wanderer
Well-known member
Nestling in the rural western side of Northants, accessed by single track roads of the quality that would grace Southern Ireland and just off a road that is known locally as Tannica or the Welsh lane as it was used for cattle droving for millennia, lies a village, population, 10, Canons Ashby.
An Elizabethan Manor house stands serenely in the fields, now the property of the National Trust, once the home of John Dryden, poet Laureate to queen Elizabeth the First, well within my lifetime, the last of the Drydens still occupied the rambling house. Sadly, it fell into disrepair and was handed to the National Trust 4o years ago, but Dryden estates still own much of the land. There used to be a monastery on site, destroyed long ago by Henry V111, and inevitably a couple of three acre ponds for the breeding of carp for the pot. 3 feet deep and 3 foot of silt, pottomegettan, reeds, and all the beauty of ancient lakes, spring fed by the source of the mighty Warwickshire Avon as it winds its way west, no more than a brook.
Now these lakes used to teem with hungry crucians and much larger carp, up to 38 pounds, it was leased by a local club back in the seventies and became a weekend mecca for match anglers with the club guys having to fish it in the week. The place was made in heaven for a beginner, anyone who wanted to try angling, i used to take there for a days fishing, float tactics at first for the crucians and tiny carp, but inevitably contact was made with some larger specimens. When, i felt the angler was competent enough, we would progres to the next lake that contains more of the bigger fish and show them method feeder and larger carp tactics. Not a boilie in sight, they are banned and no night fishing, so its old school crack of dawn if you want to catch.
Now let me tell you why i think this place has magical properties, because myself and quite a few others have taken beginners to this place and everyone has become a lifelong angler, some match, some carp specialists and others like me just love it all, do you know anywhere like this and do you take the newbies there knowing they will be hooked for life.
An Elizabethan Manor house stands serenely in the fields, now the property of the National Trust, once the home of John Dryden, poet Laureate to queen Elizabeth the First, well within my lifetime, the last of the Drydens still occupied the rambling house. Sadly, it fell into disrepair and was handed to the National Trust 4o years ago, but Dryden estates still own much of the land. There used to be a monastery on site, destroyed long ago by Henry V111, and inevitably a couple of three acre ponds for the breeding of carp for the pot. 3 feet deep and 3 foot of silt, pottomegettan, reeds, and all the beauty of ancient lakes, spring fed by the source of the mighty Warwickshire Avon as it winds its way west, no more than a brook.
Now these lakes used to teem with hungry crucians and much larger carp, up to 38 pounds, it was leased by a local club back in the seventies and became a weekend mecca for match anglers with the club guys having to fish it in the week. The place was made in heaven for a beginner, anyone who wanted to try angling, i used to take there for a days fishing, float tactics at first for the crucians and tiny carp, but inevitably contact was made with some larger specimens. When, i felt the angler was competent enough, we would progres to the next lake that contains more of the bigger fish and show them method feeder and larger carp tactics. Not a boilie in sight, they are banned and no night fishing, so its old school crack of dawn if you want to catch.
Now let me tell you why i think this place has magical properties, because myself and quite a few others have taken beginners to this place and everyone has become a lifelong angler, some match, some carp specialists and others like me just love it all, do you know anywhere like this and do you take the newbies there knowing they will be hooked for life.