danm1

I haven't got a picture of it I'm afraid. As Nick says - it was Frank Warwick I believe who develop it, or at least took the credit for it if he didn't develop it himself! And yes, it's exactly that - a stiff bristle inserted through the shrink tube at 90 degrees to the shank of the hook. If you imagine the shape of your hook - with that bristle going across - you can see why it's called the "anchor".

Never mind! It's not what a rig looks like in your hand, but what it does in the water and in the fishes chops that is the key. The anchor rig - with a few little tweeks - is one of my all time most prolific fish catchers. As for the comment about the stiff bristle damaging the fishes mouth - it doesn't - I've never seen it.

The anchor rig has been around for years - and that's the only name I've ever known it by. I don't see anything wrong with your proposed approach mate - I've never actually used it since coated braids were widely available, but have used it with both relatively stiff set-ups (i.e. Amnesia) and also supple, like multi-strand and uncoated braid.

I'm sure I can help you out - was three years ago now when I pulled off there, but managed to catch a few. Feel free to drop me a PM with any questions.

Hi mate. I've only fished Winters lake a couple of times, never the Carp lake. I've heard they respond well to a bit of bait in the Carp lake - and the method feeder with plastic corn on the hair is a good option.

I'm totally out of touch with the place these days, but going back perhaps 15 years now, it was a venue I really enjoyed - and a place with many happy memories. I think it was the HSAA - Hants and Sussex Anglers Alliance - ticket back then - and you needed an additional night ticket to do the nights. At the time the fish were going to low 20's - with tonnes of doubles. They'd dredged it a couple of years before, which "improved" the depths. Hot spot back then was always the Island Swim - fishing from the playground bank. One rod cast past the left side of the island - overshooting it by about 15 yards - the other, ahem, walked down past the "No fishing to the right of this sign" and dropped a rod length out - right under where they fed the wildfowl. Grange CSL was devastating on there. Hope the place returns to it's former glory.

Island lake is the most heavily stocked of all the MM pits. There are plenty of carp in there tht I undertand to be in the high-single / double-figure range, although there's a reasonable amount of 20's in there too, by all accounts. Not a clue about depths etc. The main features are the obvious ones - i.e. the islands! The club has recently fenced off over half of the lake - with padlocked gates - so that should discourage non-member interest in the banks.

I only fished the leather lake, although obviously picked up a bit of info on the others. "Success" is all relative!

Never fished that one. I presume you've had a look at the website - pretty sure there are contact numbers on it if you wanted more info from the fishery management - they're a very helpful bunch - VAC's without a doubt the best run club I've ever been in.

I fished it up until the summer just gone. Four very different lakes offerring very different challenges. Which lake(s) are you looking to fish?

I just tie two over-hand knots - pull tight onto the bait - then the same through the ring and blob the ends. Easy.

Does anyone know much about KM's waters - Ringstead and Cracker's Meadow - that you'd be willing to share please?

Zero tolerance - and rightly so. I think the problems weren't so much at Smallford - which is private - but at the public waters like Moor Mill. Sadly, there's a minority of dog walkers that go round there that don't feel the need to clean up after their mutts. The club put some signs up last year, which seem to have improved things and the gates preventing access to a fair bit of bank on the Island Lake will mean that should be much improved. Good work VAC!

Dogs are allowed at the VAC waters (in fact, you'll sleep easier at night if you have a big one with you on some of the waters!) Leather Lake is rock hard - a dozen carp in more like 3 acres. The rest of the stock definitely don't go to high 20's - half are doubles, next best after Toadless would be two around 25lb - rest low 20's.

I've read some very mixed reports on other forums about this place - any more opinions?

Loads of waters around that way - but you've not really said what you're after, other than the price cap? A couple that might be some help? http://www.bighitaa.co.uk/ http://www.lutonac.org/

Got it somewhere myself. Not one I refer to very often though - I still remember Andy Little giving me nightmares as a kid - he caught some fish, for sure - I just wish the Editors had realised we'd take their word for it the photo was of him and cut his head off. Talking about hitting every branch on the way down!

I remember it exactly as Nick as said. I also seem to recall that one of the rigs he reckoned-on in the book was the "no-hook" rig - with a boilie PVA'd to the hook - which he reckoned was a good option for confidently feeding fish (they'd suck up the bait and the hook would go up there too). That's just far too smart!

It was a long time ago so a lot may have changed since then - and Lake 1 and 2 are very different venues. Hope you have a good trip.

Peg 7 is one of the better ones on there from what I understand. I went there a few years ago - to Lake 2 - and the guys in Peg 7 were catching lots. Seem to remember they had quite a few grassies, but plenty of carp. There was a plateau / bar not that far out in front of the swim that the fish seemed to like - you could see it easily from the bank. Not sure the fish in there are particularly fussy - particles bound to be worth a go (think they caught a fair few on maize and tigers).

Fair play to you. Wish there were more folk out there who ran venues for carp-anglings-sake rather than just lining their pockets!

LOL - constructive criticism at it's best. I can think of a couple of 2 acre lakes in that area that would be a right result if they went from club (hundreds of members) to syndicate - for a sensible membership fee. I've been a member of quite a few syndicates with less pegs than that and over 50 members - not a big deal if you pitch the time on/time off rules right.

Verulam have some decent venues on their ticket - something for everyone including some reasonable carp waters. Smallford and the Moor Mill complex are the main ones for the carp anglers - although you also get a Turnford Consortium ticket included in the season ticket price. I've only fished one of their waters, but a brief low-down on the carp waters that might interest you: Smallford. Not sure that it's "hard" - although some anglers do make it see that way. Can be very popular in the warmer weather. Believe the stock is predominantly doubles, a reasonable head of 20's, with maybe one or two 30's? Island Pit, Moor Mill. Another nice looking lake - not seen anything quite like it before, with all the islands. Plenty of room for everyone on there. Carp mainly high-singles/doubles. A few 20's to go at and always the possibility of a surprise. Not aware of it having been seriously targetted by any of the carpers so not sure anyone really knows exactly what's in there. School Pit, Moor Mill. Very shallow, with lots of pads. Holds a few carp that are rarely fished for, so definitely catchable. Think they're around the high-double/low 20 mark.

In Smallford? Really? I didn't know that!

I'd be surprised - like most of the lakes in the area, I'd imagine it's been frozen recently! I heard a few carp were caught before the freeze though. It's not a lake that interested me personally, but I could point you in the direction of the fishery manager if you were genuinely interested and wanted some more info.