From the Match Lake to the Car Park - by Joe Miller

The following is Nash Baits backed Joe Millers account of his incredible fishing adventures on the famous Yateley Match Lake. If you want to read how the story began, you can do so by picking up a copy of 'A History Of Yateley, Volume 4'.

Match Lake adventure continued…

It was late September before I decided to make the long drive back to Yateley, although things didn’t start to happen for me until a couple trips in, and I found myself plotted up in the 'Left Hand Birches' swim, whilst my mate Chris, went in the right side. At least it would be social if the fishing was slow. In my absence, the 'Redmire' had been caught from there, along with a few others and gentle bubbling over what looked to be a nice clear spot out in the weed, was enough for me to give it a go, for at least one night. It was gone mid-day by the time the fish had done the off and the leading rod revealed they had been feeding on what was, for me, the perfect spot - smooth silt with the odd tap of gravel transmitted down the rod. There was also a clear channel all the way to the spot, which saved me having to make one for line lay. Given the vast football pitch of weed out in front of me, I didn’t have many options spot wise but felt the spot was just big enough to fit two rods on. My favourite mix of flaked Key Cray boilie, hemp and tigers was soon spombed out to the spot, followed by the rigs, and I settled down for the evening.

“Everything looked perfect”

Both rigs were still in position come morning after the dreaded catfish failed to make an appearance. Everything looked perfect and the wait for the first bubbles over the spot began. Eventually they did and it felt like it was only a matter of time.
It was just the way it happened at Yateley. The first couple bubbles, then a few more, then nothing. Then they would start again and your confidence would rise - its only a matter of time. Then as they continued to fizz and no bite materialised, you would begin to question everything “Surely both didn’t tangle?, Point must have gone over?, rig cant be sat right".
Nine times out of 10 though, nothing was wrong at all and the Neville would sing its tune as the bobbin cracked into the rod. This morning proved to be no different and after a short fight, a 33lb 4oz mirror lay beaten in the net. With it being late in the morning, and the other rod still sitting pretty on the spot, I opted not to redo the rod I had just caught on.
Bigger fish can often move in after a fish has been caught on the spot so I hoped this ploy could pay dividends. It wasn’t to be though and the day faded out with nothing of note really happening. Both rods were reset, bait topped up, and Indian takeaway ordered. I went to bed super confident that night. I had found that if the fish were willing to visit a spot one morning, they would often return the following morning too.

“A 33lbs 40z mirror lay beaten in the net (September 2017)”

Return they did and given my confidence of another, I text Jordan, telling him he would be needed on camera duty soon. I then set the camera on the tripod, set it to video, focused on the rods and hit record. It didn’t take long before the bobbin lifted slightly before flying to the top as the fish moved up in the water against the solid clutch.The culprit turned out to be the leathery character known as 'White Stripe' and after closer inspection, was a repeat of the mirror I caught from the 'Right Hand Parties' the previous autumn. With Jordan behind the lens I managed to get much better pictures this time around and she was soon slipped back.

“With Jordan on the lens, I managed to get much better pictures (White Stripe, September 2017)”

With two more captures under my belt, obviously I was keen to get back down there. Unfortunately, things took a turn for a worse and a bout of tonsillitis and a delay in getting the right medication kept me away for a couple of weeks. By the time I felt better, it was late October. By now, the weed was beginning to drop and the lake was beginning to slow down. The spot I had fished in the 'Left Birches' had been opened right up, and now the fish were reluctant to visit it. Thankfully though, they still fed on the spot in the 'Right Birches' and I manged to bag a repeat in the shape of the mirror I caught from the 'Stumps' earlier in the spring. Bites were becoming harder and harder to come by but I did manage one more before calling it time for another year; a pristine common of 31lb from the 'Golf Tees'. 

 “The weed was beginning to drop and the lake was beginning to slow down (October 2017)”

“I did manage one more before calling it time for another year (October 2017)”

As with previous years, I had booked to do a long session in October, but with the lake seemingly shut down early, four nights spent in the 'Right-hand Parties', yielded nothing for my efforts. I did get to meet Oz Holness though and his two night blank next door in the 'Left Parties' told me all I needed to know. I did have two nights left of my session though and had my syndicate lake to fall back to, so the car was loaded and I headed back closer to home, down to see the rest of the year out on there. Fair to say it went rather well, but that’s for another time…

“Fair to say it went rather well, but that’s for another time”

The 2018 season brought with it the usual renewed enthusiasm that a tough winter brings. I had spent the whole winter plotting my spring attack and when March came, I couldn’t get back fast enough. This spring though, nature seemed behind compared to the previous. Whereas, the same week last year, there were tiny frogs everywhere on the 'Copse Bank', this year there was hard frosts with thick snow forecast for the end of the week. 

“This spring though, nature seemed behind compared to the previous”

As a result, the Match Lake just seemed to take forever to wake up. It turned out, all thoughts of the Match Lake were soon forgotten when I got a phone call from Chris saying there was a ticket for the legendary Car Park Lake available - if I paid immediately. Needless to say within the hour, and with a dent in my bank balance, I was on “the other side of the road” and shaking hands with Martin Gardener. The ticket began in April and it couldn’t come soon enough… 

“All thoughts of the Match Lake were soon forgotten”

Until next time

Be lucky.

Joe

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Want to read a fishing story? - The On The Bank Angling Blog is back, and we want your stories!

IT'S been a long time since we posted on our blog but this post is just to say we are back and are going to be creating as much fishing content as possible.

So why are we back and why should you have a read of the blog?

On The Bank Angling was originally set-up to share fishing stories between a small group of friends and anyone else who was interested. Since then we have grown to have a small following on several of our social media platforms but the one thing everyone says we lack is consistency - that's something we aim to change!

Ever since I was a young lad, I've always loved reading, listening and watching good fishing stories. Whether it be reading a copy of the Angling Times, watching Matt Hayes Record Breaking Fish for the 100th time or having a chat with an angler on the bank - I can't get enough of hearing other peoples fishing adventures. I feel this not only helps me learn more but also inspires me to get out on the bank to see if I can catch a monster fish myself.

We are obviously just one of hundreds of blogs out there and that is a great thing - if I had time to watch everyone's I personally would. I do feel the story telling in angling has been lost a little by some over the last few years with the coming of the social media age. It is great seeing peoples captures but its even better to hear the work that went into catching the fish and what it means to them.
Those of you who know me closely will know that I now have a job very close to Angling and I love every minute of it. So its great to try and use any knowledge I gain to pass on to others.

Our aim for On The Bank Angling is to hopefully revitalise the classic 'fisherman's tale'. We will hopefully do this by providing you guys with some great content on here and on our YouTube channel.

Its not just our stories we want to share and tell though - its yours. I have a lot of exciting ideas of things I would like to do with the blog and channel. This includes fishery catch reports, inside info, podcasts, you name it!

So if you do have a fishing story or you are a fishery that want to share your catch reports then here is what you need to do:

Join our Facebook group with 500-plus members - I honestly have never seen a bad word said in the group, its awesome!

Or you can email us at: onthebankangling@gmail.com.

So that's about it really, stay tuned for lots of fishing content and tight lines!!!

Here's a few pictures of what we have coming up on YouTube...

A species hunt at Anglers Paradise

Surface stalking at a secret lake

A mental Creedy session

Tench on the float!

Is big always better?

Hi guys, I'm going to spice the blog up a bit more in the coming post's by talking about some of angling's most controversial topics. This is brought about by the fact that I haven't been out much recently and to be honest just need to talk about fishing. So for the first topic I ask the question is big always better?
This is an interesting question as the fact that we all declare our personal bests and claim venue records is enough to answer the question itself isn't it? Actually however there is a lot more around this question that can be discussed. No matter when you start fishing whether it be as a youngster or later on in life it doesn't take long for you to be hooked and on each cast want something a little bigger. This is a perfectly natural thing and would the sport be as exciting if we didn't want this?
What I'm really trying to get at though is when does bigger become boring. It seems to me these day's that a part of the angling community is obsessed with bigger and somehow that bigger means better. The Carp fishing world is full of enormous fish caught daily, so often that the bar for what is a big fish is constantly getting higher. Hundreds of venues across the country now can boast that they hold several fish over 30 and even 40 pounds! Fish of these sizes are truly monstrous!
A couple year's ago I was lucky enough to fish one such venue with a massive stock of monsters. The venue was the well known "Monument fishery" in Shropshire. To put a long story short we turned up for our 36 hour slot and after the second hour I had landed a 37 pound Mirror. A fish which absolutely smashed my PB of 24lbs. I didn't know the venue, or the stock or what was best to use but had bagged a fish of a lifetime. Unsurprisingly I was chuffed, because I had never seen a Carp that big before. The sheer size of it made you respect it and you couldn't help but think Wow!

37 pound Mirror. Monument fishery.

The interesting part of the story however came in my sessions on my home waters after I had caught the fish. On every session I went out thinking "I am the dogs bollocks". All because I had caught this one fish from this one lake at one time. This is where the debate swings round because yes I had caught a 37lb Carp which I could now claim as my personal best but was I a better angler because of this? The answer is no, however in bank side conversations you chuck in that you have caught a thirty pounder and suddenly people listen a bit more carefully to you regardless of where that 30 was from. Don't get me wrong I am not knocking the venue as the monument is a well set up business that provides big Carp on a day ticket. I'm just saying that sometimes weights often blind people to what actually happened.

This year in particular my eye's have been opened to paying a little less attention to size but not ignoring it completely. We can't really deny that we all want to catch decent sized fish especially those of us who are Carp anglers. But the way I have been looking at things recently is that big is in relation to the venue it has came from and the effort it has taken to outwit. A number of the waters I fish in Devon may only have a couple of fish over 30 pounds and in these venues a 20 pounder is deemed a big fish. A lot of these venues have an old stock and a fish of twenty pounds tends to be an older fish that has seen all the tricks in the book. So a twenty from these waters is a real achievement. 

In contrast there are also waters close to me where a twenty pounder is expected on a day session as this is the average size of fish, so a twenty from these venues is a little less special. 

Obviously angling is a very personal thing and that's what makes it so great this is just the way I have been looking at things and accessing my self as an angler. I like to think I have learnt a lot of tricks to outwit Carp regardless of their size and feel comfortable that I could fish on most venues and have results. However  more recently I have come to learn that regardless of what size of fish I catch I will never know it all. This is what is also great about angling. Even the best anglers are always learning and surprisingly there will always be things that even a relative novice could teach them. 

Spending time on the bank learning your craft so you can choose the right tactic for the situation is what makes good angling in my opinion. As this is equally as relevant if you are pursuing a low double common or a monster fifty pound mirror. You may get lucky and turn up to a venue as I have in the past and bang out a big thirty but does that make you better than someone who has learnt the habits of a low twenty and caught it off it's natural patrol route? 

This Mirror took some crafty angling to tempt and is one of the biggest fish in the Pond. 

Let's get one thing straight though I am always chuffed to catch a big fish and anyone who has caught one should be! But why should big fish get all the attention? If your sometimes struggling a bit, often stepping back and targeting smaller specimens can be really rewarding. Fishing is about enjoyment after all and not having caught a big fish should not make your enjoyment level fall.

If your ever in doubt and wondering if size is everything I can only recommend one venue to you and that's the beautiful river Wye. Barbel fishing on the Wye is some of the best fishing you can do yet after years of fishing there and catching hundreds of Barbel I have never caught a double. Do I care about this? Not enough to make me stop going, as a double from the river Wye is now in my eye's a true monster and a fish that takes tremendous skill to catch. This is why angling is so personal as perceptions can be so different.

The Wye Barbel are not often monsters.

As anglers we should always want to beat our personal bests and achieve our targets. This does not mean we should stop learning when we have done this or ignore the advice of others who have not yet achieved theirs. Consistency is what makes a good angler not their biggest catch. This is why sharing angling stories is not only fun but great at painting a true picture. Some of the hardest fish Iv'e had to catch have been quite small in general terms. So next time you see a photo of a fish think of what went into catching it and less of its size as bigger is not always better. :) 

A common that required a bit of extra thinking to outwit.

A 20lber the result of a real "Pub chuck"

My first Barbel was the result of an unexpected Lob!

But this Throop Chub took some crafty baiting to tempt.

 

And a good net from the river can be equally rewarding but just as difficult to tempt!


TIGHT LINES!!!!

What do you guys think?

These are just my opinions. Please share your's as that's what OTBA is all about.