Catnappin' at Poole Hall Fisheries, Shropshire

Poole Hall House. Or should it be
Toad Hall? What a view from
a peg on the Abbey Pool. Jocky
and I tried to pop in for afternoon
tiffin but they set the hounds on us.

There can't be a fisherman in the Midlands who hasn't heard of Poole Hall. Can there? I remember being taken there as a kid by my Dad and so, last summer, felt the need to revisit and improve on the three record breaking gudgeon that I caught when I still had a Donnie Osmond hair cut and stylish beige bags (flares with massive leg pockets and a rather attractive five button waistband - You know you want some!) Only one slight problem, when you search on the Internet you find that there are in fact TWO Poole Hall fisheries (and one other stately home in Cheshire) One without and 'e' and one with an 'e'. The one that we were after was the one with the 'e' and with a fantastic looking Georgian (?) stately home.

Mmmm . . . chocolate! And some
nicely manicured bushes

We arrived early with only one or two cars already parked on the gravel next to a couple of temporary huts that looked like they'd been around since the end of WWII. But don't let appearance fool you; one was a welcoming fisherman's caff that provided tea, coffee, instant porridge (very excellent idea dude) and free fishing advice. We took a walk around the main part of the fishery which has six imaginatively shaped fishable pools in all, then settled for a start on the narrow leg of the Kingfisher pool.

How does he do it? Is Jocky the
Hermione Grainger of the riverbank? Or
just a jammy sod? Cast your votes now!

The interesting thing about this particular pool (apart from its rather suggestive shape when viewed from the air) is its colour; a rather attractive opaque, muddy, cocoa brown. So dark in fact, that at any moment I expected to see Augustus Gloop come spluttering to the surface with a couple of Cadbury's carp truffles clutched in his porky little fingers. Still, it was a nice pool and the colour didn't stop us pulling out the fish. I managed to regularly reel in an assortment of carp flavours up to about 4lb, and Jocky, bless his little cotton wellies, continued to catch the whole range of coarse fish species as per usual: carp, roach, bream, perch and a lovely golden rudd!

A fantastic sight. The only thing you
can't see is the man on the lawn mower
doing his best to put a dent in about
three years worth of grass cutting on
the far bank.

So, after a few hours of prolific fishing, instant porridge and a couple of impromptu downpours, the place seems to have filled up with the world and his wife. I went for a wander only to find that the car park was full and pegs on the main pools are in short supply. It's certainly a popular place. After another trek to the cafe for a coffee, the young lady there advised me that today, the specimen pool was fishable as part of the daily rate and might be a little less crowded as it was situated on another part of the sight, well away from the massed populace.

It sounded like a good proposition and after a short haggle, Jocky agreed to accompany me on the short (but heavily laden) walk to the Abbey pool in the shadow of the Georgian mansion. This is a beautiful pool, clotted with trees and reed beds and although a little more exposed and chilly than the others, well worth a visit. We settled in to two pegs nestled in amongst the willows and apart from a few tree casts (bastard things) began pulling out some nice fish.

Nice! Thought I might get
the day's prize, but no,
Billy the cat had other ideas!

I managed a glut of larger carp up to about 10lbs, all very nice fish caught on either mahoosive cubes of luncheon meat, or even better (and my favourite method of catching carp if its allowed) on free lined floating bread or red pellets. There is something extremely satisfying about creeping into the rushes and dropping a floating bait (which incidentally, I hooked still using a hair rig through the bread - novel eh? Or just lazy?) right on to the nose of a feeding giant and just holding your breath until you see the water break in a whirlpool and hear the noise of natures own suction powered vacuum cleaner. When the fish takes your bait, it is fishing excitement at its utmost!

Cat. Cat! CAAAT!! Quick, fetch a
saucer of milk and a scratching post,
The old dog is up to a new trick.

Anyway, there was me thinking that I had fish of the day with my carp bag, when blow me down if there isn't somewhat animated excitement and hullabaloo from my next door neighbour's peg. I sauntered over in Jocky's direction only to hear the strained cries of 'It's a cat! It's a cat'. Surely not? The first catfish on our travels? As I held out the landing net, Jocky reeled his capture to the surface and we both gazed down into the whiskered snout of a large tabby. As we landed the beast and laid congratulations onto the shoulders of the great hunter, we debated how to handle the beast with a mouth the size of a fist. Surely if we took a step closer it would take someone's leg off? Well. it didn't, but it was a marvellous fish of the day. Well done Jocky old son.

As dusk settled, we packed away satisfied and content and hungry for chips. The cafe was closed now but the trip to Poole Hall was a great day out and I would recommend it heartily. Was there anything to complain about. Only the standard of the toilets, which were by far the dirtiest and SCARIEST that I have ever seen in many a trip to a car park this side of Middle Earth. Still you can always use the bushes or knock the door of the Mansion House. Good luck.

Riviera Kid

Amidst fishing success, Jocky gets asked to lift his feet so
that the grass underneath can be mowed.

Brides, Birds and Blakelands - near Bobbington (http://www.blakelands.co.uk/fishing/ )

A Great Guest Blog by Jocky Fox (What a great dart player's name - R.Kid)

How sweet! Just like a scene from
'Little House on the Prairie' only
 without the dungarees. R.Kid

Jocky visited the above Carp Pool on a clear sunny Sept 2012 morning - the first of the year when an ice scraper was required to clear the car windows before setting off - for a solo outing i.e. without side-kick and mentor the ‘Riviera Kid’ …

On arrival (at about 7am) through the early morning mist Jocky could see about 4-5 hardy souls were already in position … no doubt anticipating a glorious day of reeling in a glut of Common, Mirror, Ghost and Grass (rumoured to be up to 15lb) Carp plus a few Golden Rudd …

Two rods are allowed at this establishment - so the tactics of the day were a ledger with large chunks of Spam in the middle of the pool and a float (a pre-weighted small waggler) with maggot(s) nearer to the bank …

It wasn’t long before the clicking sound of the ‘bait-runner’ could be heard through the fast clearing mist and the first (of many) 3lb(ish) Common Carp of the day was in the landing net …

Ruddy hell, he's not wrong you
know! R.Kid

The float and maggot combination at about a depth 2.5-3ft was also successful for catching Golden Rudd after Golden Rudd (ranging from micro to about 1/2lb) - red maggots were the bait of preference for these most beautiful fish, with a deep yellow hue and bright red fins …

A short one minute stroll to the Blakelands House Hotel reception was made mid-morning to pay the tariff (£10 on a weekend (£6 on a weekday), a little steep perhaps - but the pond is limited to 10 pre-booked anglers a day, so you don’t have to worry about over-crowding) … toilets are also located in the hotel should you need to visit …

On returning to the peg, a steady stream of Common Carp (on the spam) and Rudd ensued until the float and (two red) maggots combination close in to the bank presented a surprise …

Under went the float and strike and wow - ‘this is one monster Rudd’ thought Jocky … until the hook line snapped … so there is a ‘monster of the deep’ swimming around somewhere in Blakelands pool with a hook in its mouth (and unfortunately not attached to Jockys line !) …

Congratulations Jocky old son, 
it's twins! R.Kid

Jocky decided to try and repeat the trick - and would you believe it - a 3.5lb Common Carp took the maggots (the first time any Carp has taken maggots) … and this time, with some careful ‘playing’ it ended up safely in the landing net …

Now two rods at a time sounds like a great idea until ... you get two ‘good fish’ on each line at exactly the same time …

It was mid- afternoon and Jocky was well into the groove until the float descended like a depth charge and the ‘bait-runner’ set off like ‘a whippet on speed’ …

With no Riviera Kid to assist, Jocky wrestled with two ‘fighting fish’, alternating one at a time and deciding which was the bigger and to stick with this one first …

And here's the proud father. Notice the
suspicious smile and the dodgy
shirt sponsorship. R.Kid

After 5 minutes or so, a nice 4lb Mirror Carp (caught on the float and maggots again) was safely deposited in one net and (after collecting a second landing net out the rod bag whilst controlling the ledger rod) a slightly smaller Mirror Carp was reeled in to another. Is there a term for a pair of Mirror Carp landed together at one time …

After such an adrenalin rush, the rest of the days fishing experience was somewhat more sedate - a few more anglers turned up throughout the day but the 10 angler limit meant loads of room (and fish) for everyone …

Jocky had two visitors throughout the day, both apparently intent on making off with his bait - an old brown Labrador turned up on a couple of occasions, but her attempts to covertly snuffle a few chunks of Spam were thwarted …a brave Robin however, was more successful in making off with a beak full of maggots on more than one occasion …

Under a full moon strange things
can happen. Jocky assumes his
furry alter ego and contemplates
how he is going to pack away
his gear without opposable
thumbs. R.Kid

The day was nicely rounded off by the visit of a ‘Bride & Groom’ to the pond side for some wedding photos (presumably without Jocky grinning in the background?) …

All in all, a great days fishing … and Jocky will be back for his outstanding hook …

On fire at Furnace Mill Fishery

Is that Matt Hayes over there? Can you autograph my bag of hemp please Matt? Is Mick with you? Should I waggle for carp or just blitzkrieg them with a ton of lead? Can I borrow your sunglasses?

The reason I'm harping on about Sir Matt Hayes, dear reader, is that good mate Jocky and I are here on the strong recommendation of the Holy Father of Fishing himself. I read that this is Matt's favourite fishery in all of the Middle lands of Olde England and quite frankly, that's good enough for me. The question is though, is he telling the truth? The answer – a resounding yes (well probably!)

Meltdown at the Furnace Pool

The place opens at eight and we were there, queuing at the gate, and duly admitted by a very friendly owner on a quad bike. The first thing that you notice is how stunningly well kept the whole place is. There are four excellent pools that are set in a small forested oasis that really makes you overjoyed that you took up fishing and not BMXing as a hobby.

There are quite a few rules here (not unreasonable) but thankfully very few that restrict your choice of baits, the only downside being that if you plan to use pellets or boilies, you must use the ones on sale at the well stocked tackle shop and cafe. (Yes that's right, a well stocked tackle shop AND cafe AND toilets within casting distance of the pegs, sheer heaven for the more sedentary of us fisherfolk) Still, when times are hard, you can't really begrudge the place making a few extra bob to keep up the excellent standard of the venue. Even better still, we found that we ended up doing quite well without the use of said boilies and pellets!

Hardly time to open his flask!

After parting with £6.50 each, Jocky and I made our way to a secluded couple of pegs on a narrow strip between two of the lakes. We'd chosen the Furnace Pool and quickly set up, him on the waggler, hair rigging luncheon meat (he's quite partial to a slab of meat is Jocky) and me spraying some lead around with a hair rigged pellet attached. As Jocky cast out, he sat down and lamented that he was not expecting the manic start like he'd had a few weeks earlier on our visit to The Vineyard (see earlier blog) and was quite happy to sit and enjoy the scenery and lovely weather. But of course, the spirit of Matt Hayes was looking down on us and hey presto, within minutes he was into a cracking 4lb carp and as happy as a sandboy.

Luncheon meat seemed to be the meal of the moment and after an hour's work with the pellets that I had just purchased, I switched to spam and pulled in a stunning 5½ pounder. The fish here are in fantastic condition (exception – see tench below)and really beautiful and for the next two hours we had a stream of sizeable commons, mirrors and even a ghostie.

Sleeping carp causes Riviera trouser rip.

Whilst I only brought in carp, Jocky fetched out a Frisbee sized bream and an old warhorse of a tench, complete with mangled lip and a wooden leg, but still lovely enough to foster a jealous look from my peg (amazingly, I've never caught a tench in my life) It weighed in at around 3½ pounds. Excellent!

Around mid day, deep fishing slowed and the carp began to rise all around us in the warm sun. I took to hair rigging a piece of bread on a long length below a float (radical or what!) A quick dip of the bread in the water and you have the required weight to cast it some distance. I chose an area just down to the right, in front of a bank of reeds (where there were no pegs) and spent the next two hours pulling out tasty carp. Some fisheries don't let you use floating baits and it's a real shame because it's one of the finest methods of fishing that there is. When that dark submarine shape approaches your helpless flake of nimble and you hear the sucking sound of an industrial vacuum cleaner, there's no finer moment in the sport. Oh Joy.

Where's Henry, the mild mannered janitor?

And so it went on, carp after carp and hardly time to enjoy excellent coffee in between. I have to agree with Matt Hayes and say that this is an excellent fishery and we certainly will be visiting it again. The owners are friendly and helpful and the fishing is cracking. Oh, and there's a sprightly spaniel called Henry who may just pay you a visit in between fish.

Happy days! Or should that be happy Hayes?

Next blog, the pool with no name.