Todber Manor warmit experience

Banana Steve · #1 02-03-2007, 06:51 PM

I left my house at 6:45am and took a leisurely drive to Todber Manor fisheries just out side Sturminster Newton. As I proceeded to Todber I drove across the top the Mere Valley just as the sun was starting to rise, it was such a beautiful view I had to stop and take a picture as the suns corona started to appear

I arrived at the tackle shop at Todber manor at around 7:45 where upon I meet up with Mike and Claudia. The shop was not due to open until 8:00am so for 15 minutes we chatted about the venue and the fact we were looking forward to fishing Wadmill.
When the tackle shop opened and went to purchase the day tickets for Wadmill, we were informed that the lake was closed and was in the process of being drained; at that point I think all our hearts sank. We were given other choices to fish like the match lake, the Specimen Lake and two smaller lakes which were not on the same site. With Mike really having the only gear to fish the Specimen Lake both Claudia and myself were a bit concerned about fishing the Specimen Lake. Mike suggested that we fish the match lake for the carp; however the tackle shop guy recommended that we fish one of the two other lakes which were situated of the complex. So we decided that’s what we would do, it was at this point that a gentleman by the name of Mick said that he was going to fish there and he would show us how to get there.

On arrival of the two lakes my heart was still sunk and was taking on water, the lakes were very small and had a match lake feel to them, long and thin. We looked at both lakes and found that the second of the two lakes looked more promising. So we decided that’s were we would fish.

Because of the nature of the lakes you could only fish one bank; we choose our swims, Mike of the Left, Claudia in the middle and me on the right.

I set up my first rod with a 10mm pellet on a hair rig and casted the rig out to my right. As I was setting my second rod, my bite alarm screamed of, with line stripping of my reel. I got to my rod and struck to feel that familiar thumping of carp. It felt like a nice fish, with only being there five minutes I thought it was going be good day, only to see the carp rise in front of my landing net; a nice carp of around 8-9lb for the hook to pull and the fish gentle swim away. At this point my language was un-publishable.

After an hour and half my bite alarm scream of again, this time I landed the fish, an extremely nice shaped mirror carp of around 2lb. This was also caught on a 10mm Pellet. No sooner as I had returned the fish, my other rod bite alarm started to show indications of a fish being near the bait, and then suddenly the bite alarm screamed, I stuck and found my self into another carp. This fish felt a lot better than the last fish and with fishing only 5lb braid as a hook length I took my time for which I was rewarded with a 4-5lb Mirror carp.

That was my final run and fish of the day and as the day progressed the temperature started to fall. Mike had caught and was getting bites most of the day by the end of the day he had landed 4 and lost 1. Claudia however was on a blank until about an hour before darkness, she was fishing in my swim with a waglar with maggot as I was teaching her how fish the waglar. When her bite alarm went off because she was fishing the float rod she had to bring that in which left me to charge down to her carp rod and strike into the fish for her. Which at that point she came running up to her rods for which I gave her back the rod for her to land a nice mirror of around 4-5lb mark.
Well done Claudia

An enjoyable day had by all and I am looking forward to my next trip

Greenheart · #2 02-03-2007, 06:56 PM

Sounds like a good day was had by all (Except for me, stuck doing the garden at home

) Great weather too...

mithrandir · #3 02-03-2007, 07:00 PM

Nice report Steve and nice to spend the day with you.

Mike

Twiddler · #4 02-03-2007, 07:47 PM

Not much I can add to this great report, except that I really thought I'd be the only one who was going to blank. It was a great learning curve for me to fish with Steve, as he tought me how to fish fish a waggler and showed me how to improve my casting skills with a legder and float.

He also gave me tips on groundfeeding and different hookbaits to use during the winter period when carp don't feed well.

Today I fished with boilies and pellets on a hair rig for the first time and must say it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be lol.
I used PVA bags for the first time too but was not too impressed with them, as they left a little residue on the hook, which can make the carp suspious and stop them from taking the bait.
Again this was a learning process and next time I'll be using mesh, as it seems that it disolves much better than PVA bags.

A big thank you to Steve for having the patience and for teaching me a few more skills.....oops nearly forgot, Steve was also so kind to let me keep a few of his floats, which I'm going to test drive tomorrow at the K&A canal, as I still have bait left over form today...would be a shame to waste it ;-)

Steve at his swim

Steve with one of his catch

My little mirror carp