I fished a commercial yesterday.

Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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Yesterday I and my usual fishing mate fished a commercial lake, namely Evesbatch.

I used to fish matches here in the 80's and early 90's and though there were lots of silver fish to be caught it was primarily the carp that were targeted using the "blasting maggots" method. The lake we used for these matches was the top one which appears to be unused now as there were no obvious pegs on there at all, so we fished one of the bottom two. The fishery being out in "the sticks" is very secluded and both car park and fishery entrance are protected by a combination lock and the numbers are changed every day for obvious reasons

We both caught fish steadily all day on the waggler including small bream, skimmers up to 2lb, beautifully conditioned roach up to a 1lb, a few small rudd and a few perch up to 1lb. One of the other guys who was actually fishing for carp had five with the biggest being just over 13lb, John had one carp about 5lb but other than that we never got a sniff of any of them.

Only three other guys were fishing and, it being completely surrounded by trees and bushes, we had constant birdsong all day long to help make the day even better. This is an out and out commercial pool and matches are run virtually every weekend but it gives lie to the impression that "commercial" are the sort of places pleasure anglers don't want to go. It is a smashing little pool of about three acres in what can only be described as beautiful surroundings and I would recommend that anyone who has a baised opinion on what commercials are, should go there and I will guarantee they will love it, we did thats for sure.
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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The oppsite could be said for the other kind of comercial Graham.
 
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EC

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Good post Graham, some commercials once left to mature can become really fantastic places, BUT, then there are the match puddles, you know pegs 5 yards apart, grey banks, scabby brown carp, 'the future of fishing' I believe some called themselves!

Arf
 
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paul williams 2

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i imagine Redmire was once a vegitation free mud puddle?
 
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BAZ (Angel of the North) aka Fester

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Blasting maggots method or wag and mag as it is called is simply casting in your waggler float and continually firing maggots at it bait set at a shallow depth about two feet.
 
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Peter Bishop

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Commercials have their place as long as you remember thay are not 'real fishing'. Yes, there are horrible featureless mud holes populated by poxy carp but some owners are experienced anglers themselves and have set out to create something to be proud of, and with care and maturity they develop into almost traditional style venues. Docklow Pools is a classic example. Ian Heaps has also created a stunningly beautiful mixed fishery in the wooded valleys of South Wales, but the flip side is places like Moorlands Farm with that arrogant sign at the entrance which Eddie C alluded to. If thats the 'future' they can keep it!'
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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"Commercials have their place as long as you remember thay are not 'real fishing'"

Thats a funny statement to make Peter, I'm not sure what you mean by that, are you saying that commercials (whatever that means) are different to non commercials in that the fishing is harder in non commercials or that more skill is required?
 
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paul williams 2

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Like i said earlier, Redmire was once a mudhole......and then carp were introduced and the trees grew.........is that also not "real fishing"?

Waters need different skill levels be they "commercial" or not.........sometimes i'm up for a challenge and a possible big fish other times i just like to fish with the kids and catch fish............why are either "realer" than the other? i fish nowadays as my mood takes me, i've done the years of "real" fishing!
 
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Peter Bishop

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Believe me chaps I quite enjoy fishing commercials but I couldn't do it every week and I am choosy about the venues. I cannot stand carp only fisheries where you know the approximate size and species before the float goes under. Where is the magic in that? By the very nature of their purpose, most commercial fisheries are overstocked by EA standards and therefore the likelehood of catching a large bag of fish is proportional far greater than in a natural fishery where there has been little stocking or human intervention. Despite what some on FM would have you believe, a degree of understanding and skill is still required by the angler in order to get the best out of them. Most anglers will catch something from a commercial but it is the better and thinking angler who achieves the greatest and most consistant success. My mate thrashes the pants off me when we fish a commercial simply because he has sussed out the feeding and presentation much better than I have. In fact that element is no different to a natural venue, except the novice will more that likely blank while the more experienced and thinking angler stands the best chance of catching. My comment was therefore not to devalue the angler who regularly fishes commercial venues it was to point out that with artificially high levels of stocking it may, like a massive bosom supplemented by silicon implants, feel similar and look even better but at the end of the day you know it's not the real McCoy!
 
Graham Whatmore

Graham Whatmore

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I am not a regular user of the out and out match pool in fact I fish them hardly at all as I am not particularly enamoured with carp but as a lot of big fish specialists are now finding out there are some specimen sized silver fish in these places. Roach in particular seem to thrive in match pools and grow to quite respectable sizes and I can think of three such places where 2lb roach are regularly caught.

The usual bait that matchmen use in these pools like sweetcorn, worm, maggot and caster makes it difficult, if not impossible, to target these roach but they are there and how many anglers have never caught a 2lb roach? It took me over 40 years of angling before I caught one!
 
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Peter Bishop

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Graham, I am still desperately looking for one! See my recent thread regarding NW waters. I will never knock people for using commercial waters, they have brought a lot of new, and lapsed anglers, to the sport. The only problem is they are very seductive and can become addictive to the point that when you fish any other type of water which is not artificially stocked, frustration and disapppointment set in. Some expect to catch in the same quanities and of a similar size.Lets be honest, it is very rare to blank on a commercial fishery (though it has happened to me in matches when hot weather/ underwater topography and even spawning have conspired to put the fish off). Fish a natural lake or river and you have at least a 50-50 chance of the blank. Isn't that the reason why commercials sprang up in the first place? I too have had my fill of trolly filled canals peppered with boats and dont bother with them now but in a way I admire those who persist and take pleasure and satisfaction from catching 2lbs of sprats( fish without silicon implants!) in a day. It just isn't for me. Hard as it may be, that is my definition of 'real' fishing.
 
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paul williams 2

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I've fished commercials, (albiet "mature" ones) from time to time but never had the pleasure of comparing the silicon implants with the real thing..

Do i need to visit another kind of "commercial" :)
 
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Peter Bishop

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Yes, always keep abreast of the news. Check out the Daily Star or Sport most days. I always read the cultural newspapers(?) when i'm waiting hours for a bite on a non commercial water or river.
 
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paul williams 2

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None commercial river? would that be one stocked with a non original species such as barbel?

The Severn for instance? the biggest commercial water in the British isles?
 
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Peter Bishop

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If you can find me a stretch of the Severn where the riparian owner has deliberately stocked it with hundreds of pristine 6-10 lbs barbel and other species like chub-more indeed than the stretch could naturally sustain- and lets anyone fish it for a ?5 a day, will you let me know?
 
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