Fishing4Fun took a trip round the M25 see why North London teenager Gary Manoli rates day ticket Lake John - best known for specimen carp to 40lb - as one of the top silver fish match waters in the Home Counties.
Perched atop his Rive seat box, the diminutive figure of Gary Manoli stood out amongst the 20 or so anglers dotted around the three acre perimeter of Lake John - for two reasons.
Firstly, 17-year-old Gary was the only one pole fishing. His fellow anglers all seemed content to launch out heavy leads with PVA bags at distance, or fish waggler rigs at close range.
Secondly, although the occasional buzzer signalled a take for the others, he was also the only one catching at a regular rate.
When you consider that this three acre lake set on farmland at the southern fringe of Epping Forest is home to a big head of double-figure carp, including plenty over 20lb to a current venue record specimen of 40lb, then the percentage of anglers targeting those giants is perhaps unsurprising.
However, when Gary and owner Colin Bartlett tell you that 70 to 80lb weights of bream, tench, crucians, perch and rudd are needed to frame in matches here nowadays, you’ll quickly weigh up the more likely route to ensure a busy day’s sport.
While some of the carp anglers were indeed hedging their bets by fishing a second rod on the waggler – and landing occasional bream and tench in the process – there’s no doubt that they would catch plenty more with the precise bait placement offered by the pole. But each to their own!
Feed To Keep ‘Em On The Deck
It’s the terrific silver fish sport on offer which had drawn us to Lake John, and Gary’s chosen approach to catch his 70lb target weight was chopped worm and caster.
He selected peg 14 which is on a small point along the back bank, and set up three rigs – each to fish at full depth or up to nine inches overdepth – at 13 metres in around seven feet of water. “I’d rate this one of the top three pegs on the lake,” announced Gary. “It shallows up a bit beyond 13 metres, and in a match I’d also feed a closer line around six metres. But today I’m going to concentrate on one line, alternating different presentations to try and keep fish coming,”
Before examining Gary’s rigs in more detail, what would be his feed strategy?
“I will start by mixing up three kilos of groundbait – a bag each of Dynamite Swim Stim Green, Ringers Dark and brown crumb. After adding water I use a drill whisk to distribute it evenly, then riddle it two or even three times to remove any lumps,” he revealed.
“Next I add a bag of GOT Baits micro pellets, then transfer 12 big handfuls to a spare bowl to form the 12 balls which I will feed at the all-in. Before forming these, I’ll add two large 240ml Drennan cupfuls of chopped worm and one of casters to this bowl.
All very precise and well planned. It soon emerges that Gary is a very neat and methodical angler indeed; very much in the style (though not the shape – sorry Dave!) of Cockney match legend and former England international Dave Vincent.
“Dave is brilliant, he’s always taken the time to talk to me on matches. I’ve picked up so many time-saving tips from him which have now become second nature,” enthused Gary, who also rates Lake John regulars Simon Willsmore, Gary Miller, Chris Vandervleit and Grant Fear as major influences on his progress.
Gary’s Career To Date
As the pint-sized prospect set up his rigs, I quizzed him about his angling career to-date; from how he started through to the present, as part of the Mosella Farnborough Youth squad.
Gary’s distinctive surname (of Greek origin) made me hazard a guess that he’s related to George and Cos Manoli - a real pair of characters grouped with A1 Angling back in the late ‘80s when I lived in ‘The Smoke’ and dabbled in the London canal circuit with Brown’s Barclays.
Sure enough, he’s their nephew. It made me feel old (an increasingly regular occurrence) when I realised he wasn’t even born back then!
“I’m still the same really. I do like carp, but I prefer silvers. I want to fish for England so I’m really trying to improve on the ‘international’ methods whenever I can,” continued Gary, who is taking driving lessons and looking forward to spreading his wings further afield.
“Dad’s a carp angler these days. He fishes Walthamstow Reservoirs and I sometimes go with him just to fish the slider for big bream. My best day was 12 bream to 12lb 8oz for 100lb-plus on worm and caster. Another day I had a 25lb carp there on fixed waggler.
“Joining Mosella Farnborough has been great, it’s another way of learning more tactics and venues. It’s a long way from home but there’s members from much further. The whole set-up is excellent and recently I really enjoyed the Junior National on the Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes,” added Gary, who was part of the Blue team who took team silver behind their Gold stable-mates in the Intermediates section.
Raisor Sharp
All three of Gary’s rigs carried 0.8 gram KC Carpa Raisor floats - with rugby ball-shaped bodies, carbon stems and long fibre tips – on 0.14mm Shimano Antares main line to a six inch 0.12mm hook length of the same.
Two were near-identical rigs, with grade 6 latex through his pole’s top two sections and a Drennan Polemaster olivette with two No.10 Stotz equally spaced below this and terminating just above the hook length knot. The only difference was hook size – a size 16 for worm and an 18 for double caster – plus a couple of inches in depth, the caster being set at dead depth with the other rig just over.
Bites are often unmissable lifts on the bristle, which Gary like to leave plenty showing anyway due to the bream’s habit of brushing the line and creating false bites that you might be tempted to hit if fishing with a float dotted right down. Against a ‘white’ background as caused by the reflection if an overcast sky on open water, he blacks the floats’ tips with marker pen to aid visibility.
Nicking a dendrabaena worm in half with his thumbnail – left long for the very purpose - Gary nicks his hook through the juicy head section and reckons he can often catch several fish on the same piece. Another time-saving advantage over alternative baits.
The reason he likes to fish at full depth rather than shallow is due to the large head of small roach, rudd and perch that would intercept baits set shallower before the larger samples got a look in.
As Gary settles into the session it becomes clear that Lake John is, as promised, teeming with good quality silver fish of many species.
Bream are the early mainstays, and a good average size of 2lb indicates that a steady catch rate should see his target weight realised. A 3lb-plus tench gives the grade size latex a more testing workout, but around 90 minutes into the session in Gary begins to suffer an annoying run of lost fish.
He suspects they have move up in the water and are all being foul hooked. A snag close in – probably a length of carp line – is another annoyance, but more critical is the need to sort out that first top-up feed to get the fishes’ heads back down.
Top-Up Time
The importance of mixing up ample groundbait before fishing – then keeping it covered to prevent it drying out – as underlined as Gary quickly scoops out five more handfuls from his main bucket into the second bowl.
“The beauty of this place is that the fish tell you when it’s time to re-feed, as the bites just stop,” he stated. “This time around I’m only going to add one full cup of chopped worm and caster, half of each, to the six ball mix, to cut back the food value,” he added.
Eventually he contacts the bream again – but now they mainly seem to be skimmers in the 4-12oz class rather than the larger fish of before. And he’s waiting longer between bites. However, he’s still putting weight in the net so there’s no need to hit the panic button and re-feed again, until the bites cease.
“I’m getting more bits on the drop now, so my next feed will be a stickier groundbait mix by adding water, and I’ll add even less feed – possibly none,” reasoned Gary, his mind racing ahead but his tackle control remaining impeccable for such a young, slightly built angler.
Lake John’s Creator
Leaving Gary to continue his quest to resume his earlier catch rate, I took a stroll around the lake and met several happy punters in search of the big carp.
Local Laurie Page arrive for an afternoon session and hooked a carp within five minutes of casting out a hair-rigged piece of Peperami down the near margin. At around 8lb it was one of the smaller ones, but gave a great account of itself.
Another angler on the back bank popped down for a session purely to make sure his rods were OK after a bumpy Transit ride back from Linear Oxford. Having he’d endured a three-day blank over there, a 28-pounder was the perfect tonic. A few carp were falling to surface baits in certain swims, such as the boathouse corner, and everyone seemed to be enjoying their day.
The next person I met was Karen, venue boss Colin’s partner and bailiff for the day in his absence (helping a pal with some heavy lifting work). And Karen had the answer to my one remaining question – who on earth was ‘John’ whom the lake is named after, as seen on a large dedication sign near the car park?
“John was my dad. I grew up here, and used to ride my pony on the site of the lake. Dad combined a farm with a haulage business, but he loved fishing and creating the lake was his dream,” said Karen. Tragically, John died in a boating accident, aged just 45 - a week after the first fish were stocked. But his memory lives on in the happy faces, trilling alarms, bending rods and stretching elastics of today’s Lake John visitors! “He’d have loved to see how it’s turned out, just like we do,” added Karen.
Final Session Summary
Although he never quite recaptured his blistering early pace, ringing the changes helped Gary achieve a final catch of around 55lb. Shy of his demanding target, admittedly - but without genuine match conditions involving anglers either side it’s impossible to quantify in match terms.
Suffice to say I headed home very impressed with a young angler who seems to combine the best of the ‘old school’ London tactics – the Dave Vincent/Trev’s Browning-era attention to detail in every single aspect of tackle and set-up – with the modern ability to catch big weights, and not just of carp!
Venue Fact File Lake John, Galley Hill, Waltham Abbey, Essex Description: Three-acre main lake with central island, plus smaller moat-style pool. Tickets: Full day £7 one rod, £14 two. Concessions/evenings £5 and £7. Facilities: Car parking, café at weekends, toilets. Rules: Main rules include no barbed hooks, boilies, pastes, nuts, fixed/bolt rigs, bait boats or night fishing. Please observe 5mph speed limit on approach track. Full listing including match rules on fishery website. Contact: Colin or Karen on 07958 938152/3 or visit www.lakejohnfishery.co.uk Directions: From the B194 Crooked Mile roundabout in Waltham Abbey, take the Parklands exit and turn left after three-quarters of a mile at the Galley Hill signpost. Lake John is signposted a mile down this road, on the left. Please observe 5mph signs on the approach track.
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