Holwell Hyde, Welwyn Garden City

Me and my mates are planning on going to the Hyde this weekend.

Has anybody around here fished it before? Care to share any tips?

The last time I went there I caught loads of bream but not one carp. Anybody know any ways of targeting the carp while keeping away those slimy little guys?

- Paolo

It's fairly quiet on the carp front at the mo, but the bream are going great guns in this cool, dark weather. My mate had 30 yesterday.
Best way to avoid them is probably to fish the shallows, preferably on the lee shore. I fished a 5' deep swim, as opposed to his seven, and only had seven, but two carp to his one (annoying, as I was hoping for bream more than carp). Keep quiet, feed little and often, and get them close in, in 2' of water.
Bream don't like it that shallow.
Usually.

Cheers mate, I'll try and give that a go when we're there. I don't mind catching bream (I'm happy catching anything as I'm relatively new to this), but my mates have had some nice carp out of there and I would like to have a piece of the action

- Paolo

Well you can have some good fishing here, put the truth is the place is the PIT'S. There has been some trouble with angler's and a few locals taking tackle, mostly at night, so watch your gear, and litter is a big problem.

I first fished here the day it opened, and over the last couple of yeras has gone down hill, but the fishing is still good. Hollwell Court is a much better water, but not sure about tickets for that water now

Cheers for the heads up Ray, about 4 or 5 of us should be going so I think we'll be alright against any opportunists that walk past.

My first ever fishing session was night fishing there a couple of months ago, it was a right laugh. Last time I was up there, my mate had 6 or 7 nice carp out.

- Paolo

Have you tried Willows on the 414 towards St Albans.

3 Lakes, and some good Carp and catfish, Carp over 40lb and Cats over 50lb, all day ticket.

If you don't know the place and want some more info, send me a PM

Good Luck for the night session.

Is that the place where you need to bring pound coins for the ticket machine? I think I have, but we must have picked a bad day because we barely got a bream each and everyone we chatted to had about the same amount of luck. I think we'll pick a different lake next time, we were fishing in the one at the far end from the entrance.

Cheers mate, I'll let you know how we get on

- Paolo

Yes mate thats the place, the far end is the harder of the lakes, and the big march lake is the one to fish if you want Bream, but they are not that big.

Paolo, how did you all get on?

Sorry lads, went on holiday to cyprus a couple of days after so didn't have a chance to post:

No matter what, I still couldn't shake the bream fairy. Lost count how many of them I landed. They are all I ever seem to catch at the Hyde. Can't grumble, still had fun.

We were set up on the "beach" at the far end. My mate who was sitting to my right was casting out to the island (and hogging the whole thing! Hehe). He caught 4 nice sized commons but unfortunately 2 were lost while trying to net them due to how shallow it gets leading up to the bank. One of them did an imitation of free willy as I was lifting the landing net!

Next time we'll bring either a longer landing net or a pair of wellies.

All in all, I had a fun day even tho we all suffered from a mild case of sun stroke because of how hot it was that day. At least I got a good base-tan (or should I say base-burn!) for the holiday

- Paolo