Golden Delight Social

After arranging to meet a good friend of ours, Lee Chatfield, my friend Mark Pilley very kindly picked me up from my house nice and early so we could get a good day's fishing in. After chatting infectiously about fishing in the van on the way to the venue in Surrey it wasn't too long until we had pulled into the carpark with a gleeful welcome from Lee. Our target was to try and catch some of these elusive Golden Orfe that this venue is famous for, with Lee managing these fish over the staggering 5lb mark. Mark and I were very excited as we had never fished for Golden Orfe by design before, and our excitement levels heightened even more when Lee spotted some good Orfe cruising on the surface. After a good walk round, we decided to chose our swims. Lee fished on the other side whilst me and Mark fished on the shelves of our near bank close by.

Lovely Bluebells

My experience of waggler fishing is rather limited so I went off to Lee's swim to see how he was plumming the depth of the lake. After showing me his techniques and giving Mark and I a kind hand we were all fishing with the hope of catching a big orfe, as well as a tench or two. It wasn't too long until Lee was starting to pull out some quality tench. After patiently trickling in the bait at similar intervals to Mark, it wasn't long until Mark's float sailed under and this was met by a positive strike. It was great to see a big orange shape pop up shortly after, and with a few lunges and a bit of splashing a big Orfe was in Mark's waiting net. It was one of the better Orfe, and at 5lb 2oz a fantastic Personal Best for Mark - the smile says it all!

A Fine Specimen Orfe at 5lb 2oz

We were all overjoyed about how the session was going so early on, and just as I started on my pack of Percy Pigs my float buried and I hooked into my first fish of the day. I knew instantly from the aggressive lunges and the kiting from right to left that this was a tench. At 4lb 1oz it wasn't huge but it was my Personal Best on Float Tactics. It was also in pristine condition with a lovely orange underside.

A Pristine Tinca

Lee continued to catch the odd tench, whilst Mark and I saw plenty of small Orfe cruising together on the surface. This was exciting as they were taking maggots that I catapulted to them, so I therefore chose to cast my float rig towards them. It wasn't long until the float dipped and I was into one of these lovely little Orfe.

First Ever Orfe

Just after I got this quick little picture and popped the fish back, Lee called us informing us he was into a bigger Orfe. We got to his swim just as he landed the fish. This secured Lee's record of never turning up to this venue without an Orfe. At 4lb 11oz it was not Lee's biggest Orfe from this lake, however it was a very good-sized fish indeed!

Lee's 4lb 11oz Orfe

After a spot of lunch, I got back into my swim feeding little and often in what I now felt to be a good, disciplined rhythm. After half an hour or so passed by, as I was just finishing my dessert (a kinder bueno) my float buried completely out of the blue. I firmly struck and felt a positive weight on the end kicking. After applying a bit of pressure I saw the tell-tale big orange shape pop up, and after some nerve-racking kicks I gently guided it into the net with Mark and I gasping a big sigh of relief it didn't get away. This was another nice Orfe and I was so happy by then that we all had a good Orfe to show for our efforts. At 4lb 10oz I was over the moon with this result, and Lee came over to congratulate me by shaking my hand which to me summed up the great teamwork of the day and how well it all pieced together!

My PB at 4lb 10oz

After a hour or so after I had the Orfe things went very quiet. Mark with a lot of effort managed the one tench which was just over 3lb, so I then decided to go over with some gear and see how Lee was getting on. Just as I entered his swims, his bites picked up again with him landing two good tench with one weighing just under 5. We sat and had a really good chat whilst fishing one margin each, with Lee managing a few nice Tench and I lost a good one as to a hook pull as well. It was a lovely session overall and it was fantastic to meet Lee for the first time and have a good catch-up with my friend Mark.

A big thank you goes to both of them for an enjoyable day, with Lee putting us on the fish and helping us out and Mark for kindly giving me lifts to the fishery and to the bus station for the ride home! Look forward to another session chaps!

Tight Lines,

Tom

A Day with Duncan Charman After Bream

After getting some bits done for Angler's Mail with Duncan, he kindly offered to guested me on his local Badshot Lea Complex. Duncan knew my Personal Best Bream was nothing very impressive, so the intention was to beat this. Duncan showed me a Helicopter rig setup which consisted of 6lb mainline with a short hook link (Duncan uses 5.14lb preston powerline). The hook bait was maggots and the ground bait consisted of a mix with some crushed up Boilie.

After being kindly dropped at the complex by Duncan's father, Duncan had already managed a few bream from 4lbs to just under 6lbs by the time we had got there. Without further ado, we casted out the helicopter rigs with one closer in and the other considerably further out. It wasn't too long until the bobbin started to rise with the alarm sounding with the first bream going exactly 5lbs. I learnt on this trip, that when hitting into a run on this method, you merely have to pick up the rod calmly, otherwise the fish are likely to 'crack' off. After a couple of bream which were likely to be under 5lbs, the close in rod's bobbin slowly rose and then smashed the top with line screaming off the reel. "Get the backwind on mate" Duncan said, as he knew what I was into was a considerably better fish indeed. The fish went on a unstoppable run, literally rocketing into the middle of the lake. After taking a lot of line, I managed to start guiding the fish towards me. This of course had to be done gently as it was a light hook link. After a few more minutes of arm-aching action and the carp kiting aggressively from left to right, I managed to guide it into the waiting net. After giving it a deserved amount of rest, we realised the carp was a good double and despite it seeing better days a fantastic bonus on this kind of tackle!

A Double Figure Carp

I was very happy with this result and it was great to see the fish swim off as strongly as before! Quite a few bream came to follow after this including this fine fish being the biggest of the day and my new Personal Best at 5lb 9oz, still not massive but a considerable improvement from before.

5lb 9oz Bream

Duncan's father Tony was running low on maggots, therefore Duncan headed off to get some and left us both to fish. Tony had managed a few good bream too already. Just after I whacked out the far out rod, it was long until I got another lively take after this more dry spell I was having. I was into a good fish which was kiting from left to right and even managed to go over Tony's lines. After starting to guide it from the margins, the hook unfortunately pulled. A bit of slime was left on the line and it was a shame to have lost what I reckoned was a nice Tench. Not feeling too disheartened though I got the rig back out. After a very, very quiet spell with Tony only managing a couple of bream and a nice tench of 4lb 12oz, I got my first run for a while. This was another nice bream of round the 5lb range. After a couple more smaller bream, I had another take. This fish fought very differently and topped almost straight away. When we got it in the net, it turned out to be a large roach/bream hybrid, which for me was definitely a PB of sorts. The fish weighed 3lbs 10oz, a cracking looking fish and by the time we put it back, we decided to call it a day as the lake usually goes dead around 2pm for the bream and tench anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and I certainly would recommend a day with Duncan Charman as he certainly knows what he is talking about, and you can book a day or two with him by just sending an email to duncancharman@icloud.com.

3lb 10oz Hybrid

A big thank you to Duncan and Tony Charman for a Great day!

Tight Lines,

Tom