by Martyn Russ, Trish Lloyd, Brian Lloyd & John Rees
After a few days of non stop rain and showers we were happy to find a break in the weather and decided we would try a new venue for a change to see what it’s like. Hazel Court Lakes is a small complex of 5 different lakes all set close together with a small farm house/tackle shop at the main entrance. Our first opinion of the surrounding was positive as the place was a pretty little complex and the lakes had plenty of features that you could fish to. I found it strange for a Saturday and to be sunny that there was only a couple of other fishermen around the lakes and they were Carp fishermen.
We set up in swims close to each other and all of us seemed to opt for feeder fishing as it seemed the best way to approach this new venue. We baited up our swims and waited for the bites. John was the first to catch a fish a nice little Ide and then Brian soon followed on the other pond with a nice Bream. Apart from johns first fish that he caught on flavoured meat there didn’t seem to be any action at all on the lake myself and John had chosen, not even line bites indication feeding fish in the swim.
Around lunch time we decided to change swims and go fins the fish and ended up on fishing the same lake the Brian and Trish. It wasn’t long before i had my first fish, only a small roach, witch mean the fish were starting to feed in my new swim. I shortly followed with my second fish a nice Ide of a couple of ounces and then suddenly Trish leaped into action as she struck into a beautiful white Ghost Carp of about 5 or 6 lb. Brian soon followed with a nice little mirror and a couple of smaller skimmer bream.
It wasn’t until just after lunch i managed to strike into my first and only carp of the day that turned out to be a lovely White Ghost Carp of 8 or 9 lb. Trish followed me with yet another carp but this time it was a Golden Ghost Carp of around 6 or 7 lb. in weight. The fishing turned out to be very hard and although we caught a couple of fish we have to admit it was one of the hardest venues we have fished so far. The fish just didn’t seem to want to feed no matter what we tried.
I honestly think Hazel courts is more of a “Carp Fishing” venue and should be advertised as such due to the lack of action when trying to fish it match fishing style. We may have caught it on a bad day and that can sometimes happen but from what we saw none of the other fishermen around the entire complex were actually catching any fish and most just seemed to be wandering around the lakes talking to each other and taking in the nice scenery rather than actually fishing. I will have to plan a proper Carp Fishing session at this complex as i believe that is the way these lakes need to be approached.
Wet Nets & Tight Lines
