Hanningfield Reservoir, Essex

[Bob Brookes]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply however, I have only just read it, but fished Hanningfield yesterday.

It was a quiet day on the water so we were able to fish just where we wanted to. We headed to the bigger tower which screamed, 'perch'. We fished it from both sides and at the end. Although we were anchored, because I was float fisning, it was like trotting due to the tow on the water. I fished from just 2 foot off the bottom & I changed depths so that I covered all levels up to 5 foot below the surface.

We fished the other tower, then the trout cages and the floating platforms. Not only did we not get a touch, but we never saw any evidence of fish movement of any sort. We spent some time drifting over a shallower area between the lodge & the dam wall where you could clearly see the weedy bottom. It looked ideal for perch & pike but again nothing.

All the above spots were also covered extensively with lures many patterns & sizes but we never had a tug. I used lures & spinners from small mepps & ondex right up to large red rapalas that I last used on Lake Nasser!

As the day wore on it got more sunny & the wind dropped. It became apparent that the majority of the boats were drifting down the dam wall end & flinging fluff. We headed in that direction about 4.00 in an effort to avoid a blank!. It wasn't long before I had a proper bite on a worm which I promptly missed, followed by another trout which I had on, but came unstuck! The next 2 trout were hooked & landed so the blank was avoided.

During the late afternoon there were many fish rising & a few were being taken by anglers who were fishing for them. To my knowlege there were no perch caught In fact I got the impression from the Ranger that very few had been caught recently but when caught they were usually over 4lbs.

We vowed to return & the tip regarding marking the spot & drifing over it will be duly noted.

Bob

[Moving Shadow]

I'll be going back in October Bob, I love it, love the challenge. I have all my kit and approach ready for it, and think I know how to crack it. If the perch are biting then I'm sure that the right approach will pay off in the end. It's a big water, too much to go at on the first trip, but after three trips now, it's getting smaller and smaller!