Hunstrete Lake - Autumn 2013 - Photographs
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 3:25 pm
Well....its my wedding anniversary today so what better way than to celebrate another anniversary than visiting Hunstrete Lake this afternoon on my way back from visiting in Bath.....so...hopefully the following photographs....taken this afternoon on a rather delightful Autumnal day...will give TFF members who have not been to Hunstrete a better understanding of what it looks like. It might be helpful to take a brief look at the desperate post with the satellite image. As I have posted elsewhere, the last time I was at Hunstrete was around 20 years ago. It was very much akin to Redmire through the 60's and 70's....size...shape....carp...flora and fauna. So....as I parked the car in the lane near the lake earlier this afternoon...I wondered how it may have changed in all those years since last I was there as a "carp addict" in the 70's and 80's......
I hope the uploads work....otherwise a bit of a pain !
First photo...the Keeper's Cottage although I think the original inhabitant has, sadly, long joined the list of "keeper's in the Sky"....
Second photo....the lane that runs past Hunstrete....there is a public footpath - certainly to the North side of the lake....
Third photo....Hmmmm.....a bivvyy.......actually I have just noticed that these photographs may not be appearing in the "post" in the order in which I thought I was uploading them so...apologies if some of the post does not align with the images.....
Fourth photo taken from South East looking toward the centre North bank of Hunstrete....if you can see the seagull on the water..that area is quite deep and is more or less where Alan Dart caught the longstanding eel record in the 60's and 70's...
fifth photo taken from the wider Eastern end of Hunstrete looking "up" the lake toward the narrower Western end.....
sixth photo....taken from the small bay in the South East corner looking toward the centre North bank...
seventh photo...a "carpy" looking area in the South East bay....
eighth photo ....taken from Southern bank looking toward the wider Eastern bank....
ninth photo....banks and the foilage and trees looking pretty good....another bivvy.......Southern bank looking North...
tenth photo taken from Southern bank....looking North West ?
Actually..I think I can now see that the uploads are not all working as I had hoped so I will leave any more photographs until a time when my capabilities match the technology !
I hope TFF members can however get a better idea of this historic carp lake which has a marvellous tradition....I really had a marvellous few years fishing this place....sometimes sinister and a daunting place but always fascinating. Some final comments...a mix of fact......personal reflection...and anecdotal.....
Hunstrete had two additional lakes dug to the Western side of the old Estate Lake over the last couple of decades. These provide marvellous access and disabled swims etc and are also quite popular with the younger fishermen ...these lakes are maturing quite nicely. The main...old Hunstrete Lake when I fished it twenty and thirty years ago...was really silty and had a reasonable number of ancient trees that had fallen into the water and provided some fantastic "wilderness" fishing. Additionally, the shallower - Western - end of Hunstrete and both North and Southern banks from the Western end upto around the middle of the lake used to have densely packed lilly beds...beautiful in Summer and an absolute haven for large tench and carp. When I walked around the lake this afternoon....nearly all of these lilly beds had been removed. There are however some patches of reed that have been left. I found myself admiring the commitment and volunteer efforts of people over many years to improve Hunstrete...access....tree clearance....the new lakes giving others an ability to fish....removal of the silt build up and, overall, leaving Hunstrete with a sympathetic approach to the work undertaken. The bankside and paths through the trees and undergrowth have largely been left as they should. I was a little saddened that the extensive lilly beds have been removed and couldn't really understand why ...and also I felt that perhaps some of the trees could have been left in the water. Overall though, the lake itself has had a lot of care taken.....and even though changed....it retains the essence...if only one could get the place to oneself like for a few days....Ha Ha !
Were there any negative aspects about my visit this afternoon ?....Well....when I walked up the lane having parked near the old "keeper's cottage"...I was greeted with a substantial metal gate with electronic wizardry and pass code access systems to to car park.......next I was confronted with "warning signs" that the lake was under 24/7 CCTV operation.....and as I turned into the overgrown path found myself standing next to a large grey metal "tower" with remote CCTV camera's....not quite traditional but sadly I was told a necessary precaution.....as I walked around I counted maybe 30 or so carp anglers on the main lake...all more or less identical....camo clothing and gear...all with bivvys....all twin rod, alarms, 2-3 oz "bombs" etc etc....the latter of which seemed a little excessive to my mind given the size of Hunstrete....still that's the way it is and to be fair...they were a reasonable bunch of fishermen when I chatted to them.....but on a lovely Autumnal afternoon quite why everyone needed to erect a bivvy was beyond me....
There is no longer any Bathampton AA Hunstrete "night fishing" syndicate that I recall in the 70's...one week on two weeks off and which I used to really enjoy. Fishing is only allowed during the day...hours vary throughout the year but today it looked like 0700 to approx 2100 ? Again....why erect a bivvy for the day only ?
There are apparently still large tench and eels in Hunstrete although more precise size is difficult to gain accurate data. In carp terms...there are maybe in excess of 20 different "thirties" for those interested in such things and at least one...maybe more....."forty"....I do not know if any of the original "Leney" strain still exist in Hunstrete. They certainly were there when I regularly fished it in the 70's and part of the 80's...but that was a long time ago.....
Hopefully of some interest to members.....I enjoyed my wander around my old "haunt" this afternoon. I still could sense the magic and aura of Hunstrete that I grew up with and even though today there were quite a number of carp anglers and all dressed and fishing in the same manner....the camo. gear....bivvys.....remote CCTV and the electric security gates all took me back to a former life in Afghanistan...nevertheless...I am maybe tempted to join Bathampton AA next year for the first time in decades and try the alternative...more traditional...approach.....I am happy with my split cane carp rod and centrepin but I suspect that maybe this time "par boiled" potato might need to be replaced with something else....
Barbulus
I hope the uploads work....otherwise a bit of a pain !
First photo...the Keeper's Cottage although I think the original inhabitant has, sadly, long joined the list of "keeper's in the Sky"....
Second photo....the lane that runs past Hunstrete....there is a public footpath - certainly to the North side of the lake....
Third photo....Hmmmm.....a bivvyy.......actually I have just noticed that these photographs may not be appearing in the "post" in the order in which I thought I was uploading them so...apologies if some of the post does not align with the images.....
Fourth photo taken from South East looking toward the centre North bank of Hunstrete....if you can see the seagull on the water..that area is quite deep and is more or less where Alan Dart caught the longstanding eel record in the 60's and 70's...
fifth photo taken from the wider Eastern end of Hunstrete looking "up" the lake toward the narrower Western end.....
sixth photo....taken from the small bay in the South East corner looking toward the centre North bank...
seventh photo...a "carpy" looking area in the South East bay....
eighth photo ....taken from Southern bank looking toward the wider Eastern bank....
ninth photo....banks and the foilage and trees looking pretty good....another bivvy.......Southern bank looking North...
tenth photo taken from Southern bank....looking North West ?
Actually..I think I can now see that the uploads are not all working as I had hoped so I will leave any more photographs until a time when my capabilities match the technology !
I hope TFF members can however get a better idea of this historic carp lake which has a marvellous tradition....I really had a marvellous few years fishing this place....sometimes sinister and a daunting place but always fascinating. Some final comments...a mix of fact......personal reflection...and anecdotal.....
Hunstrete had two additional lakes dug to the Western side of the old Estate Lake over the last couple of decades. These provide marvellous access and disabled swims etc and are also quite popular with the younger fishermen ...these lakes are maturing quite nicely. The main...old Hunstrete Lake when I fished it twenty and thirty years ago...was really silty and had a reasonable number of ancient trees that had fallen into the water and provided some fantastic "wilderness" fishing. Additionally, the shallower - Western - end of Hunstrete and both North and Southern banks from the Western end upto around the middle of the lake used to have densely packed lilly beds...beautiful in Summer and an absolute haven for large tench and carp. When I walked around the lake this afternoon....nearly all of these lilly beds had been removed. There are however some patches of reed that have been left. I found myself admiring the commitment and volunteer efforts of people over many years to improve Hunstrete...access....tree clearance....the new lakes giving others an ability to fish....removal of the silt build up and, overall, leaving Hunstrete with a sympathetic approach to the work undertaken. The bankside and paths through the trees and undergrowth have largely been left as they should. I was a little saddened that the extensive lilly beds have been removed and couldn't really understand why ...and also I felt that perhaps some of the trees could have been left in the water. Overall though, the lake itself has had a lot of care taken.....and even though changed....it retains the essence...if only one could get the place to oneself like for a few days....Ha Ha !
Were there any negative aspects about my visit this afternoon ?....Well....when I walked up the lane having parked near the old "keeper's cottage"...I was greeted with a substantial metal gate with electronic wizardry and pass code access systems to to car park.......next I was confronted with "warning signs" that the lake was under 24/7 CCTV operation.....and as I turned into the overgrown path found myself standing next to a large grey metal "tower" with remote CCTV camera's....not quite traditional but sadly I was told a necessary precaution.....as I walked around I counted maybe 30 or so carp anglers on the main lake...all more or less identical....camo clothing and gear...all with bivvys....all twin rod, alarms, 2-3 oz "bombs" etc etc....the latter of which seemed a little excessive to my mind given the size of Hunstrete....still that's the way it is and to be fair...they were a reasonable bunch of fishermen when I chatted to them.....but on a lovely Autumnal afternoon quite why everyone needed to erect a bivvy was beyond me....
There is no longer any Bathampton AA Hunstrete "night fishing" syndicate that I recall in the 70's...one week on two weeks off and which I used to really enjoy. Fishing is only allowed during the day...hours vary throughout the year but today it looked like 0700 to approx 2100 ? Again....why erect a bivvy for the day only ?
There are apparently still large tench and eels in Hunstrete although more precise size is difficult to gain accurate data. In carp terms...there are maybe in excess of 20 different "thirties" for those interested in such things and at least one...maybe more....."forty"....I do not know if any of the original "Leney" strain still exist in Hunstrete. They certainly were there when I regularly fished it in the 70's and part of the 80's...but that was a long time ago.....
Hopefully of some interest to members.....I enjoyed my wander around my old "haunt" this afternoon. I still could sense the magic and aura of Hunstrete that I grew up with and even though today there were quite a number of carp anglers and all dressed and fishing in the same manner....the camo. gear....bivvys.....remote CCTV and the electric security gates all took me back to a former life in Afghanistan...nevertheless...I am maybe tempted to join Bathampton AA next year for the first time in decades and try the alternative...more traditional...approach.....I am happy with my split cane carp rod and centrepin but I suspect that maybe this time "par boiled" potato might need to be replaced with something else....
Barbulus