Trip #42 – Acorn Fishery, Clevedon

We arrived at the venue and found that our peg (number 1) was only a short walk from the car park. This was great for me, because although I am now able to walk unassisted, I am not able to carry anything for a great length of time. We set up our rods. I would be fishing the method and the straight lead, and my brother would be fishing 2 straight leads. Our baiting arsenal was extensive and included Boilies (various flavours including Cell, tutti-fruity, vanilla, strawberry etc), corn, meat, pellets, dog biscuits and some other artificial offerings. We had been told to fish the margins, so with that in mind, we set one rod each on the margins, and set our other rods on heavily baited areas towards the island. As we set our rods on to their bite alarms a huge swirl appeared in front of us and our enthusiasm buoyed.

Acorn fishery was very comfortable and seating 2 anglers with 4 rods was no problem. We had our stove out and the kettle was on in no time. A few hours had past when I started getting a few bleeps from my alarm. While this was happening another angler appeared and started laughing. Looking out at where I had cast, a troop of ducks were busy diving under the water busily feeding. Clearly they were having a feast on my groundbait and pellets. I wound in and decided my next cast was going to have to be shorter. The angler who was watching us started talking about how the lake had been fishing. “No one has caught since Thursday. It’s been so quiet.” It was now Saturday evening, this didn’t bode well. We thanked the chap for his advice and decided to alternate baits until something felt hungry enough to take our bait.

Casting out as the sun began to set, I managed to take some nice photos of the water, and our gear before prepping for the eventuality that one of us would catch a fish. Fatal last words… Despite changing baits, casting locations, weight of line, rigs, and hook size we waited in vain without a fish. 2 Billy Blankers… Thinking about it now, at 3 in the morning when my brother’s reel screamed off and we both jumped up thinking “HERE WE GO!”, only to find a duck had crept into the swim like a ninja and eaten every bit of loosefeed… Well, it’s funny now. At the time I wanted to leave. In fact we both did, but the gates were locked, so we stuck it out for a few more hours. The ducks in this place are almost certainly related to the Devil and keen bloody swimmers. They would not spook, and every time you throw feed into the margins they would dive right in after it. The cockerel crowing every 5 minutes from 4:30am was a nice touch too… By 7am, I was ready to Judo chop anything in my way, and despite being having paid to fish for the rest of the day, we knocked it on the head shortly after. I was utterly furious, my brother was slightly less annoyed as he had managed a few hours’ sleep, but we both left feeling very sorry for ourselves.

I am sure Acorn fishery produces brilliant catches; in fact the graffiti inside our cabin, boasting of past anglers catches would prove it (if it was true). According to this, cell was the bait of choice, with numerous doubles falling to it. There were also some tell tales signs that the peg we were fishing was a bit “hit or miss” with several people writing, we moved off this peg after not catching for 2 days…Well, I know that feeling. On packing the car, the group of Anglers to our left hooked into a fish, there was a small round of applause around the lake as he brought the fish to the net. The angler even laughed and said “Don’t clap, it’s not in the net yet!”

I can’t accurately rate Acorn Fishery as there are undoubtedly hundreds of Specimen fish in the lake, and Carp anglers can go for days without catching fish. However, I can honestly say I won’t be going back there. Not to fish the specimen lake anyway. Despite the comfort of the pegs, the proximity to the car park and the facilities on offer (Cafe, Toilet etc), I won’t be venturing into the world of overnight carp fishing for some time (at least until after the frustration of this trip has worn off). Give me a waggler or light feeder rod any day…

Some additional photos…