Tom's Tour Norton Disney!

It’s been a rather crazy few months on the fishing front, if I’m being honest. I’ve been out a lot recently with Sticky, CarpFix and Fox, and have also been doing some fishing of my own. Having been so busy, whilst we planned to get the feature done on time, Tom Gibson and I wanted a chance to just chill out and enjoy each other’s company a little, as hopefully, we also caught a few carp. You’ve no doubt heard about the Norton complex by now—if you haven’t, you must have been hiding under a rock!—and after my first visit with CarpFix, I knew I wanted to return for a session for this feature.

The Norton Disney complex is situated in Lincolnshire, and is pretty much separated from the surrounding areas. It’s very picturesque and in a few years’ time when the lakes have started to mature, it’ll undoubtedly be a stunning place to fish. The lake I’d chosen to target was the 27-acre Billy’s Lake. This large gravel pit holds a good head of 20lb fish, and over 1,100 stunning carp in total. With plenty to go at, the water was perfect for a few bites, and perhaps a chance of some twenties.

Not so grim, up north…
As usual, my alarm was set super early ahead of my long journey north, and with it being midweek, we’d hoped the complex wouldn’t be too busy anyway. I arrived at the gate pretty much the same time as Tom, and we began by having a quick look out across the lake from the cabin and café area. 

Almost instantly, we saw carp out in the middle of the pond, in an area of shallower water which I was already aware of. The wind was hacking down into a nearby corner, but we’d arrived on the back of a busy weekend and it was obvious that the fish had migrated to the central area, away from the angling pressure. After speaking to the bailiffs, it didn’t sound promising. Only four fish had been out from a full lake over the previous two days, and this obviously worried me slightly. I knew, though, that if I got the location right, I’d be well in with a shout. The swim I was eyeing up also offered a wind-assisted cast, so things were playing in my favour when it came to reaching the carp.

With a short wait before the swim became vacant on the point area which gave me access, we decided to fill our bellies with a breakfast from the on-site food van, and as we tucked in, we came up with a plan for the session. After my previous visit, I’d brought a variety of baits along, but opted mainly for one of my go-to mixes, with the addition of the new Monster Red Maize—I’ll go into the chosen mix a little later.

The barrow was loaded and ready to be wheeled into the soon-to-be-vacant swim, and whilst we were waiting, the fish continued to put on a display out in front of us where we’d seen them from the other side. From where we waited, however, it was easier to gauge the range. The guys leaving our chosen peg had struggled, which surprised me. They were, though, equipped with telescopic rods, and mono probably twice the thickness of what I would use. The kit looked more like a stalking set-up, little wonder, then, that they weren’t able to get bites, the carp being out much further than the distances they’d settled on fishing. This is something I see a lot of on open-access venues: anglers being ill-equipped for the situation they’re faced with. It holds you back massively if you’re using the wrong rods, line, etc. It’s a valuable lesson I learned over many years, fishing on a large number of waters. Have a general set-up, and then an option for fishing at range. You might think it’s all right for me to say so with me having sponsors, but there are massive benefits to being able to adapt, and suit your set-up to what’s in front of you.

Slow and steady wins the race 
With no real rush to get the rods out—Tom was even going to have a dabble in the next swim—we kicked back and scanned the water whilst we got our homes for the next few days sorted. First up was the marker rod with a bare lead. I knew of the raised area out in front at around 100yds or so. I started with that and gauged the distance compared with the shows to see roughly where I needed to be. 

The lakebed was really firm, possibly not gravel, more like sand, with the odd strand of weed which you could feel on the pull back. Several casts later, I’d settled on a nice clean zone in line with the cabins on the horizon. Instead of committing straight away, I whipped up a few D-Rigs, attaching to these double plastic Cornz, and a small Krill Dumbell wafter tipped with a bit of colour. I pinged them out into the centre of the lake, just to see if we could get a quick bite whilst the carp were still showing. The bright sunshine screamed the shallows, and despite the wind having a real bite to it, we were on the back of it, lording it in the northern sunshine!

After the rods had been flicked out, I got a bucket of bait ready for the afternoon Spombing session. This comprised 12mm Krill Active, corn, house pellet, Red Maize and the new Pure Fish Liquid—this stuff is the one! My intention was to give them a good hit of bait mid- to late-afternoon, redoing the rigs just before last light. I planned to place two rods very close together, right on the bait, whilst also fishing one just off the area by maybe a rod-length, just to see if it made a difference with the bites. 

It didn’t take long before the Krill wafter was away, and with the carp still being fairly young, they give you a good fight. The bites weren’t ripping, but as soon as they knew they were hooked, they really did put up a scrap, which is great for those after some action. The first bite turned out to be a mid-double mirror, which I unhooked in the net and slipped back. Ideally, we wanted to get amongst some twenties. We’d decided, therefore, that if the bites started to come thick and fast, we’d just unhook the fish and get the rods back out as soon as possible to maximise our chances if a pack of fish were lurking.

A far-from-ideal finish…
A storm was on the horizon, and we could see it moving in fast, but after that first fish, two more followed quite swiftly. The second brought what we’d come for. At 22 or 23lb, the heavily scaled mirror demonstrated perfectly why Norton will be such a great venue in the future. We left the two fish to settle in the net whilst the rain passed, rattling off some stills in the sunshine after. It was then the perfect time to get some bait out, and to get everything set for the evening ahead. 

A full bucket of bait later, three freshly tied rigs were soon back in the water. The evening was then upon us and we fired up my new, rather nifty electric barbecue. Yes, you heard that right, and it’s a real edge, let me tell you!

The nighttime action was steady. I had a few bites, but sport wasn’t as prolific as I’d thought it might be. On reflection, though, I was very happy to have nicked a number of bites after setting up, and I hoped the following day would bring more action our way. Tom, by this point, had also poached a few fish from the same distance, but further to the right, and it was he who seemed to be getting all the morning action.

Dan Wildbore was due to arrive to shoot some Fink Food items, and to his amusement, I was the one waiting for the action to begin, whilst Gibson was getting all the bites! That didn’t last long, though. Unfortunately, the fish were no record-breakers, and were slipped back without pictures being taken. Nonetheless, it was good to know that the fish were back over me, and with the rest of the lake’s alarms silent, we could only lap up the action and look to make the most of it all—we did photograph a nice half-linear just to prove that we’d enjoyed the sport we claimed.

Bait-wise, you can always expect to see the same from me, and that’s a concoction of my go-to items. The one thing I did get told to include on this occasion, though, and which I’d have been daft not to, was the house pellet. The carp were pretty much reared on these, and fed them too, when the lakes were stocked. The small addition to the mix was made, then, whilst the rest of the bait did its magic, just as it always does, wherever I take it—if it ain’t broke, an’ all that. I see so many anglers chop and change their approach, and I completely get that changes are to be made in certain situations. But if you’re an angler like me, one who prefers to fish a certain style and on a particular type of venue, having a solid, go-to mix really does work wonders, as all your efforts are channelled through its use. 

Heading into the final night, it was a simple case of hitting the repeat button, the only difference being that another huge storm was due to roll in. Heavy rain and gale-force winds were forecast, and these didn’t didn’t bode well for me staying dry, should bites come my way. 

In short, it was bad! Tom nearly lost his bivvy, and mine sprang a leak somewhere with my bedchair being covered in water as a result. It really wasn’t ideal with a pack-down looming, but fortunately, the sun came out in time to dry off the gear.

In the end, we packed up, happy chappies. Once again, I’d treated the session as an opportunity for us to enjoy ourselves, without taking it all too seriously, and with the aim of hopefully catching a few along the way. It’s safe to say, that’s exactly what happened.