Lewy's Lines

After Jacks first experience at Tees Valley lakes on the waggler he was pretty keen to get out on the bank again. With the expected weather we were thinking of a day on the feeder rods however the weather surprised everyone and turned to a lovely weekend, so the gear was switched out for the pole. Today was only going to be a morning session so we were at the gate as early as possible. The Draw Not quite a draw, the lake was empty so I took a walk around the lake thinking where we could potentially fish across to the island once Jack got used to the pole at longer lengths.  I was also looking for a swim where the sun would get to in order to warm the water.  Peg 2 was ideal giving us plenty of water to go for and the island was close. Set-up Two main pole rigs a heavy 0.8g rig and a lighter 0.4g rig.  Yellow 4-6 Matrix slik elastic and 0.16 main line to a size size silverfish maggot and 0.10 hook length. We went through plumbing the swim to find the near and far shelves however the

One of our process engineers asked over a pint one evening if he could come fishing one day as he'd love to learn to coarse fish.   Jack was certainly not a beginner as he has done a bit of fly fishing, and trout fishing using ledger and worm when he was younger.  The request was duly accepted so I started to search for a local venue that would hopefully promise plenty of bites for the day.  For Jack's end of the bargain, he would be responsible for lunch and refreshments. Tees Valley Lakes, near Eaglescliffe gave some great sport back in 2013, what would it be like nearly 9 years later?   Date and day tickets purchased, the weather forecast looked terrible with a storm bearing down on us, so we decided to postpone for a week for 20th Feb to 27th Feb.  The days weather was pretty perfect for Waggler fishing.   The Peg Walking round the lake, judging the wind, space behind the peg and the ability to get two anglers together I decided on Peg 5 on the far side of the island with p

January's outing after a family outbreak of COVID so I booked myself and Patrick on the open on The Arc at Redwood Park in York. Only 6 anglers braved todays open and the ice had been broken by the fishery from pegs 14 through to 21. The Draw The golden peg drawn was 17, my home for the day was Peg 20. Set-up Given the clarity of the water I felt that the pole line for the day needed to be long rather than short. Lines: 14 - 14.5 metres full depth and a shallow rig just in case the fish came up in the water Top two and two line at the near side shelf for dripping caster in for some roach later in the day Waggler to fish past the pole line or in case the fish didnt want the pole over their heads Bomb and bread to fish the far bank in an effort to a ball of carp Bait was a mix pellets, maggots, caster, bread and F1 sweet dark groundbait.  Clarification for another reader, the hooks used were all barbless patterns as per the fishery rules on most commercial fisheries. All-In So the ma

After a two year break, 18 months spent in New Zealand dodging Covid lockdowns, the creation of another human being, I finally got back on the bank today at Redwood Park near York. A chance to catch up with Patrick, a work colleague who is also a match angler.  Patrick has a winter silvers series coming up at Redwood Park so it proved an ideal opportunity for me to blow away the cobwebs and help sus out what methods would work on a lake Patrick had not fished before, The Lagoon . The weather was a very mild, 13 degrees C with a light wind blowing down the lake. The Draw Not actually a competition today but we decided to fish pegs 5 and 6.  I won the 50p toss and chose to fish peg 6 with Patrick on 5.  Plenty of space between the pegs. Set-up The Waggler rod was straight out of the bag to target past the pole line at multiple depths and across together with a number of pole lines as follows: Top two with a 0.4g Drennan AS4 on 0.14 line to a 0.11 bottom with a size 18 silverfish hook

A text message from Hathers asking whether I could fish the Wednesday OBH Lovers match for Big Si.  Not a problem, bait sorted, long ranger feeder rods sorted and I was ready to visit one of my favourite venues, Old Bury Hill in Dorking with the "knobs". Todays weather was miserable, rain and wind however the rain as predicted to stop around 10am so maybe it could be a great day for the bream. The Draw Peg 1, one of the favoured pegs came out of the bag for me.  Normally Big Si draws this peg and he has on most occasions however a few weeks ago it didn't produce for him with Pegs 2 and 3 taking the match win and section first. It does look a beautiful peg however the overhanging tree on the pole line doesn't allow you to get up close and personal with the reeds.  The long chuck across an obvious target. Set-up The pole line at 13-14 metres to target the tree line.  I was surprised at the difference in depth between peg 1 as I grabbed a rig that I had used