Well, sleeping through the alarm
meant that I didn’t actually get to the lake much before 10, and sure enough it
was busy! The triangular shaped lake had 2 sides which offered respite from the
steady 15 – 20 m.p.h wind. Unfortunately those banks were full up with anglers
so I would have to fish the exposed bank leaving me quite windswept all day. No
matter, after speaking to a few anglers and getting the wind proof jacket on I
took up my position towards the far end of the lake and began setting up. My
positioning and the frequent gusty wind meant that fishing the pole was out. Still,
seeing fish move on the surface buoyed my enthusiasm and with that in mind,
today was a day to practice the waggler and feeder. Unfortunately I find mine
are usually both sadly overlooked whenever I have the opportunity to fish the
Pole.
Plumbing to depth I chose to fish
just off the bottom bulking 95% of my shot around the float in the hope that
the fish would be taking on the drop. I also set up a small inline method
feeder which I would drop into one of the margin swims to try to tempt “a
biggy”. Baiting the hook with double red maggot I cast the waggler out, waited
for the float to cock and began the waiting game. Lucky for me, the wait wasn’t
long and within 30 seconds the float had disappeared and I was into my first
fish of the day and indeed my first fish in May! A rudd of a few ounces quickly
found its way to my net and it wasn’t long before the float was under again.
The lake is absolutely full of F1 carp ranging from a few ounces to a few
pounds.
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| Plenty this size in Hillcrest! |
It was at this point that the angler
to my right who had been fishing in the margin has just landed a scale perfect
mirror carp well in double figures. Speaking to him about tactics he told me
that all the best fish in the lake usually fall to meat. So after he had offered
me some of his spare luncheon meat, I set up a short line and dropped in a lump
of meat about 5 feet away and only inches from the bank. Setting the rod to one
side and easily grab-able if something big came calling, I cast back out on
double red maggot. The lift bite that followed connected me with a scrappy
tench which provided good sport on my light waggler outfit.
Unhooking the fish
and returning it I noticed the tip of my feeder rod registering the steady
pluck of a bite and on striking it connected with a nice F1 carp of around
2lb’s. I decided to up the ante after this fish, at least where feeder fishing
was concerned and hair rigged on a 12mm halibut pellet and a thin slither of
meat. Carefully dropping the feeder back into its previous spot I went about re
casting my waggler rod where the F1’s were coming in at 1 a chuck. Double red
maggot seemed to be the bait to beat with only a few fish falling to bread and
nothing at all on corn.
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| This combo proved a winner. |
I had just reached for my flask when
the drag of my feeder reel came alive and line started flying off the
spool. Rod in hand I had connected with
something big, and my feeder rod was soon getting one hell of a test! The fight
must have lasted 5 minutes with 2 near net misses and a heart stopping moment
when I thought the fish had pulled the hook!
When it finally broke the surface my heart was in my mouth and I only
relaxed when the fish was firmly on the weigh sling on the bank. Taking off the
weight of the wet sling the scales tipped at around 11½lb’s, a fish that I was
very pleased with given the light tackle I was using (I realised after I landed
it that I was using 6lb main line and not 8lb).
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| I'd like to thank "Maksta" for bluetoothing me the photo! |
Dropping the feeder back in along the
margin I cast the waggler back out with the faithful double red maggot and
before long I was adding to my previous tally. I had caught over 50 F1 carp of
various sizes, and they didn’t seem to be stopping. Shallowing up to 3 feet I hoped I could pick
out some more of the Rudd I had seen moving in the top layers of water. However
as I found out this meant the F1’s had to wait less time for my bait to settle
and began taking it on the drop. My feeder rod had also spurred back into life
with another F1 of around 3lb’s. So far this day was turning out to be a
cracker! And with an hour and a half left of my session I decided to really go
at the little carp on the waggler, dropping the hair rigged pellet and meat
combo back into the margin a bit further down the bank. I had lost count of how
many fish I had caught, and was amazed at their pristine condition.
With 30 minutes left my feeder rod
lurched around and I connected again with another fish. Although smaller than
the “biggy” previously this was still a nice fish and when I got it to the net
I saw a very chunky 6lb Mirror carp which had been gorging on the free
offerings of luncheon meat I had been feeding.
I continued to fish for another half an hour solely using the waggler.
Fishing 3 dead red maggots seems to pull in a better stamp of fish all ranging
around the 10+ ounce mark, and after catching 3 “final fish” I decided to call
it a day. What a belter!
Having easily caught over 50lbs of
fish in windy conditions I cannot recommend this little fishery highly enough.
There were however a few small annoyances about the venue which, I think if
remedied would make it into a cracking venue. These are; no toilets and no
clearly defined pegs. Speaking to one angler, he described the summer months as
a free-for-all in terms of space and where to fish which may leave the lake
over fed and the fish a bit stressed. But today that was not the case. Other
than that it is a great little fishery and one I would recommend to any angler
looking for a busy days sport, my only other advice would be to get there early
to get a better choice of pegs.
As a rating I would say:
Accessability ****
Value for Money *** ½ £6 (A bit steep considering there are no facilities, but worth it for all the fish!)
7 comments:
Told ya you'd have a good Day mate I was the lad who at side of ya who gave you the meat I had 4 doubles out that day been today no carp plenty of f1s and tench tho
The hillcrest fisheries is brilliant I wenton Sunday 29th of July and me and my dad caught about 20 each varieties of roach tench carp and dace the pond is well heavily stocked I love it !!!!
You can catch all day long on meat , feeding hemp and the odd cube of meat , the place is stuffed with fish of all sizes all in good condition.if you are willing to sit on a large bait (paste) you will hook some of the beasts that live in the pond.on my first visit to the pond I had 15lb mirror and 13lb common on meat first two put ins on the pole at 5 mtrs plus numerous ide to 3to4lb.
2nd visit I had no big carp because I could not get thru the f1s but I had easy 60 to 70 lb of f1s all on 4mm cubes of meat feeding hemp & meat. In summer do get there early to beat all the argos & carrier bag anglers (sorry guys but it had to be said).the only negatives I have found are no permanent peggin which would make it better its not rocket science but probably more £ in the owners pocket but dont let that put you off tight lines......
nice blog mate, I'll be following from now on
Great little venue, like everybody says, "it could do with some basic facilities" as it is quite expensive to fish.
I caught my first carp here a smaller 6lb to start me off then a nice 13 lb'er, caught plenty of Tench too ( about 10) along with plenty of mixed breeds silvers/carp under 1lb. Its a great venue for someone starting out to get a feel for carp fishing. Ill be going alot more often in the summer months.
I caught my first carp here a smaller 6lb to start me off then a nice 13 lb'er, caught plenty of Tench too ( about 10) along with plenty of mixed breeds silvers/carp under 1lb. Its a great venue for someone starting out to get a feel for carp fishing. Ill be going alot more often in the summer months.
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