It makes a pleasant change to have a days fishing here, after the strict rules of so many day ticket fisheries (who muttered Gold Valley ?), to the best of my knowledge there is only one rule at these lakes, and that's the fairly normal one of 'Barbless Hooks Only'. They also allow you to pay an extra £3.00 on top of the day ticket and use a proper carp keepnet, making the water an ideal venue for a 'knock up' between a handful of lads, without having to book swims months in advance.
So all of you 'pellet heads', form an orderly queue, this is a real pellet water, the carp love them. Most of the lakes contain a big head of roach and rudd, so this is a real big bait venue, with corn, meat, paste, banded pellet, chum mixer or worm all being successful on the right day. Hemp and pellet make an excellent feed, balling in groundbait doesn't normally work, but the 'method feeder' can be deadly sometimes.
Favourite methods are pole, running line down the edge or method feeder. You don't need to fish a very long pole, 11 metres maximum, and often 5 or 6 metres is ideal. As in most day ticket carp fisheries, the big fish will come into the bank as the days wears on, and late afternoon / evening are the best times for catching a big carp in close.
As in so many still waters, the secret to catching fish is to fish with a warm wind in to your face, and to keep feeding. There's no need to feed vast amounts, but you must keep some feed going in to the swim all of the time, even if you're not catching anything. The biggest mistake that the occasional fisherman makes is that he doesn't feed often enough.
O.K., here's how
you can make the catch of a lifetime pleasure fishing at Willinghurst. It will
work on Lakes 1 2 or 3 on the plan (Old, New or Top Lake, don't be confused
when you arrive here for the first time, they have built another lake. that
is not on the plan, closer to the main road than Lakes 1 & 2), provided
that it's not the middle of winter. Check the favourite
pegs page to find the best areas, and pick a good area where you've got
a bit of room, and where there are NO keepnets in the water nearby. The keepnets
thing is important. Don't use a keepnet yourself, because we're going to get
the fish to feed
3 feet from the bank, and keepnets force them back out to the middle. If there's
any wind on the water try to find a good spot with the wind blowing in to your
bank. Sit back a bit from the waters edge, so as not to frighten the fish, and
throw in a handful of pellets to either side of you, a rod length away and about
two feet from the bank. Now set up your tackle using a strong float rod, running
line (4lb B.S.) and a pole float taking about 4 no. 8 split shot to a size 12
hook. Keep feeding a small handful of pellets every couple of minutes whilst
you are getting everything ready. Don't fish either of these two baited spots
until you can see carp swirling over the feed, preferably several carp. You
can't miss them, you'll see tails up in the air as the fish hoover up their
favourite food. The longer that you can contain your impatience to catch one,
the bigger the bag of fish at the end of the day. You want them to get complete
confidence before you start catching them. Bait the hook with corn, paste or
banded pellet, and lower it gently in to the feeding fish. I guarantee that
you will get a bite within seconds, and provided that you don't do anything
too foolish you will continue to catch until you give up with aching arms. Remember
to keep feeding, that's the real secret. You will find that most of the carp
will home in on one spot or the other of your two swims. Once this happens you
can concentrate on that one spot, it would be nice to be able to catch from
both swims, but in my experience
it just doesn't happen.
One final method for Willinghurst, without doubt the most exciting way of catching carp is with floating baits such as chum mixer. You have to be lucky enough to be there on the right day, when the fish are cruising on the surface, and there are no ducks on the water, but it's just THE method, and very simple. The night before you are going, put about 3 pints (one large square bait box full) of chum mixers into a polythene bag. Add half a pint of cold water, seal the bag, shake it around for a minute or two, then leave in the fridge overnight. In the morning the chum mixers will have gone soft enough to put a hook into them, but not soggy. If conditions are not right the next day, keep the mixers cool, and freeze them when you get home, and they'll keep perfectly for the next time. I wouldn't advise anyone to go there with only this method in mind, in fact I set up my normal tackle, and just throw a few mixers out now and again. If I see the carp taking them I set up a carp rod, 5lb line, fixed spool reel and a size 10 or 12 hook. No floats, no weight on the line, the weight of the mixer will be enough casting weight. Keep feeding a few loose mixers, and cast to where the fish are rising. The fish will eat all of the baits except the one on the hook, that's a fact of life, but eventually one will take the hook bait, and you'll miss it...that's another fact of life !!. You will be pulling your hair out, striking like a lunatic, and the hookbait will come flying back at you at the speed of a rapier missile. At the end of the day you will have caught 10 carp, missed 20 and will have had the most exciting days fishing of your life, I'll guarantee it, all for a total cost of about 30 pence.
