Once more into the fire of the Furnace . . .

Well, Jocky and I couldn't resist it. As soon as the sun threatened to pop out of the grey Spring sky, we dragged our Fairweather backsides out to the wonderful Furnace Mill Fishery in the hope of another amateur carp fest. Well, the weather wasn't that fair (bleak and rainy for much of the time with the occasional spell of sunshine - crumbs matey, I am Michael Fish!!!) but the fishing was! It just goes to show that Mozambique Matt was right, this place just can't fail to disappoint.

Spring hasn't quite sprung but the
Riviera Kid stalks his prey
in the foothills of beyond. With full
 view of convenient car park.

We were actually first on the scene again, and after a lovely 'waggy' welcome from Henry, the mild mannered spaniel, we paid our subs and began our trip on the quaintly labelled 'Mucky Meadow' pool just in front of the car park, choosing two likely looking pegs on the far bank. Light rain forced the early introduction of gorgeous green fishing brollies and we both let fly with large hunks of luncheon meat fished on a size 8 hair rig (adventurous eh - we were after the big game this time!)

It wasn't long before Jocky, once more, was the first to feel a tug on his waggler and sure enough, he pulled out a lovely common, a perfect golden nugget to get the day going. For the next two hours, we reeled in a steady flow of fish, ranging from 2.5 to 8lb, all caught on Cost cutter's best spam (mmm, don't know about you, but I can never resist a nibble - takes me back to school dinner in days of yore) Me on the ledger and Jocky on the float.

Jocky measures up and his fans are not
disappointed - The ruler is actually 8 feet
long! Just to give you a sense of
 the scale of our success!!!

I've said this before, but the other great thing about Furnace Mill, apart from the ever friendly welcome that you get, is the availability of tackle food and toilet facilities on site. The coffee is excellent and made to order. The only downside to our day up to that point was the invasion of the other bank by a gaggle of loud yampies, fishing in their nightclub gear and/or specially camouflaged chav caps.

Still, at least they settled down to a bit of fishing eventually, by which point my good pal and I decided to up sticks to another pool (There are just too many lovely spots to choose from here!) so we lugged our gear and sandwiches over to the Furnace pool and tried out the narrow section that looks like a canal.

I switched to floating bread as it had warmed up a bit and the great thing about this part of the pool is that you can see large, carp shaped submarines scudding along from one end to the other. I've also said this before, but the best kind of fishing that you can do is to stalk carp with nothing more than rod, hook, line and wet hunks of Warburton's. The feeling of anticipation as big, thick carp lips rise out of the water and suck up your offerings like a vacuum cleaner is unbeatable! Whilst I was up and down the bank, Jocky preferred the more sedentary approach, landing carp after carp from the comfort of his armchair (all he needed was his slipper and a pipe - see video) We successfully dragged out a handful of meaty fish until the daylight began to fade and the bastard midges began to bite.

Overall, I still can't speak highly enough of Furnace Mill as a relaxing, top notch venue for the pleasure angler. It's definitely worth a visit, if only to stroke the dog and taste the coffee.

Riviera Kid

Simply too big to handle - the best gudgeon
of the day.