Secret lakes

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Peter Bishop

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A chance meeting that leads to an invitation to fish a 'virgin water!' The very essence of the magic of angling! Fred's story captures perfectly that longed for day when you get the opportunity to fish an unspoiled water where the coarse fish have never seen a hook. They still exist out there. Admittedly not many these days but you would be amazed the size of water some people have hidden away in the backs of their 'gardens'. Others are not fished because the owner is a naturalist. I have found a couple in my time and guarded them jealously. Without naming the waters who else has had an opprtunity similar to Fred and what was the water like? Did it live up to expectations and was the dream better than the reality?
 
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Les Clark

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A chance of a lifetime Fred ,lucky you ,grab it with both hands and enjoy !
 
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tommo

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Great reading Fred, and top photos too. Now remind me when I'm coming to stay....!!

Tommo
 
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Christian Tyroll

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Nice article Fred, im looking forward to the next one!
 
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Cliff Hatton (A.C.A member)

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Incredibly, I've found a water which you can walk right around and never even suspect its existence, such is the forest and undergrowth which hem it in. Even when you hack your way to the oozy waters edge it is impossible to fish....anywhere. The margins and beyond are a graveyard for ancient boughs and wind-felled trunks of oak and yet....beyond there are common carp; how many I don't know, but I've seen six in one go, bow-waving around the lake in sizzling weather. When the carp are not to be seen, the lake is utterly, totally, completely LIFELESS. I am yet to see so much as a dimple in days and days of observation.It is the weirdest place...untouched for centuries it would appear.
 
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Chris Pearson

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Fred,
At least now we've got a good source for livebaits when the Trent's not forthcoming;-)
 
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Fred Bonney

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Well part two is with Graham and a third trip lined up for next week.
Thanks for the comments.
I can remember Cliff, finding a similar pond to yours as a kid, near Havering village, deep in a wood.It had enormous Gudgeon and good sized Rudd which we handlined out on worm skins.At times,we caught so many of them our meagre supply didn't last..
I never fished it with a rod, you just couldn't use one in the space, and our aim was to stay hidden from intruders and of course the landowner.
I looked for it again many years later and couldn't find it.Probably filled in, a part of a large arable field by now.
 
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ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)

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"Fred,
At least now we've got a good source for livebaits when the Trent's not forthcoming;-)"

Transferring livebaits ???? tut tut tut
 
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paul williams 2

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It's OK Ed, Chris was going to kill em before he put em on the hooks.......he was going to read one of Rons SA threads to em........
 
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Cliff Hatton (A.C.A member)

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....near Havering village, Fred? Obviously not Bedfords Park as that's very open...you don't mean one of the ponds in Dagnam Park Woods, do you? Probably not - but do you know of the ponds I refer to? Were you an 'arold 'ill boy?
 
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Fred Bonney

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Cliff, I was indeed(Quarles)and,I was refering to a pond in Bedford Park,well not in it, behind it somewhere, off the Upper B Road entrance, to the left.
I did have many a happy time in the Manor (DP Woods)ponds though, but never fished the one that was in the wood,just off DP Drive.I think we called it the Lily Pond,but,that was 40odd years ago.Not that one,is it?
 
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Tony Rocca

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Nice article Fred.
I fished a pond in Lincolnshire yesterday that was created and stocked about 8 years ago. No one has ever cast a line in it before.
Had a lovely afternoon catching lots of roach, rudd, bream and carp. A nice change.
 
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Cliff Hatton (A.C.A member)

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Well I never....(scuse us everyone...)
Dagnam Park itself contained/s the Lily Pond, The Green Pond, The Manor Pond, The Perch Pond, The Swamp (all the salamanders and Great Crested Newts you could wish for!) and various others with no name. Happy days!
Were you around when Quarles went on the rampage against Harrowfields in Central Park, attracting Cliff Michelmore, Fyfe Robertson and the 'Tonight' team? (Sorry 'bout this, World, but it's not every day you 'meet-up' with an old 'arold 'ill-ite)And did you ever have an encounter with The White Lady?
 
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Fred Bonney

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Yeh,sorry you lot.
Just a year or so too young(1960), for the Harrowfields encounter Cliff, but there was always the underlying threat.
Never saw a bike chain used in anger.

As for The White Lady, didn't see her,but we did go looking,and frightened the life out of each other.
One of the others in there was Priory Pond,near Noak Hill Road,loads of Crucian,but never.....ever after dark,the headless Monk,I think.

Just a thought,your mention of Salamander.We had, near my house, a small swamp of a pond, on what turned into Harold Hill Grammar's sports field,(they wouldn't get away away with it today) but, that had all the Newt species and also Salamander, which always puzzled me, as they are not a native species,they must have been 'escapees' via the pet shops.

My Mum still lives on the 'ill,so next time,a visit to The Manor is a must....well during daylight hours anyway!
 
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