Gloucester Park Basildon

[Philippus]

Hi all, On Sunday I'm heading down to Gloucester park in Basildon. I'm new to fishing and have only ever fished in a local lake. I have been catching loads of Perch and Rudd. Biggest being a Perch around 7" caught about 3' down and just past the lily pads right next to the bank. I thought it was going to be a lot bigger than what came out. It had a good fight on it and must of hit every snag on the way in.

I Have a Cheap 12' rod from Argos.

I have been float fishing using a 7lb main line with a 4lb hook length with a red maggot size 20 hook. I use maggots as bait usually but have tried lob worms on a size 10 hook which didn't catch anything.

My Question is how do i get bigger fish than what I'm currently getting? I know there are big fish in Gloucester park. I don't want to catch anything massive, well I do but, just something that my girlfriend won't laugh at!

I have all sorts of tackle like ledgers and feeders but I have never used them. Can I catch big fish float fishing? It seems that most people don't float fish at my local water.

Also I can only cast out around 20' with about 3g worth of weight on. Is this short or what you would expect for this amount of weight? Is this why I,m not catching anything big? are the bigger fish further out?

Any help or experience greatly appreciated. I can get to the tackle shop tomorrow if you think I'm missing anything.

Thanks,
Philippus.