For a mere pound I can fish their great waters.
The trip started to go wrong when on the Wednesday I went to the tackle shop for the maggots. The assistant asked me where I was going. When I told him Stubpond he replied "Oh yeah, I hear it's open now". I hadn't heard that it was closed and told him so. I was then informed that Robert's lease had expired and that he couldn't get it renewed from the owner.
Now the question was, should I go down there and see what it was like or go somewhere else? I eventually decided to go to Stubpond with the option of moving to the nearby Beaver Farm if there were problems.
Unlike the previous monday the weather was fine when I left the house just before 7am. The journey time is about 40 minutes so it was about 7:30 when I arrived at the fishery.
The gates were open which was a good sign. The first thing I noticed was that there was a sign now saying that children were allowed in if accompanied by an adult. The second was that you had to drive around the back of the first 2 ponds to get to the car park.
I then had a walk over to the bailiffs hut and read the notice that all concessions end on the 31/03/2011. Also you now have to use your own nets, you have to dip them first though. Good job I had brought mine.
Back to the car to unload. It's not a long trek to the swim however I tend to take the groundbait stuff on the first trip so that I can mix it up and then leave it to settle while I finish unloading and setting up the gear.
The first thing I couldn't help but notice was the absence of any vegatation on the 'island'. One reason I've always liked Mill Lake is that because of the surrounding greenery it doesn't look like a hole in the ground which the others do.
The water and air was very still, no sign of what was to come as I fed some small balls of groundbait about a rod length out around where I knew in a few weeks time there would be some lily pads. I also fed a genourous helping of hemp.
"Was I fishing an empty pond?" That was going through my mind as I cast out. Thirty seconds later the float goes under and in comes a very small roach. A feeling of relief spread through my body.
A few pieces of hemp and maggot on the hook brought roach after roach. During the day I tried bread, sweetcorn and castor on the hook and they all produced results.
I'd never used castor before but because I'd kept my previous maggots in the fridge for a week or so they had turned. As well as roach I also managed to catch carp on them!
I have to say a few words about the weather. From the first small drops at around 9am it threw it down all day. My hands for the most part were frozen, made baiting up harder! As you can see from the table below it didn't put the fish off.
Fishing start time was 8:00.
| Time | Fish | Bait | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:37 | 9 Roach 1 Carp | Maggot/Castor Bread for the carp | |
| 9:46 | 9 Roach 1 Carp | Maggot/Castor Castor for the carp | |
| 10:34 | 10 Roach | Maggot/Castor | |
| 10:58 | 10 Roach | Maggot/Castor | |
| 11:25 | 8 Roach 2 Carp | Maggot/Castor Castor for the first carp Corn for the second | |
| 11:47 | 10 Roach | Maggot/Castor | |
| 12:13 | 9 Roach 1 Carp | Maggot/Castor Corn for the carp | |
| 12:58 | 10 Roach | Maggot/Castor | |
| 14:00 | 8 Roach 2 Carp | Maggot/Castor Carp on corn | 3.5lb |
| 7 Roach 1 Perch 2 Carp | Maggot/Castor Carp on corn and maggot | ||
| 15:12 | 7 Roach 1 Perch 2 Carp | Maggot/Castor Carp on corn | |
| 15:50 | 7 Roach 1 Crucian 2 Carp | Maggot/Castor Carp on corn | 1lb Crucian 6lb Carp |
You have to be out by 17:00 and to be honest I was absolutely drenched and cold so decided it was time to pack up.
120 fish is those deadful conditions was far more than I could have hoped for. Carp showing as well, that was a surprise.
I can't wait to get back down there.
Here are some snaps of the fish.
First carp of the day a nice mirror.
Similar size mirror (not the same one!)
This is one of the commons.
Here is the 6lb'er.
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