August 31, 2011

• Hartleylands Farm Fishery. Nick’s Lake.

   

  

  A phone call from Dave Collier was the catalyst for todays trip out. Did I fancy a days fishing on Wednesday with him and Terry Goff? He was thinking of a day down at Hartleylands and was also going to pop down to Hawkhurst at some point and pick up a couple of sacks of pellet as he was running short. “Tell you what Dave, I’ll meet you at Hawkhurst around 9am, and we can pick up some pellet and have breakfast as well before heading off to Hartleylands”. So that’s how I came to be driving down to Kent on a pleasant sunny summers day and pulling into the car park at Hawkhurst. Dave soon had his pellet and I decided to get a 25Kg sack of 6mm’s as well as I was running a bit low .
  
  Over to the café, to find that it’s been extended since my last visit. A large ‘Full English’ was soon dispatched and as we made our way back to the cars Terry phoned, he was already at Hartleylands, but The Reservoir which we planned to fish already had lots of anglers on, so it looked like a day on Nick’s seemed favourite . 10 minutes later we pulled into the car park at the fishery to meet up with Terry, and with the roadside bank of Nick’s being free of anglers it didn’t take long to decide that Pegs 33-35 with walks of a maximum of 10 yards from the cars would do today .

  

  We soon had a gear down at the pegs, with me on Peg 35, Dave on 34 and Terry settled into 33. First things first though, and Dave soon had his stove out and the kettle on for a cuppa . With a refreshing brew sorted it was time to set the kit up. A nice relaxing day today so nothing to complicated. A 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG for the 5mtr line, a 0.2 NG Edger on 0·16 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 16 Guru MWG for the margin and another 0·2 NG XT Power Pencil on 0·18 Ultima Power Match finished off with a size 12 Guru MWG for paste at the bottom of the shelf. Bait for today was simply 6mm pellet and paste.
  
  I suppose it was about 11am by the time we started and I fed some pellet into the margins and a small pot of pellet at 5mtrs and followed that out with a banded 6mm. It didn’t take long before the float slid away and a feisty little Common of around 1½lbs kicked things off for me. Dave and Terry were soon in as well, and the tone set for the day ahead .
  
  After a couple more Carp I then started to get a run of skimmers and Roach, much to Dave’s amusement , but as it wasn’t a match I have to say that I didn’t mind, just as long as I kept getting bites. Terry was just happy to be getting a few fish after a bit of a torrid time recently down at Rolfs. He was fishing paste today and in his own words was using up all the bits and bobs of paste he’d accumulated in the freezer, and whatever they were the resident carp seemed happy enough to accept his offerings ……

  

   

  A few years back Paul (The owner) stocked 17 Barbel into the Lakes around the fishery, indeed I caught one back in 2004 when they were no more than 6 inches long, but they hardly ever show, and supposedly there are only 11 of them in Nick’s. Dave was having a rare old tussle with a fish and lo and behold what should it be, but one of those elusive Barbel ……

  

   

  After the photo, another cuppa was called for by way of celebration , while back at my peg some Carp had obviously moved into the margins, among them a little golden ghostie that kept drifting in and out. These margin fish can be a bit finicky which is why I’d set up a paste rig for down the shelf later on, but I thought I’d see if I could get a couple from the margin. I banded up an 8mm pellet on the margin rig and first put in the float buried, the culprit needless to say was the little golden ghostie ……

  

   

  By now Dave was offering paste under the overhanging willow to his left and while he was catching steadily, you could hear the odd muttered curse when an apparent sail away bite was missed, but such are the joys of fishing paste ……

  

   

  I was treated to another sail away bite, the culprit shooting off as soon as it felt the hook, and I have to say that I was more than a little surprised when the culprit popped up to be netted and revealed itself to be another Barbel ……

  

   

  As the afternoon wore on another brew up was called for , after which Dave and I took a stroll up to the Reservoir to see how it was fishing, leaving Terry happily fishing away down his margin……

  

   

  There were quite a few anglers there and it seemed that most were catching on a wide variety of methods. We cut down to take a quick look at Finches Pond before continuing round Nick’s. where yet again people were catching on a wide variety of methods and bait. Back at our pegs Terry was still happily plundering the margins, a Common being the latest to take a liking to his paste ……

  

   

  Unfortunately a couple of mishaps then befell me, firstly my elastic snapped on one top kit, then a rig snapped . However I was soon back in action and catching steadily on paste at the bottom of the shelf using just a top two. Sport was steady for the rest of the session and I called it a day at around 5pm when I’d used the last of my paste. I’d finished up with 49 Carp, 1 Barbel and a fair few skimmers and Roach, Dave had a similar catch, but with one more Carp, but Terry had the best of it with 60+ Carp today .
  
  Soon we were packed away, after what had proved to be a very pleasant and relaxed session, and farewells bid. However we’ll be seeing each other again on Saturday as we have a club match on a Private Lake in Sussex. Hopefully we’ll have a similar day then .

   

  

  

   

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