Holbrook Mill Pond

                                     

                                     TRIP No 5

 Lucky me, I am back out on Holbrook millpond fishing with Rob again.  I have not been able to get back here since last year, which is a great shame as it’s a stunning place to fish.

When I arrived Rob was just setting up his last rod, he suggested that I take walk round the lake.  He did point me in the direction of the swim next door to him, he was not wrong.  There must have been five or six fishing digging around on the lake bed.  They had stirred up a cloud of mud.  Forget looking around, I was going to set up here (it would be nice for a bit of a social as well).

 

My right hand rod was cast out just off the small set of pads, where the fish had been digging up the bottom.

My middle rod was cast just to the side of these reeds, Rob had redirect the water from the inlet, so the part which was behind the reeds was oxygenated, and we all know that Mr Carp loves this.

My left hand rod was cast between the Willow tree and the pads, I had seen the fish bubbling around this area.

All the rods were baited with the new Bait-tech Boilles, which Rob had kindly provided.

All set up and time to get the kettle on.

NIGHT/DAY 1

At around 1945, my right hand rod had ripped off and I was attached to my first hard fighting Holbrook carp.  After it made an attempt to get into the pads in front of me, and had ploughed through a weed bed, a stunning dark mirror was in the net.

                                    A Nice 18-8 Mirror

With night falling fast, I was looking forward to a night full of action.  I was not expecting the action to come from eels and by the end of the night a had landed some nice eels!  If that floats your boat, not me I am afraid to say.  I was compleatly shattered in the morning and I would plenty of carp naps in the day to catch up.

This was my only visiter all day (other than a Tench early on in the evening).  I was looking forward to the second night as I had seen a lot of fish showing on the other side of the willow tree, not too far off my left hand rod.

On the second morning, I was shocked that I had not had a single fish all night and was not a happy bunny (to say the least).  I put the kettle on, Rob came down for a brew, there was the odd fish moving about, but considering Rob had 8 fish by now to my one, I was well and truly in the wrong swim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JwNxpUFEsU

Rob suggested that I might like to move to the swim at the right of him.  He said he had heard fish there, this was very kind, I would not of considered this swim as they were very close together.

I had plenty of options in this swim and for some reason I always end up fishing in there!

My right hand rod was placed under a nice over hanging tree.

The middle rod was put in a gap between the lily pads, I had previously walked round to the other side of the lake to put out some ground bait.  I checked for clean spots and then put out a load of ground bait out, as it attracts the fish.

My left had rod was going to be to the left of an overhanging tree and in front of a small set of reeds.

The day was very hot and there were no real signs of any carp.

At 1900 hrs, my middle rod was off and so was the fish, straight into the pads and very stuck.  The only option was to put the rod back on the buzzer and hope the fish would find its own way out.  Otherwise, I would be out in the boat, which I didn’t fancy as it would disturb other fish. I was just walking up to call Rob over (just in case I needed some help), and would you believe it my right hand rod was off and also managed to go in the pads and shed the hook?  Can you believe it, 2 runs at the same time and both go in the pads?  These fish do know how to fight very hard.  Anyway, I picked the middle rod up, in the hope the fish had started to work its way through the pads.

Lucky me, I had tightened up and the fish hit the surface with a huge splash.  It dived behind the pads, this time I kept the fish’s head up and got it finally in the net.  Boy, I was happy but also sad, I hate to loose a fish.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be a smaller fish.

Later on in the evening I also had a bream.  I was doing well on catching fish other than carp (joy).

At about 0300 hrs, the right had rod was off again and this time I was not letting the fish anywhere near the pads.  I kept the pressure on and walk back up the path.  Once the fish was round the end of the pads, I started to reel in and walk back to the swim and netted another nice Holbrook fish.

That was the action over, it was time to think about packing up and head off home.

A nice misty morning soon turned into a fantastic sunny day.

Oh well, with the sun out and the car loaded, that was that for my Holbrook trip and most probably for this year, due to work and family commitments.  A great time was had by all and plenty of rum drunk and a good few laughs.  Especially the rat being catapulted into the lake (say no more)!

 Till next time

Richard 

                                 

 

                                   TRIP No 4

My good friend Rob Nunn has invited me back for another social session on Holbrook Mill Pond.  We have settled for our normal area,  as Rob as been baiting it up this week.

                                          view of my swim

so, hopefully we will have some fish!

                                         view of the swim

Rod(1)
This was cast out to a gap in the trees, it has a deep area that has been clean out by the fish over the years.

                      Rod 1 cast in the small bay between the trees

I am using a 2oz pear lead, a 10in of Korda’s super natural 18lb hooklink and a size 10 Kaptor wide gape hook.

                                     hooklink and hooks

Rod (2)

This was cast at the base of a tree, some 3 ft off the bank, in an area were I found some weed growth.

                       Rod 2 under the over hanging bush

The set up is the same as rod 1

Rod (3)

This rod was cast to the right of me, in the middle of an area of dead pads.  In this area there is a small dip that is about 1/2 a ft deeper, which the fish have dug the bottom up.

Rod 3 cast over the dead pads cast in the V of the tree shadow

I set this rod up with the same type of hook.  However, I used Krystons Jackal hooklink material.

                                  hooklink

This was a sorter hooklink of 6in.

All rods were baited with Bait Tecs new boillies.

                           Bait Tec Boillies

Bait Tec Boillies smell awesome.  They look and feel great.

I also bait up with particals, as well soaked in all sorts of liquids.  These were prepared by Rob.

The first night past with not a single beep.  Bit strange,  however, there had been a hard frost two nights before and the wind was now blowing from the north.  Mind you, this should not have made any real impact on the fish yet.

                             view of the rods and the mill pond

All the rods were rebaited just before dark in the same spots, with a small scattering of boillies and some more particals.

Night & day (2)

With no a sign of any carp, and only one crash in the night.  Rob was off the lake for the day, he suggested that I take the boat round the lake as no one else was fishing.
I started off down the bottom end and to my amazement, there were some 15 fish held up down there.  I checked all around the lake and only found 2 fish up the top end of the lake.  This is where we had been fishing, you could see the baits was still there.

Well, it was time to move after seeing all those fish.  The boat was loaded and I was off.

                                   carp boat loaded

I was looking for 3 nice clear patches, where the fish had been feeding.  I finally settled for these.

                                 Rod 1 by the fallen tree

                       Rod 2 under the overhanging trees

           Rod 3 just to the right of the overhanging bush

All were nice spots on the far margin.  I also put a bit of bait to the right and left of me as there are clear spots under the over hanging trees.

                  Back up locations under this nice overhanging tree

Just in case I am unable to get the rods back on the spots in the night.

                                all set up ofter the boat trip

All setup,  just waiting.  With no action and night coming,  I had crossed my fingers and hope the move was the right choice.

                       my view on the last morning

Much to my amazement, with the liners that I had last night,  I did not have a fish!  I am really not sure what to do next… other than put the kettle on.

                                               kettle on

I had a good think, as I only have 3 to 5 hours left before is time to head back to Southampton.

Option 1 – leave as is
Option 2 – out in the boat and rebait all rods

I am unable to cast the rod, as there are power lines over this end of the lake.  I am not sure if going out in the boat .  I may disturb and spook the fish too much. I went for option 1.

                          all set for the load up and trip back

It is noon now, and I am all packed up, accept the rods. I am ready for the boat trip back to the car.

Never good to have a three night blank,  however, it was great to catch up with old friends, with plenty of Rum drunk.

Till next time

Richard

 

                                         Trip No 3

Lucky me, I am back on the mill-pond with my good friend Rob Nunn.

I am fishing the same swim as last time, however, summer has arrived and it looks great. I have not seen this lake in the summer for over 30 years.
I am fishing two rod’s on the same spots as my last trip.  As the lily pads are up I cannot afford not to put a bait on them.

For some reason, the first night past with no action to any of my rod’s.  This was a bit odd, as there had been plenty of signs that Mr Carp was still in the area as the sun was setting.  We will see what today and tonight brings.

Rod -1
Was cast to a small set of pads in the right hand corner of the bay.

Rod-2
was cast by an overhanging tree.

Rod-3
was cast by a set of pads to my right.

All rod’s were on Gulp Baits Tuna & Spice bollies as normal.
Rods 1 & 2 had Bait Tec hemp & pellet spread around the area.

All set for night number 2.

At around 8pm, I lost a fish in the right hand side set of pads which I hooked from the left hand side set of pads. I had lots of line bites in the night, with no joy by 8 am.  As Rob had 6 fish, I though there must be an issue with my rigs, upon reeling in I found that 2 were tangled (great one) a waste of a nights fishing.  I recast all my rod’s for the day, as it was going to be overcast until noon time. I really need my luck to change soon (please).

I have got 24 hrs left to turn this session around.  Lets hope my change of tactics works.  I have got new rigs on and changed one spot to the right hand side set of pads for the day.

At around 2 pm I had a take on the middle rod, which after a quick fight was safely in the net.

Not long after this I had a tench from the same spot.

At around 3 am, I had a nice common on the right hand rod.  At around 4.30 am, I re-baited the other rod’s, as I had had a lot of line bits in the night with no pick ups.  I was a bit paranoid after the night before.  One rod was OK, however the other rod had no bait.  All sorted by 5 am and after a cup of coffee I thought I better get my head down for a bit as I had a 3 hour drive home later on.

Thats all for now

Richard

                                      Trip No 2

My good friend Rob Nunn had invited me to come and fish Holbrook mill pond again, which was great news as I loved this place and wished I had fished it more when I lived here.

                                     MY SWIM

Rob gave me the choice of the swim as I was the guest, which was very nice of him and I opted for the big bay swim as before.

Rod-1 was placed to the right of a fallen tree, in the right hand side of the bay where we had seen fish moving up and down.  My set up is a 1oz pear lead, (as the fish are not happy about leads landing in the water) helicopter style placed in a small PVA bag with some pellet/ground-bait and broken boilies with a single 16mm Gulp Baits Tuna and spice boilie hook bait  This was all placed in Rob’s bait boat with some Chilly hemp/pellet and a mix of 12/16mm T&S boilies.

Rod-2 was placed in the middle, amongst the new growth of the Lilly pads, I must stress that I was using 16lb line and a lead setup that would drop the lead on the take so no harm would come to the carp.  The Lilly growth was not that great and I would not advocate fishing in Lilly pads all year round. This was also sent out in the bait boat with a good mix of the hemp & pellet mix with added boilies.

Rod-3 was put on the edge of the bay with an over hanging tree, in a nice deep hole.  This was also a light lead set up.  As I may need to recast in the night without the aid of the boat, as I did not wish to wake Rob up all the time.  This was all sent out in the boat with the same mix as before.

Once all done, I took note of the horizon markers, placed some tape on the line, all set for the night.

                                VIEW OF THE LAKE

First Day And Night

With the wind still blowing from the east and rain in the night, it was not looking good. I did see a large fish top near one of my rods at first light and later on in the day, but as evening got closer and with that easterly wind still going strong, we still had not had any fish yet.

I re-baited all three rod’s on the same spots, as there was no reason to change them.  The only thing I did different was to grind up all the boilies and pellet/hemp with a Korda bait crusher, that I had found in Rob’s bivvy, great bit of kit, that I will be getting next time I am in a tackle shop.

Second Day and Night

I awoke to the sound of my bite alarm at around 02.00 and I pulled into the fish to feel a small knock and it was gone (at last feeding carp!).  I re-cast the rod, as best as I could, as the take had come from an overhanging bush.  Back to bed, then I woke to a single beep at around 07.00 (time to put the kettle on) and at 07.45, the middle rod bust into life and after a quick battle, the fish was safely in the net, a nice 16lb common.

                                               A NICE COMMON
The morning pasted with no sign of Mr Carp, it was not until 15.30 when I got my next take from the right side of the big over hanging willow tree.

This turned out to be a nice 15lb10oz ghost carp.  Things were starting to look good especially as the wind has change to the south.

Third night and day
The night past with not a take between us, which was very odd.  With no joy by 10.00, I re-baited all rod’s and as I was putting the second rod out, a couple of fish topped behind the tree.  Hopefully this was a good sign. At 16.30, I finally got a take of the right hand side of the tree, only to have a hook pull half way across the lake (great one).

Forth and last night
At 20.00 I had a small common of the right hand side of the tree.  And again at 22.30 I had a 15ib.10oz ghost carp (looked a bit familiar to me!), from under the tree stump on the far margin.  Unfortunately, as I am unable to cast that back out to that spot, due to not wanting to wake Rob up.  I had been baiting another area, it was along the margin by the gap as a back up spot,  which it where I will put this rod out now.

                                             A NICE GHOST CARP
I had set the alarm clock for 06.00 to make the most of the last morning, before it was time to pack up at 09.00 as I had a 4 hour drive back home.  I wanted to spend some time with the family before it was back to work tomorrow.  I was up before the alarm, as I was getting liners on the right and left rods by the tree.  Let’s hope there is time for another fish, that would be nice.

Well it,s 10.00 and with no more fish it’s time to head home to see the family.

that’s all for now

Richard

                                              TRIP No 1

HOLBROOK MILL POND

In October last year my long awaited trip on Holbrook Mill pond happened.  Due to work & family stuff it has taken over a year to meet up with my good friend Rob Nunn and fish my favourite mill pond.  It was years ago that I fished here before moving down south.   This place is so peaceful and tranquil; there are plenty of overhanging trees to hide your traps in for Mr. Carp.  The lily pads have all died back unfortunately, as they are a great holding area.

I arrived just after 6pm on a very dark and miserable day, not good to drive in, but spot on for fishing.  Rob was already set up in his swim and had left me a swim in a very nice big bay with plenty of options available.

Photo of the swim right to left willow, fallen tree, reeds

My first rod was cast by a willow tree that had fallen into the water, with a couple of handfuls of Tuna & Spice boilies mixed 12/16mm.  I was using single 16mm Tuna & Spice hook bait with a small piece of foam inserted as a counter weight against the hook.

My second rod was placed under a overhanging tree, in the far corner of the bay.  This was also baited with a couple of handfuls of mixed Tuna & Spice boilies.  The hook bait was 2 x 12mm Tuna & Spice boilies with a small piece of foam between them.

My third rod was placed on a very clear patch of gravel, which was by some reeds.  This was baited with 12 & 16mm Red Crustation boilies and I was using 16mm hook bait with a small piece of cork inside.

My rig

The first take came on the fallen tree rod at 9pm and after a small battle with Mr. Carp, trying hard to get across the lake and through the gap, a nice 11lb mirror was safely in the net.

The next take was about 4am Thursday morning, this time it was the bait placed under the fallen tree that had tricked Mr. Carp.  This fish, also tried to get though the gap, as the lake is very shallow I managed to hook the fish round the line of the 3^rd rod, which was placed by the reeds near the gap.  Which made playing the fish a bit harder, after some time, I finally got another nice 12lb mirror in the net.

Just after 8 am, I had another take off the willow tree.  This fish also was off to the gap again.  By this time, I had noticed the pattern and put more pressure on the fish and walked up the bank a bit and after another battle a nice 20lb mirror was safely in the net.

20LB MIRROR

The second and the third night was a complete no show for Mr Carp.  They must have all moved off up the other end of the lake with the sudden drop in temperature as the day & night had dropped by a good 10 degrees.  With the change in wind direction to the NE, we were having a bit of a struggle.  The water temperature had only dropped by 2 degrees, so we were still hopeful.  The ground temperature had dropped by 6 degrees, which was probably due to all the rain we were having.  Let’s hope the third & forth day and last night produces some bigger fish.

Unfortunately, a good night sleep was had by all and Mr Carp stayed well hidden and under their carpy blankets!

It was a great session and great to catch up with an old friend, unfortunately very bad timing with the weather.

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