PB Carp!
I heard about Robinwood Fishery from a friend of a friend of a friend, it's a fishing thing! I'd been to have a look and thought it looked a nice, quiet, accessible place to fish. On 1 May I returned and fished Lake 1, which was told, held 'plenty of Silvers'. The down side was I had not got to the tackle shop in time to buy maggots on the Saturday and 1 May was a Bank Holiday. Instead of maggots I bought some prawns and a tin of sweetcorn, neither of which was tempting any of the fish I could see topping near the bank. After some head scratching and procrastinating I moved to Lake 2 which had Carp jumping and cruising just under the surface. After throwing some free offerings into a margin under the trees I began to see activity but had no takes on either the sweetcorn or the prawns. The angler opposite asked me if I wanted to try some of his crab and krill pellets which he was doing well with, so I accepted and attached one to my hook with a small band. Within 15 minutes I'd landed a nice Mirror Carp, followed by two more before it was time to pack up. The weather was typical for the time of year and a Bank Holiday, sunshine and heavy showers and although the fishing was slow to begin with due to my bait, I will be going back to Robinwood next time armed with maggots and some pellets.
Personal best Carp...so far, 10.4lb from Woodrows
On 8 May I went back to Woodrows for another days fishing for Silvers in the margins. Armed with a pint of maggots I float fished a few feet from my rod tip and it wasn't long before I was into the Skimmers, Roach and Perch. After a quiet spell early in the afternoon I had a few hook pulls from something bigger and then the split cane tip of my bamboo rod swung round. The fish went straight for the reeds then moved from right to left of the peg, going in and out of the reeds and then out to open water and back into the reeds again. After about 20 minutes and lots of creaking from my bamboo rod I slipped my landing net under what turned out to be my PB Carp, a very nice, chunky, fin perfect 10.4lb Common. A pleasant, relaxing day with some unexpected exercise!
A Stenson Bubble Bream
It was a rainy day on 15 May and I was back at Stenson Bubble below the lock. Float fishing maggots over some breadcrumb groundbait I was into the Skimmers first cast. I was dry and warm under my umbrella as the rain continued for most of the day. There must have been a shoal of Bream as I landed about 25 Skimmers and Bream along with a few Perch
A battle-scared fish from below the lock at Stenson Bubble
Monday 29 May was Spring Bank Holiday and after some thought over the weekend I decided to go back to Robinwood Fishery. Lakes 1 and 2 were hosting matches and due to the wind direction I went to the end of Lake 4 which holds everything from Gudgeon to Crucian Carp. I had a pint of mixed maggots for hook bait and some pellets, bread and dead maggot groundbait for loose feed. The fishing began with a nice Crucian Carp, then a few Gudgeon and some Roach. After a few hook pulls I changed my float fished size 14 hook to a size 12 at the end of my Daiwa Matchman MkII rod with my Intrepid Super Twin reel. The next take was a good run and went straight for the reeds, after a while I managed to coax a nice Mirror Carp out the reeds and over my landing net. A few hook pulls, Gudgeon and Roach followed, then another Mirror Carp of a similar size to the first, around 5lb, graced my unhooking mat. I also landed a slightly larger Common Carp before it was time to leave.
The weather was very cloudy, wet and muggy when I arrived and then some fine rain between a few clear spells. Early in the afternoon it began to throw it down and it rained constantly for about 3 hours with everything from heavy showers to torrential rain. It was very humid throughout the day and the fish were obviously feed heavily on the bottom close in and out towards the middle. A great but wet days fishing, thank goodness for umbrellas!
Robinwood Fishery Mirror Carp
Robinwood Fishery Common Carp
