Its Been A While.... 

It's been a long time since my last post, sadly not so much fishing but a new role at work as a surveyor means I have been working a fair few hours.
But in between work and family life I have managed a bit of fishing since my last post back in July, firstly me and Steve returned to Marsh Farm for our first night session, and I couldn't wait.
We decided to fish the far end of Richardsons as the first half had a match on the following morning so we needed to be out of the way.

My plan was to start very light float fishing tactics until dark then crack out the barbel rods for feeder fishing through the night.
I baited lightly to start and was having a few bites from Rudd, small Tench and the odd Crucian but nothing big.
After dinner the sun started to drop so it was time to put the rods on the alarms.
I was still fishing one of the rods in the margins and the other into open water, both on flat bed feeder method, one using plastic caster, the other real caster.
The bites were slow but steady to both rods and I had some really bad pictures as I'm not used to having my picture taken in the dark.

By now it was really dark, and we had both made the mistake of using a weather app, which stated a fairly mild whether throughout the night so we didn't even bring a Bivvy or shelter, I mean its summer, I luckily had a sleeping bag, but during the night the weather plummeted.
I woke up at about 3am, all the kit covered in dew and freezing cold,  Steve was already awake and making a fried breakfast just to keep warm.
After some food we decided to pack up and leave, it was far to cold to continue fishing, and with a drop in temperature like that it was unlikely to fish very well anyway.
Well not the best night session but still had a few fish, just worth remembering whether apps are just pants.

Fishing for Tinca's at Marsh

This fishing trip I will be flying solo as my fishing partner Steve had a prior engagement.

In eagerness for starting my Godalming Angling ticket I decided to fishing Marsh Farm in Godalming for some hard fighting Tench and Crucians, and as usual I couldn't wait.

I left home around 06:45 as Marsh doesn't open till 07:30 so there was no need to get up really early, which was nice for a change.

The gates had just been opened when I arrived so I parked up and as the tackle shop was yet to open I had a quick lap of lakes.

I decided to fish peg 1 of Richardsons as there was a nice warm wind pushing into the corner, Harris was looking a bit clear and Hill pond was closed for a coaching day.

The Tackle shop staff seemed to be running a bit late so I walked my kit to the peg in readiness, I was trying to travel light as my back is getting a bit of a battering at work recently, one rod coupled with a centre pin, net and handle, rucksack, chair and small bucket for pellet and groundbait.

Shortly after I had set up the swim the staff arrived so I paid for my ticket and a pint of Casters which I believe are the best Tench bait for Marsh, well for numbers of fish anyway.

I put a little bait either side of my peg to start with, just  few casters , pellets and some Roach groundbait I had left over from my last session.

Tackle wise I was trying pretty light kit, 10ft float rod with the centrepin as I said earlier, pin loaded with 3lb line and a 2lb hooklink, size 20 hook and light pole float shotted down so just the very tip was showing.

Sadly although the conditions were near perfect the strong wind did make it very hard to see the type of bites a Crucian would give but I decided to stick with it and see if the wind dies out.

After a nice chat with an official at Godalming Angling talking about the coaching programme they have often on the Hill pond which is a fantastic  idea and one I think more fisheries should follow suite with.

I love float fishing, starring at the float then that first bite, even if the float just bobs slightly I think my heart skips a beat, it's such an exciting way to fish, and I was soon into my first hard fighting Tench, not huge at around 3lb but great fun on the light gear.

I was really enjoying the day, Marsh Farm has so much to offer, whilst enjoying the sport I was seeing and listening to the kids around the Hill pond catching there first fish and the magical expressions on the faces of a newly hooked fisherman/woman, there was Buzzards overhead and I even had a stunning Heron catch a fish from the swim next to me, only wish I had the camera in my hand at the time, but both cameras where on the tripods filming for a new YouTube.

All was going well and during a brief moment where the lake was completely flat I was able to see the really shy bites from the Crucians and a had a 2 in quick succession to just over 1lb which I was more than happy with.

Shortly after the wind picked back up again and the Crucian bites were no longer visible but the float shot under and I was into a powerful fish causing me to hold the rod right out into the lake whilst the fish powered down the right hand margin, my heart was in my mouth thinking this was one of the huge Tench and I was playing it very carefully and letting the rod blank do its job so as not to snap the very light hooklink. After a hard battle sadly a Common Carp of about 7lb popped up, I dont mind catching Carp at all, but when you think it a PB Tench it's a bit of a downer.  

But on the plus side the next fish was a 4lb Tinca and a new PB, just, but Tench has always been a species that I've struggled with so I was over the moon.

I celebrated the Tench with a nice cup of tea from the tackle shop, yet another plus point for Marsh Farm, and then continued fishing for a while longer.

Sadly I had a family event to attend so had to pack up about 2pm, but what a day, by far the best days Tench fishing I have ever had, over 10 Tench in total from just under 3lb to a 4lb PB, along with a couple of Crucians, Roach, Rudd, Bream, F1's and the unexpected Common Carp, I can't wait to start the Godalming Angling ticket in July and be able to night fish brilliant water.

A Proud Moment

I have been waiting quite a long time for my son to show a real interest in the sport I hold so dear, he has been with me a few times but has never shown a real interest...until now.
A real moment happened a couple of days ago when my son asked me to take him fishing, I nearly shed a tear.
Then came the hard decision of where to go, we have a lot of great fishing available around this area and I wanted somewhere my son hasn't been before, we have fished Bishops Green as it suited both of us, Liam fished for the Gudgeon and Roach whilst I fished for the Carp, it worked, but Liam told me he would like to move up the fishing ladder and catch something like a Tench.
We trolled through through various venues to choose one we thought would be appropriate and settled on Marsh Farm in Godalming, a venue with a great reputation and somewhere I have fished a few times and loved it.
So Friday came round and as I was off work we set off for Godalming and arrived at Marsh arm at 7:30am, popped into the brilliant and award winning onsite tackle shop Apollo 2 to get some Maggots and purchase our day tickets.

We decided to fish Hill pond due to its high stock of fish which should guarantee a great days sport.
I set Liam up in the swim next to me to the right of the pond from the entrance, Liam was going to be using a standard waggler type setup with 4lb line to a 3lb hooklink and size 14 hook, I didn't want to set him up quite as light as I was fishing just in case he hooked into a big Tench.
We baited the swims right in the margins either side of the peg with a little ground bait and micro-pellets whilst we setup, I was using 3lb mainline to a 2lb hook link using a very light pole float with a size 18 hook using a single maggot, caster or pellet.

It was soon apparent that the lighter approach was by far catching more fish, Liam was catching the odd Rudd and Roach but I was getting into a few Crucians and Tench too, so with that I swapped Liam over to a pole float and a 2lb hook link like mine and he was soon into a few more fish. My main intention for the day was for Liam to catch his first Tench and Crucian but with sun really beating down the bites were getting harder to come by.

Liam soon hooked into something a bit more serious which I thought was a Tench but as I saw it roll I thought he had a huge Crucian on, he was playing it very well, but his dreams where soon shattered when we realized it was actually a small Common Carp, gutted, but a great fight on light tackle, this was shortly followed by a small Tench of about 9oz which as it was his first so he was over the moon with it. The day was going well I had a fair few fish with Crucian to 1lb 7oz and Tench to 2lb 12oz and I even had a big Gudgeon of nearly 2oz but was still trying to get Liam his first Crucian but we was running out of time so I put some bait in for the last stretch and let him fish in my swim on the right of me where I had a few Crucians throughout the day, and the next fish he hooked was a 1lb 5oz Crucian, JOB DONE.

We packed up and left having had a fantastic days fishing and I had one happy and very hooked boy, Marsh Farm delivered as usual and it makes me even more impatient about joining the Godalming Angling Club in July, cant wait.

Its Crucian O'Clock at Marsh Farm.

This month we decided to re-visit an old venue, Marsh Farm, famed for its huge 100% true Crucians knocking the British record and huge Tench, I was really looking forward to returning as the last 2 visits have not really gone to plan, the first time we went it was the one of the hottest days on record, then the next time we went it was torrential rain the whole time, so I was hoping for a better day.

I left home just before 6am to pick up Steve then headed for Milford, Surrey. We arrived at Marsh Farm at about 6:45 and the gate was open, result, we know we cant start fishing until we have a shop brought ticket, and as the shop doesn’t open until 7:30 it gave us plenty of time to look around and choose our swims before it got busy.

We decided to fish the windward end of Harris lake, as its known to produce monster Crucians including the lake record which is held by Anglers Mail own Bill Rushmer, who gave us some information and tactics on this lake.

We put a bag in the swims we chose and headed back to the van to wait for the shop to open.

One thing you need to make sure of when fishing Marsh Farm is that you turn up with a completely bone dry landing net, because if you don’t, you cant use it, you can burrow one of there’s for a returnable £10 but then you will have to stop fishing at 5:30pm when the shop closes.

Marsh Farm has a really good and well stocked tackle shop and café on site which means you can just buy your bait there in the morning, I got myself 2 pints of maggots, a pint of pre-ordered casters, some pellet and paste, a Crucian banquet.

Once paid up we headed back to the swims to start setting up, I decided on two lines of attack, on the left side of the swim I would fish double corn on a bolt rig and alarm for the Tench, and on the right I would use a much lighter float set up, a 13ft rod coupled with a centre pin reel with 4lb mainline, a 2lb hook link, size 16 hook and a very light pole float.

I pre-baited both sides of the swim with pellet, maggot, caster and Tanches ground bait, a legend of a ground bait and got settled into the swim.

I began fishing and was soon into the Rudd and Roach, there was loads of them down there and most of the time took on the drop, which I was fine with as action from the off is a great confidence booster. After about an hour the high winds was really getting to me so I decided to take a break and go and grab some breakfast with Steve, another great advantage to Marsh Farm.

With a Bacon burger and brew sorted we headed back, I sat in the swim having a munch thinking how to tackle this wind, the best way would be to move to the other end of the lake, but with this much wind pushing down this end it was bound to bring the fish, so I decided to swap my set ups over and fish the float on the left so at least the wind with push the float towards the rushes rather than away, and bolt rig the other side. Caster on the hook was producing allot of bites so I decided to stay with it, the float just dipped a couple of mil so I struck, and felt a good resistance, at this point I was petrified of loosing it, then up came a big bar of gold, and it was in the net, it looked huge barring mind my previous best was only about 1lb 8oz, this one went 2lb 6oz, I was ecstatic.

The whole time I was fishing I have been feeding a handful of pellet and caster every 2 minutes or so and it seemed to have worked, and now with a massive confidence boost I continued fishing.

The Rudd and Roach where really getting on the feed with fish to over 10oz it was going well and it seemed an age before the next good resistance, and again it came in the form of a Crucian.

When it lay in the net I thought it was smaller than the last one, but it had quite a hunch back to him, and when on the scales it went to 2lb 9oz, another PB, this was turning into a great day.

The constant feeding seemed to be really paying off and they were loving the casters, but with the sun high in the sky I pulled the rods out to give the swim a rest but continued feeding, we decided to have an on site website meeting, so with a brew from the shop we discussed what we can do to better the site, which as its already brilliant not allot, but we spoke about our 4 day fish in August, venues for next year and our 2013 fishing holiday.

With the weather clouding over around 3pm we carried on fishing again, and was soon into more Rudd, Roach and Perch, but soon the float dipped delicately and I was into another Crucian, this one really gave it some but huge fun on a centre pin, once in the net it looked even bigger than the last one, but it was exactly the same size, 2lb 9oz again, but still a specimen Crucian and very happy to catch it.

The wind was getting silly now and was probably missing some Crucian bites, so we decided to move in an hour or so to Mill pond as its more sheltered and a better chance of a Tench, and although this swim had a real chance of a monster Crucian, I don’t think I would see the bite.

But not long before the move I was into another Crucian, this one was about 1lb 8oz or so, still a fantastic fish.

With that Crucian returned I packed up and joined Steve on the Mill pond, it was allot calmer with hardly any ripple in my new swim, and was soon into Rudd again, just on a smaller scale.

It didn’t take long for the Tench to move in, and my god did they fight, although most around the 1lb mark they really went for it, after a few I did eventually bank a 2lb 10oz Tench so was happy with that. Soon after it started to get really cold, its bloody JUNE and its cold, what is going on, so around 7pm we packed up and left.

Today was a real red letter day for me, I beat my Crucian PB twice then matched it again and some nice Tench. Marsh Farm really has it all and I do think that is mainly because of the lack of king Carp, although I love my Carp fishing it can push me to fish for them when I am at any venue with Carp in, which can not happen here as there is next to none, also it really helps having an on site tackle shop and Café.

A really great day and cannot wait to return.