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 …