Syndicate Diaries

Hi, My name is Toby Guest and am back on the writing side of things as my fishing is getting a lot more interesting. Some of you may know I had been writing a blog previous to this that fizzled out due to my fishing. My last blog saw me fishing several day ticket waters and making various trips across the country to challenge some of the better fishery's the UK has to offer, which was fun, but shortly after my new membership on a south west syndicate meant I kept publicity down (or to a minimum) to avoid any sheep getting in the way of my fishing.

So, what's happened in that time, well its been exciting and soul crushing at the same time. The particular syndicate I was on, and still on, holds several good size fish but more importantly, stunning fish. The lake is no more than 3 acres but is rammed with carp some say up to 250 carp along with roach to a recorded weight of 3lb 12oz, perch to nearly 5lb, rudd to 3lb and a scattering of small tench. But for me the focus was on a set few fish, that ranged from mid 20 to 31lb+. So not a mega stamp of fish, but the history and quality of the fish is second to none. While this rich environment is home to some beautiful carp from doubles to 30's, it is also of residents to incredible wildlife such as water rail, herons and deer to some rare breeds like rows and rows of wild orchids. Truly amazing in peak season.

A Water Rail zipping across the bank

A few of my main targets from the venue went by name of The Mystery Common, Nemo (The big Common), One pelvic ( a stunning orange coloured linear) and Trio. These few fish were the ones that got my juices going over the last year. From the start of my ticket I pulled a few blanks, as one would expect on a new water, but once I had picked up a few clues here and there from steady observation, working out some of the rigs and tactics needed to trick the beauty's, I was in. When joining I was told to expect a busy lake and not so easy fishing due to the bottom of the lake being like an egg box, and after some marking I soon realised an egg box was an understatement! These fish are 30+ years old, One Pelvic being caught over 250 times, these fish knew the tricks and used this egg box to its advantage.
Observing other peoples fishing too I quickly noticed 90% of the anglers would fish in the silt gully's that ran between the bars, and although they had results, the results should have been better with that large head of fish. I opted to start fishing on the edges of the bars, after some experimenting, marking and a few fish already in the bag, I went on to fish these edges and started to rack up quite a lot of fish, and got to the point where I would be catching a lot more on average to most on the lake.

The egg box

Its now the 10th of may, which means my ticket ran out today. This also means a new challenge ahead, and when I say challenge I mean it. Although I will be spending a few sessions on the syndicate, my main target is the rock hard new water with low stock, and incredible fish/scenery. Which you will be able to see a full written/video/photographed diary, but unfortunately that will not be released until I have achieved my targets on the venue, and knowing that 1 bite a year is good, that could take some time!
Back to the syndy, so I started catching but it took me some time to bag a 20, let alone a known fish. This was frustrating, I managed to catch a total of about 80 fish including loads of new ones in my first year but only 2 of the known fish that are on everyone's tick list. It has started to make me wonder why and looking back to the silt/gravel situation, although some anglers were catching less, they picked out the bigger fish when they did. So after learning a lot, failing and succeeding, I go on to do another year with high hopes and a massive amount of knowledge on the venue lodged in my head!