Fishpool Pleasure Fishing

With the continuing milder than usual weather I thought that between my ever growing work load I'd pop over to fish the AMAL's one and only Stillwater Fishpool, its a great lake with 26 numbered pegs, its around an acre in size with three islands so every peg has some island to fish to and at least on near bank bush to try a catch their quarry, and there are plenty of fish to go at, the main quarry are carp and I thought there were two age groups in the lake, the original commons were stocked into a nearly virgin water some 15years ago they were 2 to 3 lbs and had a real hankering for bread as their previous home was a holiday park with lots and lots of ducks and you guessed it , lots of willing people with their Mothers Pride, the next stock were purchased at 4 to 6 oz they were a mix of mirrors and commons and those went in 7 ish yrs ago, theses fish are 3 to 6lb and there are plenty of them,  I earlier said I thought there were two age classes, that was until my latest visit when I caught 4 small carp 4oz and in fin perfect condition, I was chuffed, this means our water is now self stocking and the fry are obviously now surviving, thanks I'm sure in part to the fact that John ( one of our bailiff's) religiously fed the lake during those cold winter months with some wheat based animal feeds, and to watch the carp feeding in the area just a few minutes after being fed in the clear cold January waters you just knew it was a great idea, thanks John. There are plenty of silvers to have a go at too, bream around 3lb are not uncommon and these fish have had a great breeding year with a stack of 2 to 4inch skimmers in the lake, perch are present with some big girls lurking in there my best is 2lb 10oz and after a fish kill under the ice three years ago , we removed 3 big perch that together weighed 10lb, gulp. Roach are there for those who want to fish and feed lightly.
So to my pleasure session, after 5 hours on peg 15 feeding micro pellets and home cooked chilli hemp at 10m I fished 4mm expanders or dead red's on the size18 with a 4 x 12 float, slack 10's elastic to allow me not to bump the silvers, fish came through out, seven carp from 3 to 4lb and 4 baby carp, 6lb of silvers included 2 big skimmers of a pound each, our other bailiff Alan was fishing peg 18, and after a slow frustrating start he did manage to land a few of the lakes zoo creatures at 9lb each, mainly fishing meat in the margins. I did however curse myself because for the last 30 yrs of fishing I only took photos on an as and when basis, but now I do this blog I should be taking more and just as my last fish swam away from the margins I thought "oh crap " no photos Ian, doh.
Day tickets are available from Match Catch of Syston or Bennetts of Mountsorrel, or on the bank through our great bailiffing team, £5 on presentation of your AMAL book or £7 if your not a member, I personally don't charge juniors who fish on our lake, I feel its important to encourage the young uns. The lake is located  400m along Big Lane going towards Walton on the Wolds, travelling away from Paudy crossroads on Paudy Lane near Barrow on Soar ( google maps show you the way so much easier than I've just tried)
The AMAL are running a series of monthly matches on Fishpool, if anyone would like to fish them please contact me via a comment below. the next one is November 23.

Water Booked                                   Date of Booking         Club Booking Waters Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013       AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar Barrow Deeps                                     27/10/2013       SVWL
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               3/11/2013         SVWL
R Soar  Deeps                                                 9/11/2013         AMAL
R Soar 1860 + Cobbles                     17/11/2013        SVWL                                          
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013       Jelson AC
Fishpool                                                          23/11/2013       AMAL
 Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               24/11/2013        SVWL
Barrow Canal                                     01/12/2013                    MatchCatch
Barrow Canal                                      22/12/2013                   MatchCatch

 As ever guys your input adds an extra dimension to the blog so any pictures/catch reports/reminesence's are all welcome, cheers for now Ian

Falling between two stones

After the 8lb 8 Zander PB of last week my appetite was well and truly wetted, so a couple of days later I finished work early and got on the Soar, with no rain she is rather slow and clear , and with temperatures in the high teens and the promise of a cold front moving down the country in the next couple of days I didn't want to waste the opportunity. On my trip earlier in the week I'd seen a couple of carp showing and with the area having quite a few features I thought I'd split my options and fish one rod for carp and the other for the Zed's. Carp wise it was hemp, maize and pellets for freebies with either maize, 14mm Halibut or boilie on the hook, my record for Soar carp isn't the best, some 15 rod nights and one 16lb common to show so I'm used to blanking (apart from bream, chub and tench disturbing my sleep ) and suffice to say this rod stayed unbent again.
 The other rod however didn't ,  in fairness I wasted the Zed rod because it was in the river , primed and ready at about 4 pm, several hours too early for my quarry to be feeding, time would have been better spent carp/bream fishing, but hey ho. So the Zed rod didn't move till 8pm when a lean mean pike snaffled my half roach on retrieve, I had a 5lb 8 zander at 9 and then at 11pm a very quick bite was met with solid resistance that then moved off, after a good tussle in the dark , a white submarine glides to the waters surface and slide into the now , a bit too small landing net. I must admit I thought I'd got a double as the fish lay in the net, the scales scoffed me as she went 8lb 12 ,

a new PB and that warm feeling you have when you succeeded in your quest, if only I'd have had both rods out for Zander.........Doh,  I stuck it for all of half an hour then shot off before the chippy shut lol. I did meet a like minded soul on the bank that night, Dan had fished a couple of nights before and had a 4lbish carp after some prebaiting which spurred me on too, on the night in question we had a chat and his fish tally stood at one bream, but as they say, you don't catch fish sat on the sofa, nice to see you Dan keep in touch.
So with autumn really rolling in I'm thinking the carp wont feed quite as freely as the predators, Zeds and pike fpr me for a while then.
AMAL BUSINESS
This time of year brings the Soar Valley Winter League to the fore, and I received the match dates and water booking's from Loughborough Soars Brian Hull, this series of matches really does bring the prime east midlands river anglers together and believe me the competition is fierce. I fished this league for quite a few years and I thought I could fish, but some of these guys could catch fish in Beaumont Leys Leisure pool. So to date the following AMAL stretches are booked for matches , so please don't use them on these dates.


Water Booked                                   Date of Booking         Club Booking Waters Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013       AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar Barrow Deeps                                     27/10/2013       SVWL
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               3/11/2013         SVWL
R Soar  Deeps                                                 9/11/2013         AMAL
R Soar 1860 + Cobbles                     17/11/2013        SVWL                                          
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013       Jelson AC
Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013       Jones and Shipman
R Soar 1860 and Cobbles                               24/11/2013        SVWL

As ever guys your input adds an extra dimension to the blog so any pictures/catch reports/reminesence's are all welcome, cheers for now Ian

Catching some Zeds ;-)

Well as the autumn goes on thoughts of predators come to mind, and having caught some tiny roach I thought I'd have a go for the Soars Zander, I as bailiff/secretary/part time speci hunter have heard tales of good Zander from the river, including a 12lb "golden" specimen from the Pillings section. Zed's are well documented in the stilwaters that flood into the Soar around Syston, I myself had a couple of half right fish from the Syston Soar, but with a 20yr old son boasting of his 10lb King Lear fish the pressure was well and truly on, so with the other half off on a girls night out I seized the chance to get out into the local layby's , park up and march off to the river ;-), I always thought that them alien species fed as dusk decended and stopped an hour after lights out ala perch. Well I set up with an hour of daylight left and having found I'd forgotten my wire trace's I had to fanny about making up some 14inch traces, single size4 attached to Drennan 12lb wire, dead small roach was the bait, I cut the tail off and cut into the body cavity to pop the swimbladder and release them there juices. Crayfish are a bit of a pain here and I will take a net next time to catch them so if anyones got a good recipe I'm all ears. Daylight passed and to be honest if it hadn't been for a new DAB radio and a shiney new I phone to play with I'd have been back in the lay by much earlier, but hay ho come 10pm the right hand rod gave a couple of bleeps and the improvised shower curtain bite indicator rose nicely and I struck into what I thought was the bottom, then the bottom thumped and I thought hell I've got one on, after a couple of false attempts the white submarine rose to the waiting net and with all the satisfaction that comes with catching your chosen prey I lifted the net, after some cafufle I got the fish weighed 8lb 8 she went, elation PB beaten by 2lb8oz. I slipped her back after a quick pic on the new phone rueing the mistake of leaving the camera at home, 10 mins later little brother's gracing the net, about 3lb, I don't know I was a bit blasey now, I mean I've smashed my PB so this was small fry lol. I packed up just before the chippy shut after all the good lady wouldn't be cooking a hearty meal after her night out ;-) . The Soar's zander are obviously growing well, maybe that's why the roach fishing is in decline, who knows, all I can say that there's a cracking bit of sport to be had if you want to park up in lay bys and get your tackle out.

 All 8lb 8 of Soar Zander

 I for one will be out again and I'm hoping to make my son's PB look small with a true river fish.
To change the subject the AMAL have some 2000 associate members and I'd love to receive some reports from our guys/gals who are fishing our waters, please message me with reports and I'll enlighten the world of our exploits. Cheers for now

Fishpool Match Results and more Goodies

We're now into October and the autumns well on the way, but hopefully the change of season will also bring some much needed rain and give the rivers a flush through, at the moment the Soar is low and clear ( Something we couldn't have called the Soar 20years ago, more like low and purple would be a truer statement), but the clarity isn't all bad, the Soars roach population are feeding up for the winter. I fished a length controlled by Broome Angling Society last week, the day was wet and windy so short pole was the preferred method, 9m into 5ft of water. Feeding hemp and a nugget of Sensas Roach groundbait, with bread punch or fluro pinkie on the Kamasan B511 size 20 I ended the day with almost a bite every run through and 8lb ish of prime roach most over 2oz with several at 6oz, a

proper angler would have emptied it. The photo was taken when the light was good and I fished on for another hour adding 3lb or so to my net, a great day and so different to carping on the stillwaters.
 Change of venue, the Amal hosted an open match on Fishpool last Saturday, the results went like this
1st  Andrew Houlton 29lbs 14oz
2nd Dave Kimber 27lbs zero oz
3rd Gary Cooke 26lbs 12 oz

it was a tough match, the wind moved through 90 degrees during the match and went from flat calm to buffeting wind in the space of an hour, the carp were absent in my peg, I fished maggot with the thought process of feed off the silvers and the carp will move in. I'd got 6pints of red's just in case it went really well, it didn't, I had a foul hooked 4lber in the first hour which on slack 10's elastic gave me a real tussle and a legitimate 4lber in the fourth hour, apart from that it was the odd roach and skimmer it was dull, hey ho . Some of the guys had a nice day, Andy caught on the method and Dave gave a heroic display of long pole fishing, being rewarded with some nice fish from the far island, personally Dave I'd have fished 4m away from my keepnet in the reedbed and saved my back from days of pain after the match lol.

Some members clubs have booked some matches with the AMAL and I'll endeavour to post these so season ticket holders can see where they should avoid and when.
Water Booked                                   Date of Booking                         Club Booking Waters
Fishpool                                                          26/10/2013                            AMAL
R Soar Mounsorrel 1860+waterside               27/10/2013                           Jones and Shipman
Fishpool                                                          17/11/2013                           Jelson AC
Barrow Canal                                                  24/11/2013                           Jones and Shipman
If anyone wants to fish the Fishpool match on the 26th of October please contact our match organiser Dave Houlton on 07721 493306 the match draw is 9 fish 10 til 3 with £15all in.

As always any comments or input is very welcome, thanks for looking and see you all soon