Mansfield Lake, Nr Canterbury

Mansfield Lake - 2nd May 2009

Some time ago Mick the Chippy Pearson (Worzel to his friends) posted that he was arranging a little get together at Mansfield Lake nr Canterbury. Having visited the lake before in the winter I decided to go back and see what it would fish like in the warmer weather.

As the place is tucked away in deepest darkest Kent Bill Gibbbins suggested he pick me up, mainly because I have a Sat Nav which would ensure he could find the place.

Bill arrived at 7am and the car was soon packed. Making our way through the Kent countryside I said to Bill I'd like to draw one of the pegs on the Southern Side by the car park. The reason for this was it was where I guessed most pleasure anglers would fish (they are lazy buggers you know) and hopefully have put in a bit of bait. Also there are some lovely looking patches of reeds and large lily beds which should be natural fish holding areas.

Now I normally like to draw early on but this being one of Mick's matches things were a little different. He had decided that we would draw depending on the order we arrived at the fishery. Well as Bill and I were the last to get there I only avoided drawing last by getting out of the car before Bill. There were still a few of the southern pegs in the bag when I drew so I was happy to see peg 11 nestling in my palm.

After the obligatory huge breakfast roll had been consumed I made my way to my peg and was pleased to find a nice looking lily bed on one side and some reeds on the other. For company today I had Kev the Catch on my left and Mike Jameson on my right.

Just to make things interesting onthe opposite bank was my arch nemesis Peter. As usual I had a £1 side bet with him and hoped that maybe today would be my day to finally win one.

I decided on three lines of attack, one margin rig for the reeds to my right where I found about 1 foot of water, 1 rig for the lily bed to my left where I found 4 feet of water tight to the lily bed and a waggler line. I set up both pole rigs with Malman 4 x 14 Thicko's with size 16 b911's and a 4bb insert waggler to fish approximately half way across the lake.

Bait wise I had with me, corn, luncheon meat, worms, maggots, various flavoured soft hookers and a ball of paste.

At the all in I fed 2 cups of 4mm skretting pellet laced with a few bits of corn and a few maggots on each pole line and fired out a couple of pouchfuls to the middle of the lake. My plan was to start on the waggler to give the fish time to settle closer in. First cast with corn and the float buried but it wasn't the greatest resistence that met the strike but a greedy 4 oz roach. which was soon in the net. After a few more casts and a change to worm on the hook the waggler shot away and this time my 12ft Normark Microlite rod arched over. It took a little while to subdue the fish but soon a carp of around 3lbs was in the net. Looking across to Peter it seemed he was stuggling and a s yet hadn't had a bite. Hopefully things would contnue like this and I might actually bag a decent net of fish. However as is usual for me things got worse, much worse. Even though I was getting indications on the float it just wouldn't go under so I started striking at the small dips. Unfortunately I didn't connect with anything so after about an hour I came in to the pole line next to the lilies. Baiting with half a worm I dropped the rig right next to the lilies and waited, and waited and waited. Even though there were bubbles everywhere the fish didn't seem to want the bait no matter what I used, corn, meat maggots and paste all taking a turn.

With the water so shallow on the other margin line I wanted to leave it longer so went back on the waggler. Again first cast it buried and another roach came to hand. Well by now I was starting to worry about where I would find any decent fish especially as Al at the far end of the lake seemed to be catching carp fairly regularly and Bill next to him having a couple of decent bream.

Mike next to me had managed a few small tench on the paste in the first couple of hours whilst Peter still remained fish less. Others around the lake had caught the odd carp but it was fishing very hard. I'm fairly certain that the carp had other things on their mind as the reeds all around were resembling a knocking shop.

Things remained hard and nearing the end of the match I'd only caught one more fish, another carp of around 3lbs from the shallow line.

However the good news was Peter was still struggling having resorted to catching small roach. maybe, just maybe today was the day. Peter had however set up a feeder rod as by now Mike opposite him had gone home, disappointed with his catch rate, and Peter was able to cast acros to the lilies by Mike's platform.

With a few minutes to go Peter had managed to find one carp so things were now getting a bit close. He has a reputation of mugging a good fish late on in matches so I kenw anything could yet happen. With barely any time left I looked at my watch and it read 4 o'clock, however as the 'All out' hadn't yet been called I assumed Mick was running the match to French time. Peter by now had gone over to fishing along to the next platform with his feeder as he had seen fish moving there. I was willing Mick to shout that time was up as I knew I had more than Peter and finally would take a £1 off him after too many times trying.

I heard Peter comment to Ryan that there was a ghostie carp which just wouldn't get it's head down when suddenly his rod was almost ripped off the rest. 8 seconds later, yes you read it right 8 bloody seconds, Mick called the 'all out' .......................... My heart sunk, I could see that it was a decent fish and was fairly certain that Peter wopuld have more than me if he landed it. Needless to say he was the target of much encouragement from everyone around the lake who like me couldn't believe he had the cheek to Mug yet another late fish....

As the scales showed he'd gone and done it again and taken another of my shiny coins. To say I was gutted was an understatement, the last time we fished Mansfield Lake he did me by 1 oz and this time he'd done me with a very late, possibly too late, fish as if i'd been running the match the 'all out ' would have been called by my watch which would have meant he wouldn't have caught it. ( I'm not bitter !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! honestly I'm not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no seriously I'm really not a bad loser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oi Chippy buy a new bloody watch, yours runs slow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Anyway back to the match. Congratulations to Al on a fine win on a hard day and to Dean for his 2nd place on his first MDer's outing. Thanks to Mick and his assorted brothers for organising the day and to Old Crapper for the after match refreshments.

After Mick had handed out the money to the winners I had a little surpise for him. I then made a little speech, I said to Mick that I knew what a family man he was and how it would be nice if his brothers could see what he got up to in his younger days whilst out chasing the ladies. I told him I managed, after searching the internet, to find a long lost, home movie and that I'd like to present it to him.

Here's what I gave him.

And here's a close up,

Somehow I reckon he might just find a way of getting his own back sometime, but don't worry I've got another surprise for a future match planned and this time it's not for Mick.

Be afraid, be very afraid..........................................

By the way, anyone got the number for the Samaritans?

Bridges Lake revisited

Bridges Lake, Monk Lakes Fishery

A few days ago Bill G sent me a PM saying that him and Peter were popping over to Monk lakes to day for a session on Bridges Lake and asked if I'd like to join them. Unfortunately the night before Bill had to drop out as his wife wasn't well so it turned in to a head to head between me and Mugger. I'd had a great day there last week so was looking forward to it, What a difference a week makes.

I arrived about 7.45am and had a look around to see if I could find a couple of pegs close together. It was fairly busy already and there weren't many free but I saw that the 2 pegs on the end of the same island that I fished the other day were free. I made my way around the lake and not long after parking the car Peter arrived. We went and had a look at the pegs and being the nice guy that I am I chose to fish the same one I had a few days ago. That left Peter the peg right on the end of the island.

One thing I forgot to mention was the wind was blowing a fairly strong northerly, right in to Peters face.

I'd only brought along the pole today so found the rig I'd used previously and set up one top kit with a Maver 12/20 elastic, attaching a Drennan Carbo .75gm shotted with an olivette and 2 small droppers to a size 16 B911. On my 2nd top kit with Black hydro I put a 1.5gm Maver float (sorry don't know the name) again shotted with an olivette and droppers but this time with a 14 B911.

This was my swim.

By now Peter had started moaning as he had found he only had about 2 feet of water at 8 metres whilst I had at least twice that at 6 metres. He kept saying something about being tucked up, I just kept quietly grinning to myself. Having set himself up Peter decided to have a look in the swim to my right just to see of it was any deeper so off he trot, pole in hand to plumb the depth. Having reached the swim and dropped his plummet in he was met with a volley of abuse from a 'Carper' fishing on the right hand bank who seemed to think he could fish anywhere he liked including in the swim Peter was plumbing. Peter not being shy sent a volley back before deciding to stay in his original swim. For the rest of the day I heard the 'Carper' telling everyone and anyone about the pillock (word changed to protect the innocent) fishing on the end of the island. It sounded something like being an employee of somewhere you deposit your money.

Anyway back to the fishing, things for me started slowly with nothing for the first 10 minutes until finally I hooked into a bream of around 1lb 8ozs. Peter by now had caught 3 or 4 having decided to fish the waggler because of the wind. To say it was awkward would be an understatement, the water was towing heavilly to my left and even with the heavy rig on I was having trouble holding the rig still. I even fed a line even shorter but that was the same. In the end I had to under shot the float to stop it disappearing in the waves.

I persevered and managed to catch a few every now and then but spotting bites was difficult. A mixture of Bream to 3lbs 8ozs, Tench, Golden Tench and Chub made up my eventual catch of 29 fish. I guess they probably weighed around 40lbs +. Of course it wouldn't be right if I didn't hook a lump so I did just that, however it was gone in a hurry after stetching the Maver 12/20 to alarming lengths. Peter was having more success with the waggler and was catching some lovely Bream the best I saw him have was around 6lbs and ready for spawning. I had to go around 3pm so left Peter to it, I gather he finished with 57 fish so all in all not a bad return on a difficult day because of the wind. I'll definately be back, hopefully when it's lovely and hot and with no wind.

On a different note I spoke to the bailiff about matches on the lake and he said they could only be held in the winter. In that case maybe I'll organise a match on Bridges later in the year, maybe somewhere around Christmas. With the margins in some swims being fairly shallow it will be probably be a waggler or feeder event for most, but that will make a change from the pole.

Hawkhurst Fish Farm - 10th April 2009

Hawkhurst Fish Farm Match Lake

A few weeks back Paulvis posted a thread suggesting a Maggotdrowning day at Hawkhurst on Good Friday. As the venue is about 3 minutes from home this was one I wanted to fish so my name was added to the list.

The forecast leading up to the day was not looking good, so much so that Matt Love dropped out as he didn't want to get his waterproofs wet. Heavy winds and a steady wind were apparently what we were to expect.

I arrived at the fishery at 8.30am to find everyone else already there. My wife dropped me off and left me to have some peace and quiet away from the kids. I paid my entry fee and was a little dissapointed to pick peg 2 from the draw bag. Although everyone says a match here can be won from any peg I've never liked this area, peg 1 supposedly a flyer sits in a corner and it's here where everyone tends to congregate before the match. I'm sure this has a negative effect on both pegs 1 & 2.

Anyway I set up my gear and had a two pronged attack planned, a line at 5 metres hard on the deck and two margin lines tight to the boards both left and right. Bait for the day was to be 6mm GOTBaits cat meat hookers, corn and some 8mm Skrettings pellets to fish on a band. Feed would consist of 4m Skrettings pellet and I'd also got about 3 pints of almost dead maggots which I might feed on one of the margins. I'd also knocked up a small amount of paste but thought it might still be a bit cold for that to work well.

To my left was Peter, my arch nemesis, we always have a £1 side bet and unfortunately it's beginning to get expensive. I was really hoping today would be a better one and maybe a £1 would be coming my way. As you can see Peter wasn't at all confident as he looks like he's praying to the fishing gods.

After breakfast was taken the all in was sounded at 10.30am and I potted in a couple of pots of 4mm Skrettings pellet and a few bits of corn on each line and shipped out to 5 metres to see whether the fish wanted to play ball. 30 seconds later and carp no.1 was in the net, not big at around 1lb but a welcome start. The next few put ins resulted in the same thing and I was beginning to feel confident of catching a few today.

For some reason things suddenly slowed and for the next ten minutes only one more fish came to the net. Then almost a soon as it slowed things picked up again and a few more fish soon joined the others in the net. This pattern was continue throught the match, catch a few then nothing, catch a few more, then nothing. It was incredibly frustrating especially as Peter didn't seem to be catching much either.

Throught the match I picked up one or two better fish including one of around 7lbs but most were what appeared to be newly stocked F1's. One thing I did notice was how slimy the Carp were, not something I'd come across before.

Anyway after around 3 hours my bladder got the better of me and I made a trip to the loo but not before potting 2 more pots of pellet on the 5 metre line. Returning from the loo I decided tio have a look at the margin lnes to see whether there were any fish there. First drop in and the float buried and a nice mirror of around 3lbs fought well before I eventually netted it. As I suspected the fish was hooked squarely in the pectoral fin, no wonder it hung on a bit.

No more fish followed during the next hour, despite signs of fish in the swim, from either margin so it was back out to 5 metres.

I decided at this time to try the paste, what a difference, the float buried straight away and a 2lb carp was soon netted and for the remaider of the match I continued to pick up more even though the bites were very finicky. during the last hour the forecast rain arrived although not as heavy as expected.

By the all out I knew I hadn't done nearly enough and certainly had been beaten by Peter yet again as while his catch rate improved mine never really got out of 1st gear.

Peter next to me was first to weigh and put a creditible 86lbs 5ozs, I ended up with 32lbs 50zs for no where. As the scales made their way round it was evident that most had caught a few but many had suffered long biteless periods just like me.

The eventual winner was Paul East from peg 7 with 125lbs with Keith Driscoll a fairly 2nd with 112lbs. The only other to break the 'ton' was Nick Allen with 101lbs.

One of these days I'm going to have a decent day at Hawkhurst but for now I'll just look forward to my next trip out which will probably be another visit to Monk lakes for another assault on the Bream and Tench in Bridges Lake. This time I'll make sure my camera batteries are fully charged.

Sorry for the lack of photo's in this report but with the likelyhood of rain I packed the camera away early to save it from getting wet.

Monk Lakes - Bridges Lake - 7th April 2009

Well what a day !!

I asked last night online for some suggestions as to where I should fish today. The only person to reply was BillG who said I should go to Monk Lakes and have a bash at the Bream in Bridges Lake. So after taking the mother in law to the hospital for an appointment I packed the car and headed off to the fishery. I arrived around 1pm, paid for my ticket and drove round looking for a comfortable peg to fish. Whilst the sky was quite clear with some bright blue patches there was a steady breeze blowing which made the temperature feel much colder.

I settled on a peg on the end the 2nd island, on the right hand bank, which meant the wind was off my back. As you can see it was an easy chuck to the island so I started on the feeder baited with double hair rigged corn. Before casting I baited the pole line at 8 metres with 2 large pot fulls of 3mm skrettings pellets and a few grains of corn in readiness for later.First cast on the feeder the tip wrapped round and a bream of about 2lbs was soon netted.

Soon afterwards his brother was on his way to join me.

I baited again, this time with 3 grains of corn and soon after I had another wrap round. This time I just had to hang on, the clutch screamed and what appeared to be a huge carp tried it's best to get round the back of the island. Unfortunately I had to tighten down to try and stop it and then everything went slack, the hook had pulled. I suspect it was one of the larger residents of the lake, they run to over 30lbs in Bridges.All the time the pole line was fizzing like crazy so I put the feeder rod behind me and dropped in with a grain of hair rigged corn for bait. Immediately the float buried and Bream of around 3lbs came to the net. The next 2 hours continued like this with bream after bream finding a liking for the corn. After the two hours I'd caught 27 of them, all 'peas in a pod' weighing about 2lbs. By now the wind had change direction and I was really feeling the cold so I took the opportunity to get my coat from the car and visit the loo. Before leaving I potted in another couple of pots of pellet.Suitably refreshed I shipped back out and waited. this time it took a bit longer for a bite but when it came the strike was met with with something altogether different. The 12 elastic streamed from the pole and the fight was nothing like before. After a minute or so I slid a barbel of around 3lbs in to the net. It was in immaculate condition and fought like crazy.

Next put in and the float buried again. This time it felt completely different again and very soon this was sitting in the bottom of the landing net.

It seemed the change of wind direction has brought in a different range of fish and the bream and all but dissapeared. For the next hour all I could catch was tench or barbel, almost all the tench being the golden variety with exception of one.

For some reason things changed again with the next ten fish all being bream of about 2lbs.After a few more golden tench I baited again with two more pots of pellet. This had the effect of bringing in some better fish, firstly a decent golden tench,

and then a real elastic stretcher, this barbel which just didn't want to give up.

I carried on for another hour and a half and continued catching well before it completely died. I couldn't buy a bite and was getting a little puzzled, then I found out the reason, the carp had woken up and pushed everything else out.This was the first and smallest of 3 that I caught, all on the pole, this one went 8lbs 6ozs

Unfortunately the camera died after this pic, guess which pillock didn't charge the batteries last night I carried on for another hour catching a few more smaller carp before hitting in to what what turned out to be the biggest of the day. A 19lb 4oz beauty that really tested my Maver 101 pole to the limit. The guy in the next peg had a camera so took a couple of pic's which he said he would e/mail to me so when they arrive I'll post them here. I decided this was a good time to pack up so I chucked the feeder out onto the pole line while I cleared everything away. Having almost got everthing sorted the tip slammed round and the reel churned and there was obviously something substantial on the end. After a few minutes i slid another lovely looking mirror in to the net, this time it weighed 11lbs 12ozs. Again the guy in the next peg came and took a couple of photo's before going back to his peg, no doubt cursing my luck as he'd been there all day fishing with boilies and hadn't had a touch.

My final tally for the day was:

2 Green Tench,

14 Golden Tench,

37 Bream,

11 Barbel,

and 2 Mirror Carp.

At a rough guess I must have had somewhere in the region of 200lbs of fish, all in pristine condition. They really are a credit to the fishery management.

My next day out is a match on Good Friday at Hawkhurst Fishery with the Maggotdrowners, I hope I catch a similar weight, but this time they will almost all be Carp.

Wylands Farm - House Lake 14th March 2009

When the alarm went off I looked out the window expecting to see overcast skies and probably rain especially as Bill was fishing today. However I was happy to see blue skies and the sun trying to peek through.

By the time I arrived at Wylands the cloud cover had rolled in and the drizzle was beginning to come down, I just knew Bill was somewhere close to arriving. Sure enough a few minutes later he turned up to be met with just a few words regarding his status as a total and utter jinx on the weather.
I was hoping for a decent draw today so was pleased to find peg 7 in my hand, halfway along the road bank, a comfortbale swim to fish with reasonable depth close in and an inviting looking margin to my left. Fortunately Bill's effect on the weather hadn't worked as by the all in the drizzle had stopped and it was turning out to be a nice day.
You always know on a MD's day out that something out of the ordinary will happen and today was no exception, poor old Disco managed to let his pole slide in to the lake, not just one sction but the whole thing. Spamwham tried to help with a few suggestions one of which was that Disco should strip off and go in, Disco however, wasn't so keen on this idea as he'd gone commando today and was obviously ashamed to show off his tackle. Being the nice guy that I am I grabbed my camera to record what followed.

My plan of attack today was two fold, firstly the pole fished at 6 metres at the bottom of a small shelf I found when plumbing up and the waggler to fish at about 10 metres with a strung out shotting pattern to give a nice slow fall through the water. Trevor had told me before we started that the waggler would be a waste of time so just to prove him wrong I started on it. First cast and the float buried and I was attached to a decent skimmer. 2nd cast and the same happened so I decided to stick with it. The first hour went well with with 8 good skimmers, 2 roach and a small perch finding their way to the net. Thrioughout the frist hour I'd also been feeding the left hand margin swim and had noticed the odd tail swirl so baited with 3 red maggots and dropped it in tight to the stick ups. Within seconds the float sailed away and I was attached to something somewhat bigger. With only an 8 elastic I was not surprised to see yards and yards of elastic stretching from the pole and came to the conclusion it must be one of the resident Carp that run to 15lbs+. Unfortunately I never found out as after a minute or two the hook pulled and I came back with a very large scale attached to the hook. No more bites followed so I left the margin to settle again.
Back on the waggler and for the next hour and a half things were looking reasonably good, the main thing was I enjoying the day and catching plenty of fish. Things though were going to change as the wind picked up a bit and changed direction which made the presentation a little difficult so I went out on the pole line.
For some reason the bites just weren't positive and I kept bumping fish so I threw the pole up the bank and had another look on the margin line. Baiting again with 3 reds I dropped in again and immediately the float disappeared. This time the fight was completely different and suddenly a cracking perch broke the surface. Safely netted it must have been getting on for 2 pounds.Next put in and another perch followed this time around a pound.
I once again left the margin to settle and went back to the waggler but things had got harder with bites having dried up. I carried on till 2.45pm before packing up early as my son was in his first drama production, Wind in the Willows, and of course I wanted to be there to record it for posterity. He was brilliant and as a reward I've promised to take him fishing, as long as he promises not to catch more than me.

All in all I had a fairly good day ending with 18lbs 13ozs, if only the bites hadn't dried up I just wonder what I might have had. I saw from the results when I got home that most on my bank struggled so I didn't feel so bad.

Thanks to Mark for his organisation, and Keith (Disco) for the entertainment and also thanks to Mick 'worzelgummidge' Chippy for keeping the ducks away.

Congratulations to Bill on his win, a fantastic weight, the only sour note today being the fact that Peter's another £1 richer.

Oast Farm, Buxted - 28/02/2009

After last weeks struggle at Shannons I was hoping for a better day today as I drove to Oast Farm fishery at Buxted. The weather was fairly good, mild and dry with little wind and it was forecast to warm up as the day went on. Arriving at the lake the usual suspects were there apart from Al who failed to turn up, I'm guessing he had been offered a days work.

There are a few decent pegs on the lake and I fancied either 8 in the corner of the dam or 9, 10 or 11 on the right hand bank, In to the draw bag and peg 9 is nestling in my palm, Spot on. For company on Peg 8, the flyer peg, was Colin.

On my left was Ryan on peg 10.

The peg has a good depth in the margins and doesn't vary too much out to 9 metres so I set up 3 top kits, 1 for the margins, 1 set at dead depth at 8metres for soft hooker or corn and the 3rd for banded pellet on the same 8 metre line. Cupping in half a pot of 4mm skrettings pellet on both the margin and 8m lines I baited with corn and tried down the inside. Things started slowly with just the odd knock coming to nothing so after 1/2 hour I switched to the 8m rig baited with a GOTBaits Catmeat hooker pellet. First put in and I missed the bite as the float buried. Encouraged I shipped out again however this time the float remained stationary. 5 minutes later it still hadn't moved so I shipped back, baited with corn and tried again. Again the float didn'tmove so after about an hour I decided to try the margin line which I'd been feeding since the 'All in'. Bill had told me to fish tight to the bank but the depth was only about a foot so I dropped in about a metre off the bank where there was almost 2 1/2 feet. After not very long the float disappeared and Carp no.1 was soon in the net, only about 1lb but welcome. Next put in and the same happened, Carp no.2 and words of encouragement echoed across the lake from Peter Mortons direction. A few minutes later and Carp no.3 was on and this time Peter was at hand to take some photo's.

He was clearly worried about losing a £1 to me as the catch shot is a bit blurred.

I was beginning to think this might be my day, how wrong could I be, for the remainder of the match all I managed to catch was two small roach.

The top 3 weights were ;

1. Dave 'le frog' Collier 52lb 4oz

2. Bill Gibbins 27lb 0oz

3. Peter Morton 25lb 6oz

Never mind, I'd still enjoyed my day, Dave had a great day with 27 Carp mainly caught shallow whille Bill having struggled for most of the match snared 7 Carp in the last hour agin fishing shallow.

Next up is a 'Silver Fish' only match with the Maggotdrowners at Wylands Farm Fishery on House Lake which I'm really looking forward to.

Thanks to the guys for sorting out the day, oh and I nearly forgot I lost yet another £1 to Peter the first and hopefully the last in 2009.

Shannons, Eridge 22nd February 2009

I had originally planned to fish Hartleylands Farm today to try out my new pole, a Maver 101 Competition and a new feeder rod, a 12ft Shakespeare Mach 3 but at the last minute received an invite from Bill Gibbins to join him and a few others at Shannons at Eridge nr Tunbridge Wells. The day was to be a friendly one with no keepnets allowed, just a good day out with some mates.

Arriving at 8.15am I found the gate locked so went to sit back in the car as Peter and Bill arrived. The gate was unlocked and we made our way to the car park. After a walk round the lake I decided to fish the far bank which would give me a nice easy chuck with the feeder to the island and a nice comfortable 8m line for my new pole.

Peter sat just to my left in a swim that had a comfortable 11m to an island so I expected a bit of banter during the day.

I set the feeder up first baited with corn and sent it flying to the island, with more luck than judgement dropping it tight to the far bank grass.

A few smalls plucks of the tip amounted to nothing so I put the feeder rod away for a while and concentrated on the pole. This too only brought me a small perch with a liking for corn so I went back on the feeder. Again I managed to drop the feeder tight to the island and after a couple of minutes the tip twitched a few times before pulling right round and Carp no.1 was on. After a fairly short fight and a little encouragement/mickey taking from Bill and Peter the Carp was soon netted, a nice looking Common around 6lbs.

Peter even took a picture of me playing the fish as he said he'd never managed to get one before, cheeky sod !!

After this excitement both the pole line and the feeder line failed to produce for an hour or so, so I popped over the fence behind me to see if I could catch any of the Chub or Barbel that live in the river that runs alongside the fishery. I'd already chucked a couple of handfuls of 3mm pellets into the swim an hour before so hopefully there would be something there. Dropping a feeder full of maggots in to the deep hole no sooner had I put the rod on the rest when the tip slammed over and it was fish on. After a short fight a Chub of around 2lbs was safely netted. On closer inspection I noticed it throat was full of the pellets I'd fed earlier so It was obviously a good move. A few minutes later and Chub no.2 was in the net, slightly bigger this time around 2lbs 8ozs. After about 20 minutes with no further cation I went back to the lake. Before doing so I got my camera out and took a couple of action shots of Peter playing one of his few Carp.

Before I'd left for the river I'd fed the pole line with 3 large cups of 3mm pellet so I hoped the fish had turned up. Dropping the rig in at 8metres I sat back and waited. It didn't take too long before the float twitched a bit before sliding away and to be honest I expected it to be a roach so I was quite surprised when a good length of black hydro stretched from the pole. After a short spirited fight the carp was netted a nice looking mirror of around 5lbs. Not too long after it's brother took a fancy to my corn hookbait and that was safely netted too.

Too soon it was time to start packing away as I had to leave early so I left the feeder in while I packed away my pole. Just as I was about to put the feeder rod away the tip flew round and an angry Carp tried to make it's way round the back of the island. It took a little while to get it under control, which proved a good workout for the new rod, and it wasn't long before it was netted. I was surprised to see that it was probably only about 2-3lbs but it fought like a 10 pounder.

I said my goodbyes and left having had a good time at Shannons yet again and made a promise to myself to make sure I visit again soon when weather turns a little warmer and the water level has dropped a bit after it was flooded recently.

My thanks to Bill for the invite and Peter, Dave, Colin and Al for a enjoyable day in good company, I may be out again with these guys at Oast farm next weekend, if so I'll post another blog afterwards.

I'll do a report on the new pole and rod soon once I've had a few more fish on each so I can give a more detailed review.