Lewy's Lines

An opportunity to catch up with Craig and his mate Margo. We selected a fishery mid way between our homes and ended up in West Sussex, Pulborough and Mill Farm Fishery and Mill pond. Mill Farm Fishery is famous for its population of silver bream ( Bilcca bjoerkna ) and where the British record has been captured a number of times. An easy way to distinguish the silver bream from the more common bronze bream is the large black eye, the silver scales and the lack of mucus on their bodies. Craig and Margo had their carp gear with them and I'd brought the match set-up so of course there was talk of a mini competition remembering that those boys have two rods out at a time and we only fish a single line (rod or pole) at a time, it would be an interesting day out. The Draw Not so much of a draw but three swims next to each other, so pegs 25, 26 and 27. Luckily we had the winds off our backs, plus some open water and margins to target. Set-up I opted to set-up the pole

Lodge Pond set in the beautiful Alice Holt Forest offers the promise of some great bream sport mixed in with plenty of silvers and carp too and it happens Sunday morning turned out to be a beautiful day with bright sunshine and a little wind. A totally new venue to me and an outing with the Farnham Angling Society guys. The Draw There were enough of us for two section payouts split by which bank you where on. Most people wanted the far bank, 16 through to 21 which is home to the larger bream. My home would be Peg 2, so the near bank for me with Tommy on 3 and Terry on 1 as neighbours. Set-up Lets just say that the set-up did start that well for me, especially as I was positioning my seatbox and my sunglasses fell off my head into the murky water... 5 minutes fishing round with the landing net and I gave up. I'll grab them at the end of match by stripping off a little is what I thought. My second mistake was to leave my power kits for the pole at home! It's only

It's been sometime since I've managed to get out on the bank and today was the next match in my diary. Fishing with Farnham Angling Society (FAS) at Stockbridge Pond. The weather had been pretty bad after Storm Calum did it's thing on the country and of course it had rained overnight introducing cold water to the stream fed pond. So on arrival the water was pretty gin clear. Fourteen of us fishing today and the draw was quickly underway after the usual discussion about which pegs to use. The Draw  Peg 29 would be my spot for the day over the far bank and also happened to be the end peg! Set-Up Feeder to target the centre of the lake and two pole lines at 13 metres. I did contemplate setting up the waggler and in hindsight maybe I should have. Bait consisted of maggots, caster, small tub of worms, sweetcorn, special 'G' Dark groundbait. All-In I decided on a double negative approach today given the rain last night and the water clarity, so I cu

A facebook post from Hathers looking for some volunteers for the Wednesday retiree, self employed and builders match at Old Bury Hill made me put in a day of unpaid leave, its just too good a place to miss and the fishing was reportedly very good. Arriving at the fishery it was raining and quite overcast, given our summer, rain was last thing on my mind. The Draw We all gathered round the cabin jostling for position.  Eventually my turn and peg 13 would be my home for the day.  Neighbours Hathers and Shedders, so plenty of friendly abuse to be had. Set-up My initial thoughts given the wind blowing across the peg was to sack the pole and just fish the rods. Choice of rods were: 12' Bomb and tea bag clipped up at 50 metres 12' Method, also clipped up at 50 metres 10' Method around 20 metres I was setup very quickly and the weather was clearing so plenty of time to get the pole out and setup a line at 14metres. Bait was mainly pellet and groundbait however I

A 60th birthday present for a friend turned into a boys day out for three of us at the weekend. Graham turned sixty in May, his present, a day's fly fishing tuition with Trevor Coxon at Surrey Fly Fishing . It was a great excuse for me to also learn to chuck some fluff!  Our third member is Carl, neighbour, friend, chef and drinking buddy to us both. A number of calls to Trevor and a few dates where booked in to the diaries and finally we settled on August at Albury Estate Fisheries . What do you get? Trevor outlined what we would expect of the day over the phone calls.  Our package consisted of the following: 90 minutes casting tuition 2 hours guided fishing Hire of all equipment As for Trevor's fishing CV, it's very impressive, he has been fly fishing for 45 years and fishing in general since he was 6.  With Trevor celebrating a very big birthday this year he has been on the bank for almost 74 years!  I'm sure Trevor doesn't mind me giving his age

After a great nights entertainment consisting of beer, bbq and many laughs, mainly at Mr James around the table and a night on the sofa I was up early for another day at How End.  Breakfast was a quick run to the village shop to stock up on provisions and most importantly water! Remember Darren to check the bottle of gin to see whether it's neat or premixed... here end the lesson. Today I'd be on Yasi's and to be honest a lake I enjoy more than Dani's.  The weights on Yasi's yesterday had been quite up and down and one area that I didn't want to end up on was peg 1. The Draw Third last out of the drawbag and I just knew that I was getting Peg 1, not really where I wanted to be if I'm brutally honest however today Pebs had repegged the match as one of the lads had to head home.  Peg 1 it turned out now had a free peg either side of it. Set-up No rods, all pole and a different choice of bait today.  So the lines where quite simple. Shallow rig R

2 years have past since I last fished the 2 Dayer at Phil and Tarnya's place, How End Fisheries. I was certainly looking forward to the weekend after reading about the every increasing weights coming out of both Yasi's and Dani's lakes. Random draw for partners this weekend however that would be after the main draw had taken place.  As the lakes where closed for the weekend fishing was 1130-1730 and the sun was beating down on us. Plenty of banter in the club house and great to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones too. The Draw The big red bag produced Dani's Peg 18 today which was a very good draw according to the locals. Plenty of local knowledge to help out too especially as it had been sometime since I was fishing a match here.  The best advice from Darren James, aka "Parker" to Lady Carla. Neighbour for the day would be the lovely Kathy and we would be the only two on this side of Dani's. Set-up I'd been given som