farfromthesun

It's prolific, no doubt about it. If you spent an entire day there, I reckon you could have 20+ fish, provided you absolutely pile the bait in. TIP: The bailiff said that the carp are suckers for floating bread along the wall, as the Sun goes down... I used a method feeder on one rod constantly, and apart from my last session, I always had a fish within 5 minutes of my arrival...but then quiet, regardless of where I cast, which was strange. I had a few more on the method (sporadically) but the majority of my fish came from well positioned / baited spots with tiny PVA sticks and a bed of pellets and crushed boilies... I didn't see any people fishing for any other reason than enjoyment. My five sessions consisted of dawn / dusk (curse my eyes / the low light) which I would say would be prime time for anyone wanting to do anything untoward. I hope I am right...I am pretty confident that I am. Great place. I hope it never changes (with the exception of the fish getting bigger).

I visited Merstone one day (pure, PURE luck that I found it) and one of the anglers said that the lake with the island (one of the day ticket ones) has carp in it to 15lb. So, does that mean that the pond with all the weed / pads was where the larger carp were transferred to? Surely not? It looks virtually unfishable! re: Hale Common - due to a day ticket misdemeanor (ie: I paid, filled in the ticket, then promptly left it in the ticket wagon) I had quite a lengthy chat with the bailiff at Hale Common (his name escapes me, perhaps Paul). Extremely helpful chap, and seemingly nice fella. Anyway, he said the syndicate on the other lake is run by the people that live in the house that's nearby. I wouldn't know who / how to contact them, but if you bump into him he will probably be able to help. Regarding the venue itself, he said it's extremely hard. Low stock, etc, though the fish go to mid-thirties. Hope that's of some use....

edit - wrong thread!

Yeah, the big lake, the little one didn't really appeal. Hale Common was cool; just pile the bait in. There's a spot on the car park side, about mid-way down, that has a bed of reeds to the left hand side of it. Was a really prolific spot. Plus under the overhanging branches (you need to lock up to fish safely) in the next peg along. All fish were in good condition and fought well. Lost another two aswell.

Just back, steered clear of Combley due to reports of it being unfishable. Had 13 carp (across 5 very short sessions) at Hale Common, and a total blank at Rookley.

Cheers mate - though you've kind of made things worse. If there's not many people at Gunville, and I spoke to the wrong bloke at Rookley, perhaps I should re-think. Hale Common is a certainty - it's a 5 minute walk from were my parents stay (and they will be there at the same time as me), I fished it every time I was on the Island (10 times, or thereabouts) and because last year I caught a beautiful Common on a crushed ragworm, as I seriously struggled to get proper bait before that particular session. Do you live there, renoufchr? Thanks again.

Thanks, I had actually searched out the thread that you linked to. Not seen that IOW fishing club website before though, is it relatively new? The last one I saw was pretty hard to make any sense of! I was considering Rookley, but having spoken to the owner / bailiff I was a bit put off to be honest. He basically wasn't very helpful and didn't seem interested in answering my questions, so I went on the hunt again. I'll certainly fish Hale Common on a few morning / evening sessions (as it's a family holiday and that's how I will be fishing) but for one day I wanted to have a special session and Combley seemed to fit the bill. I'd hazard a guess that Gunville gets pretty rammed? Thanks for the tips, in any case.

You should consider one of the many fisheries in west Essex (accessible by M25 or A13). You can get over the water (Thames) by either going through Blackwall Tunnell or Limehouse Link and then onto the various main roads fairly quickly (if you go at a decent time). Birds Green in Ongar immediately springs to mind, as does the Warrens' Square Lake (near Stanford Le-Hope, Essex.) Churchgate Lakes in Battlesbridge (perhaps not so west Essex anymore) is worth a punt, I had 11 Carp out out of there the other week. There's loads around Brentwood. If you want to travel a bit further round the M25 there's an abundance of Pits, Commercials and River sections around Waltham Abbey, Cheshunt, Broxbourne and so on, mostly managed by Lee Valley, so have a look at their website on Google. Feel free to ask any specific questions on particular vanues, I'll try and help. There's loads of places down in Kent, Sussex, Surrey.... In your area you have Rotherhithe Angling Club, as far as I know they own that ditch of a water next to the shopping centre at Surrey Quays. Allegedly (very allegedly) there's a couple of huge carp, possibly high thirties, that have never been caught. Who knows? You can also check out the various docks around Canary Wharf etc, they are fishable, but I'm not certain how you can get a permit, nor how hard (and I use the word "hard" knowing it will be) it is to catch fish. Might be better off gongs to Billingsgate next door, if you're in the area.

I'll possibly be visiting Combley Lakes soon, did you make it out there in the end, ralphj?

My wife has suggested we go away for a weekend (as it's soon to be my birthday), and that she wouldn't mind if we went somewhere that I would be able to do some fishing. France is out of the question, so I was wondering if anyone here knew of any places that have nice accomodation and some good fishing on site. I've trawled the web but am struggling a bit, hence why I have started a thread about it. Ideally would be between 1 - 2 hours outside of London. Any suggestions, much appreciated. Cheers!