A week at Docklow Pools

[Golden Eagle]

Just back from a lovely week at Docklow Pools.

Schedule:
Saturday arrival, dog walk (spotted a fawn), supermarket stock up
Sunday: fishing, practice day Match Pool
Monday: Trip to Great Malvern
Tuesday: Fishing match on Match Pool
Wednesday: Trip to Worcester, river walk and shopping
Thursday: Fishing match on Farmer Jack
Friday: Stroll round the Brockhampton Estate and trip to Ludlow
Saturday: home

Fantastic, relaxing week in beautiful surroundings.

 

[Golden Eagle]

Docklow Pools is not what is typically represented as a commercial fishery....

 

[Golden Eagle]

Weather was lovely with bright sunshine on most days, however clear skies meant cold nights and frosty mornings.

This impacted upon the fishing and with Docklow Pools being situated in a valley, despite the seemingly warm conditions water temperature remained low and fishing was difficult.

 

[ian g]

Sounds like a nice trip , I know the area a little as I am a bit further up country in Shropshire but have friends who have a caravan near Worcester

 

[Golden Eagle]

Sounds like a nice trip , I know the area a little as I am a bit further up country in Shropshire but have friends who have a caravan near Worcester

I wish it was nearer as I’d fish the open matches there regularly if so.

For residents staying in season they have some lovely stretches of river too, including the Wye.

 

[Golden Eagle]

So, onto the fishing.......

Practice day, Sunday.

Day ticket anglers can’t fish the Match Pool so there was plenty of room to choose from.

I chose a peg in the sun (well I was on holiday) and with a nice feeder chick to an island at about 35 metres.

Morning was spent on rod and line. With conditions as they were a small hybrid feeder and 4mm fishery pellet, oiled with chocolate orange pellet oil seemed best and secured a steady catch rate of F1s and decent ide. It wasn’t spectacular but it was a potential method for the matches. I was catching better than the anglers around me.

Pellet waggler on the other hand was a lot of work for scant reward and was eventually put away with a mental note saying maybe next time.

After lunch, I tried the pole lines. Maggot resulted in plenty of ide, but a lot of tiny fish too, while pellet meant a longer wait but better fish.

As early evening approached the margin produced a couple of F1s and better carp with my standard approach of corn over micros.

Without a change in conditions I expected the matches to fish hard. The plan was to tick over on feeder or pole with frugal feeding then attack the margins late on. Hardly the most innovative plan but certainly refined from my last visit at the start of Autumn.

 

[Golden Eagle]

Two days later and the first match. Limited to residents only, it’s a friendly affair but disappointingly only 7 chose to fish. I drew close to where I had practiced, so at least the suntan would benefit.

Cutting a long story short, I’d underestimated the ide and relied too much on F1s and carp, which continued to feed sporadically at best. After ticking over as planned, all I could catch in the margins were ide. No matter how heavily I fed I just caught a succession of ide.

At the weigh in there were two weights of 70lb plus on the opposite side of the lake.

To my left, a nice bloke called Bob, weighed around 45lb comprising of just 2 F1s and the rest, ide. 40lb of silver fish is a lovely net to see, he’d targeted the ide and fished well for them.

My weigh went 33lb odd, leaving me in 4th place, with plenty of lessons for next time!

 

[Golden Eagle]

Last match of the week was an open on another lake, Farmer Jack.

I’ve only fished this lake once before, when I was lucky enough to win from peg 43. I was astounded to draw peg 43 again!

No victory to report this time, however. After a good start, pretty much everything had dried up after 3 hours. I did manage one decent carp down the edge but it was a frustrating finish.

Weighing just under 45lb, I was pipped by the next peg by just over a pound and well beaten by the match winner who had 65lb.

With the benefit of that wonderful thing called hindsight I could have taken my short pole approach of expander over micros long, but I was hoping they would respond to a little more feed.

More lessons learned and a great week’s fishing. Overall, I’m a little disappointed with my results but on the other hand I feel able to compete with guys who are fishing much more often than me and with bags more experience.

As for Docklow Pools, the sooner I return the better!