Jan 2012

Fished the Dane today with my mate. Started at the cow drink. I opted for bigger baits (meat & pellet) whilst my mate decided to brave the water in his waders and go trotting on maggot. we got there around 11 and moved several times, finishing up at the end of the day just past the horseshoe bend. I ended up with a dry net, but my mate ended up with 2 nice Grayling, both taken on trotted maggot. Tight lines



Stephen Barber

Winter Barbel on The Dane February 2012

Having had a brief and unsuccessful trip to the Dane last week, We were back hoping to bag a winter Barbel, much more prepared for a river fishing session this time out, we had even brought re-enforcements. Our friend Liam was to be our guide, as he has fished the Dane for years. 
We set off along the Bay malton Manor farm stretch travelling light, settling into a suitable looking peg on a nice bend, I tried ledgering a couple of pellets to the far bank, Toby and Liam using similar tactics with variations on bait. We sat on what was a quite chilly morning bite-less for about an hour before moving on, yet again I was experiencing problems with the eyes on my rod freezing.

Finding another nice looking set of pegs down stream, that the three of us could all get on, we tried again, this time I opted to try a couple of maggots and a small maggot feeder. Liam sticking with meat, while Toby was trotting a couple of maggots down stream. Starting to get a little frustrated by the lack of fish, some light hearted ribbing of Liam ensued, claiming the pictures I have seen of him with some lovely look river Barbel, were obliviously the work of Photoshop!
We carried on down stream trying various pegs and slightly different methods and baits with very little success.
Fishing the Dane is a very different beast than my local River the Weaver, where the weaver is deep and plodding, the much shallower Dane pushes through a fair rate, I was finding it difficult to hold bottom with a 14g flat ledger, the biggest I had in my box.

Finishing the day off on a sandy bend which the fallen tree above dominated, I tried ledgered meat again and still couldn’t buy a take. My first river Barbel will have to wait until the summer now, when I hope the Mink we saw dashing up the fallen tree, has saved some fish for us!


Simon Hall


http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

In Search of Silver
The plan for this weekend was for Toby and I to do some sliver bashing, at our new clubs flagship fishery - Border. We opted to fish on Robbie’s pool a smallish pool with 24 pegs. One half of the pool was covered by ice so finding a couple of pegs between an inlet, we started on pegs 1 and 2. Fishing light on a waggler with a couple of red maggots on the hook. I was soon into my first fish, a nice but really small Roach, Toby followed suit shortly after with a small red fin of his own.

And that’s when things started to go downhill, Toby managed to nab another couple of small Roach over the course of the next hour, I however didn’t manage quite so well, in fact it was about two hours until I had my next bite, and I missed that!
With that it was time for a move, the ice that had earlier covered the other half of the pool had cleared, and presuming that this deeper end of the pool would hold more fish we tried pegs 11 and 12. Toby carried on with the waggler tactics, I changed over to a small maggot feeder sticking with maggot on the hook, to no avail, cage feeder half loaded with hemp to worm no joy, method feeder to corn was equally successful. By this stage my sidekick had taken to stalking the roach with his float fished maggot, well I say stalking, his approach was to chuck his bait out and hope it landed on a fishes nose, which it started to do at surprisingly regular intervals.

The Mighty Red Fin
As sun was starting to set we had managed to put about 20 small roach on the bank, considering the conditions we were very happy to have avoided the dreaded blank. But mocking us the water started to come alive with surface action, and as we packed up the talk was of coming back and plucking out the Carp that were teasing us now and avoiding us all day.


Simon Hall


http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

Apr 2012

my afternoon at border specci pool, peg 3.
with my tin of sweetcorn, tub of pellets and my half a bag of jelly pellets i was ready for another session. i was dying to try out my new rods and reel!
firstly i set up my diawa feeder (11ftqf) with the shimano reel with around 8lb line. i set up a basic feeder with just hook to start with with a piece of corn. whilst casting to the island (or trying at least… casting is really shoddy and needs practice on distance and aim) i was baiting pellets to my left hand side in the margins and a little to my right where they were last time… my feelings were they’d come to my left this time due to the wind and water flow angle, i caught a decent sized roach of around a pound on the corn and was very impressed with my gear and wondered how it would handle the bigger carp! the side of the roach had a big chunk missing out of it i assume it had been had by a perch. anywayi reeled in and put a couple of strawberry jelly pellets on the hook and re cast to the island again it only made it 3/4 of the way! unlike ealier when i landed on the island!... straight away i was into a good fighting fish. and after a couple of minutes he was on the bank! a perfect mirror carp 7lb exactly i didn’t take his picture tho as he was still thrashing around on the peg and not calming down so i turned him loose before he damaged himself.
went quiet for a bit then so i set up my match rod on a small float as earlier feelings paid off and the reed bed to my left was busy with big fish moving about… i pulled out a small rudd within a minute or so and recast.. still on pellet…. my rig got tangled shortly after and it was too late to be setting it all up again so i put my feeder back out and packed the float rod away for the last hour…. and that was it… not another fish caught… although the carp were still making lots of noise to my left long after i’d packed away… maybe next time i’ll set the float rod up after a bad tangle
cheers for reading sorry its so long winded about three small fish

Allan Robinson

Apr 2012

Went on Blackshaw pool on friday afternoon first 2 hrs not a rap then at 5-30 had my first proper fish a nice roach, for the next 2 hrs i had a bite every cast (all roach )best going about 12oz had to leave at 7-30 but decided i would try again this week so went back today, I knew from past visits when i was in the club many years back that it held some really good Perch and Tench so started on the worm,and all the other baits, but not a rap, Switched over to the caster looking for the roach coming on but never had a bite,fished till 8pm ,6 hrs in total and not a rap .

Apr 2012

First Carp of the season
Having still not managed to catch a Carp this season after several attempts, we fished on Robbie’s pool at Border fisheries with the hope of a change of luck. Our mate Liam joined us again this weekend too.
We all started of with a different approach this week, Toby started off on the pole, Liam the method feeder and I started on the the waggler. It didn’t take long for Toby and I to get good swims going. Both of us fishing with maggot on the hook, over loose fed maggots every chuck. The stamp of Roach and Rudd is really good in Robbie’s and it was great fun bagging up on silvers. Liam had started to get a few twitches on the rod as the Carp moved into his swim and found the free offerings from around his feeder. After about an hour Liam’s perseverance paid off and this lovely coloured Carp was his reward                  
Not backwards in coming forwards I quickly changed over to the method feeder and stuck some corn on the hook. I’m not sure however that the fished had got the script as I started to catch some quite nice skimmers. Not the Carp I was after but my first fish using the method feeder, Its a technique that I really like using so I’m glad that its finally starting to put a few fish on the bank
Things started to slow down on the method feeder and after an hour or so without a bite, I made the change to maggot feeder with a lob worm on a quick-stopped hair. I’m really fond of this new invention and find it excellent for hair rigging worm, its also really good for punched bread.Worm started to do the business and I was soon catching some quality Roach and Skimmer Bream.
This was the pattern until my rod bent round and from the feisty fight could tell it was a Carp. Admittedly it was only marginally bigger than the skimmers I had been pulling out all day, but never the less it was a more than welcome addition to the days bag. I played it very carefully as I really didn’t want to lose it and was well chuffed when my first Carp of the season was landed.
I spent a little while playing about with a pellet waggler, trying to get the hang of another new method. In the mean time Toby and Liam having both changed to a waggler were enjoying the good sport that the silvers in the pool have to offer, catching Roach and Rudd almost one a chuck.
Not having much success with the pellet waggler I changed back to the maggot feeder, to fish out the remainder of the day.
I had a cracking bite at around 5pm and my rod nearly came off the bank sticks, before I stuck into what can only be described as a “zoo creature”. Which I had on the line for a good 5 minutes pulling me this way and that, I was doing quite well with the 4lb line I had on, and started thinking this could be a new personal best. It was about then that my hook link gave out and I was left gutted with nothing, other than another “one that got away” tale.
Still at least I finally managed to get my first carp of the season on the bank, and have had a taste of the big old Carp that live in that little pool.
I may be back this week to see if I can tempt that beast back onto my line….....

Simon Hall

http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

Oct 2009

Just a few words to let you know what a great day me and my fellow member, Mike Hankinson had on Sunday 4th October. The water was quite low and crystal clear so we were a bit concerned as to whether we would catch anything at all. After baiting the swim up with micro pellets and a few freebies I only waited an hour before landing a fin perfect Barbel a shade under 7lb on a hair rigger 8mm halibut pellet. Very rare catching one at ten past ten in the morning after which it slowed up a bit till mike caught a very impressive Grayling just under two pound on pellet. We both thought this was quite odd. My friend Mike got talking to two fellow members who said we would not catch because it was a full moon. However we proved them wrong when I caught another two Barbel of seven pound each. It just goes to prove that with a bit of commitment you can beat the odds. I am convinced that if you keep the bait going in regular and often that the barbel’s natural feeding instinct will always take over and they just cannot resist some free offerings, even when you consider I was only 6 feet away from the fish in gin clear water on a bright sunny autumnal day. Cotton Farm still never surprises me, long may it continue. Paul Burns.

Nov 2008

I had a great day on the Dane.
I took a wander down the Cotton Farm stretch and stumbled upon a very picturesque part of the river. I fed hemp, pellets and corn. I fished double corn on the hook, I tried boilies which worked also.
In total I caught 5 barbel, all ranging from 4lb up to 6lb 2oz. I also caught a chub of 4lb 1oz.
A beautiful Autumn day on a lovely stretch of water.
James Lafferty

Nov 2008

Spent a few hours float fishing on the River Dane at Pimlotts Meadow on 4 November. Had the stretch entirely to myself so started at the top of the meadow and worked my way down in the course of about four hours fishing.
Trotting maggots through the streamier swims proved most productive, resulting in a dozen grayling typically of around 6-8 oz with the best nudging the pound mark. Also one chub of about a pound and a half. All nicely conditioned fish. Also hooked what I took to be a brown trout, based on the acrobatics which eventually saw it throw the hook in mid-air.
Diverted for a time by a large mink prowling the far bank.
This was a first visit for me to Pimlotts Meadow. It made an enjoyable change float fishing for grayling rather than the usual ledgering for chub and barbel on the lower stretches. A very pleasant few hours fishing.
Julian Roberts

Nov 2008

Went to the dane on 8/10/08 on the Cotton stretch. The river was looking good with a bit of colour and up a foot or so.
It was my first time on the river so I didn’t expect to catch a lot of fish it was more of a learning session.
I fished a simple ledger rig with halibut boilies and pellets.
I managed to catch 2 Chub between 3-4lb both on pellets, not the Barbel I came for but nice fish and better than nothing.
All in all an enjoyable days out fishing, and I will definitely return for another shot at the Barbel.

Feb 2006

Simon Young has sent in this photograph of a River Dane Barbel that he caught. I am not to sure when the catch was made but it certainly made him smile.

Jun 2010

I set off from home at 6am and was fishing for just after 7am on a lovely June morning. I was the only person fishing and fished a peg opposite the island, which had a good depth close in by a tree. After feeding a few pellets, sweetcorn and casters, I noticed a few bubbles appearing, after which I landed a small tench of about half a pound on double red. I then lost another good fish which I think was a tench.

The bites weren’t coming particularly quickly, but the next bite on caster produced a lovely tench of about 6lb.

This was followed by a carp on sweetcorn. After a 30 minute battle on pole, 16 hollow elastic and a 5lb hook length, a lovely mirror of about 20lb came to the net.

A great morning despite only landing three fish. Simon Warbrook

Nov 2010

25th November 2010
Gibbos Pool Is fishing very well lots of good quality silver fish 8 to 10oz roach & rudd and some good chub maggot & caster working well on the pole about 8 to 10m feeding micro pellets, little and often fish about 3ft deep or just off the botton using 4m soft hookers hook size 18 to 20s 3 no 8s fish on the drop. best pegs 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,11,12, if you are after carp fish corn or worm on the bottom feeding micro pellets fish to 10lbs+

Nov 2010

25th November 2010
Specimen Lake stunning roach fishing at this time of the year hemp & casters or punch bread, fish 8 to 10m on the pole and feeding down the edge with caster and fish over it with worm. Small size hook 18 to 20s keep the feed going in this is a must try feeding hemp & fishing tares on the hook for big quality roach. good sizes perch to worm & prawn fish to 3lbs+ lots of good chub aroud the back of the island to the feeder.Best pole pegs 1 to 14 best feeder pegs 16 to 29 for carp fish the feeder using corn or pellet.

Apr 2011

Reports are comming in that Ashley Hall Pool is fishing well. Bags of Roach caught using caster.

New PB Perch February 2012

This weekends plan of action was to finally get up to Lymm Dam to fish for Pike, last time we tried to fish Lymm it had a lid on it. 
A much milder week hear in the North West meant that everywhere was now fish-able again and there was a match on The Bay Cliff side of the Dam, so Toby and I fished the church side. The Bream in Lymm Dam are said to run to double figures so with that in mind we had a rod each set up for bin lids and another with float ledgered dead baits.
Using a large maggot feeder I tried to build up a nice carpet of the grubs for the bream to come and munch on, while working round with the float rig for the pike trying to find some features to fish to.

Then the heavens opened and we were battered by torrential rain for what seamed like forever. I had to fight with my brolly continually, as it turned inside out with every gust of wind, when I did manage to keep it upright the rain still soaked the left hand side of my so called waterproofs!
In the mean time Toby who was much drier in his bivvy was becoming increasing agitated by the lack of any form of bite or indication on either rod, I too had not had so much as a knock. But that was really the last of my worries I was soaked and pretty fed up.
I made a quick phone call to our friend Liam who was fishing with his son at Border to find out how the weather was closer to home, the weather was ok and so was the fishing, he was bagging up on Roach and Rudd and Michael had lost a good Carp.
Without further ado we packed up and headed to join the fun on Robbie’s pool, I had my first Roach in just under an hour after packing up at Lymm.

Single Maggot under a waggle was doing the damage and we had a merry hour or so finally catching fish again after such slack couple of weeks.
We had the Canal style water behind us, and a move again would mean we could spend the last hour with the wind off our backs comfortably under our umbrellas and have an impromptu little match.
All armed with a waggler and maggots we more or less took it in turns catching nice little silvers with Toby gaining the edge with his swim hold the slightly bigger fish, as Toby and Liam continued to chalk up fish after fish, I couldn’t get a bite again.

Liam had decided to call it a day and was walking past me as my float suddenly disappeared again, asking was it a good fish? I replied I thinks its a bit bigger than my 2lb nylon hook-link. From the dogged fight I wondered weather it was maybe a Barbel or Chub as it tried to get into the inside margin, but once it got near to the surface, I could see those red stripes that are unmistakable.
Once landed and quickly weighed I could sit back well and truly chuffed with a new personal best Perch of 2.6lb

Information to follow

Jan 2012

Red maggot, caster : nice bream to 4lb common carp
and silver fish.

Apr 2012

This weekend Toby was very keen to try out his new bivvi , so we decided to have a crack at the notoriously difficult Crabmill Flash, in search of Catfish and big Carp for a twenty four hour session.
We arrived just after 7am and had a walk round the lake to find the most suitable area, for pitching up and finding some fish. We set up camp before setting up our rods at the far end of the lake,  to maximise my chances and get a good feel for the place, I opted to fully use the three rod rule and have a couple of heavy rods out for the Carp and Cats, and a much lighter rod for some feeder fishing.

The big rods baited with popped up worms on one and big halibut pellets on the other, were cast against some reeds on the opposite bank and the feeder rod much closer in off to the right hand side. Toby nipped round the other side and laid down a bed of particles, while I catapulted some loose pellets over my rigs. And then we sat, our traps set and waited, we both felt that our best chance for the Catfish would come after dark, so during the day our rigs would lean slightly more in favour of the Carp. Toby trying Tiger nut boilies and popped up spam wasn’t having much luck and I had to wait until around 1 o’clock for my first run, which came on a single 16mm halibut pellet and unfortunately when I struck into it, there was nothing there.

I continued to cast around my feeder rod, filled with maggots to a worm on the end in search of a bite, yet all day I couldn’t attract anything to this line either. As night started to fall we finished the day section of trip with only the one run between us, and not a sniff at the feeder rod. So as my sidekick fried up some steak on the gas stove, I changed out the little quiver-tip for another big rod, this time baited with 3 large 22mm halibut pellets. Hoping it would be time for the kittys to come out and play we sat back and watched the sun go down over Crabmill as we tucked into steak butties.

As we began to wonder if our luck would change and maybe we would get to see a big old Catfish, one of Toby’s alarms started to scream off with the sort of run we had been waiting for, filling us with excitement only for it to be dashed, as Toby met with no resistance at the end of the line.
We reset and re-baited all the rods, then settled down for the night in the new and very spacious bivvi of Toby’s, hoping to be awoken to the sound of the bite detectors and the sight of a Wels.
At around midnight night Toby’s alarm was off again and after stumbling around for a second, the jammy devil was finally into a fish, what we didn’t expect though was the 2.5lb Eel that covered the net in slime. Still we were quite cheered by finally managing to get a fish on the bank, but still after hunkering down again we both dreamed of big Catfish as we tried to get some more shut eye, this didn’t last long as yet again my buddy’s alarms sounded and he made a dash for the rod, only to come back tutting and nestling down again cursing Eels nibbling at his popped up salmon flavoured lob Worms.

Toby didn’t manage to get much rest over the course of the night, as ever half hour or so, either the worm rig or a hali pellet rig would get picked up, and then dropped before any hook up could be made. A good frost made me very glad of the bacon and sausage sarnies we had for breakfast on what was a cold and misty morning. We fished on as we slowly started to pack up all our stuff and load up the trusty barrow, but couldn’t must another bite. As tempting as it was to stop and fish on, it had turned into a lovely morning, but we will return and have another go on this beautiful but very challenging water again soon as the legends of 60 lb Catfish and 30 lb Carp are to good to resist.


Simon Hall

http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

Apr 2012

This weekend Toby was very keen to try out his new bivvi , so we decided to have a crack at the notoriously difficult Crabmill Flash, in search of Catfish and big Carp for a twenty four hour session.
We arrived just after 7am and had a walk round the lake to find the most suitable area, for pitching up and finding some fish. We set up camp before setting up our rods at the far end of the lake,  to maximise my chances and get a good feel for the place, I opted to fully use the three rod rule and have a couple of heavy rods out for the Carp and Cats, and a much lighter rod for some feeder fishing.

The big rods baited with popped up worms on one and big halibut pellets on the other, were cast against some reeds on the opposite bank and the feeder rod much closer in off to the right hand side. Toby nipped round the other side and laid down a bed of particles, while I catapulted some loose pellets over my rigs. And then we sat, our traps set and waited, we both felt that our best chance for the Catfish would come after dark, so during the day our rigs would lean slightly more in favour of the Carp. Toby trying Tiger nut boilies and popped up spam wasn’t having much luck and I had to wait until around 1 o’clock for my first run, which came on a single 16mm halibut pellet and unfortunately when I struck into it, there was nothing there.

I continued to cast around my feeder rod, filled with maggots to a worm on the end in search of a bite, yet all day I couldn’t attract anything to this line either. As night started to fall we finished the day section of trip with only the one run between us, and not a sniff at the feeder rod. So as my sidekick fried up some steak on the gas stove, I changed out the little quiver-tip for another big rod, this time baited with 3 large 22mm halibut pellets. Hoping it would be time for the kittys to come out and play we sat back and watched the sun go down over Crabmill as we tucked into steak butties.

As we began to wonder if our luck would change and maybe we would get to see a big old Catfish, one of Toby’s alarms started to scream off with the sort of run we had been waiting for, filling us with excitement only for it to be dashed, as Toby met with no resistance at the end of the line.
We reset and re-baited all the rods, then settled down for the night in the new and very spacious bivvi of Toby’s, hoping to be awoken to the sound of the bite detectors and the sight of a Wels.
At around midnight night Toby’s alarm was off again and after stumbling around for a second, the jammy devil was finally into a fish, what we didn’t expect though was the 2.5lb Eel that covered the net in slime. Still we were quite cheered by finally managing to get a fish on the bank, but still after hunkering down again we both dreamed of big Catfish as we tried to get some more shut eye, this didn’t last long as yet again my buddy’s alarms sounded and he made a dash for the rod, only to come back tutting and nestling down again cursing Eels nibbling at his popped up salmon flavoured lob Worms.

Toby didn’t manage to get much rest over the course of the night, as ever half hour or so, either the worm rig or a hali pellet rig would get picked up, and then dropped before any hook up could be made. A good frost made me very glad of the bacon and sausage sarnies we had for breakfast on what was a cold and misty morning. We fished on as we slowly started to pack up all our stuff and load up the trusty barrow, but couldn’t must another bite. As tempting as it was to stop and fish on, it had turned into a lovely morning, but we will return and have another go on this beautiful but very challenging water again soon as the legends of 60 lb Catfish and 30 lb Carp are to good to resist.



Simon Hall
http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

March 2012



We had a really bright and warm week here in Cheshire and I was really looking forward to getting on the bank, to target the Carp and Tench at a water that I have never fished before called Bentley pool in Tarporley.

It is a lovely secluded spot set in a small wooded valley. There is an island in the middle and the water is stream fed. From the looks of it at the moment the water level is down quite a bit, but it has been a very dry winter. We started the morning fishing at the dam end of the pool, which despite the low water level was still between 6-10ft deep, thinking that this would be where the fish would be hiding, before moving into the shallower areas as the day warmed up.
It had been our intention to give the old lift method a go today, with maggot under a stick float, but due to the depth of the water we chose to fish the feeder, Toby switching between cage filled with groundbait, pellets, corn and hemp and maggot feeder, while I just went with maggot feeder. unfortunately we couldn’t get a bite on either method, we toyed around with different hook baits and had the occasional cast around to see if we could locate some fish. I even tried a bit more of a technical carp rig for a while, trying a couple of pellets on a hinged stiff link, again to no avail. A couple of guys who were fishing against the island on the other side had a bit more luck with a big Bream and a 14lb common.
So with that we moved round to find some shallower water where the fish were now showing, I changed back to maggot feeder and put a big fat Lob on a size 12 hook, on my first cast into this new swim, I was just organising my seating arrangements when my 7ft quivertip bent double with a cracking take, and I was finally into a fish which was putting a good fight on 4lb line, that is until the hook pulled and I lost the fish. I found out when I retrieved what was left of my rig that it must have been a good sized Bream, from the tell tail sign of a big blob of slime on the end of my line. Know that bream are a shoal fish I quickly retied a hook and cast back out into the same area with another big worm on.
I was beginning to think that I was going to end the with nothing more than a great tan and a tale of “the one that got away”. then I had another great indication as my tip bent round and I was into a fish again, It felt quite a lump and was unsure as to what it was for a while, so taking it nice and steady I was a good couple of minutes before Toby had kindly netted, what I then saw straight away was a new personal best Bream, which weighed in at 4.11lb (although I thought it was bigger!) 


Simon Hall


http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

February 2012



Crocs from the swamp
We travelled up to Warrington to fish for Pike this weekend, at a venue called Longbarn pool or “the brick pits” as it is know locally. It is a small water set between a housing estate and a main road, at only 4ft at its deepest with lots of islands, over hanging trees and reed beds, it has some great features to fish to.

Starting off with float ledgered dead baits, I cast to little island just to my left in about 2ft of water and wasn’t long before my float started to twitch and then rip off towards some reeds, and I was connected to small be lively jack, who gave a really good account of himself, tail walking and pulling off line before eventually coming to the net, my first Longbarn Pike just a shade under 4lb.

My next run came around lunch time and was a bigger Pike of around 4.5lb, Toby however was not doing so well, a couple of good runs but still no Esox on the bank. Just before I caught my second Toby had one on only to lose him at the net. We also met fellow BMAC member Michael who had a good day, banking three pike the biggest of which was somewhere between 6-7lb.
I had another couple of nice Jacks to 3.5lb and three or four good runs , but the Pike evaded my old mate Toby all day, despite loads of runs he just couldn’t get one on the bank, fish crashing in the reeds all over, cruelly mocking him. That place its absolutely crawling with jack Pike, seven fish banked over three rods in day is great pike fishing, and we will definitely be back so that Toby can catch the big old girl that must rule the swamp.


Simon Hall


http://kingpsy-onthebank.blogspot.co.uk

Apr 2012

Managed to get a few hrs on Tuesday morning( before the grandkids came to stay for a few days ) on the new pool at Ollerton , so here’s my first report on the venue
Nice looking pool with the Lillie’s starting to show, there was only myself and a mate on so had a chance to plumb all the decent looking pegs and found it was a near level depth of just over 3ft with no variation of more than 6 inc ,in the pegs i plumbed.
My mate fished a peg on the left hand side and had a few roach before moving over to the opposite bank because of a strong wind in his face, where he didn’t get another bite all morning
I fished a peg at the bottom end of the pool ( out of the wind ) fed 2 lines 1 with hemp and caster and 1 with pinkie, just 2 fish on the caster a decent roach and a common about 2lb, on the pinkie i had about 20 small roach and perch and lost a good fish.
Overall a nice mornings fishing only split by finding a broken brolly that someone had left on the bank, why he didn’t take it home and bin it i dont know ( I did remove it )
Barrie Roberts

Apr 2012

yesterday i went to ollerton pool for the first time, started fishing at 700am fished on bread flake for first hour but only got slight knocks so tried corn and meat still could not get a bite so put in some mashed bread and switched to bread punch, bites came within 10mins but only 5 bites all day. I hooked 4 out of the 5 fish, 1st fish was a small skimmer about 6ozs, fish no2 was something very big, I played the fish for 2mins before snapping my 2.6oz hook lenght, so i put on a new rig of 3.6 straight threw, put bread punch on the size 16s, within 5 mins connected to another big fish, i played the fish for 15 mins and landed a lovely 7lbs common carp afterwhich only a 2ozs roach was all the pool produced. I enjoyed my day at a lovely place and cant wait to try it again when weather gets warmer.



Billy Wallwork

Apr 2012

Managed a sneaky day session on Dunham yesterday, all a bit last minute but never one to look a gift horse etc…Went to Dunham as closest to me and as last minute, wanted somewhere closer.

The new lake was closed (first one as you go in) for a match so fished the original lake. Picked the left hand side and gave myself a blank peg between guy on my right.
Couldnt reach the far bank from this peg, and didn’t fancy hauling 14.5m all day so attached the track.
Had about 7ft at 12m, pretty even bottom, so decided to be able to fish comfortable as no obvious other area.
Feed and bait was pellet with a little groundbait (mix I’m working on for this year). Set two rigs up, one dead depth and another mid depth in case they were up in the water.
Cupped 2 balls (tangerine size) to start with, and potted a few micros in with first put in. Fished 4mm expander on an 18 with a 2lb (old fashioned me) bottom.
First bite came after about 5 mins, small skimmer, great start.
Continued this way for next few hours, potting in half a pot of micros every second/3rd put in, with a walnut sized groundbait ball when I think it needed it.
Caught fairly steady, and pretty much every bite was a small lift, resulting in a skimmer of 2-8oz
Just after lunch I latched into a zoo creature, which eventually shed the hook, smashed my float and the rig, so had to re-set. Buggered the swim and took about half an hour to get them going again.
No interest at any depth other than dead.
Had 3 good sized chub (1lb/1.5lb) and 2 small tench in a bag of about 10lb ish.
overall.

Great day, and giving the pole a work out at 13m for the first time was good learning curve. LOVING the Spacestation Dave Evans…..

Have to admit, I LOVE Chub in a stillwater, yes I know this is not there natural home, but they do seem to like it, and the 3 I had were in pristine condition.
Think they would be great on somewhere like the Match Lake…..????

Not heading out tomorrow, but out with my lad next Friday and probably heading Partridge way for the day.

Tight Lines to all for the rest of this weekend.



Neil Pritchard

Reports to follow later