Norddy Goes To DreamLake 2
by Steve Norddahl-Payne (NORDDY)

To say that there was an air of nervous excitement would be an understatement. After 12 months in the planning, a short ferry crossing and 4 hour coach trip, myself and some of the other first timers pulled into the DreamLake complex on August the 4th 2001 wondering just what was in store for the week ahead.

Now the week before going to DreamLakes, and considering the amount of planning, I was still short of a few things, one being a set of adequate rods and the other being a bivvy which had previously been trashed at Wyreside the week before.
Thankfully after much grovelling the lads at Staperley Water Gardens came up trumps in the shape of a one man Armadillo and with a set of three and a half pound test Harrison Ballistas built to my own specification which I picked up the day before departure I was ready for the trip down to Dover.

I build my own rods due to having very personnel tastes in terms of fishing rod cosmetics but have to resort to a local rod builder and owner of Meadow Fisheries in Cheshire when it comes to coating the whippings, this is mainly due to my two very inquisitive daughters and also because of the exceptional finish John produces.

The one and a half hour ferry crossing and four hour coach trip pass quickly due to the banter, introductions and grilling of the regulars on every aspect of the complex. It’s only when you see the sign for the famous Chanty that you realise that you’re almost there.

Now, being a jammy git I had somehow managed to get No 1 in the draw and having discussed swim choices and tactics almost non stop on the coach I had a good idea that the swims on the eastern side of the lake would be stitched up, with this in mind and having three quarters of the western bank to myself I settled for peg 27.

One word of advice on arriving at DreamLakes grab yourself one of the barrows and guard it with your life, this will become a lifesaver during the week ahead-not just for carrying your weeks worth of gear to your swim but also as a seat and a nice place to keep the Kronenberg.

Finally all the gear was in swim 27, time for a beer and a relaxed look at the lake. I was determined not to rush things as the amount of pressure on the far bank could only help to push fish across. Fish crash out on DreamLakes with astonishing regularity and when you sense the size of these fish it really sets the mind thinking and the heart racing.

You cannot help thinking that it would obviously be a result to catch a thirty or forty pound plus lump but I really was there just to enjoy my week. Overnight sessions to me are a bit of a rarity so the chance of a week at one of Frances Premier fisheries was indeed cause for celebration.

Bait wise I had taken a good supply of Essential Shellfish B5 and pellets and also picked up 10 kg of DreamLake specials on arrival. Apparently they change the flavour of the DreamLake Specials a couple of times each year to keep the fish interested and we were given what appeared to be a curry spice origin which looked and smelt the business. Talk to the bailiffs and listen to what they tell you, they really do want you to catch and their knowledge of the water is outstanding.

The only thing I was adamant about was that I was only going to introduce chopped baits in an attempt to get the fishes heads down and make them work for their food, this was mainly because with the fish stocks present there was now way that I would be able to hold a shoal of fish for any length of time with whole baits.

Its hard work but I think a real edge, I was also confidant that I was the only person introducing chopped baits in any quantity, in fact the only whole boilies introduced to my swims during the week were my hookbaits. Rig wise all three rods were set up with Tec specials 3.5 oz zip leads with 4 feet of lead core attached to combi links consisting of 15 lb ESP Sink Link and Ghost Flourocarbon. Hooks were size 6 Long Shank Nailers fished blow back style. Later in the week I changed to 15 lb Ghost Stiff Links with Size 7 ESP Stiff Riggers purely due to the ease at which they could be tied day or night.

First night resulted in a lovely common of 23 lb to a DreamLake Pellet soaked in Activate dip. This in itself was a good result but with the wind being changeable I decided to move into swim 25 for the remainder of the week. This would allow me to cover fish regardless of the changing winds as it gives you an almost central viewpoint of the whole lake.

After finding three very nice spots and clipping up both the marker and the spod rod I decided to start off being a bit cautious bait wise and to limit my baiting up to after breakfast and just before dinner. My plan as it turned out would be to build up the swims and bait amounts as the week progressed.

Sunday night resulted in another scale perfect 23 lb common at 9.00 pm which seemed to signal feeding time for my centre and right hand rods, a pattern which continued throughout the week. My left hand rod fished slightly further out continued to pick up fish during the day.

Monday bought the fish catfish of my trip in the shape of a 14 lb lunatic, these fish have untold power during the initial stages of the fight but lay dead still as soon as you get them on the unhooking mat, my kind of fish. Photos done and time to celebrate my first cat.

The sun broke over DreamLakes and the complex slowly woke up, as most of my fish were beginning to come out at 9.00 pm onwards the days were spent lazily chopping bait, socialising with the lads from Norwich and working off the dinners by checking out the other lakes.

Early afternoon brought two bleeps to my left hand rod which for some strange reason I hit. Result an absolute brute of a fish and my first thirty at 30 lb 8 oz. Chilly the bailiff on hand to do the photos and plenty of handshakes and even more Kronenberg.
People here really do join in the spirit of things in celebrating successes, something which in England can be sadly lost due to short sightedness and pressures.

The night resulted in no fewer than six pick ups and two more twenty pound scale perfect commons smiling nicely for the album. After the first catfish I was looking forward to hooking another which came in the shape of a 26 lb specimen the power of which I can only describe as hooking a jet ski. It really is a case of holding on until you get the upper hand. In the water again for the photos bearing in mind it was nearly midnight but with Steve and his friend, both from Norwich on hand it really made the week.

These guys eat and drink carp fishing and were put out on occasion when I returned 20 lb commons in the middle of the night without waking them to do the pictures. They had moved into the North West corner off the lake due to pressure on the far bank, incidentally this was a move which deservedly resulted in forty pound fish for them both later in the week.

Tuesday morning started with a conversation and a beer with Jo the bailiff who encouraged me to continue with the introduction of bait, upping the levels to 8 pound of chopped boilies and pellet morning and night. I was fishing to a small 3 meter diameter patch of firm clay surrounded by pockets of silt which was easily found with the marker rod and with my reel lines marked with tape and after the lad opposite kindly agreeing to leave his bivvy light on as a target I was more than confident of hitting my baited area during the hours of darkness.

After reading countless articles relating to the way bigger fish feed on a baited area I fished one rod on the front transition area between silt and clay, the other cast just off the baited area in the hope of picking up the bigger residents.

Wednesday night in what can only be described as frantic as I landed fish of 20,23,24,25 and 27 lb in little over 2 hours resulting in no sleep (again) but plenty of Kronenberg. I carried on applying the chopped baits and divided what I had left for the remaining two nights. I was now spodding for two hours morning and late afternoon in the hope of repeating last nights explosive action. I wasn’t to be disappointed when at 11.00 pm I connected with a 24 lb grass carp, another personal best and another on my must catch more of list.

I was getting very little sleep due to the amount nocturnal action I was experiencing (no not that kind) and I was sat in my bivvy enjoying the quietness of the lakes at 04.00 am when I struck into a powerful fish which stayed deep and slow moving, every vibration could be felt as I was trying a new braided mainline which proved outstanding over the week. It seems to magnify the takes resulting in rod bouncing action. Netting the fish I knew it was special, turning out to be a very long and equally hard fighting fish of 33 lb 10 oz which once again upped my personal best.

More celebrations followed and I really was beginning to relax (mainly due to the lack of sleep and constant Kronenberg) although with me being a southerner living up North may I make it clear that at no time during the week was any lemonade added and that all southerners are definitely not the preverbial shandy drinkers our flat capped Northern friends make us out to be.

The early hours of Friday and the chopped baits were really beginning to produce. A very fast take on the braid rod saw me attached a very large and angry fish which my first thoughts were that another cat was on its way.

As the fight progressed the fish stayed very deep and had the ballista bent round full lock, this fish had now been on for over 20 minutes and in the darkness with most of the lake asleep I really thought that this was the pinnacle of my week. Finally the fish surfaced it became clear that this was no catfish but one very large carp, heart stoppingly I netted the fish second attempt and just sat on my own in the darkness both cold and shattered staring down into the net. The net was dismantled and my attempts to lift the fish made me realise that this was indeed bigger than I had ever imagined.

Finally onto the scales and my ever so inadequate avons slammed round and bottomed out, something which I yelled out to the lads on the far bank. At this point the two Norwich lads fishing to my left came to my assistance and weighed the fish with some tripod supported ruebons. I had achieved what many people can only dream of and when Steve called out from the darkness that 42 lb 2 oz of very large framed mirror lay quietly on the unhooking mat, words could not express how I felt.

I know that Tim has previously quoted that his foreign trips are deemed as only being successful if he catches fish over the forty pound mark which considering Tim’s portfolio of big fish and the waters he is targeting is more than understandable, but your first twenty, thirty or even forty pound fish is very special moment indeed and needs to be savoured. It took all my strength to hold her for the cameras hardly believing what was happening then into the water to cradle the fish, which after what seemed like an eternity reluctantly swam away into the darkness, I was very cold and tired but buzzing beyond belief. Handshakes were the order of the day followed by a change of clothes and into the bag to warm up to await both daylight and a warm pre breakfast shower. Sleep certainly was not on the agenda.

The final night came all too quickly and with two lost fish signalling the 9.00 PM feeding spell I decided to sit out next to the rods just to take in the place before the long pack up and journey to my adopted home county of Cheshire. Dawn saw me connect with another heavy fish again off the clay patch and at 33 lb 8 oz was my fourth thirty plus fish of the week. Joint photos taken with one of the lads from Sussex who had an upper thirty on the mat and all too soon it was time to pack up. With the bivvy down another scale perfect 20 lb common graced my unhooking mat and rounded off a fantastic week.

My week at the Dream Lake complex had ended with 33 pick ups resulting in seven doubles, fourteen twenties, three thirties and a 42 lb 2 oz mirror. These were backed up with catfish to 26 lb and Grass Carp to 24 lb.

The lads at DreamLakes run what can only be described as a first class venue, great food, excellent company with a massive head of very hungry and powerful carp along with a few welcomed surprises in the form of lunatic catfish. It may not be everybody’s cup of tea, it certainly is not pioneering fishing for uncaught foreign monsters but it will offer an excellent time with a real prospect of a whacker, in my view what carp fishing is all about.

Steve Norddahl-Payne (NORDDY)

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