levigsp Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 (edited) I have been sorting through some of my writing, some for print and others for forums, so some of you will have already seen a version of this, I apologise for that. After I wrote the thread about checking out new waters etc, I thought this article on how it SHOULD NOT be done might be poignant and I have decided the put this up on this forum as the version on another has been wiped out. Sorry for lack of photos but they went missing with the article and if I finally get my files etc of my desktop I will add them. I will put it up in instalments as it was planned originally. Yeld, one mans obsession. So, I just could not resist having a look, seeing I was so close anyway. I drove down the lane, stopped in a short pull-in next to some trees, and got out of the car. Ignoring private property signs I walked through the trees as I had done oft times before; there before my eyes lay a beautiful lake. It was not a huge lake but it was stunning within its parkland setting and I thought I knew some of its secrets. It was set in a valley overlooked by a huge house on one side, with its bowling green short grass lawn right up to the waters edge, on the other two sides were trees, a classic English estate lake in every-way. Whilst I had known this place most of my life I had never fished it only dreaming of doing so on many occasions. It was one of those places one is just mesmerized by, I cannot really explain, but I could not pass by without looking. Sitting there by the dam in the hope of seeing some movement and day dreaming of giant scaly beasts within its depths, I was disturbed by a movement. Definitely not what I wished for, it was two well-dressed gents walking towards me with dogs, I had been here before and I did not fancy an altercation so I got back to the car and away without uttering a word. Once back at my holiday cottage all sorts of thoughts were going through my head, was she still there? Could I get to fish? Etc, I went to bed that night knowing I would not sleep. This happened relatively recently, however the true tale begins some years earlier: I had first seen the lake in my early teens whilst on my way home from a rabbiting trip, at that time I lived in the county, I passed by the lake on a regular basis and as normal I used to stop off to look for likely rabbiting areas. It was October, as soon as I stepped through the trees I saw the lake, I was instantly spell bound, there were leaves gently drifting down its length and carp were slurping at them!, it looked a truly magical place. I sat there looking and dreaming when a chap suddenly grabbed me, startled for a second I thought about running for it, but thought better of it, when I realized he was not alone and his mate had a rather menacing Alsatian on the end of a short lead. Questions were asked along the following lines: Q. What are you doing here. A. Err errr, just looking. Q. Looking for what? A, looking for fish, wondered if I could fish. Q, Have you got fishing tackle with you- or what. A, Err, no, no not at all, just looking and thinking. I was met with the following reply. "No fish here, this is private land, can you not read or something? Leave; if we see you again we will call the police." I scampered as quick as I could, glad of the fact that they had not looked for my bike and the rabbits and ferret boxes hung from it, for that could have caused all sorts of problems. Over the next year or so, I mentioned the place to a number of people that I thought would know about the place and all came up blank. The following summer I went to the local village and asked at the post office, this was after telling the postmistress that I had JUST found the lake whilst walking. I remember her words now as if they were spoken yesterday. Ah, Yeld, your lucky you we not arrested going there, most are, there are private signs everywhere round the estate. I went home and again made inquiries, except this time I knew the estate name; Yeld. Again, I was met with blanks, NO ONE had ever herd of the place, and some friends started thinking I was cracking up and imagining the place. I even asked old man Howard, a good friend and mentor, being born in 1903 he seemed to know everywhere, except this place! I went back to the area again in the autumn in the hope of catching a few rabbits and perhaps catching a glimpse of the lake. This time I hid my ferrets and nets before heading down the lane; it was a very short visit, as no sooner did I get there than I was hightailing it out again due to the guards! I went into the shop again and explained who I was and my interest in the lake and that I had asked people about it, but no one knew of yeld estate. " Ah, that's where your going wrong, yeld is a local name for the place, its real name is #John’s estate and you will not get to fish it, its too private and they regularly get people arrested for simply going there. I am surprised you have not asked Joan Hicking, she knows all about the place. Now Joan Hicking or Miss Hicking to me was a rather aged local land owning farmer. I had known her for some time and had permission from her to catch rabbits on her land, yet I had not thought of asking her about the place. The following week I went and had a chat with her and asked if she could give me any information. She explained that the estate had a distant connection to James bond! And in addition, the government, hence the guards about the place, she added, that it was so private, the estate did not even have a pheasant shoot, something very unusual in the area. Then more importantly, she explained that a long time ago pre war, the young gentleman of the house had courted her until his father had put a stop to it, as she was not suitable! Whist she was with him they had often walked around the lake and seen fish "big ones", this really fired me up, it meant carp had been stocked quite some time pre-war, otherwise they would not have been "big ones" I was back at the lake within an hour, having a look again, but this time I was hidden in the trees. I was there for about 20 minutes before the blooming guards turned up again and chased me away, but I was there long enough to see carp again. This time I had clearly seen some rather large blue backed creatures not far from the bank basking in a gap in the extensive weed and it fired me up even more. I went through the same sneak up and look scenario half a dozen times more before it got too much, on the final occasion, I spied a beast of a fish, a real monster and that first sight of the fish is clearly imprinted in my mind. This fish was one of the widest backed carp I had ever seen, blue backed, golden sided and clearly a mirror. I decided that the following year come hell or high water I was going to fish my secret lake. Edited August 4, 2018 by levigsp kevtaylor, yonny and B.C. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levigsp Posted August 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Just an after thought. At least Three people of this forum have seen the fish I caught from this water. But for reasons that will become obvious I asked them not to disclose to much, likewise I never tell people the whereabouts of the lake. yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dayvid Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Not worried where it is , Just dont leave us hanging for the next instalment , its been 47 mins since you edited , 😩 greekskii, B.C., cloud9 and 2 others 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmanstevo Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 I remember reading this,Frank. 😎 levigsp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levigsp Posted August 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 2 hours ago, snowmanstevo said: I remember reading this,Frank. 😎 Did you read any of my others? snowmanstevo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
framey Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Enjoyd that thanks for posting it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowmanstevo Posted August 5, 2018 Report Share Posted August 5, 2018 11 hours ago, levigsp said: Did you read any of my others? Yes Frank. I seem to remember one about a 4lb roach as well ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted August 5, 2018 Report Share Posted August 5, 2018 This is brilliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.C. Posted August 5, 2018 Report Share Posted August 5, 2018 Love reading these sort of tales, thanks for posting...… Looking forward to the next installment, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levigsp Posted August 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 Part two. The following summer I got some tackle ready and headed for the lake, first it was at unearthly hours of the morning, then at night on the full moon and again on the new moon. However, no matter what I tried no sooner would I get myself comfortable, and then I would have company of the wrong type, no matter what I did it was not long before the guards turned up, clearly it was not to be. This was the only time in my life when my feet weren't firmly planted and pointing in the right direction, I had been tempted by that fish to behave in error. Luckily for me, at about the same time I started seeing the estate mentioned in the news papers for various court hearings, for poaching etc and the fines for catching a couple of rabbits were so severe I realized I was best out of it and over the next few years I did my thing and slowly forgot about Yeld. Although I say, I forgot about Yeld; that was not strictly true. You see, I do not know about you, but I liken carp and dogs to some of the females of our species, I best explain what I mean. When I first spy a big carp, I cannot get her out of my head, I eat, sleep and dream about the fish, to the point of it making me unwell, until the day I get her, then just like the young blond at the bar the besotted feeling just leaves me. Whereas when I first see a puppy I want I eat, sleep and think about the pup until its mine, but then just like the brunette I met at a dinner party, I begin a courtship that lasts until death does us part. So you can see I never forget a dog or a fish but my relationship is just a little different with each and seeing that big fish was like seeing a gorgeous blond woman for the first time. In my late teens I started courting a young Lady, Heather, who was instrumental in my introduction to various things! Some off which would best be placed in a different category of literature to this!, however some of the people she introduced me to where rather influential to say the least. One such introduction was to a certain couple; the Strutts, now Lady Strutt for some strange reason took a shine to me, this got my foot into many a proverbial door. So, it came to be that one Saturday morning all dressed up in my Sunday best, I was at the door of the big house at Yeld where I got a fantastic view of the lake and its true reason for being became obvious. I was day dreaming when the door opened, I soon came to and I introduced myself and asked if it would be possible to speak to the owner. My introduction to the owners was all very pleasant and polite but in the end all to no avail and I left Yeld very disappointed, I had tried everything and still had no joy. Again, I had to forget about the place, but this time for some years, not completely but just enough, that was until now; it was now 2002 and I was here on holiday having moved away some years earlier. That night after my quick departure and whilst lying there in bed not sleeping, I came to the conclusion that I had nothing to lose by asking again, I have found that with age come some concessions and benefits that are often refused at younger age. In the morning I found myself there again, at the door of the big house all smartly dressed and looking at the lake down below and day dreaming yet again. It really did feel like deja-vu as I was invited into the lobby, where I introduced myself and explained why I was there. I was met with a different attitude this time almost like a long lost friend and I had quite a long and pleasant morning chatting over coffee. I was informed that the estate had changed hands since I was last there, but that the place was still used for important governmental meetings and symposiums. I also discovered that the place was riddled in live cameras and alarms and had been so for many years, this explained the sudden appearance of guards every visit. I also found out what the James Bond link was, an odd one and not really meaningful, but if I were to state what the link was, I would give the place away, something I am not prepared to do. The estate still had permanent dog handlers as guards and at certain times, they even had armed response guards in place; it was not looking good! Something else I learned from my visit was that since their take over I was the first to ask about the fishing! although people had asked about the shooting, now this really surprised me as it was only a few miles from the city and is easily be found on a map. Now for the real surprise, I could fish providing I obeyed the following rules. One- I had to leave the place as found. Two- I could only visit on my own. Three- remove nothing. Four- I had to pre arrange the dates with them so they did not clash with their meetings etc. Five- I was never to divulge the details of the place. I left on cloud nine and never stopped thinking about the place, just thinking about the big fish I had seen, the solitude etc. It was now the summer of 2003 and despite me trying my hardest to arrange fishing on the lake on a few occasions, I had still not fished it and I was getting more apprehensive by the day, it was as if the owners and the gods were trying to keep me away. Well nothing was going to stop me and I just kept trying, I phoned once again to ask if I could fish for one week starting on the 16 June, the answer this time was yes! B.C., kevtaylor, dayvid and 5 others 4 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dayvid Posted August 10, 2018 Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 YES …... , you finish on a yes ………………….. Cars loaded and I was nearly on my way to you , and you finished with a yes ………..😫 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levigsp Posted August 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2018 1 hour ago, dayvid said: lolYES …... , you finish on a yes ………………….. Cars loaded and I was nearly on my way to you , and you finished with a yes ………..😫 Don't worry, I will be in your neck of the woods in a few days, you can tell me how you feel then!lol dayvid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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