The Oaks, Sessay, Poplars, 11th September 2011
After my day at Drayton, I headed North for the rest of the weekend and decided to fish The Oaks at Sessay, Thirsk. I have an upcoming match with the Anglercabin guys in October that is on the Poplars lake, so this was my chance to familiarse myself with the venue.
The Wilton Angling Club were also fishing the lake, they had pegs 20 through to 54, so the pleasure anglers could select pegs 1-19. After having a bacon buttie from the friendly and well stocked on-site cafe and buying some 4mm and 6mm fishery pellets I headed down to the lake and found peg 6 looked inviting. Results from the Wilton Angling Club match on Poplars can be found here.
A couple of anglers had already taken up residence on pegs 1-5 and a few more a bit further up. I had peg 7 free and thought I could use that to my advantage later in the day.
Set Up
Plumbing up I found two and a half feet in the channel, just under two foot in the margin and that the far shelf extended quite far out from the bank and had a gradual slope. So to fish the crease between the far shelf and the channel I only had to go out about 11 metres. Note to self when fishing the match. The far shelf had around 18 inches of water.
I decided to simply fish the pole all day with white hyrdo and not to bother with a method feeder as I could get the pole to the far bank if needed and the wind wasn't too bad. I will however get the pole support out for the match to stablise the pole at 14.5 metres.
Baits for the day would be half a pint of red/white maggots, 4mm expander pellets, 6mm cubed luncheon meat and the trusty worm.
My three lines would be the far shelf, channel and the left hand margin, just off from the empty peg to my left.
The Session
Started by potting in some 4mm on the far shelf near a tuft of reeds and also in the channel. Hooked on a pellet and started in the channel.
After 30 minutes, not a touch on the pellet, I switched to maggot which was taken by a small rudd on the drop, not the best start, but at least it was a fish.
I was feeding the channel by pot to create some noise and bring the fish in, but after another 30 minutes and a switch back to pellet I had nothing of note landed.
Decided to give the far bank a go and hooked on a worm, this was quickly taken by a small "stockie" common carp but after that nothing... as the day was moving on it was becoming quite frustrating trying to work out where the fish were.
Tom, the owner came round to collect the day ticket money and asked how I was getting on. He mentioned that it was fishing quite hard at the moment and that I should go on the far shelf crease. So I shipped out to the crease with a medium pot full of chopped worm, caster and predator plus. I dropped the float into the red cloud with half a worm on the hook. A nice roach picked up the bait, followed by some good rudd and then Ide. This pattern followed for the next hour, I cupped in after 5 fish which seemed to keep the fish interested and also on the deck as I only got one foul hooked roach.
The line went dead and so I tried the margin line, which I'd been throwing 6mm meat into. No signs of fish and the float stayed definantley still... mmm, no good there then.
Cupped into the "crease" swim and proceeded to go long again. Nothing next to the reeds, so I tried further away from them, this resulted in another couple of small stockie carp.
Conclusion
Around 4pm I decided to call it a day. The venue had fished hard with no regular pattern of bites emerging, I ended up with around 30 fish, for approx 20lb. All fish were in great condition, the Ide fought well and were a pleasure to catch.
The Oaks tackle shop and canteen are top notch with great service, Tom the owner is very helpful. Looking forward to my match there in October.
Here are some of the catch shots. The large Ide put up a great fight.
The Wilton Angling Club were also fishing the lake, they had pegs 20 through to 54, so the pleasure anglers could select pegs 1-19. After having a bacon buttie from the friendly and well stocked on-site cafe and buying some 4mm and 6mm fishery pellets I headed down to the lake and found peg 6 looked inviting. Results from the Wilton Angling Club match on Poplars can be found here.A couple of anglers had already taken up residence on pegs 1-5 and a few more a bit further up. I had peg 7 free and thought I could use that to my advantage later in the day.
Set Up
Plumbing up I found two and a half feet in the channel, just under two foot in the margin and that the far shelf extended quite far out from the bank and had a gradual slope. So to fish the crease between the far shelf and the channel I only had to go out about 11 metres. Note to self when fishing the match. The far shelf had around 18 inches of water.
I decided to simply fish the pole all day with white hyrdo and not to bother with a method feeder as I could get the pole to the far bank if needed and the wind wasn't too bad. I will however get the pole support out for the match to stablise the pole at 14.5 metres.Baits for the day would be half a pint of red/white maggots, 4mm expander pellets, 6mm cubed luncheon meat and the trusty worm.
My three lines would be the far shelf, channel and the left hand margin, just off from the empty peg to my left.
The Session
Started by potting in some 4mm on the far shelf near a tuft of reeds and also in the channel. Hooked on a pellet and started in the channel.
After 30 minutes, not a touch on the pellet, I switched to maggot which was taken by a small rudd on the drop, not the best start, but at least it was a fish.
I was feeding the channel by pot to create some noise and bring the fish in, but after another 30 minutes and a switch back to pellet I had nothing of note landed.
Decided to give the far bank a go and hooked on a worm, this was quickly taken by a small "stockie" common carp but after that nothing... as the day was moving on it was becoming quite frustrating trying to work out where the fish were.
Tom, the owner came round to collect the day ticket money and asked how I was getting on. He mentioned that it was fishing quite hard at the moment and that I should go on the far shelf crease. So I shipped out to the crease with a medium pot full of chopped worm, caster and predator plus. I dropped the float into the red cloud with half a worm on the hook. A nice roach picked up the bait, followed by some good rudd and then Ide. This pattern followed for the next hour, I cupped in after 5 fish which seemed to keep the fish interested and also on the deck as I only got one foul hooked roach.
The line went dead and so I tried the margin line, which I'd been throwing 6mm meat into. No signs of fish and the float stayed definantley still... mmm, no good there then.
Cupped into the "crease" swim and proceeded to go long again. Nothing next to the reeds, so I tried further away from them, this resulted in another couple of small stockie carp.
Conclusion
Around 4pm I decided to call it a day. The venue had fished hard with no regular pattern of bites emerging, I ended up with around 30 fish, for approx 20lb. All fish were in great condition, the Ide fought well and were a pleasure to catch.
The Oaks tackle shop and canteen are top notch with great service, Tom the owner is very helpful. Looking forward to my match there in October.
Here are some of the catch shots. The large Ide put up a great fight.
