shakey

To be honest Gaz, there would be only one reason I would re-join CAPS these days and that would to fish certain stretches of the Stour There are some nice fish to be had, without the crowds that come with fishing their lakes !!

The year I got my ticket was the season after the big 'un had past away so that left the biggest in there being a shade under 30. That fish would go over 30lb but it depended on the time of year. If the biomass of the water is right, it can easily support the number of carp in there given the size of the water and give good growth rates. The problem we had when I was in there was the number of silver fish. The amount of rudd and roach in there was incredible. I helped the EA net it once to remove some of the silver fish to help reduce the biomass of the water and we filled there tanks in no time !!

I've fished the Garrison in the past. I was on there from 98 through to around 2004/05. It's a great little water. Lots of features, pads, weed, gravel patches etc. All very close up stuff and the carp used to be very clued up. I have some great memories of the place. Ranging from the work parties where we built new paths and swims, through to the beautiful misty summers morning with the haze of the sun coming through the trees onto the water. Strangely enough my nickname comes from my time on the Garrison. I finally landed the lakes biggest fish after a lot of trying, and I was shaking so much that I couldn't even manage to un-hook her, so i shouted for help. I was still shaking about 4 hours later when a few of the guys came down to see me A view down the lake: One of the 'character' carp that used to be in there:

or wix or st osyth for really easy waters 30's in Wix & St. Osyth See ya there Has Alresford done a thirty now?? I know that the largest used to get caught around the 28lb mark, but I didn't think that they had a thirty plus in there..... could all of changed though in the last couple of seasons

For sure Ben. I certainly have some un-finished business with some of those fully scaled mirror in there. Just waiting for my daughter to get a little older so that I put in some decent time in. Shakey

To be honest noknot, you've just got to fish it. How I used to approach the water maynot suit other peoples style of fishing. I used to fish quick overnighters once or twice at the most a week, so my approach would be totally different to who would normally be fishing longer sessions. The only bit of advise I would give, is focus on the piece of water in front of you that you can see. If your sat there worrying about what is happening down one of the arms etc, you'll go nuts. You've got to do your walkround, pick your swim and fish that piece of water in front of you as hard as you can Anyway, here's the sort of morning you can wake up to..... tight lines

Simon, Both Nick (salokcinnodrog) and I have fished Ardleigh in the past, but I'm not sure if there are any current members on this forum at the moment. To be honest, as long as your polite and go about your angling in the right way, the guys on there will open up to you and it won't take long to get to know a few of the regulars on there. The usual "i'm off to the lodge, do you need any water etc mate ??" to the guy down the bank for you, will work wonders Shakey PS i'd love to know how you get on over. I still have some fish over there that I would love to catch...... just need the wife to let me get some time on the bank

Courtz, i've heard good things about the Rig Marole hydrolink. I've been thinking about try the green verison out next season, it's just i've been using Mantis for a long time and i'm thinking "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

I favour Super mantis. I have tried a few of the others and felt they weren't as good for various reasons.

Steve, if you're going for a Kryston braid then I would suggest that you go for silkworm. Merlin is green in colour and more suited to weeder situations IMO. Silkworm, is greyish with black flecks and can easily be "coloured" with a black marker pen to match the silty bottom. Also, from memory, silkworm is slightly thinner in diameter.

"Kryston also have the cure for Tangles in long braided Hooklinks: Superstiff " True, but when using 2'6" hook lengths, it isn't going to take long to use a tub of that up

Steve, as ToniB has pointed out, I would also be worried about fishing braided hook lengths over 2 ft long. I would be paraniod about it tangling on the cast. I also think you might be better off with a mono hook length. If you're worried about the colour, you could always run a black permenant marker pen down the mono and colour it black like the silt ?? If you really do want to fishing braided hooklengths that long then the ones from Kryston Nick has mention are very good. I've caught fish in Merlin and Silkworm

As Nick pointed out, the original hair rigs came off the curved part rather than the shank. Whether or not it is more efficent than having the hair of the shank, I wouldn't know. But why not give it a go ? I would give it a whirl myself (especially if I as fishing a pressurised water that might give me an edge), but fishing where I do, it isn't really the place to be experimenting

So why do you guys keep giving him your hard earned cash ?? Surely there has got to be better day ticket lakes out there ?? I haven't fished a day ticket water for a long time, so i'm a bit out of touch, but surely there are better places than Weeley If the farmer isn't putting anything back into the waters and is just raking in the cash from the day tickets, vote with your feet and fish somewhere else. If his revenue took a dive he might think about putting some of the money back into the fishery, but whilst he's happily coining it, he won't think twice about

Pure speculation from me, but I used to work on Halstead high street about 4 years ago. I was forever in the tackle shop by the bridge at lunchtimes. From what I could gather Gosfield had carp in it up to 38lb, but how true that is I don't know. It's a pity carp unlimited isn't still going as I know Pete had soemthing to do with Gosfield in days gone by.