The National Anguilla Club Hampshire Fish-in.

Somerley Lakes, Hampshire.

Friday 19th September 2008…..the first day of the Somerley fish-in held in deepest Hampshire….I hadn’t been on a club fish-in this season, nor for a season or two in fact, and had decided that this would be the one that I’d attend without giving much thought to where it actually was…..after a little map work on the day in question my initial fears were realised and I prepared for my long Friday motorway drive to get there.
Having not eel fished at all this season, the eeling gear had to be collected up and packed into the car…..after a long mooch about it seemed that I had everything but the kitchen sink packed and so set off on the journey feeling confident that I had all bases covered. (Idiot that I am.)
Oxford came and went and Newbury was approaching and thus far the drive had been a doddle……just past Newbury things came to an abrupt end in the driving stakes….red tail lights and three lanes of motorway standstill greeted me. Time 15.00pm……nothing to do but sit and ponder things. Dave Gilmour’s ‘live in Gdansk’ sorted out the rest of the waiting time after the pondering had elapsed.
Whilst I managed to get the car into third gear twice in as many miles, my mind started to wander to the problems awaiting me when I finally arrived at the venue….no bait of any kind at all and the very real situation of no time to choose a swim due to the evening closing in and darkness enveloping the complex….some eel angler I am.
Frustrated, I sent a text to Kevin and explained to him my predicament and asked him if he could get me a couple of fish baits and to expect me when I got there……’No worries’ was the reply. (Good old Taff.)
Feeling a little more relaxed on the bait scene, I decided to let the ‘Sat Nav’ have its head and made the decision to turn off the motorway at my next opportunity. Winding here, there and everywhere I finally found open road through the ‘New Forest’…trouble was it was an open road with an enforced 40 miles an hour zone but I suppose it was better than first gear on the motorway.
I entered the venue at sunset and found Kevin, Thomas and Rod hillyer chatting in the ‘Welsh zone’, along with the bailiff and venue manager, Steve Morgan. I informed them that I was going to go select a swim and get set up before complete darkness descended upon us and so had a little walk around the lake end nearest the car-park. It didn’t take me long to simply decide to drop in next to Thomas due to time in me getting sorted out. The swim looked okay, well quite nice really, and covered a nice area of the lake….and allowed me the use of a corner bay….so long as no one else turned up and dropped in it.
I got the rods set up and then looked through the whole of the car for my eel traces……yep, you’ve guessed it, kitchen sink but no trace material. (Back in the shed with the pike gear.)…so, off a borrowing I went….Kevin had, and was using, some Kryston quicksilver and so I decided to use this and then find a tackle shop in the morning to replenish my wire material.
Set up and settled, I decided that I would enjoy some time with Kevin chatting about things and getting my bait from him. Kevin informed me that Mark Taylor, fishing about three quarters of the lake away from my swim (a long way away and pitch dark) had two small roach for me to use…..thanks Mark but now you know why I never came round to collect them. Swishing net out, I went to seek a quiet swim where I could try and net a few bait fish. The first two nets contained a few very small perch less than an inch long and then I hit gold with two small roach…..four baits for the evening and a few back up small perch which I would use if I got four runs in the night.
Satisfied, it was then back to Kevin’s bivvy for a coffee and some food, kindly fetched by Rod Hillyer, thanks Rod, and paid for by Kevin, which I still owe him for….thanks Kev.
During the time that I had been there, Kevin had already had three runs to prawn, mackerel and smelt which, unfortunately, were all missed…..but it did get the confidence up and running for an action packed night.  At 11.00pm I decided to return to my swim and cast out my baits. A roach head was placed in the margin to my left and the tail section was gently lobbed out into open water in front of me. I then settled down on my chair to await some action.
Thomas missed a screaming take on a pineapple boiliee (carping for eels) and then news reached me that Wayne Staddon had banked a lovely eel of 3lb 10oz. I put the kettle on and enjoyed the wait in very misty conditions. I ought to do this eel fishing lark a bit more me thinks.
The roach head rod was away at 01.25am and I connected with my first eel of the session. Lip hooked, I guessed it at around 2lb and sacked it up until the morning. I recast with the head section of the last small roach into the same area and got on the bedchair for a more relaxed wait. At 03.30 am the margin rod was away again and I missed the take. I decided to put two of the small perch on the hook and replace it in the margin in case the eel came back. At 03.50am I missed a run on the roach tail out in open water and recast the same bait back in the general direction immediately. Twenty minutes later the rod was off again and this time I connected and soon had another eel of the same size as the first nestled in the sack. Nothing else occurred until 05.30am when the margin rod went off and unfortunately I missed that take as well. (God knows how, with such a small bait offering)
I recast with two more small perch and decided that the alarms could wake me if anymore action was forthcoming. I was shattered from work, the long drive and a night of no sleep and at 51 years old, I needed some kip. I awoke at 9.30am to a warm sunny day and no further action to the rods. I went and had coffee with Kevin and caught a few small lives with his float rod….roach and rudd….lovely.
It was at this time that I met and chatted to Les Corsie who had managed an eel of 2lb’s in the morning but had work to attend and was leaving later in the day. The clock ticked round to lunchtime but I was still in need of a few hours kip so decided to fish, sunbathe and sleep at my swim in the afternoon…..however, others had different ideas and it seemed that everyone visited me for a while chatting about stuff and eel fishing……I met Paul Williamson at this point who chatted away about poaching waters in the area on the Christchurch ticket without any idea that also in my swim was the fishery manager…..that was quite an interesting and amusing minute or two when mid way through his ‘guesting’ tales he asked who the chap was…..pure ‘gunge’ indeed.
At about 14.30pm I decided that the only way I was going to get any sleep was if I told everyone to bugger off and leave me alone……and so, with as much tact as I could muster, I told them all to leave me alone for a while……and the message got through.
I managed two hours kip and then heard the news that Wayne was going to photo his 3lb 10oz eel before letting it go, so I wandered over to his swim with Kev, Paul and Thomas to see the eel.
Wayne was, as ever, completely eel conservation minded during the photo session and when the eel was calmed down and about ready for the photo session, he asked that it be doused in water to keep it wet…….at which point it became very much revived as well….thus giving us all a few nice memories of holding lively eels for photos…..something that I’m sure we all can relate to over the years……the eel was stunning and I was well set up for the night session to come after seeing it. (I ought to add that it was at this point in time that I met the lovely Sue and looked around the ‘bivvy from home’…..everything in it but the kitchen sink…which was, of course, in my car.)
Photos done, we all made our ways back to out swims. I decided that I would fish from an early time period and decided that food was an important issue to get done and dusted and so made egg and bacon sarnies for tea in Kev’s swim, whilst he and Thomas made some form of ‘Welsh Stew’. I then told Thomas that he must try and catch an eel tonight and so re-tackled him up with some items of my tackle and Kev’s quicksilver and got him cast out in anticipation of an eel run.
Thomas obviously wasn’t fated to catch an eel over this weekend as he had about five runs and never managed to bank one of them. He did have a couple on but they came adrift on the retrieve. Disappointing for him and frustrating for me, as I was more concerned with him catching an eel than myself that night.
I managed two more eels at 21.40pm and 03.00am, both between one and two pounds and Wayne had one at 1lb 5oz in the night.
Morning came and I started the packing away early due to needing to be at a pub in deepest Derbyshire at midday for Sunday lunch before trout fishing in a boat all afternoon. (The result of that afternoon’s fluff flinging was a big rainbow of 5lb’s plus.)
The weekends fishing was very enjoyable and it was very nice meeting everyone, some for the first time and others who I have known for many years.
My thanks to Kevin and Rod for getting the venue organised and for Christchurch Angling AC for the use of their waters for our fish-in. Next year we may have the opportunity to fish another of their lakes in the area if we desire. I hope that we do and I shall be attending…this time though, I might have the day off work and drive down early to avoid the traffic.

Steve Richardson