NAC Fish-in Stanwick Lakes Fisheries – Elsons Lake
12th – 14th June 2009

Steve ‘eelfisher’ Richardson.

Members present:
Nick Rose, Pete Drabble, Barry McConnell, John Davis, Roy Piggott, Neil Wilkinson, Graham Wilkes, Steve Richardson, Andrew Rose, Wayne Staddon, Kevin Payne.

Friday 12th June, 10.00am…work ended, filled the car with eel fishing gear, a few provisions to get me through the weekend and hit the M1, then A14 and make my way to Stanwick lakes, just outside of Irthingbrorough, Northants…..no traffic jams, easy drive, fishery gate found and the weekends fishing begins.

A quick walk around the fishery to decide upon an area to fish from was in order, so off I wobbled and almost immediately I came across Nick firmly tucked into the first fishable swim. He’d been there since the night before and had already had two eels around one and a half pounds each, both taken on worms, in the night from the margins. We sat and chatted about the prospects and then I took myself around the lake to see if any particular swim took my fancy. There were a couple of swims between Nick and the next occupant, one John Davis, whose swim had the contents of a very large tackle shop firmly spread about it. We chatted about encroaching old age and the obsession to take stupid amounts of fishing tackle on sessions with us……obviously neither of us the wiser for our age.

I left John to get set up and a few more swims up found Graham and Neil sharing a point swim together…their choice looked very inviting but every swim so far had features that caught the eye and I continued to walk around the lake in search of one that jumped out at me. I reached the far end of the lake and the said swim was there before my eyes….mind made up before I had even seen the other half of the lake…..a swim that couldn’t be interfered with by anyone if they fished either side of me…perfect. I walked the rest of the lake, finding Barry typically encamped in a jungle swim on the very slim far bank and further round the lake I met up with Roy, who had the other half of the large tackle shop that John had left behind…..Lord knows how they and all the gear got in the same vehicle…..lastly I found young Andrew and it seemed that between him and his Dad, they had sewn up the first corner bay of the lake…sensible tactics I thought.

So, full circle and back at Nick’s swim, I cadged his barrow and went back to the car for my gear and once loaded up, I made my way to the far end of the lake and got set up and, regardless of being baitless, I found myself quite excited at the prospect of the next two days eel fishing. I boiled a kettle and made my way back to Nick’s for a coffee, some catch-up and to see if any worms were on offer.

Now I’m ever the optimist but even I should ensure that I take a supply of worms and not be levelled to scrounging a few lobs from fellow eel anglers, who had obviously made sure that they had good supplies. If we were all like me, no one could cadge off anyone….so my thanks to Nick and Graham for their generosity….and the offer from others at the venue.

Whilst having a coffee with Nick, Graham came round to us and prised £5.00 off us both for a slush fund for the biggest eel of the weekend. £45.00 was in the kitty and if it wasn’t won, then it would be donated to the club printer appeal. When Graham had secured the money and wandered off, Nick informed me that Andrew had just caught a 17lb common off the surface using floating bread….I told Nick that I thought that too big even for section deadbaits (although perhaps John and Roy might not have passed on it if it went on offer) and elected to fish the car-park lake for a few small baits….and my goodness, they ‘were’ small. Still, as I said to Andrew, small baits are better than no baits and so with a cadged supply of worms (8) and twelve small rudd (1”) and a roach (2”) I made my way back to my swim for some ‘snap’. On the way I traded four rudd for six lobworms off Graham and decided that worm protection was a top priority over the next two days.

In the meantime, Kevin Payne and Pete Drabble had turned up and had settled into swims on the slim far bank.

Back in my swim, I cooked some bacon sarnies and decided on a two rod attack….one with three lobworms and one with a roach head. Both rods were marginalized, one left of swim and the other to the right, both in four feet of water, one foot out in the lake. Both were legered hard on the bottom.

I stayed awake in my chair all night and never had a bleep on either alarm or got to see how my new ‘red’ Barry McConnell ‘rollovers’ worked. At 05.00am I decided to pop on the bedchair and get a couple of hour’s kip before considering the day ahead. I rose at 9.30am due to the sun beating down on me and stopping me from nodding off completely. Kettle on, rods wound in and a quick walk back to Nick’s for a coffee and to see if anyone else had managed an eel. It transpired that Kevin had taken one of 1lb 12oz on worm…..some nice tench had been caught and Pete had lost a big pike at dawn.

Around 11.00am I went back to my swim, re-cast the rods, one with one lobworm (worm saving tactic for the coming night) and the other with the tail end of the dispatched roach from the night before….and commenced to sunbathe and generally catch up on my sleep as it was my full intention to stay awake again the coming night….only this time I was going to use three rods…..all I needed to do was scrounge a spare reel from someone, although that could wait until later.

At 2.00pm I had a take on the worm rod which turned out to be a very nice tench….best guess, and no idea really why I didn’t weigh it, a big 8lb’er or possibly a low 9lb’er…..either way it was a cracking fish.

‘Save worms’ being the chant of the weekend, I declined re-casting the rod out and fished for another hour on the deadbait rod to no avail. Kettle on, yet another walk to Nick’s for a coffee and to see where the spare reel might come from. (Remember, there were two large tackle shops in two swims on the lake, so I was reasonably happy with a successful outcome.) On my way round I came across Roy, who volunteered a reel for my services. The condition of the loan was that if it caught the largest eel of the weekend, the winnings were split between us…..I agreed, without reluctance, because that’s the kind of guy I am. Roy said that he’d be watching me all night and I said that if that rod produced an eel, then I’d shine my red LED at him for notification. (One wonders if he lay awake watching me all night.)

Saturday evening came quite quickly and I put the two rods back in the same positions as the previous night (since starting fishing the night before, I’d been pulting in a pouch of live maggots every hour or so over each rod continuously even when they were not actually fishing) This time I again fished three lobworms on the right hand rod but elected to fish a legered rudd livebait on the other rod to my left. The third rod was an off-bottom CD rig with three lobworms on in the swim next to mine. (Worms were now getting very low in numbers…maybe, if I was lucky, I’d be cadging again in the middle of the night.) At 8.00pm I had a take on the legered worm rod which snagged me in the overhanging marginal trees. (Golly gosh jeepers…or something similar came from my mouth.) I re-cast with three lobworms again to same spot. At 8.30pm I had a take to the CD lobworm rod and once again was done by the marginal trees…..best to think tench I thought but secretly I was thinking ‘there goes my chance’…with a few choice swear words mingled in…..Re-cast with three lobworms…now only have two worms left and it’s only 9.00pm……oh dear.

I decided that a can of cider was the order of the moment. Then had another and had some sausage sarnies. It was quiet except for the carp anglers on the other lakes checking their alarms every ten minutes and the obligatory carp ‘take’ that took the angler in question an age to respond to…..oh yeah, and a nightingale in my corner of the lake singing every now and again. The rod’s stayed quiet but it seemed that some of the lads were getting some action of sorts, perhaps John’s five hour weed raking session in the afternoon had paid off?

At 1.20am the legered worm rod was away and I had an eel of about 1lb 12oz…joy at having caught an eel, at least I hadn’t blanked. I sent a text Nick to inform him and he sent his congratulations….so far he’d not caught. Last two worms on the rig and re-cast to same spot. Maggots pulted in over all three rods yet again and sit back and kettle on.

2.10am and the livebait rod bleeped. Ten minutes later it bleeped three times. Then it ripped off and simply one toned. Instant strike, eel on and it felt a good fish. A cracking scrap and she was netted at the first attempt. She was lip hooked and was a broad-headed type. The scales showed 4lb 1oz……a very happy man indeed. I sacked her with the other eel and popped them both into the other lake behind my swim. Kettle on and another text to Nick. Nothing occurred after that…..and I wasn’t bothered at all. A good weekends fishing from my perspective.

I settled onto the bedchair at 3.30am and tried to force sleep but it never came. I nodded on and off and when I next opened my eyes, Roy was standing in my swim.
“You had a 4.01 then”
“Yes”
“You’ve won the money”
“Nah, someone will have caught one bigger I’m sure”
“They haven’t yet”
“They will”
“Was it on the rod with my reel on it”
“Nope”
“B******’s”
“What”
“Sorry, well done mate…..by the way, I had a 3lb 11oz eel last night ….and I thought I was in the money before I heard about your fish.”

Match fishing, don’t you just hate it!

Time to pack away……Nick comes round as I’m doing it….“you alright”
“Yes” says I”.
Nick looks at me and says “Neil has just had a 4lb 4oz’er, a new PB”
“Fantastic” says I.
“We’ll do the photos together then” says Nick……“okay”?
“Yep”.

Tackle back in car……shake Neil’s hand and congratulate him…..what better way to do a PB than with your mates on an NAC fish-in…..cracking.

The ‘action’ on the lake ‘was’ John’s results of raking his swim…four eels in the 2lb range and some nice tench. Andrew managed to winkle out another carp, a mirror this time and it weighed in at 17lb 10oz…a lovely bronze beauty.
Top marks to all who attended….thanks for a great weekend’s fishing…..results wise and company wise…..long may the NAC reign.