Kodak Lakes

So it was an early start for the trip out to Kodak Lakes near Annesley on Sunday the 22nd of May. The weather was changeable, very windy with squally showers blowing through to leave long periods of sunshine. We were at the bank at about 7.15 and there were already 4 other anglers on the 'bottom' lake. We were going to try out some float fishing (seemed like madness in such gusty conditions) and chose the pegs in the lea of the trees, pretty much the spot where the photo of the 'top lake' was taken on the Notts AA site. I am still learning the craft of angling and under the expert tuition of my mentor, we set about plumbing the depth. We were only fishing a couple of rod lengths out to take advantage of the protection of the trees from the wind. We set up a loaded Peacock with a number 4 a few inches down the line and then 2 number 8 Stotz weights spaced further down the line towards the hooklength. Having read many posts about Kodak we opted to try maggot as this seemed to be a safe bet. And the fish began biting. In the whole day I landed 28, all of them small, nothing amounting to more than a few ounces but it was an excellent experience and lots of fun. The majority of the fish landed were small Perch and they were lots of fun when hooked, quite tenacious, other fish caught were Roach and Pongos (Gudgeon). I did try artificial buoyant sweetcorn for a short while but to no avail. The maggots, particularly red ones were the hit of the day and constantly baiting the swim paid off. Other anglers appeared through the day  on the other side of the lake but we didn't see anybody land anything. My angling mentor opted for feeder for a while but nothing was taking. Kodak is a nice easy venue for the novice angler and there are tales of larger fish there, obviously it is a popular water so getting there early to have the pick of pegs is a good idea