Charman’s Challenge – Newdigate
Lodge Lake.
Date – Tuesday 10th
June 2014
Venue fact file –
Lodge Lake, The Old Green Barn, Rusper
Road, Newdigate Surrey RH5 5BE
www.newdigate-estates.co.uk
Tickets Adult 1 rod £10-00, 2
rod £18 no concessions and tickets need to be pr-booked by calling
01306 631573
Conditions – A great day for
fishing but not for catching with atmospherics on 1028mb, cloudless
blue skies, temperatures soaring into the twenties and thankfully a
brisk south-west wind
Managing to get a
day when not only my brother is free but also my dad, girlfriends dad
and his mate john is really rare so we made the most of it and
heading into the middle of nowhere, sorry Surrey, to Newdigate
Fisheries.
Having to pre-book our tickets we were
really taking a chance with the weather and arrived in glorious
sunshine knowing that catching may prove difficult. I was producing a
feature on fishing the waggler for Coarse Angling Today and was up
against a deadline so knew I needed to give it all I could in order
to get a result. Walking around the lake, which is around three acres
we watched a numerous big carp cruised the upper layers and clearly
saw that the tench were on the feed by the patches of bubbles, yet
with the temperature rising and sun already high, just how long this
would last was questionable. The lake also has a few big golden orfe
in, in fact all the lakes on all three farms have big orfe in them
and it was this that I had challenged myself to catch with a personal
best a real possibility, yet hooking one was the problem.
I set up with the
wind coming over my left shoulder, not what I usually recommend, yet
this would make spraying maggots and casting to the centre of the
lake easier, an area I hoped to intercept one of these big orfe.
Kevin and my dad set up further up the bank with Mick and John on the
opposite bank, right where the wind was pushing into.
I Sprayed red
maggots whilst setting up in the hope of an early result however it
took maybe an hour to get a bite that resulted in a tench around 4lb.
I then kicked myself for missing a bite on the drop, yet next cast
saw a repeat performance, yet this time the hook found its target and
a big orfe surfaced. It’s nice to still get that adrenaline rush
after fishing for so long and I waved at my brother to come and help
me land the fish which easily beat my standing best of around 3lb. On
the scales she went 4lb 4oz 8drams, not a monster for the venue but a
satisfying start. A few more tench followed to 5lb 6oz before things
died and I had to keep working the swim, yet in the early afternoon
the bites returned yet hitting them was difficult due to the undertow
taking my line on the inside line and causing a bow, yet persistence
paid off with two more tench the last weighing 6lb 12oz. Kevin only
had five bites all day but had two tench and a best orfe of 4lb 5oz,
dad ended with three tench, John had two on prawns and Mick sadly
struck at thin air on more than one occasion.
Newdigate is a
picturesque venue set in the peaceful surrey countryside, well that’s
if you ignore the planes, French frogs with their deafening mating
call and cuckoos in the surrounding hills and offers some brilliant
fishing, although not easy. With no small nuisance fish within every
bite is from a big fish, which is pleasing and with loads of other
lakes offering a variety of different challenges i'm sure I will be
back later in the year.
what other type of fish are in lodge lake
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