Andy Spreadbury's Fishing Blog

Tuesday, 25th.June 2019 Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 43 13.00 Violent storms last night throughout the SE of England and it’s still warm and muggy this afternoon. This means only one thing - the carp will be in the upper layers. I was ‘tipped the wink’ that the fish were at the far end of the lake. As far as I can tell they have been up there for most of the Spring. I fished 44 last time and heard fish to my left, so 41-43 were definitely worth a look. Because there was someone in 41 I couldn’t fish there and wanting to always leave at least one swim between me and anybody else I plumped for this peg. Peg 43, Paddlesworth, Pollard Lake There is Eel Grass on the bottom from the near margin out to where the fifteen-twenty foot line begins; it's clear after that over to the far side and then it's the Eel Grass again. Dead opposite is 'The Dot Island'. this is one of the more remote area of the lake because you can not get baits to it. the fish definit

Monday, 17th.June 2019 Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 44 12.45 So I’m back down ‘Polly’ after a bit of an enforced break; the old back has been giving me grief plus, we have had some terrible weather - biblical amounts of rain which has caused flooding in many parts of the country including here locally. My walk up and down the lake did not inspire; I neither saw nor heard anything so my choice of peg was made on nothing more than instinct and access to an easy-to-camp area. So Peg 44. How am I going to fish it? Peg 44, Pollard Lake You can tuck yourself away nicely behind the marginal foliage here and actually feel you are fishing a carp lake rather than a featureless 'hole in the ground'. Well, certainly not like last time! I was stacking up the ‘slabs’ like breeze-blocks so bottom fishing is most definitely out! In view of the fact I wasn’t pestered by the Bream when I changed to zigs, this is now my preferred tactic and thinking about it, zigs on ‘

Thursday, 30th.May 2019 Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 55 11.30 And so The Quest Begins… So what exactly is The Quest? The whole reason for getting a Paddlesworth ticket was to a) break my personal best, and b) catch a forty pounder - both of which the water I’m now fishing (Pollard) is more than capable of doing. I have to be up to the task of course and that is the issue; you can not expect these aims to be achieved by merely turning up! Recce walks have been more than useful - I’ve been fortunate enough to meet with many old friends and acquaintances from way back and this in itself has yielded lots of information. I am genuinely privileged to have this ‘network’ and I feel they are sincere in their hopes I shall be successful. All have shared what they know of the lake and have not hesitated in giving me their insight into how they fish it and how they have caught. There is universal agreement on what the major problem is - that of Location. Location is always t