White Springs
   Fishery

White Springs was very proud to be chosen this year as a host for the CarpAnd.Co.uk Social event which is now becoming a very popular event in the angling calander, with anglers from the up and coming fishing website coming from all over the country to try and covet one of the very sought after swims that form part of the social event. With the specimen lake being entirely prebooked by the organisers and closed to day ticket anglers from Thursday evening onwards for the social event, the lucky qualifying participants of the Carp and Co Event started to travel down on the Friday and meet up at White Springs with the other angling members of the site. Even though they may have talked to other members on the site for some time, for some this was the very first time they were actually meeting in person the other members of the site where fishing ideas are explored in depth and help is available to all up and coming anglers.

The event is organised by CarpAnd.Co.uk administration who organise the events up and down the country and this one was organised by SparkyJon along with Dominic Walters. The idea is to pair up the anglers to each of the lakes swims, so that the anglers can come together in a social event, and share fishing tips, try out new things, swap tackle, help each other with their fishing, review fishing equipment and swap fishing storys of the one that got away! and if there is time in this busy schedule maybe even sneak a little fishing in as well. Well you gotta admit they are in the right place for it  as these anglers (and with there being some very experianced names in the mix) fish different lakes all over the country and discuss them on the site and coming together like this allows them to be able to put a face to the name of the people that they talk to regulary across the internet. This year they chose White Springs as their winter venue for their social gathering and meet. 

Most anglers had arrived by late Friday afternoon and set up their bivvys ready for the main event which was being held on Saturday. This was to be a free BBQ held at the new cabin swim that was organised by the fishery owner of White Springs Vince. A marquee was arranged, with staff, food, soft drinks for the youngsters and a few beers for the lads being provided by Vince free of charge, Vince being Vince with his wicked sense of humour  just had to put some duracell batteries for sale signs up to take the mick  there was entertainment with a few of the guys playing the guitar and singing some golden oldies that was a huge sucess and even got Vince dancing! Arrangements had been made so that they guys could watch the Welsh rugby that was on television that afternoon as many of the lads were huge rugby fans after the BBQ finished. Where better to do that but in Wales. The result was a social event that was a huge success and enjoyed by all, and with the rugby being on as well what more can you ask for at a social event.

With the lake being closed, the guys even though they had a busy social event and the rugby on and in fairness had to put up with some torrential rain that poured down over the weekend and suddden cold snaps, still had managed time to organise a mini fishing competition that in reality only consisted of a few hours of the rods being in the water mainly on the few hours available on the Friday after they arrived and a few hours on  Sunday before they packed up. With the winner of the event being young up and coming angler Luke Mainwaring who scooped the pool prize just before it was due to close.

With the extreme weather and the cold experianced at the event, it is a testiment to these anglers that in the very short time the rods were in the water at the infamous Specimen Lake here at White Springs, that any fish came out at all especially under these weather conditions but a few small lumps graced the banks. If you look at the impressive list of PB's of the anglers that attended the event (there will be a photo album of all the attending members by their rods taken on the sunday available shortly with their pbs in the photo details) you can see why it is a very much coveted social event to attend to, just for the wealth of knowledge within the angling industry that these anglers hold and why they managed to even in the short time they fished, managed to pull out a few small lumps here and there.

Speaking to the organisers SparkyJon and Dom they told me that they had enjoyed their time here at White Springs and they would like to thank Vince and White Springs for the hospitality shown. With the organisers already planning the next event due to the huge sucess of this one, they have mentioned that they would like to possibly hold one of the events here again with a view  of there being another one in April, with this one doing something that will help raise money for charity which is a worthy cause in anyones eyes. Events are organised all over the country to be fair to all their members who live futher afield.

We wish the anglers all their sucess in their future endeavours and anyone wanting to attend the next events can contact the forum for more details.

Tight Lines Everyone.