Well this was meant to be the post on the social however as no one else turned up this is the limit of the post. If you are going to say you will be somewhere – be there. Will put together a longer post when I am back in front of a pc.
OK now back in front of a PC, well the weekend was a nice relaxing weekend not interrupted by any carp action. One of the bailiffs wander around to check tickets and indicated that some people around the lake were having a few out. To the best of my knowledge there were at least 2 twenties out and 10+ doubles. My only fish was a 9-8lb tench which come to think of it was probably a PB so should have been weighed and photographed.
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As you know I am linked to Carp-Forums and as part of that link I was invited to a a social in the frozen wasts that are the area of the UK above Watford… other wise known as “oooop North” . With all inoculations in place and with a suitable supply of currency with which to impress the natives ( coloured beads, BIC biro’s and disposable lighters) I set off. After going through passport control on the outskirts of London…. enough with this frivolity 
Anyway The lake was easy to fnd and a mere 2 hrs after leaving my house I was in the wilds of up north which was as kind of like the south but the people were friendlier.I was soon ensconced in a swim and set up ready for the 3 days of hard fishing that lay before me. I was told to look for gravel patches and so stick and a few boillies were dispatched on to a patch in the middle and 2kg’s of slimy pigeon conditioner was dispatched on to a margin spot. To cut a long story short apart from a tench and several screaming takes that came to nothing ( which as put down to the massive eels that the lake contains) as well as some pike attacking the fry with such force I managed to get splashed… the weekend was quite from an angling perspective.
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This weekend was the Carp-forums.com Silverlake carp Fisheries Social event with a special guest appearance from John O’Driscoll who ran a superb rig tutorial going over the rigs he showed in the last issue of Carp World.
The journey to Silverlake Fisheries was a little torturous given that I made the unwise decision to leave a little late on Friday meaning that I managed to hit every single traffic jam on the M1 I finally arrived there after a 3hr journey turned into a 6 hour journey. Despite the time I arrived I was still met at the gate by Callum (one of the owners) with a smile and was quickly given a quick guided tour of the lake and the available swims.
After a quick setup in the dark I quickly placed all 3 of the rods in the marginal shelf as Callum had indicated however it was not to be, as is often the case at this time of year the weather changed and went from a really quite pleasant late teens to well below 10 degrees C with a strong north westerly whipping of the water. Despite the lack of fish ( only one taken throughout the weekend) I think that a good time was had by all.
The lake its self is really well appointed, the swims are well spread apart and int he dugout swim that I was in there was really no way of either casting over or having your lines cast over by any other angler. In fact from my swim I couldn’t even see any other carp anglers, which is just the way I like it. A real defining feature of Silver Lakes is the clarity of the water. I have never seen water this clear, with polarizing sunglasses on you can see the bottom clearly in what turned out to be 15 ft of water. Another feature I absolutely love is the really deep margins. In front of my swim for example I had 11-15 ft of water within 2 ft of the bank. You don’t need to be able to cast a massive distance and margin work is the order of the day.
It is also worth pointing out that the fishery doesn’t just hold big carp but also has massive bream, one of the owners had landed a 12lb specimen just a few days before. Now that is a bream I don’t mind recasting for !
John O Driscoll also ran over some of his more popular rigs that he has been demoing in the carp press recently and I have to say I have never met a more down to earth person as John. He is completely approachable and with in a few minutes of talking to him you realise you are in the presence of a master carp angler. What is nice about John though is that he is completely willing to share everything with you, and not only did he demo the recent rigs but when one of the assembled asked about popup rigs, John quick as a flash tied up his rig and I am certain he will not mind me putting it up here
Anyway here are some pics of the lake and if you are based up north near Scunthorpe give it a go, got onto their website and drop them a mail. You will be glad you did ! Silver Lake Fisheries can be found just near Dragonby, Scunthorpe
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