Waynos

Being new to this site I hope I have posted this in the right section! Appologies now if I haven't. I recently had a days fishing at Hampton Spring Fisheries in Cheshire. Wow, what a fantastic place that was! Didn't really know what to expect or how to fish it. I went with my brother in law and my 14 year old son, all of us noobs. Anyhow, we were using basic match fishing equipment (rods & reels), float fishing a mix of luncheon meat/corn/pellet on size 14 hair-rig hooks to 6lb line. To be honest, we thought we would be in for a great day when my son landed a 1.5lb tench with his first cast! Then my inlaw landed a 4lb carp! After that, we managed a few more carp, 4-5lb's a piece and we had 5 barbel between 3 and 6lb. I bagged 5 my son and brother in law bagged 3 each. We were more than happy having caught decent size fish, but could not help but think if we were rigged out and better in the know about what type of end kit to be using, we might have bagged a lot more! We fished on the Rock pool (from the approach road it is in the left hand corner, the 3 pegs facing the Island for those that know the venue). A guy to the left of us was swim feeding inbetween the two islands and he seemed to be pulling very good size carp in at the rate of 1 every 10 minutes of so! Any advice on how to fish this venu would be really appreciated. Please bear in mind that as I say, I am a COMPLETE NOOB, so as clear as poss. with the answers/suggestions!!! Thanks gents (& Ladies )

andy taylor

hair rigged meat or corn on the bomb to the islands or meat, corn or pellet in the margins

Waynos

Thanks Andy for your reply. "on the bomb" I assume means ledgering with an arlesey bomb? I forgot to mention, we did give that a go, my inlaw managed a nice barble and a carp. I caught mainly barble on meat on the float about 6' to 8' off the bank. Was interested to find out how to increase catch rate!! ie particular set up, be it float, ledger, or swimfeed

andy taylor

when i fish hampton springs i usually feed a margin swim with meat i have a 5mm cutter which makes life easier then a will use two 10mm cubes on the bomb these are hair rigged ,i use the korum hooks to nylon with the stops already on the hair while waiting for the fish to move in on the margin swim if you are going to fish there a lot i would definately consider getting a margin pole. i use a shimano beastmaster margin pole for the simple reason some of the carp in the pools are over 20lb you have picked a great fishery to get started on, next time i go which will be when i get another car probably next month i will pm you and perhaps meet up for a days fishing

Waynos

Cheers for that Andy, it would be nice to meet and get some tips off someone who has fished the place. Like I said in my posts, I am only just getting back into the sport again so need to get a few more bits and pieces together. Pole fishing is something I have never done and wouldn't know the difference between all the ones available....they all look the soddin' same to me!! I am not beyond learning though and as long as I could fit it in with my budget, then its is something I am prepared to have a go at, especially if its gonna bag me more fish Thanks for the offer mate and by all means, drop me a pm next time your up there and I will try and meet up

andy taylor

no problems ,look forward to meeting up sometime