Early in the week I mentioned to Steve that I wouldn't mind trying out the Koi lake at Hazel Court Ponds and he was well up for it and somehow two days later we were traveling up the M4. I'm not even sure how I even managed to get the day off work.
When we got there it was quite busy especially for a week day. On my last trip to Hazel Court I had only seen the Catfish lake and I wasn't sure what else was there. Unfortunately the Koi lake was already being fished but it didn't really matter as we didn't really mind what lake we fished it was just nice to get out.
With a brief run down of the fishery from the lady in the kiosk we opted for a day on the surprisingly small specimen lake, It seemed a bit unreal to learn that there were fish around and over the twenty pound mark as to look at it the lake seemed too small but any doubts were quashed during our initial walk round the lake when a few fish were seen breaking the surface and judging by what I could see these fish had to be upper teens at least.
Old smiley setting up his new pod.After seeing the surface activity I couldn't wait to to get a bait out, I started off by throwing out a few handfuls of mixer biscuits and then broke up two slices of bread into quarters and
frisbee'd them out into the gaps in the lilies, this worked well with the odd fish slowly picking at the bread progressing to a few fish confidently starting to clear up the biscuits, but then what I thought was going to be easy turned into an absolute nightmare as the resident bird life, several mallards coots and moorhens decided that they wanted any surface baits and proceeded wreaked the opportunity of taking any of the feeding fish, once the ducks had cleared all the free offering their number slowly fell but that's not to say they weren't far away ready to pounce if they thought I may be trying to put a surface bait out.
Just when I thought that bottom baits were going to be the only option I heard a familiar slurping sound, quickly scanning the weeds then the margins I spotted ghost Carp tucked right in the margins only just visible through the over hanging reeds and as my eyes focused in I could see another
ghostie and a fair sized common Carp, I managed flick a single mixer biscuit along the margins then dragged it back pulling it under the bank weed, then watched as all three fish took their turns approaching the bait then backing off, then the two
ghosties came back and both of they started to try and suck the bait down, I watched as they both edged closer to the bait then the smaller of the two moved that little bit closer and sucked down the bait, resisting the urge to strike I paused and waited until it had closed its mouth before I set the hook.
It wasn't a terrific fight with me only being a few feet away from the fish, I just guided the fish back and forth until Steve was able to net it for me. Result! my first fish from Hazel Court and whats move I went there wanting to fish the Koi lake and ended up taking a Ghost Koi out of the Specimen lake, what a start.
My first fish from Hazel Court Ponds, a 12lb 1oz Ghostie.
It was a long time before I got into my second fish but not for the want of trying I had had several close calls, I had pulled baits away from fish and spooked fish approaching my bait this was mainly down to the ducks relentlessly pursuing my bait.
My second fish was also taken close in much to Steve's disgust as he had tried to take a
koi from the same spot about an hour earlier, this time it was only a small one and was no match for the set-up I was using but looking at its scale patterns I can imagine this fish in a few years time being a stunning example of how a mirror Carp should look.

About half way through the day Steve finally hooked into a fish, and almost straight away he said 'I think its an Eel' and after a proper scrap a nice sized Eel popped it head out of the water, I netted it with the camera in one hand and the net in the other and with the fish trying its hardest to swim backwards as soon as it hit the surface it wasn't an easy job.
Once it was in the net the scales confirmed a new PB for Steve, weighing in at 1lb 14oz, just by looking at it I thought that it may have been a bit bigger, but it was still big enough to set a new PB and give Steve a slime coating as an added bonus.
A new PB Eel for Steve, 1lb 14oz.
The action dried up a bit for me while Steve boosted his catch total with a few Roach, Bream and some Golden Rudd. As the evening set in the wind had dropped and I went off trying to pick another fish off the surface, I had spooked a few nice fish as well as missing one take from a small common, then my persistence paid off as I noticed what I thought was another
ghostie coming out from underneath a lily pad trying to suck down one of the mixer biscuit I had thrown out, I cast a single mixer biscuit just passed the the fish then slowly pulled it back until it was virtually touching the other biscuit, this was too much temptation for the fish and I watched a big white mouth come up and take both the biscuits in one go. I struck and the fish headed straight for the lilies, I fought the fish quite hard keeping it out of the lilies or I should say trying to keep it out off the lilies as the fight set a few of the lilies adrift but once I had the in a clear patch in the weed I kept it well under control until it was time to guide it into the need.
Lovely my second
Koi Carp of the day and this one was a true ornamental
Koi but far bigger than you'd seen in any garden pond, I carried the fish round to the unhooking mat and Steve weighed it in at 8lb 2oz and took a few pictures for me before it powered off back into the lake.
My third Carp and second Koi of the day, well worth the trip.
By now it was almost time to pack up as the gates are locked at eight o'clock, and I
didn't realise how late in the day it was, we packed up and were out of the gates, cutting it close at 7:56.
I think I can say that we both enjoyed ourselves today but I think that if there
weren't so many ducks there I would have
definitely had a lot more fish on the bank. If all goes well I should be able to get a few more sessions in a Hazel Court before the end of the summer.