Where has time gone ?

 Hi all well first things first  yet another apology , for all my plans to do updates its all fallen apart .

This update was planned over a week ago but on trying to turn my laptop on I discovered it was dead and had to source a decent refurbed one .I was told by the wife that the proviso for splashing cash on this was I had to do more blogging so after this quick catch up I will lay out my plans for the future .

Where to start , well so much has happened in the last 2 years that I couldn't cover it all so will just skim the big bits , again I'm afraid there wont be many pictures on this one .

The biggest thing that's happened and it is very sad news that my beloved little dog Dizzy has left us . in the last few months of her life she had several issues due to doggie dementia , her arthritis and to cap it all she started suffering from severe kidney issues , we put her on a special diet which she hated and so we took the decision to let her have what she wanted and enjoy her last times .On the 4th of august 2024 after a terrible night with her ,  where at the end she crawled up my chest and looked it my eyes I could tell she was ready to leave us .Holding her in the vets while they injected her is the worse experience of my life . Both me and my wife were heart broken and were in floods of tears for weeks and even typing this is bringing it all back . it was the hardest and easiest decision ever , a week later we had to pick up her ashes and that was even worse , she is sat in a special box with her favourite toy sat on it looking at me . 14 year old rescue who changed our lives and gave us so many happy memories .

   We decided we would not even consider having another until I retire and even then would take something special , well best laid plans and all that in April 2025 we spotted a rescue online at a local rescue center , I didn't feel anywhere near ready to have another but we decided to at least meet him , well he was a totally different character to Dizzy but he seemed ok so asked for another meeting at our home , well he came running into the room , went straight to the table with Dizzy's ashes on and put his paws on the table sniffed the box which scared me death but he just dropped straight back down and came and sat and looked at me , sounds crazy but it felt like a sign and so he is now part of the house hold , he is a mixed breed rescue from Spain and we have named him Eddie , he has had a few issues and is a work in progress but he is settling down with just a few wrinkles to sort out . Fishing was a bit hit and miss with him but something we have adjusted to but more of that in a moment .So I give you Eddie or as I call him quite a lot knobhead .

So fishing , well its been up and down emotion wise . Had a good year in 2024 landing 79 carp including another 21lb leather and multiple 19's and 18's but also noticed alot more smaller fish appearing , also had some serious issues with a couple of new members who were only 14 years old , one of them was abusive and aggressive to a number of senior members including me , he came close getting a slap on more than one occasion plus him and his friends made loads of noise let massive amounts of litter . The attitude of those in charge was that they couldnt do anything as they were minors , these was the beginning of multiple problems not just from them but from other new members . 2025     was a poorer year for me , a mix of not focusing and letting things around me on the lake affect me resulted in reduced catches , this wasnt helped by changing my bait , which I then changed back , more issues began to affect things in the shape of dodgy rigs , people fishing out of bounds , multiple fish trailing rigs and rigs left hanging in the trees , the only bailiff who only got down for a couple of hours twice a week in the afternoon was a bit powerless , we also had issues with people turning up after dark and suspect that fish thefts were in progress . Me and another member were asked if we would help out checking tickets , checking rigs and generally keeping an eye out , well it started off well enough a few dodgy rigs were found on inspection and most accepted the advice , however there was a coupe who didnt and it came to a head with the other guy when he was almost pushed into the lake , the guy was banned , his fishing partner wasnt happy . my own watershed was the first week of July , I was alone on the lake with Eddie who once he is in his crate for the night never moved even if I had a fish , well 4.15am in the morning he went mental and when I checked outside found a bloke with a head torch on walking round , when I told him he wasnt allowed on til daylight when the gate was open , following load of abuse and lies from him he disappeared and the next thing I know he is setting up just down from me and started doing a video . As soon as it was light enough I contacted the main bailiff for advice and also took the decision to cut my session short and began packing up , when the bailiff arrived he asked me to go round with him to speak to him . After he called me a liar 4 times I gave him some free advice , the bailiff told him he had broke 5 rules plus some of his tackle was illegal and told he had to leave and was banned , he wasnt happy and claimed to know the owner and was going to speak to him , he was advised not to and me and the bailiff went to report the incident , the owner agreed with the action taken and it was left at that . A week later I arrived for another session and a couple of hours after I had set up the owner came round and after a quick catch up he told the  guy from the previous week and rug him and given his version and he was to be allowed back on , when I questioned this he said it was my word against the bloke , I asked if he thought I was lying and he refused to answer , I said it wasnt very good not backing your bailiffs to which he replied who said you were a bailiff you are just a punter !!!! After 3 years on there keeping an eye out and supposedly be classed as good friend it was like a slap in the face , on speaking to the other guy he told me he had been told virtually the same and that they didnt want people banning as they want the money , so the question asked was why have rules if you aint enforcing them . I left and other than a few hours fishing for roach I have not been back yet and no one has been in touch and asked why .

So what next ? well I decided to do some early morning surf fishing luring for bass , big learning curve I managed 3 on 3 sessions but nothing bigger than a 35cm one but enjoyed it . Unfortunately times when I could get out after the first 3 sessions coincided with a mixture of wrong tides and mental storm conditions , which I suspect someone with more experience might have done better but I will be keeping at it come spring , including a few wanders looking for spots .

    So to bring it up to date have had a couple of sessions on a new place but only days , the first was a blank and was told its a hard venue , its 1 acre and currently has 67 carp in it including 20 new fish that have replaced the ones that the otters killed before the fence was put up , my 2nd trip resulted in one of the stockies at 14.10 .

 

So where am I right now ? well I have a choice of 3 possible places , the one in the last bit , ticket starts in April but only has limited places , another place that as of yet I have seen that again starts in April and you have to meet the owner first to see if you are going to fit in , the downside to this one is you cant do nights on your first year and my final choice is to bite the bullet and go back to original venue and after speaking to my wife , she told me that wherever I end then I just go fish and dont get involved in anything .

So the new blog system I have planned is at least a fortnightly update even if its just an explanation of what I have been upto or even reviews of tackle or books .

So til next time stay safe everyone

A sad end and an unexpected return

 Well after saying my last blog that I would do more regular updates , well best laid plans and all that.Having my rolds stolen still hurts over 2 years later , truth is I never felt comfortable on the venues after it but stuck at it and continued to catch but things started going downhill .

Like most clubs the rules state everyone is a bailiff and you should report any rule breaking or problems .On 2 occasions I reported  trees been down and damaging the otter fence , the first time the lake warden at the time came down and i reeled my rods in and gave him a hand for over an hour to remove the tree , the 2nd time the fishery manager replied saying it had been down a few days and wasnt a problem , this was very frustrating as the club committee was constantly banging on about closing gates and been vigilant about the otters . Things deteriorated more when I reported 3 different guys on 3 separate occasions for breaking rules . I found out that 3 had either friends or friends of friends on the committee , so nothing got done and they were even told that it was me who reported them .

I have encountered the odd jealous angler in the past but when 90% of those fishing the lake are moaning about you catching and them not then you have to take a step back and think about things .I had virtually decided my time was coming to an end when I saw a video on a members facebook page showing how he was set up in a swim and he was setup way beyond the legal distance from his rods , when I gave him a heads up about this and that the club was clamping down on this , he commented he didnt care , I said he shouldnt worry anyway as club didnt really care about enforcing rules .

What happened next was unbelievable , a lake warden from another lake and the membership secretary got their heads together and concocted a story that I had posted it on the clubs own facebook page and that they had removed it before anyone saw it and banned me from the page .

I heard that I was to discussed at a committee meeting and would be getting a warning letter .I heard nothing official but there was at least one genuine bloke on the committee who knew the truth and even had a quiet word with the chairman and told him but he didnt want to know . Interestingly enough the lake warden who was in on it is in the club under an assumed name plus the rule breaker is now the lake warden . I took the decision that I would leave the club when my ticket ran out and wouldnt fish the big lake again but do hit and run sessions on a couple of others . Having heard guys leaving the club due to not catching any carp from the big lake and others saying it them a year to catch one , my figures were 45 nights landing 49 carp , 25 over 20lb , I also lost 8 .

I ended up doing 8 or 9 day sessions on a couple of the other waters , landing 15 carp to 19lb .

I heard that the club lost 100 members the year I left , the majority due to a couple of rule changes that impacted people financially .

 1 year on I admit I do. miss a couple of the venues but the hassle was worth it .

When we moved down here I accepted the trade off , a better quality of life for reduced fishing choices . I now had to find somewhere to go , I could rule out most of them as they were commercials or holiday park venues , ok for the odd day for anything other than the carp. In the end I returned to take alook at Oakside , the subject of my fishing for ghosts blog . I got permission from Brian the owner to have a few walks round again . I chose the quietest times so I could spot fish in the margins , I managed to see enough to convince the precious fish moving rumours were not true . I spoke to Brian and secured a ticket . I completed my first year back 2 months ago and managed 74 carp , my biggest been a pb leather of 21.04 , also landed 5 different 19lb commons . Its not an easy venue which suits me , the fish are lovely hard fighting ones . I have had a few sessions for other species including a session on bread punch that put 30lb of roach , rudd , bream and crucian carp . I had a couple of exploratory sessions for eels and caught them to just under 3lb but it has done a 7lber .

Since I renewed my ticket I have done 5 sessions , the first 2 I landed 3 fish in each but have not had a sniff since .

From my understanding the history of the lake is as follows . Brian had it dug to his own specifications in 1988 , it is roughly 4 acres and has 4 different size islands , depths vary between 3 and 11ft , its a multi species lake but has no pike in it but does have some nice perch , which I have yet to fish for . It was was stocked with 250 carp originally and a smaller stocking of 80 a few years later , the biggest official is around 28lb but there are bigger uncaught ones . the way things stand other than the odd day ticket else where this will probably be my final fishing venue .

I apologies for the lack of photos and less than brilliant content , I will add a few photos here and try and be more proactive from now on 

 

Almost 2 years !!!!!!

Wow  almost 2 years since I last updated my blog . I have to apologize , at least 3 times I have set aside time to update but never managed to .

Obviously I cant possibly cover everything that has happened so will just do a brief cover and hopefully get back to more regular posts from now on .

News on the personal front , Well I left my job at Morrisons Bodmin at the end of February this year and moved to what on paper and after negotiations looked to be better for me , more hours , closer to home  and promise of  been treat properly plus chance to earn more money . the first 2 were true but the last 2 fell a long way short , so after only 3 weeks I left . I reapplied for my old job back at Morrisons but despite 3 applications and numerous emails , I received no replies .I then found another position , alot more money but a longer distance from home . I was offered a 3 month probation period but was let go after 8 weeks as due to my anxiety was unable to fulfill all the required duties . A day after my notice ran out I attended an induction for my original job working in home delivery at the Newquay Morrisons and will start properly tomorrow morning .

Right fishing I couldn't possibly cover everything that has happened since my last blog so will just give a very brief rundown and some stats .

After speaking to both the owner and his son regarding fish movements ( see fishing for ghosts blog ) .I found their responses both unacceptable and extremely dismissive and took the decision not to renew my tickets . I started having a good look round for a suitable venue and eventually decided on a local club who own a number of old clay works that vary in size from 1 acre up to 12 acres , all of these have some vast depths in them and 2 actually go over 60 feet .

I started on one of the medium size lakes but since it was still winter struggled a little for the carp , I did manage to stalk a 6lb common in the middle of January . I then switched my attention to a 1 acre lake that is literally 3 minutes drive from my home .There are no carp in this lake but it does hold some quality roach , rudd and tench plus a large head of bream , my biggest roach so far has been 1lb 1oz , rudd 1lb 7oz , tench 4lb 2oz and bream around 2lb .I have not fished for them yet but there are rumours of some good eels in it and also in the other lakes . I moved onto the 2nd biggest lake in mid march and obviously the water had still not warmed up but managed a 9lb mirror and 9lb 3oz leather carp in one session but decided to pull off due to the amount of lost tackle left by others both hanging in the far bank trees and in the far margins .

I then spent April fishing the original lake for the roach that it holds .On the 30th April I ventured onto the clubs largest lake that has a reputation for been a bit tricky , to the extent that at the end of my first year in the club numerous new members had left due to not having a single fish . Within 3 hours of setting up I landed one of the original carp and biggest a mirror which was also a new pb of 34lb 4oz .

At the time of writing this blog I have done 39 nights and landed 36 carp and lost another 7 , as well as the big mirror I have had 19 over 20lb . One fish I lost was particularly painful as it was the biggest common in the lake , which was last caught 3 years ago at a weight of 26lb 12oz , it was the worst kind of loss as the hook pulled as its head was at the net cord . I had one other negative experience and that was last September , when I packed up and loaded the van , I had arrived the previous evening near to dark and didnt notice all the bits of paper and rubbish in the bivvy area , having loaded everything except the rod holdall , ground sheet and rubbish bag I picked up the groundsheet and discovered the rubbish so cleared it up and put it in the back of the van and closed the doors , not realising I had left my rod holdall against the tree behind me . I drove home and it wasnt until a day later that realised my mistake , needless to say the holdall had gone , given the weight of the holdall plus the fact the venue is gated it seemed a good bet another member had picked it up and I expected to see a post in clubs facebook page but non appeared , I informed the club and the police but the police could do nothing . Subsequently a member came forward with a van and registration that had gone in the swim 2 or 3 hours after I left unfortunately the police couldnt do anything as they needed a witness to say they saw them put my holdall in the van , the club wouldnt or couldnt track the van and so £2000 of gear was gone . I didnt fish for 3 weeks and when I returned the locals told me they had been watching out for the van but that is the one and only time it has been seen .

So hopefully thats brought things up to speed and hopefully my updates will return to been more regular               

Fishing for Ghosts

 Well here we are in the 3rd week of september and I will get to the title later but first a update from last time to the present . First big news is that I have secured the perfect job , I started work at Morrisons in Newquay in late May , picking orders for home delivery , working a minimum of 16 hours , I have had to do 36 hours for a month due to holiday makers but things have settled down now and also I have managed to get a transfer to the Bodmin branch , which is a smaller and calmer store , currently doing 20+ hours over 4 days .

Straight my after my last blog I tried my hand at bass fishing , well after 7 very pre dawn starts , it turned out I was in the right areas but was a few weeks too early but at least I got to try all the new gear and get used to it . I joined a couple of the bass groups on facebook and a group of guys got in touch offering help and even invited me down to fish a new secret spot they had found , I only managed a small schoolie but god was it fun , though the trip up and down the hill to the spot was a bit tiring to say the least , I wont name the guys as dont want them getting loads of pms asking for location of spot but thanks guys and I will be back .

This is where my bassing peaked , my next rip was to a spot near home that involved so rock climbing , on the first trip I met one of the lads and we did the climb at 3am in darkness with no issues and no fish , a couple of weeks later and amid reports of odd fish been caught we returned but at 5 in the afternoon , now up till now i had been using a shoulder bag and had already realised that I needed a back pack as climbing these spots you need balance , this was brought home to me with a bump when I was crossing a gap in the rocks and bag swung backwards , pulling off balance in mid stride and resulted in what guy with me said was me doing a backflip and disappearing off the rocks , though he remained calm he admitted some time later he thought I was a goner . I probably fell about 6 feet and landed on my head and back but luckily managed to spread myself and stop from falling off the ledge I landed on which would have been a drop of about 25 feet and a bounce of the odd stuck out rock and into the Atlantic .

I took a few minutes to recover and despite a bit of blood coming from the back of my head we carried on to the spot but despite a couple of hours of trying no fish were forthcoming and we headed back without further incident . I go Lou to take pics of my cuts and scrapes and expected to feel a bit stiff the next day but was ok .

I also had numerous scrapes down my left leg but nothing major and escaped lightly unlike a few others in the past , lesson learned , I now have a brand new bass rucksack and a few more lures and bits ,I did a few more sessions off the beaches before the tourists arrived but no more fish and took the decision to return to the lake and the carp .

I wont go in to every session but its been tough , the naturals have exploded , the tourists have hit it and bait has been pilling in I have managed a few more fish with the biggest been a 15.07 common 

  The last few weeks have seen some big weight slumps , we are now getting close to the ghosts . I bought a Free Spirit 9ft Creeper rod and a lovely thing it is , as you can imagine stalking carp in the margins on a busy lake where despite there been an alleged ban on walking round if not fishing without permission , countless folk do , so its a case of going down for last couple of hours daylight , after 3 sessions of frustration , it turned out the carp in the these margin actually nearly scrape the side of the bank , so its a case of literally last 2 inch of rod tip over water and rig no more than 12 inch out in lake 

Well I have manged these 4 fish since perfecting method , 11.00 common , 6.10 mirror , 7.08 common and 7.14 common . not huge fish but decent scrap . I have had 3 or 4 more chances ruined by the bank walkers .

Now we come to the ghosts , I will first put all the pics I have of the lake from differing angles and leave you think about this . If your going to have a new lake dug in place of the 15 small stock pools and you want a specimen carp and mixed fishery , would you use the one in the pics for specimens and new one for the mixed fishery ? I know which I would do.

 

Sadly the owner and his son have decided the old stock pond is to be developed into the new specimen lake , which is fine until you do some digging and discover that rather than buy the fish for it they have been secretly moving the big fish from this lake , in the lockdown the son and couple of his mates fished the lake and at least 6 of the biggest fish were caught and transferred and it transpires that it has been happening before and since , hence fishing for ghosts , now me been me I have confronted the owner and son on different occasions and questioned them about it .

The owner denied it outright but turned his back and changed the subject , the son said he had moved one mid 20 as it had mouth damage and did it for it to recover , that was 6 months ago and no sign of return , he denied any other moves but added , what if we have they are our carp , mmmmmmm he wasnt impressed when I pointed out they were selling both season and day tickets under false pretences in the form of website stating the stock . Its a lovely lake but thats not enough , add to this the fact that bailiff has caught folk breaking rules including the no leadcore or tiger nuts , he has also received verbal abuse and the owner refused to do anything or back him up but then its no surprise as those doing it are his sons friends .

I have sadly decided not to renew my ticket in december and will be buying the South West Water ticket and accessing the reservoirs .

Well thats it for this time but I promise a better read next time ,

Tight Lines and stay safe everybody