WickerDave

Friday evening I'll be wandering around Mill Farm looking for the person who recently recommended the fishery to a West Midlander (ben88). We don't want their sort with their funny accents in the cultured wasteland of South Leicestershire. If I find the culprit he will find out how deep the margins really are :mad: . Seriously though, have a good one .

Pictures are on http://www.fisheries.co.uk/furnacelakes/ but not sure it explicitly mentions the size. Update - it does, 5 acres with 5 islands. [ 10. August 2004, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: WickerDave ]

See http://www.fisheries.co.uk/packington/

The gravel pit best is either 27lb or 28lb, I think. I've not heard of a 20lb+ fish from the match lake yet, but they are getting close. My personal bests are 18¾lb from the gravel pit and 16lb from the match lake, both caught last September on floatfished luncheonmeat.

Chris, Glad you had a good day - I don't like to recommend waters for people to blank on! I had a pre-dinner cycle/walk to there on Friday evening and there was an angler bagging up on carp to 8lb on the match pool. He was feeding mixers to the island point (from the furthest island swim into the fishery on the farm access road bank) and the carp were taking almost as soon as his bait hit the surface. (Too late to post this information on Friday as I only have access at work). I returned post-dinner with rods hoping he had gone, but he was still there and still catching. He packed up with an hours fishing left and I moved into his swim, but although the fish were rising to loose mixers they just would not take my bait, despite trying banded mixer, bread and fake mixer. (Not having a great deal of success surface fishing this year, haven't worked out why yet). Fortunately the evening was saved in the last 20 minutes before dark by 9½lb and 13½lb mirrors on floatfished luncheonmeat close in (about 15 feet out), feeding sweetcorn. Yes, those chub are frustrating. I've had the odd fish to 4lb, but it's unusual to see them feeding well. I did see one angler do well one evening floatfishing shallow with slugs. The only time I tried that I only managed a solitary tench! Dave.

Never fished it, but they have their own web site, see http://www.docklowpools.com

Chris, I think I did warn you that Mill Farm was hard work in the winter, and not to let that put you off. I didn't fish it until April this year, and have had some good evenings on both lakes. I fished the gravel pit yesterday evening and it was a bit off, only managed one carp and a couple of skimmers on the bottom with very few bites from fish of any size. There was a huge carpet of carp (mainly 6-10lbs) hanging below the surface when I got there, but I only had one decent take on the top that I lost. Dave.

Chris, Nice to see you back after the original burst of enthusiasm last year! This web site has some useful information http://www.mbcarpspecials.co.uk/holly_farm.htm (Note the "Click Links below for more details of each pool" at the bottom of the page). Note the bait bans, there are very few baits allowed. Groundbait is not allowed. They also have matches on the two bigger lakes so it may be worth phoning them and asking about matches on Saturday if you want a choice of lake. There's been a few more Leicestershire anglers joining lately, so you may get an up to date report of how it is fishing. Personally I've not managed to get the car beyond Mill Farm and Peatling Pools recently. Dave. <small>[ 05. August 2004, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: WickerDave ]</small>

There's http://www.fisheries.co.uk/boddington/index.htm for general information. This has "Tel: 01132 816895 for up-to-date reports (24 hour information line)" on it.

This is an excellent article on Blenheim fishingmagic.com/news/article.a...=5&UAN=1785 Looks great, good luck.

Where's the gudgeon? Crushed under 28lbs 9½ozs of other fish, probably .

I've had quite a few very low double figure carp to 11lb+ on it, usually with 8lb line. Although it's rated at 3 to 6lbs line (according to the rod bag), it seems to take applying pressure to fish with the heavier line well.

The answers were already in the original post... "...for use on smallish ponds?..." "...(If there are trees that prevent this, one person will have to lob a lead across the pond to the opposite bank to allow them to connect their lines)..."

A logical extension of the beachcaster method, for use on smallish ponds? - Person A and person B each has a rod and they connect their two lines, with a dropper of several feet of line with a hook baited with a resilient floating bait, e.g. a mixer or floating boilie. - Person B walks around the pond, feeding out line, until he/she is opposite person A (If there are trees that prevent this, one person will have to lob a lead across the pond to the opposite bank to allow them to connect their lines). Both people raise their rods as in the beachcaster method and tighten up, giving and taking line until the bait is positioned where they want it, e.g. in the path of cruising fish (note that this method allows the bait to be moved to intercept fish as they cruise around on different paths), or tight to island margins, island overhanging vegetation, or weed beds. - When a fish takes, one person plays the fish as normal and the other keeps a loosely tight line (to prevent the fish becoming tangled in the extra line). An alternative would be to have a very weak link at the connection end of one line that would easily break when playing a fish. Note that this is not a method I would use (it's not fishing, is it, but catch by any means), but has anyone tried this or seen it used?

Simon, There is some text on the Channel 4 fishery at http://www.phholidays.co.uk/Activities/Fis...hing/hill05.htm and it has its web site at http://www.clearwaterlakes.com/. Dave.

Look at http://www.fisheries.co.uk/coombe/ if you haven't seen this already. I have never fished it myself, so can't offer any real help.

A super looking fish, for a bream . It looks like another recapture of the previous record fish has raised the target a few more ounces... www.fishingmagic.com/news/article/m...AN/3036/v/5/sp/

Thanks for the detailed reply, Peter. My major concern is on deeper hooked carp, where there is pressure from the line on the scissors of the mouth. If this is breached, perhaps because the mouth was already damaged, then the line can cut through the softer cheek.

Nice fish, and much better proportioned than some of the boilie bloated fish you will catch. You might need to get a larger landing net though, especially for the double figure pike to come.

Didn't get any response to this, so I will try again. Is there any single factor that is most likely to cause mouth damage to a fish, or is it a combination of lots of things? - playing technique (bullying/overplaying) - hook size, type (eyed/spade, barbed/barbless), pattern (normal/long shank), metal thickness (normal/carp strength) - bait presentation, hair rigged or not - hook link line type (mono/braid), thickness - weight of lead - rod test curve, action - size of fish - speed of fish Since I have seen posts in the past where the posters have claimed that they have never damaged fish, what am I doing wrong to cause mouth damage?

http://www.fisheries.co.uk/ and http://www.tackleup.com/fishery_guide.htm are the best Midlands lists I've found so far, that actually have pictures and descriptions rather than just bare facts. Please post any better ones you know of.

Fish snobbery, IMHO. Let the gudgeon swim freely, too?

And of course Makins is just a short drive down the M69 if you fancy some stillwater barbel .

I've recommended Mill Farm, Gilmorton before, see the last half of www.anglersnet.co.uk/ubb/ultimatebb...691;p=1#000007 It is getting busy at the weekends now the weather has (had) warmed up, but is well worth a short visit in the evenings. Holly Farm may be a bit small for proper carp rods and tactics, the two newer lakes have central islands within pole reach and the original lake is very small.

On a related note (but lighter tackle perspective) from the "Avon rods" thread on the Coarse Forum, do Avon rods cause more mouth damage than stiffer rods ? There have been several instances in the last few years where I have caused mouth damage to carp, which concerned me, but I never plucked up the courage to post a question on this. The background for the post on this topic I never posted was... "I play the fish with a loosely set drag for the strike and initial run, and then tighten the drag a little and use the drag or backwind for the remainder of the fight. I don't think I try to bully the fish and always give line where possible, unless the proximity of snags prevent it. Tackle is a 1.25 T/C Avon rod with 6lb or 8lb thin diameter mono. Hook sizes are normal 8s or 10s and carp 6s, always barbless. Bait is just on the hook, not hair-rigged. Methods vary from mid range method feeder and surface fishing to close range float fishing. Venues are smallish commercial stillwaters. Target fish are any species or size that will take a non-boilie bait, with some carp in the low doubles and plenty of 6lb+ fish." So is some mouth damage inevitable, or am I doing something wrong?