Watermark Fisheries - News and Views

Bradley's Update 26 June 2008

Getting lots of great feedback from customers about the friendly attitude of our bailiffs Paul and Geoff - thanks guys!

Fish caught to 36lb last weekend - get on the fake corn!

Seb Francis joins the Watermark as assistant fishery manager this month. Seb has worked for the Watermark for two years and having graduated from college is now full time Monday's to Saturday's.

Bradley's Lake Record Broken! June 2008

Andrew Nichols has achieved his ambition of catching a Bradley's 40 in spectacular style with this huge framed Common Carp. A real milestone for Bradley's - well done Andrew!

Letter From Darren Heal 8th June

Hi Adrian

Please find enclosed pics of 30.04lb common caught on June 2nd 2008

I would also like to thank Paul Kelly for being very helpful and approachable and the young lad who took the photos (Seb)

All in all top water, top fish, friendly and helpful staff, cant wait to get back and give it another go asap

Kind Regards
Darren Heal- (Reggie)
tight lines!!

Bradley's update 2/5/08

A few pointers from information received from anglers in the last week...... Fish have been caught from all areas of the lake, many of which, have been stock fish with fish to over 14lbs caught. Reasonable amounts of bait are needed to hold the shoals. The water is very clear at the moment and certainly anglers fishing with good rigs and ensuring rig bits that match the lake bottom for colour are the ones that are catching the most fish. Fish are coming from the gravel however the Chod is producing very successfully in the silk weed areas. Bait wise - fish with what you have confidence in as there are a lot of fish prepared to feed in Bradley's right now... We now have toilets in both car parks.
Tight Lines AD

Bradley's update 1/5/08

You may have heard that both semi finals for the BCAC are being held on Bradley's in July. I can confirm that this will happen on the following dates, 11th July 08 - 13th July 08 and the 25th July 08 - 27th July 08. Little Horseshoe will be reserved for any Bradley's season ticket holder that want to fish during the event. Season ticket holders will not be able to fish on Bradley's during the event!

Letter recieved from colin pritchard 8/4/2008

Hi Adrian

My name is Colin Pritchard and we met on Friday night last when you were kind enough to take a couple of photo’s for me. I spent 3 days on Bradley’s Lake and so I believe I was the first person to fish the new pegs by the Wood Pool and what good pegs they are. During my stay I caught 7 stockies upto low doubles and lost another 5, hooklink too short, but a great first session for me. Attached are the photo’s from that session which you are free to use if you wish..

Regards Colin

A busy weekend at Bradley's with anglers braving the ice and snow. Plenty of fish caught with up to eight fish caught in a session by individual anglers! All fish caught were the smaller 2006 fish to low/mid doubles. The fish were not complete walkovers with some anglers receiving lots of liners and dropped fish. A change to slightly bigger hooks and snowman presentation managed to turn some of these liners into fish...... The fish were quite localised in the Wood Pool area..... Single hook baits have worked as well as PVA bags and big beds of baits; clearly some hungry fish around!!!

Well what can I say.... The new bank via Station Road has opened for business. This is very early for Bradleys (cold) but I am delighted to say that the 2006 stock fish are feeding hard and are being caught in numbers. Fish to 14lb 2oz have been landed with most fish being caught at 50yds or so. Pacific Anchovy is the top bait so get your ticket booked.... You can now call the Tackle Den Direct on 01285 862716 to reserve your space...

Letter recieved from Debbie Jones 1/4/2008

Central Cotswolds Young Peoples Project

Debbie Jones, Youth Support Worker

Dear Adrian,

This letter is a big ‘Thank You’ for the wonderful time that we spent at Little Horseshoe last weekend.

The tranquil surroundings and the facilities and standards could not be beaten.

Lee Pollard and James Anderson are first class Angling Coaches and the relationships and communication between them and the young people was exceptional.

The young people involved learnt so much from this, rigs, fish care and envoirmental skills to spodding and casting techniques.

This event was highly successful and is something that we hope to repeat in the near future.

Once again on behalf of myself and Gloucestershire Youth Service thank you for your kindness and support.

Yours faithfully

Debbie Jones

The cold weather did not stop visitors enjoying the fishing at Watermark during the Bank Holiday Break. Although no records were broken fish were caught to high doubles at Little H with stockies being caught on Bradley's. We have 4 Sparsholt college students with us for the next two weeks. They are busy building new swims at the new Wood Pool which opens on April 14th. This well stocked fishery will be the ideal location for pleasure fishing with a float on a day ticket and will be able to accommodate up to twelve anglers. Wood Pool is the ideal venue to book for small matches. Call 01285 862680 for more details....

Team Carpology, Nige Sharp and friends visited Little H for a social this week. First night 9 runs for 6 fish with the best a cracking 28lb big plated mirror – will be on the gallery as soon as we get the photo’s. The capture was also recorded on video which we hope to upload also. The Pacific Anchovy continue to work its magic this Spring! Most of the fish came off the silt patches centrally from the lake however some fish were skilfully tweaked out of the margins. P.S. we were experiencing gales > 80 mile an hour.

As you may be aware Bradley's Lake is undergoing some cosmetic surgery at the moment. Our contractor MJ Church is profiling the banks, specifically the area between Lake 17 (Hills) and Bradley’s. This has made access impossible however this area is due to be back open by the beginning of May. The good news is that the Wood Pool side of the Lake is open via the access off Station Road. Fish are already being caught which is very early for Bradley’s and this may be an indicator of the impact the recent stockings have had on the lake! Directions and gate codes will be provided by the Tackle Den when you buy your tickets.

48 lucky fish made the grade and are swimming in Little Horseshoe this month. These home grown fish grown in the same water supply as Little H are 3 times the size of their comrades in the stock ponds. They ranged from 10lbs - to just under 20lbs and are immaculate beautifully proportioned commons and one mirror! The fish were stocked two weeks ago and are already hitting the banks with six of these fish caught since the stocking – maggots are the winning formula!

Roly the "Head Man" at the Tackle Den has been caning the carp at Little Horseshoe recently (3/3/08) using DT Baits "Pacific Anchovy" flavoured maggots and boilies on the Chod. Roly has steadily caught fish even breaking his PB with an awesome 31lb 4 oz mirror - take a look at the fish on the gallery.
If you want advice from the expert speak to Roly at the Tackle Den on 01285 862716 or have a natter when you are buying your ticket for the venue - give his coffee a miss by the way!

Once again I feel that I must e-mail you to commend you on your stock fish. I've just done another 48hr session on Bradleys and landed 19 of them now up to a massive 13lb+, these fish must never stop feeding!!!

As much as I love catching the stock carp as they all look different and fight like little tigers the icing on the cake came on my second night at 3am when one of your bigger carp came across one of my boilies, an awesome looking mirror at 30lb 10oz.

When I woke the next morning I thought the session could not get any better but Bradleys had not finished with me yet!!! later that day my left hand rod shot off and I managed to land a personal best tench at 10lb 2oz.

Someone on Bradleys the other day said you where after some photos of your stock fish so I thought I'd send you some (mirror 12lb 3oz, fully scaled mirror 8lb 7oz, common 9lb 8oz and the tench came in at 9lb 2oz).

I've got to say these are the best stock fish I've ever seen and are going to make some great lumps one day!!