Dream Waters

Inspiring stuff - just want to get out there!

I found a place once, plenty of huge roach and tench. Just off the A338, next to the garage, just along from that nice little pub on the corner. Through the two gates, left by the dead tree, over the style and down past the old wooden hut (the one with the old fishing photos and catch record book).

Follow the stream upstream for about 2 miles, wade across the shallows, avoiding the barbel and chub, and walk over to the tiny cottage. The little old lady will give you a nice cup of tea and a "permit to angle".

The entrance is just through the ivy covered kissing gate and to your left. Only 5 fishable swims (and two climbing trees). A punt is available for the more adventurous. All known methods worked and they usually fed steadily throughout the day.

Oh, I haven't bothered to return since the little lady died and her estate was divided up and sold to a land fill company and developer (I think the site is called Ringwood now!)

Thanks Mark, glad you enjoyed it.

Neil,that's a very sad tale.

A similar thing (almost) happened to the carp/ perch pool in the article.

Very sadly the gentleman who owned the fishing rights died a couple of years back. As as a result, with the rights in dispute, I was unable to fish it for a season and worried that it would be snapped up by a club.

Unbelieveably though with the rights sorted and passed on, it is still deserted.

It, however, a sad fact that secret waters do not remain secret for long, but that is what inspires the urge to explore, and makes your limited time on them all the more intoxicating...

Nice one ****y, places like that are rarer than the proverbial rocking horse poo, but there are a few if you know the right people or take the trouble to look.

We used to study ordnance survey maps back in the early 70's and found some beauties and a polite enquiry often had positive results but eventually they all got taken over by either clubs or syndicates. Back then a lot of landowners didn't realise what the value of a decent pool was but it didn't take them long to find out.

A very nice article anyway mate, well done.

When I was just starting out on my angling life adventure,at about 9 years old, my father managed to get a job at a newly built factory, which was in a converted mill, in the deepest countryside.

He had quite a responsible position, and one day he was checking out the companies perimiters, and found a pristine Dam, a good 3/4 mile from the premises, which belonged to the company.

Nobody knew it was there, but he had the authority, so he allowed me to explore and fish it...it was a young boys dream come true, about 3 acres, overgrown, limited access, even the few locals didnt know its existence.

I fished that dam, exclusivley to myself, until I was 25 years old. I knew the carp on first name terms. It had everything you could want, the quiet of the countryside, teeming wildlife, birds, foxes, no specimen fish but Commons and Mirrors to about 15 lbs. Bream, Roach, Brown Trout, Tench, Perch, Gudgeon, all the usual stuff.

I learnt my angling skills as nature intended us to. Time progressed as it will, my father retired, I got married. Fishing had to go on the back burner for a couple of years and somehow I never got around to returning to "my Dam" for about 8 years.

When I did, I got the shock of my life...the company had been taken over, New Management....new evelopement. On my return visit, a road had been pushed through the wood, the bankside vegetation had been severely cut back, even to the extent of making "pathways" for the shipping back of poles. There were fishing platforms made from palletts every 15 feet around the place, the Reeds had been raked back by about 40 feet and removed.....the carp could not be seen, nor any other fish...

There were discarded beer tins thrown around, together with any amount of other rubbish, some of the banks had collapsed where thoughtless people had dug swims into them, in all it was a nightmare come true.

On reflection I suppose that I was the luckiest kid on the block for 16 years, but that Dam, which had the potential for great things, had been truly destroyed..it had never seen a Pellet, Boilie, PVA bag, Roach Pole, Bite alarm, Bivvie, etc, etc. The only baits I used were humble maggots, Casters, Bread, (Slugs, which the carp loved,)and worms.

Lesson Learnt... Never go Back.

Sorry I went on a bit, but some things you cannot forget, or forgive.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I am now a creaker of 53, so it was a lot of years ago.

Great story David,

It is sadly so true...as you say 'never return'

I used to fish a couple of beautiful secluded estate lakes in Worcs, but gradually word got round and the lake became routinely littered with day-trippers, noddies and idiots with squeaky accents.

The banks were quickly covered in plastic and metal, and the carp (bless 'em) didn't know where to hide...

Not ever going back :-(

Great stuff, enjoyed reading your article ****y, and the other posts. Certainly, there are some'secret' waters out there just waiting to be discovered but rarely will they produce monsters. It seems landowners have realised they can cash on their assets and make serious money from syndicates to fish such places. But as long as you aren't obsessed with size, I reckon there are plenty of ponds and medium sized pools to be found with the aid of an OS map.
Like David I have tried to revisit waters from my childhood (At 54 I'm even older!) only to be horrified by the sight that greeted me. Some pits I fished have simply been filled in and houses built on the site. Another has become a wildlife sanctuary. Oh well thats 'progress' for you....

Hi there,Feel free to edit this if its crap but here goes.

I am one of the lucky few that can can say this has happened to me. Just after christmas my mum reminded me that my uncle had a lake that apparently I learnt to swim in. I only had hazy memories of it and thought it was only half an acre or so.

I rang my uncle and he said i could fish it but he didn't know what was in it as he has no interest in fishing. When I got there for the first time I was shocked to say the least.

The lake is about four and a half acres with a dam at one end, shallow norfolk reed beds at the other, two islands,depths to eleven feet down one side which can only be reached with a cast of about 70-120yds depending on where abouts you are.

Turns out the lake has rudd, tench, trout and a very good head of mirrors and commons the biggest of which so far has been 18lbs although fish around the 30lb mark have been seen but not caught.(YET)

We have managed to get them feeding on boilies, corn doggies and all the usual baits exept luncheon meat which they will not touch. not sure if anyone is believing me but its true. The next time I am there I will get some decent pics of the lake and post them. I cant post the address as it is private and any trespassers will probably get shot.(its locked up anyway and almost impossible to find even when you know the way) Keep hunting lads, there must be more out there somwhere. Good Luck. DUNK.

Dunk,

I would be very cautious about posting photos, in fact don't.

You will notice that none (I Hope) of the pictures in my article showed discernable features.

Don't post casual snaps that may give someone a lead...

Great post mate as well.

That, for me, is the essence of secret waters, you are on your own, catching beautiful and very surprised fish. You can still fantasise about a monster (although you may know in your heart that you will probably never catch one), but it is your dream and that is all that matters...

A true one this time!

Not so much a dream venue, more of a dream swim really:

Back in the 80's a couple of us spent a long time searching for new barbel and chub swims on the middle Hants Avon. We had found a couple of swims alive with fish but it seemed they could only be fished from a very high barren bank and every time we tried we could'nt quite get it presented right and found it very difficult and frustrating. But the opposite "bank" was an island! And covered in tall reeds and willows!!

No problem. Except when trying to wade across to the island from either bank we nearly drowned several times (seriously, it was touch and go on one memorable evening).

Believe it or not, we eventually built ourselves a bridge that could span the gap on the far side and of a design that could be broken down and hidden! Didn't want anyone to find "our" swims. After several days over a couple of weeks we did get across and created a couple of fishable areas being very careful not to disturb it too much (even went to the trouble of trying to hide ourselves and the swims if anyone came wandering up the far bank!

It worked a treat for at least 3 weeks as we fished our favourite method of centrepin trotting and caught a lot of fish, nothing particularly big, but pristine and great satisfaction. We fished on blissfully unaware that we had been rumbled until someone stuck up a photo in the local tackle shop of themselves in "our" swim holding a barbel of over 10lbs (a very mighty fish in those days).

Looking back, it was the adventure of finding a previously unfished swim and creating the illusion of exclusivity that got us going. We could have fished a mile upstream or downstream and still had great days but for those few weeks we were in heaven.

That island has since been removed in the name of flood prevention and the area is now bog standard straight through flow.

David's excellent post revived old memories:

From the age of about 6 I lived only a few hundred yards from Throop Mill (we're talking 1960's and 1970's here!).

I used to wander down to the mill and fish the millstream, the weirpool (the old weirpool that is for you youngsters) and Pig Island. Never bought a ticket but the bailiff knew and tolerated me (and a few others). He even walked me home one night when I fished on a bit too late (times change!).

I caught perch, roach, chub and one famous day foulhooked a monster of a salmon (memory tells me it was over 30lb+ but suspect it was a little smaller!). It seemed to me we had the whole place to ourselves and was a major part of our fishing education and upbringing.

Been back many times and on one occassion sat by the old weir for several hours just taking it all in! Very sad and old fashioned but that day was one of my better days out on the bank.

Throop is still a hell of a fishery but nowhere near as good as I remember it!

Lovely article ****y, well done mate.

Neil the Throop is my dream water, I live in Bristol and have fished it on and off since I was 17 (23 years). I still get sleepless nights thinking about a forthcoming visit to the Throop. Last year, with the help of Mark Wintle, I cracked it! But I know it has so much more to offer.

I don't know what it is about the Throop, the huge chub, the gravel glides, the unknown, the beauty, I don't know, I am drawn to it, I love it!

Sorry ****y, you've got me excited now.

It's not a secret, it's not hidden, but it is my dream water.
If I win the Lottery watch out!

I want it!!!

Steve, the anticpation and planning of a trip is what makes it. Throop is a cracker of a venue but I don't know it as it is now. My thoughts are clouded by memories of the past but I intend to fish it a few times in the coming season.

I wonder if the "climbing tree" swim below the School Bridge is as good as it was or if "Nettlebeds" still hold those barbel and chub?

Mark knows what he's on about (don't tell him I told you so!). We fished together during the 80's, he was almost as good a match angler as he thinks he was (in truth probably a lot better).

I guess I never knew how good Throop was while I had it on my doorstep. Having said that, some of the club stretches of the Dorset Stour were better!

PM Neil.

Steve, I might just get there!

Now you might find this hard to believe but for while in the 70's I thought The Huntspill was the dream venue!

Down towards Gold Corner on peg 211 alongside the fence I beat a certain I. Marks (opposite) and R.Marlow (next peg) with 22.15 of bream.

Hadn't got a clue what I was doing but the bream didn't care.

I also used to enjoy great anticipation at the thought of fishing Chew Valley on the opening day of the trout season.

Tight lines.

'Tis a cracking read for sure mate, nicely done.

I confirmed my permit is in the post today.

:O) excited is not the word!

Happier times may be just around the corner:

It appears that a home-counties club with several lakes on their books were getting so clogged up with bivvies, that ordinary members with families and jobs to consider(and don't forget, they pay the lion's share of the subs!) couldn't get a look-in.
Rather than ban bivvies or impose time-limits, the club bought a 40+lb carp and stocked it into one of their lakes. All the anagrams and their bivvies now cluster round this one pool in pursuit of a p.b. and the ordinary Joes can once again play on all the other ponds!

One "estate"-type lake I know in Norfolk has shallow water, angler-access to less than half the lake, and a management policy dominated by its other role as a "shoot". The club with the fishing rights also has a carp pool. Guess where all the members go? - So I often have a slice of heaven (if you like jacks, and tench to 5lb) to myself for ?5 a day.

Examine your clubs' portfolios carefully - you could be paying for your dream, and neglecting it to fish your nightmare!

A great article ****y. It has triggered some really good storys off.
It is a shame when a club gets their mits on one of these such waters.
The first thing they want to do is yank the trees and bushes out and build wooden platforms and put paths in. The wilder the better in my opinion.
I wonder if the time will ever come when clubs think of building and planting these more natural looking places? I think not.

I would, I'd love to own a 'secret' water. You'd need a machete to get anywhere near the bankside!

:O)