Lewy's Lines

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.  Comfortable close

Back to Tees Valley Lake for myself and Jack.  Unfortunately Patricks good lady was suffering from overindulging the night before and he was playing nurse. So we've now got Jack kitted out with rod, reel and all the terminal tackle he needs for a waggler session including purchasing a new Guru whip.   The Draw Arriving at Yarm Lake, I decided that we should fish pegs 5, 6 and 7.  Jack on 5, me on 6 and Patrick would have been on 7. Peg 5 was ideal for Jack, plenty of open water to cast to and he'd been there before in February so it would be familiar. Set-up We had set the waggler rod up a few days before going through the different knots and how to get all the gear onto the line.  A 2g Drennan Visiwag No.2 was selected and we'd put some shot on the line previously. A lesson in plumbing the depth and Jack was away with his share of the bait, a pint of red and white maggots.  I'd kept the casters back for the moment. My plan for Peg 6 was to fish across just up the sh

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