A1 Pits - Newark

On Wednesday the 2nd of September, both myself and James travelled down to the well thought of A1 pits. We had heard many positive things about this fishery, with rumours of a great number of 30lb and even 40lb carp.
We arrived around Wednesday morning after around an hours drive from Sheffield. There are 6 pits to choose from at A1 pits, Pits 1 to 3 are the smallest on the complex, with pits 4, 5 and 6 covering over 8 acres each. Pits 4, 5 and 6 have the biggest fish at the fishery, with carp over the 40lb mark. We settled on Pit 4, and found a nice spot in a secluded corner with a number of over hanging trees, bushes and lilly-pads.

After setting up our rods, bait-mix, bite alarms etc we were greeted by a fellow fisherman who had been night fishing on Pit 4 since Friday evening. He informed us that throughout the 5 nights he had camped on the pit,  he hadn't a single bite. Obviously, this wasn't an ideal start to our quest, however we proceeded regardless. We had heard from a number of regular visitors to A1 that white boilies, corn and method feeders were all effective, therefore we set our rods up accordingly. Our mix within the method feeder consisted of chilli hemp, high leakage pellets, sweetcorn, and a number of crushed bright boilies.

Throughout the morning and afternoon we gradually dispersed bait into our swims, and tried a number of areas across the swim, including secluded corners, margins, and against a number of trees and reed banks. Unfortunately, in accordance with our fellow fisherman who greeted us earlier in the day, we too had no sign at all of a bite, and had seen very little sign of life over the course of the day.

I have no doubt that this place is an excellent place to fish, however we must have caught it on a bad day, or even week perhaps. We will perhaps visit A1 again in the near future, perhaps for a longer period of time.

The pegs are very accessible, with a track going round the complex making it easy for you to drive directly to your chosen peg. Night fishing is easily available, with plenty of room to erect your bivvies and tents.

Aston Park Fisheries - M1 Junction 31

One of our original regular haunts starting out carp fishing and being based in the South Yorkshire area, was Aston Park Fisheries. This was formerly known as KJs I believe, and constitutes 7 lakes and over 240 pegs over a 25 acre site.

Aston Park is a haven for pleasure and match anglers with nearly all of the 7 lakes offering a good head of double figure carp. Aston is very to easy access, just off Junction 31 of the M1, and has a superb shop and cafe on site. The shop offers a vast array of items, bait, tackle and more expensive items such as rods and seat-boxes. 

Lilly lake is the largest and most sought after of the seven lakes with large stocks of fish, including various Carp to 30lb plus, Tench to 3lb, Bream to 4lb, Roach, Perch and Barbel. We have fished this venue probably 5-6 times and have caught over 50 fish between us over the course of these visits. The lake is packed with good carp, with the average we netted being around 8-10lbs. There are a large number of bigger fish in the margins, with the majority of the carp taking dog biscuits and pop up boilies. Just recently we pulled out two mid doubles simply using a solitary dog biscuit and dropping it in front of one of the many lilly pads in close. 

I would highly recommend Aston to all fishermen, whether starting out or experienced, I would almost guarentee you will catch in a session of 5 hours or longer. I would recommend peg 17 down in the right corner of the Lilly lake, as it has a number of over hanging trees, as well as two large padded areas. 

Please see below a couple of the fish we managed on our last visit, you will notice the fish are in excellent condition, as are all of the fish at Aston Park. All the staff present at Aston are incredibly polite and helpful, including the bailiffs who patrol the lakes. The prices are reasonable at £6 per day ticket and £20 for 24 hours. If you fancy a day ticket, make sure to leave the park by 9:45 as there is an automatic electric gate which locks shut at 10pm.