Lewy's Lines

Taking advantage of a Friday off work I decided to try a new local venue, Yarm Fishery, also know as Yarm Lake run by Tees Valley Lakes.  Yarm Fishery has been totally revamped by Alfy and the team at Tees Valley Lakes and what a great job they have done!  The pegs are neat and tidy and the lake is protected by an electrified otter fence which makes shipping your pole back a small challenge. Tees Valley Lakes first came to my attention about 18 months ago, they have since increased the fish stock levels substantially with some small carp, roach and tench adding to the existing stock of fish. I arrived around 8am, the weather was overcast, cold and a light drizzle of rain.  John, a member of Anglers Cabin was already there when I arrived. John had fished the lake since the revamp and also when it was owned by Albion Angling Club many years ago. John had taken peg 7 on the far side of the lake giving him the point of the island, some open water to his right and also a far margin

17 of us decided to stay on the extra day to fish an open match were the carp now count.  It was a welcome later draw at 9am as it was a late night on the final day of the silvers festival. I drew out peg 35 on Tanners which is over the far side of the lake and one peg off the end peg, 36.  It is a promising carp area so my hopes were high. The Set-up Last years festival the carp came to the pole line as that is where all the feed had gone in during the previous 4 days so I had the following two lines: 13 metre line at 10 o’clock, this would be the groundbait line 13 metre line at 1 o’clock which would have chopped worm on it I also broke out a bomb rod and waggler rod to fish the waggler at full depth with banded pellet. Bait was 8mm pellets, sweetcorn, 4mm expander and worm. The All-In Today would be decided by carp and not silvers, so I decided to feed positively, so I cupped in loose groundbait and on the other line half a cup of chopped worm.  These lines w

The final day of the Silvers festival and an open draw, so I could be on any of the three lakes that we had fished in the previous three days.  I drew Tanners, Peg 9 so on the lawns again just a few pegs up from where I started on Monday.  My neighbours for the day would be Mark Mcdorch and none other than my adopted dad, Herbie, our festival organiser. We were great by an iced over lake and ice breaking was the order of the day.  Ice breakers were going in all over the lake and I borrowed one from Pete (PerfectPete) and spend 15 minutes cleaning the swim. The Set-up After breaking the ice to about 13 metres, I set up the following lines: 13 metres at 45 degree’s to my platform 13 metres straight ahead 8 metres at 2 o’clock Depth wasn’t ideal at around 4 feet the 13 metre lines, 3.5 feet on the 8 metre line.  Bait was dead and alive red maggot, casters and chopped worm. The All-In I decided to fish one 13 metre line positively and the other as I’d being doi

Day 3 of the MFS Silvers Festival at Stafford Moor.   The odds of Dave (Shedful) drawing against Colin (BNF) again today had been calculated at a 1 in a 3000 chance.   Dave decided to draw last to see if that would change his luck.   I drew peg 34 on Woodpecker which is right at the back of the lake and another long walk to my peg.   Dave’s luck held steady and two other “victims” had picked the pegs either side of Colin, he was one happy man! Arriving at Peg 34 on Woodpecker I was in a bay area, the wind blowing across me with a slight ripple on the water.  It looked promising, but the previous weights from this peg were low.  Plumbing up I found a pretty uniform 3 foot of depth in the peg. The Set-up I decided to set-up a feeder rod in case the pole didn’t produce and I could explore the bay area.  I opted for two main lines at the normal 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock postions.  Plumbing up to find two area’s of the same depth so I could utilise a single rig, set up another rig as

Day 2 of the MFS Silvers Festival at Stafford Moor.   It was a slow start this morning with the after effects of a tequila bottle, Jack Daniels Honey and copious amounts of beer.   I drew peg 16 on Pines.   The peg is the furthest away from the car park and the walk was a bit of a pain, but at least it warmed me up. The Set-up Pines, Peg 16 is in a bay which is about 20 metres wide so another day on the pole.  The advice was to fish long and after plumbing up, the peg was a uniform two and a half foot deep, not looking promising with the cold weather.  So I set up three lines as follows: 13 metre line at 10 o’clock 13 metre line at 2 o’clock Inside line on top 3 Bait today was dead red maggots, red maggots, casters and sloppy groundbait. The All-In I was about to cup in a ball of groundbait and Steve May stopped me.  “If that’s bigger than  half a golf ball don’t put it in”, he warned, so I heeded his advice and put a kinder pot on the pole and dropped a nugget of slopp

Day 1 of the eagerly anticipated Match Fishing Scene Silvers Festival at Stafford Moor.   After a 5 hour drive from the North East, I arrived at Stafford Moor in time for a cracking Sunday lunch cooked by Colin (BNF).   This year I was in the “Lodge of Plenty” with Paul (Animal) and Dave (Shedful).   The normal banter soon started and the beers were flowing.   That day the lads had fished a Champion Leagues match and a couple of anglers had ended up going for a swim as pole sections had gone in the water.   John (RedArmy) and Pete (Merce) both looked frozen! Dave Brittain, neighbour for the day In the year since visiting Stafford Moor, Andy Seery had done a lot of work pruning back trees and the fishery looked really good. It was a great night catching up with the Matchfishing Scene lads and meeting some new ones. The next morning, Colin (BNF) cooked up a cracking full english breakfast and we had plenty of time to get to the draw at 9am.  The normal shambolic queue for

As the 2012 Mark vs Mark Championship had been decided we both fancied a session to kick off the 2013 Championship at a venue we had not fished for some time, Decoy Lakes , one which we kept promising ourselves to re-visit but never got around to fishing there.  Our last session was with Bob Nudd MBE back in 2011 . Overnight had seen a snap frost which may affect the fishing.  Decoy Lakes opens at 9am, so at least I wasn't up at 5am or 6am as per the previous days...  Decoy is a busy place, even on a Sunday with quite a few matches takiing place.  Arriving at the fishing we spoke to the owner and we selected to re-fish the Elm strip lake.  As we drove down to Elm, there were to other guys fishing it, so we decided to re-fish the same pegs that we fished with Bob Nudd, so I had Peg 6 and Mark, Peg 7. The Set-up Elm's depth is pretty uniform at around 5 foot 6 inches and it does have a healthy stock of F1's, Carp, Barbel and skimmers.  So I set-up the pole and small