The larger of the two lakes in the lower valley at prestigious Surrey day-ticket complex Bury Hill Milton, at three acres, offers 30 pegs and a fish stock comprising primarily tench, crucian carp, roach, rudd, perch and bream. There are carp present but numbers are carefully managed to ensure the venue retains a unique identity and one slightly different from so many commercial venues.
Carefully designed with anglers in mind back in 1991 Milton has been landscaped with both islands and subsurface fish-holding areas to offer plenty of potential from all the pegs. Thousands of lilies, reeds, irises, trees and selected shrubs ensure the surroundings are pleasing and even clothed in its winter garb the venue looked delightful despite the mid-November gloom which engulfed it during the course of the session.
Due to generous stocking and a carefully managed environment pleasure catches to 250 lb are commonplace on Milton during the spring and summer months, whilst match hauls routinely reach 100 lb. The mainstay of the sport during the warmer months is from crucian that run to 3 lb, plus tench that reach 7 lb and golden rudd and roach that approach 2 lb. In winter perch and roach come to the fore with perch to well over 3lb always on the cards and roach to 2lb possible whatever the weather.
Given this ‘In Session’ feature was planned for winter Russ intended to target the roach and he selected Peg 25, in open water, to fish from. An unusual choice as it was a peg Russ had never fished before!
Russ explained, “I like to push myself by trying new areas, this is in an area which usually produces as I’ve caught roach from adjacent pegs and to be honest Milton is well stocked so if I get my feeding and presentation right I should be able to pull a few redfins.”
He started off by baiting two pole lines; the first with a small pot of chopped worms and the second with a couple of tangerine-sized balls of Dynamite Roach Silver X groundbait.
With the swim prepared he set up with 0.13mm Powerline to a 0.10mm bottom and a size 18 B611 Kamasan Wide Gape nickel hook. Elastic was Hydro pink, which is rated at 4-6 and the float a Ben Scott Kinky Pencil carrying 4 x number 10.
As Russ started to fish it soon became clear it was going to be a tough session as the bites were just not forthcoming. Conditions were mild for the time of year and with overcast skies it looked promising for a few bites but I was also struggling on a perch session at the opposite end of the lake in what should have been perfect conditions for the species.
I was pole fishing too but short and compared to Russ I wasn’t exactly fishing light with 4lb main line to a 3.75lb hooklength and a big lobworm on a size 10 hook but I would normally have expected a few bites in my swim, which was tight to a dying reed bed in an area of the lake which had produced stripeys to 3lb 10oz to me in the past. Each time I looked up I could see Russ working away at his swim but he didn’t seem to be catching either. I kept trickling a little chopped worm and red maggot into my swim but to be honest I wasn’t at all confident.
Despite the lack of action Russ stuck to his plan with a light feed through his toss pot every put out comprising a pinch of soft micro Skretting pellets and three casters. “It’s tough but I never expected to catch from the off” said Russ, “In the winter it is always a case of building a swim steadily and knowing that eventually the fish will start to move in and I’m confident I’ll get on the fish as the session progresses.”
Eventually the bites started to come but rather than solid pulls it was a case of very quick, finicky plucks at 14m which were easy to miss but eventually Russ connected with one and the pink hydro did its stuff as a chunky-looking fish came in steadily to start with and then battled in the margins before being netted.
“Look at this Ian!” Russ shouted across to me and I pulled in, topped my swim up with some chopped worm, then walked around expecting to see the first plump redfin but instead Russ was holding up a good crucian. Now Milton has an excellent head of cru’s but I wasn’t honestly expecting to see one this late in the year. The hookhold was right in the edge of the lips after a series of very delicate bites and it looked as if Russ might well be sitting on a pile of gold rather than one of silver!
To help overcome the shy bites Russ deepened up his rig so that he was laying on 4in with the bait really pinned to the deck and the next indication was a little more positive and another crucian came to the net; the gold flanks lighting up an otherwise very dismal day. It looked like Russ was on top of it and I left him to it.
I returned to my swim and shortly after had my first positive bite of the day and frantically tried to bully a good fish away from the reed stems. Of course elastic doesn’t allow you to clamp down hard in the way you can on a running line and I had a few nervous seconds as the reed bed in front of me juddered and shook as an angry fish tried to bury itself in the stems but pressure paid off and eventually I had the fish in the relative safety of the open water to my right.
I knew it was a good fish but my hopes of a 3lb plus perch were shattered as a nice tench rolled in front of the net. A tench… in November? I was not particularly impressed and was less so as my next three fish turned out to be tincas too. I packed up and went around to sit behind Russ who, by now was beginning to really get into his stride.
“I’ve had one small roach!” he said, “but apart from that it’s crucians all the way and the bites are just getting more and more positive as the session develops. I’ve tried caster to get the roach feeding and a bit of chopped worm on the hook too but pellets are bringing most of the bites.”
As I watched Russ lifted into another crucian and then, like me, he found a tench too but it was soon back to the crucians as the swim really started to come alive and respond to his tactics.
As the light started to fade rapidly we called it a day early to avoid the worst of the traffic by which time Russ had netted five small roach, three tench and some 30 crucians for a net estimated at 50lb or so.
It was an excellent result on a tricky day and Russ’ tactics evolved seamlessly from roach to crucians as it became apparent what was in front of him. Thirty prime crucians is an excellent session during the spring and summer but to bag them in the bleak midwinter (albeit a mild one!) is testimony to the quality of both fishery and angler alike.
We are beginning to plan our next ‘In Session’ outing together but this time we have decided to wait until it is properly cold – early New Year should hopefully do it!
If you want to see Russ in session before then he has very kindly offered FishingMagic two of his excellent ‘The Obsessed Angler’ DVD’s as prizes – watch FishingMagic over the next few days to see how you can win them!
