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Bysing Wood is another of the lakes in the Faversham Angling Club's complex. It is a shallow pit of only seven or eight acres or so lying in a valley which drains water down into the lake. In recent years, an artesian well situated at the top of the valley has caused serious problems for Bysing Wood, depleting the ground-water and posing a serious threat to fish stocks. The very dry summers of recent years have exacerbated the problem and pumping-in water from the nearby Wood Pool has become an almost annual event.

'The Trees', Bysing Wood, Faversham, Kent, 1994

Bysing Wood was made famous by Gerry Savage in the 1970s. He made some tremendous catches there, particularly in the winter with his 'twitch-hitting' tactics, catching as many as a dozen fish in a short session. In those days (when some carp anglers were not even catching a dozen fish in a season) this was an exceptional result and all the members of the club tried to imitate his method of striking at the merest hint of a bobbin movement. Now, of course, fixed leads and Resistance Rigs are used to self-hook very shy biting fish but in those days when the standard method was freeline - no weight or anything else on the line, every bite, whether a run or a twitch had to be struck or the fish would be gone.

Peter Hanley and I first met Gerry when we started fishing Bysing Wood in the summer of 1971. I had fished my first season's carp fishing the year previously at Murston, Sittingbourne and was keen to fish other, more productive waters. By a process of conivance and deceit, Peter had acquired membership for me and himself and we were anticipating the start of the new season there with excitement; imagine our shock and embarassment when our series or deceptions had been found out and we were called to the Club Secretary's address to account for ourselves!

                Action in 'The Trees'!                                                     A typical Bysing Wood 'double'

Tony Baldock was the club secretary then and after giving us a good 'ticking-off', we became very good friends sharing many wonderful moments both at the lake and 'The Mounted Rifleman' pub further up the road!

What is little known about Bysing Wood is that it was one of the waters that Fred Wilton chose in the 1970s to help develop his (then) new High Protein Baits. Peter and I thought we were 'top dogs' at Bysing Wood until Fred and his friends began fishing there one winter - they absolutely emptied the place! Whilst Peter and I sat behind immovable bobbins, Fred and his colleagues proceeded to catch fish after fish, firing out literally hundreds of their (what were then new) little round balls. Although we tried to find out what they were, we never did get to the bottom of what they were using and it wasn't until Fred published his famous article in the BCSG Magazine 'The Carp' we were able to put 'two-and-two' together. We then began using them ourselves (after a long period of trial and error) and never looked back......

Bysing Wood was (and still is) a prolific water. Although there are now fewer fish than there were in the 1970s catches of a dozen fish in a day are still made regularly - indeed, I think the record is something like twenty-four (by Bill Philips, formerly of Ashford in Kent). It is essential to use some sort of rig these days as the now conventional heavy-semi-fixed-lead just does not produce. Such methods as 'Chum Mixer' fishing on the top, and light rigs and three or four grains of sweetcorn over Hemp are the thing to use.

Some of the most enjoyable moments of my angling career have been spent at Bysing Wood, shared with some of the finest anglers this country has ever produced.