Pleasure Session (Bullocks Farm) Rushcombe Lake.

Finding myself with a free day with no match to fish the wife and myself decided to take a trip to bullock farm in Kingston Seymour, after a wander around the match and carp lakes which already seemed pretty full and in need of some extra water' we ventured over to rushcombe lake for a look, last time I fished this lake it was full of tiny 3'inch carp and goldfish but that was a few years ago now, I happened to bump into old friend Derek Coles who is more at home on the rivers but took time out to also try the lake with the close season now in full swing who informed me there were now a larger head of bigger carp resident. We decided to have a full breakfast in the onsite cafe' before setting any kit up which was cooked nice and fresh but was a bit pricey coming in at just under £17 when we added are morning cuppas".

Back at the lake and it was going to be a simple approach today, a 4x10 Chanti on 0.12-0.11 & an 18 808 hook to fish at 12mts at the bottom of the far shelf in around 3ft of water and the same rig to use in the open water off to my left where the depth was much the same. Again this lake seemed to be lacking in depth as pluming around over to the far bank saw just an average of 10'inches of water which was a shame as you could see from the marking on the bank it would be around 2ft tight over with the level back up.

I started the day fishing the 12mt line cad potting a few micro pellets via the cad pot and fishing a 4mm expander on the hook, 20mins later I had my first fish being a 6oz roach' so switched to fishing corn on the hook , it did make a difference as I had my first carp of 5lb which seemed to unsettle things being so shallow, I had noticed the odd boil right over from carp in the really shallow water and with things being slow I assembled a 4x12 chanti to fish inches deep towards some branches I had hanging in the water, The rig was a bit crude with a bulk of shot 4'inches from the hook and the float a couple of inches above it but I didn't want to be lifting into false bites and spooking any fish. feeding just a few micros and fishing a single grain of corn on the hook. it didn't take long for the branches to start moving from signs of fish and I soon was attached to a bigger 8lb common which was safely netted, that set the day up really and I spent a few hours taking the odd fish off each line finishing up with about 10 carp from 3-8lb mostly taken on corn a couple on 4mm expanders.

 

Although Owner Phil Simmons doesn't tend to hold matches here anymore its a good venue to visit if like me you like to see your catch at the end of the day allowing the use of keepnets on a its lakes.