MFS - Bury Hill Fisheries, 10th May 2015

I put my name well down the reserve list for this match at Bury Hill Fishery not really expecting to get on it.  A late message from Hather's last week asking if I was available?  Of course I was, Bury Hill is a beautiful fishery and having only been here once before I was looking forward to getting back on the banks of the big lake.

Arriving at the fishery it was great, as usual to see some faces I've not seen for a while, like Simon (Big Bloke) and Stuart (Squeaky Roller).

Ken in the tackle shop was quick to pick up on the northern accent and the friendly banter started.

The Draw
Hather's wasn't fishing today as his good lady had put her foot down.  He was going to the football and then having a week at Stafford Moor.  This didn't stop him turning up and organising the draw for us all.

My peg for the day would be Peg 11, a disabled platform swim which of course I would soon be ridiculed for.  Thanks to Hathers for eventually getting a picture of me after multiple attempts.

The Set-Up
It was clear that today would be spent on the feeder and pole.  The method feeder had been voluntarily banned for the match.  I set-up:
  • Feeder rod with a running cage feeder and 20 inch hooklength
  • Pole at 14.5 metres, the depth was pretty uniform so it gave me plenty of scope for changing areas
Bait was some dead maggots, casters, pellets (micro, 4mm, 6mm and 8mm for hookbait) together with some groundbait.

All-In
Smithy looking pleased with himself
I'd clipped the feeder up to 40 turns and was in the process of putting out six casts of feed when on my fourth cast I hear a rattle through the rod rings which is the tell tail sign of a "wind loop".  Reeling back in confirmed it and the knot was way too tight to even attempt to unpick, so snip the line and a four turn water know would suffice.  I'd only lost 2 turns, so quickly clipped back up and finished putting the remaining feed out.

I cupped in two small balls of micro pellets on the pole line and would sit on the feeder for the first 40 minutes casting regularly, leaving the feeder in the water for 5 minutes at a time.  I started with a banded 6mm pellet.

Smithy next to me hooked a bream on his first cast, looks like a good day!

I wasn't getting any knocks on the banded 6mm pellet so switched to 3 dead reds, fish on straight away, not a huge example, but at least it got me off the mark.

I took a look on the pole line with a 4mm expander pellet, nothing, so back to the feeder for me.  In the 2nd hour, Ricky had started to catch on his pole line, Smithy was getting fish on the feeder and I had one in the net... so I copied Rick and went on the pole line, at last a run of fish, well two anyway.

Neighbour for 2 days running, try smiling Ricky ;-)
There was a big tow in the lake from right to left.  I topped the line up with a gold golf ball of micro pellets but was struggling to get in touch with the fish.  Ricky was happily catching some large slabs, Smithy was also on the pole and catching.

Interestingly, Smithy was pinging 4mm pellets over his pole line and Ricky was kinder potting in micro's every drop in.

Hour 3 and I was struggling, back on the feeder line, this time leaving it out for 15 minutes a chuck.  I hooked a couple of fish which came off near the net.  My day wasn't going to plan.

The final couple of hours I sat motionless, switching between the feeder and the pole line.  Replumbing, checking my depth, changing the rig to a double bulk for the telltale lift bites you get from skimmers and bream.

Ricky was catching one a chuck, Smithy was also getting fish on a regular basis and dropped his feeder over the pole line, fish on straight away.  I followed suit and hooked a fish, the next fish came off, so I changed hooklengths and decided to go long, unclipping the line and casting to the stars!

I left the feeder out while I was resigned to my fate and started to pack the pole up around me.  The final 5 minutes, the tip swung round and a lovely bruiser of a bream was in the net.  With that, Ricky called the all-out.

Result
10lb 8oz with the seven fish and dead last in section.

Full Results
1st Elbows Peg 3 94-6
2nd Happydangler Peg10 71-12
3rd Splitshot161 Peg 9 63-8

Section A
P1 - Shuar (Golden Peg) DNW
P2 - WilsonD 43-6
P3 - Elbows 94-6
P4 - Maddogrnnsn 51-0
P6 - Breamslime DNW
P8 - Marcus Page DNW

Section B
P9 - Splitshot 161 63-8
P10 - Happydangler 71-12
P11 - Lewy 10-8
P12 - Breambrain 43-8
P13 - Epicentre 40-2
P14 - Toplights 17-9

Section C
P16 - MickyD 25-7
P17 - GeorgeT 13-1
P19 - Tony9151 6-14
P20 - Squeakyroller 28-8
P22 - Big Bloke 24-4
P24 - JimW 15-0

Conclusion
Stuart (Squeaky Roller) and Simon (Big Bloke) mentioned that maybe I should have fed 4mm pellets as the tow was quite strong and the micro pellets would have drifted away and not left a nice area for the bream to graze on.  This was on my mind all the way home.

**Update, Ricky was feeding loose dampened micro pellets and fishing around his baited area.  Thanks for the info Rick!  I still owe you a quid for the battering!

Nevertheless, I had a good day out, with great company, the sun was shining and the wind wasn't too bad.  Bury Hill is a beautiful fishery and I'm looking forward to my next outing there!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Renny Lakes, East Harlsey, 14th May 2023

Image
Well the second trip out in 2023, the first one didn’t go as planned, I didn’t take to many photographs we didn’t catch any fish and I didn’t write a blog post about it… sorry about that. So the fishing whatsapp group voted for a day on Renny Lakes which didn’t mean too much of a long drive for Mr Curry or the rest of us. I’d also invited Sam along, Sam last fished back in 2016 so a great chance for him to get hooked a second time so to speak! The Pegs Renny Lakes has changed from a three lake complex back to two lakes. So a quick walk round the larger lake we found three pegs next to each other with islands and open water to go at. Set-Up I’d brought two rods with me for a simple days fishing while coaching Sam. A waggler rod and a feeder rod with a micro hybrid feeder on. Bait was simple too, maggots, sweetcorn, 6mm and 8mm pellets. All-In I’d just finished plumbing the depth on waggler a few rod length out when Sam arrived. We quickly set his rod up to fish a...
Read more

Lake Semerwater, Wensleydale, 15th May 2022

Image
In a break from the normal commercials and after sorting all the the fishing gear out and finding a load of distance feeders that simply had not been used I decided it was time to tackle a large, wild water close to me. Searching YouTube and finding some videos by Jamie Harrison and Lee Kerry, Lake Semerwater became the target.  I roped in Patrick from work and Mr Curry an old friend I've not seen for quite some years.  The target was set, the prep was done and it was a very early start from sunny Stockton to drive to the beautiful Wensleydale and Lake Semerwater. Arriving at the farmhouse for 6am and catching up with Rich we headed down to the parking areas to be treated to fish in the shallows and a fabulous morning view. Patrick arrived about 30 minutes later and we tackled the bumpy 100 metre walk to where the stream fed into the lake. The Draw Rich as he was first to arrived went next to the stream, I went in the middle and Patrick on the right hand side.  Comforta...
Read more

Lake Semerwater, Wensleydale, 13th November 2022

Image
After a very enjoyable trip in May and Jack wanting to learn a bit of feeder fishing together with the weather for November looking pretty good, our little fishing group headed back to Wensleydale and the fantastic Lake Semerwater.  The only one missing was Mr Curry who was on a promise?!   Watching the weather in the lead-up to the weekend it was looking like a great day ahead, overcast, no rain, constant air pressure however maybe a little windy. The Sunday morning drive to get to the lake for first light was very foggy with some rain, had the weather got it wrong? The Pegs Arriving at the lake, it looked fantastic, the water level was a lot higher than the May trip and there was a clear “tide” mark higher up the bank where the level had been some days before.  There was already a pike angler in the area that we wanted to fish however enough room between him and the river inlet for us to get two boxes in the water without disturbing each other.  ...
Read more