Greetings :)

Hi folks, greetings from Leicester, just thought I'd say hello and introduce myself My names's Paul and I generally go carping with my girlfriend, Carol, and sometimes with my two daughters who are 9 and 11 (bit of a carping family really). Thanks to Andy for setting up this forum. I've been looking round the forums for info about the monument cos we're booked to go there for the first time at the end of july but I've not managed to find much useful info yet altho there seemed to be quite a few disparaging comments about unhelpful bailiffs which has left me feeling a bit apprehensive! Hopefully you can give me a balanced picture of what the place is like. Actually my girlfriend's experience when she made the booking didn't exactly set my fears at rest! She spoke to Matt Haye's dad (no less)who made the comment "Why are you wasting your money coming here when you could go to France". This seemed a strange comment for an employee of the place to make and didn't exactly instill confidence! Also they didn't reply to our emails after sending the deposit and took about 2months to confirm the booking. Finally she rang them up and managed to confirm that they'd received the money and the booking was confirmed.
Anyway we are booked into pegs 9 and 10 so any info about fishing these swims would be appreciated. I'm in swim 10 which as luck would have it is reputably the trickiest swim on the lake! I looked at the interactive tour but the video was a little confusing as it seemed to suggest that the best spot to fish is between the long diagonal bar and the small square plateau. However, looking at the map this would appear to be directly in front of swim 11 which would be imposing on the angler in that swim! I'm guessing that the map is not very accurate, can you shed any light on this? Also no mention was made of the reedy bay to the right of the swim and the possibility of fishing the margins which to me would be an obvious place to try(going by the map). Any info about these swims would be helpful, unfortunately the only mention of them I've found in the forums is by people who've blanked there!
Best regards and tight lines

Paul Gee

Hi Paul,and firstly welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the kind words re setting up this forum,i did it as i felt there was not enough places to talk to other fisherman about this pool,share hints and tips etc. Also other pools im sure will be discussed as the forum grows.
Firstly peg 10...the hardest peg on the lake,so they say! I was fishing there recently and my cousin was on that peg. Only 3 fish came out over that weekend and two of them feel to my cousin on that very peg!
Corn/fake corn critically balanced was the key to his catches,both at range. He may well be joining the forums to tell you more about it & help where he can.
All pegs can be hard there now mate so go with a positive attitude and give it your best shot.

Regarding the bailiff there,if you get Dave he's a good bloke,will help you out no end and offer any advice he can. Regarding the margins,my cousin thought the same but found they were heavily weeded so decided it was not really an option.

So there is a topic on someone who HAS caught from that peg,i hope that fills you with a little more confidence. lol

Hopefully you will get more answers over the coming weeks as more people keep joining. If you know anyone who has fished there,tell them about this forum.

Regards,

Andy

Hi Andy, thanks for your response and the info, I'm not despondant about getting swim 10, in fact I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'll be interested to hear what your brother in law has to say about the swim. Good to hear the fake corn is going well, one of my favs at the mo, works well on a zigrig as well. One combo I've found really deadly is a Sonubaits 11mm oily floater tipped with a piece of plastic floating corn fished on a KD rig.
Anyway, ta for the help, if I find anything more out I'll keep u posted

best regards
Paul