With a new car park constructed by member Ryan Smith it made it even more appealing. In my book there’s nothing better than a nice pint after a days fishing and this pool is fortunate to be very close to the Sloop Inn. I had a lovely pint in there after catching my first Ouse barbel!
The pool itself is only a short walk from the car park and there’s certainly room for two anglers using two rods each. It’s certainly comfortable fishing and I love the fact there’s no high bank thus enabling you to actually net fish right in front of your feet. It’s very picturesque with a lovely willow tree hanging across the pool from the far bank creating shade for the fish on those hot barmy summer days.
The fields around you are home to a herd of dairy cows that will often join you by the waters edge to take a drink of fresh water. They create no problem to the angler and are just inquisitive more than anything.
I’ve always enjoyed fishing deep pools and the Sloop is certainly that, the far bank against the wall has to be at least 12 feet deep. I’ve found that ledgering into the main drag accounted for the majority of my fish. Unless of course the river is flood I’ve found using 2oz of lead more than adequate to hold bottom. I have fished the pool in flood conditions and did well using a 4oz flat lead to hold bottom.
The pool has a wide mixture of species that include barbel, chub, bream, pike, perch, roach, eels, grayling and apparently the odd carp. My choice of Weir Pool fishing has always been on the tip and I personally use 12 2lb TC barbel rods coupled with Shimano 6000 baitrunners. However, you can also trot a float around the pool as demonstrated to me by Darren Larouche, who on his first ever visit banked a lovely 4lb 4oz PB chub.
My first sessions on the pool I used glugged 12mm boilies hair rigged on a short 6” braided hook length and I found the going tough. Albeit I was also using a PVA mesh bag containing three to four crushed boilies as an attractant. My initial sessions I just couldn’t get a proper bite from my quarry. I caught chub on a regular basis but I couldn’t get the barbel to feed and pick up my hook bait. I also managed to catch several wild brown trout on maggot and worm.
I then met another member that was having tremendous success further upstream at East Mascalls and he introduced me to Hinders Elips range of Barbel pellets that are advertised as the Rolls Royce of barbel pellets. I wasted no time in heading to Crawley Angling Centre and investing in some. I bought the small, medium and large options along with the matching paste. I also changed from braid hook lengths to fluorocarbon with a breaking strain of 10lb. The large pellets I use as my hook baits are held on to size 10 hooks with a pellet band. The smaller gauge pellets were used in my PVA mesh stockings which is tied directly on to my free running lead.
On my first cast using these pellets on a gorgeous autumn morning my right rod out of nowhere suddenly hooped over with a belting take from a barbel. You cannot mistake a pick up and I was suddenly playing an angry Ouse barbel. It stripped line of my reel and took me all round the pool before I managed to guide the fish into my awaiting net. It wasn’t a huge fish weighing 6lb 4oz but it was my intended species and I was over the moon! Finally, I was up and running!
It wasn’t long before I returned to the pool with my Hinders pellets giving me confidence. I cast across the pool as usual and eagerly awaited another take. I only had a few hours to fish due to family commitments and with just minutes remaining before packing up I was in again. Another classic bite, the rod hooped over and must have been pulled down nearly two foot. This barbel fought considerably harder than the previous fish and I was surprised when it only weighed 4lb 9oz. But, it was another barbel.
The mighty river Trent at Newark was calling me to take a trip up north, so it wasn’t until early December that I fished the Sloop again. My confidence was high albeit we had suffered torrential rain and the river was in flood conditions. The river looked really angry and was pushing through like I had never seen it before. Where I normally sat was completely submerged in water and I decided that a bunch lobworms would be an enticing bait to use.
My first cast resulted in a lovely winter condition chub that was well over 3lbs. It fought really well in the current and I was excited to get rebaited and to cast again into the angry water that was in front of me. An hour passed and I was considering a recast when once again the rod slammed over with an unmistakable take from a barbel. I had a proper battle on my hands and netting the fish was a lot more difficult as the current kept sweeping the net away from the fish. This one went slightly better than the last one and weighed 5lb 12oz. I smiled all the way home whilst singing Sleigh Ride.
I was sure this pool held some bigger fish and it was my target to get a double before the end of the season. I’d had doubles from the Warwickshire Avon and the Trent and really wanted one from my local river, perseverance had to be the name of the game.
Christmas came and went before I could return. The lobs had given me confidence and on a very cold morning I returned to the Sloop. It was that cold that I needed to use de-icer on my windscreen before setting off. Not ideal conditions and I wondered if I was wasting my time. However, with a PVA mesh stocking containing maggots and Elips pellets I cast out into what I considered a hot spot. Within 40 minutes my rod trembled before slamming over and I was into a crazy angry fish. I knew immediately it was a barbel and after several minutes I had netted my first Sussex Ouse double figure barbel weighing 10lb 8oz.
Two days later I felt I had to get back on the bank and try again. It was somewhat milder and using exactly the technique my rig was under arm lobbed back into the swirling current of the pool. It didn’t take long before the tell tale rattle of tip developed into a complete pull round and I was battling another barbel. This fish fought harder and longer than any other barbel I’d caught before on the Ouse. The water was gin clear and as it finally came up I could see it’s beautiful bronze colours. It weighed 9lb 4oz and I was delighted and I’d classify it as the prettiest barbel I’ve ever caught.
I’ve totally fallen in love with the Sloop Weir which is available to fish on the Hayward’s Heath and District Angling Society ticket.
I’m very keen to put some time and effort into landing a carp from the Ouse and the Sloop stretch can certainly deliver as demonstrated by Ryan Smith.
My next post will be concentrating on the weir pool above this stretch at East Mascalls. So, if you want to experience fantastic fishing in peaceful, beautiful surroundings whilst listening to the sound of running water and birds singing get yourself a membership. Tight lines to all members of Haywards Heath and District Angling Society.
