Bucklebury Ponds, Thatcham, Berks.

• 15th November 2005 The Ponds revisited.

Bucklebury Ponds are set in the middle of the woods in Lower Bucklebury Common in Berkshire. They are clearly old stock ponds, although I do not know if they have ecclesiastical origins like so many or even if they are the ones referred to here. There are 2 ponds, both being formed by an earth bank place across a small and wet valley in the trees. The upper pond is triangular, being perhaps 20 yards across at the base and perhaps 30 yards to the apex. The lower is perhaps 40 yards square. The lower is clay lined or I'll eat my hat. The upper pond had a good lot of lily pads if I remember right and the few times I fished it, I caught fewer fish but larger ones, and each time I fished I caught at least one 3-5lb carp, on the last occasion it was the only one thing I caught.

In the summer the leaf coverage on the trees gives the lake a peaceful atmosphere, with the wind kept in the tree tops, and as a consequence, the water is almost always ripple free. In the autumn the beeches turn a glorious gold, and the colours in the canopy are often mirrored in the water ahead of you. If there's a downside to this, the leaves on the water necessitate a bright green float top, as red, orange and yellow soon hide themselves against the drifting autumn leaves.

The bank between the lakes carries a bridal way, and despite the quiet surrounding in the mostly beech woods, there is always a steady trickle of riders and dog walkers, and why not? It's a great spot.

I visited these ponds quite lot in the early '90s. The reason was that it gave good results, but was never predictable, and was a pleasant place to be. It had the advantage of not having any really monster carp and those few were tameable with a pole rig. Nearly all of my fishing here was done with a simple 3lb line/size 18 or 16 hook and a pint of mixed maggots.

I mostly fished the lower lake then it was more or less weed free, unlike the pictures in the visit above.

During the summer, the lower pond would fish well for the first 3 hours of light and tail off towards midday picking up again in the late afternoon, but seldom dry up completely. The pattern of catches suggested that shoal of fish circled the lake. For example small hand sized crucians would appear and you would catch 2 or 3, then nothing for a few minutes, and then you would catch roach and small perch, then nothing, then skimmer bream. The gaps between burst of fish would get longer as the morning progressed. It made sense to fish form 7am to 11:30 and then go home for breakfast really. In those days I had a cheap 16 foot telescopic pole. This I slotted onto a butt section of an older pole, with a home made spigot joint. The bottom section had a lead weight made with a 3 inch shotgun cartridge, with a quarter inch bolt pushed through the bottom. This made the assembled pole surprisingly easy to manage.

As intimated earlier, I used a simple pole float, which took no more than 3 x no. 6, and often only 1half, and placed one shot an inch form the hook and plumed the depth on that shot. 1 or 2 maggots and loose feed. That's the method. I would (unlike me for those that know), add an extra no 6. and them trim bits of it with tweezers until the float really would sink if a fly landed on it.

In the summer time this kind of sensitivity was not really needed, but when it came into it's own was in the Winter months, where few fish bit and the nature of the catches changed to roach and perch in the main, with very shy bites and most of the fish would come in the last hour, that time when your feet get really cold.

On one November session I surprised myself with a chub in with a 5 fish bag, typical for the last hour of fading light on a cold day. I didn’t even know they were in there. I was even more surprised the next Saturday to catch 3 more - my only three bites of the day, also in the last hour. Both nets shown here, and both resulting from a single maggot on an 18 hook, with the smallest bristle float in the box.

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On one occasion when fishing with sibling, I hooked a largish fish, which while not a carp gave a good account and had some weight and on reaching the top of the water was clearly a big roach. Really big. Over '2lb 1oz' big. I'd had a few over the 1lb here, but they were rare. But, as I drew it towards landing the fish caught the lip of the net and we both watched the surprised fish vanish into the brown water.

We said nothing, because he felt bad as he had the net, I felt bad because it was a good fish and both of us knew it was an exceptional roach. It happens.

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I was fishing here one crisp Autumn morning with, unusually, other anglers on the far bank and a crucian (one of the many hand sized ones here), started a series of jump down the bank to my right.

I kept still and as it finished the last jump nearest me, I watched my float, hand on pole in anticipation. And the fish jumped again and into the landing net, placed carefully so that the net was over the water. There was a silence while my companions the other side of the lake looked at me. I picked up the net, put the fish in and as casually as I could manage said "It's easier."

I put the net back where it was. Well you would, wouldn't you?

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I didn't fish the upper pond very much, as the fish population in it was much smaller, but there were a few carp. On one of those occasions in the early winter, I had fished for several hours with a roach for my only reward.

With the onset of restlessness, I picked out my maggot and float, and dropped it beside some lilies on the far right of my swim. Ten seconds later the float dipped and after a lively 5 minutes, banked a 6lb common.

It's often worth trying the bait in different parts of your swim when things are slow.

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