What a fabulous weekend of fishing, all-round banter and fun which started with the traditional ‘pick your peg out of the hat’ lottery. The small group of 20 experienced fishermen were spread out around the privately fished, 70-acre picturesque lake set in 100-plus acres of wonderful Cambridgeshire countryside.
Once all the fishermen were set up, it was wonderful to see the bivvies, tents and those lucky enough to have a motorhome set around the water’s edge as the fishermen cast off at the start of the 2-day competition. With rods in the water, fish were caught at regular intervals over the 2 days and several amazing monster fish were caught, with beautiful specimens being landed.
These fish had not been regularly caught and hence put up a good fight once hooked and were in beautiful condition. One carp caught by Matt Blacker weighed in at 30lb plus with other species being caught over the 2 days such as tench, perch and a lovely pike caught by myself.
Among the more seasoned fishermen was a junior fisherman, young Charlie Dickenson the grandson of Steve Dickenson a Livery member. He caught his personal best fish which weighed in at 20lb.
Over the 2 days, we walked the banks and visited our fellow fishermen sharing a beer or two and plenty of banter. On the first evening our host kindly treated all the guests to a fish and chip supper. All washed down with a cold beer on a beautiful English warm summer evening. As the evening drew to a close we returned to the serious business of watching our rods with the hares dancing in the moonlight.
In the morning as the sun rose, we were awoken by the extremely loud noise of hundreds of geese leaving the water in their droves to feed. Quite a sight. With the sun starting to shine brightly the group of fishermen came together to compare their catches and share stories of the ‘one that got away’.
All the fishermen had a fabulous time with some wonderful challenging fishing and a few personal bests being caught. Well done young Charlie. A wonderful weekend, great company and a special location. Not to mention the absolute privilege of fishing the most unique private specimen carp lake in the country.
We are very grateful for the provision of this amazing lake for our gunmakers to fish with all the funds raised going to the GCCT in support of our gunmaking apprentices. Our thanks go to Gunmakers Livery company and the GCCT, it was an amazing event and one myself and Matt have already booked for next year! The date is expected to be in September 2023.
Please check the Trust’s website for future events, news and the Livery calendar for further information.
We are grateful to Bill Blacker for writing this report.
