Catfish Fishing, Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery

Reward For Missing Cat

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold, Horsham, W. Sussex. RH13 0QZ

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery

A long wait for an exceptionally long and cold winter to end, and time to visit my favorite venue ever, for many reasons. Spring has sprung and with a three day holiday booked, it was time to return to Furnace lakes fishery. I had lost a monster Catfish here last season which I have blogged about on "The One That Got Away", I had one goal, to spend the next 48 hours and to try to hook then harder still, land the biggest Catfish I could, I was ready for revenge, but were the fish? I set off early to arrive at opening to ensure that I got a swim on Roman Lake, which holds the biggest head of Catfish at the venue, upon arrival at the cabin to pay my ticket, I was told the fishing's been really good, with lots of Catfish being caught, everything was looking up, even the weather forecast had gone from rain to sun with clouds. I made my way to my swim where I spent a hour watching the water for signs of fish, before having my gear transported to the swim in the quad bike service.

Ready, Set, GO!

I eagerly set up camp and my rods, using 3 x Fox Ranger  XTS 3lb test, matched with Shimano Super bait runners XTR 8000RA spooled with 20lb Korda Subline. My first rod was at distance tight against the island under a overhanging willow tree, a favorite spot, that had been successful for me in the past, baited with a 1" cube of luncheon meat. My second rod was baited with double 21mm halibut pellet, which I cast out tight to some reeds that a big fish was frequently disturbing. And for my third rod, I used my light spinning rod to float fish for live bait, and easily with every cast caught plenty of Roach and small Bream with a single maggot on a size 20 hook. After a hour I had enough small 5" Roach in the keep net, I now set up the third rod for live baiting on a dumbell rig which I fished in the margins. The day had gone quietly and not a bite, but fish were being caught elsewhere on the lake, and I was still confident of a catch.

Snotty Bream That Thinks He's Still A Skimmer

Night had fallen and I changed my live bait rig for a running leger hair rig, baited with 6 lob worms which I threaded onto the hair about 10mm at the head of the worm (if that's what you call it) and then injected a small amount of air into each tail, to make the 6 worms tails float and sway and wriggle vertically above the hook, it was very fiddly, and took way to many attempts, but once I got it right, it looked spectacular when I tested it in some shallow margins, how can a Catfish turn his nose up at that! I had one bite all night, and yes it was on the worms! I struck into what I though was going to be a big fish, and to my surprise a fish immediately surfaced during the strike, and then skimmed 3m across the surface before skidding onto the bank at my feet. I looked down, and was surprised to see a very sizable Bream, which tipped the scales at 4lb 8oz, Not the best way to land a fish, but a very welcome catch.

Its secret to power is from the long tail!

With the lack of any real takes during the night I felt the dawn, with its poor light, rising sun, mist still rolling like clouds across the lake and the incredible sound of the local wild life beginning to wake up, this had to be the time for a bite, but it didn't happen, after 2 hours of sitting by my rods in the damp cold after a very disturbed and excitable nights sleep left me very tired, so I decided to get back into the bivey and have a sleep. I must of only been asleep 30 minutes when I awoke to the sound of a screaming reel, Line was being stripped off the reel on the double halibut rod, the bobbin was on the ground and the bite alarm was silent! I never did work out why, it was turned on and I watched the line going through it just before striking. As soon as I struck I felt the rod pull hard and slow away from me in a very big curve, I was on and it was big!! line continued to be taken for at least another 20 meters before I even tried to take some line back. The adrenalin kicked in! this was a powerful fish! and memories of the fight with the lost monster last year came flooding back! my body began to feel the strain, catfish are very powerful! and patience is needed to land these fish, as we played the tick for tack battle of gain a few yards lose 10 yards, and vise versa, the shaking and big wobbles the fish puts through the rod as it twists and turns in the water was making me feel very nervous, but 15mins later I had done enough to tired the fish, and I had the biggest Catfish I've ever caught in the net! not only a 21lb 14oz PB Catfish fish for me, but the first fish I have caught in the UK that was over 20lb in 30 years of fishing!!

Donkey Chokers Aka Halibut Pellets

Buzzing with the excitement of the catch and covered in slime, I decided to go to the lodge for a wash and brush my teeth, on the way I spoke to several fishermen about their catches during the night, paying attention I learnt that no carp were being caught, and all the catfish were coming out on halibut pellet, and not from the shallow margins but from deeper water. and with several stories of braided hook links being severed by the tiny rasping teeth of the Catfish I decided to change all my rigs, to 18" long rigs made with 40lb cat link with size 2/0 eagle wave Catfish hooks baited with double 21mm halibut pellet with a large PVA bag filled with a variety of different size pellets as feed on each cast. I also changed the spots of where I was casting to, 2 of my rods that were tight to the island I then started dropping the baits about 7 meters from the island, which was in about 8' of water just at the bottom on the steep incline toward the island, my margin rod was now being cast straight into the middle of the corner of the lake where the deep channel of the lake narrowed before turning into the corner, which I thought would be like a bottle neck for any fish cruising along the deep.

One Little Brute Of A Beautiful Fish

The morning went by without a bite until a almighty crash in the reeds just to the left of my swim made me literally jump out my skin, without hesitation, I reeled in a rod, and crept quietly through the soft mud and dropped my rig right where the fish crashed. I let off enough line to fish a slack line and then set up the rod rests in the reeds and carefully lay my line between the reeds so to avoid a tangle. It took only five minutes before the alarm was bleeping sporadically, I crept over to the rod and watched the slack line as it tugged gently at the reeds, my rig had moved a meter along the reeds, and just started to move again, except this time the line straightened and what was on the end started to take line, I struck! It was fish on! The fish headed straight out towards the middle of the lake, which gave me the opportunity to reposition myself at my swim, now the reeds weren't in the way, The fish put up a really good fight, but I knew it wasn't as big as the last one, It weight 12lb 6oz, but it was a beautiful fish and looked quiet different to the other Catfish I'd seen caught, it had 5 whiskers, darker in colour, and way more stockier, when I released the fish it darted straight back in to reeds where I had caught him from, coincidence? or was that his territory?

New Catfish PB And My Biggest UK Fish To Date 27lb

Well, I was happy as Larry, even my cousin Jerry who turned up and was fishing the next swim along managed to land his second hooked fish and banked his first ever Catfish at 29lb, so we had both done what we wanted to do, but it wasn't over yet, I still had one night left. my rods had been out since 6pm and just after I'd finished eating sausages cooked on the BBQ at midnight, my left hand rod bobbin gently rose and then the bait runner kicked in, I struck immediately, and straight away the rod slowly but powerfully curved round till the drag on the reel gave line, this was bigger than the last, this fish went powering through and past the next swim and onwards before I stopped it, admittedly I was giving it more stick due to the bigger hook and cat link I was now using, I had to, or it would of kept going I'm sure, the extra pressure I was exerting on the rod was killing my back, I think the fight only lasted 20mins and my arms were shaking, but all that is forgotten as soon as the fish is in the net! This one tipped the scales at 31lb on the nose, minus 4lb for the sling, left me with a new PB of 27lb, I was dancing in joy, as I've been known to do on occasions. what a day! I recast the three rods with the last three PVA bags full of pellets I had left, and went to sleep a very happy man.

Couldn't Resist, Even Cuter Than A Cat

I have found that there is something magical about Furnace Lakes Fishery, even if I blanked it would be worth the visit, it's such a beautiful location, with stunning scenery, the abundant wild life is amazing, with rabbits, bats and birds galore, at night the place seems misty and magical and the crashes of big fish just remind you that every bite is worth the effort as it could easily be the fish of a lifetime. I came here to catch a big Catfish after losing one last year, mission accomplished? definitely yes! I know the fish I caught weren't big as far as Catfish are concerned. but two of them were the biggest fish I've caught in UK waters in 30 years of fishing. so I have accomplished my mission!  and you know what the best thing about it is? I got a reason to go again! next time I'm going for a 30lb plus!!! and that will be another story.

Carp Fishing, Oakley Road Fishery

Worth The Weight

Oakley Road, Bromley, Kent, BR2, UK

Oakley Road Fishery, New And Improved

After working 14 days in a row and with over 60 hours overtime, yes......I'm dead. Well not quite, but close, I feel like a walking zombie on auto pilot. It's May bank holiday, and my one day off was luckily forecast to have glorious sunshine with a temp of 20 degrees, how could I not go fishing?. My plan was simple to find a trip that would be as easy and lazy as possible, cast out a rod and sleep in the sun till the sound of my bite alarm awoke me. I pondered about this for at least 5 days, and the only venue that kept popping up was Oakley Road Fishery. It ticked all the boxes, 10 min drive, no rigs or bait to buy as I already had everything I needed, and it would be less busy than other commercial fisheries which would of been packed due to the nice weather, bank holiday and it being closed season for fishing rivers. It even had a chance of a decent sized fish. Although I've fished this place a lot over the years, and I used to know exactly how it fishes, but last year it closed for maintenance work, the silt was dug out, purpose made swims have been built and finished of with a gravel path which goes all around the pond, it was very different now, but would it fish the same??

Fish 6 Boilies close together with PVA Mesh

We arrived at the venue at 8am, that's me and Sarah, a lot earlier than I had imagined, probably due to my work body clock annoyingly waking me up at 6am, but I didn't mind to much as I was going to sleep most the day, and fishing is supposed to be relaxing, well sometimes it is. Sarah had put her gauntlets on the table, "I will catch more fish than you with one rod!" she announced, no, actually it was definitely a statement! She has learned a lot about fishing from me, and is now more than competent to set a rod up, bait up, cast out, feed and land fish. I brushed off her confidence, but underneath I know the way fishing goes, and she could quite easily come true on her words. even with the threat of losing, I decided to still fish in a lazy way, I used my old but lighter carp gear, 2 x Fox warriors 12' 2.5 test, matched with Shimano ST 6000RA's loaded with Fox 10lb soft steel mono. My rigs were simple running leger with 1oz in line lead, with a 10" long hair rig made from 12lb braid and a size 10 barbless hook. One rod baited with a 10mm Innovate Kream Krunch boilies fished about 7 meters out which I baited with 40 loose boilies. the other rod was fished almost in the centre of the pond with a small cube of luncheon meat, with no baiting. I set my rod up on the alarms, and waited. Sarah decided to fish the more conventional way on this water and float fished the margins.

Sun And Fishing Together!!!

It was a glorious morning! the sun was shining, and although we had been fishing about 2 hours, not a bite, for either of us. But I was hopeful because a fisherman 2 swims down had landed a nice Common Carp which tipped the scales at 12lb 6oz. I was struggling to keep my eyes open when my dad unexpectedly turned up with his rod. Doing his normal thing, quickly catching a small carp, as if to show me how, then disappeared as quickly as he arrived. And if he wasn't showing me how to do it, whilst I was talking to him at the other end of the pond, Sarah hooked and landed a small carp on one of my rods, which obviously I had to give her the fish. There was a short spell of about a hour when several people landed fish and some more low double Carp, but as the sun reached its peak bites were non existent and the sun seemed to stop the fish feeding, With my reclining chair right back I settled for a bit of snoozing during the calm.

Worth The Weight, 10lb 15oz

The day was coming to a end, I hadn't changed tactics, just waiting patiently for the fish to find my baited area and start feeding. Then all of a sudden the pond came to life, fish were topping all over and you could see them cruising about, just under the surface, temping me to change to floating bread crust which I tried with Sarah's rod for about 10min, but the fish seemed wise and reluctant to take the floating bread, but then my bite alarm sounded on the Inovate boilie rod, slow bleeps gradually getting faster and faster until it was one continuous bleep, I struck, immediately I knew it was a sizable fish, it put up quite a little scrap, but after a few lunging runs, I had him beat and ready to be netted. It was my only fish of the day, but well worth it, a Common carp weighing 10lb 15oz.

Shhhh I Stole A Photo With Sarah's Ickle Carp

Well the day was at an end, and was the pond different?, yes and no. It was lovely to see a few children fishing the small stocking pond whilst their parents watched or taught them to fish, something I don't see often enough on other waters, Oakley Road fishery certainly offers a chance for the future generation of angler to hone their skills whilst catching silver fish and Carp with the chance of a big one, The bigger pond seemed to fish the same, less bites and fish, but the stamp of fish seemed a lot bigger now the smaller fish have been put in small pond, I saw over 20 carp caught with 5 low doubles come out during the session, and I've been told there are bigger in there with some low 20's. I admit that a lot of anglers may overlook fishing Oakley Road Fishery, due to it being on the small size, but it is what it is, a well stocked, well managed, still developing fishery slap bang on the outskirts of SE London, and I for one will on the hot summer evenings when I have a few hours after work will be there to stalk and temp the fish to the surface with floating biscuits or bread just as I have done for years, and hope to do for many more.