Key Details
Jimmy's Lake, Essex
A very picturesque venue of around 5 acres set in the garden of a beautiful Essex house. The swims are large, spacious and really suit an angler look for a comfortable visit for some huge catfish, which grow up to 90lb or lovely looking, old carp to 38lb. There are at least 500 carp to go at and the venue fishes all-year round, although the cats do slow in the winter.
If you are interested in fishing then you need to contact Jimmy’s Lake on Facebook and then pay using the honesty box located at the fishery.
The lake is fully secure, fenced all the way around, so can be a real pleasure to fish.
In my opinion Peg 24 is the best for carp on the lake, it is the longest walk, but I find it the most consistent
What is it like?
The lake itself is around 5 acres in size. An acre of this is a back bay containing snaggy overhangs and other features; proper Mr Crabtree stuff. The stock is mainly catfish which go up to 90 odd pounds with a backup of 500 or so carp, at least. I actually prefer to fish the venue for carp in the winter time when the catfish are more dormant; on days I receive loads of action and would guess that 1 in 4 fish is over the 20lb mark.
It is very shallow and silty, with a depth averaging 4-5ft. There is a gravel bar which runs across the middle of the lake but I have always found the shallow, silty, areas to works.
In my opinion Peg 12 is the best for carp on the lake, it is the longest walk, but I find it the most consistent. It gives you access to the long, out of bounds back, which you can explore and present a bait too. That said, it is hard to find a bad one because you can catch from all the swims.
For catfish, I would recommend the middle pegs, more so than fishing the far bank margins.
What’s the best method for the carp?
I keep things incredible simple, fishing a long, nylon hook link on a helicopter rig with a bright, high attract hook bait – a tutti frutti for instance and fish this to the far bank. The fish love to patrol this far margin at all times of year. There is a garden that runs around meaning that there is a bank that is out of bounds. As you know on any water, this is a magnet to pressured fish, so the closer you can go, the better.
In the warmer months, the carp love surface baits. This can be a great tactic to select the carp, due to the ravenous amount of catfish. Feed floating pellets little and often to get the going. Whilst catching carp, you could also hook into one of the hard-fighting grass carp that reside there.
If fishing on the bottom, then I suggest feeding a lot of bait because the catfish can often take over, which consume large amounts.
For the cats specifically, I recommend fishing over large beds of halibut pellets and fishy Boilies, along with lumps of luncheon meat, they absolutely love this.
Jimmy's Lake Rules
Verdict
A tranquil, beautiful fishery with a relaxing feel to it, with the chance of some huge catfish and gnarly old carp.
Dave Levy
Dave Levy is a hugely experienced carp angler. He has an untold amount of big-carp to his name across Europe and is respected by all.