does any one have any advice regarding the larger waters on the ticket,(bradleys,hills and ashton keynes/whitefrairs) or even has any one had first hand experience e.g witnessed any captures from the first two,everyone has heard a tale involving a 60lber from bradleys,I spoke to somebody with pictures of the fish with the white patch and it weighed mid 30's.and solid truth be it good or bad would be much appreciated.
lofty

Lofty,

I have in fact got a ticket for the angling waters, and i fished the waters there 6 times last summer, but i tend to concentrate my efforts on manor Farm and Horseshoe. I have a continental friend in cheltenham who owns his own Porshe car repair workshop, and he's fished Bradley's for 4 years with no reult other than alot of bream and tench which reside in there in abundance. this is no joke. He has seen some VERY big fish whilst fishing there, but nothing has really materialised as yet. I personally have seen 3 30+ fish feeding in 4ft of water near the far end of the lake in the margins near the residential area if you know what i mean. This area is unfortunately out of bounds due to the residents getting p!ssed off with anglers making too much noise around their houses. I would personally say that very few have seen a fish of 60lb proportions, although i don't feel that the guys who fish there are very welcoming in giving any advice or past capture knowledge.
My friend in Cheltenham is far more knowledgeable than me, and if you e-mail me i can give you his work number. Other than that, its a huge water at 115 acres, very daunting and can look like a sea when the wind picks up and the sailing boats come out in abundance!
Beware! it is a very dogdy fishing complex, and there is constant tackle theft, so i have refrained from fishing there ever again.

Lofty, I had a friend who fished Bradley's on and of for a decade in the 80's. This was quite a well-know angler in his day called Geoff Booth (he made his name on Ashlea). He saw a couple of huge fish in Bradley's, but more or less gave up fishing there after massive effort. He had some doubles and a couple of twenties I believe.
He certainly reckoned there was a small head of thirties and forties back then.

F1 can you give any details of the trouble with thefts, was it specific lakes and how was it done,at night from cars? i fish whitefraires, the only touble i have heard about was at wick when guy answering to a knock on his bivvy in the middle of the night to have a shot gun thrusted in his face andand was tied up. the thiefs were caught just down the road, but without the tackle. how bad is it there,
thanks,
lofty

Lofty,

I have personally only fished 1 night on Bradley's, as you'll be aware is next to the poxy Ham pool. Basically it is a very rough place, where you have to be on your guard. The security is minimal, and i would suggest using cheap tackle there like the other regulars (either they have the same strategy as me, or can't afford decent gear). Not to knock everyone who fishes there, the majority of the people i have met ther, bar my friend in Cheltenham, have been ignorant noddies who just make mes me feel so uncomfortable in their company. you ask what bait their using, and they'll reply something like their wife's week old meat pie!
Seriously, i have heard of the incident you relate to, and it was only back in March when a frind of mine went down to Wick, I subsequently headed down to Manor Farm in Oxford, when i learnt that a guy fishing next to him had had a 31lb'er the night before, and then had all his tackle stolen the second night. THe police were out, and as far as i know, did not have much luck in finding the culprits. A technique that the theives have been known to employ has been to turn off your bite alarms at night and burn the line off the reels with a cigarette, and pick up the whole set-up and go. Another friend who i fish with at Horseshoe has a cousin who went down to the local pub in the evening, to return to no alarms, buzzers or contents of the bivvy! they had cleared everything and had left the pants rods he had decided to use on the complex.
I personally wouldn't risk fishing there, unless it's for the day and you can keep a constant eye on your tackle. I would forget about nights, as these thefts just happen on such a frequent basis it just isn't worth it. The fish equally as likely to come out to a day angler, as they are to an angler who risks doing the night there. I would take great heed in deciding whether or not fishing there is worth the cumulative risks.

loffty, remember me from carp net? you gave me some adivice about whelford, a friend of mine, chris has been doing every weekend at wick for the last 7 weeks. he has yet to catch but his best mate has had a 34, and hes a right noddy! We were talking about the tackle thefts from Wick and he han't had any trouble... yet but heard of rods going missing from behind bivvies etc. Just looks like you've got to be careful! Can anyone shed any light on the 38 that is supposed to have come out of wick? true / false?