Fordwich Lakes and the river

Fordwich Lake - still has plenty of water!

Still no fishing, but a chance to have a look at another of C&DAA (Canterbury and District Angling Association) waters. After the recent rain, the rivers are in flood here with very high water levels on the rivers running through the towns where it is most obvious and of greater concern to the public in general. Our trip to the lakes at Fordwich, found the river very high and covering the staging in places. It had obviously been even higher, as some of the visible staging was covered with debris where it had been covered earlier.

This place is a fantastic venue for me. It is less than six miles, door-to-door, from our new home and it only takes a shad over ten minutes to get there. The more I explore these C&DAA waters the more I am convinced I did the right thing by investing in a ticket. The 'complex' is gated and secure which is always a bonus in my books. If I am paying to fish a water I really want it to feel secure and safe.

The site is enormous, with three lakes and a good stretch of the Great Stour available to fish. The only drawback I can see is that is is subject to closure during the 'closed season'. This appears to be part of the licence agreement, granted to the C&DAA, to allow its members to fish this SSSI designated site.

We got there on a very cold and frosty Saturday morning in late November to find a fair few people about. Some had obviously been there overnight, bivvied-up awaiting for that big carp. Personally, that does not interest me that much. I would rather be catching fish than sitting there waiting for a buzzer to go off, but each to their own and I am always amazed at the size of some of those big fish, when they do get caught.

There are numerous places to fish these waters and a good selection of fish to target. I will probably take advantage of the river first and I am thinking a spot of lure fishing might be my first outing. It looks as if there could easily be pike in the river, which will give me a chance to try out my new spinner/baitcaster set up. I might even try a spot of dropshotting for perch in one or two places.

By today, the river level had dropped to well below the staging - might need a bit of a scrub though!

We only had time for a quick sortie on Saturday and did not get around the whole site. Sue and I went back on Today and there was still a lot of water in the main lake, but the river was down a fair bit with all the pegs on the river now above water level, although there is a good deal of mud on and around the platforms. Some are better then others, but I think a deck-scrubber might become an essential piece of kit over the winter!  A stroll around with light tackle will be my next trip, just to get the lay of the land, and water, so to speak.

Ralph.
   

I went fishing!

The lake had a few leaves on it...

Since making the move to Kent, back at the end of June, my fishing activities have been severely curtailed due to life and the universe getting in the way. That all changed this week when I eventually got back to the bank for a long morning session down at the Estate Lake. There is not much time left on the ticket as the venue is close for the winter. This was probably going to be the last session of the year for me.

It is great not feeling that I have to make the most of the day-ticket by getting there at the crack of dawn and fishing all day. Gone are the hours of driving and early starts to miss the dreaded London South Circular's traffic congestion and chug along the M25. Down here (or should that be across here as we moved more East than South?) fishing can be a a walk away to the beach, no more than two-hundred yards from the front door. A ten to fifteen minute drive will see me fishing the river and a  plethora of stillwaters.

For the past few weeks, the trusty old van has been off the road as it refused to start one morning. In twelve years of ownership my fifteen year old van has never failed me. I guess I can't complain, but that is another story, suffice to say, I couldn't use it this week. Instead, It was time to christen the the replacement Swedish fridge, which as it turns out is now more Chinese with a dollop of Ford thrown in. As you may have gathered, this branch of the Laughton family are not big on changing vehicles, but there comes a time when it just has to be done. The old Volvo had served us well, but after a coming together with another car, the damage was just enough to make it impractical to continue, it was euthanised and sent back to be recycled into a fridge again!

The new car is a updated version of the old one, but it might just as well be a space ship for all it has in common. Blimey, cars have changed a bit in the past fourteen years! I know I am an old fud but where's the handbrake?

The replacement car is a three and a half year old Volvo V60 D4. It is a similar size to the old V40 but just a little bit more powerful, okay a lot more powerful. The best bit is the level-load into the back. I can now sit in the back, with the tailgate open, and change my boots. Okay, not everybody's number one consideration, but it does make a change.Who cares about the twin-cam turbo and independent climate control?  Another improvement is the rear seat arrangement. The old split back seat has been replaced with a seat that can have just the centre section dropped flat. Some fool specified this feature so the car would be able to carry skies without loosing all the passenger space. Very handy on the north Kent coast! Had they never herd of fishing rods?

After a few months of major upheaval, the chance to get back on the bank was long overdue. Simple fishing was the order of the day, nothing fancy, just a float rod and a feeder to tempt the odd perch. I needed to go light as this time of year it is not wise to drive down to the lake at my local venue as it is at the bottom of a grassy slope. I would not be flavour of the month with anyone if the new car ended up in the drink! A shoulder bag and a lightweight seat being the order of the day.

Simple bait that got even simpler when I left the tub of worms basking in the bottom of the fridge, made things easier. A tub of red maggots and a small amount of Bacon Grill soaked in what is definitely incorrectly named 'Yum Yum' predator attractant - it stinks! The plan was to fish a feeder full of dead maggots/hemp/brown crumb and minced Bacon Grill with a lump of Yum Yum infused meat on the hook, while float fishing red maggots on the float rod.

I arrived at the lake around 09:00 and the place was deserted, not even a dog-walker in sight. To be honest, that is how I like it, just me, my thoughts and the lake. I had pre-rigged the rods and thanks to the fool and his skis, I had a place to carry them in the car with ease. I do like fishing light. A few minutes after arrival I was fishing. The feeder rod was put out first and set on a couple of bank sticks with the baitrunner engaged - or is that disengaged? The plan was to sit there and see what happened on that one. A bit of loose feed was catapulted into the area from time to time but in the end after recasting two or three times during the session, the fish were not interested in my offerings there.

Nice roach. First fish of the day

The float rod was a different game altogether. I decided to try dead maggots as hook-bait as the bottom of the lake is very silty. I have visions of the live maggots hitting the bottom and wriggling into the silt. Well, my theory seems to have worked, almost every cast to produce a fish. One of the first fish out was a nice roach of about half a pound. That was followed by lots more roach, rudd and the odd skimmer, nothing big, but plenty of fish to keep me busy.

Nothing huge, but a nice looking fish

My mate John joined me and we stayed until early afternoon. John was fishing for perch and like me had no takers. Fish or no fish, a few hours at the estate lake are always enjoyable.

That was Tuesday, on Wednesday Sue an I took a ride out and had a look at a couple of places on the Canterbury and District Angling Association waters. I have a ticket, but so far have not had a chance to fish any of the venues. It is all new to me, so a chance to find and explore the venues is useful. A drive through Grove Ferry on the Great Stour, east of the town centre is a popular place to fish and we managed to work out where the parking was for a future visit. My main aim of the excursion was to visit Stonar Lake, over near Sandwich.

We arrived there just as someone was leaving through the locked gate. On joining the C&DAA a key is issued which gives access to all locked gates and facilities run by the association. We parked the car and locked the gate behind us.

Stonar Lake (photo:John Wells)

Compared to the waters I am used to fishing, this is more akin to an inland sea! It is vast. No way will I ever be able to lose my end tackle in the trees on the opposite bank. It is also very deep, in places I have been told it is fifty to seventy feet deep. The 'shallows' are reported to be in excess of twelve feet deep, and some a lot deeper. This will be a whole new ball-game for me.

Hopefully it will not be too long before I get the chance to wet a line here.

Ralph.

Fancey an early session at the lake?

My first tench from the estate lake

One of the best things about moving out of London is that I have so many places to fish now, I am spoilt for choice. The private estate lake that my mate John, got me an introduction to, is a great place to go for that quick session. Not only that, I now have fishing friends close enough to encourage me to actually go for a few hours.

Last night, John suggested that a few hours at the lake this morning would be a good idea as the weather for the rest of the week was not looking too good, with high winds and storms forecast for the weekend. We arranged to meet at the lake. I had decided to get there a bit earlier than the suggested 09:00 rendezvous, as I really needed to get back home for lunchtime at the latest.

First fish of the sat was a nice roach, enticed by a small cube of on meat 

Today was all about minimum gear, just minimum bait, a float rod, a small amount of tackle, a landing net, an unhooking mat and a lightweight chair. I jumped in the van at about 07:00 and was at the lake and fishing well within half an hour, even though it is nine miles away. Fantastic, I could never do that in London. I had taken meat (Bacon Grill) corn and maggots with me.

One and only rud today

To be honest, maggots are not much use on the lake at this time of year as it has a vast population of small fish that all just love them too much. I had tried corn last week and had some success. Today was the first time I had tried the meat here, and it was far more successful than I had expected, attracting some slightly larger roach and a succession of skimmers/bream. Nothing huge, just bigger than the normal pester-fish that just rattle the line get swung to hand.

I was not getting bothered by the lake's massive population of small rudd, in fact, I only caught one in the three and a half hours I was there.

However, I was still not connecting with any bigger fish, so I went back to the corn for a while and landed my first estate lake tench. A nice respectable 2-3 lb female that put up a good fight on light float gear. I managed to get it netted after a good few minutes of playing the fish, praying it would not break off or shed the hook. That fish alone made the trip worthwhile for me.

I managed to land one without getting snapped off

John came over and took the picture at the head of this post of me, pleased as punch with my first tench from this venue. After I left, John also caught a similar fish which cheered him up somewhat. A few more skimmers were landed, and I was back home before midday.

Ralph.

A few of hours...

With all the moving in and the fact that I strained my arm lifting a part of my new-to-me woodturning lathe (but that is a different story), I have not been out fishing for the past few weeks. Today, I got up, grabbed a rod and a few bits. Armed with a box of maggots and a tin of sweetcorn, I took a quick trip to the estate lake. What a difference to living in London. Fifteen minutes later and I was sitting by the water fishing. It was, by now, about 06:15, no one about and the water was flat-calm.

No breeze and flat calm water, first thing

The first cast produced a fierce bite that took me by surprise and instantly broke me off. I am sure that was a tench. After re-rigging I was back in the water and guess what? I caught a small bream. This poor guy had had a run-in with something, at some time in the past. It looks like a heron strike, maybe.

To one and only fish of any size caught today

John arrived a few hours later, and we fished for another hour or so, but although he found a reasonably sized bream to save the blank, that was it as by now, the wind had got up, and the ripples were making it very hard to see the float, even with a big carp float.

What a difference a few hours made

To make it easier to make the decision to leave, there is an event happening in the gardens soon and the riggers were setting up a stage. The clanking of scaffolding, and accompanying loud music was not what I came out for. Just after 10:00, we packed up and called it a day. I had not intended to do a long session today, so it was not a problem for me, I was happy that I had made time for a few hours by the water.

Who parked that by the lake?

With the lake out of action for the next week or so, I will have to look into signing up to the local club and getting some river fishing in. This will be a good way to use the maggots I have in stock. next time I visit the lake, I will have meat, corn and maybe bread with me. Maggots just seem to produce too many small fish st this venue.

Ralph.

At last, a day out by the lake!

The first of many bream...

Here we are at the end of the first week in July, and I have eventually found a day to go fishing. The house move has happened, we are now living in a seaside town, one road back from the seafront. The house is full of unpacked boxes, and there are a million and one things I should have been doing, but I went fishing!

The last time I ventured out, it was Easter, and since then all sorts of things have happened to prevent me from getting out. The main reason for the extended break was, of course, the house move. After living in the same house for just a few months under forty years, it takes a bit of packing and moving. That was massively complicated by the new owner of our house offering us the workshop if we wanted to dismantle and remove it. This we did, and the full story can be found on my workshop blog starting HERE. Follow the 'Newer Post' links at the bottom of the post to follow the whole story.

Tim (the other bloke in this story) actually found time to spend a day on the bank, so I got a concession to take him to the Estate Lake where I had fished at Easter. Tim arrived at our house at around 08:00 and transferred his gear into the van so we could take the one vehicle.

The lake is a short fifteen-minute drive from our new house. What a difference that makes. When we were in London, every trip required a really early start, just to get through the local traffic, then it was always an hour or so each way. Day-ticket costs made me want to get the best out of the day, so that meant a more or less 'enforced' all-day stay. Now with so much more water on my doorstep to fish, and most of it free, syndicated or club waters, I can be far more relaxed about how long I fish for.

We got to the lake, well before 09:00 to find my mate John fishing the lake already. he had done an early one and had been their three and a half hours by the time we arrived. He had caught a few fish early on, but the bites were now slowing as the sun got up. Not deterred by this, The other bloke and I set up camp for the duration.

The first cast as often happens here, produced a bite, and the first bream of the day was landed. This was followed by lots more all of the same sort of size. Tim managed to catch a few too. He seems happy to sit there using whatever rod he has to hand. Today he was using a massive carp rod and sturdy line, proving that it really doesn't matter what gear you use, it is still possible to catch fish!

Who needs fancy gear, Tim still manages to catch fish, and he looks happy!

The best fish of the day for me was the lovely little cursion I managed to catch on a piece of corn. Using maggots on this water is a waste of time as it only produces tiny rudd after tiny rudd, there must be thousands of them in here. Occasionally, the odd small perch or skimmer gets hooked, but that is about it.

Nice little cursion carp was a welcome change from bream after bream

 By late afternoon, we had had enough. Time to pack up, collect our 92-year old Mum and take her back home for dinner and a chat. All in all a very enjoyable day was had by all.

Ralph.

Two fishing trips in three days!

As I type this, we are sitting here waiting for the final searches to go through on our house sale. Hopefully, that should be the last of it, and moving dates will follow - Fingers crossed! As this was the Easter weekend, and nothing was going to happen for a few days I decided to take advantage of the time and spend a day at the Estate lake I have just managed to get a syndicate membership of. The lake is close to where we are moving to and will be a great place to spend a few hours this year.

Just as I was planning my day and arranging to meet my mate John there, I received an e-mail from Ian, another mate of mine, who has also featured in my waffle in the past. He was asking if I wanted to fish over the weekend. As the estate lake is a rather exclusive affair, and away from where Ian lives, It was not practical to invite him to join John and me on Friday. After not being able to go fishing, hardly at all, over the past few months, I really fancied going, especially as Ian was suggesting we visit a venue I have not fished before. Could I really go twice in three days?

I mentioned this to Sue, who without hesitation, almost worryingly so, insisted that I go as I had not had the chance for a while and once we get the moving dates, I will not be able to go for the foreseeable future. No more encouragement was needed. The weather was looking good, and I really fancied spending a couple of days fishing with friends. The itinerary was to fish the Estate Lake on Good Friday and Mousehole Lakes, another new venue to me, on Easter Sunday.

The mist starts to clear over the estate lake

Estate Lake

This lake is set in the grounds of an estate that is open to the public at weekends and some days during the week. It is also used as a music venue once a year, and there is the odd wedding held there. As syndicate members, we are allowed access from dawn to dusk from April through to the end of December. With relatively few members it is a very peaceful place to fish. My mate, John, who lives just a few miles from where we are moving to has been a member here for a while and introduced me to the place. This was my first visit as an angler, although I have seen the venue before and been aware of its existence for a long while.

The journey from here in South East London is about an hour. An early start got me to the estate at around 07:00. The lake is situated at the bottom of a grassy slope that runs down from the car park. Permission is given to drive to the lake, unload and return the car to the car park. As this was my first time, I thought better of running my LWB transit down to the lake, fearing I might get it stuck on the soaking wet grass on the way back up the slope. Making a few deep ruts on the manicured slope might not put me in a good light, especially as this was to be my first visit. I thought better of it and decided to carry the gear to the lake. I was not fishing with that much gear, and I had a backpack tackle bag and a strap on my seat, so it should not be too arduous. Going down the bank was easy enough, getting back up at the end of the day was a different matter, this 63-year-old, bloke suddenly realised he was not as young as he used to be. That on top of nursing a leg injury, after the 'Herne Bay' incident a couple of weeks ago, when I took a tumble and spread myself all over the road, meant I was completely knackered (can I say that?) by the time I got back to the van! Next time I will take the trolley, although that might be hard work to push up the slope... Now I sound like an old man - don't say a word!

The floating seeds and other derbies slowly started to disperse

I set myself up with a float rod and a box of maggots, made a cast and instantly hooked a small rudd, the first of many. The lake was swathed in mist for the first hour or so until the sun started to burn it off. Lots of floating debris from the trees and dead reeds had collected at the end I was fishing. As the day went on, this started to slowly make its way to the other end of the lake, leaving my end perfectly clear by the time John joined me, a couple of hours later.

First fish out of the lake was a small rudd

The lake was made by damming the stream that runs through the property, making it deeper at one end than the other. I was fishing at the deeper end, and that is only three or four feet deep at best. The other end is significantly shallower. This meant I was fishing from the dam and the bank is edged with stone. I suspect it was a fair bit dipper originally, but it must have silted up over the years.

I had only taken a float rod and a small tele-pole with me on this first trip just to see what I could catch. It was hard work getting past the small fish, but perseverance paid off eventually, and the fish started to get bigger, not much, but at least they were going in the right direction. First fish worth noting was a nice fin-perfect roach. This was the first of many. Try as I might it was hard to get past the smaller fish at close range, using the short (5m) pole. I decided to have a go with the float rod and cast out to the open water about 20m out. This was more successful in that I was catching some better fish, including some skimmers, but the big fish were hugging the far bank.

A nice looking roach - the first of many...

...and one of the skimmers. All the fish seem to be in perfect condition

Walking around the lake made it evident that ledgering to the far bank would be the way to go. Next time I will bring a selection of bombs and another one of my old rods, passed down to me by a fishing friend from one of the forums. It is a nice looking heavy feeder that will be ideal for the job. The art of this task will be trying to get as close to the far bank as possible, without making tackle donations to the tree-Gods.

There are some nice tench, including some recently introduced golden tench, in the lake as well as a small number of crucian carp. It is early days yet, this was only my first visit to fish, and I have a whole list of possibilities for the coming year.

Never mind John, you'll catch something soon

For now, I was happy to spend the day in a lovely place, just relaxing, taking in the sights and chatting with my mate John. After spending a long time not fishing, and when I did, I had fished alone, it made for a very pleasant day. Although it is an hour's drive away, soon it will be my local, and it will be just a short 10-15 minute trip, door-to-lake. Can't wait!

---

Swift Lake at Mousehole

Mousehole Lakes

My second day out over the weekend, lead me to Mousehole Lakes, near Paddock Wood, in Kent. Again, this is a water I have never fished before, and it was suggested by another friend of mine, Ian. He introduced me to Beaver Fishery when he lived up here in London too. I had spent several days fishing there with him a few years ago, but after he moved we did not get to meet for a good while. He suggested that we meet at Mousehole Lakes on Sunday.

What a great venue. I have to say, the people are very friendly, and they have beautiful, well-kept grounds and swims as well as excellent facilities. The weather also helped, with one of the best Easter weekends I can remember, Sunday was a glorious day. As usual, I got up and out to miss the traffic on the south circular, that can get busy, even on an Easter Sunday. A simple drive from here got me to the lakes by 07:00. I found the guy taking the money and paid over my £10.00 for a two-rod ticket. He even offered to drive me and my gear to the swim. Although appreciated, I declined his kind offer as I had my trolley with me this time (after Fridays experience). A short walk along the path lead me to the lake, and I picked a spot on the near side of the lake that was in the sun. I like to feel the sun on me these days, these old (ish) bones are no fan of chilly, wet fishing trips!

A small skimmer was the first fish from the first put-in of my cheap tele-pole!

The pegs are boarded and very well maintained. There is just enough bank in front of the peg to get a bankstick or two in with ease. I set up my chair and laid out my tackle and bait ready for battle. The small tele-pole was the first to see action. I carefully plumbed the depth in a couple of likely places and noted that one was only a couple of inches deeper than the other. After marking the pole with the two depths, I started fishing to the right of the peg, drowning a couple of maggots. The bait had only been in the water a few seconds when I had hooked my first fish; a very lovely looking skimmer. Makes a change from a tiny roach, my usual first fish. I had paid for a two-rod ticket, and I planned to try a swim-feeder stuffed with maggots and maggots on the hook. I am not too experienced with this method, so it was all a bit experimental. After a bit of mucking about trying to get the rig so it would not tangle, I managed to catch a few fish, but nothing of any size and I was getting small fish, reasonably soon after casting. I soon realised that the swim feeder was dispensing maggots at a rate far quicker than made any sense, so I taped up most of the holes with electrical tape and tried again. This slowed down the speed at which the little fellows escaped but did not result in any better fish. It soon became apparent that maggots were going to give me small fish all day.

The fish were getting bigger, not vast, but better than the small fish the maggots were attracting

While I thought about it for a while, I went back to the whip. Instead of impaling maggots on the hook, I tried sweetcorn. This was a great success. Instantly the fish got bigger. I started to land lots of decent sized roach and skimmers. The larger hook-bait was selective. I was also feeding dampened pellets. This attracted the bigger fish including some bigger bream in the 3½ - 4lb range.

A nice 4lb bream caught on the tele-pole. A real handful on light gear!

Spurred on by this success, I continued on with the pole catching all sorts of fish in all shapes an sizes. I did notice that I was missing a lot of bites. I was sure the fish were 'feeling' the resistance of the float, as it would dip and bob straight back up again. It was not like a 'liner' when a fish brushes the line, this was a definite tug and let go. I decided to dot the float down, so it was just breaking the water. This seemed to do the trick, and the tugs were all now becoming bites. Every put-in was producing a fish. Using corn was to be the bait of the day, I even caught a nice looking gonk, or gudgeon, to give it its correct name.

Gudgeon. Little fish with a big heart. I do like catching these little fellows

There are plenty of carp in the lake, but none of them were keen to come out and play today. I will target some of them next time. My favourite fish of the day has to be a perfect little tench. There are said to be much larger tench in the lake, but this one will do for now.

Tench - it may be small but they fight like a much bigger fish, and they have just as much slime as their bigger relations!

As well as catching fish, the day was made so much better by fishing with my mate Ian. He was having a good day too. He caught lots of fish, and on bait, he was not usually successful on. Ian is a devotee to float fishing with maggots. On Sunday he caught more fish on corn than he has ever done before. I must say, that the fish in this lake do seem to take corn very easily.

Ian baiting up after returning yet another fish caught on corn

All in all, the trip to Mousehole Lakes was one of the best days out at a commercial fishery I have had in months. It together with my trip to the estate lake a couple of days earlier made for a very enjoyable couple of days and a chance to catch up with good friends. Now with the house move on its last stages, and feeling much better, health-wise, I am really looking forward to my fishing for the rest of the year.

Ralph.   

Walking and fishing

Last Saturday was a glorious day. The weather was warm, and the sun was shining, so it was an ideal opportunity to explore some water I have not fished before. I have a Canal & River Trust, Waterway Wanderers ticket that allows me to fish, among other places, most of the canals in London. This can be really handy at this time of the year as most of their waters are still open to fish, while the 'rivers' are closed.

I have fished The Regent's Canal in the past, but an internet search provided a list of local places I can fish using my permit. This included several stretches of canalised river in East London, specifically the Bow Backwaters and Limehouse Cut. Having never fished any of these places before, Sue and I decided that a stroll around the area, along with a spot of fishing might be a good way to spend a day away from the pressure and stress, filling our life at the moment, caused by our everlasting, and impending, house move.

Having not moved for forty years,  although I had heard people say it is one of the most stressful things you can do, I did not realise just how much aggravation it can be. Now I know!

We have a card here in London that allows travel on, (DLR) Docklands Light Railway, underground, overground, trams, buses and suburban trains for a maximum daily charge. Once that pay-point is reached (it is a few quid), all additional travel is free. This means we can jump on and off of, and change between, modes of transport all day long for no extra money.

We decided to make for the Limehouse Cut as a starting point. This is a dead straight stretch of water that leads from Limehouse Basin to join Bow creek, a distance of about a mile and a half. To get there was easy, we just needed to jump on a bus to Lewisham and ride the DLR to Devons Road, from where we walked a few hundred yards down the streets to the point where Violet Road crosses the canal. Here there is access to the towpath. We walked north, towards Bow Lock, along the narrow towpath. The water is a few feet down from the towpath at this point, and the path was busy with walkers and lots of cyclists. It was at this point that reality dawned on me; a beautiful spring Saturday, might not be the best day to try this. The other amusing thing was the sign we found when we got to the lock. You would have thought that someone, with a sense of humour, might have spotted the obvious hilarity in announcing the area as Limehouse Cut, 'Bow Locks'! 

The sign made us smile...

Although travelling light, I had a bag of tackle as I had taken a dropshot rod as well as my small telescopic rod, rigged for float fishing. The bag was not that heavy, but it was starting to feel that way, after a few miles. Next time I will take one or the other.

Some of the graffiti that adorns most of the surfaces adjacent to the river, here on the river Lee, just north of the locks at Bow

Limehouse Cut joins the River Lee at Bow. We continued to walk as far as the southern edge of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and decided to make our way over to the Regent's without getting a rod out. Next time I think we will try the other end of the cut. I am sure there are fish in there (I have been told as much), but on Saturday there were far too many people about to be able to fish without constantly dodging cyclists and runners. The photographs were taken between the torrents of cyclists and joggers that were out enjoying the excellent weather. That is not a complaint, everybody is entitled to use the canal as they want, but I prefer it when it is a bit quieter.

We walked over to Bromley-by-Bow tube station and caught an underground train to Kings Cross. There we made our way to Granary Square, which is a short walk, north of the station. This place has completely changed over the past decade or so. From being a run-down inner London area that you would avoid unless absolutely necessary, it is now trendy and extremely popular. It was stacked out with people, enjoying the ridiculously warm day.

We made our way west, towards Camden town and eventually found a short stretch of wall where we could sit and set up some gear. I threw a handful of maggots into the margin to get any perch sniffing around while I set up a dropshot rod and selected a small rubbery shad that was impaled on the hook, by its nose. All this was being watched by the passers-by along with a few others who had joined us sitting on the wall. I started to fish a few inches from the wall, right under the rod tip. Lots of the passers-by were asking if I had caught anything or telling me "you'll be lucky mate!"

Fishing close to the edge... and it worked!

Within a few minutes, much to my relief, and the onlooker's amazement, I caught a small perch. Nothing to write home about, but a fish is a fish. I returned it, without photographing it as I was sure I was on a roll and that I would be pulling out one after the other and I would have plenty of opportunities to get some pictures of fish... Wrong.

That one fish was the total for the day. Although I fished on for an hour or so in different spots, the fish were just not playing ball. If there was one thing to be learned from today, it is not to venture along the narrow towpath of a London canal on a beautiful warm and sunny Saturday.

We ended up walking as far as Camden Lock and decided to call it a day as far as the fishing was concerned. I had a great day, and we had a good walk. It was a good job I had Sue with me to carry the gear!

Thanks Sue!

Ralph.     

Really...

 ...it would have been better to stay at home.

It all looks a bit bleak at this time of year

I never thought I would be saying this but in this case, it may well be true. To be, just sitting on the bank, watching the world go by is fun enough. Catching fish is a bonus. Yes, it is nicer when the sun is out, but the cold and wet has not bothered me in the past, at least not like it did on Friday.

Having got seriously delayed getting out last week, I was determined to make an early start, this time. The weather forecast was showing dry morning with light rain showers moving in later. Although the temperatures were in single figures, I thought I would be okay. I try and avoid setting up in the rain, but once I am set up and wrapped up I am usually perfectly happy to keep going in the rain.

I managed to get out and be on the road before 06:00. Sue's trusty 'recycled fridge' (Volvo) was the chosen mode of transport as my van was half full of stuff to be shipped down to our storage 'facility' in advance of our impending house move, that seems to be taking an age, but that is another story!

Okay, it does mean that I can travel faster on the arterial roads as there are no extra speed restrictions placed on the car, as there are on big vans, but I must remember that my 'intimidation' power is much reduced when it comes to asserting ones self into the traffic. It is also not as quick off the mark as the van, especially at speed. That said, I had plenty of time, and a leisurely drive got me to the fishery in just under an hour.

There was a bit of a queue at the gate, but this soon dissipated as it opened and I found myself alone in the office, buying a ticket. I assume all the others were already booked in to the specimen lakes. I bought a two-rod ticket and headed off to Maze Lake.

The lake has had a lot of work carried out on it over the past year, with some major alterations to the layout. It was also netted over the winter and restocked, recently, with a thousand F1s. The lake has not fished well for me, of late, but with all those new fish, surely I should have had a more successful day, in terms of numbers of fish caught.

The flat-calm water did not stay like that for long, once the wind and rain got up

The guys have been busy this winter on the grounds. The surrounding vegetation has been trimmed back to reveal a stark looking landscape that is a bit of a shock at first sight. It amazes me just how different this will look in a couple of months time when mother nature attempts to reclaim the lake as her own.  

My plan for later was to try feeder fishing, one rod at distance and one close in. Before that I wanted to try my luck with my trusty tele-pole and see what was hanging around the severely cropped marginal reeds. To my surprise, I was not getting a sign of anything there big or small, not even a touch.

After a couple of hours I was starting to feel the cold. I have fished in much colder conditions in the past, but this time I was really suffering. I had warm clothes on, more than usual, but I was still starting to feel uncomfortable. I added an extra layer in the form of a hoodie, over my thermal T-shirt, jumper and under my coat. I was wearing gloves and thermal socks inside my boots, yet still I was not very warm. I decided I was being a bit soft and carried on.

I was fed up with the lack of action on the tele-pole and put out a second feeder. at least this way, with the bait-runner drags at a minimum, I could put my gloved hands inside my pockets. Just as I was thinking this was going to be a blank day, the distance feeder's reel started to click and then scream as it paid-out line. A fish!

The only fish to make it to the bank

I wound into my quarry to realise, by the lack of fighting resistance, that I had not found one of the new F1s, but a decent sized bream (at least for me) that just slid into the net and I landed with no problem. Encouraged by my success I reloaded the feeder with my trusty Two Dog groundbait, secured another punch of bacon grill on the hair and recast to the same spot. Meanwhile, the other rod was doing nothing so I recast a new feeder full of the groundbait and sat back and watched the lack of action. I had a couple of takes on the distance feeder over the next couple of hours but lost both of them at the net. One a fairly decent common and another bream, this one a bit more feisty than its previous cousin.

By now I was really feeling disgruntled and cold. I had also had a call about the house sale and had to spend some time trying to sort that out. By now the wind was getting up and it took my line into the branch of a tree as it passed the end of the island. that resulted in the feeder being donated to the lake and a huge tangle of line making friends with the reel. At this point  I decided to ditch the closer of the two feeders and try again with the tele-pole in a new position.

Here, I was more successful in as much as I managed to hook a few more decent sized fish, including a ghost carp that must have gone a few pounds. I fought it for what seemed to be an eternity on the light gear, only to lose it at the net to a chorus of not so tuneful, but heart-felt expletives. Although I hook a few more fish, I landed nothing more. I was surprised that I did not catch any small fish at all, not even a small roach on the tele-pole.

By now the rain was becoming more persistent and I was not enjoying myself at all. At around 15:00 I decided that enough was enough and I started to pack up. I suddenly realised that I had not been out fishing in the cold, like this, since I have lost weight. I have lost a huge amount of weight since this time last year, so much so that I had to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes, including my fishing gear! I am now convinced that the several layers of fat I have lost from around my waist (six inches of it) must have been insulating me from the cold. The strange thing is, I seem to have lost it from all over, including my head! I put my favourite fishing hat on the other day, only to find it slipped over my eyes!

I was back home by 17:30 and it took me all day yesterday to warm up again. No more sitting around stillwaters for me in the colder months, in future I will restrict my fishing on cooler, sun-less, days to roving the rivers and canals.

Ralph   

Yes, I made it to the bank...…but it nearly didn’t happen!

My fishing adventures have been somewhat curtailed over the past year for all sorts of reasons. Health issues, the hot weather and an ongoing house move, have all contributed individually or in combination to thwart any plans I had of spending a day at the bank. I did make it a couple of times in November, but other than that, the only outings were to mine or the other bloke's local river, since July. As it turned out, I ended up fishing the same water I had fished in July. This time the conditions were very different.

Over the past week, the weather down here in London has been balmy. Temperatures have been in the high teens with low, but bright sunshine. The lighter nights and dry (ish) weather have added to the illusion of a spring day in February. All this beautiful weather, combined with a convenient gap in our altogether chock-a-block calendar, gave the perfect opportunity to take a day out fishing.

That was the middle of the week, and by Friday I had gathered together some tackle, purchased a pint of maggots and was ready for an early start on Saturday. That was until I realised my mobile phone had gone flat. I plugged it in to charge and forgot about it until early evening. As I was gathering my last minute bits together, I noticed a message from the estate agent selling our house. It merely asked me to call him back. The trouble was it was now too late. I thought about calling him from the bank, assuming I could get a signal, but in the end, I decided to put the fishing on hold.

Saturday morning came, and on the dot of 09:00, I called the agent only to discover that the guy who called was not in until Monday! By 10:00 I had managed to get hold of his colleague, who said he just intended to keep me up to date and there was nothing that needed attention urgently. I know if I had just gone fishing, it would have been a different story. Now, somewhat deflated, I pondered what to do. In the end, I decided to go anyway. I loaded the van and was on the road by 10:10.

I had pondered where to go, but anywhere is a decent drive from here. I stuck to my original plan and set off for Beaver, yes I know, same old story, but I know I will find some fish there.

On leaving the end of my road, I joined a queue of traffic on the South Circular, it was stationary. This part of this very busy road is only two-lane, one in each direction. There is no choice but to sit in the queue and wait. A mile or so further on, the reason for the hold-up was revealed as the police had closed a section of the road (in both directions) diverting the traffic to the left and right, just before the road passes under the railway. It is a fair distance to get to the next crossing point. As these crossing places are a bottleneck, at the best of times, the back-doubles soon became gridlocked. An hour after leaving home I was just about to cross the railway half a mile away from the closure.

I eventually got onto the M25 and sailed the few miles to the A22, the road that winds its way through Surrey and, in due course, past Beaver. Usually, this is not a bad road, except on a Thursday morning when the refuge trucks are out. This particular morning the traffic was thick and more clutch-pumping made for a further tedious delay.

Getting on for two hours after leaving home I drove through the fishery gates.

At this time of year, the gates close at 18:00, so I had barely five hours to fish, after allowing for time to set and pack away, leaving enough time get out of the gate before it closed - automatically.   

Eden Pond - The very sparse vegetation, at this time of year, gives it a very open look

I had thought I would try Maze Lake again, as it has been netted over the winter and a lot of work done on it last summer to fill in some of the redundant water. Talking to Andy, the bailiff, it sounded as that was not a good idea at the moment as no one had been successful on there over the past week or so. Instead, it was suggested that I try Eden Pond, as I was only looking for a few hours of float/short-pole fishing. This I did.

On arrival, I found one other person fishing the lake. He had been there all morning and caught nothing… Not what I wanted to hear. Nevertheless, I set up my minimal kit comprising of a chair, small divvy table (for bait), unhooking mat, net etc. and one of my cheap 5m tele-poles. A light rig using 4lb line and a 3lb hook length to a size 18 hook, suspended under a small rugby-ball shaped, 0.1g pole float. I started off at dead depth with a single maggot.

My first fish of the session, and the year!

I had been feeding a swim close to an outcrop of reeds while I was tackling up. I put the float in and let the bait settle. A gentle lift every now and then did nothing to encourage a feeling of optimism. It had been months since my last trip out fishing way back in early November. I had blanked that day, other than an unfortunate Signal Crayfish. I added a couple of inches to the depth, so the bait would be sitting on the bottom, and put in again with the same bait. Within seconds it was fish on, and I had caught my first fish of the day, and of this year!

A nice roach. Okay, not the biggest specimen in the lake, but not the smallest either. Feeing a few loose maggots every five minutes or so seemed to keep the swim alive. I was catching a good number of roach, all about the same size. I was happy, and the other guy on the lake was still not catching anything. I asked if he would like some maggot and he said he would. I gave him a couple of handfuls and went back to my fishing.

Changing the bait for one red and one white maggot, lead to me landing a nice little perch about the same size as the roach. This little fellow looked as if he had been in the wars, as most of his dorsal fin was missing. I did not photograph him and sent him on his way without putting him through any further stress.

I sat there fishing the small pole for a few hours, soaking up the sunshine that was making for an enjoyable day. Fish were coming at a rate fast enough to make it enjoyable, without being too easy. Subtle changes to depth and bait gave varying results. I was catching, and that was good. At least it was for me. I have learnt that light tackle, at this time of year, seems to be the way to go. Not too light though, as there are a few bigger fish in here.

I caught lots of roach, all about the same size

The elderly chap (yes he was older than me!) took great pains to tell me how long he had been fishing (all his life) and that there were no fish feeding in the lake (pond?) today. He could not understand it. After I had started catching continuously, he decided to pack up and go. He had been fishing using heavy line and a long waggler float that was sticking out of the water by about eight inches. I am not even sure he had plumbed the depth. His tactic was to throw in handfuls of soggy groundbait, that hit the water like a rock, all over the swim. After he had gone, I rigged a rod and lobbed a float out over where he had been fishing and caught a small bream on the first cast. Maybe I am learning something. I was fun to actually find and catch a few fish.

The small bream (large skimmer?) 'nicked' from the other guys swim after he left

Although only a short session, it was fun to get out and as I was so late getting started, I got a half-day ticket which was even better! It was only a few hours, but I enjoyed every moment, and I am so pleased I did not give up the fight to get here, as I was tempted to do when I got caught in all that traffic. The saving grace was the journey home was a good one, and I was home in a fraction of the time it took me to get there.

Ralph.