Dinton was a Din but Cot was Hot

[Banana Steve]

With the bank holiday just around the corner and with having Thursday and Friday off as well, what could I possibly do with my time, Ohh yeah I know, go fishing. Simon said that he wouldn’t mind joining me; the question was where to go? After a deliberation we decided that we would give one of the exchange tickets ago, one of the extra benefits of being a member of the Warminster Angling Club. (Shameless Plug) so our plan was to Fish Dinton Lake on the Tisbury Exchange Ticket, Simon said he was happy to drive and we decided that he would pick me up at 8am.

After getting lost, we finally arrived at Dinton Lake at around 9am. The lake didn’t look to bad and were even some nice features. However, the lake is situated right next to a main road and to be honest I didn’t fancy listening to traffic all day, even Simon was in same frame of mind. It was at that point that Simon asked how far Whitherington Farm was, to which I answered not far.

So we decided to give Dinton a miss and head off to Whitherington Farm, just south of Salisbury. It had been 10 years since I last fished there; I wasn’t to certain if the lakes were still the same? We arrived at 9:45 and after visiting Reids Tackle on site and purchasing the day tickets at £7.00 each we headed for Cottage Lake.
Whitherington farm fishery


Cottage Lake


View of my Peg


My Plan of attack was to fish two fold.
• To fish the waggler on the drop with maggot and then change to fish on the bottom with corn
• To fish the method to my left into a corner swim using soft pellet.

I started on the waggler, with the first cast producing a tiny Rudd, second cast the same. Simon mean while had hooked into a small Bream. Simon had set-up the waggler and was fishing hard on the deck.


I continued to fish on the drop, but I was struggling to get past the Rudd, so within 15 minutes I changed my waggler set-up to fish the bottom with corn. It was to long before I had my first bite which produced a small Bream.


The Fish started to come nice steady, with quality Bream, Tench and even a usurper in the shape of a Gold Fish, mind you that was points for which I didn’t expect.

Tench

Goldfish


As the day wore on, I caught a few of the Carp that Cottage was famous for 10 years ago, but these fish were not of the calibre of those fish of the past, but they still gave a account of themselves.

One of Cottage’s Carp caught on the Method


To be very honest I was really enjoying the day, mind you it was frustrating at times as I kept missing bites and pulling out of quality fish, but every now and then I would get a surprise like this little fella.


Even Simon was enjoying himself and he too was losing the better fish. We decided that we would call it a day at 6pm and after trying as much as I could I couldn’t get one of the legends of the past.

It must of been around 5:45pm when I noticed Simon was into a good fish, a to be extremely honest I thought that he hooked into a big Bream.


But on watching him, I realised that he may be into a Legend. I thought that I better give him a hand just in-case. On wondering over to him I thought I saw the tail of a Bream and I thought that he had foul hooked the Bream in the Bum. I was completely wrong after a minute or so it was apparent Simon was into a Legend.



10 minutes into the battle and with the fish refusing to show its head, Simon announced that his arm was killing him. This produced a chuckle from me. I did the best I could with talking Simon through playing the fish and eventually Simon got the fishes head up and with one last effort the fish slid over the landing net with Simon saying “Ohh my God” and to which I replied “Simon it’s a Double”

On taking the fish to scales the Carp weighed in at 10lb 8ozs a new PB for Simon



Both Simon and I enjoyed the day, and I even managed to bump into the Owner “Tony” for whom I hadn’t seen him for over 5 years, it was really nice to chat with him and catch up. After having such a good day I will be back.

[Simon N]

It Was A Real Shame About The Dinton Lake, Its Less Than 6ft From The Main Road. And We Didnt Fancy Shipping Our Poles Back Into The Road. But Im Glad We Decided To Give Witherington Farm Ago. We Both Had A Really Enjoyable Days Fishing. I Landed Alot Of Bream, 1 Skimmer, Some Great Tench, 2 Roach, 1 Small Carp And One Legend. Deffinatly One Of My Favourate Sessions Of The Season So Far. But Im Sure Theres More To Come With Some Of The Lakes Steve Has Im Mind For The Rest Of The Season.

[blackwater]

Well done Steve, great report, also well done Simon on the new PB.

BW

[bushie]

good report steve and some nice fish.i think the last time i fished there was about 10 years ago or even longer cant remember there being that many lakes there when i fished it.i remember having a few good battles with some of those large carp.dont they hang on simon. well done on your PB.i think you will be breaking that again this year.

[NICK R]

Nice report steve

[scottish_and_mental]

I love Reidy !
( and he loves me as i used to buy 90% of his sea tackle when he was at wilton ! )

[Simon N]

Originally Posted by bushie

good report steve and some nice fish.i think the last time i fished there was about 10 years ago or even longer cant remember there being that many lakes there when i fished it.i remember having a few good battles with some of those large carp.dont they hang on simon. well done on your PB.i think you will be breaking that again this year.

I Did Think My First Double Would Come From Crockerton. But I Am Expecting To Be Able To Break It Again This Year With A Fish From Crockerton.

[Greenheart]

Well done guys, looks like you had a really enjoyable days fishing. Congrats on your new PB Simon. Nice pics too.

[fullcreel]

Well done, both of you. Not been there, too mean on the funds perhaps.
Simon, I hope to get out one eve next week for some fly fishing for the carp, have been very busy in this heat at work, panicing over plants.

[fishypaul]

well done steve and simon,nice looking lake,