In 1987 i was fishing a small pool in Haddenham that belonged to a lovely man by the name of Norman Gillet. Norman was a local farmer and on his land was one of the many pits dug in and around the fens for the clay they contained. If memory serves me correct the clay in this pit was used for Ely cathedral's roof tiles. To get a ticket for the day all you had to do was go knock on his door and you were always on your own on the pool.
Anyway it held some very difficult to catch commons and to be honest i never did that well but i did love fishing the place and continued to do so on and off for a few years after.
Here i am having a bit of a laugh with one of the stock fish that got in from the adjoining shallow pond, the old school setup is my mate Jeffs.