How did you get on?

[john step]

A visit to a small bites pool up on the wolds. It was very windy. More windy than I recall the forecast!
Two mates packed up early due to the cold and the wind. The whimps.

Anyway with my back to the wind behind a brolly it wasnt too bad. After a slow start I got them going with a continual sprinkling of maggot to end the day with 11 carp and one very nice 4.25lb chub near the stream inlet.

Nice simple tackle. Margin pole at 5 metres.

 

[Philip]

I had been unsuccessfully trying to track down the Roach on the main river but they had not moved out of wherever they have been hiding over the winter yet. However with temperatures slowly creeping up I was confident it would not be long. Sods law stepped in however and lockdown rules were tightened & I found myself limited to a 10km Radius. This drastically reduced both my choices and chances but chomping at the bit needs must so I decided to have a dabble on a nearby bit of river were I felt I had half a chance.

A bit of time with a plumbing rod and I found a spot I felt half-confident in and did a bit of baiting before going down for an hour or so to have a dabble. Touch ledgering with one rod I started to get a few half hearted tugs that gave me confidence something was out there. The sharpness of the pull told me it was very likely Roach too. I missed quite a few decent pulls which on reflection was probably down to me changing my usual hooking arrangement - big mistake ! …I’ll put that right next time, and ended the session with just the one fish, not a monster but at 1.8 it was still a good result & start in the new spot & given the lockdown limitations involved.

 

[mikench]

One like that would have made my day yesterday or anyday. Lovely fish.

 

[markcw]

I had a few hours on Newlands today from 10am until 1pm.
Travelled light, few maggots and pinkies and hard 6mm and 2mm pellets.seatbox and margin pole.
Set up 2 topkits, 1 was a PI 4 x 14 shallow float, shorted with stotz and a 16 PR hook, line was 0.17 to 0.15 hooklength.
The other was a 0.5g Drennan Crystal on 8lbs main line to 7lbs hooklength with a size 12 power bagger hook with a band on hair rig.
Both rigs set at just over 5'
Left margin was baited with pinkies and a few maggots, Right margin with softened 2mm pellets soaked in F1 pellet oil and a few hard 6mm pellets that were soaking in the same.
I had a few indications on maggot but nothing serious, The pellet margin was quiet until the float dipped and a stream of 16 elastic shot out, then the hook pulled, it must not have set properly.
I tried fishing out in front on a top 2 plus 2 using maggot, Nothing showed an interest.
I was having a sandwich while doing this, a piece of bread came off and went on the floor, decided to come from in front and go back down the left margin, I put the bread on the hook instead of maggots .
Bingo.... the float dipped and I lifted into the culprit, It took me all over the swim, tried to get in the snags and under my peg, I was stripping elastic with side puller on topkit.
After a while I slipped the net under a tench that was estimated to be around 5.5lbs to 6lbs.
That was the only fish I had before I packed up.
Pictures of margin swims and peg and fish below.Its a pity it had mouth damage.

 

[mikench]

That tench has met a few carpers by the look of it.

 

[markcw]

That tench has met a few carpers by the look of it.

Mike
, there is a maximum size 10 hook on there, trouble is barbed hooks are allowed and a lot of carp anglers use them.

 

[S-Kippy]

Skippy and the Big Fellah go wild at Bury Hill.....aka A Comedy of Errors.

He bullied me into going today which was against my better judgement as I thought the run of cold nights would have put the fish off.The prospect of sitting in a cold wind was certainly putting me off but off we went and arrived amid a balmy 3° C. The breeze then proper got up and before very long I was chuffin frozen....I mean proper frozen with clawed hands and a full on " death shiver" . Not so much as a bob for the first 3 hours...then I had a bite,tench on and it promptly did me in the lily roots. This happened 3 more times which is unheard of. I might lose the odd tench down there but not 4 in a flippin row. Meanwhile, on the adjacent peg, Phil hadn't had a bite and was getting grumpier and grumpier. I then bumped another decent fish. Enough already....we were both frozen solid and know when we're beaten. Time to pack up and that's when the fun really started.

The BF shipped in and wandered away from his peg to feed the goslings with his surplus expanders. Next thing you know there was a rattle and a splash and his pole was in and away.
" I think you just had your first bite,mate" I said as 11m of pole chugged slowly away towards the island.

His face was a picture. Anyway...after a bit of nobbing about trying to snag the pole with a feeder he shot off back to the ticket office looking for help leaving me to "keep an eye" on it. Well I did...right up to the point when it did a Titanic hard up against the island. For all the world it was a gonner.

Enter the cavalry. Two of the estate workers turned up in a tractor towing a trailer which contained a boat ! Damn me one of them then paddled out to the island, found his pole and retrieved it. He even got his float back !

I was so flabbergasted I sat down,shipped out and promptly caught my only fish of the day...a crucian about 1lb. I gave it another 20 minutes but it was clearly a mugfish so I packed up and went home. Next time I'll trust my own instincts and stay in bed.

I dread to think what he'd have been like if he'd NOT got his pole out. You need a spanner to get a pound off him so God alone knows what trauma the loss of several hundred nickers worth of pole would have caused.

 

[108831]

I fished last Wednesday on the same lake/pond as Rob and myself fished the weekend before,after a week of cooler weather it fished iffy,I opted for a peg with shelter,which in hindsight was a mistake(my mistake being as I prefer rod and line,the swim was a parrot cage,completely surrounded in branches,so every time a fish came off my gear shot into debris,grrr),fishing to my right against a floating piece of cover which the club has placed between lots of the swims,first cast I lost a decent carp which gave me a runaround,it came off and a scale was on the hook,this turned out to be the pattern of the day,even though I fed next to nothing,I lost another carp and landed two,best around 9lbs,all foul hooked,I lost three decent skimmers and two crucians,also foul hooked,I caught two skimmers,a crucian and eight roach,all but one 4-6ozs,the other around 12-14ozs,I take it the water temperature was down sufficiently to ease their feeding,at least on the baits and swim I was in,very,very little was caught by the anglers I could see,which was quite a percentage...

 

[chevin4]

Went out on Thursday having left my Brolly behind thought I may get a soaking as the forcast was not great. Dispite a brief shower it was a decent day with intermittent sunshine in the afternoon. I was again Bream fishing on a big pit but apart from a cygnet swimming through the line the indicators stayed motionless

 

[peter crabtree]

We had a 6 man knock up today at a pit near Leighton buzzard, freezing in the wind so I sat in a corner with some shelter. Had one bite on the wagg and magg, a little perch. Funny day, one minute sunny and bright, next minute dark and snowing!

=full]

 

[mikench]

The weather is decidedly odd; I was sat in the sun in the garden when it started snowing.

 

[bullet]

Certainly is.

 

[Steve King]

His face was a picture. Anyway...after a bit of nobbing about trying to snag the pole with a feeder he shot off back to the ticket office looking for help leaving me to "keep an eye" on it. Well I did...right up to the point when it did a Titanic hard up against the island. For all the world it was a gonner.

Enter the cavalry. Two of the estate workers turned up in a tractor towing a trailer which contained a boat ! Damn me one of them then paddled out to the island, found his pole and retrieved it. He even got his float back !

I was so flabbergasted I sat down,shipped out and promptly caught my only fish of the day...a crucian about 1lb. I gave it another 20 minutes but it was clearly a mugfish so I packed up and went home. Next time I'll trust my own instincts and stay in bed.

I dread to think what he'd have been like if he'd NOT got his pole out. You need a spanner to get a pound off him so God alone knows what trauma the loss of several hundred nickers worth of pole would have caused.

Blimey, your mate was lucky! It’s amazing he got his pole back!

I’ve not fished Old Bury Hill for a few years. I’ve had some nice tench and perch from the main lake. When I was a teenager I used to take part in work parties on the left hand bank which at the time was run by Wimbledon Broadway AC.

 

[S-Kippy]

Steve.....he was incredibly lucky to get it back and I dont think he'll be leaving a bait in the water while he feeds the goslings again anytime soon. Even got his damned float back.
The main lake is stuffed full of bream now.....and carpers. I only ever fish the ML for zander now. Its still a lovely place to fish albeit not cheap.

 

[peter crabtree]

Bad angling....

 

[markcw]

I have seen plenty of topkits and pole sections go in with fish on the end,
I unship my pole when pouring a brew, not doing what my friend did, put his down at side of him,bait still on in the water, and.....
It's gone, shot off like a torpedo with a carp on the end.

 

[S-Kippy]

Bad angling....

It was....and most unlike him. You can tell him next time you see him but give me a chance to sell some tickets first !

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I've not fished Old bury Hill lake for well over 35 years, and before it was turned into a complex of waters.

Back then the bailiff (Graham?) would patrol the banks with is two gorgeous GSD's . . . . . . the far end by the old dam was a great swim for tench if memory serves me . . . . .

In those days I lived in Epsom so it was a short drive to the lake.

 

[David Rogers 3]

I've not fished Old bury Hill lake for well over 35 years, and before it was turned into a complex of waters.

I used to fish it in the late 1970s and had to catch a train from West Norwood to South Croydon followed by a Greenline bus to Dorking (and then a walk) in order to reach it! In those pre-internet days, I remember turning up on June 16th with my usual box of maggots to be told they were banned for the first fortnight to give tench anglers a chance to catch on bigger baits before they got preoccupied - luckily I wasn't turned away after I explained how I got there...

 

[S-Kippy]

I wish there were more places like Bury Hill which caters for most angling tastes. The tench fishing in the Old (main) lake is not what it was,simply because its stuffed with bloody bream. There's a good head of proper carp in the OL too....plus my favourite,the zander. The pike however have virtually disappeared and those that remain are skinny things too. He stocked a few about 3 years ago including a crocodile of 35lb but it was never caught and hasn't been seen for ages. I saw it and it was a beast of a thing. There are a few very big crucian in the OL too but so few you cannot seriously target them. You'd have to catch a thousand bream before you caught one and then it would be another bream.

The carp syndicate lake (Temple) is where the proper big carp live...plus a few very big zander which you can't fish for. Not my thing but plenty of people love it. I'm not a serious carp angler and I certainly dont want to fish a lake where every fish has a name.

Then there is Bonds lake which is basically a carp puddle with small-medium sized carp.Very popular but not with me. They go to mid double figures in there....maybe a little bigger but typically 7-8lb or so.

And my favourite..Milton lake which is predominantly crucian and tench with a good head of decent roach including sone very big ones ( 3lb+) Used to be good for some big perch too but they seem to have died off. There is the odd carp and a few zander but they are rare captures.

So.....if you dont want to catch carp you can fish Milton. If you fancy a shedload of chair levellers with the chance of a tench or two you can fish the Old Lake and if you're a fun carp angler there is Bonds. Temple and the OL are for the serious carpers.

I just wish it was a bit nearer to me...its not that far (45-50mins) but its M25 all the way and if you catch that swine wrong it can take you well over 2 hours to get home. I love fishing Milton this time of year and the OL for zander in the winter but the zander fishing is not what it was when I first started fishing it but its different and they are imo terrific looking fish though they dont fight much harder than the bream. In fact if you hook a zander that fights its almost certainly a carp and they will sometimes take a deadbait. I've had a few.

Beautiful setting though. Really lovely place to fish although ( as ever) you do get a few idiots because its a day ticket water...for the moment anyway.