After all the excesses of Christmas and New Year, Jim, Connor and I decided to clear our heads and get in afternoons fishing at Wood Lane Farm Fishery, situated in Iver, Buckinghamshire.
Wood Lane farm Fishery on a somewhat warmer day.As we turned into the car park it became apparent that no one shared our thoughts on this grey, blustery day. At least we had first pick of swims as no one else had ventured out to try and tempt the match lake's large population of skimmers and carp. We chose our swim for comfort rather than one which may produce better fishing and set up with the wind at our backs in a sheltered corner of the match lake.
We all set up waggler rigs fished slightly over depth with double red maggot as hook bait. Small amounts of loose-fed maggots and casters completed our plan of attack. It took quite a while to tempt the fish into feeding but after about an hour we started to pick up the odd skimmer as bites started to come more frequently. Upping the feed rate a bit tempted the fish into feeding pretty well and amongst the regular skimmers, we caught quite a few of the fast-growing F1s in the lake.
Wood Lane Farm Fishery only opened to anglers around 6 months ago and already the F1s we caught in the summer has packed on a fair amount of weight. Fish we were catching around the 8oz - 1lb mark are now tipping the scales at around 2-4lb. Talking to Danny the owner (who I think was quite surprised to see anyone fishing on this dreary winter day) he explained that the carp in the second lake are now nudging the lower double mark.
Around mid-afternoon, the leaden skies opened and a steady drizzle soon got the better of Jimmy "Tangles" and Connor who had unfortunately forgotten their umbrella and they were soon heading for the car for some shelter. Bites dried up soon after as we approached dusk and we decided to call it a day. I caught around 20 fish in all including around 4 or 5 carp in under 3 hours which was pretty good. Apparently, recent winter matches (one which even included Keith Arthur) have been won with well over 100lb. Not bad at all.
Give Wood Lane a try....I think you'll find its worth it.
Til next time, happy fishing!! Paul @ Fish South East.
