A day at Woodland View – July 2011
From memory I’ve fished at Woodland View for probably over 15 years and remember the early days when Mike Mason first dug some of the pools including front and back Deans, when they were plain clay banks in the very early days. Since that time I’ve had some good results, with several opens wins, including winning the Angling Plus Pole champs a few years ago and also competing in quite a few rounds of the West Midlands Super League. Last year I was fortunate enough to qualify for the Fishomania final from peg 36 on back Deans, with over 130lbs. This was a great days fishing where everything went to plan. I started on pellets short at 5m for the first half hour and caught around 30lbs before they wised up and backed off. Following this early burst of action, I tried the pole shallow at 14m and managed to catch good quality carp from 3 - 8lbs for the next four hours before finally stealing a few more back on the short pole line. This qualification made my day and went on to win the final last year.
One of the key factors that ensures my return to this great venue is the quality of the fishing on offer. For a Fishery as established as this, Mike Mason works hard to maintain the Fishery and ensure the fish are in great condition. This is born out throughout the year, though especially so during the summer months. I’m often quite surprised when you look at the match results to see the weights caught whereby you might not win a section with 100lbs. Comparison with results from other fisheries in the area also suggests that Mike has it right and knows precisely how to ensure the fish are in a really healthy condition, resulting in the great catch results.
On a recent trip to the Fishery I spent some time practicing my feeder fishing up on the Hay pool. The Hay and Barley pools offer good opportunity to practice casting tight to the far bank using feeder tactics. The Fishery rules now permit the use of inline pellet feeders and short 4” hooklengths. On the day this tactic can be unbeatable and is often my first choice when I think the fishing maybe hard, when the fish are reluctant to come off the far bank due to angling pressure. On the day of my visit the fish were not in a great feeding mood and despite favorably conditions were not giving them selves up easily.
However, by frequently casting my pellet feeder tight to the far bank, the swim was gradually building whereby bites became more frequent with the continual tickle of bait introduced. My set up comprised of the Preston Innovations 10ft mini carp rod, Inception 400 reel with 6lbs Power Max reel line and a 25grm, large, inline pellet feeder. Hooklength was 0.17 Reflo Power with a size 18 PR36 hook, connected via a Korum quick change bead. The feeder was filled with 4mm Woodland View, Sonubaits competition pellets, using a 6mm pellet of the same type on a hair rigged bait band.
Preparation of the pellets is quite important for this type of fishing, whereby they need to be soft enough to hold in the feeder on the cast, though easily swell and eject from the feeder once it’s settled in the swim. I soak the pellets for around 1 - 2 minutes and then drain the water off by tipping them on a riddle. They can then be left for around 30 minutes. By the start of a session they should then be soft through to the middle without being saturated. In this manner they retain enough softness to fill the feeder though can still expand some more, allowing then to fall from the feeder. With gentle pressure the feeder is filled to ¾ level, whereby the baited hook can be tucked into the feeder before finally capping if off with a few more pellets.
Casting accuracy is the most important factor in any form of feeder fishing to a feature. Besides the obvious tip of ensuring you clip up to maintain accuracy, my additional tips include:
- Always use the same force when casting (just enough to reach the spot to prevent the force springing the feeder back)
- Ensure the same stretch in the line each cast
- Ensure you always bring the rod back to the same position of say 12 o’clock each time
These tips take practice and hours spent doing this will improve your accuracy and in turn put more fish in your net.
If you have a match on any off the pools with a far bank cast (Hay, Barley and Arles) you definitely need to set up a feeder. With Fishery rules now allowing short hooklengths this is a potential winning method, not to be ignored.
As well as feeder fishing you can also use many other methods successfully at Woodland View including, the short pole, long pole shallow, deep and down the edge. The latter tactic often results in catches of very large carp, resulting in 200lbs plus catches. During more difficult days or in the colder months the waggler also plays a part as the fish move beyond pole range.
Match or pleasure angler, Woodland View has plenty to offer in terms of the variety of fishing and species. With a well stocked tackle shop on site and large café menu available you can enjoy a great days fishing! Have a look at the rest of this website to see what’s also available.
