Dan Dan

I editted in the missing photo of the beautiful second pond. Do you reckon fish could be present in here even if the farmer didn't stock any?

I'd assume the same sort of fishing hours apply to lure fishing for as other methods?

Welcom to AnglersNet chris! I must agree with above that I much prefer pleasure fishing to matches, although I do like to have the odd spur of the moment competitions with friends, like first to catch a 1lb roach etc. This site is a fountain of information, and from what i've experienced so far (only been signed up about a week!) the people here are some of the friendliest i've encountered online. Plus you may find some new fishing buddies who live near you!

Atomic Cloud is a pretty new product that basically just "nukes" your swim with a bright and attractive smelling groundbait. It's so good that some places are starting to ban it in matches =/ I like good old liquidised bread for basic feed, which is blended, then frozen, then blended again until it's as fine as you can get it. It sinks very slowly and doesn't fill the fish up either. PLus it's plain so you can add whatever you want to it!

Heh, I'd lo

there's no edit button there...maybe i'm not a full enough member or something. also i forgot to add a picture or two >>

Yeah that's probably a good idea, if I could edit my topic then I'd gladly take out some of the details!

Hello again! Today I had the day off work (woohoo!) so I decided to start my mission to find some waters near me that haven't been fished before, or for a very long time. I headed over to Google Maps, and entered my post code. After looking arounf for a bit not seeing anything, I decided to switch over to the satellite mode, giving a birds eye view in photographs of the area. Being able to zoom in, I quickly located my local pond where I spent most of my days (and nights) fishing at the moment. I was encouraged to see a couple of bodies of water around the wooded area in which my pond was located. I asked it for directions and got my stuff together to begin the search. The first potential pond was located aross the road from my local tackle shop, up on some farmland. The only access to it is through an electric gate, covered in barbed wire, so that quickly ended that idea. My second chosen body of water I hoped would turn out to be more accessible, and I headed off into Woodham to find it. From the directions, I was told to go down a bumpy old road which seemed to stop far short of where the map said it should. I got off my moped and had a look around. I could see a couple of houses, trees, and a farm up ahead. I was beginning to think that that was the end of my journey when I saw a public footpath that ran adjacent to the farmers tractor path. So being the enthusiast I am, I ventured off into the undergrowth.. After about 15 minutes of walking along an overgrown, smelly, gnatty, dog poo-y footpath, the land opened up into a sort of cross roads. The tractor path was still to the left of me, and joined the footpath where I was. It wound round to the left, where I was met by another electric gate which needed a combination to get through, and covered in razorwire. I turned around beginning to walk back when I saw on the hill behind me a farmer on his tractor! Now being the charming young man I am, I decided to try my luck and see if Google was telling the truth! I waved him down, and he kindly stopped what he was doing for a chat. I told him that I was an angler looking for new and natural places to fish, away from the commercial fisheries of today and wondered if he knew of any ponds on his land or surrounding area. He told me about the history of his land, and how he was lucky to inherit 250 hectares of land from his late father. He also divulged that he loves to dig ponds for bird and general wildlife on his land! Now this was music to my ears! He said so far he has dug two ponds, but has no idea whether there are fish in there other than the few goldfish he stocked when he first made it. I asked if I could perhaps take a look round the lakes, and he gladly obliged. He graciously even told me to electrical combination for the gate that lead off towards the ponds! Now back on my own, with renewed vigor, off I trecked in search of the fabled ponds of Woodham. Before long, I came across a field of nettles, from what I could make out, the meander of a small stream or tributary. Now I know the only river running through this part of Woodham was the River Bourne, and Ive had some lovely chub to 3lb and perch to 2lb from it, so I decided to take a gander. It was very weedy, lots of stringer weed lazily lying across the centre of the stream, with algae and other small surface plants filling in the gaps made my fallen twigs and branches. I came to a VERY chubby looking bend, with a large overhung tree touching the water, and a deep undercut running below the near bank. Damn! I forgot my polaroids! Oh well, next best thing is to chuck in some free offerings and see what happens! I picked up a few catepillars (sorry!) from the grass and chucked a couple in. Immediately 3 or 4 hungry chub swam from beneath the overhang and gobbled up my treats. They looked a nice size from the brief glimpse I got of them, and will definately be plopping a lobworm in this swim come June. I bit further along, and towards the other side of the field I was crossing I saw some bull rushes, and I knew I was getting closer to the first pond. As I drew closer, I began to see the size of the water. It was larger than I had envisioned, and for a guy getting on for 70, the farmer did a bloody good job! He told me the key to digging a good pond is a high water table and good clay ground. I could see that the latter was very true, the water was terracota with clay, and looked rusty. I was concerned as I thought nothing would be living in such an environment, but the water didn't look stagnant and wait...what's that black thing bubbling down at the water's edge.... TADPOLES! That means life! But one thing was still bugging me...there were so many of them! Surely if there were any number of fish in here there would be much fewer of those little guys seeking sanctuary in the shallows. But who's to say there weren't thousands more and the fish have already tucked into the majority of them! I couldn't find out now, I didn't bring any tackle with me. I decided that this was mission accomplished, and it was time to move on. There was still promise of another pond, so I contiued my search. I walked back across the field from which I came, following the flattened grass and rushes I stepped on on my way through. I walked back along the bourne towards the bend where I saw the chub from earlier and as I approached an almighty bow wave rushed off upstream. I was quite surprised as I didn't think it was a chub, perhaps a pike or a rogue barbel. Who knew such a tiny tributary could hold such wonders! I got back onto the footpath from which I came and carried on down the path. Up ahead I saw a sign, but couldn't make it out. As I got closer, it became clearer and read "Danger Deep Water. Enter at you own risk". Oooohh....dangerous. So i continued past the sign and round a bend where there was a small style which I clambered over into another field. I was beginning to think I had gone too far when I got a whiff of fishing (you guys know what I mean) on the cool easternly breeze. I turned, and walked into the wind and down a small hill into a more dense wooded area. THere was still some sort of a footpath, but it was overgrown and clearly hadn't been used for a while. The woods lead me for quite a short scramble through some brambles and rotting stumps when it all opened up again and found my second pond. This was amazing. I couldn't believe what I saw in front of me. JUST LOOK AT IT! Still, there wasn't any guarentee of any fish. There looked like a swim had been made on the other side from where I was standing, so I decided to take a walk around to it. I noticed a LOT of weed in the water, couldn't work out what it was it looked sort of red and just peeking through the surface. It would be tough landing anything of any size here, but I just wanted to see if there were some roach or rudd feeding in the upper layers. Wish I'd bought some maggots with me... I continued round as I saw that across from where I now stood there was a lot of overhanging trees and what looked like an island. I had to jump across ditch which had water trickling down it. Again there were lots of tapdoles in the margins. I came to the beginning the "island area", which definately had one about 30 feet from my bank. The trees either side made a natural archway for the pond to run through, and lots of midges and gnats were on buzzing across the surface and a few had fallen into the film on the top of the surface. (sorry for the blur >_>) I was itching to come here, but alas I had already decided to spend the rest of the day crucian fishing up at "the local", so this gem would have to wait. Absolutely brimming, I left along the footpath I came and prasied the farmers work on the way out, and thanked him for letting me see it and fish it. I hope this inspires some of you who are bored of your local waters and want to get back to basics with fishing, and finding a truly special water you can call your own. Dan

Hey there badgerman! My favourite fish are Perch too, although my biggest is only a smidgen over 2lb I plan to improve on that this season! It's a good time for early season tench too, so try to get out and get them while they're nice, fat and hungry! If you're looking for new venues, you could do what I'm attempting (with some success..story to follow) and get yourself an ordinance survey map and try to locate natural unfished pools, or ponds on farm land where you have to be extra charming and chat up the farmer Anyway, welcome to AnglersNet! Have fun and remain active is all I can say!

Guess it's worth purchasing an ordanance survey map of the area then! Thanks medway, where was the topic lol? I only have a little moped to get around on, although I love travelling light for quick river sessions, I was wondering about a bit closer to home for longer sessions on the bank. I will definately check out Hampton Court though, I want to crack 2lb on a roach and 3lb on perch these next couple of seasons so that would be a great place to start!

Thanks for the links! I read them and they were very insightful. Just a quick question about the forums. I wrote up a post for a new topic about the River Thames near where I live, and can't seem to find it on the Coarse fishing board where I thuoght i posted it. It appears in my "last 10 posts", and says its had 22 views but I can't see it!

Summer would be better for the pike, as they will be more willing to give chase, but I've had big females lunge at my deep diving lures in the depths of winter. You get much better sport in the summer months, but they are generally bigger in the winter.

Hey there guys, As you know it's the close season for rivers and canals, and now the weather's warmed the waters up a bit it's a great time to go fish spotting and planning where to put your first cast into the new season. I've not fished the Thames since I was a wee lad, and because I have limited transport (a moped >_<) I've not really had a proper chance to get to know the river again. I live in Addlestone, which is near Weybridge. A part of the river runs through behind Weybridge and on through Walton up to Hamptop Court. Now Hampton court would be a bit far to go on a ped with all my gear, but along that nice flat bit by Walton bridge I can see myself having a nice session. Has anyone had any experience along here, or know whether it's a free/day ticket stretch? What sort of fish holding areas are there and whats the best way to attempt fishing it. Also interested in cheapish day ticket/free secret ponds (fat chance) in the local area. Many thanks, Dan

Hi there, I'm Dan. I've had a lot of experience fishing sections of the Wey Navigation canal down in Surrey, and if thats anything to go by then forget the method feeder lol. Finese and presentation are the two top main concerns fishing a smallish canal, esepcially one in constant use. Two methods I find fairly succussful, even if they are quite simple. The first method is swim feeding. On a canal, you should start off with a very small feeder and every other cast start building up a layer of bait around your area. After you get a few feederloads out there, back off with the feed and see how the fish respond. A simple patenoster or running leger rig would be ideal here, with a size 18/20 hook. When casting, check for features on the far bank to aim for. If it's looking pretty bleak or both sides of the canal are in use, then switch over the the second method. The pole is very useful for fishing the canal. It can reach to the far bank if you wanted to, but the far shelf (plumb up) is a great place to start when working the pole. I'm not really into pole fishing so I cant really help you out with specific rigs and stuff but try to find the float with the least resistance (ive heard good things about those flat pole floats? no idea havent tried them myself) and an even shotting pattern down the line. May want to drop down to size 20/22 if bites become scarce, but anything up to 18 is ok. Once youve plumbed up to find the shelf, fish an inch or two over depth to account for current and other mittigating things. For baits, maggot/pinkie/squat are great allround, redworms/bloodworms if allowed are top quality skimmer, perch and rudd bait, bread punch on the pole is usually enough for a couple of quality roach. Groundbait should be very lean with lots of air and a fluffy texture. Atomic Cloud Green is a favourite of mine but people think thats cheating! About feeding, start slowly and read the fish. if they are backing off the bites a bit, try flicking less bait out to increase competition. Often fish will move back away from the feeding area, so don't be afraid to search a bit around your baited area if the fish get spooked by you or a boat or something. Pole cups are a god send when fishing far banks/shelfs on the pole, nothing more accurate! Hope that isnt just uncomprehendable jibberish and gave you some ideas for when you start fishing the canal!

Hi Newt! You can call me Dan, I tried for that as my display name but of course it was taken. Oh well, twice as nice! I'll try that, thanks!

This is pretty much the topic I was looking for, advice on perch fishing! For the original poster; I usually let the perch "run" with the bait for a couple of seconds max, until you get the feeling it's freely making off with the bait. Lean towards the cautious side though, as said a deeply hooked perch is not something you want to be dealing with. For a rig, I like to fish a Drennan 2.5 Swan Bobber. It's very buoyant, and it's a see-through green colour which will make it invisible to fish around the baited area. I fish about 6-8 inches over depth so the fish feels little resistance when picking up the bait. Double that in windy conditions if you want to stay on the bottom but come shallower to let the ripples make the worm dance about. Size 12-14 Microbarb Kamazan hooks for lobs. Use 1 1/2, one for movement and the other to let out all the juices. Tip with a red maggot if you want but they should stay on alright. I'd love to say I speak from experience, but I've yet to catch any decent perch this year, biggest about 1lb from a part of the River Bourne in January. I'm fishing a small pond with a good head of rudd and roach but not many perch, but the ones that are grow to a good size. Margin fishing is my favourite, especially in that eerie twighlight period before dark when the instincts of the perch kick in and their superior eyesight enables them to hunt when other fish are vulnerable. Hpoe this helps!

Hello AnglersNet! I'm Dan, I'm 19 years old and live in Surrey and have been fishing for about 11 years. I was first taken down a local village pond with my Dad when I was 8 or 9 and trying to catch "crucial" carp. From then, fishing has been a strong hobby of mine, although I did have a little hiatus in my early teen years for stuff that early teenagers do. I found this site looking for some articles on Perch fishing as my aim for this season is to catch a 3lber, and would like to get started early! I found an article by Steve-Burke, but it was part 3 and I couldnt find a link to the previous ones! *nudge* I decided to join the forums after finding a topic with exactly the information I was looking for which is pretty rare on the web these days. Looks like a great site, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in