The weekend after returning from France is never a good time to ask the wife if I can go fishing, but when she says she’s busy on Sunday and I just as well go, well, I’m not one to pass on such an opportunity. But where to go? A day session means I need to find somewhere I can catch some fish but to enjoy the day if that doesn't happen, it’s carp season and that usually means one of the local day tickets fisheries, although with such weather forecast they were all sure to be full. So the plan was to visit Vale Farm Fishery, a delightful spot at Longparish near Andover in north Hampshire. There are three ponds, all containing very pretty, hard fighting carp which can be caught right under the rod tip, meaning that surface tactics with light river rod and centrepin were worthy of a trial run.
I arrived around ten minutes before 7am and saw a good few cars parked up already, never a good sign, but with three separate ponds I was sure I could find somewhere quiet to hide from the masses. A sign on the gate told me that one pond was closed due to a recent algae bloom, and on the way over the small iron bridge and towards the pools I could hear swans, and lots of them! It was also very cold, the car read three degrees but it had dropped lower than that overnight, that was evident by the amount of ground frost covering the bits the sun had yet to get to. There were twelve in total, they weren’t there the last time I’d visited, where had they come from and, more importantly, when were they going? Don’t get me wrong, I love swans,, they are wonderfully beautiful birds, but when I’ve just driven 45 minutes to fish a pool of an acre in size, with surface tactics and am greeted with twelve swans, well, I thought it would go horribly wrong. The smaller pond was full, there was no room at all, and no swans which made perfect sense. The middle pond, the largest of the three, had a few anglers camped around it but one of my favourite spots, with a large overhanging tree to the left and some kind of big shrub bush to the right, was unoccupied. The first job was to flick a few crusts under the tree and sit await proceedings, within a few minutes I heard that all too familiar schlurping sound, which prompted me to assemble the barbel rod, centrepin and sharp hook.
With so much pressure on the water and most anglers casting large things at the island, most fail to realise that the fish are practically under their feet. With three or four fish challenging for the loose crusts it was a case of hovering the baited hook over the water, selecting the largest fish and lowering at exactly the right time, the swans kept away too, a quick hiss off they’d go. It didn’t take too long and the rod tip arched, the centrepin spun and my knuckles took a bit of a battering, but I soon had the fish clear of the snags and playing nicely in open water. The light rod curved beautifully as the fish ploughed away trying to free itself. Soon enough I slipped the net under a glorious double figure mirror carp. A few quick snaps were taken and the fish was released in the margin.
The swim understandably goes a little quiet after each capture but, after introducing a few more crusts, they do tend to let you know when they are ready again. Five or so minutes passed and white lips appeared once more, followed by another pretty mirror carp being brought to the bank.
I had five in total before the swim went completely dead, and no wonder really as the water was still quite cold and I really didn’t expect the sport I’d already had. As I was travelling light I had a wander around the complex, looked for other spots to try and spoke to a few other anglers. Whilst on my travels I snapped away with the camera as the pools were looking very nice in their late spring colours.
On the lower pond it was apparent that the carp were intent on cruising around without being caught/feeding, the day was mostly bright and warm and the upper layers of the water must have felt quite good. With this in mind I found myself a quiet little area, a fairly small gap in the trees, and fished a buoyant bait a few inches under the surface, I figured that if it was “in their face” then one of them might have a snatch at it. I sat there for an hour or so, ate some lunch and enjoyed the brief moments of sunshine when the clouds didn’t block it, but no carp showed any interest in testing the bait, even though they brushed past it on several occasions. What I didn’t notice was the area directly under my rod, a shallowish (2 feet) ledge the fish were patrolling, not stopping for long but certainly visiting. I rigged up a quill float with enough depth to be just laying on the bottom, attached a chunk of luncheon meat and sat back to watch the carp’s reaction. A few minutes passed and two good fish cruised in but didn’t stop, this happened a few times and reluctantly I decided that it just wasn’t going to happen.
It was mid afternoon by now, I’d not planned to stay late so another hour or so was all I really wanted to stay, but as I approached the middle pond I noticed a few day anglers, and some of the night fishermen, had left leaving a few more swims unoccupied. It was time for stalking, five minutes in each swim was enough to catch a fish and move on to the next one, and another six fish, commons and mirrors, were caught. Nothing really big with an average weight of around 7lbs they all felt great on light tackle.
At five thirty, and with a big smile on my face I left Vale farm for home, it’d been a fantastic day’s sport at a place I really like. Yes it doe’s get busy but the layout means that most swims are sectioned off with big trees, mainly willows, and once the third lake re-opens there will be more room still. I think the next time I visit will be in the summer, I’ll take Dad along and perhaps make it a midweek session, now there’s something nice to look forward to.
I arrived around ten minutes before 7am and saw a good few cars parked up already, never a good sign, but with three separate ponds I was sure I could find somewhere quiet to hide from the masses. A sign on the gate told me that one pond was closed due to a recent algae bloom, and on the way over the small iron bridge and towards the pools I could hear swans, and lots of them! It was also very cold, the car read three degrees but it had dropped lower than that overnight, that was evident by the amount of ground frost covering the bits the sun had yet to get to. There were twelve in total, they weren’t there the last time I’d visited, where had they come from and, more importantly, when were they going? Don’t get me wrong, I love swans,, they are wonderfully beautiful birds, but when I’ve just driven 45 minutes to fish a pool of an acre in size, with surface tactics and am greeted with twelve swans, well, I thought it would go horribly wrong. The smaller pond was full, there was no room at all, and no swans which made perfect sense. The middle pond, the largest of the three, had a few anglers camped around it but one of my favourite spots, with a large overhanging tree to the left and some kind of big shrub bush to the right, was unoccupied. The first job was to flick a few crusts under the tree and sit await proceedings, within a few minutes I heard that all too familiar schlurping sound, which prompted me to assemble the barbel rod, centrepin and sharp hook.
With so much pressure on the water and most anglers casting large things at the island, most fail to realise that the fish are practically under their feet. With three or four fish challenging for the loose crusts it was a case of hovering the baited hook over the water, selecting the largest fish and lowering at exactly the right time, the swans kept away too, a quick hiss off they’d go. It didn’t take too long and the rod tip arched, the centrepin spun and my knuckles took a bit of a battering, but I soon had the fish clear of the snags and playing nicely in open water. The light rod curved beautifully as the fish ploughed away trying to free itself. Soon enough I slipped the net under a glorious double figure mirror carp. A few quick snaps were taken and the fish was released in the margin.
The swim understandably goes a little quiet after each capture but, after introducing a few more crusts, they do tend to let you know when they are ready again. Five or so minutes passed and white lips appeared once more, followed by another pretty mirror carp being brought to the bank.
I had five in total before the swim went completely dead, and no wonder really as the water was still quite cold and I really didn’t expect the sport I’d already had. As I was travelling light I had a wander around the complex, looked for other spots to try and spoke to a few other anglers. Whilst on my travels I snapped away with the camera as the pools were looking very nice in their late spring colours.
On the lower pond it was apparent that the carp were intent on cruising around without being caught/feeding, the day was mostly bright and warm and the upper layers of the water must have felt quite good. With this in mind I found myself a quiet little area, a fairly small gap in the trees, and fished a buoyant bait a few inches under the surface, I figured that if it was “in their face” then one of them might have a snatch at it. I sat there for an hour or so, ate some lunch and enjoyed the brief moments of sunshine when the clouds didn’t block it, but no carp showed any interest in testing the bait, even though they brushed past it on several occasions. What I didn’t notice was the area directly under my rod, a shallowish (2 feet) ledge the fish were patrolling, not stopping for long but certainly visiting. I rigged up a quill float with enough depth to be just laying on the bottom, attached a chunk of luncheon meat and sat back to watch the carp’s reaction. A few minutes passed and two good fish cruised in but didn’t stop, this happened a few times and reluctantly I decided that it just wasn’t going to happen.
It was mid afternoon by now, I’d not planned to stay late so another hour or so was all I really wanted to stay, but as I approached the middle pond I noticed a few day anglers, and some of the night fishermen, had left leaving a few more swims unoccupied. It was time for stalking, five minutes in each swim was enough to catch a fish and move on to the next one, and another six fish, commons and mirrors, were caught. Nothing really big with an average weight of around 7lbs they all felt great on light tackle.
At five thirty, and with a big smile on my face I left Vale farm for home, it’d been a fantastic day’s sport at a place I really like. Yes it doe’s get busy but the layout means that most swims are sectioned off with big trees, mainly willows, and once the third lake re-opens there will be more room still. I think the next time I visit will be in the summer, I’ll take Dad along and perhaps make it a midweek session, now there’s something nice to look forward to.
Nice read as always Stu, and some nice fish for a good days sport.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nick.......we all need these sort of days now and again, and I plan to have a god few more before the season starts again.
ReplyDeleteCheers
SK