Fished Thornwood for the first time yesterday with my father in law. We arrived in cold and windy conditions to be met by Peter who gave us the rundown regarding the lakes and what was fishing well. Considering how close to London and Epping we were it was hard to believe how picturesque and tranquil the place was. We started at the top of lake one in an attempt to catch some browns, however, although they were all showing, they werent taking what we were offering. FIL hooked one but failed to bring it to the net.
I quickly moved on to Lake 2 and tried about 3 different changes of tactic before landing 2 x 1.5-2lb rainbows on an orange blob. I then fished a buzzer below an indicator to take 4 more. Happily at this point my FIL was still blanking, but alas this wasnt to be as he brought in 2 x 3.5lb rainbows.
A couple of observations- Firstly you have to really FISH Thornwood, you cant just turn up, throw in a lure and pull out a 12lb slab of lard. It took us most of the morning to find the depth and correct tactics for the fish. The fish are in incredible condition, and Peter cares greatly for their welfare. Every fish I caught left me convinced, prior to seeing them, I was hooked into a fish 2 or 3 times the size. They took off like steam trains and fought like nutcases. Honestly I havent experienced fish like this, even at Farmoor. We also thought the price was massively reasonable, with options to take fish and then C&R or C&R only. Something that puts us off more famous venues such as Avington, Dever etc is the lack of C&R options and the fact your day could be over inside 2 hours.
We are normally bigger water fisherman, however we were so impressed with Thornwood that we are going back on Friday and strongly suspect it will become our 'home venue' over the winter.
Thanks again Peter!
