The Chronicles of Stilly, by Andy Thomas
Andy describes his best season ever, fishing Farnham Angling Society's Stillwater Front and Stillwater Back lakes!
I’ve been a member of FAS on and off for many years now. I have fished all of their waters at one time or another. There are however some that get under you skin more than others. For me it was Stillwater !
I first fished “Stilly” about 6 or so yrs ago, I landed a beautiful 20lb+ common on my first 12hr overnighter from the back lake.. Result! I had the lake to myself except for one other angler. It was early spring and the lake looked like it had been frozen in time, not a soul in sight. The early morning mist seemingly danced entwined in plumes above the water, fish were bubbling and gently breaking the surface. It was beautiful, timeless and at that point I could think of no where else I’d rather be. I packed up later that morning still filled with the buzz of having caught such a stunner on my first visit. I planned to return…..soon!
Unfortunately what with work/family commitments and fishing socials on runs waters,(became addictive) I didn’t make it back to stilly that season, in fact it wasn’t until august 2004 that I returned for what was to be some of the best memories and captures I have had on FAS so far!
It was mid August 2004, I had phoned John (now Dept Head Bailiff of Stilly) to see if he fancied a night or 2 down at Stillwater . As john hadn’t fished stilly for a while he was more than happy to accompany me for a two nighter!
We arrived on the Tuesday, had a look round, it was fairly quiet, we didn’t see much so decided on 2 swims on the far bank of the back lake. Swim choice was based on the fact that this was where I’d had the common from on my first visit a few years prior. I thought if they’ve fed there once, they’ll feed there again! It was also the first place that gets the sun in the morning: Great for topping up the tan if the fish weren’t up for a feed!
To cut a long story short, I was lucky enough to have a take during the first night which resulted in a lovely upper double common gracing my mat! “Good start” I thought.
The morning passed uneventfully. John wound in and decided to go up the shop for a paper and a few supplies. I also wound in and went for a walk. I found some fish held up in reedy bay and rushed back to get my floater kit. I put a few tigers and a bit of hemp out in front of my swim on the spots I had fished during the night. I then made haste down to the reeds. I flicked a few floaters out, the carp started to take 'em almost instantly! Then without warning it started to rain, barely a cloud in the sky. Weird! The carp disappeared within seconds of the rain hitting the surface.
I returned to my swim and baited both my rods, I put them out back to their respective spots. At this point John returned. As we were talking something caught my eye: “Is it?.. Yes it is!”. There were carp visibly clouding up the bottom over my right hand rod! I couldn’t watch. “I’ll put the kettle on” I said, as I turned to reach for the kettle, my alarm let out a single beep.. Then another, as I looked down the bobbin was moving slowly to the top! It stopped at the top and the rod tip started to bend round. I lifted the rod and leant into what felt like a very good fish, the water erupted and carp bolted in every direction! Not giving an inch for what felt like an age, I eventually managed to get it away from the small islands that I was fishing near to and into open water. After 20 minutes or so she broke the surface. “Blimey!” I said, “that’s a good-un, gotta be an upper 20”. John looked at me and said “I’m not saying a word mate!”
A couple of minutes and a fair few lunges later she begrudgingly plodded over the spreader block! “YES! What a fish!” On the mat she looked big, an old warrior, a lovely slate grey mirror. The weight (unimportant at the time) was 31lb 8oz and my first stilly 30. After the pics she was returned and wallowed off to her watery lair. Awesome!
For some reason (I think it was due to the wet weather) we packed up that afternoon and we decided to come back in a day or so and have our first night on the front lake.
I was on cloud nine having done just under 24hrs for two carp, one being a 30 and a personal best as well. I later discovered this was a known fish and the lakes largest resident, the “pug”.
Two days later and we were back on Stilly. We set up on the front lake and out went the rods, tigers again fished over hemp. This time I managed one carp. At 24lb 10oz it was a good fish to open my account with on the front lake! Over the next 2 months (Sept/Oct 04) I skipped between the front and back lake taking a carp or two on most visits. I fished elsewhere during the winter on runs waters, days only mainly and had a few socials to keep my interest up.
I returned to Stilly at the end of Feb 05 to begin were I’d left off. I began in style with a stunning 20lb+ common during a day session. The next session was a disaster, 4 nights BREAM, BREAM, AND MORE BREAM! I was mainly fishing with pop-ups, maggots and corn but decided a change of approach was needed if I was to stand a chance of a carp finding my bait before the bream did!
A new plan and bait was formulated and I was back… It worked! From March until May I fished 16 nights flitting between the front and back lake and managed to land 46 carp (4 in a night being the best) including 16 carp over 20lb! I stopped counting at this point, numbers became irrelevant. I was on a roll and enjoying my fishing more than ever and in beautiful surroundings!
