Norfolk's Greatest Carp Fisheries

I’ve been wanting to go carp fishing for a while now. I just had to wait for the weather to break into sunshine and the lakes to come to life again after what seemed like a never-ending winter. So the plans were made, carp fishing tackle purchased, and the place and holidays booked for beginning of March. The choice of place this time fell on my mate Adam, and he decided to go to Taverham Mill.

Taverham Mill Fishery is a quite little place set on the outskirts of Norwich in approximately 100 acres of countryside and boasts 4 lakes and 3/4 mile of the river Wensum. We have not been back here since spring last year. At first glance it appears that some things have changed. A new boardwalk has been installed by the fishery management accross the meadow making it a flat and even surface. This newly installed boardwalk will certainly help us later on to push through our fishing trolleys. Other than that, the lake looks cracking as always and there are plenty of carp anglers about.

In terms of stock, over the last couple of years the lake has gone from strength to strength. Last years record was set at just over 34lb mirror carp.

In the summer, the lake is covered by expansive patches of lilies, which always hold lots of carp, along with beds of Canadian pondweed, gravel bars and plateaux, depths range from a few inches to 10 feet. What I also like about Taverham Mill Fishery is that they is a carp fishing tackle shop on site where you can get everything from fishing clothes to cheap carp rods and carp fishing reels.
Based on past experience we have booked two swims for three nights. Our swims were in the centre of the lake which usually delivers well in colder months of the year. This time round we did not get a chance to prebate our swims so we are just going to set up our carp rods and reels and get the swims sorted. Then, hopefully we can bag a carp or two in the first night.

As I unpacked my fishing trolley, got out my carp rods and loaded my carp fishing reels, Adam came over from his swim to say that he had just seen a couple of very big carp rolling out in font of him, including a mirror and a common, both at least 30lb each. I went over to his swim to have a look and had also seen quite a few turn over in the waves in front of us, although there had not been a sign of anything on my side of the swim.

By dust both of us were completely sorted. The promised cold and wet weather was still long way off and we were both enjoying the early spring evening sun. As soon as it got dark, the indicators on Adam’s carp rods in his swim came alive, but not with carp. It seemed that the feast of red maggots we had put into our swims was attracting everything that swam past.

By midnight Adam had caught a trench, bream and a couple of ells. By this time I started to wonder if I was doing something wrong as I was having no luck.

Later on, as we had been promised the weather began to turn colder and with it came rain. In this weather good fishing clothes are absolutely essential. Adam’s swim still seemed alive, through, and after seeing a few shows and getting several liners, he was suddenly into not one, but two more carp. Seeing the second, a big wide-backed common, go into the net was such a buzz. We knew that it was one of Taverham’s big ones and so it proved, weighing in at over 35lb. Adam’s swim was mayhem with rods and nets everywhere. Before doing anything, though, he spodded out a few rockets of fresh maggots to keep the swim ticking over while everything was sorted out.

Compared to Adam’s side of the swim, mine was pretty lifeless. A very welcome mid-twenty common saved me from what was looking like a blank and I decided to change my baiting tactics and add in a water a bag of Nash top rod frozen boilies and half a bag of Dynamite carp fishing tackle pellets.

My rigs were light and refined 鈥?there were no weed or snags to contend with and the water was clear, so I elected for hook link tied from 10lb Guru Drag Line, whipped to a size 10 Wide Grag Line. The hair was made from Supernatural braid, held tightly under the hook whipping. This gives the bait more natural movement and helps the hook end of the rig to sit flat on the bottom. The hook bait was made from a tiny match hook on which I impaled about five maggots and then pulled down into a piece of white night-glow plastic corn.

Within a couple of hours my carp fishing reels had finally seen some movement. I had caught a brace of thirties from two different spots and both on the same bait mix. Not long after, both of Adam’s rods gone off at once. The first fish was safely netted and then the second one. Both fish were commons between 23lb and 27lb. It is safe to say that we had an excellent fishing session.