September catch reports

[ouchthathurt]

Quick overnighter last night, set up in “catfish corner” at Hawkhurst main lake (swim 6) and baited the island margin with the new improved boilies I make at home, as it got dark, I had a strange twitchy run, when I struck, there was nothing there, but the lead had moved about 20ft to the left, I was holding the rod watching it kite across but the strike came up empty, still early days! Next run produced a 16lb common that flapped out of my arms and landed cleanly in the lake without a picture! Still the wonders of self timing photography! I then lost a fish when my right hand rod one noted, but it kited right around the back of a small island and slipped the hook, but you can’t win them all. I then had a savage drop back that produced an 18lb mutant common carp one only it’s mother could love! Next take was a bit odd, I had a twitchy run, one or two bleeps then nothing, when I got out to investigate , I found the clutch spinning and the bobbin jammed against the neville, preventing the roller from spinning! I struck, I could feel a weight, but it didn’t feel “attached” if that makes any sense, I ended up with my rig in the tip ring and loads of old line running into the lake - I’d picked up a trailer, so started hand lining it in, but the fish slipped the hook about 5yrds out, shame it couldn’t do that earlier rather than dragging this big ball of line and twigs about. As I was dozing off, another twitchy take developed into a one toner - I’d moved the butt eye to just in front of the buzzer, so the bobbin couldn’t jam in it again, which made all the difference, this resulted in a 16lb catfish it went through my other rod meaning a total retackle of both as it was a twisted mess of tubing, leads and catfish slime! I finally got both rods out fishing again and tried to get some sleep, it was nearly 6am by now… at 8am the left hand rod melted off, a powerful fight saw me being ran all over the lake, as the take just one noted from the off, I hoped a big carp was responsible, but another catfish was the result, going 28lb. I’m now lounging on the cocoon bedchair contemplating a wet and soggy wrap up in the rain! I’ll give it 30min I think… 

[jh92]

Nice catch report 👌 just booked on a local lake for 24 hours tomorrow 👍

[crusian]

Well I went fishing yesterday , and caught nothing , but having read Ouch's report that just sounds like too much hard work ! .

Maybe next time I'm fishing I'll have an in between session ? .

😃

[yonny]

Bit of a looker from a social on the awesome Wraysbury 1.

[jh92]

22.5lb 👌 😂

[ouchthathurt]

1 hour ago, yonny said:

Bit of a looker from a social on the awesome Wraysbury 1.

 

5 minutes ago, jh92 said:

22.5lb 👌 😂

Some awesome looking fish there lads, well done 👍 

[elmoputney]

12 minutes ago, ouchthathurt said:

 

Some awesome looking fish there lads, well done 👍 

That's what I thought too some right crackers already this month, well done all. 

Edited September 2, 2023 by elmoputney

[jh92]

5 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

That's what I thought too some right crackers already this month, well done all. 

It took out my other rod, caused absolute chaos.. sacked the fish so I could try and untangle my rig from the mainline only for it to go off as well while I had the line in my hands 😂 sadly it bumped off 🤦‍♂️

[crusian]

2 hours ago, jh92 said:

22.5lb 👌 😂

That's a handsome fish , jh92 , but an even more impressive beard .

😃

[kevtaylor]

7 hours ago, yonny said:

Bit of a looker from a social on the awesome Wraysbury 1.

Yes mate get in there!  Glad you had a great time 😎👍

What no class write-up, oh mate come on, you know it makes sense 👍

[yonny]

2 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

What no class write-up, oh mate come on, you know it makes sense 👍

I will try to find time after the weekend mate 😁😁😁

[jh92]

23lb on the nose, felt like I hooked into a submarine 😂

[jh92]

17 hours ago, crusian said:

That's a handsome fish , jh92 , but an even more impressive beard .

😃

Could do with a trim mate it's gone a bit wild 😂

[crusian]

26 minutes ago, jh92 said:

Could do with a trim mate it's gone a bit wild 😂

Ah , it matches the wild water you like to fish , with your Viking Longboat moored just out of picture .

😁

 

[crusian]

22 hours ago, yonny said:

Bit of a looker from a social on the awesome Wraysbury 1.

For a split second , Yonny , I thought you were referring to yourself as " a bit of a looker " .

😁

[jh92]

3 hours ago, crusian said:

Ah , it matches the wild water you like to fish , with your Viking Longboat moored just out of picture .

😁

 

Could do with a longboat to get all my bait out on my session next week 🤣

I've got 45kg dry particles to prepare, no idea what the weight is going to be once prepared, but only way to get it out is a spomb 🫤🤣

[elmoputney]

2 hours ago, jh92 said:

Could do with a longboat to get all my bait out on my session next week 🤣

I've got 45kg dry particles to prepare, no idea what the weight is going to be once prepared, but only way to get it out is a spomb 🫤🤣

What are you using to prep that lot, its gonna take an almighty saucepan? 

[jh92]

25 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

What are you using to prep that lot, its gonna take an almighty saucepan? 

Got this beast for £2 from the boot sale a couple year ago lol, holds 15 or 20l I think

Edited September 3, 2023 by jh92

[elmoputney]

Nice, I spent weeks looking at boot sales for one like that I ended up with a pair off ebay, ones 19ltr and one 21ltr, both of those probably only did 15kg wet in one hit, it's a big ask to smash out 45kg dry going to take a lot of effort, good luck 💪👍

[crusian]

4 hours ago, jh92 said:

Could do with a longboat to get all my bait out on my session next week 🤣

I've got 45kg dry particles to prepare, no idea what the weight is going to be once prepared, but only way to get it out is a spomb 🫤🤣

Funny that you should mention that , jh92 , because my Wife and I have just been to see the replica Sutton Hoo Burial Longboat that is being built - 90ft. do you ? .

😃

[barry211]

managed a cheeky few hours out at my local water and at last i have a pic to post only one from the day but lovely as it was the first time i used bait floss (i know look at me all modern)

shot of the one catch of the day, i think its a common as still learning the ropes but came in at a nice 8lb ish as not great at weighing fish yet.

 

[crusian]

3 hours ago, barry211 said:

managed a cheeky few hours out at my local water and at last i have a pic to post only one from the day but lovely as it was the first time i used bait floss (i know look at me all modern)

shot of the one catch of the day, i think its a common as still learning the ropes but came in at a nice 8lb ish as not great at weighing fish yet.

 

Hi Barry

Well done , and yes that's  a Common Carp you've caught .

😃

[yonny]

On 02/09/2023 at 18:39, kevtaylor said:

What no class write-up, oh mate come on, you know it makes sense 👍

Right lads, I can’t say that this write-up will be anything like my usual slog of a session (I was limited to one swim on a social after all), but it’s a great opportunity to review the venue which was the island on W1 South Lake. Let me start by saying it’s hands down the best social venue I’ve fished. Absolutely brilliant place. It’s not cheap so not best suited to regular trips, but as a special occasion or a bit of a treat it’s awesome.

Me and five of my pals arrived at midday as required by the venue rules and crossed the bridge to the island. First thing we did was take a tour of the island which holds a fire pit with benches, an undercover area with BBQ, tables, worktops, electric points, a fridge, wood, and coal. About as luxurious as you’ll find in the UK. There are 5 swims around the island, well-spaced to avoid anglers interfering with each other. Three of the swims offer open water fishing, one has its own bay, and the other faces another island. All of them have access to funky margin spots so between them you have access to all types of fishing. Something for everyone.

We did several laps in preparation for the swim draw and spotted the odd fish round the whole island. Numbers were drawn from a hat and 1st place really struggled to choose. All the swims looked good, and the consensus was that we’d all be happy in any swim. I came out of the draw 3rd and got my first-choice swim which was swim number 3, an area of open water facing southeast. As there were 6 of us, 2 had to double up which isn’t so much of a problem in that 3 swims are double swims.

The afternoon was spent leading around to find spots and this did take time. It’s a very weedy lake and I’d say not suited to anyone that’s not seasoned in fishing heavy weed. With all those leads flying about we kind of knew that a take on day 1 was unlikely and so it proved as the carp we were seeing went to ground. Hardly any sightings for the rest of the day. With all that said, I was lucky in that my first cast found the spot I wanted to fish. A bit deep for this time of year at ~13ft but nice and solid, and surrounded by weed. Line lay was brutal due to fishing over a bank of weed bigger than my house but hey, needs must.

So, with rods sorted we open the beers, chill out, crank up the bbq and light the fire. As the sun goes down, we do the odd lap to soak in the atmosphere and check for signs of carp. I did spot one off the back of my spot, so I was confident. The night was tricky for some of the group and a couple of takes got lost due to hook pulls in the weed. The sun came up and tbh I couldn’t believe I hadn’t had a take, such was my confidence the previous night. It was 08:30 by the time my right-hand buzzer finally told me a carp had made a mistake, so I consequently picked up the rod and beasted this carp over the majority of the weed and played it out under the tip where I could keep an eye on it.

After 10 mins plodding about in the margin, I scooped it up and had a quick peek. It was a minter, black along the back, chestnut flanks, with half linear scaling. I secured the net and called for my mate but as soon as he came over his buzzer went into over-drive, and he had to leg it back to swim number 1 to have his moment. His was another cracking mirror with irregular linear scaling, and we got to share the moment with the lads as we held a photo session in the morning sun.

Brekky time so we got the BBQ on and let rip. Another pal lost a fish in the weed at 11am which was disappointing, but it meant that every swim had done a bite which was promising for the next 24 hrs. We chilled for the day, redid the rods, and swim number 2 did the next fish at around 7pm. Another dark coloured linear. The quality of these fish is right up there.

As we headed into darkness, I was a little concerned that I wasn’t seeing anything of interest in swim 3, and I was kind of expecting a blank night. So it proved but the action continued elsewhere with one more lost and 2 more banked by the lads. One was a nice fat black linear mirror and the other a gnarly little fully scaled mirror.

By 10am we were due to leave, and we were already planning next years trip. Action had been consistent (although I do think that now we know the swims/spots we’d probably have quite a few more on the next trip). All swims did bites, and the fish were well spread out. Not great for competitive feeding, but great to give everyone a decent chance of a take. The quality of the fishing is good, but it’s the quality of the fish themselves that really sets the place apart. The majority of the fish are quite young but to look at you’d think they’ve been there forever. All black and scaley and awesome.

So, to summarise: excellent place, great facilities, pretty swims, nice and secluded, good fishing and GREAT fish. Too pricey for a regular venue, but as a treat: awesome.

[elmoputney]

3 hours ago, yonny said:

Right lads, I can’t say that this write-up will be anything like my usual slog of a session (I was limited to one swim on a social after all), but it’s a great opportunity to review the venue which was the island on W1 South Lake. Let me start by saying it’s hands down the best social venue I’ve fished. Absolutely brilliant place. It’s not cheap so not best suited to regular trips, but as a special occasion or a bit of a treat it’s awesome.

Me and five of my pals arrived at midday as required by the venue rules and crossed the bridge to the island. First thing we did was take a tour of the island which holds a fire pit with benches, an undercover area with BBQ, tables, worktops, electric points, a fridge, wood, and coal. About as luxurious as you’ll find in the UK. There are 5 swims around the island, well-spaced to avoid anglers interfering with each other. Three of the swims offer open water fishing, one has its own bay, and the other faces another island. All of them have access to funky margin spots so between them you have access to all types of fishing. Something for everyone.

We did several laps in preparation for the swim draw and spotted the odd fish round the whole island. Numbers were drawn from a hat and 1st place really struggled to choose. All the swims looked good, and the consensus was that we’d all be happy in any swim. I came out of the draw 3rd and got my first-choice swim which was swim number 3, an area of open water facing southeast. As there were 6 of us, 2 had to double up which isn’t so much of a problem in that 3 swims are double swims.

The afternoon was spent leading around to find spots and this did take time. It’s a very weedy lake and I’d say not suited to anyone that’s not seasoned in fishing heavy weed. With all those leads flying about we kind of knew that a take on day 1 was unlikely and so it proved as the carp we were seeing went to ground. Hardly any sightings for the rest of the day. With all that said, I was lucky in that my first cast found the spot I wanted to fish. A bit deep for this time of year at ~13ft but nice and solid, and surrounded by weed. Line lay was brutal due to fishing over a bank of weed bigger than my house but hey, needs must.

So, with rods sorted we open the beers, chill out, crank up the bbq and light the fire. As the sun goes down, we do the odd lap to soak in the atmosphere and check for signs of carp. I did spot one off the back of my spot, so I was confident. The night was tricky for some of the group and a couple of takes got lost due to hook pulls in the weed. The sun came up and tbh I couldn’t believe I hadn’t had a take, such was my confidence the previous night. It was 08:30 by the time my right-hand buzzer finally told me a carp had made a mistake, so I consequently picked up the rod and beasted this carp over the majority of the weed and played it out under the tip where I could keep an eye on it.

After 10 mins plodding about in the margin, I scooped it up and had a quick peek. It was a minter, black along the back, chestnut flanks, with half linear scaling. I secured the net and called for my mate but as soon as he came over his buzzer went into over-drive, and he had to leg it back to swim number 1 to have his moment. His was another cracking mirror with irregular linear scaling, and we got to share the moment with the lads as we held a photo session in the morning sun.

Brekky time so we got the BBQ on and let rip. Another pal lost a fish in the weed at 11am which was disappointing, but it meant that every swim had done a bite which was promising for the next 24 hrs. We chilled for the day, redid the rods, and swim number 2 did the next fish at around 7pm. Another dark coloured linear. The quality of these fish is right up there.

As we headed into darkness, I was a little concerned that I wasn’t seeing anything of interest in swim 3, and I was kind of expecting a blank night. So it proved but the action continued elsewhere with one more lost and 2 more banked by the lads. One was a nice fat black linear mirror and the other a gnarly little fully scaled mirror.

By 10am we were due to leave, and we were already planning next years trip. Action had been consistent (although I do think that now we know the swims/spots we’d probably have quite a few more on the next trip). All swims did bites, and the fish were well spread out. Not great for competitive feeding, but great to give everyone a decent chance of a take. The quality of the fishing is good, but it’s the quality of the fish themselves that really sets the place apart. The majority of the fish are quite young but to look at you’d think they’ve been there forever. All black and scaley and awesome.

So, to summarise: excellent place, great facilities, pretty swims, nice and secluded, good fishing and GREAT fish. Too pricey for a regular venue, but as a treat: awesome.

I've seen a video of that social area, looks an amazing place tbh,next level isn't it, and that is a lovely fish.reading that has made me more excited for our social at Ashmire now, 

[kevtaylor]

6 hours ago, yonny said:

Right lads, I can’t say that this write-up will be anything like my usual slog of a session (I was limited to one swim on a social after all), but it’s a great opportunity to review the venue which was the island on W1 South Lake. Let me start by saying it’s hands down the best social venue I’ve fished. Absolutely brilliant place. It’s not cheap so not best suited to regular trips, but as a special occasion or a bit of a treat it’s awesome.

Me and five of my pals arrived at midday as required by the venue rules and crossed the bridge to the island. First thing we did was take a tour of the island which holds a fire pit with benches, an undercover area with BBQ, tables, worktops, electric points, a fridge, wood, and coal. About as luxurious as you’ll find in the UK. There are 5 swims around the island, well-spaced to avoid anglers interfering with each other. Three of the swims offer open water fishing, one has its own bay, and the other faces another island. All of them have access to funky margin spots so between them you have access to all types of fishing. Something for everyone.

We did several laps in preparation for the swim draw and spotted the odd fish round the whole island. Numbers were drawn from a hat and 1st place really struggled to choose. All the swims looked good, and the consensus was that we’d all be happy in any swim. I came out of the draw 3rd and got my first-choice swim which was swim number 3, an area of open water facing southeast. As there were 6 of us, 2 had to double up which isn’t so much of a problem in that 3 swims are double swims.

The afternoon was spent leading around to find spots and this did take time. It’s a very weedy lake and I’d say not suited to anyone that’s not seasoned in fishing heavy weed. With all those leads flying about we kind of knew that a take on day 1 was unlikely and so it proved as the carp we were seeing went to ground. Hardly any sightings for the rest of the day. With all that said, I was lucky in that my first cast found the spot I wanted to fish. A bit deep for this time of year at ~13ft but nice and solid, and surrounded by weed. Line lay was brutal due to fishing over a bank of weed bigger than my house but hey, needs must.

So, with rods sorted we open the beers, chill out, crank up the bbq and light the fire. As the sun goes down, we do the odd lap to soak in the atmosphere and check for signs of carp. I did spot one off the back of my spot, so I was confident. The night was tricky for some of the group and a couple of takes got lost due to hook pulls in the weed. The sun came up and tbh I couldn’t believe I hadn’t had a take, such was my confidence the previous night. It was 08:30 by the time my right-hand buzzer finally told me a carp had made a mistake, so I consequently picked up the rod and beasted this carp over the majority of the weed and played it out under the tip where I could keep an eye on it.

After 10 mins plodding about in the margin, I scooped it up and had a quick peek. It was a minter, black along the back, chestnut flanks, with half linear scaling. I secured the net and called for my mate but as soon as he came over his buzzer went into over-drive, and he had to leg it back to swim number 1 to have his moment. His was another cracking mirror with irregular linear scaling, and we got to share the moment with the lads as we held a photo session in the morning sun.

Brekky time so we got the BBQ on and let rip. Another pal lost a fish in the weed at 11am which was disappointing, but it meant that every swim had done a bite which was promising for the next 24 hrs. We chilled for the day, redid the rods, and swim number 2 did the next fish at around 7pm. Another dark coloured linear. The quality of these fish is right up there.

As we headed into darkness, I was a little concerned that I wasn’t seeing anything of interest in swim 3, and I was kind of expecting a blank night. So it proved but the action continued elsewhere with one more lost and 2 more banked by the lads. One was a nice fat black linear mirror and the other a gnarly little fully scaled mirror.

By 10am we were due to leave, and we were already planning next years trip. Action had been consistent (although I do think that now we know the swims/spots we’d probably have quite a few more on the next trip). All swims did bites, and the fish were well spread out. Not great for competitive feeding, but great to give everyone a decent chance of a take. The quality of the fishing is good, but it’s the quality of the fish themselves that really sets the place apart. The majority of the fish are quite young but to look at you’d think they’ve been there forever. All black and scaley and awesome.

So, to summarise: excellent place, great facilities, pretty swims, nice and secluded, good fishing and GREAT fish. Too pricey for a regular venue, but as a treat: awesome.

Go on lad, sounds wicked, well done and a cracker to boot!  More of these venues popping up all over which is great, I think I'm at the age where I'd rather pay more and go less often but have a better experience overall 👍