It was perhaps 10 years ago when I first heard about Ringland
Lakes. I’d fished around East Anglia for many years
catching fish to over 30lbs from Waveney,
Homersfield and more, but what set this venue apart
from the rest was its fearsome reputation.
Ringland was typical of a small water. It was packed
with features and contained a couple of big fish
that were ultra spooky and had seen everything over
a long period of time. The first fish I saw a
picture of from there was a 36lb fish which was
caught by a guy called Clayton Williams. He’d caught
it on a bait my Dad had supplied and at the time
(some 10 or more years ago) this was a huge fish for
the area and attracted a lot of attention.
I think Ringland was originally one of Norfolk’s
premier tench waters for a number of years but that
early history is a little thin to me. Original carp
stocks were never huge but these ‘Yateley looking’
fish were of a higher than average size and they had
flourished in the clear and weedy depths of the 3
acre gravel pit. Dark, black-backed carp with deep,
pale, creamy, coffee-coloured flanks. Proper old
warriors with big old silt stained bottom lips and
goggly looking eyes. Naturally there was also a big
common which was “5ft long” but never got caught –
Ringland had all the vital ingredients!
In latter years a few double figure commons were
added but the stock was never above 30 carp. In all
there were about 3 above 30 and a handful of big
twenties along with a few foot soldiers into low
twenties of which there were a couple of commons as
well.
Make no mistake about it, in an area devoid of
‘proper carp waters’ this place was a true history
venue, all of the region’s top anglers tried their
luck and a few were successful. I remember one year
at the end of August there had only been 2 fish out
since June 16th – it was a bit tricky!
There was a buzz about the place as well. As I type,
images flood back of dewy summer mornings sat on my
unhooking mat in the long grass around a boiling
kettle with a couple of other fellas. Voices hushed
because the baits were in the edge. Anticipation
bubbling like the water in the pot. Occasionally a
fish would leap and we would stop what we were doing
and stare at the lake for an age, trying to guess
which fish it might have been and where it was
heading.
Having grown up on the writings of Rob Maylin, I
pictured this lake as Fox Pool. Mature, deep, weedy
and holding some cracking old warriors, this was
like jumping up to the premier league. Appreciation
of history has always been important to me and this
place immediately demanded my respect.
Secretbob with a Ringland carp
The first time I drove onto the lakes I was quite
nervous, I wanted a challenge but wasn’t sure what
sort faced me. I’d gathered a little information on
what the lake held and got a flavour for the
problems that would face me but I like to make up my
own mind about these things and vowed not to be
intimidated.
It was, and still is one of the most prolific lakes
in terms of wildlife present. Foxes, bats, deer,
squirrels, rabbits, mink, otter, shrew, mice and
owls. One night I heard a fox kill a lamb in a field
close by, it made the hair stand up on the back of
my neck! All I was missing was Hannibal Lector
wearing a hockey mask….. (He was due down at the
weekend!)
There was also the small matter of Gorse Lake on the
same site, a small, silty, mosquito infested swamp
with a handful of pretty fish reputedly topped by a
mid-twenty common. I spent many hours there stalking
the fish when the fishing on Days (the main lake at
Ringland) went into hibernation.
I had debated getting a ticket for a long time but
having just got married (what a mistake that was!) I
no longer had the £400+ required to stay in the
Homersfield syndicate and it’d also been netted and
most of the stock sold off, leaving it a mere shadow
of it’s former self. So I made enquiries about
Ringland and when RMC decided to do a cheapy winter
ticket for about a score I decided to give it a go.
They’d managed to hook me in!
There were a few reasons for starting in the Winter,
to get a feel for the water, the swims, and to plumb
it! Additionally with weed being prolific in the
Summer months I’d need to do it before ‘it’ arrived.
I didn’t fish that much (in fact only once) during
that Winter but I got over half a dozen times to
plumb a few swims. It would be easy to say all the
effort was worth it but I quickly became friends
with a couple of the bailiff’s, Matt and Tim. Matt
was a tall bloke like me and had long bright ginger
hair - not like me! - easy to spot across the lake!
Tim was a much shorter and rotund fella, a family
man who didn’t fish as much as Matt. Very kindly
they gave me a map of the entire lake….. to say I
was grateful would have been an understatement!
With this help I was sure I would stand a great
chance of getting amongst the fish but life never
seemed to give me the chance. Quite quickly after
the Summer arrived there were a number of changes!
The ‘Trouble and Strife’ and I moved in with the
‘in-laws’ whilst we waited for our new house to be
built, she fell pregnant. I changed jobs and there
the problems began to mount. I lost the next 5 years
of my life before breaking free. Wipe yer eyes – it
gets better. But not much!
During that first year I managed to fish about 30
nights, mostly mid-week sessions between work but
with the odd weekend thrown in as well. I managed to
lose my first fish some 15 nights into my campaign.
I was absolutely devastated at this loss. About
night 25, I caught one. Luckily for me it wasn’t a
stockie either – one of the old fish I craved….. at
18lb it wasn’t really what I was after in terms of
size but sometimes these things don’t really matter
that much do they?
Moving on to this water was such a change for me and
I wasn’t ready for the mental side of this type of
angling. It really got inside my head. It was a
place that, at times left me on the edge of chucking
it all in. But the frustration was addictive because
I never knew how far away the next bite would be –
if ever! This water was nothing like I had ever
suffered before and has shaped the future of my carp
fishing forever.
More success from Ringland
Since I started on this water I evolved into an
angler who values his carp fishing by the challenge
it represents. This may have been the wrong path but
it’s one not easily shaken off.
I renewed my ticket, some 4 years after I started
there. Sadly I lost touch with Matt in the
tumultuous years but I still had his map! (If you
are reading this mate, get in touch!).
Going back can often be a mistake and, in hindsight
perhaps it was. The smell of the water was different
now, no longer did it smell fresh. It almost felt
like the life had drained from it and the former
prom-queen was now jaded and tired. This opinion was
backed up when just a few months into my return the
last of the really sizeable originals turned up
dead. It felt different and my love affair ended.
During my time fishing at Ringland, RMC had run this
water in conjunction with NACA. 2005-06 has brought
a new partnership into the equation. I was unhappy
with the initial reports I was getting back that
trees were being hacked down, a bailiff described
one area as looking like a ‘lunar landscape’. All of
the time I’d spent there felt betrayed. I wanted
half a dozen special fish to be put in and the
magical feel to remain.
But things never stay the same and, for me, Ringland
had passed her peak. I am upset about her passing as
a historic venue but I hope that in its new form,
the fishery will evolve and regenerate into the type
of venue that gives lots of pleasure to many carp
anglers over the coming years; perhaps even
establishing herself as a historic venue again one
day.
