I've had a very enjoyable session at Long Shaw Farm today; Bev, her Mum, Dad & Brother had plans to spend the day at Hamstreet, there was a fair and car show, so it was a fairly straight forward logistics exercise. I drove Bev to Herne Bay, for 09.00hrs, where she met up with her brother and parents. I was then, free, able to continue on my way to Long Shaw Farm and was fishing before 09.40hrs! The day ticket costs the modest sum of £10 (for two rods) and allows access to four lakes, all of which will provide great angling.(advert over!)
I had with me three rods; two Duncan Kay's and a Tring Tench Special - with the plan to fish two rods on the bottom, until the forecast sunshine appeared, then fish a surface bait - centre-pin fitted!
Problem - the sun was shining brightly as I arrived, so I only ever fished a single bottom bait (five fish - 3 carp, 1 tench and a bream!) The surface baits produced another seven carp (no doubles - best fish going 9lbs 12oz) which were shared between the two remaining rods.
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The Rolls Royce (Match Aerial) left & The Chrysler "copycat" (Matt Hayes "Limited Edition) on the right
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I had the Matt Hayes Centrepin on a Duncan Kay (12lbs b.s. & size 8 barbless) for bullying fish out of the snags and the "Match Aeriel" on the Tring Tench Special (7lbs b.s. & size 10 barbless) for the more refined open water presentation - a bit like a Rolls Royce and a Chrysler - they are both good products, but one is just so much better than the other (reflected in the price tag!)
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A rather sad looking Tench, it has some damage to the mouth probably caused by picking up
carp baits, fished on heavy tackle? One of the problems on these heavily fished "carp puddles". |
It was a fantastic session, I spent the best part of ten hours at the venue, catching fish on a regular basis, although I have to admit that I was less than 50% successful in my hooking attempts, when using floating fishmeal pellets.
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My first ever sighting of a Barbel in Kent - and from a still-water!
Taken on a lump of bread that was fished, free-lined, in the margins. |
I did manage a first, when a fellow angler landed a, very, small Barbel. This is the first Barbel I've seen in Kent and the first one I've ever seen landed from a still-water; it weighed little more than a pound but that is unimportant. Plenty of wildlife to distract me from my task, a Common Tern was regularly patrolling the lakes, using an floating aeration platform as a resting spot. I saw a few Blue-tailed Damselflies, a single Large Red Damselfly, a Striped Hoverfly and a rather smart Marsh Harrier during the day. As usual, at this venue, Kingfishers were omnipresent, their shrill whistle alerting me to their movements around the complex. The sun shone, the fish were biting and it was an absolute pleasure to be outside - happy days!
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| Blue-tailed Damselfly - Ischura elegans |
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| Common Tern |
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| Striped Hoverfly - Helophilus pendulus |
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| My best, and final, fish of the session - a chunky little Common Carp of 9lbs 12oz |
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