Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Albans Lakes
Hertfordshire
Covid- 19
Fishing is permitted during the third national lockdown in England as a form of exercise so long as participants adhere to the rules on staying local, gathering limits, social distancing and limiting the time spent outdoors. Please check the venue you intend to fish is open before travelling.
For the latest updates on the rules for angling during the COVID- 19 pandemic visit: www. anglingtrust. net/ covid- 19
WHEN you visit a fishery and the banks are lined with olive green bivvies, there is one style of fishing that springs to mind - big carp! With a trio of rods aligned perfectly on bite alarms, these specimens are almost certainly the only species on the agenda.
If that kind of fishing doesn’t tickle your fancy and the pole or feeder are more to your taste, then you’re almost certain to conclude that the venue won’t cater for you.
There’s a good chance you’d be wrong though. Especially if you were looking at what was on offer at Hertfordshire’s Albans Lakes.
The fishery is made up of three expansive gravel pits - Match, Farm and Willow - that cover more than 35 acres between them.
The latter is the biggest of the trio and has provided some stunning catches in recent months – and many of those hauls didn’t include a single carp!
Brown’s Angling and Preston Innovations- backed Graham West is one of the people responsible for uncovering the lake’s secrets and we persuaded him to lift the lid on what awaits you.
“Willow is a giant water that is more than 20 acres in size. Although it is a little daunting at first glance, it is full of big fish that are willing to feed throughout the winter.
“The carp that run to over 30lb are just part of the story, with huge shoals of bream to 8lb and roach to 2lb present.
“These fish have grown big because of the big quantities of high protein baits introduced and there’s plenty of them to go around.”
Bream at range, roach in close
Although large in size, the lake is generally quite shallow. It averages around 4ft with normal water levels, increasing to around 6ft when it receives a hefty top- up from the heavens. As a consequence, you may expect that every fish in the lake would live well away from the bank. But that isn’t the case.
“The bream shoals are best targeted on the feeder but the roach come really close in and you’ll bag up on the pole,” revealed Graham.
“If you rotate between the two you’ll keep the bites coming and there is potential for your biggest ever silverfish haul – it really is that good!”
Graham uses a Method feeder at range and a traditional caster- over- groundbait attack on the pole.
“It’s often a case of starting on rod and line and priming the pole line for later in the session. By doing this, you minimise any barren periods that could mar your session.”
Hit the spot
Despite cold temperatures, fish in Willows Lake remain fairly active. They aren’t tightly huddled together in a handful of pegs and stay on the move.
With that in mind, Graham advises building up your swim so that a bed of bait is in place to hold a shoal in place when one rocks up.
“I use distance sticks to measure how far I am casting. I place the sticks 5m apart, temporarily attach the feeder to one of them and open my reel’s bail arm.
“I then wrap line around them and count how many times I go round and clip up.
“If I did 10 wraps, that would mean I know for certain that I am fishing at 50 metres.
“It removes the guesswork as to how far out the feeder is actually landing.”
Graham usually starts between 50m and 60m out but if action dries up after a flurry of bites, he will go back to the sticks, add another wrap and go slightly further out to try and relocate the fish. Picking a far bank marker is also important, enabling you to hit the same mark every time to create the carpet of feed.
The feeder remains in place for around 12 minutes before it’s retrieved. Micro pellets are moulded on to the frame, with a wafter or dumbell hookbait preferred.
“I like to use washed out hookbaits as the fish have seen it all over the years. These baits look like they’ve been in the water for a while, so the fish are more likely to think the food is ‘ safe’ and slurp it up without any hesitancy.”
The pole line is primed from the word go, with four large balls of groundbait laced with dead maggots and casters being fed. His chosen mix is an even blend of Sonubaits So Natural Black Roach and Black Lake. It is then a case of loosefeeding a pinch via a catapult every five minutes until you put a baited rig over the top around an hour later.
Spoilt for choice
If you’re used to fishing commercials, you’ll appreciate that pegging can sometimes be a little tight. Visit on a busy day and you’ll only have a small patch of water to attack, somewhat limiting your options.
There are no such problems on Willows Lake – or the venue’s other waters for that matter – with swims generously spread. You’ll literally have acres of water all of your own, with lots of room on the bankside.
A large proportion of the lake is lined with trees, with pathways cut through the forested areas to link the outer track to the bankside. This has made access simple, with short walks to almost every spot.
On the session arranged to show IYCF just how good the silverfish sport was, Graham selected a swim on ‘ The Point’. Despite grey skies and a fine drizzle, temperatures were favourable, and he was confident of demonstrating the lake’s true potential.
Water levels were high and he had placed his box in the shallow margins. This would make casting to distance easier and it also meant he could fish a shorter pole to reach the required distance.
Once the groundbait had been cupped in, the Method was loaded and propelled towards the opening spot.
That was pencilled in at 55m and a 12- minute wait commenced. Nothing occurred. He reeled in and reset the trap. It was the same negative result on the next three chucks, but the fourth produced a much more positive outcome. His tightly set tip dropped back and upon picking up the rod, a healthy bend was created.
With a beefy 14ft rod in use, he was able to dictate the ebbs and flows of battle and it wasn’t until it came to within netting range that all hell broke loose.
“This is a carp, and a big one at that!” he exclaimed. Several nerve- jangling moments ensued before a well built 17lb mirror was in the net. What a start!
“If you rotate between two lines you’ll keep the bites coming and there is the potential for your biggest ever silverfish haul – it really is that good!”
“There are lots of carp of this size in here and they are often the first to show. I’ve no doubt the bream shoals will soon turn up,” Graham assured us.
A couple more casts failed to add to the haul so it was back on to the sticks and another 5m of line was peeled off to get him to 60m.
He didn’t have to wait long as the tip bent round within minutes of the rig hitting the bottom. The battle was much more subdued this time and, as expected, a bream was the culprit. It was no skimmer either, with a 6lb slab soon safely banked.
Another came shortly afterwards before another lull gave Graham the opportunity to explore the pole line.
“I’ve been firing casters over that since the start so I’m hopeful some roach will have come in and settled.”
A single caster was impaled on to the size 18 hook, the rig laid in and the anticipation began to build.
If the fish were there it wouldn’t take long for the elastic to come out, so action was expected almost immediately.
Thankfully, that was exactly how the script played out and an 8oz redfin opening his pole fishing account. It wasn’t the only one with samples to over 1lb marking a golden hour- long period.
When the bites dried up, more groundbait went in and it was back to the feeder.
By rotating tactics, Graham managed to bank two big carp, six bream and around 20lb of roach in five hours of enjoyable action.
“You’d think that this was a particularly special catch at this time of year, but I would feel very confident of coming back and repeating this any time in winter.
“Albans Lakes is a fishery with stunning potential and it’s always a pleasure and to wet a line here,” concluded Graham.