With this event in mind I thought it would be a good idea to visit Manor Farm and see what the coup is. Manor Farm is a very well run commercial fishery that offers a variety of fishing to suit all types of anglers, From specimen anglers to complete novices there is a lake to suit your ability.

Manor Farm has all the facilities that a modern fishery needs. There is a fully stocked tackle shop where you can get excellent advice on where to fish and what tactics to use. There are toilets and showers on site and there is always a selection of food available if you get peckish.

I decided after talking to the owners that I would give Becks Lake a go as it offered the chance to get a few bites as Becks is very well stocked with plenty of doubles and a reasonable chance of catching a twenty pounder.

I was joined on my trip by my son Bob so after a walk round the lake we settled on a swim that gave us a large expanse of open water where we had seen a few fish showing. The weather was pretty dismal with showers on and off all day, but the fishing was excellent.

As I said earlier this trip was to find out how the carp at Manor Farm responded to the bait and how exactly they wanted it presented. Bob and I decided to fish with different tactics to see which worked best.

Bob decided to fish in the upper layers of the water and I would fish on the bottom. The depth of the water in front of us varied from around nine feet to as little as a couple of feet a rod length out. Bob fished one rod on a zig rig set at six feet in the deepest water, and a method float with bait fished at various depths below it. I was going to fish the method with a variety of hook bait options.

Although most tactics caught carp, by far the most successful was the method float set at around three feet deep and loose fed boilies fired round the float on a regular basis. The method feeder with a small hook bait also accounted for a lot of carp but on the day the carp were definitely in the upper layers and it took regular feeding with some pellets to get the fish down onto the deck. Interestingly, although the method float was more successful the carp were smaller than average, than the carp caught on the bottom. It was also apparent that constant feeding drew more carp into the swim and helped create a competitive feeding scenario.

I would highly recommend a visit to Manor Farm, for details on Manor farm visit their website www.manorfarmfishing.co.uk

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

I often get asked how much loose feed should be used for a day’s fishing. Obviously it depends on a lot of factors. But if you are fishing in good conditions work on the theory that a carp will eat about 3% of its body weight per day. So now all you have to do is try and work out how many carp you think you may catch in a day and make sure you have enough bait to feed them. Just remember that the smaller the carp the more aggressively they will feed, so little and often usually works best. Whereas big carp tend to be more careful when they feed and a well presented trap of food is more likely to succeed. Just remember that if conditions are bad the chances are that the carp will eat less so bait accordingly.

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