By ……Trish Lloyd
At the end of last year we decided we really needed a nice relaxing break, so decided on a spring holiday. After a conflab with my son Martyn whom we invited to come along, we decided to combine the holiday with a bit of fishing. We had been to White acres about 5 years ago and loved the lakes there, so decided to book up for this year. As it turned out, both Martyn and myself had a number of heath issues so the break was much needed.
White acres has about 10 lakes to choose from, a few of them Specimen Lakes which interested Martyn, but Brian and I prefer pleasure angling, so chose the course lakes. Martyn fished 4 of the 7 days whilst we only fished 2, and went sightseeing the rest.
Day 1......
We chose the Python lake as it was closest to all amenities for me, had good wheelchair pegs, and a wide variety of fish to catch. Carp into double figures, Crucians, Brown goldfish, goldfish, Roach, Rudd, Bream, Tench, Perch.
Brian and I decided to Pole fish the first day.
I used my 8 metre Hyperactive Power Margin, with no 14 elastic. Brian had made up a large number of Pole Rigs for us. Using 6lb Maxima line. I used a Rizov, Italian pole float, 0.5g. shotted up with styles. A size 12 Carp force wide gape hook from 'Total Outdoors'.
Brian used his Rhythm Stick 6 metre Margin pole. with size 18 elastic and a similar float set up.
We ground baited with Dynamite Halibut and frenzied hemp, and loose fed whatever we were using over the top.
In my case I used maggots, red and white. Plain sweet corn and some soft hookable pellets we were trialling by Carp force. However I found the pellets were dissolving as soon as they hit the water, so used them as loose feed.. The water in this lake is quite deep, approx. 5 foot where I was fishing, and apparently teeming with fish. We were catching virtually non stop all day and lost count of the number of fish caught. The only things I didn't catch was Perch or Tench despite watching them fizz in front of me all day.
Brian was using luncheon meat and sweet corn so managed to get the larger Bream and a nice perch as well. By 4 p.m. I was exhausted and retired back to the Caravan, whilst Brian carried on and targeted the Tench I had seen. Wouldn't you know it? He caught two.
Day 2......
We decided to return to the Python, this time Martyn accompanied us. It was a very hot sunny day, so we prepared accordingly. I was determined to get those Tench, so as well as my pole I took my new NGT Feeder Pro Twin tip rod purchased from ' Total Outdoors'. Using my Browning Ambition reel loaded with 7lb Fluorocarbon line trialling for 'Total Outdoors'. Small cage feeder with Drennon method feeder quick stop hair rig.
Brian took his Assassin Carp stalking rod, HF3000 Match Pro reel loaded with 15lb Camo line from Total Outdoors, with a size 6 curve shank carp hook. His bait? Bread.
I started with the pole and tested the depths that the fish were feeding, and as a result fished a couple of inches off the bottom to good effect. Fish were slower in coming today but still steady and tended to be larger. Switched to the feeder when I saw Tench bubbles, and with luncheon meat hooked straight into a 2 lb. Tench. One happy bunny! Later had another about 1 lb. and a good sized Bream. New rod performed well.
Brian meanwhile had started off with the feeder and got a few brown goldfishes and a Tench before passing it over to me. After he had seen a couple of enormous Carp cruising the top he got onto the bread and targeted them. He hooked into the biggest one twice and got snapped off both times. Lord knows how big it was. Then hooked into and landed a smaller one about 15lb.
