Less than a mile from the Santa Pod track – famed Worldwide for dragster racing – lies a tranquil haven called Wold Farm Fisheries. Dean Jones of Northamptonshire club Rushden Rods brought us here to strut his stuff on the Moat Pool where no carp are stocked yet big bags are always on the cards.
I remember a kid in my class at secondary school used to have ‘Santa Pod Raceway’ stickers all over his pencil case. They showed crazy cars – some with long noses like an alligator on wheels, others with gigantic fat back tyres and multiple chrome pipes emerging everywhere – with parachutes trailing behind amid smoke and flames!
“What’s that all about then?” I enquired. “Dragster racing, Santa Pod, innit?” he replied with a satisfied smirk.
For all I knew back then, Santa Pod could be somewhere on The Moon. But I later learned that the place lay just outside the pretty little village of Podington (hence the ‘Pod’ part of the name) near the Northamptonshire-Bedfordshire border.
I never did go to watch drag racing, but almost 30 years later I drove past the racetrack and a big scrapyard (a dragsters graveyard, perhaps?) on my way to a fantastic fishery whose idyllic, peaceful setting is in total contrast to the roar of jet-fuelled engines.
I’d been invited there by Dean Jones, a genial 24-year-old from nearby Rushden. Like most club anglers, Dean doesn’t treat his sport with the almost life-or-death intensity that many participants on the dwindling team and open circuits do. Being the father of two young children, he couldn’t spare the time even if he wanted to!
However, unlike most ‘clubbies’, Dean has managed to negotiate himself two individual sponsorships, along with one for his club-mates.
Mistral Backing For Rushden Rods
Although better known for their specimen baits range, local company Mistral were happy to back Dean when he approached them on behalf of Rushden Rods – now rechristened Mistral Rods.
Dean, who works as a gardener on the Castle Ashby estate, is certainly not brash or cocky. Nor is he shy and retiring. I found him enthusiastic, polite, and not afraid to ask questions. His belief is that if you don’t ask then you don’t get!
“It’s like arranging this feature – I just phoned you up, told you about myself as an angler and asked if you’d be interested,” he pointed out, when I enquired how he managed to wangle the sponsorship deals (his latest being individual backing from float company Ultra).
Fair play! But when you’re not a household ‘name’, and the fishery you’ve nominated is not a nationally famous match water, then the pressure is on to ensure the feature is one worth running. That’s the gamble I took - and neither Dean nor the venue disappointed.
Fast Reactions Are Required
Wold Farm is a day ticket water, but not the type where you just turn up on the day. Pre-booking is essential, as owner Dax Miller explained after unlocking the gate to let Dean and I drive onto the complex. I was instantly struck by how mature the vegetation was, and how well manicured the grass leading to the platformed pegs were.
Dean set up at peg two on a narrow arm of the Moat, and explained that he’d persuaded Dax to waive the usual ‘fishery pellets only’ rule so that he could showcase his favourite commercial feed - Mistral Moist Method Strawberry mini pellets, which come ready-dampened in a resealable pack.
After pouring half a bagful into a bait box then adding a goodly amount of Mistral cooked hemp, he fed a large cupful tight to the far bank reeds where plumbing had revealed a decent depth of three feet. Dean set up three rigs – two for this far bank line featuring Ultra Pex dibber floats of 0.2 and 0.3 grams - plus a more slender bristled float for the inside. Both dibber rigs were on 0.20mm (5lb) Ultima Power Plus line. The lighter float was armed with a size 15 Kamasan B711 hook for maggot and pellet hook baits, the heavier with the same pattern in size 13 for bigger worm baits.
A couple of No.8 shots plus the weight of the hook bait were sufficient to cock these fat topped floats, while the top kits of his Leeda Blue Diamond pole were armed with pink Drennan hollow 14-16 elastic. Although such beefy gear seemed typical carp hauling kit, Dean explained: “The tench here run to over 4lb and if you don’t fish heavy they will get in the reeds before you can blink.”
He was speaking from recent experience too, having fished the same peg in a practise session a week earlier – and bagged up with tench after a stuttering start!
“They were going potty for maggots sprayed with strawberry flavouring by the end of that session, but the better fish were all very tight across to the reeds,” he revealed. “That will be my main line today, but I’ll also loose feed to my left and right just down the shelf at four metres as back-up lines. You can catch very close here sometimes.”
Four Lakes, Endless Variety
Leaving Dean to build up his swim, I joined Dax for a quick fishery tour. First stop was Wold Lake, the oldest and largest which is now the designated specimen water. “It was dug out during World War Two to provide a mound for a gunners post protecting the airfield which is now Santa Pod raceway,” he revealed. Although not yet open to anglers, Dax has cleared out decades of silt and leaf mould and restocked the water with double-figure carp. He’s giving them time to grow on into ‘20s’, as demanded by today’s big fish anglers. All being well, the first lines will be cast later this year.
“I’m feeding them up as advised by Bernice Brewster of Aquatic Consultancy. I’ve had to learn the whole fishery management game from scratch since taking over here ten years ago, and expert advice is worth paying for,” opined Dax.
Oaks Lake, two acres with 25 pegs, is the main match water and holds plenty of smaller carp plus bream, tench, roach and rudd.
The creation of the final few pegs on the smallest pool, Islands Lake, is still underway. But soon around 15 swims will be present- each with an island margin within long (but not over-long) pole range. A similar mixed stock to Oaks is present.
And so to the 1.5 acre Moat Lake, Dean’s choice for today’s session. Tench of both varieties, crucians, bream, barbel and chub are the sole stock here. So not only are there no carp, but also no roach or rudd which can sometimes become stunted nuisances on relatively small and shallow waters like this. Variety is clearly the byword at Wold View, and fishing isn’t everything. The site is also bookable for shooting, another passion of both men.
Worm Turns Them On
Our Mistral man reported intermittently action, with seven or eight tench now in his net including a near-2lb bonus. The majority were around 14oz, with a couple of 4oz ‘tiddlers’!
“One of them got in the reeds, but I managed to pull it up to the top then get it clear and it was no bigger. It’s amazing how strong they are,” beamed Dean, clearly enjoying himself.
As he shipped back, I noticed that he was now on his heavier rig with a large half-lobworm hook bait. “The bites seem more positive on this than on the maggot today,” he explained. “Perhaps because it’s colder than last week, and they need more time to take the bait. Even so, I can’t get bites overdepth – they want the bait just touching bottom.”
Although we were blessed by sunshine following a week of wet weather, the wind was indeed cool and blustery – and I could see why Dean had made up rigs with a longer than usual section of line between pole tip and float, and why the bigger bait was working better.
Dean mentioned that he loves pike fishing in winter, prompting me to ask about his personal bests: “My best pike is 19lb 15oz – I’ve not managed a 20 yet but I’ve had several others over 19lb. I’ve also caught bream to 10lb 4oz, crucians to 4lb 10oz and a 5lb 2oz eel,” he replied. An impressive mixture for sure! As the day wore on, a pattern emerged. Feed, and you’d get a bite on the next two or three put-ins before action tailed off. Repeat, catch again, and so on.
Dean was introducing cupfuls of his hemp and pellet mix not much smaller than his initial payload each time, and the fish would be straight on it before backing off once more. Despite the lulls, a highly respectable catch was still on the cards.
There seemed no benefit in a lighter feed regime, nor in changing tack to chopped worm. “The worm hook baits act as a large target over the smaller particles of feed. Feeding worm, even finely chopped, would reduce the chances of them finding the one with my hook in it,” he reasoned.
Quick Sport Short In Sheltered Swim
The lack of inside cover combined with bankside disturbance whilst taking photos seemed the likely explanation, because across the lake Dax was now bagging up on his own inside lines. His fish were a smaller stamp than Dean’s but the bites were coming far faster on what was a deeper swim with more inside cover and, crucially, full shelter from the wind thanks to the thick hawthorns behind.
I watched Dax for a while as we chatted about our angling backgrounds. Dax grew up match fishing mainly on rivers, including Nationals with the Bedford and Ampthill clubs. Nowadays, a few snatched hours such as this with convenience baits like the 3, 6 and 8mm expander pellets he’s prepped up were his regular ‘fix’. Fishery management is seven day a week job with long hours, and fishing yourself is seldom part of the equation!
Generously, Dax let me have a good hour’s bash on his kit and five different species – crucian, tench, skimmer, golden tench and barbel – satisfied my own craving.
As the afternoon wore on, darker clouds filled the sky with the threat of rain. I handed back to Dax and headed round to rejoin Dean - just in time to watch him strike, play and land a lovely golden tench of around 1lb 12oz.
This seemed an ideal way to end the session. With around 30lb of battling tincas plus a bonus barbel, he’d done us proud despite the awkward conditions. “It was worth the effort collecting those lobworms,” grinned Dean as he posed for the catch picture.
Wold Farm’s Moat Lake may not offer ton-up bags of carp – but who cares when the float keeps going under and the landing net is still required on most occasions? If regular bites float your boat, give Dax a call then rev up your motor and head down for a turbo charged tench session!
Location: Near Santa Pod raceway in the village of Podington, around five miles outside Rushden and two miles off the A6 Bedford road plus the A509 and B569. All access strictly by appointment, detailed directions will be issued. Tickets: £7 a day (includes landing net), £10 (landing net and keepnet). Rules: Fishery-supplied nets only. Fishery own pellets and groundbait only. Other permitted baits: maggot, caster, bread, worm, hemp. Sweetcorn on the hook only. No barbed hooks, no night fishing. Facilities: Car parks, flush toilets, tackle shop, snack bar, tuition available, club and corporate day bookings (including shooting) welcomed.
Contact: 01933 316630, 07974 000230 or www.woldfarmfisheries.co.uk
See below for more images from this feature:
I enjoyed a GREAT day at Wold Farm Fisheries and bagged-up on the Oaks….! I also found that they have a website for further info, http://www.woldfarmfisheries.co.uk.
I fished islands lake at wold farm fisheries, had fantastic day so good took my father next day. Dad had over 100lbs and I had personal best 89lbs 4oz.
Thanks Dax for a great day!
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