May 01, 2006 - Pondwood Fishery
This was actually our second trip to Pondwood. I have no photos from that first visit, though... I did something I've never done before... deleted the pictures, from the camera card, before I downloaded them to the PC. Ah well, you can't win them all.
Pondwood is a lovely venue consisting of two ponds and a small stream called the Snake. One of the ponds and the Snake date back to medieval times. Today we fished the little island on the first lake. This lake has a nice mix of stocked fish including carp and catfish. There are some large catfish, in fact the bailiff said that the previous weekend a 42 lb catfish had been landed twice in one day. We've never caught a catfish, though we have tried several times at other venues, and Steve was anxious to have a go at these. Accordingly, he baited all the lines for carp/catfish. If we got a strike on any of the lines it would be a matter of us taking turns.
Steve landed the first fish a nice Mirror that was a little bruised and battered from spawning. Carp often times end up looking quite tattered after the spawning season.
Carp No. 1 a Mirror
Carp No. 2 , another Mirror, went to myself
No. 3 to Steve, a nice Common Carp
The weather was alternately sunny then overcast with a stiff breeze blowing which chilled me to the bone. So I set the brolly up for a little comfort. The sun came out again and I noticed the lacework of shadow patterns on the brolly. For some reason they remind me of fleur-de-lis. Sad, isn't it when one is so desperate for photos that the underside of a brolly will do?
Shadows
It was about two and a half hours before we had another bite, though in the interim we had had several strikes, and even a couple of runs but lost the fish. Steve suspects those may have been catfish. He's been told that often times a catfish will pick up a bait but when it feels the tension of the line it will release it... and, because they have such tough mouths, the hook fails to set. One of these days we will get that "cat".
No. 4 to me again, a colorful Common
There was another lull in the action so I busied myself taking a few more photos. I noticed some lichen growing on a nearby tree, framed by branches and young leaves in between. The trees were at that point where they have a haze of new leaves and everything looks fresh and new. The kind of day that really makes you glad to be alive and part of it.
I thought this made an interesting image
It was a lovely Spring day
Catkins in the late afternoon
Finally the bite alarm went off again and we had our last fish of the day, a lovely dark Common. The Pondwood website says that the carp in here are an Italian strain introduced about 30 years ago. What ever they are, there are some nice fish here.
No. 5 a lovely dark Common Carp which Steve landed
By late afternoon we were the only ones left on the island. Just before we started to pack up for the day I noticed a Chaffinch rummaging around for maggots where some other people had been fishing. The male Caffinch is such a pretty little bird with his buff and blue colors. How could I resist capturing his image?
One of the commonest and most widespread birds in Britain and Ireland
Chaffinch -Fringilla coelebs
And then we were on our way home. Next time we will try the other pond which has only carp. It should be fun.