‘With absolutely no knowledge of what lay ahead, I prepared my tackles and sallied forth to explore. I had already ‘walked the banks’ and had seen fish topping on both venues… I was buoyed up. But firstly, I had to decide which pond to explore’
Well, here we are, it is February and having moved from the higher and wilder Yorkshire Pennines to the more pastoral Lincolnshire Wolds, my task, once the more domestic chores are complete, is to explore and discover new waters to fish. I am somewhat lacking in river venues here. My home ‘fishing grounds’ for many years have been the Yorkshire Rivers, notably the Swale, Wharfe, Nidd, Ouse and the one Lancashire river that I love, namely the Ribble. I have also had a couple of small club venues to fish, both being little used and stocked with either small carp to about seven pounds or small to medium sized tench. So, that was Yorkshire; what will Lincolnshire provide me with, I wonder?
My first port of call is an Ordnance Survey map, something easily read and with a wealth of information. These maps have formed the basis of my angling explorations for many years in many areas. A new map was purchased and evenings were spent poring over the symbols, footpaths, tracks, places of interest etc that it held.
Notes having been made, explorations were the order of the day so myself and long suffering wife Ruth donned our boots, took our walking-poles and set off. We discovered at least a half dozen ponds within a couple of miles that were marked on the map but they were all overgrown, silted up or behind estate walls and fences, never to be accessed.
It was however something of a disappointment to discover that a goodly number of other waters are now linked to caravan sites, being day-ticket venues with manicured banks and fishing platforms and stocked with handbag-sized carp.
Such venues, whilst having their place, do nothing for me…
Thus, having so far been a tad disappointed, I was extremely fortunate to have made an acquaintance here who directed and introduced me to a small number of waters that are under a private membership. These are quite exciting themselves as they are home to several species, with a small angling footfall, no wooden platforms, no on site cafes and no heavily manicured banks. Memberships having been gained through the good offices of my acquaintance, I now have venues to fish!
I also have obtained permission to fish a couple of small pools that are neither club nor private membership. They belong to a local farmer whom I met quite by accident: he is a really nice chap, and has allowed me to fish these two venues. Seemingly, nobody else either enquired about them or has bothered with them for many years, which is not really a surprise as they are both well off the beaten track. Both pools have vehicle access as they were used for crop irrigation and if I was of a mind I could actually fish from the rear doors of my little ‘fishing van’ in a couple of spots although that will not be happening; far nicer to park up unobtrusively and use ‘shanks’s pony’ to explore.
Both of these venues are an unknown.; the information I have regarding them is that they were stocked with carp and silver fish many years ago and since then have been more or less left to their own devices: scant information, but more than I needed to convince me that visits to these two waters were a must. To say that I was almost unable to believe that such places exist and that they were within a couple of miles from our cottage, and I had not spotted them on the Ordnance Survey map, is an understatement.
With absolutely no knowledge of what lay ahead, I prepared my tackles and sallied forth to explore. I had already ‘walked the banks’ and had seen fish topping on both venues… I was buoyed up. But firstly, I had to decide which pond to explore.
One of these I will call ‘The Jade Pool’: it was originally dug to irrigate a potato field and the water has a strange jade-green tint to it. I know not what causes the colouring; there is no unpleasant run-off from the fields or nearby farms which could cause it, and hopefully it will have no effect upon the fishy inhabitants.
The second I have christened ‘The Pheasant Pool’ as it had a large pheasant feeder positioned on one bank. More than this I cannot divulge as I have been entrusted to silence by the good farmer who owns the ponds.
I drove down to the ‘Jade Pool’ with mixed feelings, anticipation being the one foremost. I was convinced that they were both worth a visit, so I decided that the easy way to assess the potential would be to use two rods, one with a float,using bread and maggots for bait, and the second rod to fish a bottom bait, maybe ledgered worm fished over a bed of chopped worms and maggots (and maybe with a sprinkling of sweetcorn, for variety).
I had my phone handy and captured the moment. You can see the strange colouration of the water. The pool looked somewhat lifeless, as many waters do late in February; the bankside vegetation was brown and withered, the water had a green tinge and was a tad cloudy. There were no signs on the banks that anywhere had been used as a swim, the brown reed stems were completely surrounding the waterand the pond looked unfished.
I gathered my tackles from the van and put on a fleece to keep out the cool breeze. As I was doing so a tractor chugged down the track, the driver stopped and opened the door, saying “You must be David. My boss told me that you would be fishing the ponds.” I smiled and introduced myself. The driver said “I used to fish here myself many years ago. It’s full of roach but that’s it as far as I know.” This buoyed me up no end until he said “Most of them are sub three inches in length and you could fill a bucket in with them in ten minutes. Best of luck.”The driver gave a cheery wave and chugged away along the edge of the field, leaving me with high hopes.
Oh well ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’. I chose a place where the reeds allowed a margin of access, scattered a handful of maggots close in and set to making myself comfortable. A very basic Sealey ‘Octofloat’ and Speedia reel and, just in case of course, my landing net and a cane bankstick completed the ensemble. A second rod was laid on the bank behind me. I had decided to give a float tackle an initial fifteen minutes, then pop in the second rod with maybe a lobworm cast over a handful of free offerings.
I settled myself down and made the first cast into the new venue, using four-pound b.s. mainline and three-pound b.s. fluorocarbon hook trace. I had chosen a light Norfolk-reed waggler from my float tube, shotted to within a quarter-inch of the tip, a size sixteen spade-end hook completing the rig. I gently plumbed the depth around the swim and it seemed a level depth all around, perhaps four feet, with a discernible shelf leading to deeper water about twelve feet out. I set the depth so that the hook would just trip the bottom on the bankside shelf and the float was shotted. Now I was ready. A gentle flick of the rod-tip sent the float with its wriggling maggot bait out, probably only a couple of feet away from last year’s brown and split wind-blown reeds. Within about ten seconds the float dipped and slowly slid away and I lifted the rod gently.
Yes, there it was, a perfectly formed little silvery roach from the pool, all of three inches long. I gently unhooked and slid him back into the water. I am an optimist and things were looking fine; a fish, albeit small, on the first cast boded well for the rest of the session. The farm driver had so far been accurate in his description of the pond’s inhabitants. As it had been many years since the farm driver had fished this pool, some of the fish would hopefully have grown on.
I rebait and this time hooked two maggots, instead of one,under the float and its accompanying split shot. The baited hook was once again flicked out and in no time at all the float slid under the rippled water; another small roach had been tricked and was also released unharmed.
Things continued in this vein for about an hour, I was kept very busy with these delightful little fish. The sun popped outand even though it was late February its rays warmed the air a little and made things more comfortable. There was very little variation in the size of the roach, all seemed to average about three to four inches. I was not however nonplussed at this, as I had no doubt that this little pond must contain more than small roach. Time would tell and I would have plenty of time to explore further in the coming months.
I decided to have one last cast before heading home for tea. I had had virtually a small fish each cast and expected things to end in this way. The float once again dipped and slid away, I raised the rod tip but this time there was a bit more resistance and a slightly bigger roach was brought to hand.
This was more like it, and a very encouraging sight too. The roach was glistening in the watery sunshine and fin-perfect. Now, of course, I had to have just one more cast so I watched the float intently. As I expected, it gently slid under and I replied by gently lifting into the fish, another three-inch specimen. Oh well, I had well and truly won the day as it had only been intended as a short exploratory trip. It was only then I realised that my second rod had lain unused behind me.
I was very pleased to have such a venue only a four-minute car journey from our door, a pleasant place to spend a few evening hours in the coming summer months. Who knows what else lives amongst the reeds and rushes in this little pond? I am already thinking of alternative baits to tempt the bigger specimens and am now longing for the close season to come and go. In the meantime, three months will give me time to perhaps walk the banks of the ‘Pheasant Pool’ and maybe spy one of its larger inhabitants.
So ends a description of my first visit to ‘The Jade Pool’.Please join me next time as I explore ‘The Pheasant Pool’. Will there be more to encounter than many a small roach…?
Writing & Images David Craine, Lincolnshire, ’25
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