mattgroves

Now they're doing fewer matches and tightening up on rules it should be fine. Historically it's been used heavily as a match venue (lots of poles and bullying fish to the net too soon) and had very 'open' rules so lots of the fish are in less than tiptop condition. You still see people fishing with inappropriate tackle - end tackle wise, rods/reels and (especially) small nets and no mats. But the bailiff's are now clamping down on mats (etc). I generally get over there a couple of times a year and normally catch a fish or two towing a rig, or with a great big barbed hook left in... The reason it's easy is there are so many fish, def overstocked for volume of water, and it tends to fish well in autumn as the water is quite deep in the middle and at the dam end so it remains warmer later in the year...

cheers mate

location and directions fit, must be the same place... I have happy memories of it as both my father-in-law and I had PB's from there, on the same day, that stood for ages (only 12 or 13lb mind you!!). You could say that it was there that got my started on carp fishing "proper". Have you got the phone number as the one I have is dead?

the pegs after the sailing club or the far bank (left hand side from car park) are the only real places to bivvy up. No chance off the dam wall, unless you're OK sleeping under the stars, and one small slip from 20ft+ of cold water. Not for me. The wooden platform will be tricky to setup on, but people manage it, there were 7 or 8 bivvies up when I arrived there a few weeks ago - all on the pegs immediately after the sailing club (30-34) or the far side (90-110) - far side would be my preference. Been a while since I walked over there but there was a grass bank which would be loads better for bivvying up on!! As for the fishing, anything goes, last time I went I did better with a pellet tipped with plastic corn and a small bag of pellet than over my baited area. Dog biscuits owked great too - at least they would if I could hit the bites off the surface That was off the Dam wall. The guys 3 or 4 pegs over were fishing bread, that's all, paste and liquidised breadflake - took the place apart...

AirSoft??? They had clay shooting...

I used to fish a water in Desford in Leicestershire (just after the railway crossing, after the pub), went back to fish it one Saturday last year and waited for nearly an hour for the gates to be unlocked, no answer on the phone either, so went elsewhere... Been past the entrance twice over the last 3 weeks and the gates been closed/locked both times. Anyone know what's going on there? Have they packed it in?

you're joking Stehol, when my mate called them they said "space was severely limited" ? So we thought that a Sunday session wasn't going be any good due to lack of swims and the pressure overnight. Gutted we didn't give it a go. Arrrggghhhh. Annoying. never mind. there's always next time. Personally, I would take a 5lb Tench over the 5 to 7 lb fish we had at Makins (although, to be fair, Mark did pull out a 16lb 2oz lump). Will convince the guys to book on the next night session at Kingsbury, what are the chances of talking our way into a few quid off for booking 3 tickets well in advance?

Also, as you guys seem to be knowledgeable and local, I may as well ask: I'm thinking of sorting out some midweek overnight sessions (much easier to sell to my wife), these would have to be quite close to Coventry so I could: -get the session started at a sensible time -not have to travel too far -be awake and packed up at a reasonable time (not 5am!!) to get into the office at a reasonable time (8am ish to get showered for the day ahead) As I'd be at work the day after I'd rather not catch too many (sounds daft I know) in order to get enough sleep to still be able to function, so focus on size/quality is very much my thinking. Are there any venues that spring to mind?

Do I take it it isn't worth £40 then? Just with most places costing £20/£25 for 24hrs and circa £12 for a day ticket, the 36 hours (ish) hours on Pine for £40 is only really £10 over-priced (although in % terms that's a big hike I suppose). I was thinking that for a venue that can only be night fished 4 nights of the year paying a premium was offset by the fact that the fish ought to be "off guard" (if you see what I mean).

Thank you all for your input! Been a change of plan, and we're not going to Kingsbury this weekend, as it's the w/e where it's open for night fishing and they've taken a lot of bookings for that so will be even busier on Sunday with the guys left from overnight and the crowds for the day session (we can't get there early so have been advised we may not find a peg free!). Going to try somewhere else instead (venue TBC). We can't not go after all three of us have obtained sign-off from our respective other halves We've all now started the sign-off process for the next night session at Kingsbury [/b]

A couple of guys from work and i are heading over to Pine Pool this coming weekend. I've read that it can get quite weedy so was just wondering if anyone's been on there recently and could offer any info on the state of play on this pool. From searching the forums (and elsewhere) it looks ideal for what we need - not too hard but the chance of a decent fish, and facilities close by (the others are bring their eldest boys, mines only 3 so he's staying at home with Mum!!). I've never fished in weed before (at least not knowingly) so am reading up on tactics for weed - are there clear spots to look for with the marker and target? lastly, one of the guys I'm going with is vastly more experienced than me and I'm keen to take his money, so any tips on hot pegs/tactics?

have also PM'd you...

I'm looking for a similair kind of thing for next year, so probably need to start looking now... Will let you know if I find anything...

Mate, if you're snapping 16lb mainline you're doing something wrong, end of story, as I'm sure most here will testify - you don't really need to be using washing line. Especially at Covert Springs, there aren't any monster fish and no real snags to worry about (at least there weren't when I fished it in the early 00's). My PB is 28.5 lb, landed on 10lb mainline (maxima). I have lost count of the number of mid-doubles that I have landed on 6lb Maxima. Also, if you're snapping your landing net you need to learn some basic skills, no net will cope with lifting a decent fish out of the water, the arms will snap. It's just physics. Lift by grabbing a good handful of net. Of course, if you meant that your net handle snapped then what the hell were you doing? Trying to lift the fish clean out of the water using the handle?

Did 10am > dusk on Saturday (late start due to being let down by the guy at Desford), and ~0730 > 2000 yesterday. Am looking at doing a night session there in the coming weeks... I had a couple out yesterday, one at ~5 and one at ~7 (didn't bother to weigh either as they were comfortably under 10!), but just like saturday (and just like 2 weeks before at Groby) had several bites but didn't connect. I am thinking my rigs aren't hooking well. Several times yesterday I had a take/run that stopped quickly, so I left it a few minutes, then reeled in to find lead ejected and bait gone. Only one other guy caught yesterday, he claimed 9lb but it didn't look that big (but I only saw it from a distance of 30yds)...

So... I was booked in for Saturday, was told they would open the gate at 0800, arrived at 0750 and waited for 45 minutes, then sacked it off and went to Spring Grange... They weren't answering the phone on either the landline or mobile. Pretty poor show really...

Been there twice now, not done particularly well either time... I couldn't get on the fish on the saturday as the lakes were packed, yesterday was much quieter but I still struggled...

thanks all, tied some up last night, did the following and can confirm it works: Tied rig. Submerged in freshly boiled water for a few seconds. Pulled tight and mounted (with a decent amount of tension) on a rig board. I experimented with a few methods but the above worked best...

I think it is, phoning to book was mentioned in the F-I-L's email...

Thinking of trying the small fishery at Desford this weekend with my father-in-law. It may have a name, but I've always just known it as "the pond at Desford". It's been years since I've been there. Anyoine been recently, care to offer some comments?

Assuming it's this one: http://www.springrangefisheries.co.uk/ It does look good... Any personal experience or comment, anyone?

thanks all, will give it a try. I prefer to prepare rigs at home as I make fewer mistakes in the warmth/comfort of home sitting at the kitchen table The lighting is better too!

I tend to use either a coated barid hooklink (with an inch or so stripped back before the hook) or a shorter stiff link (flourocarbon). The coated braid can be straightened by rubbing it through my fingers a few times (I am assuming the heat this adds, when combined with pulling it tight, removes the natural curve/spiral). How do I do the same with a flourocarbon?