Saturday 7 March 2015

Alders Farm Ash Lake 06 03 15

Having to work most weekends and just getting odd days off is not comparable to trying to get to grips with a new water. Before you all say it, Yes, I have fished Ash lake many times before. However, like time, things change. Over the last couple of month's the new owner's have put a lot of time and effort into making the fishery one of the best in the country, for all. They could not do this without the help of a lot of anglers and friends, whose combined efforts are there to see. This was not a whim, but a clear vision of where they see the fishery going into the future. Experts have been consulted and advice taken on board and acted on. Not only have the surroundings changed somewhat but the fish have been given a new lease of life. Moving a lot of the silvers to Pines, removing a lot of the "pasty" sized fish to the Ash lake and placing some of the larger fish from both Pines and Ash to Oaks Lake. This was no mean feat in itself and has caused some more challenges to the family. But I am sure that this obstacle like the lakes themselves will be overcome.
Anyway onto the fishing. I was in need of a days fishing to break up a long week and the only day available to me was on Friday. I planned to meet Vic at the fishery and with day tickets purchased and nets dipped, we were carting our gear down to Ash Lake. We settled into old pegs 36 and 32(  new pegs 27 and 26 I think) with the latter being my home for the session.
I plumbed up a line at 14m to find 2ft and another line at 9m with around 18inches in it. The weather was nice and sunny with a little breeze which at the start caused a few problems fishing long due to the constantly changing shadow on the water. One minute you could see the float next nothing. I switched after around 10 minutes and fished the 9m line in clear water. Using standard expanders I was soon getting a run of fish but was already behind Vic who was catching from the off. I had fed some micros dusted with red atomic with a few grains of corn and was feeding every second fish via a tosspot. This was working well for around an hour when it went quiet. I starting pinging a few pellets and back came the fish.
The light conditions improved and I wanted to try out the corn at 14m. Again trying to gain some information for any matches I would be fishing in the near future and to put some confidence in my angling. I had been feeding it regularly throughout and first put in on the corn the float dipped and a fish was on, slightly larger than the 1+lb fish I was catching at 9m. This spell of activity continued for a couple of hours, I would have to wait a little longer than Vic who was still catching well. I even tried a line at 2+2 for a couple of fish using the 9m rig which was a little overdepth.
At the end of the session I reckoned on having around a conservative 70-80lb whilst Vic had clicked to 52 fish and a ton.
This was only the second time I have fished the "new" Ash lake after being blown off the lake and not adapting to the conditions on the day. Today I made a few changes throughout the session, some worked others didn't but until you try you will never know. I learnt probably more from this session than any of my recent matches.
Finally, Alders Farm have put the effort in for US the anglers, It is no longer the "bagging water" of old, it is a water where you will get what you put in. I reckon you will need 200lb in the summer to win and plenty of decent back up weights for those prepared to work at it. The fish are there, the conditions are ripe for them to grow and will provide good sport for us and future generations.