The Ups and Downs of a Municipal Boating Pond Part 2

[Catfish.017]

The Boating Lake is probably to grand a name for a relatively modest water, just over an acre maybe with two long and narrow wooded islands separated from each other and the one bank by narrow channels. The pool was always shallow, even more so nowadays with barely three foot anywhere. Muddy and silted, the proliferation of tiny Rudd and the pools proximity to the sea (just a hop and a skip from the high water mark on Swansea Beach) made it a very suitable residence for the Eels and it was these that drew us back not too long after our prejudices had drawn us away.
I can't recall how we cottoned on to the presence of numbers of big Eels but we did and were soon learning to catch them following Dick Walkers writings. Elasticum Wire and baiting needles bought we just needed strong rods and reels to take on these doughty fighters. Happily we had by now discovered the wealth of Sea Angling Swansea Bay had to offer and were the proud owners of solid fibreglass light boat rods, perfect for pier Pouting and just the job for Anguilla Anguilla! Coupled with fifteen pound Sylcast and a big hook inside a little dead Rudd we wreaked havoc with Eels up to four pounds dragged in unceremoniously as Walker dictated! Poor things they didn't stand a chance, I even pulled one in, a fish of about three pounds that had swum through a long dumped wire mesh Park Bin full of sticks and black leaves. I thought it was going to be a record busting fish and was rather disappointed when the bin surfaced!
We had found the fishing on the other lake, Brynmill, quite tough; the club had a large membership and the lake, their only water, was hard fished particularly by a hard core of talented match anglers so the fish, even the small Roach, didn't give themselves up easily. Fortunately while fishing the Boating Lake for Eel baits we gradually discovered that some of the Rudd were getting quite sizeable, at least in our young eyes. One boy whose name eludes me, sat one day fishing a big lump of paste on the bottom near the landing stage. After several hours he hooked into something that had him gibbering excitedly; the biggest Rudd we'd ever set eyes on, it must have been a pound and a half. He stuffed the unfortunate fish into his school satchel which doubled nicely as a tackle bag and rushed off home to show his parents!
As well as catching some nice Rudd in Summer we now had enough nouse to catch them in Winter when the Pea Soup opacity had dissipated leaving the water bright and clear. The Winter Rudd, fish of up to ten ounces displayed a lovely Silver Gilt sheen and we would kid ourselves that they were the Roach we struggled to catch at Brynmill. We caught them using fine Roach float tactics with small bread flake baits on the bottom in a couple of deeper swims ( a giddy five foot!). It certainly helped to hone our skills and soon we were making a better show of it on the big lake which in turn served to wean us off our Boating Lake dependency .
Not entirely though as we continued to fish it occasionally as the Rudd increased in size year on year. In Winter too the Boating Lake had an added attraction in the shape of cosy little Cafe offering hot drinks to cold anglers! We continued to fish there into our very late Teens by which time we were dyed in the wool match men ; Billy Lane and Benny Ashurst our new heroes. Through Bennys writing I discovered the Butt Bite Indicator and made some huge hauls of Autumn Rudd casting a lead to the island. My pals followed suit and for a while the Boating lake held us in thrall yet again.
"All Things Must Pass" wrote George Harrison and sure enough a new era was looming for the little pool. The Rudd slowly dwindled to be replaced by a mixture of species, some stocked surreptitiously the new dominant ones being Roach closely followed by Perch and Tench (possibly the progeny of those few Tincas that lived a peaceful life in the earlier years. We were fishing further afield now; with our own transport, visiting Roath Park, the Wye and the Bristol Avon and so had less time for our once favourite venue. It never dropped right off the radar though and an exciting resurgence was waiting in the wings.

[Dave F]

Is there a part 3 ? I hope so.... Thank you for the post.

[Catfish.017]

Is there a part 3 ? I hope so.... Thank you for the post.

Yes Dave, part three to follow.

[Dave Burr]

An engaging tale.

As we move from childhood to teens the fish seem to get bigger and distant waters call. I hope there is a new breed of kids discovering the boating lake.

[RBTraditional]

A warming tale of childhood angling adventures….keep ‘em coming

[Santiago]

Great nostalgic write up! One can't beat fishing for big eels.

[Grumpy]

Very enjoyable,fishing nostalgia at its best.I also have very fond memories of a park lake where i cut my angling teeth.

[JAA]

Nice tale Catfish