After a few weeks of Carl and I saying we need to get together for a day on the bank we decided on this water, Carls says his dad has fished it a lot and has never had a bad day. Arriving at the venue the weather was not bad, a little breeze and I was looking forward to the day, however this was not to last, it was the worst day I have ever had on the bank weather wise, so my fishing suffered one for me being a left hander and because the direction of the wind and rain had my umbrella to my left side I could not use my pole properly and was in danger of breaking it, and two my bait got soaked then my flask blew over and shattered, so this review will be written from Carls day, because he smashed it, showing me how it’s done yet again.  

While I set up Lee the owner chatted to me and told me all about what he has done and the plans for the future, as the last people who ran the water had let it go to ruin, not looking after the water and the fishery in general, the toilet was unusable and many anglers did not return, the venue was building a bad reputation despite the great fishing. However Lee the owner has really turned the fishery around, the bank was spotless, the pegs are in good order and the toilets where very clean, the fishery cabin was refurbished and there were plenty of anglers on the bank, defiantly as a result of the ongoing improvement and hard work of the owners.

The fishing itself was brilliant, the weather was horrendous, however this did not affect the angling at all. I fished short up in the water on maggots taking, Roach, Carp Mirror and Common, Chub, Crucian carp and Rudd . Carl however had about 80lb of  Carp mixed F1, Mirror and Common and they were beautiful, very dark and wild looking, fin and mouth perfect, and they fought like you would not believe, they did not turn over or make it easy, everyone a gem. All the other anglers caught well, one chap taking over 50 Carp on mussel falling to Carp gear, showing all tactics work well on this water.

As we both fished this water it was clear to see this is something special, 7-8 feet deep, the water having been established for a very long time, with it being an old water source for steam engines this is defiantly no hole in the ground stuffed with Carp, do not get me wrong this is a stocked like a modern commercial but is far from one, it has real character and makes your day a little more interesting. The margins are nearly as deep at the rest of the water, there are snags but when you learn were thy are you can avoid them.

In conclusion, this is a proper bagging water, with real character and potential, if you want to have a great day for mixed fish, you can fish up in the water on maggots and small pellets, but if you want a good day on the Carp use larger baits pole waggler or tip fishing all work well. Big thanks to Lee for his hospitality and keep up the good work, we will be back again soon.

Peg.

Four pegs from the narrow end on the river side.

Tactics.

I started on the deck with 4mm soft pellet, loose feeding 4mm hard pellet at 8 meters. When I got the first carp on the drop in 7 foot of water it was time to switch to my shallow rig set two feet off bottom, eventually coming to 3 foot deep, both on 4mm banded pellet feeding 4mm little and often. By spreading the stotz and laying the rig in a line, if I didn't get a fish on the drop it was worth waiting a minute or so, because a lot of carp would take it once it had settled.  The key was to feed little but very often, with the amount of fish feeding they were ravenous, you have got to feed on this water to get the full potential from the fish in your swim.

Elastics: Yellow Drennan bungee on shallow rig. Pink drennan bungee on the deck rig.

Floats: KC carpa razor, in a 4x18 for the deep rig and a 4x14 on the shallow rig.

Main line: Both rigs was 0.17 power main line and 0.15 power line hook length.

Hooks: Size 16 B911 FOR soft pellet and size 18 PR36 with a hair rigged band.

Photos.