The Tackle Box                    

Marine Parade, Lyme Regis, Dorset, DT7 3JF                                                                   6a Holyrood Street, Chard, Somerset, TA20 2AH
01297 443373                                                                                                                                                                              01460 261111

The Tackle Box                    

Marine Parade, Lyme Regis, Dorset, DT7 3JF                                                                   6a Holyrood Street, Chard, Somerset, TA20 2AH
01297 443373                                                                                                                                                                              01460 261111

Somerlease Farm
Rules:
Barbless hooks only
Keepnets for silver fish & perch only
Price:
£4 - Day
£4 - Night
Size:
0.25 acres
Location:
Axminster
Species & Records:
Carp (common): 21 lbs 8 oz
Cruician: 2lbs (approx)
Roach: 1 lbs 8oz (approx)
Rudd: 1 lbs (approx)
Perch : 1 lbs 8 oz (approx)
Eel: 1lb (approx)
Summary:
Somerlease is a great little pond if you want to go and
land some decent sized fish on a regular basis. It has
Carp running to 20lb but averaging around the 6-7lb mark. During the summer months float fishing dog biscuits or bread around the big bed of lilies proves to be deadly time and again.
Although the surface action is always good, never rule out float fishing or ledgering as these tactics will get you a lot of fish.
For the carp, roughly cut boilies on a bed of pellets and crushed boilies work best. Big soft hook pellets and luncheon meat when on the float and hair rigged dog biscuits when on the surface.
Finally for some great sport and big mixed bags of silver fish and stripeys go for float fished maggots feeding little and often in balls of a ground bait mix.
Tactics:
Carp: Carp shown to using basic tactics such as ledgering on a small amount of pellet and boilies as groundbait close to any feature, that includes in the margins! Carp can be caught on the pole but make sure you beef up your elastic first as doubles are not uncommon on small float fished pellets or corn. In the summer months try dog biscuits or bread around the lilies while best winter tactics are single 10mm boilies fished on the bottom over the dead lilies or out in the deeper middle. Crucians fall for these same tactics but the most effective is pole or float fished soft pellet over a small loose feed.
Roach & Rudd: These are in abundance so if your targeting the bigger specimens, use two or three maggots, fished on the bottom or just above it using feeder or float methods.
Perch: You will normally pick up a few small stripeys when fishing for the roach but again if you want to target the bigger ones in this lake, try chopped or whole float fished lobworm near any reeds or lily pads. Also be prepared to try as many different locations as possible as perch like to ambush their prey... so take the bait to them.
Eels: There may only be a handful of eels in here as they have come from the river axe a few fields down, but if you want to target one, using carp tactics and luncheon meat seems to pay dividends.

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Ash Ponds
Rules:
Barbless hooks only
No keepnets
Landing mats or cannot fish
View the board on site for more

Price:
£5 - Day
£5 - Night
Size:
1 acres (all 3 lakes)
Location:
Ash, Martock
Species:
Carp to 34lb
Roach & Rudd to 2lb+
Tench to 4lb+

Summary:
The complex has 3 lakes named Pond 1, Pond 2 &
Pond 3. (Pond 1 is on the left as you get to the entrance, Pond 2 is the middle lake & Pond 3 is at the far end on the right of the entrance.) Pond 1 holds the bigger specimens up to around 34lb but averages low 20's and is known to be the hardest of the lakes. It has several big groups of lilies across the lake and a lot of reeds in the margins.
Pond 2 is a bit of a mixed lake but still has the odd carp in the 20's and one or two low 30's, although it does have quite a few smaller carp.
Pond 3 is one of the most popular and can offer a lot of sport with Carp averaging 15lb caught very regularly. There are a couple trees and coves to fish to give plenty of options with the added opportunity of catching a nice Tench.
Tactics:
Carp: In the summer months there is one method that seems to beat everything else, surface fishing. Zig Rigs just under the surface just out from the banks are also deadly. Using floaters on a short hair and long trace with a decent sized controller float is the top method. Feeder and normal bottom tactics can also work well but seem to elude the bigger fish. High vis pop-ups for night fishing and don't ignore the margins!
Pond 1 can be harder than 2 & 3 most of the time so you might want to take a more 'carpy' approach, this mean get your self a nice tight bed of bait to work with and fish to it using pop ups or snowman setups. Sometimes it also pays not to use backleads as the line bites you get will give you an idea where the fish are and don't be afraid to cast around single baits to the fish with a small lead.
Roach & Rudd: Feeder or float methods fished over a cloud of groundbait will bring these in and fish just off the bottom with maggots if you want to find those few 2lb plus fish. Try feeding in little amounts on a regular basis.
Tench: Although in a lot less numbers than the carp, they are still worth going for with hair rigged ledgered sweetcorn over a bed of casters, hemp or corn, normally you will catch some nice carp this way too


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Creedy Lakes
Rules:

No pole fishing
Minimum 8lb line
No keepnets
Mats and minimum 36" Net
See board for more info
Price:
£8 - Day (two rods)
£4 - Evening (two rods)
£10 - Day (three rods)
£6 - Evening (three rods)
Size:
4.5 acres (main lake)
1 acre (top lake)
Location:
Crediton, Exeter
Species:
Carp to 31lb+
Eels to 5lb+
Tench to 8lb+
Summary:
A very popular and established lake spanning 4.5 acres it is one of the most well stocked big carp lakes in the south west. Fish in this lake average 18-19lb with a real chance of a 20! It is surrounded by trees, has several islands and a variety of depths creating many bars and channels for the fish to hang out in. Surface tactics sometimes just out fish bottom tactics but there isn't much to choose from the two general tactics. This is real runs water if you get it on the right day and if you do... You're in for some great fishing.
Tactics:
Carp: Carp show to ledgering on top of large beds of pellets and boilies. Try experimenting with different shaped and coloured boilies rather than flavour as irregular shapes normally do best. Surface tactics are normally a killer in summer, a simple controller float set works very well in the middle of a lot of free floaters. This normally is better when you fish the far bank as it is a lot shallower and Carp seem to rise their more.
Tench: There are some monsters in here and not many people, if any, target the tench in here. Personally I cannot see why because they are huge and renowned for some cracking fights. Tutti-Frutti boilies appear to be the best option alongside hair rigged corn of course.
Eels: There are some cracking eels in here but if you want to target one (as it is worth a go), using carp tactics and luncheon meat seems to pay dividends.

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Higher Kingcombe Lodge
Rules:

Barbless Hooks
No carp in keepnets
Carp mats for specimen lake
See board for more info
Price:
£3 - Children (U16)
£5 - Day
£10 - 24 hours
Size:
7 lakes from 0.5 to 1.5 acres
Location:
Beaminster, Bridport
Species & Records
Carp: 30lb+
Roach: 2lb+
Rudd: 1lb+
Perch: 3lb+
Tench: 5lb+
Chub: 4lb+
Summary:
This is a spring fed complex of eight lakes that you can fish. One lake is used only as a specimen lake with mirror, common and ghost Carp up to 30lbs. The other lakes hold specimen Roach, Rudd, Perch, Tench & Chub. For the specimen lake the usual Carp methods work, with the odd carp off of the surface, but the majority being caught on the bottom over a bed of pellets etc. Other species such as the perch that all average a huge size in here fall to the classic float fished Lobworm. Try using maggots for the nice Roach, bread flake on a small float just off the bottom for the Chub and finally the method feeder with a few pieces of hair rigged corn for the big tench.
Tactics:
Carp: The Carp are always caught in all the lakes to methods intended for other species as well as ledgering with boilies, luncheon meat or corn. For the specimen lake fish close to the island and reed beds and always put one rod in the margins as this seems to produce the most fish, especially at night. During the daytime it may be worth throwing out a bit of bread (dog biscuits work but seem to be less effective than the bread).
Roach & Rudd: If you want the bigger specimens, use two maggots on a size 14-16 hook or some small hookable pellets/paste, fished just off the bottom. Micro pellets work very well to bring the roach in, try mixing micro pellets with a base mix and feeding small handfulls in every 10 minutes or so.
Perch: You will normally catch the stripeys when targeting the roach but if you want to target the bigger ones in this lake, try chopped or whole float fished lobworm near any reeds or lily pads and keep casting to different locations as the perch tend to sit in waiting to ambush small fry.
Tench: Some very nice Tench are for the taking in most of these lake, as with most types of fishing you will catch everything but the thing you are going for but using the method or cage feeder here will work wonders with the Roach & Rudd but with the added bonus of picking up a few nice tench in between. Try using a single maggot and a caster as a hook bait with a short hook length. Use a cage feeder, blocking up one end with a base mix filling it with maggots and putting more mix on top as a sort of lid. Now watch that rod tip bend round time and again.
Chub: The Chub seem to fall for most of these tactics above so expect these to come while going for another species. If you want to target them more specifically, change the baits to using chopped worm and breadflake

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