An Old Venue Revisited

5.5.09 Brookfield Fishery after work and until 20:45, strong westerly, air temp 15C

I used to fish this place a lot when I lived in the Radford area of Coventry. It's out towards Bedworth and I've had some pretty memorable days fishing here. Unfortunately I can't put my hands on any photos of catches just now as it was the pre-digital era for me. (If I can find a photo I'll scan one in)....

Both of these photos of Brookfield Carp were taken in 2000 - how time flies;

To be honest until recently I wasn't even sure the place was open as about two years ago it started to undergo some hefty ground work; draining and extending existing pools and digging out at least two new ones. The fishery is just about visible from the M6 when the leaves are down and I would regulary crane to see what was going on on my way to work. The last time I fished it I ended up helping with the fish move.

The fishery sits on a hill. Previously there was a top, middle and bottom pool.

I called in on the off chance a few months back, some time after the diggers visible from the motorway had disappeared and was surprised to see people fishing. A word with the new bailiff revealed that one of the pools had remained open almost throughout. There are now five pools on the fishery but I'm not sure if they're all open yet.

Reduced down to a liquor my memories of the place are of hard fighting ghost Carp caught ridiculously close in, Crucians in the top pool, some good Perch and a bailiff with a shotgun who often appeared worse for wear and would take a leak standing next to you whilst taking your money. Thankfully some things never made the cut in the overhaul.

I'm not a great lover of commercial fisheries but I can't ignore their potential, especially for a good Perch, and I know these pools contain thousands of small Rudd and Roach as food for them. My plan was to try for a Crucian on the top pool for an hour or so and then depending on what happened move to the middle pool for a Perch. I coudn't rely on my memories too heavily as I didn't know what fish had been moved where in the overhaul.

The top pool was almost entirely weeded of with dwarf pond lilly, leaving only one clear spot to fish. The pools sit on a clay bed and all carry some colour but this one had good clarity. Fishing maggots really light over grounbait and a few grains of corn, my float continuously disappeared. Blade Roach, Rudd, and 'stripes with eyes' Perch came in. I saw one decent fish move but couldn't work out what it was. I tried corn on the hook but no touches. I called it a day on this pool when my bait was being intercepted by blades more often than it was reaching the bottom.

Moving to the middle pool and sitting bout 12ft back from the edge into the teeth of the wind, I set up one rod for Perch and fished a second rod with a pole float dropped just over the side.

I'll say now my Perch rod didn't do anything.

Not that I'd have time to notice as the float rod kept me busy. My first fish was a Gudgeon, my next a skimmer, my next a Roach then it all blurs. I fed small pellets, maggots and corn continuously. I tried corn on the hook a couple of times but didn't get a single bite. Maggots were the order of the day.

I only hooked one Carp but that came off. I was surprised to have only touched one as the others were throwing themselves about all over the place. I would have expected more with my tactics.

I had couple of Roach about ten ounces (believe me I can spot a ten ounce Roach from half a mile nowadays).

The closest I came to a point in our fishing challenge was this fish;It weighed 12ozs (it was quite thick), but however hard I tried to convince myself it was pure-bred Roach I just couldn't overlook the Breamy anal and dorsal and so will not be putting in a claim to trouble the 'Dubious Fish Committee'.

So. Another pointless fishing trip. Get out of here! No fishing trip is pointless.

Although I might not have struck gold this time I reckon this place has place still has gold Perch potential, and besides I am really enjoying trying out all these new and old places and fishing for species which weren't really on my radar last year. I mean my god, I even fished off the bottom the other week!

Cheers.