Jim Eggett's Lakes

[Tizer]

Here is a picture, from Anglers Mail Annual 1974 (that memory again Nobby..)

Anglers mail 1974,hope I've got that one,cheers.

[MHC]

Retro, click on 'upload to tinypic' at bottom of page, when small window opens then click on 'choose file' which gathers it from your desktop or wherever , then click on green 'upload' button then apply to post . Simple.

[Retro]

I will start by telling you about these magic lakes we called Eggetts.
On our first visit in june 1976 the fisheries consisted of two lakes, one section of dyke and a section of the river Ouse. The accommodation was all on the small lake which was where Jims bungalow was, there were two wooden lodges, one on the lakeside and one on the bank of the river, two nissen huts on the strip of land between the lake and the river and a concrete building which was just for two anglers. The small lake was on dawn to dusk fishing and consisted of bream, roach, rudd and carp in the upper twentys, tench to six pounds plus, chub to six pound and some lovely big eels which if you caught one you gave it to Jim for his supper. The lake was a beautiful place to be with three different types of coloured water lilies which covered part of the lake and an abundance of wild life, I just loved it.
On the embankment behind the lake lodge there was a line of poplar trees which went from the river the whole length of the lake which marked the line of the railway lines that use to cross the river during the war but was long gone, just the concrete foundation of the bridge left on each side of the river. On the other side of the trees running from the river the whole length of the lake was a dyke which was about thirty feet wide and full of tench , Jim had a big pump at one end which pumped out water for the trout farm tanks which run back to the river via a little brook.

[Retro]

Here is some more could not seem to put any more photos on that post
next I will salt some photos of the big lake which was the the syndicate lake

[Tizer]

Well done mate,well done for having such a good memoirie and well done for getting the info and pictures on here so QUICKLY ,so pleased you shared them with us.Any more?keep them coming if you don't mind,I would like to find out as much as I can about the place.

[Retro]

In 1976 the big lake was a syndicate, they had the whole north side of the lake. Jim would allow us to fish the syndicate lake Monday to Friday, day and night from the lawn bank and we could use the boat. In 1976 there was a piggery on the west bank and we were not allowed to go up there. The big house was on the south bank where Jims son lived, from the house to the piggery there was the trout tanks and most of the lawn bank there was a brick wall at the waters edge like most estate lakes, there was lily patches in front of the wall stretching out into the lake. In those early days the water was crystal clear and full of shrimps due to the piggery leaching into the water and made the fishing during the daytime hard going. This all changed around 1980 when the piggery was closed and they started a mushroom farm and within a short time the lake took on a nice natural colour, which improved the fishing in the daylight hours. At about the same time Jims grandson had a bungalow built on the lawn bank with the garden going right down to the lake and "lovely it was too". There were big tench, big bream and carp over thirty pounds and over the seventeen years to 1993 all my PBs were caught here from this lake with a best carp twenty eight pounds. The syndicate lake members at the time would not talk about the lakes for obvious reasons and the NAMES that fished there never wrote about the lake in the articles of the time. Which I don't think went well with Jim. I will find some photos of the river Ouse in front of the river lodge which was my favourite lodge to be in.

[Retro]

Just to show you the fish my Brother and I were catching at the time from the syndicate lake.

[CrayCane]

Many thanks for sharing these Retro. I stayed in the concrete lodge one year and in a later visit in one of the nissen huts.
It was a lovely place to fish and we greatly envied Jim living in his bungalow by the lake.

Pete

[RitchieS]

Hi all, recently re-read my well-thumbed copy of Carp Fever as I'm thinking of dusting down my trusty T24's to try to catch a carp this summer. Intrigued by Duncan Kay's mention of Hemingford Grey lakes as I am now relatively local and often walk the dogs along the the lane past those lakes. Even more intrigued by this thread which makes fascinating reading in the knowledge that I have a piece of carp fishing history on my doorstep. Unfortunately the photos are no longer accessible (tinypic?). Is there any way to view them? Perhaps someone could post some original photos.

[Dave Burr]

Hi all, recently re-read my well-thumbed copy of Carp Fever as I'm thinking of dusting down my trusty T24's to try to catch a carp this summer. Intrigued by Duncan Kay's mention of Hemingford Grey lakes as I am now relatively local and often walk the dogs along the the lane past those lakes. Even more intrigued by this thread which makes fascinating reading in the knowledge that I have a piece of carp fishing history on my doorstep. Unfortunately the photos are no longer accessible (tinypic?). Is there any way to view them? Perhaps someone could post some original photos.

You could try sending a personal message to those that posted them, they may be able to send copies to you. Those that have no details about their status etc are no longer members but, I'm pretty sure Mark still is

Good luck and I hope the T24's bend like they used to.