Gareth Meyer wrote;

 I was just wondering if you could give me some advice?? I am planning a session in July at a complex I have never fished before called white springs lake in Swansea, do you know it?  This is what I know about the lake,

  1. its a 10 acre lake averaging 6-9ft in depth with a few areas going to 14ft deep and one area 17ft in depth.
  2. its has 9 islands with an average depth of 3ft surrounding water, with nearby shelves at each island
  3. its has a large head of carp, some over 40lb, several over 30lb and numerous 20s
  4. March 2008 has seen 5 carp over 30lb landed
  5. Yellow baits with pop-ups working well
  6. The margins are around 3ft deep and seem to be productive during warmer months
  7. There are a few groups of large lily pads in the lake

What approach/approaches would you think about taking if you were going to fish this venue?
what methods would you consider best to use and what baits would you take with you?I was thinking…
Rod 1 = use a method feeder approach to a feature i.e. island and/or shelf, with a high attractant groundbait including pellets, hemp seed and maggots within the groundbait. The hookbait being hair rigged sweetcorn and/or maize, maggots and boilies. (try all to see which one produces)

Rod 2 = I was going to fish in a margin using hair rigged tiger nuts with maybe a dynamite stick or PVA bag to present a tight, neat area of bait.

What do you think? If you could get back with possible answers to my questions im sure it would help me out.
Thanks very much
Gareth Mayer

Paul Cooper replies:

Gareth Mayer from Stoke-on-Trent asks advice on fishing a 10 acre lake in Wales that is heavily stocked with carp as advertised to over 40lb. The lake as 9 islands and depths varying from 3 foot to 14 foot and has a 2 rod limit.Paul Cooper with fish

Gareth, I have studied the web site of the lake that you are talking about. From the description given on the web site it would appear that this can be described as heavily stocked water with mixed weights of carp, It would appear that the majority of anglers are using smaller hook baits which includes plastic corn, small, boilies along with the method mix.

From the literature that I have read it would appear that it is runs water that will produce far smaller fish than the larger specimens. As there are no bait restrictions I would consider using good quality baits such as Quest Rahja Spice, Special Crab or the new Liver B8 boilies in either the 15mil or 20mil size. You may think that the size of bait is ridiculous and can only be used abroad. Be different and you will catch the bigger and better fish that are wised up to the standard baits used.

If you have got an extra rod to plumb the depths of the lake, use it well to ascertain not only features in the lake but the texture of the lake bottom. Find a good hard spot that the fish have cleared through regular feeding, near to or on a feature in the lake.

Use the larger boilies in conjunction with a bed of well prepared hemp and trout pellet, spodded out to this selected area. Mark your rods to correspond with the location of your marker rod and accurately cast to this baited area.

There are plenty of examples on the Quest Baits and Angling Lines Web sites to assist you in accurate baiting technics. I know that this approach may be totally alien to most anglers on the complex, but give it a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the results that you will get.

Regards, Paul

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