Winter angling is never easy, and you usually only find the hardcore match or pleasure anglers, winter leagues and predator anglers on the bank, however, are we missing a trick. With the increase of fisheries offering great sport in the winter with good stocks of silver fish and F1 Carp, well maintained banks and hard standing pegs, I do believe anglers putting the gear in the shed or garage for the winter are missing out. If an angler is armed with some knowledge, scaled back light balanced tackle with winter baits fed accurately and the appropriate amount, there is some great days to be had.
Newbridge Farm Fishery Lakes, is one of the above fisheries, and can offer a great days winter angling, if you are prepared to brave the short cold days this time of year. The fishery is a gem, tucked away on the Lancashire Liverpool border, you would never know you are ten minutes from Liverpool, as the fishery is set in the busy farming land, the area is known for. The road running along the fishery does have traffic, however its not the busiest road in the county and you get used to it after a short time.
Turning off the road to the fishery, the track down the fishery car park is immediately as you turn in , with the sign on your right. The track down to the car park is hard standing, there are pot holes so just take your time. The car park is not big, but if people park sensibly there will not be an issue. The banks of very clean, pegs are well spaced and hard standing.
The pleasure lake was our destination for today, following Dave Williams from the team and good friend of the team Stewart Rustling. Dave fished the pole, on the left hand side of the lake near the airator, with Stewart on the Guru Hybrid feeder on the car park side of the lake, fishing to the corner of the island. The weather was cold but dry, no cloud cover and a little bit of an icy breeze it wasn't a bad day at all, however, with the recent freezing temperatures at the end of last week and the weekend, the colour had noticeably dropped out of the water
The fishing on the pole for Dave stated slow, and took a while to build and momentum, but true to form Dave continued to be accurate with his feeding, persevered and the fish came. The peg choice by Dave was part of the key to his good day, with the fish holing features of reeds and the airator and shadowed by the building and trees to his left from the morning and midday sun, Dave managed a great mixed bag of Skimmers, Ide F1 and Mirror Carp, all falling to dead read maggots fished over maggot and pellet, due to the clear water low sun, Dave blacked out the tips of his floats to give him a greater chance of seeing small indications against the clear water background.
Stewart, on the other hand had a fantastic day, from the start, he had wait longer than Dave for a bite, but when they came. the wait was more than worth it. Fishing the Guru Hybrid feeder to the corner of the island, he found were the F1's were hold up, and the were more than happy to take the three dead red maggots and micro pellets mixed with a little bit of swim stim ground bait. The cast from his peg was difficulty, with over hanging trees on the island, every time Stewart managed to land the feeder between three and five foot of the island he was guaranteed a fish. Fishing to the clip was very important, to maintain the accuracy and keep the feed concentrated.
The fishery is itself is a cracking place to sit for the day, and you can see that it is unstoppable in the warmer months. Big thanks to the owners for their hospitality, and we will be back soon.
Tactics.
Dave:
Rigs fished on the bottom, 0.4 Dino Gino floats, double dead reds on a size 20 B911 F1 hook, fished over a mixture of live red maggots and 4mm excelsor pellets from Beachwood baits ltd. Dave rotated three lines through his swim picking off two or three fish from each.
Stewart:
Feeder to the corner of the island, Guru Hybrid Feeder, three dead red maggots on a size 16 Guru LWG hook. Feeder packed with 3mm pellets mixed with a small amount of Swim Stim ground bait.
Photos.
