S
steve2012
Guest
So I decided to drive the 50 miles on Weds to fish for anything that came really
Got to the excellent Davis Tackle around 10am, what a shop!, a real throwback to days gone by, trays of crowquill avons on the counter, old fashioned perch bobbers of which I bought a few, stuffed pike on the wall, you name it and they had it, a real treasure trove.
The guy in the shop got a map out and highlighted a few areas that would be good so off I went. First impressions of the fishery are of a beautifully managed water, no litter and it looked good. I had a wander to see what swims were about and encountered some of the rudest people I had ever met. Taking care to walk well back from people so not to skyline their swims my 'good mornings' and 'alright, anything happening?' were met with a mixture of stony silence, non-acknowledgement and in a couple of cases just icy stares from the camo clad masses. Whenever you looked at a swim even 50-100 yards away you could feel their eyes bore into you and almost dare you to fish there. I can only presume they had paid far more for their ticket than I had.
So I finally settled into a swim a good ten minutes walk from the car park and my maggots were instantly assaulted by minnows, a change to worms bought a few nice perch, some small chub and a Trout. What became obvious though is that this is a pressured water, almost a commercial and the Barbel and indeed even the Chub might be described as 'neurotic'. A quick conversation with a nice old guy who had fished it for 40 years confirmed this but I carried on and although nothing of real note graced my net I did enjoy simply being there. During the day a large collection of very big sea trout launched themselves out of the water and later on I was talking to this chap who pointed out a Salmon to me just going about its business.
I eventually left glad to have had a day out of the office, the fishing there is hard and some of the Barbel Police need a lesson in manners. The water was fairly low but still powerful enough to suggest a bait dropper would have been a good idea.
It was good to see so many minnows and obviously a lot of things will eat them but maybe next time I'll pick one of the Throop beats where the 'River Carp' anglers won't be so prevalent and target the Roach and smaller Chub than the Royalty holds.
Anyone else been recently?, how did you get on?
Got to the excellent Davis Tackle around 10am, what a shop!, a real throwback to days gone by, trays of crowquill avons on the counter, old fashioned perch bobbers of which I bought a few, stuffed pike on the wall, you name it and they had it, a real treasure trove.
The guy in the shop got a map out and highlighted a few areas that would be good so off I went. First impressions of the fishery are of a beautifully managed water, no litter and it looked good. I had a wander to see what swims were about and encountered some of the rudest people I had ever met. Taking care to walk well back from people so not to skyline their swims my 'good mornings' and 'alright, anything happening?' were met with a mixture of stony silence, non-acknowledgement and in a couple of cases just icy stares from the camo clad masses. Whenever you looked at a swim even 50-100 yards away you could feel their eyes bore into you and almost dare you to fish there. I can only presume they had paid far more for their ticket than I had.
So I finally settled into a swim a good ten minutes walk from the car park and my maggots were instantly assaulted by minnows, a change to worms bought a few nice perch, some small chub and a Trout. What became obvious though is that this is a pressured water, almost a commercial and the Barbel and indeed even the Chub might be described as 'neurotic'. A quick conversation with a nice old guy who had fished it for 40 years confirmed this but I carried on and although nothing of real note graced my net I did enjoy simply being there. During the day a large collection of very big sea trout launched themselves out of the water and later on I was talking to this chap who pointed out a Salmon to me just going about its business.
I eventually left glad to have had a day out of the office, the fishing there is hard and some of the Barbel Police need a lesson in manners. The water was fairly low but still powerful enough to suggest a bait dropper would have been a good idea.
It was good to see so many minnows and obviously a lot of things will eat them but maybe next time I'll pick one of the Throop beats where the 'River Carp' anglers won't be so prevalent and target the Roach and smaller Chub than the Royalty holds.
Anyone else been recently?, how did you get on?
) I was praying for a drop of rain before hand as it has never fished well for me when it is thirsty. Looks like I got my wish. (I'm assuming they'll have had some rainfall like the rest of us?)
