Colemans Cottage Carp Catchers Convention

#1

Simple keeps on at me to put up reports of our weeks fishing so here we go again. I hope you are not getting bored with them.

Well this week owing to various things both Tony and I had to do neither of us could make Tuesday with Colin and his son so it was down to the two of us again. I had to pick up something from Colemans Cottage plus I needed to pay some deposits for our club matches this year so we agreed to have a days fishing as well to kill two birds at the same time.

There are 4 lakes on the complex, Cottage mainly a bigger fish lake, Copse a small 20 peg lake, Pathfield 36 pegs where we usually have our club matches and Woods 40 pegs which we have fished only once just after it was built a few years ago. It seemed about time we fished Woods, as the fish have matured well, and the regular opens have produced weights up to 200lb in the summer.

I arrived at 10 am and was having a chat with Jane , the owners wife when Tony arrived 15 minutes after me. She told us that the previous days open had been won with 140lb plus and the middle of the right hand bank had been the better area. So we took a walk totally ignored the advice ( Sorry Jane) and decided on pegs 6 and 7 on the left hand bank as they were more sheltered from the wind blowing down the lake and a shorter walk.

As I didn’t feel too good I took my time setting up and fully expected Tony to be catching by the time I was ready. However he got out a rig to fish at 12 metres close to the mini islands down the centre of the lake only to find the water was too deep for it. After trying another he was almost ready to go when he noticed the only other angler on the lake catch a few carp and figured his lighter rigs wouldn’t be strong enough, so changed again By the time he had finished faffing around I had a rig for the right margin ready at around 3 foot deep and another for 6 metres straight out at around 4ft plus. Double maggot on the out rig produced 2 skimmers before he had had his first chuck.

A change to 6mm soft GOT hooker pellet very quickly gave me a 4lb carp followed by a smaller one. 9lb so far, not a bad start in 15 minutes I thought to myself. As usual it slowed a bit after the fast start but I kept catching regularly carp and skimmers. Tony meanwhile was stuck with the skimmers and hybrids although he was adding to his weight as they were between 1 and 2lb.

I had been dropping a bit of feed out of my pole pots every time I fed and after a while a movement in the water just off the platform caught me eye. There were a couple of big tails waving at me. Out came my margin rig, I stuck a couple of maggot on it and dropped it in 30 seconds later the float drifts across the surface ( I must have been a foot overdepth ), a swift strike and a few minutes later a 6lb fish is in the net.

You see Mugger Morton I havent fished with you for over 5 years without learning a thing or two.

I stayed on the margin rig as it was obvious that the carp were up for some margin feeding. A drop into my prepared margin swim at 5 metres soon confirmed I was right and a number of carp, best at around 8lb, came quickly together with a few roach and a chub or two. An hour or so at this and with a couple of hours to go it was time to switch to my favourite method at Colemans.

My margin rig would suffice at 3 sections to my left at 11 o’clock starting at 4 inches off bottom and throwing loads of maggot at it continuously. I wasn’t sure if it was too early in the year for it to work but as we had seen plenty of fish moving shallow it was worth a go. Again it didn’t take long starting with a few skimmers and roach followed by carp to 6lb and when I laid the rig in the shallower water a couple of barbel of a lb or so. A change to a rig 18 inches deep after a carp rolled on my hooklength breaking it kept the fish coming a little bit quicker.

We called it a day just after 5. My best day of the year so far and it just shows the quality of the fishing at Colemans, OK the fishing in a match is quite a bit harder but who cares when your out on a sunny spring day catching well.

I ended with 24 carp averaging better than 4lb, 2 barbel, 4 chub, a few skimmers and roach for an estimate of 117lb
Tony had a similar type of catch though his average carp was a tad smaller, he had more skimmers but also 2 bonus tench for around 90lb.

On the way out we had a chat with Gerry the owner who told us they are starting to dig another 80 peg lake with a central island at 19 to 20 metres, which will give them enough pegs to hold a Fisho qualifier
in a few years time. That will take some pressure off of Pathfield and Woods and further enhance the complex.

#2

Nice one Dave, you could break up the paragraphs with a few pictures

#3

You see Mugger Morten I havent fished with you for over 5 years without learning a thing or two.

Another good report Dave, I suppose you forgot the camera again.

Another 5 years and you'll probably learn to spell my name right MORTON

#4

Ooooppppsss.

No time for pics.... Too many fish to catch.

#5

Thats a good days fishing in anyones book, just think what a good angler would have had.

#6

Thats a good days fishing in anyones book, just think what a good angler would have had.

NO GUESTS WILL NOW BE ALLOWED AT MARSH CLUB MATCHES.

#7

Well done davec

Bet you were feeling better at the end of the day

Glad you had a good un

#8

Dave

You cannot Ban Guests from turning up on the day and making your life hell by sitting behind you and "encouraging" you as you miss another bite.

Much better to let them fish and have them at least a peg away.

#9

#10

You're getting far too much practice already