Chris Cox: My Horton experience

As a wise man once said, “All good things must come to an end” and that’s exactly how I now feel about the season ahead of me. I have been fishing RK Leisure’s Horton Church Lake for a couple of seasons. I have seen anglers on the complex from all areas of the UK travelling far and wide to try their hardest to catch a few of the famous residents lurking in the incredibly nutrient rich waters these carp call home. Along my journey I have seen some fantastic angling from some talented individuals and I have managed to snare a few Horton chunks myself whilst feeling the nostalgia of being in the famous areas of Wraysbury and Horton. CHRIS COX

Horton Church Lake

I personally am not sure what the future has in store for Wraysbury and Horton due to prospective plans to build another runway at Heathrow and some land being on a compulsory purchase agreement for the work. The amazing angling history in this famous area could be lost forever if certain parliamentary bureaucrats get their way, but whilst I remain positive for Horton’s history to continue to be written for many years, my time has come to an end and I’m in search of a fresh venue or two for next season.

I have watched the Church Lake change over the last few years, with the lake producing two 50-pounders, and the stocked Priory and VS fish absolutely stacking on the weight.

Alfie at 44lb

My first season on the lake was a bit of a ‘feeler’ having started later than I would have liked due to work commitments in the late springtime. In my first year I began to just gain a better knowledge of the lake’s swims and particular areas in which carp spent a lot of time during each part of the season and how the carp reacted to certain weather conditions. I noted if they followed particular winds more than others etc. and generally tried to find any patterns in their behaviour and on many occasions I managed to predict where they would be but carp being carp, and in particular these Horton carp, are always capable of throwing in a curve ball and simply not being where you think they should be because of a certain wind direction or weather condition.

It became very clear that in springtime open water was generally a banker for being in chance of a bite in most swims on the lake; but as summer approached and the water temperatures increased, (which takes a fair while when the lake is 16-20ft deep in places and an average generally of 15ft) the carp will be seen close to the marginal shelf. I began to notice in the summer that although the carp came very close in during this time not many anglers dropped their rigs all that close.

That’s the spot’

I began to trickle a small amount of bait in the margins in the likely looking spots I had seen carp frequently visiting, these were generally close to the large weedbeds that really take over the bays on the lake. One night in late May I managed to catch one of the stockies off one of the marginal spots on a balanced tiger nut rig with a scattering of freebies in close proximity. Catching that one fish meant there was definitely more to be had with the correct approach.

Last season I began seeing a large mirror constantly in a Church Bay swim just along the marginal drop off, instantly recognising it was a 40-pounder I kept trickling enough bait to keep him coming back in the edge for a feed. If my memory serves me correctly on the third time I fished the swim I woke to my alarm absolutely one toning and the line being torn from the reel on a tight clutch, as I clambered down the steps to the rod the fish had already ploughed straight into an enormous weed bed in the centre of the bay. I kept steady pressure on the fish for around 10 minutes or so when all of a sudden the weedbed seemed to bulge and sheets of fizzing and bubbles were thundering to the surface around where my line was aiming into the weed, then a large chunk of the weedbed broke away and started to come towards me. Eventually after what seemed an age I bundled a mass of weed into my landing net and began pulling at the lumps of Canadian and ribbon weed before finally finding a huge tail fin sat in amongst it all. I had no idea if the fish was attached during the whole scrap as it hadn’t kicked at all, presumably due to the weed being all over its head during the entire fight. Upon closer inspection, it was undoubtedly the fish I had seen in the edge, a fish named Alfie and at 44lb 2oz it sent me to work with a grin like a Cheshire cat.

The stunning Chilly at 24lb 14oz

I continued to get some marginal spots primed during the next few weeks all around the lake. One such spot was in a small, intimate peg at the end of Dog Bay: the margin is deep and I noticed on a few occasions when I arrived after work that the water in the edge would be particularly murky and the ribbon weed stems would be parted in a way that just looked to me like carp had been in there having a right good feed but I didn’t see any carp in there for the first few trips.

The next night I made sure I got down and headed straight to the swim and just saw a small common darting out, probably due to my cumbersome presence arriving. That was enough to tell me to get some rigs in position for the night ahead. I made up a couple of small PVA bags of pellets and crushed boilies and attached them. I lowered the rigs off the tips and got them presented just at the base of the shelf. Rig-wise things were very simple as usual with me: a tiger nut tipped with some pop-up sweetcorn being my chosen hookbait. I remember being so paranoid about making any noise in the swim as I was so close to my spots, even stirring tea and the clonking of the kettle lid was enough for me to set the brolly up out of the swim and up the path to keep the noise levels to a minimum.

Fruit of stalking: O.B.E!

A strong easterly wind got up late evening and with the wind so did plenty more carp and show after show occurred all night until 2am I got an absolutely melting take and after a spirited battle managed to bundle a very pretty mirror into the landing net. Not huge for Horton Church and was in fact one of the new stock fish but considering its good looks I was delighted. It turned out to be ‘Chilly’ at 24lb 14oz.

The following few nights I was at the lake I couldn’t get in the peg, and although it didn’t do any bites to the anglers in there, I was sure they were still getting in there. I managed to get down on a Friday evening for a weekend session and set-up in a swim with good all-round form and having caught well in there in the past I was quite confident. Weather conditions wasn’t exactly ideal being early September, with high pressure and Northerly winds forecast.

A winning combo: the RidgeMonkey Throwing Stick and Mainline’s Cell in 15mm

It got to around early afternoon on Saturday and the place looked dead so me and another angler decided to have a scoot around Kingsmead Lake next-door for signs of life and a much-needed mind cleanse. We had only got halfway around the lake and the carp were up a channel going mad and boshing all over the place, so it was buckets down to reserve the swims and then we shot back to get our kit. As I came back around Church Lake for some reason, and I don’t know why, I just poked my head into the swim I had snared the Pretty Mirror from a few weeks before and there before me grazing up the marginal shelf were five mirrors! I couldn’t believe my eyes and quickly shot to the van grabbed my 6ft stalking rod and tied on a small wafter hookbait.

I could make out the smaller carp through the cloudy water and identify all of them but the largest one was easily a 40-pounder, if not an upper-forty but I couldn’t tell which one it was. I flicked a ball of crushed boilie into the margin and let it flutter down through the depths sending flaked boilie here there and everywhere before it eventually lay in a patch the size of dinner plate.

The ever-reliable Hinged Stiff Link

The big ‘un began ploughing into it straightaway and I remember thinking that he was going to be nailed any moment when suddenly, as he approached the hookbait, he stopped, not doing much just sitting there idle for a while. I didn’t know what he was up to but he knew something wasn’t right but he didn’t have the hookbait in his mouth as I could see it. I can only assume his pecs brushed the line or something because he slowly lifted his head and waddled off not to return. Within a few minutes one of the smaller mirrors came in and snaffled the hookbait and bolted out of the swim nearly taking the rod with it, and eventually another pretty mirror was being held up for the camera, this time it was ‘O.B.E’ at 23lb.

What a return!

I returned to Horton a couple of weeks later one evening after work and was surprised to find the lake reasonably quiet. I didn’t arrive until approximately 9pm and was rather tired and considering I had to be up and away from the lake at 7am the following morning I wanted to get sorted pretty quickly. I noticed a few small patches of fizzing in a popular swim that I rarely got the opportunity to get in as I was walking round the lake to sign in.

I got the rods sorted and began a quick feel of the swim with my marker rod and a light lead. I found some silt areas in amongst some ribbon weedbeds only 35yds out. The areas where I saw fizzing just weren’t clean enough for me to put a hookbait on. However, the area I had found was only about a rod length away and I thought this would be close enough to the activity for a bite. I dispatched a couple of ever faithful Hinged Stiff Links out to the spot accompanied by some freebies over the top for good measure.

The icing on the cake: Rocky at 43lb 8oz

I woke up at first light for a quick pee at around 4am and as I was just getting back into the bag the left-hand rod was absolutely one-toning and line was peeling off at a rapid rate. I applied steady pressure but using braided main line I had to be a bit careful of fear of getting a hook pull with such direct contact and the no stretch aspect of braid fishing. The fish steadily plodded through the ribbon weed before popping up on the surface for one big gulp of air and I snatched at the opportunity to engulf this rather large mirror into the net.

Upon closer inspection, I could tell straight away it was a fish called ‘Rocky’ and one I have had on my list from the start so I was over the moon. She weighed in at 43lb 8oz! I went off to do my work duties a happy chappy that day for sure.

Right, that’s it from me. I’ll be back soon with a story or two for my 2017 campaign captures.