A nightmare on the Linier Lakes. (Richworth
Linear Lakes/Shimano)
On August 6th 2002 we went to the
Shimano Linear Lakes in Oxford (Now the Richworth Lakes) for a 6 day carp fishing session.We fished the hardest lake the venue has to offer (Manor
Farm) and believe me runs are few and far between.
In the last 24 hours, we had four runs and never
put a fish on the bank, one of the fish being in excess of 30lb
which I lost at the net!
I
was fishing for a
week trying to catch (Cut Tail) which is one of the bigger mirror
Carp which resides in the Manor Farm Venue. In all the time I was
there I had 4 runs and lost all four of the fish, I really
can't believe I lost all four! the first
came at 5.50 am, the buzzers were
screaming, (you can imagine the scene after a
night on the Stella) I hit the fish and
felt it on and it just took more and more line and dived down
then to my amazement the line just went
slack.
I
thought at that point that
my line had snapped but everything was
still intact except the tiger nut I was using for bait,
which had come off. I put the loss of this fish down to bad
hooks because it had bent slightly.I
quickly changed hooks and baited my hair rig with another tiger nut and
cast into the same place, it was at this stage
everything was really serious, I decided to sit virtually on top
of my rods. I was certain I was going to get another take from the
area I was fishing. I had seen movement previously, then
at 8.30am it went a gain, I quickly through my
brew on the floor and hit the indication of a drop back bite, at this
stage I felt a huge tug on my rod and again everything went slack...
I was absolutely furious with what had happened and I chucked my rod
on the floor in anger Grrrr!
I
couldn't believe what was happening to
me. I was beginning to think the rigs that
I was using were failing me,I checked
and analyzed my rig but this time everything seemed ok.
It was at this point there where
allsorts going on in my head,
I have no doubt you readers have experienced a similar situation.
The rest of that day was quite
it was so quite, it weren't until 2.50 am the following
morning I was awoke to the sound of my buzzer going off
again. I thought "yes" I hit it and had it
on for about 15 mins, I was playing the fish
and the only thing I was thinking was NOT TO LOSE THIS BUGGER! I
got the fish near to the landing net and as true as I am here the
fish looked up at me and shed my Barbless hook. Again I was
furious and shaking with anger, you carp fishermen will know what I
am talking about lol. This was to be my last day
at the linear lakes and I had lost all hope of catching "Cut Tail"After I had
calmed down with the aid of a brew, I
sat and watched my rodsuntil I fell
asleep in my chair dreaming of catch a Carp.
It was 6.30am when I awoke,
I had a sad feeling, as we where to set off home at 10.00am
this morning. I watched and listened to the wild
life around me and thought of how much I would miss this place once
I had gone home.
Its now 9am, I am packing everything away
Bivvy down, etc the rods are always the last thing
I pack for obvious reasons. Its now 9.30 and my barrow is packed
and we are ready for the off, I was just going to
bring in my left had rod when it screamed off.
This rod had been untouched throughout the whole of the
session and I was confident at some time it would get a run. I hit
the fish, I was so excited, just think another
chance to get a carp. The fish was a 30+ I saw it,
it was "Cut Tail" I was just about to get the landing net
under the fish then I saw something
amazing...The fish nodded its head up and
down and I watched my hook flick out of the carps mouth. Sadly
once again the fish escaped my net. I can confidently say that carp
don't get that big without picking a few tricks of the trade up
along the way! I new the Carp I had on was
Cut Tail has I had seen pictures of the fish in a magazine I once
read... Better Luck Next Time. (Next time you are there, mention the
story to the bailiff, he will well remember this one).
This is me looking for clear patches with
my marker float, finding and baiting clear patches in weed will
always improve your chances of a catch. Not on this occasion though!The first thing I noticed about the venue is the lack of
disability access I can only speak about the manor lake. From the
car park you have to cross a very busy main road which has an
average traffic speed of 80 m.p.h so any body in a wheel chair is
going to find it very difficult as the road is blind from both
sides.
Once you have crossed the road there is very high
curb stones which should be made into ramps, then you have about 50
yards of gravel to go over.We found that
the Manor Lake we fished was extremely noisy due to incoming and
outgoing air traffic. We were also at the side of the very busy
B4449. Other than that we had a good time even though we went home a
dry net.
The 2nd time I went was with a friend called Simon, he's from Lancaster. Simon picked me up from home at around 6.00pm,
there were no rush as we both new by the time we got there it would be dark.So off we went on to the M62 looking for the turn off for the M6 which takes us to Birmingham.
Before we new it we had
missed the turning and was heading for Liverpool airport!
Yep you guessed right! we missed the turning so we had to double back on ourselves and start over...
Another bad start I was thinking!
The morning after we arrived I was awoken by the sound of birds tweeting and the beauties of summer.
I tied Zeus my dog to a tree and tended to my rods and organised my strategy for
the days fishing, then to my horror Inoticed that
Zeus had slipped his collar, I heard a cars brakes screeching, Zeus was no where to be seen.
I ran over towards the road and saw a lady who was tending to my dog, she hadn't
hit him but was concerned that he wasroaming the road
and that he run out in front of her. After the lady had given me a large piece
of her mind and severalapologies from
me I toddled off back to my rods with theworry about keeping my eyes on Zeus 24 seven.
I classed this 24 hour session not as bad luck but as a bad disaster. Below is a pic of Zeus!
The 3rd time I went was with Ged, your not going to believe this!
We had just got on to the M62 going to the M6 again (Birmingham)
and I was telling Ged that the last time I came along here I missed the turning for M6.
Before we new it, we were
heading for Liverpool airport again
Yup, the rest of the trip went ok other than the weather, it rained most
of the time we was there and the mud, which was gathering around our
Bivvy area was proving very slippy,
we only had to walk to and from the rods and we were 7 inches taller what with all the mud on our shoesLOL
4th time was ok.... In a funny sort of way.
The 5th time we went we fished the Manor farm water again, there were no problems this time, things were looking good.
By the time we set our stall up and ejected the rods we heard fish crashing in front of us, things were fine and dandy.
(Not) Ged's Bivvy had no over wrap for it and wasn't to long before the condensation set in.
He was only under a
brolly system and his sleeping bag was starting to get wet at the bottom.
He had to put up with that situation for the duration of the session which lasted 6 days... Man he was stressed!
January 5th the following year was the last time I visited the Shimano
Linier Lakes and boy was this too was a disaster. It all started at 3.40am this is when I set off, there was only myself and Zeus in the car and Zeus is car sick.
We hadn't even
reached the motor way and he was sick all over the front seat of the car, this in turn started me to vomit but nothing coming up. I pulled over and sorted the mess out then set off again,
from then on everything was going really smooth until I was in middle lane
of motorway heading for the M5 and M40 when a van cut me out and made me miss my exit.
I ended up on way to South Wales, I
pulled into services which was around thirty miles out of my way, I was in a right state!
I finally got back on the motorway taking me back to where I should have come off,
then I missed the turning again.To tell you the truth I hadn't got a clue were I was so I headed back to Birmingham.
I turned round and had to do it all again!
The traffic was at rush hour by this time so setting off at 3.40am was a waste of time.
I eventually got to Shimano at 12.noon and 400 miles on the trip
monitor, it's only 187 milesfrom my house to the complex. I was well surprised when I got to the carp park!This is because the whole of Hardwick water was completely under
water and St Johns lake was flooded to main road. The Manor farm was
also flooded to a large extent but I managed to do 3 days fishing despite the freezing conditions,
sometimes as low as minus 6.
Do you know it doesn't seem two minutes ago since we were sat outside our
Bivvy until 1 may be 2am in the
morning chatting and drinking coffee in our T shirts and shorts.
Nice grass to put our shelters on, doors wide open and just lying on top of our sleeping bags.
Those were the days seems ages ago! Here I am now fishing in freezing conditions.Even though we have got the rest of January and all February to contend with, we can safely say that the nights are
getting shorter.
It was only the other day when I was sat in my Bivvy when I suddenly noticed that it was still light at 4.30 pm,
I immediately said Yes you beauty ! I didn't
catch anything, hardly surprising taking the weather
conditions in to account but with the water being flooded itadded another 15 may
be 20 yards to the cast. Below is a few pics which I took, have a ganders!This is a picture of Hardwick water taken from the car park side, hard to imagine that a few months ago I fished this
water and my Bivvy was pitched beyond the right of the trees.
Have you got any pictures of fish caught from this
venue, if so please send um in so we can share them with other
readers. Thanks.
