The Ancient Mere

Many years ago, 30 at least, a friend and i used to fish an ancient heavily wooded pool, we used to have to get the first bus out of the depot and laden down with fishing gear make the exhausting journey from the nearest bus stop to the venue, then make our way to the farthest end through dense woodland where we used to squirrel ourselves away out of sight for the weekend. The lake was private and no fishing back then.

Recently i met a chap who re awakened my memories for the mere and i finally got around to making a visit around the pool, albeit in driving torrential rain.
A local club currently has the fishing rights to the place and its generally fished by day anglers who pursue the bream in the water. Much has changed on the venue, its in serious disrepair and nature has took a hold over most of the lake again, there are plenty of spots for a day angler to fish but to spend a night on there is tricky, the areas that are accommodating are very small and you would be pushed to get a brolly set up with a bed underneath, getting across to the far side, which is vaguely fish able entails a clamber over a very rickety bridge, that reminds me of something out of raiders of the lost ark !
Once over the bridge there are about 5 areas that could be fished, this area in the first shot is shallow and very silty in the margins, conditions for landing fish is awkward but while spending time watching the area i would see a fish roll a few times, size wise i would put it at around mid double, it had good length but appeared quite lean. Next shot is from the main body of water to the left of the bridge, very narrow bank sides, but fish able. As you travel further along this bank the swims get tighter and less fish able, but the potential for stalking fish is high. Along the banks the marginal cover is high, detritus and dead fall are under every tree, snags galore and deep liquid silt abounds everywhere, this shot is possibly one of the better areas for setting up in. The shots shown are from swims that may be comfy enough to night fish, albeit awkward and uncomfortable. I'm contemplating a ticket on here for the autumn/winter as a local venue i can drop onto for quick sessions.  The damn end of the lake is completely impossible to fish, you could sit on a chair here but again , not a feasible area to spend a night.

As for the stock of the place....who knows !