Dinton Pastures

A history of Carp Fishing over the past 30 years at one of carp fishing's hardest and most celebrated venues

Words and Pictures by Andrew 'Jock' Downes

This series of articles looks at nearly 30 years of carp fishing at Dinton Pastures, delving into the memories of some of the anglers who have made the lake so famous, looking at some of the big catches made over the years and trying to discover some of the reasons the lake has gained its almost mystical reputation for hard, weedy carp fishing.

Over the next few chapters, I will look at the lake's early years as a carp fishery, and take you on a chronological trip through Dinton carping by introducing some of the anglers who have caught the lake's massive carp over the years. By describing how captures of one particular carp, Bruno, have changed over the years, I hope you will see the dramatic changes not just in the carp and the lake, but in the tackle, methods and tactics used to catch them.

At the end of our journey I hope you will have gained an insight into the factors that have made Dinton such a fantastic fishery, and what drives today's carp anglers to pit their skill and experience against the lake and it's magnificent carp.

Episode 1 - 1980-1985 beginnings

STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE

My involvement with Dinton Pastures began in early June 1980. My Dad had just got a new job in Reading, so we moved from Glasgow to a house in Wokingham after my school exams. The house was a 10 minute bike ride from Dinton, and I still remember my first visit to the park quite clearly. I spotted carp in 3 different lakes and was just about to shoot home for my rod when I bumped into a rather gruff old bloke who calmly informed me that;

1. it was the close season
2. fishing didn't start for another 2 weeks
3. I would need a day ticket every time I visited the park
4. White Swan Lake was the only lake for fishing
5. I would need a rod licence

Now, I wasn't much of a one for rules or permits at the time, and was ready to ignore the guy and just fish, but having been arrested a few weeks previously while still officially a schoolboy, I thought it might be good to stay out of trouble! So, I bought a rod licence and some bait and tackle with my pocket money, and started to prepare for an assault on the lake on the 16th June.

I visited the lake every couple of days, and on one visit found loads of carp spawning on the shallows. For a young angler fresh from the trout rivers and chilly canals of Scotland it was an awe-inspiring sight, huge plumes of muddy spray thrown up by thrashing carp, the water churned to muddy soup. Later that day I met the old bloke using a weed rake. Having drawn out a massive pile of weed, he set about chucking in loads of groundbait, luncheon meat and sweetcorn. His name was Derek Brant and he was actually the bailiff (I knew all about bailiffs), and he said I was welcome to fish ‘his' swim on the 16th. The park was owned by WDC (Wokingham District Council), and was run as a public amenity, principally for local ratepayers. Fishing was allowed on White Swan Lake only which was about 25 acres and up to 14ft deep, and on a stretch of the River Loddon nearby, which contained all the usual species, plus some large barbel. Derek was to become a good friend over the years and was instrumental in helping set up legal night fishing at Dinton (more of that later).

Derek suggested that on the 16th I should floatfish with sweetcorn, with the float set 6" overdepth, and he even recommended line strength and float type, and when the season started I caught carp straight away. On average I would catch up to 5 carp each session, usually very pretty scattered scale mirrors, with a few commons thrown in, but on a few occasions the fishing was ballistic, with more than a dozen of these chunky little carp coming my way each day. Drennan Driftbeater floats, Au Lion D'Or hooks and 3lb Maxima were the winning tactics. The heaviest carp I caught in 1980 was 7lb.

Click here to go to Page 2 of Dinton Diaries

Even back then the Dinton weed was horrendous, huge beds of Canadian pondweed reaching the surface all over the lake. At one point that summer only a few fishable swims remained, just a few square yards of open water in each. To either side of the open swims impenetrable mats of weed were piled up. Quite a few fish were lost on the light tackle.  After a few sessions catching carp quite easily I was soon experimenting with luncheon meat, groundbait and worms, legering and free-lining as well as float fishing. All that summer I hardly saw another angler, and it was with mixed feelings I enrolled at college in Edinburgh in September to study Applied Biology.

Despite the attractions of further education in a big city - beer, loud music and sweet girls - I was keen to get back to Dinton. During my Christmas holidays, I bought myself some pike tackle and managed to crack out a mind-boggling 22½lb pike and a few smaller specimens. During the session when I had the 22½lber, I met another guy pike fishing who helped me land and weigh the fish. We were about the same age, and despite the fact he insisted on calling me ‘Jock', we got on quite well. Like my nickname, he has stuck around for the past 28 years and is still a very close friend. His name is Richard Prince, and he and I still fish together every year in France with our other good friend Phil Lewendon.

It was Richard who really opened my eyes to the importance of watercraft, fish location and observation. He had and still has an instinctive feel for fish location second to none, and he is the best angler I have ever known. Nowadays Richard has combined his watercraft skills with ultra-efficient and refined tactics to catch a staggering number of carp every year at Yateley, Frimley, Blue Pool and on our regular trips to France.

Together we slayed the Dinton carp for 6 years, he teaching me the value of watercraft and observation, me developing tactics, tackle and bait to catch the fish when we found them. On numerous occasions when we were not catching, he would come flying back down the path having found fish feeding elsewhere. Having found the fish we would often follow them for hours as they travelled the lake. Luncheon meat was the main bait we used in those days, mostly freelined, but when the fish stayed put for a while, we would often fish over a few balls of Meatimix groundbait or soaked Weetabix, but even this didn't hold the fish for long.

TACKLE AND EQUIPMENT IN THE EARLY 1980'S

Looking back and remembering the tackle and bait we used, I am amazed by the massive changes in carp fishing in the past 27 years. We had very little specialist tackle, and no local specialist tackle shop. Ready made boilies were not yet available, and only 1 or 2 suppliers of base mixes, flavours and ingredients existed.

In some of these early photographs you can see the almost complete lack of awareness of fish care and safe handling. Few anglers knew how long carp would live in the right environment, and there was little awareness of the value of a carp stock that could live for decades. There were no weigh slings, unhooking mats or disinfectant, and Kevin Nash had just produced the first proper carp sack. We had a keepnet and in 1982 I bought a sack made of landing net mesh. It was OK to keep a fish in this sack for a few minutes, but if kept for more than an hour or so the fish inevitably got the dorsal spine tangled in the mesh. We knew it wasn't good for the fish to be flapping around on the gravel, but we were too inexperienced to prepare properly to prevent it happening. It was about 1985 before I even saw an unhooking mat! Younger anglers may find this incredible since carp care is a priority today.

This photo taken in the car park end, of Richard ‘Quiffy New Romantic' Prince shows how bare the banks were in the early 80s. Now this bank is thick with trees and vegetation.

By 1982, the fish had grown considerably, and it became harder getting them back through the weed. In one incredible session in 1982 we fished together in the ‘Shit Swim', a muddy hole in the reeds on the shallows. We knew the weed was bad, but by the end of the day Richard had lost 12 carp and landed 3 or 4, and I had lost 4 and landed 1. The Massacre we called it. Richard had the compact Optonics by then, while I had the sounder box version. After a screaming run on luncheon meat, the fish would plough off for 40-50 yards through the weed. These runs were unstoppable even on 8lb b.s. Maxima - when those Dinton doubles got up a head of steam there was no stopping them.  Richard's rods at the time were glass Abu Avons about 1½lb t.c. with Mitchell reels, while I had recently acquired a pair of Rodcraft 11ft 2lb t.c. glass carp rods (not bad for glass fibre) and matched them up with a pair of Shakespeare reels (pretty crap). The Maxima line was probably the best available, and we could get this quite easily, but hooks were a problem. Au Lion D'Or were our first choice, but I think in 1982/83 the Mustad 34021 became available and this was a much stronger hook although it needed sharpening before use.

FIRST BOILIES AND PASTE BAITS

The local tackle shops were Wokingham Angling Centre which stocked a few bits for carping and the Rodcraft rod range, and Bracknell Angling Centre which was principally a match anglers shop. I used to get the Au Lion D'Or hooks at a tiny tackle shop in London Road in Reading which was eventually demolished to make way for a shopping centre. Of some interest was an aquarium shop in Wokingham run by Keith Foskett, a keen carp angler, and around this time he started to stock a few bits of carp bait and tackle

First Dinton Fish to fall to a boilie, this fish was still alive in 2007!!!

Bait in 1982 was still mostly sweetcorn or luncheon meat, but we had started having some success fishing for bubblers. The technique was to stalk the margins, casting breadflake on a light float rig. This proved highly successful and very enjoyable, and we realised that this stalking was a new and useful technique. Many of these bubblers were just marsh gas, so we had to learn the difference between these and carp or tench. The technique worked well because the float had all the shot bunched around it, so the bread was very slow sinking, fluttering down subtly near the fish's nose. Even in 1982 the Dinton carp were very wary.

In 1982 I started experimenting with boilie mixes for the first time. The first boilies made from Hutchie's Seafood Blend and Mingle Fruit were a bit of a disaster as I couldn't get them to roll out properly, but using the mixes as a paste was more successful. Dipping damp pieces of breadflake in Mingle Fruit was better still, and this experimentation soon progressed to smearing luncheon meat with Bovril or Marmite, and dipping sweetcorn. The Dinton fish loved this approach and seemed to home in on anything smelly. I then got hold of some fantastic base mixes and flavours from a company called Key Angling Supplies, run by Mike Winterton. The base mixes were easy to roll and the flavours were like nothing I had smelled before. First time out at Dinton with the Key boilies was a revelation. Using the hair rig for the first time and having a catapult to fire out a few freebies, the Dinton fish fell over themselves to get at the bait and I caught 6 good doubles in 6 hours. Getting the hair rig right was more of a problem, and several fish were hooked outside the mouth. Shortening the hair to about 1 inch resulted in every fish being hooked inside the mouth. I probably wasn't the first angler to use boilies at Dinton but ever since then the Dinton carp have loved their boilies!

Key Bait Supplies catalogue from 1985 - the Dinton fish loved the protein mix with sweetener and Rajah Spice flavour

Fishing at Dinton in 1983 was very hard because the weed was so bad. It was difficult to get your bait on the bottom anywhere and we hadn't used floaters much so we couldn't really fish on the top. Richard and I went off and started fishing Trilakes, a local day ticket water. We fished there on and off all year in 1983 catching lots of doubles but nothing big. It wasn't until 1984 that we got back to Dinton. Conditions were good with plenty of weed but a lot of clear areas. We were now armed with some of the first Richworth frozen boilies. These proved to be devastating at Dinton, especially the Tutti Frutti, Passion Fruit and Peach flavours. We caught stacks of Dinton carp on Richworths every time we were on the fish. One windy night in mid-summer I latched into a massive common, way bigger than anything we had landed before. Weighing in at 19lb15oz it was a personal best at the time, and perhaps an indication that the increased amount of bait going into the lake was starting to affect the carps' growth rates.

19lb 15oz Common Carp 1984 from the Oak Tree Swim

Some of the other anglers on Dinton were also having a lot of success. Guys such as Dave Fulton, Pete Dollinger, Keith Minchin, Brian Parker, Dean Fletcher, Jezz Langley, Welsh Dave and Brian O'Connor were all catching their share of fish. Some were starting to use high quality protein baits, and these were very successful, but Richard and I were catching plenty on the Richworths.

Welsh Dave with Arthur at 21lb Boxing Day 1984
(Dig the mullet hairdo Dave)

On one memorable occasion, Richard and I followed the fish up and down the lake for a couple of days, catching 17 fish in the process. The last few hours of this session resulted in the first appearance of Bruno that we know of, a carp that is today synonymous with carp fishing at Dinton. She didn't pick up the name for another few years (it should really be Brunette rather than Bruno, as she is a female). Using Chum Mixers at Dinton for the first time I played and landed the fish on 6lb line, a size 10 hook and a barbel rod. It took ages to get that fish in because of the ridiculous tackle, but we knew as soon as it was in the net it was something special. I couldn't have guessed at the time that the fish was to have such a massive impact on Dinton angling for another 25 years.

Jock with Bruno 20lb 4oz 1984

I'm sorry the photo is so rubbish, and I know I'm holding the fish all kack-handed, but at least you can clearly see the Bruno scale pattern on the left flank of 4 double/split scales on the lateral line with 2 others on the lateral line near the gill cover. For many years Bruno was the lake's biggest carp, and to date she has reached 52lb+. Bruno's weight remained static around 21lb for years, and it seems incredible that she has grown so much, but the lake now has much more natural food, and more bait.

DINTON STOCK LEVELS

It was probably in 1982 that Richard and I began to realise Dinton was turning into a very special place. The small carp of 1980/81 had turned into mid and upper doubles, fish that could test your tackle to the utmost, but it wasn't just the growing size of the fish that was so stunning, it was the sheer number of them that the lake seemed to contain. On a big change of wind, the Dinton shoals would start rolling as they turned about to follow the wind. The awesome display of rolling fish as they moved around the lake would leave you breathless. On a typical day you would grab the gear and race round the lake to get in front of the fish as they moved. The carp seemed to move in one huge shoal and as they got closer to the baits you just knew that runs were imminent. It seemed like there were several hundred carp in the lake when they were all moving and rolling. The question of how many carp were in the lake is one that has puzzled me on and off all these years. In the early years we didn't to photograph every fish, or match up photographs with fish we'd caught in previous years, because we didn't realise we could monitor the stock in this way. Since then I have expended considerable time trying to match up fish we caught in the early years with those still alive today. This is made easier by the modern Dinton photo album, produced by Alan Millard and updated regularly, and the original Syndicate photo albums covering the period 1980-1994.

As we go through the series of articles I will try and explain how the fish have grown and their behaviour changed over the years, but to give you the background on the original stocking of carp in Dinton I have to turn to the 2 guys who have worked as Fishery Managers since the park opened in 1979. Derek Brant was the Countryside Service Ranger at Dinton with responsibility for fishery management from 1979 to his retirement in 1992. For 2-3 years leading up to his retirement Derek was assisted by Simon Bartlam and since Derek's retirement it has been Simon who has cultivated the carp stocks so successfully at Dinton.

When WDC took over the park in 1979, the largest lake on the complex had most recently been a trout fishery. There is probably someone who can prove that there were carp already in some of the lakes, but the Council has no evidence of a stock of ‘original' Dinton carp in any of the lakes. The original pond on the site is Mungell's pond, a shallow marshy little pond in the south east corner of the park, and it is possible there were a few stunted carp in Mungells, but neither Derek nor Simon are sure what became of these. It was Ascot Gravel Company who dug out the gravel pits around Mungell's in the 1970s, and the gravel was principally used for construction of the adjacent A329M.

ORIGINS

Truth is sometimes an unpalatable beast, and such is the case here. I would love to tell you that we have detailed records of the Dinton stockings of the 1980's, to prove the home grown UK provenance of the Dinton stock, but the simple fact is that there are no paper records, and Derek and Simon are not certain of the details. When WDC took over the park, angling was not one of the initial priorities, but Derek managed to convince the Park Manager at the time to make some money available for stocking carp. The details are not complete, but several separate stockings probably took place in early 1980, comprising £1500 of carp to 7-8lb. Nowadays there are probably about 120 known carp and about 30 fish stocked over the years from the neighbouring lakes. Many of these have proven very difficult to catch.

The origin of these fish was PROBABLY Burton Bradstock Fisheries and Weirwood Reservoir, but Derek cannot remember for certain the exact source of the fish and at the time it probably wasn't important (there was no ECHO or KHV or SVC in those days). A further stocking of 2-3 20lb carp occurred in 1985 but the origin of these fish is also unknown. What I can confirm is that since those few larger carp were stocked, no carp from outside WDC has been added to Dinton Pastures.

This mixture of stocking sources perhaps explains something that might puzzle those anglers fishing the lake today. The Dinton stock shows characteristics from a variety of different king carp races. Every conceivable variety of body shape, scale pattern and growth rate has existed in the lake at one time or another, except for pure unadulterated leather. There are pure linears (Sandy), multiple line linears (The Triple Row Linear), fully scaled (several), heavily scaled, scattered scale, French style mirrors (Sid, Chantecoque, Dustbin), Leney style mirrors (Bernies, Apple Slice), fat fish (Twin), long fish, heavily shouldered fish (Bruno), long tough male mirrors and commons and almost every other conceivable type. For those anglers trying to catch the Leney style or linears this can be a source of frustration, when the fish on the end turns out to be a French style lump.

What has been quite noticeable while trying to match up carp we were catching in the early 80s with those still alive today, has been the large number of carp that are no longer alive. Forgetting the dozens of unidentifiable commons and small mirrors we never photographed, I estimate there could be up to 50 fish missing from the 1980-85 period.

Whether these fish have died of natural causes or been stolen is unclear, but there are strong suspicions that some fish went missing in the late 1980s, and may have been put in a pit nearby. At some point in the future I will try to match up photos of carp from the old days with carp still alive in Dinton today.from photos in the original Syndicate photo albums

When I interviewed Derek and Simon, it was clear that in the early days of the fishery, it was a real struggle making ends meet and getting WDC to fully accept angling within the scope of the park's activities. There was a feeling amongst some of the anglers in those days that conservationist elements in WDC and the park did not want angling at Dinton, and some anglers feel that this may still be the case. Revenue from angling was only a few hundred pounds a year at best so it wasn't seen as a commercial success to start with. But as the carp grew bigger and more anglers came to Dinton, revenue rose and we were able to start a dialogue with the park management in 1985 with a view to securing legal night fishing.

Most of us had been surreptitiously night fishing for years. It made sense to make it formal, so we formed the White Swan Specimen Group(WSSG). The Group's aims were to liaise with WDC to secure sole night fishing rights at Dinton. A committee was elected to lead the Group, and after a series of meetings with Jill Butler (Park Manager) and Derek, night fishing rights were granted to the Group for the start of the 1985/86 season. It was hard work sorting it all out, and for sure we would have struggled without the leadership of Stan Dell. Stan was a professional manager and industry leader who expertly chaired the committee and made sure everything ran like clockwork. The current Syndicate still owes Stan a debt of gratitude because without his endeavours we might never have secured night fishing. Stan is retired now but is still a keen angler, and fondly remembers his years at Dinton.

Copy of the Syndicate Letter 1985

Some of the original anglers are still Syndicate members. Dean Fletcher, Welsh Dave, Dave Fulton, Mike Robinson, Brian Parker and myself are I think the remaining original members, although I might have missed a couple out. Please forgive me if I have!

LEGALLY NIGHT FISHING FOR THE FIRST TIME

The 1985 season was fantastic for a number of reasons. With the newly formed WSSG night fishing legally for the first time, there was a great camaraderie about the anglers fishing Dinton, and we unselfishly shared a lot of information. With a greater choice of boilie than ever, it was possible to ensure that you were fishing with exclusive bait. Richard and I had moved onto the multi-coloured neutral Richworths, sprayed with sweetener and flavour. Quite by accident we discovered how effective sweet spicy flavours were at Dinton. Richard caught loads on Bunspice and I caught loads on Clove, and while other flavours also did well these 2 were truly exceptional. That year I caught a lot of fish under the rod tips at night, fishing boilies over flavoured blackeye beans. These were devastating, and made it clear how effective particles could be. Others were using hemp and other particles to similar effect.

By far the biggest single factor affecting the fishing in 1985, was the total absence of weed. The park management had been encouraged by the Group to try weedkiller to control the rampant Canadian pondweed. Caseron G weedkiller was applied from a boat in the form of spray dried sand which was supposed to sink onto the bottom, killing the weed on contact. Unfortunately a very strong surface tension on the day of application resulted in the chemical being transported all round the lake. Pretty soon the weed was totally dead, and the marginal vegetation and trees were also dying off! With no natural food and no weed to shed the hook the fish fell over themselves to get caught. Richard and I caught around 50 fish each that season, with my best being Bruno again at the same weight as last year, while Richard's was a19 lber.

If 1985/86 was a weed free season, then 1986/87 was the exact opposite. In the next episode I will describe the weedy fishing of 1986, and also relate the adventures of 1987-1991, with the introduction of some great Dinton characters and some terrific carp.

Cheers

Andrew ‘Jock' Downes