Weston Park Shropshire

heading tomorrow, with my brother and a mate for for a weeks fishing, ill report back next sunday, and hopefully with some piccies for the gallery

until then

Best of luck fellas.

best of luck chris have fun

just got back fellas

a succesful week by all, well, bei9ng honest, i personally didnt catch as much as i would have liked, but definetly learned a few lessons, and things i know now for the future

as some of you lads may know, im only fishing 2 years now, have never had any kind of mentor, no one to bring me fishign, so have been picking things up, bit by bit

first mistake i made was choice of swim, i think, being naive, and on my first trip away with 2 mates, we all kinda wanted to fish together, one lad got the corner swim ,beside some lovely trees with gravel spots beside them, the brother got a nice open water swim, and i got piggy in the middle, i should have known then, that there was just too many lines, too close to each other, didnt catch for the first 3 days, so decided to move, then finally caught the day i moved

secondly, rigs and bait from different mags, its all a pile of shite, these fancy dance rigs that to this, that and the other, its just like fashion ,what you where today, you wont in 2 years time, keep it simple, but effective, thats my new moto

also, i learned to use a marker rod alot better(korda drop zone marker floats are the dogs danglies!!)

and ive now started using pop ups, which i was always doing wrong, i thought you just put them on, never knew you where supposed to weight the little feckers down with a bit of shot and all, they certainly work when done right

ill post a full review tomorrow lads, time for my leaba!!

welcome back and i am glad that u are learning as u fish....look forward to full report

At least you didn't blank Chris...
did you ever catch on popups straight up from the lead ??

ok, i may as well do my full review now so

ill expplain a little about the lake first, its a 12 acre lake, on an old estate in Shropshire, stunning can not even describe the lake itself(and some of the old english carp that reside there).

we arrived on sunday, about 11.30am, we had booked 3 swims, the lake has 12, so i was pretty sure the lake would be full up, when we arrived, i was glad to find out, that there where only 3 other people fishing the lake, a party of 3 from Stoke(ill get some of their photos up in the gallery asap), and thankfully, the boys where sound,

so there was now 6 free swims, here`s my first mistake, the 3 swims we had where pretty good, the first one, a corner peg, was arguably the hottest on the lake, very productive swim, my mate drew that one, the other, a big open water swim on its tod, my brother got that on, and mine, not bad by any means, but sandwiched in ebtween the 2 lads, i should have known there, that too many lines, too close, wouldnt do me any favours, and i was limited in where i could actually fish to, plus, i didnt ask the baliff enough questions regarding what was out in front of me, another lessons learned

anyway, we all got the plumbing gear out, and away we go, there was nothing crazy to find, all 3.5ft depth, a few clear patches, so i decided to just try my luck on the clear patches, a non productive 3 days passed, i had to move, and move i did, in the mean time ,my brother had caught a clonking 33.5lb mirror(picture will be up soon), an abolsute monster, nothing like my novice eyes have ever seen before

ok, new swim ,first night, i cant a fish, YAY, i was right to move, plummed up, and spodded like there was no tomorrow(after asking the lake owner Rob Hales what he thought), waited 2 more days there, then finally the spodded area started to produce a fish, first one was a 21lb mirror, then the following day, from the same spot, a 19lb mirror, happy days, i was probably more chuffed with them captures, seeing as i moved to catch them, instead of being lazy, and just waiting for them to come to me

my brother didnt catch anything again, until the last day, when his depth of 7ft ,with a fair of spod finally started producing, he had 3 fish on the last day, the biggest was 26lb, another at 23lb, and another at 16lb, really good angling i have to say, there`s another thing, spodding definetly works, but from what i can see, not until a day or 2 afterwards

my other mate had the corner peg, had nothing for 2 days, until again ,the lake owner, Rob Hales(nice fella), stayed with my mates, until he hit the right spot, an awkward cast underneath a hanging tree, but that swim then produced about 6 fish in the next 4 days, the biggest at 28lb, again, ill have pictures up as soon as i get my brotheres memory card

a few other things i noticed, with my plumbing set up, i was using a 4 oz grippa type lead, definetly not the way to go, i was then given a smaller, polished pear shaped korda lead by one of the stoke lads, and the difference when checking for features was just unreal, a wrld of difference, plus, the weed didnt get caught in the lead as often as the grippa type leads

hooklenghts, i always just used a generic lenght, about 8 inches id say, but after the owner looked at my rigs, he was saying about 12inches where theres weed, plus, allowing for the silt, that never dawned on me, simple i know, but i just never thought of it, also hairlenghts, mine where all over the shop, some short, some really long, i never made my hooklenghts with the boilie already on the line to get the correst length every time, i do now

pva bags, i tended to put WAY too much into the bag, i used to throw out bags the size of oranges, and then complained why i could never hit the same spot as my marker, DOH!!!!

also, marker floats, i was using a nash weed marker float, not a bad float by any means, but you need some serious eyesight to see them at any distance, the korda Marker floats have MASSIVE flights, that even Stevie Wonder could spot

oh, i was up in the Monument fishery every other day for a shower, the chap that owns it, Hales, was going to France on Friday, talk about the who`s who of carping going with him, that fox consultant guy, Max Cottis was there, adn Des Taylor to, your man Taylor has some mouth on him, you`d hear him a mile away, also, Matt Hayes dad works up in the monument every now and then, what a thouroughly nice fella he is, absolutley sound oul fella,. we had a good old chin wag with him

so all in all, a succsful trip had by all, ill know in future not to rush to my swim in future, take my time, and try and be happy witht hr swim from the start, also, be more confident with where im fishign, and putting my bait, i had a tendency of recasting too often, probably not trusting what i had found with my marker rod, i asked one of the english guys to help me out with that, i was right all along with what i was finding, regarding weed, clear sports etc... but a second opinion from a seasoned angler was a good booster, so ill definetly be alot more confident, and patient with where i cast to now in future, ill be confident enough with where the rig is landing

if anyone is interesed in fishing Weston Park ,id highly recommend it, the lake, as i said, is stunning, and does hold some seriously pretty, and BIG fish to

p.s, i got a little bivvy heater in Angler World before i went over, a big thumbs up for that, an absolute treat, i was warm as toast all the time

oh, and BBc radio is shite, i think thats everything covered now

nice 1 chris it sounds like you had a great time 6 weeks time i will be there which swims were you booked onto originally, what swim did your bro land the big common from....cant wait to see the photos well done.if you ever get a chance try catch22 it really is a magical venue

garyjay wrote:

nice 1 chris it sounds like you had a great time 6 weeks time i will be there which swims were you booked onto originally, what swim did your bro land the big common from....cant wait to see the photos well done.if you ever get a chance try catch22 it really is a magical venue

my brother was on the meadows swim, its in the field on the opposite side of the lake, just to your left, not too far out, an easy enough cast, you`ll find about 7 ft depth, thats where he had all his fish, on the last day, he hedged his bets and put every rod in and around the spot, and it worked well, its pretty much the only depth on the lake, its three and a half every where else

i fished the stump, its a little bit confined, there`s a tree to your right, that means you cant cast to that side(unless you have waders) and to your left, the wood swim takes it all up,

i then moved to the Park view swim ,find a good clear spot straight ahead, and spod, i found that useful, i moved into the rhodies for the last day and a half, i only caught one from there, but it was actually from my spodded spot on the park view swim

the lad before me cained the Rhodies, he had a bait boat mind, so was able to get into some really tricky spots, but to some great effect

when you get there, if its Sam showing you around, you wont get much info, he`s not the worst fella in the world, but not too sociable either, if rob Hayles is around, which he should, dont be afraid to ask him to show where you should be fishing, he`ll even cast your marker to make sure you`re on the money, just get as much info as you can from the baliffs, it really pays to be honest

i know down at the shallows, a group of fish congrgate under a tree, you can climb the tree and see them, its an easy cast, i think the syndicate members will be back on the lake when you`re there, so if you`re confined to the 1 swim ,get as much info as you can about it,

oh, and check out the butchers in shifnal ,the irish, and normal traditional saudages are unreal, as is all the meat to be honest, the SEVEN pub is nice for food, and steak slices in The three Cooks bakery are the dogs danglies!!! and bring pop ups, plenty of them, i found dark coloured ones very productive, the HBS red indian worked well,

my bro caught all his using a spod of garlic hemp, mini tigers, and ccmoore pulses, then Trigga Ice bottom bait

well done chris,great report
glad ye got a few fish,and by the
sounds of it,a great learning experience.

nice one chris.sounds like you enjoyed it.lookin forward to pics.

Nice report. Glad you enjoyed it.
Regards,
Denis..............

nice 1 chris thanks for the info i heard the syndicate was back on at the start of june.chris is there a supermarket local and does the monument have a decent tackle shop for bits and bobs if needed.... oh and how far a shuffle:oops: to the toilet from the gate/meadow swim

well done Chris,glad u had a good time,we all learn something new each time we go carping no matter how long we have been fishing.

garyjay wrote:

nice 1 chris thanks for the info i heard the syndicate was back on at the start of june.chris is there a supermarket local and does the monument have a decent tackle shop for bits and bobs if needed.... oh and how far a shuffle:oops: to the toilet from the gate/meadow swim

the town of Shifnal is only 5 minutes drive away, and there`s a Co-op, its not bad, it does the job, no Tescos or anything, a really good butcher, just on the right, the pizza shop isnt bad either, and the bakery is good to

the monuments shop is shite, its tiny, sells the bare essentials, SBS Boilies and pellets, a few korda rig bits, and a few Fox rig bits, thats it, i actually expected more from the monument, but it does have a very good clean shower, thats open 24/7

regarding the toilet, yeah, the portaloo arrived on our second day, its not a million miles from your swim, a 5 minute walk,

i think the only weeks the syndicate members arent on the lake is april, and the first 2 weeks of May, something like that anyway, thats why ill book next year for in and around the same time, as its pretty much empty

i went to Stapeley angling centre on the way to the lake, it was good, and the shop had everything, but its an absolute rip off, the bits and bobs where fierce expensive, alot more than im used to paying in AnglersWorld thats for sure

if you`ve anymore questions, dont be afraid to ask

good report chris sounds like you had a good week
is there a web site you can book through

thanks dave

dave wrote:

good report chris sounds like you had a good week
is there a web site you can book through

thanks dave

www.rhfisheries.com

you have to ring them though