On my last two visits to Armigers on Sunday 25/08/04 I started fishing at 1630hrs and finished around 2015hrs.In that time from the top lake I had caught 17 carp varying between

3Lb and to top it off a 24lb monster mirror.In addition I had two 17lbs and three around the 10/13 lbs. Last night I took the wife for a three hour session commencing at 1730hrs and caught 9 fish of which the smallest was 7lbs and completed the evening with another 21lb mirror . All I got was my wife for evidence and two guys who helped me land the 24lb fish .All the fish were caught on bread with 12lb line and barbless size 10 hook. What was very disapointing over these last two sessions was I had to retrieve 4 hooks out of fish that had been hooked previously on far to light line. Please ask members to fish with adequate line strength and to check its condition before commencing . Both lakes are fishing really well as 100lb bags are not uncommon with myself.

Keith Neville

Attached is a picture of a 17lb Mirror Carp I caught yesterday at Armigers Lake, Thaxted. It fell to float-fished luncheon meat. I caught several other decent carp including a comon of approximately 9lbs. I also lost a couple of big fish that steamed off ( one broke me on the strike). The conditions were wet and windy and it was the kind of day that required perseverence. 

Peter French

Just thought I would drop you a line about my first trip to Asheldam. I am a new member, and am very impressed so far. I visited the lake on 27/07/04 for a 48 hour session with my dad who is also a new member. Although slow during the day the fishing really took off in the evening and during the night. We landed 14 commons between 8lbs and 15lbs. Most of the carp fell to boilies and luncheon meat.

Lee Weldon

February 9th, I went  fishing at Barleylands today had the lake to myself and caught a 12lb common carp and a 15 lb mirror both fish were in perfect condition , that's twice I've visited and had three fish cant wait till summer when they are more active  

Brian Hurd

Saturday 22nd January, fished Barleylands farm today first time on any club water had a 15 lb mirror carp very good condition.

 Brian Hurd

Bicknacre

48 hour stint over first 2 nights of season produced 6 common carp for Steve(biggest;15lb 6oz and 12lb 12oz)all caught on big hallibut pellets from right hand side corner swim (next to car park)

Darren Kneller

I visited Dyers Hall fishery Wed July 28^th arriving at the water at 6am . I took one of the swims on the left hand side that are close to the island. The weed had been removed by another angler and I had 4-5ft of clear water to fish in. The small rudd (2inch) are a real nuisance and if you use maggot you can catch them all day. I switched to sweet corn and

luncheon meat and was not bothered by the small rudd as much. The swans were still very aggressive and had it appeared lost one of the cygnets already, there having been three on my previous visit. A lady walking her dog (I assumed it be the owner) remarked that the swans had lost all three cygnets the previous year so one can understand Mr swan being aggressive. During the morning session I had a small tench and a small crucian carp both on sweetcorn and some medium sizes rudd. I had a carp rod out with a pop up boilie on and had put my float rod on the bank to have a bite to eat.I have a pop up bivvie I take in case of inclement weather and had just sat down to have a bite to eat and the bite alarm sounded off.  I got to it quickly and could tell by the run that I was into a tench, after a small run I soon had it in the net weighing in a shade over 2.5lbs. After that all went quiet and about 4pm I packed up headed home.

E Connolly

Tench have provided the highlight of catches from our lake at Dyers hall, Chignall Smealy, north west of Chelmsford, which we opened on 1st July. The largest fish so far reported is 8lbs 5oz, with several between 5lb and 7lb being taken. The main other species is roach up to over 1lb. members are finding that they need to take a weed rake to facilitate fishing at the shallower end of the lake, around the island, but this is where most of the tench are taken during the summer. Members have been reporting their catches to the clubs Helpdesk (0870 240 7074),as requested. This will enable the club's Committee to decide which species of fish and in what quantity to stock to provide a well balanced fishery for the coming five year lease.

116/7/04

Two of us have fished the venue. Both times have required significant effort with a rake due to the dense weed. Although fishing for Tench ( which did not put in an appearance ), we caught a number of quality Rudd up to 1.5 lbs. We did see another angler land a tench, size unknown. We also saw a carp of around 8 lbs swim past us. I believe the water will fish better when more anglers remove more weed during their visits. As for stocking, it would be nice to try and encourage the lake as a quality Tench venue with the addition of some Crucian Carp and perhaps a few Perch to keep the numbers of small fish to a level where the remaining ones grow on to a larger size. We also believe any introduction of weedkiller would allow the water to go clear, thus making angling very difficult and possibly making the fish in the lake easy targets for Cormorants. We also have yet to see how the walk to the lake will be when the autumn comes. 

Dennis Miller

I took a trip over to Dyers this morning (thurs 8th July)Easy enough to find. There was one guy fishing the end near the car park .He said he had caught a few small roach and had seen two carp cruising about. Whilst talking to him one carp surfaced in the middle of the lake about 10lb I reckon in size I never saw its mate. I Walked the lake ,the far end seems to be home to the geese that Inhabit the lake judging by the excrement everywhere. There was a punchup going on between the male swan (cobb)and the geese as I watched the winner being obvious as the geese took off to the far end. When I went around by the island on the left side I could see the reason for his anger.The penn had three small cygnets and didn't like it as I looked through my binoculars to spot any carp. The lake has as the newsletter says lots of weed.It has good potential I think. Bank side swims will require cutting and some desilting may be needed as the guy fishing says it very shallow. Has the club ever drained a lake? As I am interested in fishery management would be interested to know where the club gets its stock fish from out of curiosity.

Eddie Connolly

I have been a member of BDAC for many years now ,I first joined BDAC when I was around the age of 20. My colleague and me (who has sadly passed on) used to fish Asheldam before it was a club freehold around about 1968. The water used to contain some fine tench my largest being around 3.5lbs and many crucian carp. Sadly the tench and crucian seemed to have all but disappeared. I am currently studying for a higher diploma in land and Fishery management already having gained a distinction at NVQ level 3. Carp and tench as we all know are bottom feeders in direct competition in the food chain. This balance can be upset to the detriment of one specie if stock density is increased greatly usually by overstocking with carp. Would the club consider removing the carp from Dyers fishery as you Have indicated that it contains a very good head of tench and further adding tench to this water to make it the clubs predominant tench water.

Eddie Connolly 

KINGS COURT

FISHED KINGS COURT ON SUN 11th JULY WITH MY SON HAD TENCH TO 4lb BUT THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY THE FOUR PERCH WE CAUGHT 2LB , 2LB 8oz , 

3lb 4oz.and the best 4lb 2oz    

BERNIE THOMSON 

Attached is a picture of a 2lb 12oz Perch I caught today at Writtle along with a large mixed bag of Hybrid Carp, Tench and smaller Perch. All of my fish fell to double maggot with a block-end feeder containing maggots and hemp. One word of warning to fellow members is that on returning to my car I noticed that some gypsies had begun set up camp in the lay-by.

Peter French

Alan Johnson

I have fished Laundry lake most weekends from Oct to January and found that small baits 10mm & sweetcorn, small hooks no10 and light Fluorocarbon 8lb hooklinks (Small relative to Carping) have paid off. The feeding spells have often been brief but productive. I have Blanked in late January but had consistently caught between 3 and 10 carp per session with average fish weights of 11.8 in the October to December weekend sessions. When Bill (The Bailiff) has done his round of the lake I had told him of my catch so far - on 3 occasions I have had runs on both rods - amazing for winter fishing. (My thanks to Member Andy who landed one of a pair on the first occasion). Tthe attached picture of my "double 16" (Mirror 16.0 and Common at 16.4) caught the weekend before Christmas. I met a Member called Andy on Laundry's bank mentioned above on a few occasions, who told me of a common he had caught at 19lbs - on the Same Saturday before Christmas I also had a Common of 18.14 (see picture) which I guess was his fish having just lost a few ounces! My best catches have been on plastic niteglow sweetcorn, which have been fished on the same rigs for the past 3 months - Low cost and producing results with a small PVA bag of pellet crumb to attract the fish.  

Terry White 

Above are pictures of my daughter Lucy Walker age 8 years with two carp caught on 27/07/04 . From the laundry lake. Both fell to Tutti Frutti bollies with small pva bags of trout pellets. We weighed the common carp it went 13lb.

Trevor Walker

Myself and my friend Kenneth Robb had a great day on 14 june, In 9 hours we had 9 carp from 9lb to 14lb. The picture above is of of Kenneth  with his personal best a carp of 14lb, he is a new member and was so pleased to catch such a specimen fish on his first visit to a club water I think he will be a member for life

John Burpitt

I visited the new lake along the A414 at New Maltings just to take a look. I had various conversations with a number of people, including the owner, and all of them stated that there are no bream in the lake, although the newsletter quite clearly states that there are. That is a pity as I think a good head of bream compliment a fishery, especially in the winter.

It would appear, from the owner, that we only have the lake for a year. It would be nice (if we manage to keep it after then) that other species of fish are introduced, including bream. 

Steve Grant

River Roding

Chub of 4lbs 13 oz (a personal best from the Roding ) on 31st December 2004. Bait : luncheon meat Method : single swan shot,size 4 hook,rolled under one of the trees upstream from the bridge.  Mild,dry conditions (13 c),river in good nick,with just a tinge of colour.

 Mike Beiley

Following last year's disastrous pollution on the River Roding, I had not fished my regular stretch of Stanford Rivers until yesterday, 31st October, using the Patch Park stretch which the pollution did not reach, thanks to the efforts of the E.A. However, I had received information from members and our neighbour club, Woodford, that fish were starting to reappear in the polluted stretch, so I decided to give it a full day.

As usual, I fished the entire length from the top pool to Shonks Mill bridge in at least 20 different swims. Tackle was my 18 ft rod, 3lb line and stick float. Baits were 2-3 maggots or bread crust over breadcrumb loose feed. The pace of the river was perfect, fining down but with some colour, and the weather was mild and with a slight breeze. The banks showed that few members had been on the river, but most swims were quite accessible. From my very first cast, when I lost an unseen fish in the central deep pool, I knew that the river had recovered, and was fishing even better than before. Whether this is due to our over-estimate of the percentage of fish killed, or restocking by the E.A., I don't know - probably a mixture of both.
I caught fish out of almost every swim I tried, some being very small runs with just a bit more depth, in the canal straight. Before the pollution I would drop into these for a few minutes, but fish seem to be taking up residence wherever there is at least 15-18 inches of depth.
My total catch was:
31 roach to 14oz        20 chub to 2lbs    10 dace to 8oz
1 solitary gudgeon!
I would also have caught a pike had not I been too quick for it on my second cast of the day, when it jumped out of the central pool after my first roach!  
The only downside to the day was that I had the stretch totally to myself. I really expected more members to enjoy a quiet day out in the country, catching loads of truly wild fish. I say that because of the number of unseen fish which I hooked which eventually weeded me. Perhaps the barbel which we had in this stretch were not all killed after all.

DEREK  A.  HOWARD

Here's a couple of shots of my youngest son Jon proudly showing off his personal best Common Carp. Which he caught using cockles at Straits Mill last August, shortly after his tenth birthday. Not bad for a youngster!

Steve Chase

Straits Mill

Fished Straits Mill on Monday the 19th July, arriving at 7am at the sunken Island swim. Baited up with 1/2 kilo of free offerings (trigger). Had first fish around 11:30 - Mirror Carp at 15lb. Followed by a second at 1pm - Common Crap at about 12 1/2 lb. Lost a monster!! Plenty of fish were visible. Just a note to say have had no blanks at Straits Mill this season.

Simon Pitt.

Fished Southminster pit 7 on the 03/02/2005 caught 2 mirrors this one weighing 6lb 13oz which fell to luncheon meat.

Paul

Southminster

Having visited Southminster fisheries last Sunday with my son I noticed that the majority of members were fishing pits 8 and  6. We took the opportunity to look around the other pits and decided to fish the smaller pit 4 as it was quiet and managed to catch a good number of Rudd, Roach, Perch and a common carp of 5lbs. I noticed that pit 9 being tucked away in the corner had signs of some swims being used previously but there was no one on it that day. I'm tempted to give it a go and wondered if there are any members that  have fished pit 9 with success, and what baits were favoured?

Tony Beadle 

Southminster

Caught a fish on pit 6  at southminster today 07th of July in the worst conditions ever with gail force  winds a common carp of 19. lb whilst playing the fish for 22mins the  rod pod was pulled over, and the  landing net went swiming all by these high winds,  In my all worth the effort, and a cold.

Chris .  

Attached is a picture of a 15lb 30z Mirror Carp I caught today at Southminster, it fell to float fished luncheon meat.

Peter French

Just a few lines to let you know how I got on at the new lake Willow Mere.I had an afternoon free from work on Monday the 29 Nov. and thought I would have a look at the new venue. On arrival it looked great and fish were topping all over the place so decided to fish for a few hours got set up and had a lot of small roach and two very nice cross breads looked like a crucian but the colour was all wrong and they were about 4 1/2 pounds. I noticed a lot of large fish jumping out of the water and wondered what they were all of a sudden a very large Pike about 20 lbs jumped right in front of me with a very nice roach in its mouth. I now knew what the jumping fish were. I had a walk around the lake to view the swims to get an idea of where I would like to fish next time I come, at the back of the lake

RAY WITTON

Terry King  

Went to long lake 4th September 2004. Caught a 10lb carp and this 15lb 12oz fully scaled mirror carp using floating dog biscuit attached to the hook using a bait band.

Garry Bennett.

21/7/04

Attached is a picture of my 10 year old son Matthew with the 15lb 7oz carp he caught on an early evening session Friday the 16th July on Swan Lake at Windmill Lakes. Matthew and I have only been fishing since March of this year, so imagine his delight when he landed this personal best after a struggle lasting nearly 80 mins. That was the first and only bite either of us had that evening (well apart from the numerous gnat bites that is). 

Steve Cray

A morning session on Sunday 20^th June at Windmill lakes Field Lake after struggling all morning to reach the lilies and only getting pestered by small stuff I was just thinking about packing up when I saw a fish moving by my feet. I dropped in a couple of sweet corn and hooked into a monster for the tackle I was on. After a good long fight I landed the 12 pound 8oz common pictured, taken by a very kind member as I had no camera. A great father’s day present.

Les Mason 

This is me and my son's first year as members and we visited Old Island lake for a late evening session arriving at 19:00 on Thursday 10th June 2004 . We settled down for our short session my son(14 years) caught a 9lb 5oz common carp on luncheon meat. After helping to land his fish I moved from my original swim to get the last of the suns evening rays and to be closer to the car for a sharp exit when I hooked into a good fish once again on luncheon meat, and to my dismay my pole's power tip snapped leaving me still connected to the fish but with sharp ends that could damage the elastic. After a short but very worrying fight my son netted the 9lb 12oz common carp. It was a really good evening.

Les Mason