p1mikey

Sorry for late response.... its been a couple of years since i last fished over there so dont know if its a major problem. I must admit i didnt see any whilst i did fish that one time. I did however get loads of little taps on my rods through the day and night and every time i wound in my baits were missing. When i mentioned this to one of the regular guys down there he said " oh, that will be the crayfish " If you are joining CAPs, why not give the 2 Bovi lakes a go at Hatfield Peveral? Lovely looking lakes and a few " surprises " in them...

Hi, heres some info for you.... The lake was created from an old stream that was dammed several years ago. There is an old stream bed that still runs pretty much through the middle of the lake. This can be pretty snaggy, so have a good lead around to find it. The deepest end is the dam end to the left of the car park and the right hand of the lake is the shallowest. The lake bed is a bit silty but not too bad. Some areas of gravel can be found. Again, have a lead around and see what you find. No monsters in there,,,,, a few thirties and plenty of twenties. Biggest ive had is around the 25lb. Standard tactics have worked for me in the past, however i havnt fished it for s couple of years. Have a look for signs of fish and start from there and beware of the freshwater crays! Hope that helps a bit?

Hi mate, i am a current CAPS member with the layer upgrade and fish it quite regularly in the spring through to autumn. It can be a bit of a ball breaker at times especially when there are stacks of fish in front of you and whatever method you try, fails! The lake is pretty even throughout, sloping off gradually with average depths of around 7 to 8 feet. The bottom is pretty silty and i often bring in bloodworm on the lead or hook. They do love plenty of bait over there and once they get their noses down, they can certainly mop up the bait. Most guys tend to do the long chuck, spod plenty and use little baits to get the bites. Zigging also works well over there. My pb of just under 35lb came out of there last year and i caught this close in, single boilie with a few scattered around. I think there are several different 30s in there and loads of 20s! The fish kill of a couple of years seems to have allowed the strong to flourish. Favoured swims are the point, boathouse and some on matchmens and cottages. I tend to get down there around mid morning, see where there are less people fishing and look for signs of fish. They generally hang out in the middle, hence why the long chuck is sometimes needed, i prefer to fish the bays or the tennis court swims, this may mean that i may not get multiple catches, but i am out of the way of others and at certain times of the day i believe the larger fish come closer in, especially as evening progresses. I guess you are referring to the opportunity to night fish it in May? I was tempted to enter the raffle but i cant justify the cost that is being asked to fish it for the night! My guess is that if you do fish it overnight, you aint going to get much sleep!!! If i was doing an overnighter on there, i would certainly have a bait close in and i would try and get away from the crowds. hope that helps a bit? Mike

This pond was known as " station " pond, when LAS had the fishing rights to it. I used to fish it a lot as a boy, that was over 25 yrs ago now. It was a lovely little pond with several carp in and they were always ready to take a bait off the top. In fact, that pond was the first place i ever fished as the match secretary of the club was a friend of my father and he took me there for the afternoon. First fish i ever caught was an eel!!! The pond also had a large chub in it and this was always the " winner " of the chub category at the end of seasons catch awards. My parents still live in Lawford and sometimes when i visit i have gone past the pond and seen its state. The club also had fishing rights to a pond in Furze hill woods, called keepers pond and one in bromley called crossmans. As for the club now, i have no idea what happened but as earlier posts suggest, one of the committee members was called Brian Nunn and he was linked to stour windows... Hope that helps a bit? Mike

Hi guys, thanks for all the advise and help with choosing a place. If i could do a night guest ticket then i would, as we have a lovely little lake ( Olivers in Witham ) that would be ideal, but i dont think we can take guests fishing at night. Has anyone got any thoughts on chigborough? Mike

I was thinking of Newlands, have been searching the inter web etc to see and saw the lakes there. Crowsheath is quite good, the couple of times ive fished it i have not blanked. Newlands would probably be better as i live in Colchester and so too does my friend and she said she would meet me at the given venue. All i want is somewhere where he has the oppurtunity to catch during our session and maybe a surprise lump may show up! I mainly fish on the CAPS ticket so dont really know of that many day tickets around here, so any help or advise would help me in making my decision. Thanks Mike

Hi, hope some of you can give me some ideas to the following question? I have been asked by a friend to take her 15 yr old son fishing during the summer holidays. He is just getting in to carp fishing and has caught the bug, so to speak. I believe he has been night fishing a couple of times, but hasnt had a great deal of success. So she has asked if i could help him. I am a member of CAPS so dont really venture too far from my club waters. I wont be able to take him night fishing on my club ticket, so was thinking of a day ticket venue somewhere in mid or north essex. I would like to take him somewhere where he has a good chance of getting a bend in his rod. i have fished Crowsheath a couple of times,so that is an option. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. Mike

I fished Abberton back in the mid to late 90s for Pike, at the time i would have been in my early twenties, We would fish the road section that went over the reservoir that came down from layer. The largest fish i had was about 17lb, my mates father had one of about 24lb if i recall correctly. I did see some larger fish caught by other anglers. I can remember seeing a chap turn up with a bucket of small jack pike. He attached one to some trebles hooks, put it on a drift type rig with a balloon for a " float " and let it drift out. After some time he had caught a large upper twenty fish! I heard lots of stories of some large fish of all species in there, whether they were tales or not, i shall never know, but i do believe the overflow from layer pit also flows into the reservoir, so some fry from there must have escaped into the ressie. I also know of someone who likes to do a bit of " guesting " on lakes and rivers and he took his kayak onto this reservoir recently and had a few carp out! One last tale to tell aswell...... i saw some unlucky chap hook a cormorant while pike fishing! The bird had dived on his bait and snapped it up. The looks he got from the birdwatchers sitting in their cars as he played this bird were unforgiving! As for him unhooking it, thats another tale in itself, lol Mike

Hi all... i am looking for some recomendations for venues in the chelmsford and southend area... I am a memeber of CAPS and regularly fish their lakes. In a couple of weeks time i am going fishing with a couple of work colleagues and we wish to do an overnighter. They live in the Rayleigh area. I dont know many day ticket venues in that part of the world so that is why i am asking for suggestions. We would like to go somewhere where there is a good chance of catching a fish, maybe with some cats thrown in! Cheers in advance Mike