small Common of about 6lb on the bank.

With that we packed up and left, a cracking day fishing and Bishops Green producing as always, not huge Carp but they go like a train due to the fairly shallow water.

Lakeside fishing

This month we decided to fish Lakeside fishery in Berkshire due to the slightly better weather we was hoping to rake in the Carp, but as usual things didn't quite go to plan.

I picked Steve up about 7:30am and we arrived just after 8am and luckily Kate the owner had just arrived and let us in.

We had a quick walk around the lake, knowing that it wont take long to get busy, on our last trip we fished in the canal section to the side of the lake and the left of the main bowl so this time decided on fishing behind the islands as thought they would hold groups of fish or intercept them as they swim round.

I decided to start by fishing the flat bed feeder towards the island with a couple of maggots and light ground bait, light tactics really for the size of fish in here but that's what I caught on last time so decided to start with that. After an hour or so with no bites and a chat with the bailiff decided to fish the bottom of the shelf with a solid PVA bag and 12mm tipped pellet on the hair, the second rod cast just to the left of some snags.

The sun was up and it was really hot and un-comfy at times, I had a tree next to me and was moving my chair constantly to try and keep in the shade as I'm not a fan of sitting in the sun for long periods of time.

Time was getting on and still no fish, I could see loads on the surface but on the other side of the island and well out of my swim, but I started firing dog biscuits my side of the island to try and bring them in.

I put a zig rig on the left hand rod and cast between the islands, after a few twitcy bites I had a run which promptly fell off. Then another bite which took me round the island and came off luckily all the rig came back and the fish was safe, after quite a while I had another screamer and this time after one hell of a fight and trying to keep it out of snags and the island the fish was on the mat, only about 6lb but that didn't matter. I think one of the most challenging days fishing for a long time, not because the water is a hard water or lack of fish by a long shot but the conditions where not easy and our swim choices where not the best for the conditions.

Soon after catching that fish and with one each we packed up had a quick chat to the bailiff and left, and although a very challenging day weather wise still a great day and will return for a better go at zig rigging in the more open water. And a big thanks to the owners and the bailiff for his advise.

Bish Bosh

As the weather was looking pretty good, and a good friend asking for a fish, I decided it was time to return to Bishops Green for a few Carp....Hopefully.

When I fish Bishops Green there are a few swims I favour so I decided on a early start and picked James up at 5:30am and was lakeside by 6am.

We grabbed a bucket and headed round the lake for a look. There was not a lot to go on so we headed to the far end of the lake where there is good marginal growth.

I started by putting a couple of handful of pellets either side of the swim in the margins then sorted the gear. I had two rods on alarms using pre-made leaders with short hook links in solid PVA bags with 12mm pellets tipped with plastic corn soaked in Betalin dropped in the edge.

It was a cold morning promising to get hotter during the day but still had a run pretty soon after casting in with a 11lb 11oz Common as my prize.

Old school friend James was soon catching and was all going well, but when the sun got up and it started to get rather hot the fishing died down with just the odd fish.

Bishops Green is normally a great place for surface fishing even when its cold but it just didn't happen today, and with 6 Carp each we headed home.

A decent day for the conditions and although the ticket price has recently doubled in cost to £10 a day for 2 rods its worth every penny.

You can't get better.

This month we decided to fish Ashmoor lakes, mainly because we was unsure on the weather so decided to keep close to home, plus we love this fishery.

I picked Steve up at 6:45 and arrived at Ashmoor around 7am.

We grabbed our gear and headed around the ponds for a look. Fo

r a change we headed to the far side of lake 2. I had a Barbel rod set-up for Carp and a flat bed feeder on a quiver rod for everything else. I was experimenting with my Carp set-up and had 6 solid PVA bags on leaders ready made to tie on and try, first was a bloodworm dumbbell tipped with flouro corn packed with 1-4mm pellet. This was placed in the corner along the bank, and before I had even sorted the next rod it was away, a lovely Mirror was my prize of a few pound, great start. Next I put out a peperami dumbbell tipped with pink corn, again in PVA bag put in the same place. This time I even got round to sorting the other rod then it screamed off, and another Carp was in the net. I put a pineapple pop up out next and carried on with my feeder fishing, which was disturbed yet again by the alarm with another Carp. With this I put the Barbel “sleeper” rod out the way so I can concentrate on my feeder fishing.

After a couple of Bream and a small Carp it slowed up, so we moved back to our old favourite swims the other side of the lake, I feeder fished the island in front of me and had my sleeper rod fishing with the yellow pop up in the edge. I was catching well with many Carp and Bream but started to slow. I swapped my feeder rod for float rod and started fishing in the edge with instant success, adding Perch and Barbel to the tally of fish. The sun was now well up and it was surprisingly really warm for March, so I shallowed up and started Rudd fishing, I have no idea how many I caught but it was a lot with the odd Bream and Hybrid.

There was a few Carp cruising about on the surface so I decided to have a wonder around and found a few fish in lake 1 around the pipe, there was two younger anglers fishing lake 1 in the far corner but they had no luck, and after catching 5 off the top I did wonder why they was not following suit.

I returned to my swim to finish the day float fishing and catching a few more.

As usual we end the day with a shed load of fish and wondering why people fish anywhere else, and the fact there was 5 other people fishing which only one other angler caught a couple of fish, what they do is just mind boggling.

Fishing Holiday to the amazing Anglers Paradise

Saturday

At long last it was time for Anglers Paradise, something I have been looking forward to for well over a year when we first spoke about it in a pub having a website meeting. The preparation that has gone into this holiday has been vast. Sorting out the kit for past 2 weeks and buying food and bait for what seems like months, but hopefully it will all pay off.

Saturday morning 31st August the car was loaded then I set off to meet rich at Steve’s house where we would attempt to fit all mine, Rich and Steve’s stuff into my car. All my stuff came out first and we laid it all out on the floor so we could put it all in in order. Eventually it was all in but only just and there was even stuff on laps. On route we stopped at OJ fishing shop to get some maggots so we had some fresh for the first few days. The journey was easy with next to no traffic and about 3 hours later we was parked up at Anglers Paradise. We went for a little walk around whilst we waited for the reception to open. It was very handy that Steve has been here for the last few years as the place is vast and without a map would take ages to find your way around. At 1pm we went to bar to be welcomed by Zyg Gregorek himself, a man with a huge personality and had us in stitches within minutes.

You get an amazing reception at Anglers Paradise, free glass or two of home made fantastic wine or lemonade if you don't/can't drink, you can book any food nights there and then, we went for wine and dine night on Sunday and curry night on Friday. There are also pie night and a roast night so your well catered for if you don't fancy cooking your main meals.

With Steve and Rich a wobbly from the wine we got the keys from reception and started to unload the car into the villa. The villa itself was beautiful and a fisherman dream with fish inspired tables chairs and pictures.

We got unpacked and decided to have a couple of hours on the Float lake for a few ornamentals.

Armed with a light float set up and maggots we was soon bank side and fishing. We was straight into fish, there was Golden Rudd by the thousand near the surface and was great fun, well, I say Golden Rudd but they are more a Orfe/Koi/Golden Rudd there very unique to Anglers Paradise.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the room for a bit of grub then some sleep after a busy day but so far so good.

Mystery Lake.......

Sunday

Today we decided to go on Mystery lake. A lake I have seen on TV a few times and always wanted to fish it just to see what is in there. We was up not to early about 7ish loaded the barrows then headed down the lake. All the lakes are in beautiful scenery and really well maintained so pushing the barrow is easy, and although I probably could have carried it its a fair old walk to the lake so it just makes it easier. I decided to start with a small flat bed feeder fishing to the island whilst feeding a spot in the edge for float fishing later on. The fish were quite hard to catch due to the very high pressure and it was bloody boiling hot. I was winkling out the odd Orfe, Golden Rudd and Carp but was fairly slow. 

Steve was having a few on the float so I decided to switch over and give that a go. I saw some really good fish in the margins including a bright red fish. After a couple more small carp we decide to head back as it was a wine and dine night and I was really looking forward to it.

After a wash and change of clothes we was in the dining area where you are given a plate with some local sausages and marinated chicken breast then you help yourself to as much veg and wine as you like. I'm not much of a drinker so 1 glass of Zyg's strong wine was fine for me, and Steve didn't have much either, but Rich decided to have a few, a fair few as it happened, we lost count then he started on the beers when we got back to the villa, which was mine and Steve’s entertainment for the evening sorted.

Quality at Eldorado and Silver Rose

Monday

As usual me and Steve where up at the crack of dawn to head over to Anglers Elderado on the Tench and Orfe lake, under normal circumstances we wouldn't need to leave Anglers Paradise for this but the Tench and Orfe lake on site was shut due to an algae problem and the day ticket lakes at Elderado are owned by Zyg so we was allowed to fish them for free.

We left Rich behind as he was to hung over to join us, his loss.

We pulled up about 6 and had a good look around. We had some inside info that the fish come around the margins so its good to find swims with good bank side foliage.

We set up in a point swim where we both had a good margin and started fishing. Simple and light float tactics using maggot as bait to start and my approach and was soon into golden Rudd. With regular feeding the fish were coming thick and fast with some decent palm sized Rudd and Orfe.

At about 11:30 we headed back to have some lunch and pick up Rich to then spend the rest of day at Silver Rose lake up the road, again a day ticket lake owned by Zyg that we could fish for free.

I started to left of the pagoda fishing at the bottom of the shelf with a float and a feeder on a alarm as a sleeper. It seemed a long time for a bite which came in the shape of a small Chub. Then a bit later a small Bream. It was really hard going so I decided to move over the other side of the lake where there was some Lily’s to fish up to, but the bank was a bit hairy with a big slope, luckily with the type of korum chair I use the legs are very adjustable. So with some bait down on the deck and re-plummed I started fishing and was soon into fish. This area was much more productive with Bream, Carp, Rudd, Roach and my first Blue Orfe. We decided to head back for some dinner about 4pm.

After dinner we thought it would be a good idea to do some more fishing, so we headed back to Mystery lake as I really wanted to catch that red fish.

I tried everything, free lining, lift method, float fishing, ledger but only caught a couple of Carp the Orfe and the red one avoided me. So we headed back and with another great day done. Although the Mystery lake is proving to become an obsession for me.

The Amazing Easy Access Lake

Tuesday

Today was a day I was really looking forward to, Easy Access lake, big Cats and Carp.

This time we was up even earlier due to how busy the lake gets so I was down stairs loading the barrow about 5am, it was still dark, so me and Steve (Rich was to lazy to be up that early) were sat on the sofa with the door open waiting for it to be light enough to head to the lake.

I picked Steve’s brain for a while trying to maximise the change of a big Carp or even better a Catfish of any size. Pellet seemed to be a winner on this lake so I was armed with plenty, I had 4kg of 4mm halibut pellet, 12mm drilled pellet, 20mm pellet and a glug pot with 12mm and 20mm soaking in sardine and hot fish oil. I put a few handfuls of 4mm pellet in the margins and fired some towards the island then put a solid bag in the margins with a 12mm pellet on a short hair rig, and a 20mm glugged pellet with a nick on bag cast to the island. Fishing was slow for me to start with, Steve had a couple of decent fish early on but I just kept dropping runs. I tried different rigs, baits and areas but eventually started to get a few Carp, although only a few pound they were stunning including a near Leather. As it reached midday I decided to pop back to the villa for lunch which was only 2 minutes away. After lunch I headed back to carry on. Bit more bait on the spots and recast. The thing with Easy Access lake is there is a fair few Cats in their and I think there would normally be a good chance with weather this hot but there was literally thousands of really small Orfe which had the Cats leaping out of the water, which was brilliant to see, but made our baits seem a bit poor.

With so many feeding on the surface I had to try my special dumbbell surface rig with a bunch of worms. I cast it out a few places but to no avail and last knocking I had a lovely carp just under 10lb. It was a hard days fishing but had a few and was absolutely knackered.

The Brilliant Koi Lake

Wednesday
Today was another day I was really looking forward to, the Koi lake. Where else can you go and have a whole lake devoted to Koi and up to and over double figures along with a few Grass Carp.

Being one of the specimen lakes it was yet another early start, about 5:30am and as usual it was just us, no Rich. It was really foggy this morning and quite cold and as I was hoping to catch these Koi off the top it was looking bleak.

We arrived at the lake and was glad to see the pagoda was free so we set up there and had a look about. Steve threw some doggies out and to our shock they started taking but not the way a normal Carp would, they nudged it about before taking it, if they did. We started by fishing free lined bread or soft doggies but it was hard going. I saw a few feeding right in the edge to my left but they seemed to spook off when they saw the line. So I decided on a radical looking way of fishing, the pagoda had a fence that surrounded it so I lent the butt of the rod on that and the tip ring was just over the edge of the bank with 3" of line dangling the dog biscuit just touching the surface. With the freespool on I just had to wait until it started to click, which didn't take long and I was rewarded with a nice white Koi. I decided to try it again and had a bright Orange one. This was starting well. But it didn't take long for them to turn off and become incredibly hard to catch. By now Rich had joined us and was having a go. We decided to have a walk about see what we could see but was hard going. And with the sun high in the sky we decided to head back for some lunch. The great thing about Anglers Paradise is you are surrounded by like minded anglers so leaving your stuff on the bank for a short time to grab a bite is very safe. Well we had no problems.

After refuelling we was bank in the pagoda soaking up the sun watching the water hoping to see some action.

It took a while for us to even bother trying as it was so hot. I started firing biscuits out to the far margin around some Lily’s and they soon started moving so I took some stalking gear round for a go. First fish was a beautiful Grass Carp of 5lb 9oz. Then a bit later another white Koi but it was still tricky fishing. Eventually I returned to the pagoda and Steve and I started firing out biscuits constantly for about 30 minutes until they were ripping the surface apart for them, so we rigged up surface floats to get the distance, I used a Korda skittle type float with a 6ft leader of floating line and a size 8 hook which had a lump of bread on. All seemed to work well where I had 4 in quick succession then decided to call it a day as I had used all my dog biscuits up. Another cracking day at Anglers Paradise.

Specimen Tench and Orfe...Sort of..and Mystery..again

Thursday

Another day another specimen lake, and another early morning. Up at about 6am to head down to specimen Tench and Orfe lake. We new this was going to be hit or miss as there are some colossal fish in here. We was told a method on how to catch the Orfe which was to cast a float out set about a foot under the surface baited with plastic maggot and fire maggot over the top constantly. We tried this for a while but due to a prolific spawning the lake had thousands of small Orfe which was causing us a problem. After about an hour we could take no more. To be honest we should of stuck it out in the margins for a big Tench but as there was only about 30 in there chances were slim and we was both starting to feel ropey due to the very early starts so we decide to head back and relax for a few hours. It was bloody hot again so was not worth rushing. We had breakfast then lunch, had a drive about then decided to set up float gear and spend a couple of hours on Mystery, hopefully have a crack at that red fish. I was just really intrigued to see what it was, I suspected a Koi but with the vivid colours of some of these Orfe it could be one of those also. I set up in the swim where I had seen the fish many times and fed a fair amount of groundbait, pellet and maggot about 2ft from the bank and they soon were having a good troff. I decided to sit back and watch so I could see if there was a pattern in which this fish came into the swim.

I was putting a palmful of maggots in every 2 minutes and the red fish seemed to come in on the third palmful. So I decided to go with free lined tactics, size 8 hook and a nice juicy worm. On putting in the second palmful of maggots I lowered the bait in and sunk the line along the side of the bank then put the third lot of maggots in and held the line between finger and thumb so I could feel the bite. And as planned in came the red one and started having a munch, I felt a tremble down the line and saw his head shaking so I lifted into the fish and it was on. I was so scared of loosing it. I shouted over to Steve for assistance and was soon on hand with the net. Once landed, and a sigh of relief, it was a beautiful Koi, bright red with black markings and weighed 5lb 7oz not my biggest Koi but size was completely irrelevant it was all about the capture and challenge, and it was that fish that won me fish of the week. We headed back again completely shattered but finished a great day off perfectly.

The simply excellent Float Lake

Friday

We decided to have a bit of a Lying today as we was knackered from all the heat and early mornings. So we slept in all the way until 7am.

Armed with some inside information which included some overpriced Waitrose prawns, we headed down to Float lake hoping for some Golden Tench. The far end of the lake was a lot deeper than were we fished early week, about 8ft or so. I fished at the bottom of the shelf with a prawn on a size 8 with a light float loose feeding 2mm pellet.

The surface was alive with Golden Rudd when firing in pellet but the fish soon moved in on the bottom and Golden Tench were coming out think and fast. Then I had a hard fight with a beautiful Koi of 5lb 4oz which was great fun on 4lb line.

We could see a dark cloud closing and had decided after a couple of hours fishing that if its started to rain we would head back as we had already court many many fish.

After a few more Tench, Golden Rudd, Brown Goldfish and regular Goldfish we decided to head back very happy with our catch. Sad to think that was our last fish whilst at Anglers Paradise. Still a great way to end a great weeks fishing. It was Curry night tonight so after packing the villa up so were ready to go the following day we headed out for some grub. The Curry night was superb, we finished the day in the Bar with a raffle and a few drinks.

The Dreaded Day

Saturday

The day I had been dreading since arriving at Anglers Paradise a week ago, leaving was always going to be hard as it had been a great week with so many fish, of which most are unique to Anglers Paradise. The place is so beautiful with its stunning views, all the staff are brilliant and so helpful. I have to thank Steve as well, he set the whole holiday up, booked the villa and was basically a guide for us and his knowledge of the place was invaluable. Sadly I didn't win fish of the week until I had got home so the bait and wine will have to wait until I return. Not that that will be hard.

Syndicate Fishing.

This was to be my first fishing trip of the year and I was well excited,

syndicate fishing is not something I do often for obvious reasons but now and then I get invited to come along as a guest and its hard to turn down. This lake is in Thatcham and I have heard it holds very large Carp. 

To be honest I very rarely Carp fish in the winter as there are many fish that feed more willingly, but decided as there are some stunning fish in this lake I decided to have a go. 

It wasn't till the morning I arrived that I was told that the lake, which is about 5 acres or more, only had a whole 125 Carp. Nice. 

The water was crystal clear and as there were a few shadows down the far end that's where I headed. I baited lightly with a few boilies and a handful of corn spread about 40 yards in front of me. My left rod had a inline lead system shocker style with a boilie on as bait in a solid pva bag full of low oil pellet and crumbed boilie. The right rod was fished with a lead clip system with 2 grains of plastic, the top one being fluro pink. Lots of people use corn on this lake so I just thought I would try something new. The first couple of hours went by quietly but there was still activity in the area so I left the baits as they were. I was just looking through the binoculars at the far bank as there was some movement in the bushes when the right rod ripped off. When I picked up the rod I said I think it's a Bream. Then it got a bit heavier so I thought maybe a Tench. It was a strange fight, but by now I saw the Carp in the gin clear water it just seemed to hang there, maybe it's just I don't go Carp fishing in the winter much. When in the net I thought it was a definite 20lb and a real nice looking fish.

On the scales it went 19lb 12oz, not 20lb but on a cold day I was over the moon. With the shots taken I slipped the fish back which is great to watch in the clear water. The rest of the day slipped by with a friend catching a 18lb common but no other fish on the lake were banked. This was a truly mesmerising lake and can see the point of syndicate lake fishing, buts its more socialising than fishing. But if I get a chance ill return in a blink of an eye.

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.