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On most of these venues I visit, the fisheries all have a few lakes that offer different types of fishing, and also it’s lovely to do some rod and line fishing as most of my fishing these days revolves around fishing tight across on snake lakes using the pole, especially when coaching. Today though, I’ve bought the Match Fishing cameras to the absolutely stunning Izaak Walton Fishery, a venue I last visited in 2018 when I did a very quick evening feature on the Canal Lake. While doing that feature though, I had a walk round the lakes and really wanted to have a go at the great big wobbly carps in the Bottom Lake, which contains some absolute units up to 25lb, with lots of doubles! I honestly can’t believe how much the venue has changed in just three years.


 

George and Trisha Taylor have created an amazing fishery which is still being worked on, it looks absolutely perfect though as it is! Trisha makes the most amazing breakfast sandwiches in the lovely on-site tea room. Look out for all the wildlife too, alpacas, guinea fowl, peacocks… and their lovely little three-legged doggy Charlie, ha-ha he’s ace! George and Trisha really have worked wonders and looking at match results I don’t think the venue has ever fished as well and that’s testament to how much work they are putting in.

I was actually here a few weeks ago filming some Winning Ways stuff and had to come back for another go. A fairly decent angler called Jamie Hughes (ha-ha, sorry mate, you’re the best in the world really!) has been fishing here lots the past few weeks while fishing in his FA cup style knockout tournament and his weights have been incredible. Four visits and not had less than 100lb every time, back-up weights in matches are superb too. There’s even a lake full of instant wins, which we recently filmed on! Today it’s all about the Bottom Lake or speci pool and for me the best way of fishing ever, the waggler. I am going to set up the Method and the bomb as well, but conditions are perfect for the waggler. First off though, it’s time for a bacon and sausage sandwich, which was amaaaaayzinggg and lasted approximately five bites!

Bait
Hmmmm, a little more complicated than the normal tub of pellets or tub of maggots this time and first off, I’ve prepared some 2mm F1 Sweet micro pellets for the Method. I’ve completely soaked around a pint and then just drained the water off so that they are just poking through the top layer of water, then leave them for 20 minutes while you set the rest of your gear up. Come back to the pellets and put them in a large bowl and give them a stir and I like to then just add a bit of fishmeal groundbait and for me Green Swim Stim is the number-one choice, literally just a little sprinkle and give the pellets another mix and you will have perfect micros for the Method. I’ve got some 8mm F1 Sweet hard pellets for the waggler and bomb and then just some change of hook baits for the method, but mainly 7mm yellow Wowsers!

Rods
It's lovely to do some rod and line fishing and first out of my bag was the waggler. For this style of fishing a 12ft rod is perfect in conjunction with a 2500 to 3000 size reel. As for main line it depends on which floats I’m using; today I’m fishing with unloaded foam floats as it’s not overly windy so I’m using a lighter 0.18mm main line. Sometimes I’ll use 0.16mm if it’s flat calm and I’m fishing with lighter floats. When I’m using loaded floats, I always use 0.20mm main line, basically it’s all to do with the friction through your rod rings when casting light floats. I’ve got a 3g Tez Naulls foam float on but if the wind gets too bad, I will use a loaded Keith Easton float. I never used to like foam floats but since having a play with them over the last couple of years they really do make a difference, especially for mugging or for when the wind isn’t too strong. As my float is fixed, I tie my hooklengths in 2, 3 and 4ft lengths and attach them via a quick-change hooklength swivel.

All the hooks, which are size 14 Drennan X Strong, are tied to 0.20mm MAP Power Optimum line. There are no shot down the line, I just want to let the pellet fall naturally. Next up is the bomb rod, a 10ft rod is perfect for this distance with a 3000 to 4000 size reel and I will be using this to fish underneath the waggler line. I’ve got 0.22mm main line a 6in twizzled loop with a snap-link swivel for my 10g bomb and a quick-change swivel for my 12in 0.20mm hooklength, and I only use either size 10 or 12 Guru QM1 hooks for all my carp feeder/bomb fishing. Last of all I set the Method up to cast to the island slightly to my right, around 35 yards away. Again, similar to the bomb rod I’m using 0.22mm main line and a 30g inline Method with a 4in 0.20mm hooklength and a size 12 QM1 with a little bait spike for the Wowsers. Wohoooo I’m ready!

 

The Session
To start with I catapult three lots of eight to 10 pellets out around 25 metres straight in front of me and then load the Method up and cast it around two feet off the island. With that in place I look to leave it no more than five minutes a cast, however, after just two minutes I’ve already got bubbles coming up on my waggler line and also see a massive swirl. That’s it, just three minutes in and I’m off the Method and straight on the waggler, I can’t resist!

When fishing the pellet waggler there are a few different ways I like to do it. Sometimes feeding first, casting into the bait and leaving it 10 to 20 seconds is best, other times feed just in front of the float and twitch the float back into the feed, other times leave the float settled and feed round the float.

Occasionally, when the fish are hard to hit, it’s best as soon as you cast in to very slowly wind with your rod low and the fish will hook themselves, again this style you’re only looking for a 15 to 20 second window, it’s all about experimenting on the day to see which is best. Nine times out of 10 though I much prefer to feed and cast into the bait then, once the rig has settled, wind in and repeat the process.

This is where choosing the correct depth is vital; more often than not your bites will come within the first five seconds of your bait landing, especially on more coloured venues, but in clearer water you might wait a little longer and have to fish a little deeper. I don’t usually fish any deeper than five feet with the pellet waggler and most of my fishing is done between three and four feet. So, it’s a case of feed six to eight pellets, then quick as you can cast in over the top and make sure you feather the float down so that your hook bait lands past your float and is nice and tight.

I hook a roach around 6oz first chuck before missing a few bites that are probably roach; on my fifth feed I have a swirl immediately and cast into the bait, the carp nails it and I’m in, wohoooooo! This fish feels massive and every shake of its head nearly pulls my arm out of its socket, a massive swirl emerges around 16 metres out and I can just about make out it looks like a huge mirror, just slowly waddling in and feels very heavy. I like to play the fish low, which in turn brings them higher up in the water and makes for netting the fish easier when they are in range, but, just as I was ready to get the net the bloody carp falls off… noooooo! I think everyone in Stafford heard me then!

I was gutted to lose that one but the very next cast I whack into something that goes absolutely nuts and charges off towards the island and tries to make its way round the back; this is where complete confidence in your gear comes in and with fishing heavy once I got the fish into open water, I knew I’d got the upper hand. Again, this fish feels massive, and it swirls around 12 metres out before swimming around in circles under my rod tip, then after five minutes the carp pops up and it looks huuuge. It’s a good 16 or 17lb, possibly bigger and the grin on my face says it all, what a fish!

The fishing is steady away after that and I catch a fish around every 10 minutes, there are lots of roach, big ones too, and skimmers that I’m missing but it’s obvious when a carp comes into the peg – all goes quiet before it all goes off. The fish are sooo angry, even the little ones. I catch a couple of ghost carp that go absolutely nuts and another stunning common around 12lb.

With the fishing this good its pointless changing tactics, the only time I would do that is if things went quiet, that’s when I would cast the bomb over where I’m casting the waggler and see if the fish have dropped down to the bottom, or vacated the swim altogether. If you’re not getting liners then there aren’t many fish there, so the best tactic then is to have a complete rest of that swim and try the Method again, but, with the size of some of the fish, it’s just typical steady, patient carp fishing. These are big fish, and you don’t need lots of bites for a big weight. I do foul hook a few fish that fall off, but a shorter hooklength sorted that out, in the end a 2½ft hooklength was best and leaving the rig just 10 seconds. I tried suspending the bait but didn’t have a bite and also tried the winding technique when I was missing bites but these missed bites I’m 100 per cent sure were from skimmers or roach. I literally could stay here all day, in fact once we had enough for a catch shot, I stayed on and caught another four, all around 8 or 9lb. But, how about that for a catch shot, nine beautiful carp for around 75 to 80lb in just a couple of hours.

What a place Izaak Walton Fishery is. If you haven’t been here before you need to come and have a go. Match weights are brilliant and one thing that is noticeable is that you never know where the winner will come from and the back-up weights are great too. When the matches are on this lake, I’m definitely coming back for a go.