- This is not a heavily stocked commercial fishery consequently it pays to walk round quietly and assess where the fish are likely to be.
- The fish like warm water.
- If it is chucking the rain down and the brook is very coloured then the fish will be in the coloured water and feeding there even in the depths of winter. The rain bearing winds are often relatively mild so the fresh water may be warmer than the water in the lake but it will be bringing in food items anyway.
- When it is breezy the fish tend to be at the end the wind is blowing into but if it’s blowing from the shallow end and the sun is shining then that will warm up later in the day and the fish may move up there.
- When it is sunny and calm the top layer of water warms up and the fish will often be near the top so you might find they are at the deep end but near the top.
- When the breeze blows the water in the lake spins slowly round – down one side and up the other. If you are float fishing, particularly mid water, you may need the float and bait to move with the flow so you need to fish the side that the breeze is angling into so that it does not hold the float back. If you are fishing hard on the bottom then the flow isn’t a problem.
- The carp seem to like sweetcorn but as the fishery become more heavily fished then pellets and boilies will take over.
- Unless you are fairly sure that the fish are feeding where you are casting ( mud being stirred up by carp or bubbles by tench) you will need to loose feed lightly and often or put in some groundbait to attract and hold their attention. When it is warm and the fish are stirring up the mud it is usually better to fish a bait on the bottom.
- Wild carp are different from the other carp. They have a similar shape to large chub and tend to cruise near the surface and are active in cold conditions. They sometimes will push up the feeder stream through very low water and will often feed by scooping up a big mouthful of mud and swim along trailing cloud of mud for yards. They do not seem to be quite as wary as common carp and will sometimes swim under the platform that you are fishing from. They are wanderers and can pop up and grab your bait anywhere in the lake when nothing is happening. Very odd.
- Baits. Maggots, sweetcorn, pellets, worms and bread all work well. Liquidised bread and bread punch can be great in the deeper water when they are feeding off the bottom. The Rudd in particular will feed very near the top (at times). Method feeders work well at times for the carp and tench..
Tight lines.