Mill Road Fishery, Stokesby

I have been carp fishing at the Mill Road Fishery before, but not for some years. The fishery is found off the A1064 on the left when travelling towards Acle from the north (postcode NR29 3EY). I went there on Tuesday of this week when it was a very warm 23 or 24C. There is one main lake/pond with nicely spaced pegs and a couple of small islands. Price is £6 for the day or £4 for the evening (from 4.30pm in summer).

I knew before that this fishery can be difficult from past experience. I remember the first time I came I was new to carp fishing and I don't think I caught a carp all day! I had been advised into buying some expensive carp ledgering gear and bait by a local tackle shop and it had been a complete waste of money. The tackle has been largely unused ever since. Another time I had come in the past I had caught some nice roach and one single carp at the end of the day. I had been float fishing with maggots mainly and the carp took this bait.

Well on Tuesday I thought I was well prepared having fished for carp successfully at a number of other locations. I intended to float fish in the margins again with three sorts of bait; two of which I have had plenty of success before (sweetcorn and luncheon meat) and a new one - cheese. The latter had been suggested by going again to Golden Ponds in Hickling where I had a less successful day than the last time. At the end of the day I talked to the fisherman next to me what bait he was using because he had had a fantastic time. Turned out he had been wrapping his hook bait with bits of Kraft cheese slice. He kindly gave me some and it was deadly! I had some cubed cheddar and some Kraft cheese with me.

Because it was quite windy and because I had lost my latest favourite carp pole float, I started with a quite a heavy waggler and a 14 hook on 5lb line. I started in the margins because this is where previously it all seemed to happen. However, after a number of hours all I was catching were rudd and roach. I tried all combinations of baits and fed the bait into the water to attract the fish. Mind you some of the roach (or perhaps roach/rudd hybrids) were of a very good size:-

This fish is 11.5 inches in length and was big enough to encourage me to weigh it but it was only about 1lb. About 3pm I decided to switch to another older and lighter carp pole float that I had and to try the middle of the water:-

I was still catching roach and rudd but I felt that things were looking up as bites were coming more frequently. I was also concentrating on using the cubed cheddar cheese and eventually at nearly 4pm I was rewarded by catching this lovely 6.5 lb common:-

This fish was nearly as big as my previous personal best of 7lb that I had had at Holly Farm. Encouraged I carried on. An hour later at about 5pm I hooked into another large fish and I caught part of my struggle on video:-

This fish remained stubbornly close to the bottom and just went round in circles in front of me but it turned out to be a 7.5lb 22inch whopper:-

Broads fishing. All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2017.

Golden Ponds, Hickling

On Tuesday of this week, I visited some new carp lakes that I haven't been to before. I came across them when driving between Hickling and Sutton. These are Golden Ponds, Hickling and you can find them with your SatNav using postcode NR12 9SH. They appear to have two small lakes with nicely spaced-out pegs. After talking to a couple of the fishermen there I sat down by the first lake at a pitch that was out of the wind as much as possible. There has been no denying it - April has been cold here in the East and May is starting off the same way. As I had set off about lunchtime, it looked like it might be sunny but for most of the afternoon it was resolutely overcast with temperatures of about 12 or 13C.

It's £7 for a one rod day ticket and £10 for two and it definitely seemed worth it. I had brought with me sweetcorn and cubed luncheon meat and I started fishing with the meat on a size 14 hook. I was using my 12 foot Maver Abyss X Series rod and 5lb line. As usual I was float fishing using a float that was more designed for a pole. I started fishing near the rushes on my right:-

The water wasn't very deep and a depth of about 2ft was sufficient. As before I was dropping in bits of bait and sweetcorn into the swim. It didn't take long to hook my first common carp (at 1.53pm):-

This wasn't very big, just 12.5 inches, however, all the carp I caught that afternoon (and all but one of the fish I caught were carp) were in good condition. The commons also had this sort of ruddy looking tail. The next one I caught was just 7 minutes later:-

This common is a bit more chunky and is 14.5 inches long. In another 14mins I caught this slightly more golden coloured common:-

This is another 14.5 inch fish. I did weigh a fish like this and they are only about 2lb. The rest of the afternoon went in a similar vein and I was constantly catching all afternoon. I did pick up a couple of mirror carp as this one testifies:-

In all I caught 24 carp in about 3 and a half hours which is about 1 every 8 or 9 minutes! The largest fish came towards the end:-

This 16 inch fish weighed in at just 3lb.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2017.

Holly Farm, South Walsham 2017

Now that it is out of season on the Broads, it was great to get back to Holly Farm for some serious carp fishing. With the weather improving (sort of!) and warm sunshine to be had, I was very pleased to be by these lakes again. I have been down about five times since mid March this year and each time I haven't been disappointed. I haven't even been that concerned with any fancy baits and instead I have just been turning up with a small can of sweetcorn, but it is good enough. It is still £6 for a day ticket and £4 for the evening.

The first couple of times I was there I fished the 'canal' lake, which is the one furthest from the car park, but the third and fourth times I have been I tried the other lake, which I now think is better. The canal lake is very reliable and you will catch carp from it, but the nearer lake seems to have better specimens and decent bream instead of roach. I also caught my very first large tench there on the 11th April and is a personal best:-

I apologize for the slightly soft image but my camera phone lens was a bit mucky. This fish is about 18 inches in length. I should perhaps have weighed it but I didn't. I suspect it is probably around the 2 to 3lb mark and I don't want to fall into the trap of overestimating. For comparison look at the 10inch fish I caught on the broads. The one from the lake here is much more golden in colour and is not as deeper bodied.

There are also some nice bream in this lake. Take, for example, this nice fish caught on the same day:-

This fish is about 15 inches in length and similar in size to the one I caught at Dilham and so is probably just over 2lb. Some of the bream in this lake have a funny habit of spooking as soon as you catch them and come flying out of the water like some sport fish. I had one the other day that nearly landed itself on the bank.

Talking of incidents, when I was at Holly Farm on the 23rd March and fishing the canal lake, I had just hooked into this common carp

when there was a big splash and I caught sight of an otter's tale! It was trying to catch the fish I was reeling in. Fortunately, there was no entanglement and I got the fish in ok but it was a bit of a shock. It looked like a young otter that had broken in through the electrified perimeter. The above fish is about 15 inches in length and is a typical Holly Farm carp. There was no sign of the otter on other occasions.

Something else I have been trying is to feed bits of sweetcorn, one at a time, into the swim around my float. This seems to really work and sometimes you only need your float just in front of you, a foot so from the bank. I think on each time I have been down recently I have caught perhaps six or seven carp in an afternoon (I rarely get down for the morning session). So the lakes are not quite up to their summer catching rate.

All text and pictures copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2017.

End of season afternoon at Neatishead Staithe

Yesterday, I was down at Neatishead Staithe again for an afternoon's fishing. The closed season starts on Wednesday next week and so I wanted to have a last few last sessions at my local riverbank. The weather yesterday was lovely. Spring is just starting to arrive and in the gentle sunshine it felt warm and pleasant. It must have been about 14C.

There weren't that many people fishing which I was surprised about. There were a few pleasure boats as the boating season is just starting to kick in. I was able to get the spot on the right-hand side where the dyke joins the main channel. I was down fishing earlier in the week when a guy pulled out a pike of 20.5lb at this spot - I know this is accurate as he weighed it. I started fishing with a size 14 hook (which looked a small 14 to me) and a float which is designed for carp fishing with a pole. One of the things I have changed in my tackle is to start using a very thin (0.09mm) 2lb leader. I have been reading that fish can be put off from a bait if they sense the line and I wanted to give this a try. Well it was trying. For the first hour or so I was hardly getting a single bite and I was beginning to wonder if driving somewhere else would have been better. However, it was such a nice afternoon that I thought I would stick it out.

I began to try everything. Groundbait. Fishing by the far bank. Deep, not-so-deep, shallow, but to no avail. But then I tried really close in, just under my feet, at a mid-depth and I started to get bites. I was using maggots and I began to feed them, one at a time, but one after the other, into the swim and, low and behold, I started to have success. There was a young boy opposite who wasn't having much luck and he and his friend, who joined him a bit later, seemed impressed by my success! It made me chuckle a bit to myself. Anyway, in the end I had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and I plugged away until 5pm, even though it was getting on the chilly side as the sun down.

Here are a couple of fish that I netted that afternoon:-

This small bream of 8 inches in length won't break any records but it was a pleasure to catch.

Likewise for this 8 inch perch which was probably 8oz or so.

All text and images copyright Duncan Hale-Sutton 2017.

Neatishead Staithe continues to fish well in winter

Now that the cold days of January are upon us, fishing for 'silvers' becomes more difficult at a lot of locations on the broads. The fish tend to gather in the creeks and narrows rather than in the open waters, or at least, that appears to be my experience. I have, over the last few months, been continuing to fish at Neatishead Staithe over the winter and I always seem to catch something down there.

I was down there on Monday as it was a nice sort of day; cold but sunny and little wind. At first it seemed quite pleasant in the sunshine but as the sun dropped it did become quite chilly. I reckon temperatures were only 4 or 5C. Fishing with a float and maggots in the middle of the staithe, the first fish I caught was a stonker:-

This 11.5 inch fish looks like a rudd by the colour of its fins and the somewhat upturned mouth, but from the position of its dorsal, pelvic and anal fins I think this is a roach x rudd hybrid. I would guess that this fish weighs between 1lb 2oz and 1lb 4oz. It was certainly a thick-set fish. I caught a similar looking fish late in the day on the 4th November last year:-

This 9 inch fish is not as big and has a more golden appearance. From the layout of its fins I again think this is another roach x rudd hybrid! For comparison, here is a roach that I caught on the 8th November:-

This 10inch fish is, I am pretty sure, a pure roach. As is this 9.5 inch one caught on the same day:-

I think my 11.5inch roach x rudd hybrid is probably an open water (rather than inland lake) personal best for me in the roach-rudd arena.

To end my January day I did a bit of pike fishing too. I have done this before Christmas at this staithe and I caught about a 7 or 8 pounder but I didn't get a picture. The pike are numerous around the dyke and, as you sit by the water, you often see a big swirl as they chase some smaller prey. Occasionally, you get a glimpse of a big tail. I have spoken to fishermen who are pulling out up to 12 pounders and, reportedly (!), there is a 30 pounder lurking in a pool a bit further up the main channel up towards the village. This day I decided to be a bit proactive and trawled a bait round the margins of the dyke up towards the dead end. I had left it up there and had not long sat down in my seat again when I noticed that my float had disappeared and I pulled in this jack:-

This fish is about 24 inches in length and probably weighs 3 to 4lb, so a nice way to end the day.