Life and Carp Life <strong>Mike</strong> <strong>Willmott</strong> AD PAGE 27 022-029_CarpLife_CW228.indd 6 20/8/09 14:55:55
Life and Carp Life <strong>Mike</strong> <strong>Willmott</strong> As for my Springwood fishery, everything was beginning to develop nicely. The stock ponds were maturing, the weeds were under control, our small stockies were growing rapidly, and planning permission for a mobile home was finally granted. All the fish in the main lake were now showing very good signs of growth and in October of that year (2005) I managed to bank a fish known as Harvey at a weight of 30lb 5oz, a particularly historic capture because it was Springwood’s first-ever 30! This was not only a personal milestone for me in terms of all the sacrifi ces I’ve made in my life to create the fi shery, but for my family and friends, including all the syndicate lads who have put in a tremendous amount of hard work over the years. When we purchased the lake in 1999, the biggest carp was no more than an upper-double, and here we were, just six years later with our first 30. I don’t think words could ever describe how satisfying that was! I was now even more convinced than ever that we were on the verge of something very special. We had some stunning carp coming through, the scenery was improving with each passing year, and the future looks very bright indeed. LATE AUTUMN BREAKS Following the capture of the Springwood 30 I got a call from Ian Welch, head of RMC Angling, inviting Lee and me to fi sh at Yateley Pads Lake, which was a nice welcome break. We’ve fi shed The Pads on a few occasions now and I would highly recommend this venue to anyone wanting Springwood’s fi rst 30 – another ambition achieved. to book an exclusive group booking venue. The trip proved to be a fruitful one and we managed to bank a few 20s and couple of low-30s, most of the fi sh falling to the edge of the dying pads at close quarters over a combination of red maggots, casters, and chopped B5 boilies, a combination that has always proved deadly at that time of the year. After returning from the Pads Lake, Phil Roots kindly invited us both to fish at his Rootswood Fishery in Revenge at Rootswood! Lee with his 41.06 mirror in the fi rst hour! France, due to the previous disaster we had on the place! Those of you who have followed this series may remember Part One and our last trip to Rootswood in the middle of February where the lake froze up on our first night, resulting in us having to smash the ice to retrieve our rigs and return to the UK the following day! We were now out for revenge!! Well, the revenge mission didn’t take long, in fact just one hour to be precise! This is how long it took Lee to bank a new PB in the shape of a cracking mirror of 41lb 6oz. What a start! Later that evening it was my turn as I managed to bank what is probably the longest carp I’ve ever seen, it had no depth to it at all, but the long, mean-looking leather still pulled the scales around to 45lb 6oz and was well over 3ft long! The following night I managed to bank a nice brace of 40s within an hour of each other, weighing in at 43lb 2oz and 43lb 5oz. It was certainly payback time from when the lake iced up on us two years earlier! I’ve got to be honest, commercial venues are not usually my cup of tea and I would normally prefer to be pioneering new territory, or fishing a remote stretch of river for smaller carp, but, having said that, Rootswood is one of the better commercial venues I’ve fished and I would recommend it to anyone. Following all the travelling back and forth to the Mere, coupled with my late-autumn trips to the Pads and Rootswood, I was ready to hang up the rods for a month or two and knuckle down to some important product development work. The late-winter months through until early-summer are, without doubt, the busiest times of the year for my role within the bait business because I’m usually putting together all the finishing touches to packaging designs and working on advertising for the trade year ahead. This can be very frustrating when you know the conditions are spot on, but I always try to get my priorities in order, and besides, the fish will always be there – hopefully! 28 The revenge mission didn’t take long, in fact just one hour to be precise! This is how long it took Lee to bank a new PB in the shape of a cracking mirror of 41lb 6oz 022-029_CarpLife_CW228.indd 7 20/8/09 14:55:59
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