Attn Rudd - L.A.C

[Piperspruce]

Rudd,

 

Apologies to everyone else who will no doubt find this rather boring and irrelevant but as a newbie I can't PM yet!

 

I joined the club you recommended, thank you very much for the info. I had a short session on the middle lake on Sunday afternoon but blanked. Still, it was a pleasure just to be there. I fished from the first peg on the north bank as you come down from the car park as I had seen a few fish moving and some reeds-a-knocking when I walked round. But then the rain blew in and after a few knocks on the float and missed a couple of (line?) bites didn't have a sniff in the three and half hours I was there.

 

I am planning another short session after work on Thursday, so just wondered if you could give me any general hints or tips regarding my approach please? I'm not expecting all your hard earned knowledge, I know I'll have to do my own leg work to have some success, but any general tips you can pass on for a nice mixed bag of fish would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

[RUDD]

You may have noticed the water has gone quite clear, anglers that have been catching have been using light lines and small baits.

The peg you were in (with the pipe) can be very productive when the fish are there.

Pole fish under tree to left or reeds to right for Tench/Crucians, long pole right into corner to right of pipe or method feeder can find Carp, groundbait/maggot feeder fished to far bank where tree is cut can produce Chub or Waggler and sprayed maggot in same area can produce silvers, chub, crucian or Tench.

 

The top lake is fishing ok, one angler had 34 crucian in two hours at the weekend.

The pole is the way to go most of the time as most fish are getting caught in pole range but feeder methods all work towards lilly beds or far bank trees, waggler can also work well towards lillies or open water.

Far end (shallows) is ok if only one or two anglers up there, teen pegs are the best from 15 to 19, peg 20 all methods good but most feeder fish to far bank lilly bed, 21/22 deep pegs, fish in close along margins.

23 can be good when wind is right, 24 is the best peg on the lake for variety, shallow bay to pole fish / waggler fish, lilly bed to waggler fish/feeder fish, bush to left holds crucian close in or if you plumb towards far bank swims at about 11m you will find a nice drop off that holds Bream / Roach.

 

Middle pool - looks easy - can be very hard - did you see the chub? Both north bank pegs can be good, the peg on spit behind you (42) fishes well cose in to the spit / bushes (fish hide under it) or out at 12m towards far corner swim.

Peg 26 holds chub/tench/crucian under the bush to right.

Other pegs - all can be hard but will produce fish

 

Bottom pool.

Two near corners can be good at shallow end (39 and 28)

Near bank to car park (32 - 39) 32 (corner) deep but can be good pole fished / waggler or feeder to corner or along bank.

33 - 35 (dead mans row) featureless, rock hard - can get fish but section has earned its nickname.

36 37 38 - all can be good as can fish to lillies

31 far corner - strange peg with both very shallow dropping to deep - can fish any method to drop off / lillies or along margin to right.

29 / 30 spit pegs - fish to lillies with pole/feeder or open water with wag/mag.

 

To sum up - I would fish pole or waggler as light as possible and I mean 18/20 hooks with 1.5 - 2lb bottoms with Red maggot.

Feed little and often.

Would also feed one line with a small amount of sweet/fishmeal ground bait, dead maggot and a few micro pellets.

In margins micro pellets with a few bigger pellets and an expander pellet 4/6/8mm.

Try corn on the hook but do not feed it.

 

After the problems with the lake turnover (still not completly stopped) the colour in the water completly dropped out.

I dont think the fish are fully recovered yet and would give it a few more weeks until it starts getting back to normal.

 

When you fish it you do need to give it some thought, its an estate type water, spring feed with alot of water passing through - take alook at the bottom lakes outflow.

I have always found using lighter gear with a little and often approach can work best for a mixed bag.

 

What do you think of the place?

Once the lillies are up and Iris in flower it looks stunning.

If you like wildlife over time you may see foxes/badgers/kingfishers/lesser and greater spotted woodpecker/green woodpecker/tawny or little owls/ all species of uk deer and many types of birds.

After many years of listening but not seeing - I saw my first nighting gale yesterday evening - ironicaly in between rain and gail force wind.

 

You may bump into me down there as Trimley closed I will fish it a few times in next few weeks .

[Piperspruce]

Thank you Rudd, that's far more info that I was expecting, really appreciate it. Would have taken me a decent amount of time to gather that kind of knowledge of the water myself!

 

What do I think of the place? As a setting it's pretty much everything I was hoping for and more. I enjoyed hearing woodpeckers when I walked round the other night, and considering it's proximity to Ipswich and the A14 it seems so peaceful. I'm familiar with the general area as my dog came from the chap that lives and works on the Amberfield School site and have lived in or around Ipswich my whole life but I had no idea the lakes were there. Having now looked at an OS map I have no idea how I missed them.

 

From your advice I think I may have been fishing slightly on the heavy side, so will scale things down and see how I get on. Not having a pole I'll go with a waggler approach as before, but if this wind keeps up then I'll probably take a feeder rod along just in case. Reckon I might pop along tomorrow or the day after if I can escape work an hour early!

 

Thanks again.

[RUDD]

No problem - fished there for 20 odd years and have had a lot to do with the place.

Once it warms up some more and the water gets some colour I would step up the tackle.

Forgot to mention it fishes best early morning or very late afternoon/evening.

The Crucians can be a bugger to catch and you will need to dot your waggler right down to a dimple.

When using a waggler rod close in there I use small insert wagglers, stillwater blues or canal greys.

Best hook baits - maggots or expander pellets, bread can work well as can a hard pellet on a band, a small bit of paste or

Luncheon meat but use 4mm cubes for the crucians or a big bit if sitting it out for Carp/Tench and like I said - they will take a well presented bit of corn but feeding it just does not work (for me!).

 

 

OH - a word of advice - 99.9% of the members are nice and very helpfull but watch out for the Red hat brigade.

John (who drives a volvo and the tractor to cut the grass), his wife Brenda and her brother Val (pipe smoker). They are nice enough people but will talk and talk and talk and talk etc until you fall asleep. John will give you a fish by fish account of what he has caught - even if its a bag of small roach!

When they arrive they make alot of noise and do enjoy shouting at each other across the lake.

 

During the season you will see many types of anglers with various amounts of kit and many levels of ability from the downright awfull to county match level. Some of the not so good anglers and old boys will whine and moan like hell if they cant catch - ignore them, they cant or wont adapt to conditions etc and fish the same methods/pegs/baits everytime.

If you fish in the evenings I guarantee you will hardly see another angler.

[Dales]

Rudd, that's a lot of information to post on the net. Not sure if that is good or bad :-)

 

In general I think it's great you are willing to share and assist someone but not so sure I would be happy if I was a club member with all that information being put out on a public forum.

 

So, I think well done for assisting Piperspruce.

[Piperspruce]

Thanks Rudd, I'm sure you meant it all in fondness although I'm not one to get involved in politics, want to just enjoy my fishing and help out where I can. I'm certainly closer to the downright awful level than I am to the county matchman so always am happy to have a chat with and learn from whoever comes along. I'm the quiet type anyway so the conversation never usually goes on too long as they probably get bored of me! I'll be doing most of my fishing in the evenings (main reason I joined was for the late afternoon/evening sessions, not keen on paying £8 for three hours fishing) so doesn't sound like, other than the woodpecker, I'll have many people to chat to anyway. If you're down there at all and see someone new feel free to stay hello as if it's me I'll have a chat.

[RUDD]

Rudd, that's a lot of information to post on the net. Not sure if that is good or bad :-)

 

In general I think it's great you are willing to share and assist someone but not so sure I would be happy if I was a club member with all that information being put out on a public forum.

 

So, I think well done for assisting Piperspruce.

 

Whats the problem with the info - I would tell the angler face to face whatever they want to know if I met them down there.

Over the years I have learnt alot about waters by just asking.

I have always found that down there the Carp anglers share info with each other as do the match anglers.

A new member fishing a match could ask how to fish the peg and be told with honesty.

Any club members reading this may learn something. Then again in eight years of baliffing the place they didnt listen much

[Dales]

Rudd as I posted well done for being free and easy with the information, many would not be so open

[RUDD]

Rudd as I posted well done for being free and easy with the information, many would not be so open

No problem. At the end of the day it's just a general guide not gospel.

At one time we used to walk new members around on a tour and I would give them a general guide then.

[Piperspruce]

Well, it's appreciated thanks.

 

While we are talking about waters in the Nacton area, at one time my other half looked after a horse at Levington Orwell arena and I went once or twice with her. There is actually a lake down there, with a sign with something like G.V.C stencilled on it (can't remember the exact letters though as it was some time a go). I always meant to find out more about it but I never got round to it other than to call a few tackle shops but that didn't turn anything up.

 

From Bing Maps it looks as if it has pegs though. Anyone shed any light on it?