White Springs
   Fishery

The following named people have all won competitions in Carp Talk for the pictures we have submitted as part of our coverage of White Springs to the magazine. Congratulations to you all and to claim your prize please forward your Full Name and Postal Address and Contact Telephone Number to myself WhiteSprings Click here for profile link Thanks Alex

Steve Hunter

Army Mark

Christian du Plessis

Went solo fishing for the second time! Made my own bait and made up my own rig, set up and did everything all by myself, for the first time! I cast my rod in at about 12:20 and in the freezing cold waited and watched! After a few hours of watching the lake i could see a beautiful golden orf slowly patroling around certain areas so i started to bait three areas in its path knowing that other fish would be taking the same patrol route and sure enough after a wee while they started nibbling on my bait! So i knew they liked it and it was just a case of baiting and waiting! At about three o'clock people started to leave and by about five o'clock i was the only one left on any of the lakes! (when everyone leaves early it normally means its far to cold to catch!) But as i had only had a few nibbles and it was still light i wasn't about to give up just yet! I sat there freezing while the sun came down over of water with my fingers crossed and knew i would have to start packing everything away. Just as i started to put the bivvy away my carp alarm started screaming so i pounced on the rod and reeled for my life! After about a five - ten minute fight i managed to land a beautiful common carp with stunning winter colours and a new personnal best at 7lb!!!! So after taking a quick few pics i gently placed it in the lake and watched it slowly disapear again in the dark water. Five hours, numb toes and frozen fingers all very well worth it!!!!  Tight lines peeps x

I understand we have already reported this catch and I believe it is in this report

News and Reports

However I may be wrong and it might be one of the fish caught from the Somerset anglers in Feb 2010, my apologys to the angler but my information is limited.

I have only just received the photos so I have scanned the photos and placed them up on the site for everyone to see.

The angler who caught this lovely looking fish is Gary Ireland from Bridgewater in Somerset and the reported weight of the fish was 35lb 14. A cracking weight. Well done Gary and if you read this and would like to post me more details below it would be appreciated. Thanks for the photo.

On the 21st of February, i headed down to WhiteSprings fishery in south wales. When i got there i decided to set up on the old cabin swim as nobody was fishing there. For the last few weeks, this had been a spot on which i had blanked on. So with the rods cast out and all the gear ready i sat down and drank a cup of tea while the sun rised. Wtih no action, at about 12 o clock i recast a small pva bag filled with mainlines cell boilies on to what seemed to be a real hot spot. 10 minutes later I was battling it out with a small mirror which turned out to be 12lb 7ounces.   I then put both rods out on to the spot and shortly after i had another lively little mirror which weighed 13lb 2 and looked great in its winter colours.    About half an hour later i had an absolute screamer on the left hand rod and, following a spirited fight, i had a new PB Common in the net weighing 18lb 1oz.    One side of the fish looked great but the other was a bit random with the scaling pattern. After returning the fish, i had another take that felt like a big fish but unfortunatly the hooklink snapped but oh well, you cant land them all! I shouldnt have worried though because a few more minutes later, i had an absolutly stunning, fin perfect common of 17lbs exactly on the mat.    After all the action, it went dead for a few hours and then i had one last run as i was packing up. A beautiful mirror carp of 16lb 3oz was on the end and as the light was fadeing i managed to bundle him into the back of the net. 

    After a action packed day at 'Springs' i packed up and went home a very happy boy!

A new weather widget can be seen by scrolling down the page and looking on the right hand side of the page, this will automatically update and will give you all the details you will need to know direct from the met office.

An update can be read here on Steven Huxter following an interview held with the angler.

http://www.whitespringsfishery.co.uk/apps/blog/show/2736374-updated-new-pb-for-steven-huxter-31lb2-specimen

Christian Du Plessis aged 25 from Caerphilly landed this beautiful 31lb 4 Mirror on the 3rd of Feb about 5.30pm in last light from the soil shed swim using a standard bolt on hair rig with safety non fixed lead system and pop up corn on his Fox Warrior ES rod and his Fox Stratos 10,000 reel lined with Adrenaline and fitted with a Fox Arma size 7 hook. He has a Pb of 38lb Mirror caught from our very own White Springs Speimen lake and usually uses Crab and Mussel Richworth bait however he decided to use Pop up corn on this line and it proved to be a winner for him. He was down for a weeks session with some of his mates and had endured the ice and snow often having to break the ice whilst in the boat with his mates to clear a channel to fish in , as we can see this proved to be successful and the proof they say is in the landing He started fishing with his dad many years ago and has enjoyed fishing ever since the age of 6, he loves coming to White Springs because of the beautiful surroundings, the charasmatic people and of course the specimen fish that can be caught here at White Springs. He has fished here for about 2 years now and since discovering White Springs it has been his main place that he enjoys to go fishing, one of his most memorable times fishing here was when he caught his PB and he tells me that he nearly let it go as the boys he had been fishing with had been winding him up by pulling his alarms and making him think he had one on, so when his alarms went with the 38lb'r he nearly ignored it thinking that the boys were winding him up again, so you can imagine his suprise when he finally started to reel in his line to find a rather large fish on the end. His advice to up and coming anglers is to go out and to enjoy yourself but not to take too many things that you read or are told too seriously and not to worry if you blank as every time you fish you should be taking things from the session away with you and use it to improve your next session, even if you blank. so just relax enjoy your surroundsing and have condfidence in your setup and the fish will come. Best of luck in your endeavours Christian and we hope to see you down here more often, tight lines.

Sorry the reports a little late this week its been a bit hectic and even though Vince gave me the report last weekend I had to go back down today as I couldnt find it anywhere for love nor money. Still better late than never.

He tells me that it hasnt been a bad week with the weather a little warmer after the last couple of weeks of snow and ice, however he says that the fishery has been very much either off or on over the last few weeks there are somedays that you cannot go wrong and then others where you struggle to even get a bite.

If you do well then you do very very well like Simon Jones mid week on the old canal on pegs 24, not the best of pegs in the conditions however he still managed to weigh in 75lb of carp and some nice slabs of bream some which weighed in at above the 4lb mark, not a bad few slabs there in such conditions, whilst Clive Beckett and his mate sat on the match lake and struggled to get a bite, yet when they moved to the pleasure lake they bagged up on skimmers and roach.

Last sundays open match on the canal was fishing ok especially after the anglers had to break ice to start and also had to keep breaking ice as it was forming around their pegs most of the day, they still however went on to produce the below results, well done guys.

1 Luke Peg 15 -35lb 8

2 Ryan Huges Peg 4 -27lb 1

3 Lyn Jones Peg 27 -23lb 8

4 Mark Jones Peg 33 -21lb 5

On the Specimen lake its been a little slower but three fish over 30lb has come out. Christian Du Plessis and Tom Jones pulled out a 31lb 4 Mirror and a 30lb 8 Mirror

 Mark Lewis on Peg 12 landed a 35lb 1 along with a 16lb2 and 15lb mirror using cell boilies size 8 big t hooks on snakeskin hook lengths. Picture below.

2 visiting anglers from Essex lost a rather large fish in their estimation at the point they went to net and land him (the one that got away eh guys? :P ) and have vowed to return to catch it again , good luck with that guys.

Last reports I had from Vince about the fishabilty of the lakes is that there is ice forming on the lakes in the mornings but mainly dissappearing by afternoon and that two lads from Somerset had managed to land 5 from the Specimen so fishing is looking like it will be cold but on this weekend, he warns to ring to make sure you dont waste your journey in the mornings however it looks good for the weekend as long as the temp doesnt drop too badly in the night.

Tight Lines All and I hope to see you there on the weekend.

Pirates 2009 Champion Geoff Walker receives his trophy from White Springs Owner Vince Lloyd. Geoff totalled 99 Points from the 42 matches, with Gordon coming in second with 78 points and Tony on 76points.

Geoff also enjoyed sucess in the 6 week weds Pirates Club winter mini series winning with 7 points beating Gordon again by one point. Tony was 3rd with 10 pts Richard Lewis on 12pts Keith Tueson 13 pts, Ron Shipton 19pts Rob White 21pts and Mike Thomas 25pts

We wish the match anglers all the best in 2010.

Geoff Walker (69) was origonally from Stoke on Trent and he now lives in Talley, his personal best is 130lb which he managed to acheive whilst fishing the Match Lake here at White Springs itself. He likes to use the Pole and Paste as his favourite type of setup and he currently is using a Shimano Anteres 16M Pole with a Shimano Anteres Silk Shock Special Competition Line rated at 5.39lb and .140mm with a Kamason B981 Barbless Specimen Size 16 round bend hook. His Bait is expander pellets.

He has fished for approximately 60 years and got hooked on fishing by accompanying his father all those years ago, being both a keen fisherman and cyclist he regulary (at least once a week) used to fish the Trent and Mersey canals. He told me that he just loves to fish and just loves the thrill of catching that fish, never knowing what is going to come out. He enjoys making his own end tackle and is very profficient at making floats from balsa wood and has been doing this since his early 20's. He leaned over and confided in me that sometimes he finds the making of the floats more satisfying than the fishing itself though he did admit that there is nothing better than catching a fish from one of his home made and very proffesional looking floats.

Asking him what else he loves about fishing he told me that it was the social aspect of the fishing that he loved especially amongst the Pirates of which he is a founding member, amongst the Pirates he loves to wind them up and trade banter with them about the fishing and everything else.

Geoff told me what he loved about White Springs........ there is a good variety of lakes here at White Springs so it is good to be able to have a change as it saves you getting bored. It is convienant for me to travel to as well.

His most memorable experiance was one or two international matches where he got the chance to compete and win matches against some of the top anglers in the country, he nodded to me winked and pointed out one of the anglers opposite him, "Great guy he said and he fishes for Wales and I am in a competition with him what more can I say"

I asked him for some advice for any up and coming anglers and he told me that

You shouldn't be afraid to ask the more experianced anglers on the lake for advice, you will learn more in an hour of watching an experianced angler that you will in 12 months fishing on your own, so dont be shy to ask and watch the experianced anglers.

Sounds like good advice to me Geoff and with that we shall bid you good day and hopefully catch up with you another day. Good luck in your fishing in 2010 and congratulations on your results for 2009.

Tight Lines

All lakes are currently open and fishable at the time of print. There was small patches of thin ice on some of the lakes this morning however the lakes were fishable. Please ring the fishery if in any doubt or if travelling some distance as each day is different due to the weather

thanks

I fished the pleasure lake today and

had 4 fish the best was a 11 lb

along with a 5,4,and 2 pounder carp

good days fishing

 
A good days december winters fishing at White springs fishery.

I can remember it well. I went on the old canal to fish for some perch. I started with a ledger rod down the edge to my right, I baited with red maggots,and fished a freshwater prawn on them,and did the same with the other rod,this rod was fishing to my left but with a float. This i fished over depth for lift bites.

It wasn't long before the ledger rods tip started tapping three or four taps and around it went and i was into a nice perch around the 2lb mark,so i put it in the keepnet,within five minutes the float started to slide across and out away from the bank i struck and i was into another nice perch again around the 2lb + so  again this one was in the keepnet.

That was it for the float rod.

I had TWO more good perch after that, they came on three dead,red maggots fished in the same spot. I decided to release the four perch as they had been in the keepnet for a while.So i needed some photos and a witness for one of the best days still-water perch fishing (excluding spinning for them on a nice river) i have ever had.

,The weights of the perch 1lb10oz ,2lb3oz, 2lb7oz. 2lb9oz

 total bag weight 8lb 3oz. 

Beat the recession at White Springs!

 Special offer.

Make a booking in Febuary and get a whopping 30% off accomodation prices for any month during 2010.

Steven Huxter aged 23 from PenPedairheol was woken at 3.30 in the morning in the snow to find his lines in a frozen lake on the Soil Shed Swim and his alarm sounding, whilst playing the fish he was helped by his two mates Christian Duplessis and Tom James who broke ice in the lake to allow him to land this lovely Mirror that doubled his PB from 14lb to a lovely and very respectable 31lb2.

Well done Steven and a lovely fish caught on only his third visit to White Springs and in probably some of the harshest fishing conditions that we have seen for years proving once again that White Springs is no ordinary fishing venue

(Update-interview with the angler)

Steven Huxter likes using a standard hair rig with a leadcore and fox safety non fixed lead system, his favourite rod is his John Wilson Signature 12ft Rod with a Flan reel which he tells me is a foreign make but a very good reel coupled with TFG 12lb line and a Fox Arma Size 7 hook which he likes using in conjunction with the mainline bait range. He was down here for a quick 48hour when he caught his new PB and he started fishing when he was just 3 and a half with his grandfather and has enjoyed the sport ever since. He loves being outdoors camping and enjoys fishing with the boys and enjoying the social aspect of the fishing, he especially likes he tells me the freedom that fishing brings him and the fact that usually there are no nagging girlfriends to pester him, a sentiment I am sure that many will agree with He loves the thrill of fishing and the adrenaline and buzz of the fight and the catch and when you land your new PB of course there is nothing like it. He loves coming to White Springs because of the specimen fish that can be caught here and also the fact that it is close to hand for him and not that far to travel to. He hasnt however fished here that long and this is only his third trip to White Springs so a good result for the youngster. His advice to anglers is just to get out here on the bank and enjoy you bank time, ask the regular anglers for advice and to keep your rigs simple as they work better in the long run, he also joked with me saying that you should also try and wind Vince up as much as possible, something that again many will no doubt agree with

Good luck Steven with your endeavours and we hope to see you down here again.

Tight Lines.

Tight Lines Everyone.

Despite the very cold and windy conditions last week, the anglers still turned up in force with us having to turn some away trying to get onto the specimen lake, with the lake being full and the anglers bivvied up ready for the weeked they woke up to find the lake had frozen over and snow was on the ground, however the fish was still feeding for some.

Lee (Afly) Calford of Llanelli at the start of the week managed to pull out a 12lb approx Mirror (shown below) and a 14lb10 Leather (shown above) in the last few hours of a 48hr marking the start of the fish starting to come out on the bank again to the specimen lake for this week.

Steven Huxter from Caerphilly caught his first fish for 2010 on only his third trip to Springs smashing his previous pb of 14lb and taking it to a fantastic 31lb 2. Waking up in the morning to his alarms he had to have the ice broken in order to land the fish, but what a start to the year.

Martin Matthews from Carmarthen having had to pull two of his rods out due to the ice still managed to get two takes on his single rod and landed 2 fish using just the one rod one after another, whilst the other anglers looking on with shouts of Jammy ****** floating across the bank proving that if you find the fish then you will be able to catch even under the worst conditions.

The Pleasure lakes have seen their share of anglers braving the weather and a visiting angler managed to land a lovely 15lb 'er from the Cabin swim of the Pleasure Lake along with 5 other reported fish ranging between 3lb to 9lb in weight.

On the canals the perch and bream are still being found using maggots and the winner of the last match held on them was Rob Jones with a nice weight of 89lb 2. 

Please dont forget that the majority of fish caught go unreported at the lakes so if you do know of fish being caught there that hasnt been reported to us then send WhiteSprings a pm to let me know the details and I shall post it up or better still members can report their own catches.

White Springs has an amazing offer on at the moment for accomadation. You can book your holiday for anytime in the year during the month of February and receive a massive 30% discount. Deposit is required.

Dont forget to buy your membership at the tackle shop for the year 2010 which will give you a massive 50% off all lakes during the month of February, what a bargain.

Tight lines

The match and canal lakes have seen some good weights coming out especially in the last few matches being held on them and on the other lakes the Pit has seen a few 15-18lb carp have come out , but the place to be has been on the Pleasure lake for the carp, bream and a couple of nice 3 1/2 lb perch even making a welcome show to the anglers there. On the Specimen side of Springs the lake has been quite slow due to length of time it was frozen for, however they are starting to make an appearance with a Angler from Brecon on his first visit pulling out a 24lb Mirror from the Point on a night time run and a couple of smaller chunks coming out as well.

Dont forget that memberships are due for renewal and anyone buying their membership now will be entitled to half price fishing on the memberships already discounted prices during the months of Jan and Feb in 2010, so if you are looking to save then with the membership coming down to only £50.00 for the year it will save you loads and is definately worth getting so dont delay get yours today.

Not a bad week as the weather has warmed up a little and the mid week Pirates Match was the first for this year , they fished the old canal with Jeff Walker taking the lead early on in the match and winning with the match with 74lb in cold winter conditions, Well done Jeff.

The first match of the Winter League was on the match lake and the Old canal, they also fished in very cold conditions but it didnt stop some good results from coming out.

Rob Jones took first place with 89-2, Lyn Jones on the canal took second with 61-12, Paul Phillmore took third with  52-8, Chris Hall Match Lake 51-01, Adam Jones Match Lake 51lb, good weights in cold conditions. Well fished guys.

Next sunday there is an open match on the canal run by Rob Jones for anyone that wants to test their angling skills all are welcome.

Last weekend saw the first open matchs on the match lake after the ice and big freeze had hit the country freeezing up lakes up and down the country, although most of White Springs is now thawed out there was still some ice still left in the match lake proving the conditions were still very cold with the temperature being about 2-3C at most. 19 anglers took part in these freezing conditions in an open match taking on the fish of White Springs when you would expect them all to be hiberbating, but even though some pegs did prove difficult there was an overall good result on the day and the winner of the day was Chris Hall on peg 24 fishing the pole and the method feecder with 76lb 12oz
2nd place went to Rob Wilshire on peg 11 with 60lb 12 oz and third place Rob Jones Peg 19 with 44lb 8 oz. 4th place went to Adam Jones on Peg 12 took 43lb 7oz proving that even in the worst of freezing conditions the fish still like to come out at White Springs and feed. Please note the photos below are not necessarliy of the winning pegs.

Chris Hall.

Rob Jones

Adam Jones

Been very quiet on the catch front lately as obviously the lakes like every other fishery up and down the country have been frozen in what can only be described as the coldest and worst winter for over 20 years if not 30 years. We saw the specimen lake with over a foot of ice at some points and the Pleasure Lake for the first time in who knows how long started to freeze over as well.  I noted in last weeks carp talk that there were hardly any reports of any fish coming out anywhere up and down the country yet White Springs still managed to pull out the odd 30 here and there during this freeze. Not bad eh?

With the temperature rising and the lakes now fully unfrozen as many a previous winter fisherman will tell you there is now only one place to be fishing and that is here at the Springs.

They will tell you that White Springs has always fished well in the Winter and it will be interesting to see what comes after one of the coldest spells we have experianced. Will keep you posted.

 If you do have any catch reports you would like to add, please become a site member and you can then add your own reports as it is difficult for me to be at the bank 24/7 and even if I could I would rather be fishing :P

I know that 75% of the catches are currently being unreported on the site so please if you catch then post it up pictures or no pictures, or pm me WhiteSprings on the site and I will gladly do it for you.

Thanks Alex

Our first match of the year 2010 was held on the pleasure lake as the other lakes were frozen on the day. 17 Anglers took part and fought it out in a very windy and cold winter conditions whilst the lake was actually freezing around them. Often due to the icy conditions they were reduced to using only 3 sections of their poles.

In first place was 14 year old Ryan Huwes who fished down the side catching Carp Raoch and bream to bring in a respectable 47lb in some of the worst winter conditions we have seen here at White Springs.

Second PLace went to Bob Giles who after breaking the ice fished 10ft in front of him and went on to catch 38 1/2 lb.

Third Place went to Ian Exall with 37lb who again had to break the ice and managed to catch his fishing down the side.

White Springs would like to thank all who took part in the match in some very cold and icy conditions.