Emborough Pond

A Memory of Emborough.

As a young lad in the mid & late '70's I'd cycle up from Shepton Mallet with all my fishing tackle strapped to the bike & in a rucksack. A friend's parents had a farm in East Horrington, & I'd kip in a barn.
A day ticket was 15p. Night fishing was not allowed at the time, but I understand it was later The bailiff, Mr Maggs, would come round, or you could go up to his house nearby & buy one. He would tell us that recently someone had caught a huge pike or tench...
Can't remember catching very much, apart from very small perch - who could be caught on a bare hook, if it was shiny enough, & the occasional small roach or tench.
Lord knows how many spinners & pike plugs we lost trying to catch one of the legendary 'big pike'. I do remember a bloke netting a nearly dead tench - 3-4lbs? which had jaw marks which could have only come from a large pike.
There were a few other urban myths connected to the pond - two that I remember hearing;
In the centre that it was very deep indeed with a sharp dropoff.
A school friend's older brother said a huge albino eel lived under the old boathouse. He claimed to have hooked & lost it once.
The pond was later taken over by a fishing club from Bristol. There were also vintage motorcycle trials held in the woods.
More recently, it came up for sale - fishing is still going on there, in 2020 owned by a carp fishing syndicate. The section by the old boathouse was apparently once cleared for building, but there were problems with planning permission.

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