Horseshoe Lake is owned and run by the Carp Society and although we had purchased ticket shortly after the original sale, we still managed to pay ?250 each for the privilege of fishing this fine water for the next ten years, which is incredible value for any water let alone a water of this calibre. The Carp Society do an absolutely fantastic job of running this lake, very few rules exist and the staff and bailiffs are indeed very friendly and helpful. One rule however, which is necessary is that if you wish to fish certain swims, you must book them in advance while you are on the water and you may then occupy them for only seven days, this is to prevent swim hogging from horrible long stay anglers (like us) and it gives everyone a fair crack at the whip. So immediately as we arrived I booked the Summer point swim, which from prior knowledge had been producing the fish. Three days in on the boathouse point and we moved to the Summer Point for the next glorious seven days. Sport was very good at times and it wasn?t long before we started catching a few good doubles. We met some lovely people and even old Tim Marks even called in for a brew. By about the third week in we had fished most of the best swims including the infamous Winter Point and we had probably taken around forty fish, with a good sprinkling of twenties. Young Mike was also quite pleased with himself, in that prior to going down to Horseshoe, he had never taken a double, and he finished up with a nice fish of seventeen pounds to his credit.
It was towards the end of the third week that we took the weekend off Horseshoe, for good behaviour, to travel even further South to fish a session on Yateley. Alan Stone and friends, who had organised a fish-in on behalf the Macmillan cancer support Trust, had invited us down to Yateley. Our first port of called when arriving at the village, was the Yateley Angling Centre, to where we met none other than Alan Stone himself, who soon had a brew organised for us (cheers mate). Yateley is again a really beautiful venue which comprises of a number of lakes, these include the Car Park lake, the Pads, the Split, the North lake, The Match, the Corpse and a few more, all are noted for big carp, Basil in the North lake, Jumbo in the Pads and quite a few whackers in the Car Park including Heather the Leather and Small Orange, two fish which apparently I saw over the weekend.
On the first night at Yateley we bivvied up on the Pads, at that time the Pads lake contained only three fish, so naturally I said my prayers to the Almighty prior to making my first cast, young Lee was quick off the mark, and being well read on Maylinism, soon had his bivvy set up in Pole Position, me being a little slower took the next peg along, while Mike opted for a swim lower down on the Car Park lake. Shortly after setting up I was greeted by some of the locals, ?Kevin the Tree Climber? and mates, fantastic lads and very helpful. Kevin had taken most of the biggies while being a resident on the water and he soon had me casting to the precise spot in which he had cornered Jumbo (at 44lbs), cast over the ledge and pull back until you feel the drop, this was duly done immediately after I had snagged up with my fifth set of terminal tackle. It was then simply a case of getting the beers out and having the crack with the lads. Kevin had been up to his usual observation reccies, climbing trees to spot fish and it wasn?t long after setting up that Kevin insisted that I followed him down to the Car Park lake to view Heather the Leather and Small Orange who were basking near Trumptons. This involved climbing up one tree to about ten feet, transferring over to the next tree for another five foot and then climbing back to the original tree for a further six feet! I took Kevin?s word for it.
