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I have been sorting through some of my writing, some for print and others for forums, so some of you will have already seen a version of this, I apologise for that. After I wrote the thread about checking out new waters etc, I thought this article on how it SHOULD NOT be done might be poignant and I have decided the put this up on this forum as the version on another has been wiped out. Sorry for lack of photos but they went missing with the article and if I finally get my files etc of my desktop I will add them. I will put it up in instalments as it was planned originally. Yeld, one mans obsession. So, I just could not resist having a look, seeing I was so close anyway. I drove down the lane, stopped in a short pull-in next to some trees, and got out of the car. Ignoring private property signs I walked through the trees as I had done oft times before; there before my eyes lay a beautiful lake. It was not a huge lake but it was stunning within its parkland setting and I thought I knew some of its secrets. It was set in a valley overlooked by a huge house on one side, with its bowling green short grass lawn right up to the waters edge, on the other two sides were trees, a classic English estate lake in every-way. Whilst I had known this place most of my life I had never fished it only dreaming of doing so on many occasions. It was one of those places one is just mesmerized by, I cannot really explain, but I could not pass by without looking. Sitting there by the dam in the hope of seeing some movement and day dreaming of giant scaly beasts within its depths, I was disturbed by a movement. Definitely not what I wished for, it was two well-dressed gents walking towards me with dogs, I had been here before and I did not fancy an altercation so I got back to the car and away without uttering a word. Once back at my holiday cottage all sorts of thoughts were going through my head, was she still there? Could I get to fish? Etc, I went to bed that night knowing I would not sleep. This happened relatively recently, however the true tale begins some years earlier: I had first seen the lake in my early teens whilst on my way home from a rabbiting trip, at that time I lived in the county, I passed by the lake on a regular basis and as normal I used to stop off to look for likely rabbiting areas. It was October, as soon as I stepped through the trees I saw the lake, I was instantly spell bound, there were leaves gently drifting down its length and carp were slurping at them!, it looked a truly magical place. I sat there looking and dreaming when a chap suddenly grabbed me, startled for a second I thought about running for it, but thought better of it, when I realized he was not alone and his mate had a rather menacing Alsatian on the end of a short lead. Questions were asked along the following lines: Q. What are you doing here. A. Err errr, just looking. Q. Looking for what? A, looking for fish, wondered if I could fish. Q, Have you got fishing tackle with you- or what. A, Err, no, no not at all, just looking and thinking. I was met with the following reply. "No fish here, this is private land, can you not read or something? Leave; if we see you again we will call the police." I scampered as quick as I could, glad of the fact that they had not looked for my bike and the rabbits and ferret boxes hung from it, for that could have caused all sorts of problems. Over the next year or so, I mentioned the place to a number of people that I thought would know about the place and all came up blank. The following summer I went to the local village and asked at the post office, this was after telling the postmistress that I had JUST found the lake whilst walking. I remember her words now as if they were spoken yesterday. Ah, Yeld, your lucky you we not arrested going there, most are, there are private signs everywhere round the estate. I went home and again made inquiries, except this time I knew the estate name; Yeld. Again, I was met with blanks, NO ONE had ever herd of the place, and some friends started thinking I was cracking up and imagining the place. I even asked old man Howard, a good friend and mentor, being born in 1903 he seemed to know everywhere, except this place! I went back to the area again in the autumn in the hope of catching a few rabbits and perhaps catching a glimpse of the lake. This time I hid my ferrets and nets before heading down the lane; it was a very short visit, as no sooner did I get there than I was hightailing it out again due to the guards! I went into the shop again and explained who I was and my interest in the lake and that I had asked people about it, but no one knew of yeld estate. " Ah, that's where your going wrong, yeld is a local name for the place, its real name is #John’s estate and you will not get to fish it, its too private and they regularly get people arrested for simply going there. I am surprised you have not asked Joan Hicking, she knows all about the place. Now Joan Hicking or Miss Hicking to me was a rather aged local land owning farmer. I had known her for some time and had permission from her to catch rabbits on her land, yet I had not thought of asking her about the place. The following week I went and had a chat with her and asked if she could give me any information. She explained that the estate had a distant connection to James bond! And in addition, the government, hence the guards about the place, she added, that it was so private, the estate did not even have a pheasant shoot, something very unusual in the area. Then more importantly, she explained that a long time ago pre war, the young gentleman of the house had courted her until his father had put a stop to it, as she was not suitable! Whist she was with him they had often walked around the lake and seen fish "big ones", this really fired me up, it meant carp had been stocked quite some time pre-war, otherwise they would not have been "big ones" I was back at the lake within an hour, having a look again, but this time I was hidden in the trees. I was there for about 20 minutes before the blooming guards turned up again and chased me away, but I was there long enough to see carp again. This time I had clearly seen some rather large blue backed creatures not far from the bank basking in a gap in the extensive weed and it fired me up even more. I went through the same sneak up and look scenario half a dozen times more before it got too much, on the final occasion, I spied a beast of a fish, a real monster and that first sight of the fish is clearly imprinted in my mind. This fish was one of the widest backed carp I had ever seen, blue backed, golden sided and clearly a mirror. I decided that the following year come hell or high water I was going to fish my secret lake.

yes bc it's the same up here, we go to great lengths to keep our waters quiet and free from glory hunters or other anglers in general, outside of kent, I think the north west has the highest number of carp anglers in the country, sadly we don't have the waters and the ones with big fish, or even just a general higher than average size for the area, are generally rammed. finding some peace and quiet up here isn't easy and as you say, many tea bags are required before people open up, getting info is very much down to who you know and what kind of reputation you have...ie glory hunters get nothing.

Have to say Mark, In the South, fisherman tend to stretch the truth in the opposite direction. We are blessed with a larger average size of fish and I've known anglers to take a few pounds "off" the weight of a fish, just to stop the circus turning up...… In Essex, we live in the realms of Nash, Korda, Mainline, to name a few..... Last thing you want is a load of "labled up" full timers taking over a lake, that does pretty well without all the fuss.... Could be , that in your neck of the woods, things are kept a bit hush for the same reasons. Not so much to deter fellow anglers, but to deter sponsored glory hunters. So photo's and finer details would be thin on the ground...…. I know of at least one 40lb fish, that has weighed 38.12 for at least five years on every capture, Spring,Summer Winter.... Pre spawn/post spawn...… With no glory hunters publicly claiming it's true weight, the lake remains a relatively quiet place to fish, very rare these days in my area..... A couple of seasons of regular fishing and a lot of tea bags needed, before the regulars will open up a bit, by which time, you would already have a fare idea of what's in the lake....

Not worried where it is , Just dont leave us hanging for the next instalment , its been 47 mins since you edited , 😩

Dare I say ‘Passion for Angling’ There a bit different to the Korda ones,but if the above doesn’t want you drop everything and go wet a line,nothing will ! 😉

Bulin t4 for me. Awesome bit of kit. Actually did some particle using it the other day. Huge stock pot on it and it got it bubbling in no time.

If you have a gas bbq just put your pan on that. Be interested to hear how this goes. I’ve got my prep down to a 48hr soak, 15min boil and then sealed to keep it cooking itself overnight. Seems to work fine but a bit laborious on the fishing stove. Need to clean out my burco and get that up and running!

I'll pick one up next week and let you know how it goes. I've only got small pots so won't be able to do too much lol, will it be alright for boilies if I don't put too many in? Me and my old neighbour used to cook up particle on our colemans all the time, great stoves!!

Should be ok, depending on how much you want to do at a time. Baring in mind that as long as the parti' has had a real good soak, you won't need to boil the granny out of it, half hour simmer for most and it will carry on cooking in it's own heat for a while once removed from the hob, especially if you put a lid on it...…… I've been using a Coleman to boil particle this year with an 11litre pot and although it won't get a rolling boil, there's enough heat to cook the particle after a good soak... Good , space saving idea them hobs by the look of it...

The 25lb+ carp to angler ratio up in the North West is crazy. 😩😩 Your battling against fellow anglers more than what you are the fish 🙄🙄 The fish are out there,but waiting times for some waters are quite high.

Can't see why it wouldn't be able to boil up a pan .. the only thing with induction hobs is they only work with a steel pan...

I don't know mate, you've heard more than I have?, I treat everything as fantasy until I see the pics with my own eyes, no pics, no proof😉 I know that sounds harsh but fisherman are well known for stretching the truth😁

Horrible things mate.... ended up getting shot after one session. They worked, but there is a reason they are so cheap. Chocolate build quality. I'd say avoid. I ended up spending a bit more and went for a set of JRC radarCX's in the end. Much better. Love 'em. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-JRC-Radar-CX-3-1-Carp-Fishing-Bite-Alarm-Set-Blue-With-Case-1411118-/142883676242?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

Did you read any of my others?

Just an after thought. At least Three people of this forum have seen the fish I caught from this water. But for reasons that will become obvious I asked them not to disclose to much, likewise I never tell people the whereabouts of the lake.

Working wk ends should be banned !!!! Good for the bank balance...... bad for the soul 😩😩🎣🎣

Decided to drop in for my first night on the new place. I think I’ve sweat my body weight, my legs are totally numb from stinging nettles but the rods are out. Not sure if my plan on how to land fish will work out, but I’ve got to hook one first!

personally I don't fish commercials, the only day ticket waters I've been to recently are sandhurst and Cromwell, neither of which are local to the area, if you're going to pay day ticket rates you might as well head south, at least the waters down there offer 30's for the top dollar you pay, up here the prices charged compared to the size of fish available makes our commercials a complete rip off managing expectations is quite right, I'm Wirral based and I've fished in Cheshire since 1996, funnily enough I started travelling out there to catch bigger carp, 20's and possibly a 30?, in the 21 years since I started trying for one, I still haven't had a Cheshire 30, I fish a session near enough every week right throughout the year, my average over the years is around 3x20's a season, sometimes I have more, others i'll catch less but most of those 20's are under 23lb regarding expectations, catching a fish of 25lb+ in our region isn't impossible, some always get lucky but for most of us, a target like that requires time and dedication, the magazines might make it look an easy task but its far from it

A report from my trip last week. Disappointing start, we had expected 45 acres to ourselves (me and three mates). Turns out 4 anglers from the week before had chosen to stay on as it was due to be so quiet. This meant getting on the fish was difficult at the draw, especially for me; I had invited a very close friend with limited experience, his first trip to France, so I had to shout for two swims next to each other. We ended up off the back of the wind on the main bowl of water. The fish were clearly on the end of the wind so not perfect. As we were setting up I saw a fish show long, about as far as I can cast with the set-up I was using in fact, maybe 130+. Obviously I did the right thing and dropped everything to get a single on its head. Bright white pop on a heli rig, wound it up, let it go, on the alarm, and I continued setting up. About an hour later I was balancing a hookbait in the margin when I heard a bleep. Looked up and the tip of the long rod is bouncing. I hit it and enjoyed a good fight from a lovely 34.08 mirror. First blood, maybe our swims aint that bad after all. Chucked the single back out but it's a quiet afternoon with not much seen. There's no way I'm starting the session with my spots at as far as I can cast so I opt to bait a spot at a more comfortable range of about 90 yards. They're showing over the other side (well beyond my range tbf) and casting/baiting long for a week would kill me. 5kg on the area and sit back for a beer with my mate. The night passes by uneventfully and we see very little in front of us (i.e. nothing) but we know how quickly that can change in this water. The next day we continue to sit on the bait, top up the spot (not like it needed it) and enjoy another nice evening but no fish. Next morning we've still seen nothing and you guys know what I'm like; I get very, very itchy feet. In come the rods and off for a wander with my pal. We mooch up to the shallow snaggy area at the top of the pit and search it for an hour. Nothing. Off to check the deeper water. As we walk out of the shallow section I see a carp top long out of the corner of my eye. I stop my mate and we watch for a minute. We see maybe 5 shows in quick succession. The sun is up and they're clearly on their way to the shallows, we just beat them to it. Not one to pass on an opportunity, I drag my mate back to the swims and we grab a couple of rods each. Back in the area short of the shallows and we see a couple more. We launch 2 singles each into the area, pop the rods on the floor and sit next to them. Twenty minutes later and I'm telling my mate I can't believe we've not had a bite, we've seen plenty. Then the spool on my left rod shuts me up... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. My mate's not had a fish yet, in fact he's never had a French fish at all, so I tell him to hit it. I then have the pleasure of watching, filming, and photographing, one of my best mates enjoy one of the most awesome fights you could ever see. This fish proper beat him up from start to finish, a real big fish fight. In the net and my mates PB (24 lb) is nigh on doubled in an instant with a pukka 46.04 mirror. That actually turned out to be the biggest of our trip so although I'm a little disappointed to have given him the rod, it was worth it just to see him enjoying that big fish buzz. We chuck the singles back out but it's clear the fish have moved further out, we suspect the beast of a fight the mirror gave us spooked them off a little. We take the opportunity to go and pack down our main swim and bring our gear round here. We set up and see a couple show during the afternoon. No further captures in the day but the following night and morning see us catch a handful of mirrors to 38.08 and commons to 33.04. We're really getting excited about or new swims when the weather suddenly takes a change for the worse. Much, much worse. This cold north easterly pops up bringing ice cold, freezing temps. The fish push out of the shallower water in front of us and we spend all day looking at nothing. I know that's the end of our little shallow water escapade so we're packing up again ready for a move, my mate is now realising that the chilled out relaxed holiday he foresaw is doubtful to happen with me involved. We choose to fish in a couple of free swims down the other end. Well, to cut a long story short, the next 3 days is spent searching for feeding fish. Everyone on the lake stopped catching except one (one of our group who really made the most of being on the fish with 15 carp to 50.14 lb with 8 X 40's, great angling!!!!). I fished 3 swims in that time, doing laps every day, my God we struggled. Strange conditions, freezing cold temps but with the brightest sunshine. We were all wearing full thermals due to the cold but our faces were burning. It was like arctic conditions, all our skin dried up, like fishing under a hole in the ozone layer. Nightmare. 3 days later and everyone is pretty miserable. The other four guys had gone home early due to the poor fishing but at least that frees up a few swims. I'm still bang on it, as always, and I'm 100% determined that I WILL catch another carp on this, the last day. I was doing a lap with my mate and we stop to speak/have a beer with our other mates. While we're chatting I see 4 carp top, funnily enough, in the swims we started the week in. Off we go for yet another move. An hour or two later we're setting up and I see a couple of shows further to the right. The wind is finally switching to a straight easterly and has warmed a little. I'm wondering of they're on the move. I leave my mate and go wandering and see they are clearly moving, slowly, up to the shallower area. I run down to grab my mate but he's had enough, he's staying put, I've run him into the ground. Fair play I say as I grab a couple of rods and leg it to the shallower water. The next few hours is spent with singles chucked at showing fish, it's not looking great, but it's not looking terrible either. By about 5 pm I think my chance has gone, they've stopped showing and I'm cursing myself for not capitalising when one of my rods absolutely melts off. I played that fish like it was the last I'd ever catch. So much effort had gone into that fish that I just needed to get it on the bank, which I duly did. At 37 lb it was no monster by French standards but my God was I please to see it. I spent the last night in the same area but the temps were still cold at night. No more fish caught by anyone. To summarise it was a very frustrating week, 5 or 6 swim moves, God knows how many swims fished, trying every tactic under the sun, for a handful of fish. Did I love it? Of course I did. Can't wait for next time.

After giving myself a headache reading the EU Vote thread I thought I'd lighten the mood by posting a couple of pics from my recent session in France. This was my first time fishing in France, I'd never been particularly drawn to continental angling. Needless to say that soon changed and I have next years trip booked already...... Hope you like.....