Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2009 10:31:27 GMT
Six of us from all corners of England arrived at Evesham Vale on Sunday 6th Sept.
We were fishing until the Friday lunchtime. The weather was good with no rain throughout apart from a very light drizzle on the Monday night, though it was quite windy virtually every day and we did experience overnight fog on two nights late in the trip.
I chose to fish the first peg by the side of the netted off part of the lake. It looked very inviting with easy access for casting to the trees along the far bank. One member of the party chose peg 9 which was a large easy access peg just after a small bridge over a dyke. Others ranged along the pegs at the far end of the lake with one member fishing the furthest permissible bivvie peg from the car park.
Those using the far end of the lake were allowed to drive down as far as the bridge and barrows were provided there in order to transport all the gear to the pegs.
**Anyone fishing this venue should take their own drinking water as the supply on site is drawn up out of the ground and filtered. It is ok for washing in etc but is a no no for using to make coffee or tea.
The pegs are quite steep and could be hazardous in the wet as they are devoid of grass.
Apart from the first peg the fishing is in the main, long range and bait boats are a distinct advantage. That said, by the end of the week the fish had been drawn into the middle of the water and were just about within casting range.
Peg 9 fished extremely well and Mark landed 25 fish from it before moving. (Which I will explain later) Most of these fish were below 10lb but did include a 24lb fish and a couple of teens. He used a 14 mm Newfield boilie with corresponding pellets either with stick or PVA bags. Experimenting showed that small baits and just a tablespoon of pellets were doing the business and we all adopted this method. My peg- The most promising looking peg fished very poorly and I only had 6 runs all week landing just 5 fish, the best being 13lb 4oz. We double checked my rigs and all agreed that the set up I was using was identical to the catchers. We were all using boilies topped off with an artificial corn. It seemed that the fish were just not down at my end of the lake despite the wind direction being towards my corner.
The peg furthest away from me produced the larger fish with 8 being landed. The best being 26lb followed by a 22lb and a 20lb 4oz. And 4 others in the teens.
All in all we had over 40 fish in the week with 5 or 6 over 20lb. Far end peg had an English PB mirror over 20 and a PB common over 20 within a 9 hour period.
Baits catching the big fish were Rishworth KG1s, a Newfield fishmeal boilie and Cotswolds own, supplied on site, T2.
On arrival we were given, as part of the deal, 10 kilos of UFO boilies, 10 kilos of Kick, 4 kilos of T2 and 5 kilos of shelf life cooked hemp.
Peg 9 was not happy with his bait boat and was not prepared to use it during the night to reach the far bank and so after catching a fish in the dark one evening he recast out to the middle and began to catch fish. This proved to be the turning point as it gave others confidence that the fish were not all at long distance and hugging the far bank. Fish were then produced from the centre of the lake which was a cast of about 80 yds and reachable by all.
After a bad night on Wednesday, Mark in peg 9 decided he just had to move as he woke up to a run to find his peg full of rats. He estimated there to be about 30 and the area stunk of rat pee the next morning. His bivvie had a separate ground sheet so could not be fully enclosed and he was worried they would get inside.
He moved to a peg in the middle of the group of 4 down at the far end and managed a further 4 fish, 3 teens and a 20 from a peg about 3 pegs from the far end.
All the bigger fish seemed to be down that way and on speaking to the bailiff he said that my peg was either brilliant or rubbish. For me it turned out to be rubbish.
I got the power washer and disinfectant on all my equipment on my return and feel confident now that I have got it all cleaned up and free of any possible disease from the rats
We had mixed feelings as to whether we would fish the venue again. The rat population being the main concern. We did report it to the bailiff who said he did not know it had got that bad. Lets just hope that something is done about it as it could spoil what is otherwise a nice venue with lots of good fish to be had.
We were fishing until the Friday lunchtime. The weather was good with no rain throughout apart from a very light drizzle on the Monday night, though it was quite windy virtually every day and we did experience overnight fog on two nights late in the trip.
I chose to fish the first peg by the side of the netted off part of the lake. It looked very inviting with easy access for casting to the trees along the far bank. One member of the party chose peg 9 which was a large easy access peg just after a small bridge over a dyke. Others ranged along the pegs at the far end of the lake with one member fishing the furthest permissible bivvie peg from the car park.
Those using the far end of the lake were allowed to drive down as far as the bridge and barrows were provided there in order to transport all the gear to the pegs.
**Anyone fishing this venue should take their own drinking water as the supply on site is drawn up out of the ground and filtered. It is ok for washing in etc but is a no no for using to make coffee or tea.
The pegs are quite steep and could be hazardous in the wet as they are devoid of grass.
Apart from the first peg the fishing is in the main, long range and bait boats are a distinct advantage. That said, by the end of the week the fish had been drawn into the middle of the water and were just about within casting range.
Peg 9 fished extremely well and Mark landed 25 fish from it before moving. (Which I will explain later) Most of these fish were below 10lb but did include a 24lb fish and a couple of teens. He used a 14 mm Newfield boilie with corresponding pellets either with stick or PVA bags. Experimenting showed that small baits and just a tablespoon of pellets were doing the business and we all adopted this method. My peg- The most promising looking peg fished very poorly and I only had 6 runs all week landing just 5 fish, the best being 13lb 4oz. We double checked my rigs and all agreed that the set up I was using was identical to the catchers. We were all using boilies topped off with an artificial corn. It seemed that the fish were just not down at my end of the lake despite the wind direction being towards my corner.
The peg furthest away from me produced the larger fish with 8 being landed. The best being 26lb followed by a 22lb and a 20lb 4oz. And 4 others in the teens.
All in all we had over 40 fish in the week with 5 or 6 over 20lb. Far end peg had an English PB mirror over 20 and a PB common over 20 within a 9 hour period.
Baits catching the big fish were Rishworth KG1s, a Newfield fishmeal boilie and Cotswolds own, supplied on site, T2.
On arrival we were given, as part of the deal, 10 kilos of UFO boilies, 10 kilos of Kick, 4 kilos of T2 and 5 kilos of shelf life cooked hemp.
Peg 9 was not happy with his bait boat and was not prepared to use it during the night to reach the far bank and so after catching a fish in the dark one evening he recast out to the middle and began to catch fish. This proved to be the turning point as it gave others confidence that the fish were not all at long distance and hugging the far bank. Fish were then produced from the centre of the lake which was a cast of about 80 yds and reachable by all.
After a bad night on Wednesday, Mark in peg 9 decided he just had to move as he woke up to a run to find his peg full of rats. He estimated there to be about 30 and the area stunk of rat pee the next morning. His bivvie had a separate ground sheet so could not be fully enclosed and he was worried they would get inside.
He moved to a peg in the middle of the group of 4 down at the far end and managed a further 4 fish, 3 teens and a 20 from a peg about 3 pegs from the far end.
All the bigger fish seemed to be down that way and on speaking to the bailiff he said that my peg was either brilliant or rubbish. For me it turned out to be rubbish.
I got the power washer and disinfectant on all my equipment on my return and feel confident now that I have got it all cleaned up and free of any possible disease from the rats
We had mixed feelings as to whether we would fish the venue again. The rat population being the main concern. We did report it to the bailiff who said he did not know it had got that bad. Lets just hope that something is done about it as it could spoil what is otherwise a nice venue with lots of good fish to be had.
