by Martyn Russ
Being a disabled angler i don’t get out as much as normal abled anglers do but i do try my best and when i go out i like to make sure i have everything i need and am in comfort too in case i have an attack. I had decided, after checking the weather and seeing a break for 4 days, to get a fishing trip in from the Friday Night till the Sunday evening, The last trip to my local lake was when it was run by the Birch Syndicate and was an amazing place. You walked around the lake in the sun you could see all the carp basking in the reeds playing on the top. and boshing out in the open water playing. Fishing this lake was a great pleasure and ended up having a red letter session with a total of 19 fish between 2 people of the period.
For this reason i chose the same location again despite hearing that the council had stopped the syndicate having the water and they were no longer in charge of the place. I was told that it was a mess and get ready for a surprise. I arrived at the lake at lunch time on Friday to meet a couple of the younger locals i know who are all good fishermen and even they said to me get ready for a shock as i loaded my gear onto the barrow, I made my way around the railway side of the lake to see so much rubbish it was like walking through a litter tip. The pathway wasn't to bad it was where it had been blown into the bushes and got trapped and built up over time. I thought that the council sent people round to empty the bins and take care of things like that i must be wrong? I made my way to the swim and set up after clearing a huge amount of rubbish out the way and set up my three rod system and settled down for the evening.
I noticed and eeriness about the lake, as though something wasn't right. Normally i follow my gut but thought i would ignore it and worked hard at trying to get the bait out ready for the night and the rigs set up just right. I spent the next 3 to 4 hours doing this, flicking bait out in an area of a penalty area on a football pitch and placed my three rods on the out areas and fed up the swim and set up for the night. For some reason i didn't go after those quick bites as i couldn’t see any carp showing of playing there wasn't a sound around the area so i thought i would sit in for the long one. As i set up my swim i started to notice people arrive on all the different swims and start setting up fishing for carp and also pike, I noticed one guy catch a huge pike on the carp park bank fair play to him and he put that back but i saw people place a fish in a bag and couldn't say where they were from but they had an accent but nothing was said to them. The lads that were fishing next to me seemed to be getting pike like there was no tomorrow on the second day fair play to them.
The thing that got to me the most was as i was sat warm in my bivvi enjoying my cuppa tea all of a sudden all i could hear were axes chopping up the local trees for fire wood. I would mind one or two but this seemed to be going on right around the lake. Anyone would have thought it was bonfire night. The smell of burning wood , smoke and burning plastic was crazy and the shouting and noise was just mad no wonder none of the carp were about. “ Smaller carp were caught the in the evening by the guys but when i when for a walk around the lake, the next day, as the sun was shining strong there was no sign of any carp in the reeds no sign of the by the island and nothing playing in the shallows. The change in the lake was amazing to see and really saddened my heart. Something didn't seem right about the lake and after spending the evening talking to some of they guys that fish the lake regular even they seem to think fish have gone missing, carp found dead on the bank and whispers of boats in the nights and barbeques going on. I know its the old story rumours can be a dangerous thing but after walking around the lake, seeing all the rubbish and damage to the trees and the mess every where i decided to pack up and end my trip Saturday lunch instead of staying till Sunday night as i couldn’t put up with the chaos on the bank and the noise and fires during the night. The worst thing was taking away management of the lake as now its becoming just a tip and saddens me to know i wont be visiting it for specimen fishing again that for sure,.
Wet Nets & Tight Lines
