Grendon Pond, Castle Ashby
Grendon Pond, Castle Ashby
Castle Ashby is the ancestral home of the 7th marquess of Northampton. It is steeped in history as are the wonderful ponds on the complex.
The Grendon Pond is regarded as the middle ground in terms of difficulty. Grendon holds many matches throughout the year and it’s clear to see why. There is a huge head of willing carp, plus other species such as bream, roach and perch.
Be sure to call the venue before fishing because matches can be plentiful throughout the year and it will of course avoid disappointment. That said, there are two other lakes on site.
I have only fished this pond a handful of times, but one thing I have noticed is that it is INCREDIBLE on the surface.
What is it like?
I have fished Castle Ashby since I was a young lad, mainly on the Scotland Pond which holds the largest carp on the complex. However, I have recently done a few incredibly enjoyable surface sessions over on the Grendon Pond, and did fish it a few times when I was younger.
The lake is mature. It is surrounded by towering Oak trees, an abundance of reeds and overhangs, with the beautiful sights of Castle Ashby house in the distance across the luscious fields where you can often see sheep grazing.
The lake is 7-8 acres at a guess, and is notoriously silty – something that is pretty common in such an old lake. The water is fairly coloured too, no doubt due to the high stocking of fish. You can drive to most swims and failing that the car parks are pretty close anyway.
How To Fish It
I have only fished this pond a handful of times, but one thing I have noticed is that it is INCREDIBLE on the surface. The carp absolutely love floating pellets and mixers in warmer months so if you love a spot of surface fishing, be sure to have a go on Grendon. I recently took my 3 year old son for his first taste of surface fishing and in around an hour we had 3 carp and pulled out of a few too. It really is that hectic!
We used standard Pedigree Mixers that you buy out of a pet shop and pimped them up with some Salmon Oil and Powdered Krill just to give them a bit more power and leakage. We spombed them little and often as the carp got more and more confident before casting out our surface rig.
The surface rig was nice and simple, just a Fox Bubble float with a long 6ft link of floating mono, to a size 8 hook. To this we superglued on a Duo Floater from CC Moore. One thing we found is that the carp can spook when casting directly on them, so cast further and then draw the float back.
You can of course catch on the bottom too. Standard method feeder tactics with small white pop-ups work really well, all-year round and in winter a more natural approach can score – bunches of maggots etc so don’t disregard these.
If the carp aren’t biting then the predator fishing can also be wonderful sport. There are loads of pike to be had in Grendon, so keep a spinning rod in the car if you’re into this!
Castle Ashby Rules
James
Jimmy began his angling on the river Ouse with his father fishing for roach. His passion grew quickly and soon developed a love for big-fish across the globe!