Just Dreaming
An anglers view of DreamLake 1 by Paul Richardson

The DreamLakes. What can I say about the DreamLakes that hasn’t already been said or penned. I have fished the lakes 9 times now, of which 8 of the visits have been to fish DreamLake1, which was the first lake that I fished on the complex, and I admit that it is my favourite lake of them all. This is not to say that I don’t like the others, this is my personal preference.

The first time I fished DreamLake1 I arrived in the transport laid on to take us there. This mini-bus was driven by Zen Bojko himself (Zen’s a qualified PSV driver too !) and to say it was hairy is the understatement of the millennium - I have seen less hairy gorillas. Of course they have a super coach service now which makes it much more comfortable and a lot more relaxing !

Nevertheless we arrived and looked out at the lake to see fish showing and smiles on the faces of the punters packing up who had been fishing it the week before our arrival. On speaking to the lads, they had all caught. Most had smashed their own P.B’s to pieces and were going to book up for next year. Praise indeed I thought.

You choose swims at the start. This takes 5 minutes but seems like 5 hours. You just want to get going. Once done though, everyone went to the swims that they had chosen. I was asked to fish the Snags as it would be easier for me, being that I use a wheelchair and it is relatively flatish. On arrival at my swim I was delighted to see 50% of the water in front of me coloured up and looking really muddy. The snag that gives its name to the swim is 6 yards from the far corner as you cast at a slight angle to your left. You could then fish 3 rods, so I chose to fish 3 separate but very fishy looking areas. The left hand rod would go halfway up the margin to my left to an overhanging bush in 2ft of water. The middle rod would fish towards the end of the margin in 6ft of water just off a willow which had fallen into the lake and the remaining rod was to be fished just in front of the snag which you could clearly see by a single branch which stuck up approx. 1ft out of the water.

I fired 20 boilies around each mark then set up my kit and erected the bivvy, my home for the next week. By now it was starting to get very hot as we had arrived in June, and a hot one at that.

About the bait.
The first time I went to DreamLakes I bought some of the most bright yellow, strongest smelling SCOPEX boilies that Zen had ever seen or smelt. He was so confident that I would catch nothing on them that he told all and sundry about my yeller perils.
I just said if them fish are flippin’ hungry - then they’ll scoff ‘em, and would do even if they were sky blue flippin’ pink. We all laughed but I must admit Zen had me thinking.

I cast out all three rods and taped up the lines for markers for casting back accurately, if need be, during the day or night. People in our group of anglers started catching the odd fish and then I was away on my RHR. A good hard fight resulted in a Common of 22lb 10oz. A good start.

I recast and baited the swim again with 50 boilies in the three spots, with the bulk going to the spot I had just had the fish from. I sat back and had a bottle of beer. Bierre Blonde or something. By now the sun was really hot and so was I. I was just chatting to a Brummie when my LHR single noted a fast take which took line off the clutch straight away, and at an alarming rate. I looked at Steve, the Brummie, and said quite simply Zens right you know, you won’t catch nowt on the yeller perils.

We both just started laughing but the fish on the other end was not enjoying the joke and 20 minutes later, soaked in sweat, Steve netted a fish for me, which he described as huge. Onto the unhooking mat, I parted the mesh of the landing net to feast my eyes on a perfect leather. It did look the part and I guessed it at 40ish. Onto the scales and Steve was straining with needle bouncing around 39-42lb. We put the fish down and put the scales onto a tree branch. Up it went and we both agreed a weight of 39lb 13oz. I got my sack out and pegged it on a 10metre extension cord, as the bailiffs had asked us all that if we got anything a bit special to go and get them so they could record it on video. With this in mind I found Gordon (cook and bailiff extraordinaire) to come and do the necessary.

Gordon came along and did the necessary, including soaking me with a bucket of water. Welcome to DreamLakes !! The rest of the trip was all a bonus now, but just for the record, the yeller perils caught me 42 fish out of 48 runs. I lost 4 fish in various snags, one just ‘dropped off’ and the other, a 30lb+ Common, I lost at the net through a hook pull.

I caught six 30’s (including my 39lb 13oz leather), 29 x 20’s (11 of these 25lb+) and 7 doubles as back up fish. These fish came in blazing sun, torrential rain, middle of the night... in fact they could, and did, come at anytime and in any weather.

This type of catch is, by no means, a one off. Lots of other anglers that I knew before they went, or got to know through the holidays I met them on, have had great successes themselves.
As I said earlier, I have been back another 8 times, fishing swims such as Snags, Deer Dip and Sunset on DreamLake1 and The Beach on DreamLake2. I have always enjoyed my time spent at the complex and I am going back again twice in 2001.

The Food. There is one thing I have omitted to mention and that is food. You don’t have to take any if you book up the complete package as Matt & Chilly (arguably better chefs than Gordon even) and their fellow bailiffs will try to kill you with kindness.

You get 2 meals a day, comprising of a large cooked breakfast, fit for a king, and an evening meal (including pudding) which renders you motionless for approx. 30-45 minutes after you’ve eaten it. Fantastic!

Is it worth the money ?
I am from Middlesbrough, way up north (twinned with Greenland) where I admit we watch our money. We are not tight we just spend what we get wisely !
Need I say more ?

Cheers, I hope I see you at DreamLakes... never give up on a dream.
Paul Richardson

Top