Posts

Renny Lakes, East Harsley, 17th June 2011

Image
Heading home for the weekend I decided to fish a local lake that I heard a lot about on the Anglerscabin forum called Renny Lakes . This particular weekend I was taking my nephew fishing for the first time so decided that a practise session was in order to ensure that he would catch the following day. Renny Lakes has three lakes, although the google imagry has yet to catch up.  I've highlighted the new lake in the image.  I decided to fish the rear lake which looked more established than the other two and chatting to the anglers it held the larger fish and selected a peg on the left side towards the rear of the lake. The swim had margins to the left and an easy reach with the pole to the far bank and a nice clump of reeds. The Session Plumbing up I found the lake had a very even depth of around 3', so set up a far bank rig with white hydroelastic and a margin rig. I kicked off with a small pot full of pellets, corn and maggots on the far bank and was feeding the

Wood Lane Fishery, Iver, 30th May 2011

Image
So I'm back in London, it's the bank holiday and to top a great weekend of fishing, what better way to see the extra day off than go fishing...  As Billet Lane was closed due to the very low water level I decided to head to Wood Lane Fishery in Iver.  Only 20 minutes drive from my flat, so nice and easy. There are two lakes at Wood Lane Fishery.  The first is a simple bowl, quite featureless.  I decided to fish the second pool and found a swim where I could easily reach the island with the pole. I started a swim close to the island, one to the right of the island and other on my top 2 sections. I potted a large cup of corn, hemp and pellets near the island.  No sooner had that pot gone in I saw tails swirling and the water turn cloudy.  I quickly shipped out a shallow rig with a big worm on it.  1 minute later the elastic was streaming out and the first fish of the day was on. I landed a mirror carp with a funny hump on it's back. Quickly shipping out again,

Kingsland Reservoir, Coates, 29th May 2011

Image
Heading back down to London after the Messingham Sands match I decided to drop in to see my mate Mark.  We decided to fish Kingsland Reservoir in Coates, near Peterborough. Kingsland Reservoir consists of three lakes, two with carp and one silver fish.  The fishery opens at 7am and we arrived early, 6:30am to find a queue already forming. The owner, Richard, very friendly man gave us some good advice and informed us that a match was going to be fished on the lake we wanted to fish and he gave us an alternative area.  We picked up the fishery landing and keepnets and headed to our chosen spot. It was quite overcast and windy so fishing a longish pole was out the question.  The two lines of attack I chose was a 5m metre line and method feeder towards the aerator.  Mark took the swim along to my right which gave him a better opportunity for fishing the pole and a larger margin swim. I was about to kick off my swim when Mark called over that he had a fish on and needed some help.

MFS - Messingham Sands, Island Lake, 28th May 2011

Image
My first match, organised by the fantastic crew at the Match Fishing Scene website/forum, didn't quite go according to plan... The draw was sheduled for 9am on Saturday 28th May so I drove down from the North East and arrived at Messingham Sands around 8am, plenty of time to have a look around, buy the fishery own pellets and generally ask what the best tactics are for the Island Lake.  At around 8:40am I'm aimlessly wandering between different groups of anglers asking, "are you the guys from Match Fishing Scene?".  The responses where mainly, "no mate, were xyz club". One group told me the draw was taking place at the golf club just down the road... so I jump in the car and head to the golf course.  Walked into the "sprig bar" with my fishing boots, bib and brace to see two groups of anglers... "Are you the guys from Match Fishing Scene?",  I ask. "No mate we are with abc club", they respond... I remembered that

How End Fishery, Bedford, 8th May 2011

Image
After following Phil Stones blog to build How End Fishery on the MatchFishing-Scene website/forum I really wanted to go and visit the fishery soon after the opening day.  It was also a good opportunity to let Mark build on his pole fishing skills. We arrived at How End at 7am, but I didn't realise that Phil opened at 8am... oops, a quick phonecall to Phil and he came down a short time afterwards to greet us and let us in.  A very short drive into the fishery and the all important first impressions are a job that has been done by a perfectionist.  Phil was very welcoming so we had a chat about the fishery and amongst other things I confirmed that he is a petrol head too... perfect! Mark and I decided to fish Yasi's Lake as it is more pole orientated.  The car park is very close to both lakes, so it's only a small walk to the lakes  The swims are very good, proper concrete slabs and enough room between the anglers.  We decided to fish the swims on the point of the i

Lawn Farm Fisheries, Elsworth, 7th May 2011

Image
Friday night saw thunderstorms and rain in the Cambridge region which affected the weekends fishing.  Saturday saw a re-visit to Lawn Farm Fisheries  but this time Mark and I decided to fish Willows, the larger lake in the complex. Willows contains larger Carp and on a previous session Mark had bagged some cracking Carp up to 12lb.  I chose Peg 35 which gave me the option of fishing to the island and also the point of the island, Mark fished Peg 36 to my left. I decided to set up a method feeder and pellet waggler.  I also mixed some groundbait with hemp, corn and a pint of dead maggots.  I also prepared some micro pellets.  Bait for the day was banded pellets, gotbaits ghost hookers , hair rigged corn, worm and dead maggots. The session - it started well with a nice 5lb common carp.  The bite came just as the rain started to come down, so playing the fish I got a good soaking, much to the amusement of Mark who was happy sat under his brolly on the next peg.  But it was me who wa

Tunnel Barn Farm, Little Shrewley, 17th April 2011

Image
The sunday we decided to fish Top Pool at Tunnel Barn Farm Fisheries .  Again, Les from the tackle shop gave us some great advice and told us to fish at Pegs 1 through 7 as there was a match on the rest of Top Pool. I selected Peg 1 and Mark, Peg 2.  Mark's aim for the day was to further his pole fishing and he was planning on sticking with the pole for most of the day... well, it didn't quite go to that plan, but more later. Peg 1 was a lovely looking Peg with reeds in front reachable at 13 metres, a large margin swim on the right and open water straight ahead.  Plenty of options here and the weather was going to play a part in the days fishing. So, my tactics where to get the pole across to the reeds as tight as possible, also have a swim a metre from the reeds and a margin swim.  It was also an opportunity, should the fish play ball to get the pellet waggler rod out for the first time. Starting the session off I took an early F1 from my 12 metre reed swim and then st