Charman’s Challenge – Buckland
Lake Fishery.
Date – Thursday 7th August
2014
Venue fact file –
Buckland Lake Fishery, Buckland Road,
Cliffe, Nr Rochester Kent ME3 7RT.
Tel 01634 220005 or 07946 522076
Day Tickets – Main lake by
appointment only £40 per 24hrs also Syndicated at £500 per year
which is now FULL (names can be placed on a waiting list). Two coarse
lakes, Specimen Lake cost £15 for 10hrs, £18 all day, £20
overnight and £28 for 24hrs and the Coarse Lake costs £10 for 2
rods and concessions apply on this lake only.
Stock – Main lake rudd to 4lb
plus roach, perch, pike and carp to unknown quantity. Specimen lake
offers carp to 30lb. Coarse Lake offers plenty of carp, tench, perch
and pike plus rudd to well over 3lb and there is a trout lake
containing brown and rainbow trout to over 12lb.
Conditions – With storm Bertha
hitting the south east it was never going to be easy but it actually
worked in my favour. Warm humid with heavy downpours and thunder and
lightning and the wind off my back, a south west.
Every now and
again someone does the honourable thing and this time it was my good
friend Fred Healy who after discovering a rudd goldmine, and knowing
my love for the species called to tell me to get my arse down to
Kent. Now I have to admit that although I love catching big fish but
travelling all over the country just isn’t my thing yet when he
asked what my personal best was and I told him it was 3lb 5oz his
reply really started to get my mind working as his answer was, well
your beat that easily! I nearly dismissed the information as I had a
full weeks work but knowing that its whereabouts would soon be out to
the angling world and that it was also fast growing interest to be
syndicated I just had to cancel an appointment and as Fred said, get
my arse down there!
To be honest I
rarely travel more than an hour to a venue and my first thoughts were
that Cliffe in Kent was about 2hrs away, yet a quick postcode tap
into the satnav showed just 70mins, so my mind was made and the car
loaded. A quick look at the weather showed an awful weather front
moving in, storm Bertha it was called and its was going to hit worse,
yes you’ve guessed it in Kent. Fred had informed me that he had
been catching on the float yet I needed plan B up my sleeve and
decided to take a couple of 1.25lb t/c rods with helicopter rigs set
up as I knew that sometime during the day these would be called for.
The alarm sounded
at 3am and I was on the road by four arriving well in time for the
6am opening. Five pints of red maggots wriggled in a bait bucket but
little did I know that these would only be used a feed as the hoards
of small rudd made using them on the hook impossible. Luckily Scott
the onsite manger has a small tackle shop on site and I was able to
grab four tins of corn yet after a quick look at the swims and an
hour fishing the float all I had to show for my efforts was one tiny
rudd. Scott had told me to keep my eyes pealed and move if I saw rudd
and after an hour I did just that as the odd rudd could be seen to my
right. The problem I was faced with was that the rudd were moving
some way out and I just couldn’t see them being caught as I had
been told they do in the margins. The reason for this was obvious as
the wind was coming from behind and the rudd weren’t confident
coming in close on it. In all honesty I felt I was in the worst place
possible but with limited swims had to continue yet the odd big rudd
rolling kept up my confident. Another hour on the float three rod
lengths out proved unsuccessful, not that surprising seems it was
over 20ft deep and all I could do was fish at a maximum depth of
12ft.
Then it happened
the clouds darkened and the heavens opened as well as the wind
swinging momentarily 180 degrees. Time for the feeders and batten
down the hatches. A simple underarm cast saw the feeder landing where
I had been feeding and with a maggot feeder and a helicopter rig with
a piece of normal corn popped up with some yellow foam slowly
descending I expected to sit out the storm. How wrong was I as on the
way down I felt a tap, then a pull and played in a rudd weighing 2lb
9oz. This was followed by more, five in fact all over 2lb 7oz and two
in excess of 3lb, one bang on the money and another of 3lb 4oz. With
rudd it’s often a case of stop feeding stop catching and by
permission from Scott a keepnet was employed just for such an
occasion which prolonged the feeding spell without any detrimental
effect to the rudd. When the bites dried up and the weather improved
I quickly weighed and photographed the catch before resuming feeding.
Although happy with the mornings result I was kicking myself as I
lost far more big rudd than those landed. The problem was a dense
weed bed around a rod length out, well out of sight and one that saw
my line bedding down in when the line was tightened against the
feeder, something that’s paramount in the effectiveness of the
heli-rig. If the rudd didn’t shed the hook then the hooklink would
part so after collecting my thoughts I rigged up with a 6lb12oz
hooklink, size 12 hook and swapped the corn for a 10mm Nash Airball
Pineapple Pop-up. The afternoon started on a more positive note with
nine of the next ten rudd landed with a couple coming to the float.
This pop-up tactic also accounted for a much better stamp of fish and
although only one was quickly weighed which set a new personal best
of 3lb 6oz I never knew until the shoal moved on exactly what I had
in the keepnet. Weighing the rudd they weighed in at 3lb 1oz, 3lb
8oz, 3lb 9oz 8drams, 3lb 10oz and 3lb 12oz 8drams, truly remarkable.
The lake is
classified as a Quarry and there are no proper swims created at the
moment as it’s rarely been fished before and all you do is make
yourself as comfortable as possible. Unfortunately with the rain
falling the banks become lethal and I slipped at around 3pm coming
down heavily on my knee cap which by 6pm had ceased completely. What
I could have achieved if this hadn’t happened is mind-blowing and
the drive home was certainly not one I wish to remember.
Passing my results
on to my mate Chris he headed down the following day and although the
fishing wasn’t as good he still managed five rudd over 2lb 6oz with
the best two weighing 2lb 15oz and 3lb 6oz!
Fortunately I
managed to get my name on the waiting list, at the top in fact and
Chris is second so cant wait for a place to become available yet I’m
not expecting any of the lucky twelve to opt out for a while.
Good luck lads go fill your boots!
Well it’s been another busy month
with 119 hours clocked up bankside from 19 sessions. These have been
split between guiding (10) features (3) and sadly personal sessions
down to just six. These sessions have seen me drift between the
counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, West Sussex, Kent and
Herefordshire often settling on flowing water from the Loddon,
Kennet, Thames, Wye and even the Hampshire Avon.
The features this month have included a
shoot at Newdigate Fisheries for Tight Lines where I landed a number
of tench including my first golden one so a sort of personal best I
suppose but not one I will be actively trying to beat. I’ve also
been busy producing features for Anglers Mail one of which saw me
targeting barbel on corn and another trying to catch a river carp
where although I failed I did land a very special fish. Keep an eye
out for these features as they will be appearing very soon.
So what’s happening in September,
well once again loads. The Wye will feature highly as will the Thames
where I will be trying to catch my first barbel from the river as
well as tapping into the perch and roach potential. A Nash Roadshow
at Holme Grange in Berkshire on Saturday the 6th (please come along
and say hello) will no doubt see loads of carp landed and towards the
end of the month surprisingly catfish will feature. 
