Sometimes it's nice to get away from it all, even if getting away involves packing enough fishing tackle to stock a small shop!
Courtney, Obi (our gorgeous black cat) and I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a three-night break at the fabulous Billing Aquadrome in Northamptonshire. The plan was simple. A day of shopping and retail therapy, a day of fishing and waterside therapy, and a bit of relaxation in between. Something for everyone, including Obi! Of course, fitting everything into the car was another matter.
Courtney's Daiwa seatbox went in first, followed by our Preston Inception feeder chair. There wasn't room for two seatboxes, so we'd have to make do. Then came my rods, pole and terminal tackle, leaving just enough space for an overnight bag, some groceries and a little bait. Who needs clothes when you've got fishing tackle?
A new fishery to explore
Although fishing is available at Billing Aquadrome, we'd already set our sights on somewhere different: Wold Farm Fishery. From what we'd seen, it looked like a lovely venue, with several waters offering a wide variety of stocked fish. Just the sort of place we enjoy visiting. Saturday was our chosen fishing day. Before setting off, we made a quick visit to the tackle shop at Billing Aquadrome to pick up some maggots. We'd brought pellets and corn, but it's always worth having a backup plan. With the bait sorted, off we went.
One thing we hadn't quite appreciated was that Wold Farm Fishery sits next door to Santa Pod Raceway. There was a track day taking place, so our peaceful day's fishing came with its own soundtrack. Zoom, zoom! 🏎️
After checking in, we had a look around and settled on a couple of pegs on Moat Lake.
Two anglers, two approaches
Courtney fancied a day fishing the rod, so she set up a method feeder and a bomb rod, targeting the island. I decided to fish the pole. My first job was to plumb up and establish the depths across a few likely lines. Out came the Matrix Mudline marking float, and I started checking.
Top kit plus two? Two feet. Top kit plus five? Two feet. Towards the far bank? You guessed it. Two feet!
There was so little variation in depth that I could have fished the nearside margin, a short pole line and across towards the far bank without changing my depth. Not quite the underwater landscape I'd been hoping to discover! Still, there's no point making things complicated for the sake of it. I settled on fishing maggots at top kit plus two and made the best of what was in front of me.
Courtney's first barbel!
Courtney's approach was producing fish. A couple of nice carp came along, followed by a couple of skimmers.
Then, suddenly, I heard her calling me over. "I've never caught one of these before!" and there it was. A beautiful barbel, weighing around 4 lb. Apparently, it had given her a proper runaround before she finally managed to bring it to the landing net. For Courtney, it was a first. Her very first barbel, and a cracking fish to start with!
Featured photograph: Courtney proudly displaying her first-ever barbel, approximately 4 lb. The photograph you supplied would sit here in the published article.
Not to be outdone…
Meanwhile, my short pole line was producing some enjoyable fishing of its own. Fishing maggots at top kit plus two, I managed several nice carp and a couple of skimmers. And then I caught a barbel of my own! Mine was probably around 3 lb, so not quite as big as Courtney's. But we don't talk about that. Well, Courtney might. Quite frequently, I suspect! 😂
The important thing was that we'd both caught a good variety of fish, including barbel, and enjoyed our different approaches to fishing the same lake. No match pressure, no chasing weights, no need to prove anything. Just a lovely day's pleasure fishing.
A word about fishery hygiene
One thing that particularly impressed us at Wold Farm was the attention given to fishery hygiene and biosecurity. The fishery supplies landing nets, along with keepnets for matches, helping reduce the risk of transferring disease between fisheries. They also provide cloths rather than allowing anglers to use their own hand towels. All we needed to bring were our landing net handles.
It's a sensible arrangement, and something worth knowing if you're planning a visit. Fish welfare matters, and it's encouraging to see a fishery taking practical steps to protect its stock.
Time to call it a day
We'd enjoyed some sunshine during the session, but eventually the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the temperature began to fall. And fall it did! It wasn't long before we were both feeling the cold. We'd caught some lovely fish, tried a new venue, and Courtney had landed her first-ever barbel. There wasn't much more we could reasonably ask of the day. So we decided to pack up and head back to Billing Aquadrome. Sometimes knowing when to call it a day is just as important as knowing when to make another cast.
Final thoughts
Wold Farm Fishery proved to be an enjoyable choice for our day out. Moat Lake offered us some entertaining fishing, with carp, skimmers and barbel making an appearance. The shallow, consistent depth made for interesting pole fishing, while Courtney demonstrated that a method feeder cast towards the island could produce some lovely fish. We appreciated the fishery's hygiene arrangements, too.
Would we visit again? Absolutely. There are other waters we'd like to explore, and it's always nice to discover another fishery worth putting on the list.
As for the highlight of the day, I think Courtney's first barbel takes that honour. Although, for the record, I caught one too!
Until next time, tight lines.
Going Fishing — Simple tactics. Honest results.