This lake is broken into three parts, all connected by large channels. I have called them top, middle lake and the bottom lake (that was hard work to name them!). The bottom lake is the deeper, next is the middle which leads to the top lake. This is also the largest of all lakes and has seven islands dotted around. All being quite large and you are able to fish off of two of the islands. There is also a large area of the lake which the carp can escape to, from the pressure of anglers. There are oh so many bars and humps to fish to. I am sure that that I have only found out a tiny amount about these lakes.
I love to know the history of lakes I am fishing. I find it fascinating and it gives you a brief history of where you are fishing. So I started to searching the internet and found some amazing stuff.
Situated on the western edge of the New Forest, between Ringwood and Fordingbridge, Ibsley was a busy RAF and USAAF Fighter airfield during World War II, after which it became an accommodation base for personnel from the nearby R.A.F. station at Sopley. R.A.F. Ibsley opened on 15th February 1941, flying activities ceased in 1946, and the station finally closed in 1952.
It was at Ibsley, during the late summer of 1941, that the flying sequences for the classic film ‘First of the Few’ starring David Niven, Leslie Howard and Rosamund John,depicting the story of the development of the Spitfire by Reginald J. Mitchell were filmed, with pilots of No’s. 118 and 501 Squadrons taking part between operational sorties.
During its operational years, many squadrons were stationed at R.A.F. Ibsley, including no’s. 32, 66, 118, 124, 129, 165, 234, 257, 263, 302, 310, 312, 313, 421, 452, 501, 504 and 616 of the Royal Air Force, also No. 7 Flying Instructors School and the No 1. Glider Pick-Up Unit. Ibsley was also used, for short periods, in 1942 and 1944, by the United States Army Air Force, the 1st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force The 48th, 367th, 371st Fighter Groups, 9th Air Force, and 67th Tactical Recce unit of the 9th Air Force.
A number of wartime structures still remain at Ibsley and several, including the old Control Tower, the Battle Headquarters, Direction Finding Station Blast Wall and twelve remaining Compass Points, a Sleeping Shelter and Stanton Shelter, have been registered by the Group with the Imperial War Museum’s Defence of Britain Project. This project aims to list the World War II structures still remaining in this country. These structures have also been registered with the Sites and Monuments Register of the Hampshire County Council
On 24th April 2000 a polished granite Commemorative Plaque resting on a Purbeck stone base was unveiled to mark the role R.A.F. Ibsley played in World War II and beyond. It rests on the existing wartime concrete base of the airfields old guardroom/picket post at Cross Lanes, Mockbeggar. A link to google maps for directions can be found on our get involved page.
I also found this propaganda video with David Niven filmed on the airfield.
Ibsley Control Tower combines so much that is of interest to those appreciative of atmosphere. Ibsley was a very busy RAF airfield in the last proper war. It was the location for a morale-boosting wartime movie starring David Niven, and was taken over by the Americans in 1943. Ibsley played a major role in the D-Day invasion. It survived for precious few years, the airfield having been lost, almost entirely, to gravel abstraction. All that is left is a ruined and forlorn watch office (control tower) surrounded by lakes, now known as Mockbeggar Lakes, with wooded islands.
There is undeniable atmosphere, and a definite sense of foreboding due to graffiti and drug-related litter suggesting regular use as a rendezvous for illicit nocturnal activity – which seems all the more strange when one considers the affluent and respectable New Forest village setting. Looking closely at the daubed and battered walls it is just possible to make out three forces’ sweethearts painted by US airmen. Well meaning plans to save and restore the building have come to nothing and, unfortunately, its complete demise seems imminent. Ibsley Tower is on private land belonging to the gravel company, but its isolation and neglect would suggest that trespass for the sake of curiosity is unlikely to be a problem.
It can be viewed lawfully from the north-western most corner of Fir Walk, public access woodland a quarter of a mile to the south of the village of Mockbeggar, which itself is just off the A338, about two miles north of Ringwood.
I fished this lake twice over the years – with a large gap in between. I’ve no photos of the first time around, but the lake was absolutely stunning. It still was when I arrived back the second time – until the big cut back, which was quite dramatic and put a lot of anglers off. But not me! This was quite fortunate as the carp didn’t know any different, it was great fishing there. You could walk around, place your bait on the perfect spot and walk back to your rods.
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The vegetation started to grow back and the anglers returned. I moved on to Kingham next door. Unfortunately, it got a bit silly with one angler arrive early and stick their bucket and chairs in swim to reserve swims for his mate’s, who would arrive 3 or 4 hrs later. This was the time that I headed off to fish a lovely syndicate on the Hampshire Avon for 6 years, where I hardly ever came across another angler.
With the last summer bank holiday of 2020 this weekend, I moved things around and arrived Tuesday afternoon after storm Francis had moved through, well the rainy part of it, the wind was still forecast to blowing over 45mph for the next 10 hrs then fade away. Fishing the back of the wind would have been nice, however, that bank is out of bounds, and the other swims that I fancied the wind would have been right in my face.
After spotting a few carp showing in the blast of the wind, I popped onto one of the islands. The wind was more across the swim and this area was sheltered by the trees. It was quite pleasant on the bank, the lake was still taking the force of the wind and another fish stuck its head out.
That will do me. I got the kit from the car and spombed out some bait. As I’d arrived later than normal and needed to get the noisy part over first. This was very interesting in a huge crosswind, but I got there in the end. Then came the fun of casting on to my spot – heavy leads where definitely the way forward.
The bivvy was all tidy and time for my first brew, relax and watch the lake for a few hours.
The first take happened a lot quicker than I expected – just after 1900. The left rod screamed off and I was into a carp who was heading out into the lake and kiting right. It was soon had under control and was coming in nicely. I flicked the rod over the top of the other one, just as the carp headed right again, it again was soon back under control and heading left towards a shallow area. I’m sure it was looking for those boulders. At this point, it became apparent that I’d hooked up the other line, I tried passing the rod over the other rod, but I must have got it wrong and it was nicely wrapped around the line. The only option was to pay line out and play the carp out under the rod tip and then sort the mess out.
15lb 2oz Common
That will do!
After sorting out the mess and just before the rain, both rods were back out.
My second take happened nearly 12 hrs later and I was starting to wonder if I’d got my swim choice wrong.
It was around the 10 lb mark, you can’t choose what picks your bait up, but it was a welcome fish.
As ever, once the bait was back out, a brew was in my hand.
My next take happened right in the middle of me trying to film some Deeper tips. By the time I had land and taken my photos of another lovely looking Airfield Lake Common, my Chrip had drifted around the corner of a small island and caused me some issues.
12lb 7oz Common
The tail on that fish certainly gave it plenty of power and it was well on its way towards getting under the snaggy margins.
I was laying on my bedchair thinking when it would be best to top up the swim with some bait and how much when the right rod belted off towards the island and kiting right. I’m so glad I’ve been putting my waders on each time, as I needed to walk to the left and get the tip underwater to avoid the overhanging tree to my left. Once the fish was under the rod tip, it was well behaved and just needed to be played out and slipped into the Nsr50.
20lb 10oz Common
I now had the perfect timing to get more bait out.
I didn’t get a single bleep through the second night. Perhaps as the wind had gone completely and the lake was flat calm since yesterday afternoon. By 1100, it was all due to change again.
Another weather front was coming. This would stir them up again and bring on another feeding spell. So, I’m staying put in this swim and will stick out some more particles, I think more boilies would be a silly idea.
As it got closer, I’ve put fresh Classic Corn wafter on both rods and we will see how the next 24 hours pan out.
The change in weather has got them feeding again. Only 30 minutes after the rain arrived, the left rod belted off with a very unhappy carp. It was chasing out into the middle of the lake and off to my left, it was doing its best to nip around the corner of a small island. I held on, turned the fish, and gained ground steadily until I slipped it into the Nsr.
14lb 12oz Common
Again, you can see from the tail, where these carp get all their power from. After I quickly got the bait back out there, I carried on sorting out lunch.
The next take was about quarter past 2 and was also on the left-hand rod, this kited off to the right and I had to wade out to avoid a tree in the water. I turned the carp and it belted back towards me, right in front of the swim, and picked up the other line. There wasn’t time to put the rod over the other one, this fish had in its mind that it needed to get around the small island and into the bay behind me. I was wading off down the left margins to keep the fish under control. It finally succumbed to my persuasion and was finally under the rod tip. There was absolutely no way of getting the other line separated, I just had to slowly play the carp out and gain line. Once it was in the Nsr50, I cut the line, zipped the net into a floating retainer, and set about sorting the rods out. The last thing I needed was another take, which isn’t too out of the ordinary on this lake.
15lb 5oz Common
I was very happy with that one. Now, it was time to strip a load off the line and redo both rods. I also warmed up in the bivvy as it was now monsoon season here, what a difference a few hours can make.
The storm arrived and past, it was certainly a bit rough out here this afternoon, but by 1900, the sunshine was back out and there was a gentle breeze from the S/W. Hopefully, there was a chance of a couple more carp before I pack up tomorrow morning.
Look at this weather! Isn’t it amazing how thing’s can change? I had a funny take just after 6pm and it was a carp who must have gotten the line under one of those boulders. It didn’t belt off like they normally do, just pulled the bobbin up and down and when I picked the rod up it was stuck fast.
The weather is looking for tonight.
My next take was my first in the night and behaved pretty well until the head touch shone on it for a split second. The carp bolted under the overhanging tree and I sunk the tip and held on. The only 2 outcomes from this are either a hook pull or away from the snags, the carp just powered away under and unfortunately resulted in a hook pull.
With a new bait on and the rig checked, I flicked it back out onto the spot.
What a perfect last morning, I’ve got a few hour’s left to go, before the next lot of rain arrives.
I’m planning on having a lovely bank holiday weekend with the family and will be down again next week for a few more nights. The kids are going back to school soon and we will see how this pans out over the next 3 weeks. By then I’m sure the wife will be moving out of her front room office and back into the real one, things may return as much as possible to normal. This may mean a few nights less fishing for me, but that will not be a bad thing as Winter will be knocking on the door and the Airfield Lake will close for the season and I will be back on Meadow Lake over the Winter months. Not sure how that will pan out, we’ve got a few new members and they will be as keen as mustard (as we all were at the beginning) until they come to terms with how hard fishing is on there in the Winter.
This is a really hard question because we all hate them pesky little carp. But after a 3 or 2 nights blanking would you be happy to catch one? Or after a long period of blanks would a small carp make you breathe a sigh of relief? Or even when you’re fishing a mega hard lake and you catch the smallest one in there?
Well, I can say that I would be happy. It breaks the chain and you can think yourself lucky – you’ve done something right. The bait and rig are working and you picked the right feature to fish. Just because a small carp picked your bait up, it’s not the carp’s fault and it could so have been the lump you are after. You’re fishing for carp and you just had one, be happy. We all know it’s hard sometimes and I certainly feel your pain, as this season all I seem to be picking up the smaller carp but I say to myself I am not blanking, so I am doing it all right.
Food for thought the next time you catch an 8 lber.
Ian and I are back down the Airfield Lake for another 3 nights. We are in the hope of finding better and bigger fish. We’ve moved area and are fishing into different lakes, but our bivvies nearly back onto each other.
I’m feeling quite lucky as I’m fishing across to a point where I can simply get the bait out with a spoon and then cast over there! I’m not using bags this week as when the wind picks up, I’ll have no chance of getting them out there.
The storm arrived just after 0300 and boy did it shake! I needed a couple of pegs redoing and I managed to get some sleep in (I think).
I patiently waited all night for the morning take, which happened just after 0730. The carp headed out and towards the shallow plateau, it found a couple of boulders and managed to bump the hook out.
Not good.
With a new bait on and checking the hook (which was perfect), they just know where to go to avoid capture.
During the mid-morning, I decided that if I was going to get any sleep (which is vital in my book for successful fish), I needed to move out of direct contact with the wind. So, with this in mind, I had a look at another swim down from Ian which was just perfect. However, I didn’t fancy moving in on Ian’s water, he’d already had 4 takes! He only landed 2 carp. I also felt very confident with my choice of swim and still felt that I needed to stay in the area. After looking 30 feet to my right and making a new path through the vegetation to get my rods on the water. I just couldn’t stand to be too far away from them, this area felt the better and more confident solution. I was completely out of the wind, the funny thing is, I nearly pitched up here yesterday. The wind was supposed to swing West, this was not the case as it stayed Southwest all the time, with gusts up to 50mph, not much fun.
I then set about topping up the swim and get fresh hook baits on. I needed to step up the lead size as it was like fishing the sea – let’s hope this afternoon and tonight bring more success.
My second take happened just after midnight the second night and was a lot less aggro than the first. I, unfortunately, picked up the line from the right-hand rod, that will teach me to lower my rod tips down.
16lb 11oz Mirror
I managed to get both rods back out in the wind and they were looking ok, which was a surprise as the wind was pushing hard into my face. It was hard to make out the tree-line as it was a very dark night and there is no light pollution about.
My third take happened at 0630 with a couple of bleeps. I ran to the rod and it was as though nothing had happened, had I dreamed the bleeps? It then dropped back, I grabbed the rod and pulled into a small carp, at the same moment the other rod ripped off. After my cast out last night, there was a slim possibility that I was fishing very close to my other rod. Had it been picked up? I took the chance to get the smaller one in as the other one just stopped, maybe that’s what had happened. Once that one was safely in the net, I picked the other rod up, and would you believe it? There was another carp on there, that was a pretty straight forward fight to the net.
The results of take 3 & 4. You can’t choose what picks up your bait and this place, unfortunately, has some very small carp in it still. They’ve tried netting them to a degree of success, however, they just escape capture.
With everything sorted, it was 0700 and time to watch the lake for carpy signs with a coffee in my hand.
My fifth take happened after 0930 and completely out of the blue. It started heading out towards the plateau, this time, I held the rod tip as high as possible to try and avoid any contact with those boulders. It worked well this time but I managed to pick up the other line again, this was soon sorted out – thanks to Ian. I was now in control of the carp in the margins and slowly played the carp out until it slipped into the Nsr50.
20lb 9oz Common
Both rods were sorted and back out, so I settled down for another brew.
At noontime, I topped up the swim for the final night and redid both rods with fresh bait. I took a walk for an hour to rest the swim before getting the rods back on the spot, for the afternoon and night. I’m very confident for another bite or two, just as long as I can avoid those boulders, I’ve got a good chance.
The night was completely void of bleeps, fishing crashing – very strange indeed. It could be down to the volume of anglers fishing the middle lake. I know 3 isn’t a lot but it’s two more than normal.
It’s been a productive few nights and I’m looking forward to the next.
The syndicate where I’ve fished for the past 5 years, I have been hunting the unknown carp. This is what I enjoy the most and get the most reward from. It is a 64-acre gravel pit, which was in fact 3 lakes once and now has channels connecting them.
It has its own particular challenges, it has a lot of history as it was once an airfield and still has it’s original control tower! Albeit a bit run down.
It even featured in a propaganda film starring David Niven. It was then dug out for its gravel, filled with blitz rubble and then dug for yet more gravel and then sort of landscaped into 3 separate lakes. A water company then joined them all together with a channel. It was finally run as a fish farm, until the overpopulation of carp destroyed nearly all the natural food sources, at this point they removed most of the stock but left a few lumps in there. It then had a restocking program from an adjacent water. I bet you can agree that it has had an interesting past and no one has any real idea what’s in there!
There is no maintenance on there, it’s just left to run wild and the anglers fit in around the wildness of the lake. Which is how I like it. I’m not a fan of manicured waters, where you feel you are fishing someone’s back garden.
There are a few issues to contend with, but this adds to the adventure of searching for these unknown carp. Firstly, it’s only open 6 and a half months each year from mid-March to the end of September. Secondly, the carp spawn extremely early, sometimes around the 1st of May. This year it was just before, this is due to them being partly an Austria strain of carp and a high proportion of the lake is only just over 3ft deep. So the lake soon warms up in those warm Spring days.
Prior to the carp spawning, it’s pretty easy to track down the larger residents. In reality, you only get the April to catch them, once they start spawning – which can last on and off for all of May (which is pretty frustrating). Then the small carp appear and just take over the place, you catch the odd one beforehand, but they just go crazy. It then becomes a battle of wills to keep on going through this carp, until you bag a lump.
There are also considerable amounts of out of bounds areas – mostly the West Bank. It is also pretty much unusable by casting, so there is a 2-acre area that you can’t get a bite into.
All this adds up to an incredibly challenging water, which I’m utterly obsessed with. It contains some huge carp, yet to be captured and my adventure will continue for a few more years I’m sure. Normally, I’m only on a water for about 5 years before it’s time to move on as I have caught what I was after. I also get bored of the view and need a change in scenery. I can’t see this happening for some time as the six months on-off routine keeps the enthusiasm going and some years I’ve not even fished a particular area or lake, as I have broken them down to their original 3 lake structure. Even though they are just one giant lake, joined by channels which contain 7 islands, 2 of which you can fish off.
Oddly there is no real angler pressure; mostly due to the other lake, which comes with the ticket. It’s a lot smaller and stocked with a greater number of larger carp and none of the 10 pounders that plague you for most of the season.
I can’t get enough of this place and can’t wait for another season to kick in this year and maybe one of the monsters that I’ve spotted a few time way out by the island that is completely uncastable even for the boys that can blast them out, one day it will grave my net and it could well be this year.
After a fantastic week away camping with the family in Wales, I’m back at it again.
Hopefully, after the ridiculous hot weather over the few days, the thunderstorms we’ve had this afternoon will wake the carp up.
With the water temperature is showing 27.5 degrees on my Deeper Chirp. I was looking for deeper water this trip and after being away for 3 weekends, I wasn’t sure where the fish where going to be. I’d message a couple of fellow members of the syndicate and they’d given me a good bit of information. With this information and my intuition, I was heading for one of the islands you can fish off. Ian (my friend) was joining me this weekend, it had also been sometime since he had fished and was of the same opinion as me.
We couldn’t double up on here, but could fish one swim apart. We could bait up a large deep area of the lake, which hopefully would hold a few carp and also could be their favoured area to feed in. As there had been thunderstorms forecast, but this was had been like that for the past few days and we were still waiting. But if we were lucky, it would hopefully bring on the carp’s feeding spell, there was a drop in temperature forecast for Friday, fingers crossed.
The swim I picked was an overgrown one, it clearly hadn’t been fished this year. It was the first swim that I ever fished when I joined 5 year’s ago. It was one up from the swim I fished on my last session here. I also needed to map this part of the lake, as there is a chunk missing from my Lakebook page. This would give me greater insight into the lake and this particular area.
I got the bivvy up first as for once (this week), the weather man may be right! Sure enough, as I was using my Deeper, the first rattle off thunder was heard in the distance. I wasn’t going to get to excited as the same thing happened last night at home and that was all. However, soon after, the rain started. It was lovely and cooling. I carried on, baited up with 12mm Catalyst boilies and Maize. My bivvy was a tip, as I had just stuffed the the rest off the kit in there. As the rain got heavier, I tucked myself inside and sorted it out. I popped over to Ian’s swim and had a glass or two of Guinness, after the thunder went away, I went back and got the rods out.
I was using the same tactics as the last time; solid pva bags with Catalyst pellets soaked in the food dip and a Classic Corn wafter on one rod, a 15mm Catalyst wafter with a 12mm PPS pop up on the other. Both cast no more than 20 foot apart, into the bait area.
Morning arrived, it was so much cooler after the rain in the night. I only had 1 bleep, so I was surprised how badly I slept – it must have been excitement for being back on the bank and the anticipation of a bite!
I will spend a bit more time today with the Deeper, as I didn’t fancy it yesterday. There where clearly fish about, I believe Ian had something last night as I heard him casting back out at around 3 am. The fellow down from me was playing a carp at first light this morning, which is all good news that I’m not to far away, just need to fine tune my spots.
Just before 10 am, the left hand rod was away and I was into my first carp of the session and wading out into the open water to convince the carp not to head to far down the left hand margin and make contact with the overhanging trees. It all went well and the carp was soon in the net and I was very pleased.
15lb 8oz Common
The perfect start, it was getting closer to 11 am and this was the time I had decided that I would get the Deeper out and investigate more. I left the other rod out and would recast the other one after I had played about – no point in disturbing carp if they’re out there feeding.
I reeled both rods in just after 11.30 and got the Deeper out. I spent 30 minutes checking about and filling in some gaps on my Lakebook page.
There was no real point in changing the rods from the spots they’re in.
I’ve pretty much covered this area.
The swim was then topped up with more 12mm Catalyst boilies and particles. It was then back to Ian’s swim for a chat and a brew. After an hour, I headed back to chuck out a couple of bags. Just before 1830, the right hand rod rattled off with a very upset carp off towards the island. I tried to slow it down but nope, it was still going. I felt the line grating on a boulder and tried my best to get the rod up higher, as I was in the water by now, I just had to hold on. The fish boiled on the surface and the line came free, it was now heading right and towards me. I needed to reel quickly and gain line, it was clearly off to my right and making for any escape possible. I was pumping hard to avoid them, my rod tip was well under the water and the tips of the trees where bouncing about. I held on and I gained ground, finally the fish was in my margins. It was certainly not over, it made a couple of belting runs for the trees, eventually it was in the Nsr50 and I could breathe again.
16lb 1oz Common
You wouldn’t think these fish could fight so hard, but they certainly do give an absolutely brilliant fight.
With another bag out on the spot, I felt it was time for a brew.
Have had a bit of a disaster today. I had a belter of a take at 0015 and pulled into thin air. And just now (which is 0450), I had a mega drop back that ran towards the trees to my left, by the time I got the line tight, it lunged and snapped my line or clipped the tree and cut me off. I hadn’t even had the chance to get into the water. This could’ve helped – you never know.
With a new rig and bag sorted, I was soon back on the spot. Dawn was arriving and the Nightjars on the heath by the lake were starting up.
My next take (and finally another carp on the bank), happened just after 0700 and just because it was light, it was all very straight forward.
10 lb – Common
It’s always a relief to get one in the net after having things go wrong (size doesn’t matter so much). With another bag out there, it was time for the first brew of the day.
Just after 1400, I rebaited and did the rods for the night. I was hoping for an early evening bite, but it didn’t happen, so I’m now hoping for better results tonight.
I had to wait a long time before the next take. It finally happened just before 0200 Sunday morning. I’m glad I’ve had a few takes and I’m starting to understand their patterns of where they like to run towards certainly snaggy areas.
13lb 9oz Common
Not 100% sure how I would get on with a bigger carp in this particular swim, but hopefully I will discover this sooner rather than later! I’m glad of the practice and have got the ability to understand more about the swim before I catch a lump.
Another bag was put out and it was time to get my head down.
There was no more action to be had overnight, which was quite a surprise. The carp were very active. However, as noise travels at night more (and it was pitch black), i’m not 100% sure where the carp were. They could easily have been off the island, we will never know.
The rods are there
It was getting closer to pack-up time, but there is always a chance and we never gave up or stop hoping.
I’m very pleased with my success and being my first trip back on the lake, this could so easily have been a blank. As the carp are pretty nomadic and just have so much water to get away from the anglers, those lumps will have to wait another week.
Hemp oil is a bait bag essential!
We have two versions, including our chilli hemp oil which is made with our own blend of chillis, added whilst the oil is gently heated. Once cooled, it is glass bottled with dried whole chillies and left for a month where it is regularly turned and kept in the dark to protect the oil before decanting ready for use.
We then micro-sieve the oil into our own jars and include a fresh dried birds eye chilli in every 250ml jar and more for the larger measures.
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