Trip #135 – Ash Ponds

I am very nearly through writing up my Winter fishing season, and a general round up of my fishing exploits since my posts many years ago. It’s interesting how much you learn when you sit and jot things down, instead of mindlessly scrolling through your phone. That will be going online shortly, but I thought I’d take some time to quickly write about Ash Ponds in Martock.

Allow me to very quickly set the scene. I now have 2 children, so as you can imagine, time to go fishing on my own can be difficult, especially now the weather is changing and the kids actually want to be outside. It was almost easier to get away for a morning’s pike fishing because no children really want to be lakeside in the freezing cold, dark conditions that accompany a morning pike session. However, this weekend was different. I had 6 hours free, and I knew I wanted to get through my “hit list” of not-yet-fished venues. Enter Ash Ponds, a very quiet, secluded mixed coarse fishery in Martock. Frankly, one of the reasons I was trying the venue was now my eldest was in double digits; he was actually allowed to fish here, so this session would be a good tester for what will inevitably happen in the weeks to come.

OK, first note, DO NOT trust Google. I ended up going down a lane, into a farm, and had to do a multiple-point turn out of there, avoiding the irrigation ditch that ran alongside both sides of the lane. Secondly, when you do finally get to the access lane at the corner of Burrough Street and Back Lane, go slow. The lane starts off smooth, but very quickly it changes into a bumpy affair. Once down the well-used farm track, you eventually arrive at 3 lakes. In all honesty, they aren’t much to look at, clearly man-made. No real features to speak of, no islands or bays; they are 3 alternating quadrilaterals, all neatly close together.

I would choose pond 3. Pond 1 is clearly the specimen lake and already had 3 bivvies and a few roving carp anglers walking around. Ponds 2 and 3 looked very similar, and the decider for me was a small tree on pond 3 which offered something (not much) by way of a feature. I dragged my trolley up the bank (I need a barrow) and made my way to my chosen location and began setting up my box. I have made the conscious decision this season to veer away from pole fishing. I adore pole fishing and everything about it, but I neglect almost everything else as a result, so this year I will be focusing on waggler and ledger work.
Plumbing up a peacock waggler, it was about 2 and a half feet deep next to the tree, dropping off to just over 3ft a few rod lengths out. I would be using a 5bb pattern down to a 0.15 hooklink with a Preston size 16. Bait of choice on the float would be worm, maggot, and of course, corn! It seemed to be a fairly flat bottom, but I did drag in bits of dead vegetation while plumbing, so I guessed that I would be fishing just off dead depth. My second rod would be a Matrix Hybrid feeder, down to a 0.19 hooklink with either wafters, pellets, or meat. I could see some movement in the margins, so obviously I was getting excited.

Here we go, first chuck in on double maggot. The float bobs and ducks before sinking under. Striking, probably harder than I should have, a big swirl showed on the water’s surface and I was into a… scale.
Second cast, same again, this time a skimmer.

Switching to corn, I managed a rudd, all in fairly quick succession. 3rd cast, I switched to worm. A few liners this time before the float slipped away. This wasn’t a rudd.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a fish of this size on this specific waggler rod. A few minutes and several lunges later, I brought to the net a mirror weighing roughly 6-7lbs. I could also see carp moving around under branches of the tree to my left. OK, enough with the waggler, onto the method. I wouldn’t be casting any distance; in this case, it was a gentle underarm flick 2 rod lengths out. I had chosen soaked fishery pellets to load the feeder and banded on a 6mm orange Ringer’s shellfish ‘bandem’. The rod was in the rest all of 30 seconds, and after a few tentative nibbles, it ripped around. Another Mirror of around 5lb, followed by a Common Carp of around the same weight. I switched to a bigger garlic bandem and reset. Same result. Another common carp in the 6-8lb range. And another, and another, and another. This place was teeming with fish. I noticed that on scooping some of my fish, I ensnared some tiny fry with my catch.

The fishing was non-stop; in all honesty, after 2 hours of “bagging,” and it really was “bagging,” I was getting slightly frustrated that I didn’t have time to drink my tea. I had managed many carp, 4 weighing over just 10lbs. I walked over to the caravan at the top of the site to pay for my day ticket. Apparently, the fish went up to 17lb in this lake; that would have been a PB. I cast out straight in front, no pre-baiting, no clip, no obvious direction, I set the rod down and began waiting, finally sipping my tea. The rod registered a bite after 45 seconds, but I continued sipping away, pluck, pluck, pluck – bite! The rod pulled forward; it was a small common carp around 4lbs.

I then chose the margin to my right, again, no pre-baiting, and within 45 seconds I had another bite. I decided to knuckle down for a solid hour and see how many fish I could catch in that time. 14 was the answer. The biggest was my 5th fish of the day, over 10lbs. By my reckoning, I managed well over 100lbs of fish in the 4 hours I had fished. If I switched to maggots or corn, I would end up catching skimmers and roach which were also partial to the 6mm wafters.

It was fast approaching the end of my session when 2 young anglers began fishing behind me on the second lake. That lake is equally full of fish, but they seemed to be struggling. I hope they didn’t mind, but I wandered over to them as I was packing up and asked if they needed some help. I showed them how to use bait stoppers and how to set their lines in their chosen spots. Within a few minutes and a few donated cubes of meat lighter, one of them was pulling in a fish around 8lbs. They caught at least 6 more as I continued packing up and finally left as they were weighing a 10lb-er.

All in all, a very busy morning. I will definitely be returning to Ash Ponds, but likely with my young understudy.

As a rating I would say:
Fishability – There is a toilet, but nothing else. The banks between lakes are narrow, so shipping a pole of any length back might prove a challenge.
Value for Money – £8. Reasonable cost and constant action.
Disabled Access – *** ½ – There were no disabled pegs to speak of, but it might be possible to push a wheelchair to some of the pegs that are close to the lane leading up to the caravan.