Gold Valley - A very Wet Day

[Banana Steve]

Twiddler {Claudia} invited me along to Gold Valley near Aldershot in Hampshire, a renowned match fishery for which is sponsored by some major tackle companies.
I had never fished the complex before and nearly bit Claudia hand off when she invited me.

We met just outside Amesbury at 6:45am; there were at this point a few spots of rain which didn’t worry me as the weather forecast stated that the day was going to be bright and dry. As we travelled to Gold Valley the rain started to become at more persistent and as we arrived at Gold Valley it was chucking it down.

Claudia informed me at this point she didn’t have her brolly for which my reaction was “opps looks like you are getting wet today then”
Claudia led us to the Syndicate Lake as she needed to practice for the up coming match next week. We noticed on arrival that the lake had a fair few anglers already there. We grabbed two pegs at the centre of the lake and settled down. I had two methods I wanted to try, 1 was the wag & mag and the other was to try out the bait bomb for which I had recently purchased. I started on the Wag & Mag however the bites were very hard to come by. However, my first fish was a skimmer, photo taken and 1 ½ points in the bag thank you very much.

The rain continued for most of the morning and the wag & mag was not working I had only caught 3 fish, 1 skimmer and 2 small perch.


So I decided to try the bait bomb. My first impressions were not good, after chucking out a few times I noticed that the hooklength came back tangled up, the line had wrapped it self around the bait bomb. I found that it is too big and extremely cumbersome. I found that the tabs work but that It could be a very expensive if the fish start “having it”. I think that you would be better off using PVA sticky tape. The other thing I noticed you have to dry the bomb down every time and any water on the bomb affects the band. Over all I give the bomb 3 out of 10, I did catch a roach and carp on the method, but the carp snapped me up and I lost the bomb, £7.00 down the plug hole, I think for the advantage it may give is out weighed by the cost. You would get the same affect if used a normal feeder packed with a groundbait mix with Andrews in the crumb, and if you are using loose feed a PVA bag is as good.

At 12:00 the rain stopped and the sun started to show its head, by this point I was fed up with the bait bomb and I went back to the Wag & Mag but instead of fishing shallow I set the float to mid depth, this work like a treat, I started to catch good quality roach, in total I caught 6 good roach all over a pound the biggest being 1lb 3ozs. I caught several skimmers and perch as well. Claudia had few small roach and very nice 6lb carp to boot.








At 4pm we decided to call it a day, I had lost the carp on the bait bomb and had packed up my float rod; Claudia had a nightmare with her float reel line and had enough for the day.

Overall the complex was ok, but it reminded me of other commercial fisheries in the fact they were set up to get as many anglers on the lake as possible, there was no sense of relaxation with the lake, it was extremely noisy with being next to rail line and a main road. It reminded me to much of the venues I used to fish as a match angler, I am not complaining because I enjoyed the day, but I feel that there so many commercial fisheries like this that they are all much of a same and £10 for one rod in my mind is very expensive as there cheaper commercial fisheries that are as good if not better. Any way rant over, I enjoyed the day and Claudia was great company as well.

Thanks Claudia


By the way meet Bag up Claudia the Match Angler

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Really enjoyed reading that mate and great info
( mmm save myself £7.00 me thinks )

[biggun]

A good read Steve! Shame about the Bait-bomb but you could have saved all the tackle-tarts (me included) on here a few quid! I suppose I'm lucky having two quite secluded commercials on my doorstep. Both only cost about £6 for the day and produce large bags! I just wish I had more time to enjoy them.

[fishypaul]

enjoyable report steve,shame the weather spoiled it a bit

[cuckoo]

Great stuff steve and claudia , well done on the poins steve , i also bagged us 3 points last night !!!!

lee.

[Greenheart]

Great read Steve. Pity about the bait Bomb. Thought it sounded too good to be true. I agree with you about Gold Valley. it's a nice match venue, but there's definately better pleasure venues about. Well done on the points...

[Norfolkboy]

Well done Steve and Claudia.

[Twiddler]

The weather didn't help, north north east wind and rain, not ideal for fishing, in fact I was a bit disappointed on the carp front.

I must admit though I was fishing the waggler for the silver most of the time, as I was hoping to get a decent size roach.

A great thank you to Steve who showed me how to effectively fish the Waggler, helped me with my tangles (wrong line on my reel as Steve educated me), helping me picking the right attachments for my new seat box and for kind inheritance of one of his seat box attachment.

It wasn't the most productive day and as Steve said not the most relaxing lake....a typical match lake but the reason I went this time to have a go at the silver in the lake, as so far I only fished there for carp.

Still, it was a good day for me, as I now how to fish the match next week (with some good advice from Steve).

I hope now I can help to kick the other teams butt.........did I mention Mike is fishing for the other team?

[pingu]

nice one guys looked a good social day


dave

[mithrandir]

Well I hope it is a bit better for next week, I hope I will be fit enough to have a go.