I recently
paid a visit to Burton Constable Lakes in the grounds of Burton Constable Holiday
Park. A venue I have not visited for almost a year. On offer are 2 well stocked
lakes which contain a large variety of species, namely Bream, Roach, Carp and
Pike. Today I chose to fish the Boating Lake, of which I have had some
fantastic days on in the past. On arrival I was a little taken back when I
discovered all the trees down the designated fishing bank had been cut down.
After
parking at the club house car park, and a short walk over the bridge (which
separates the 2 ponds) I arrived at my peg. My plan for the day; due to a
vicious wind, was to fish a ground bait feeder for the Bream and Skimmers.
THE SET-UP
- I
set up one of my trusted Browning 10 foot Force Bomb rods armed with a Browning
Backfire reel; this has a large spool perfect for feeder fishing
- The
line on the reel is 6lb Browning Cenex Feeder line
- On
the business end I had a small cage feeder. I have chosen a small cage feeder
because the lake is relatively shallow and I want as little disturbance as
possible, also due to the bad wind I have decided to fish short distance for
accuracy
- For
the hook length I am using 0.12 Browning Hybrid Power line to an 18 hook
- For
bait I used ground bait loaded with dead red maggots and dead red maggot on the
hook
THE SESSION
I started
the session by casting 5 feeders full of ground bait and dead reds to the
designated spot; for accuracy I had clipped up. After 2 minutes of the 1st
proper cast, the tip pulled round, a small Skimmer was safely in the landing
net. I had a good spell, catching small Skimmers and roach before bites became
almost impossible to hit. I did hit one and the smallest roach ever was on the
end of my line.
TIME FOR A CHANGE!
It was now I
decided to make a dramatic change; up the bank went the Feeder rod, and out
came the pole. The short pole has given me some amazing catches here in the
past, resulting in 200lb bags of Bream to 8lb!
Because the
wind had eased back slightly, it was a little easier to fish the pole than it
was at the beginning of the session.
NEW SET-UP
- The
bait I used on this line was a 6mm expander on the hook, and feeding 4mm hard
pellets over the top
*As I rigged up the pole I started to prime the swim, feeding
around 20 pellets every minute or so.
- The
rig I was using was a 0.14 browning Hybrid main line to a 0.12 hook length of
the same material
- The
hook was a Kamasan B911 size 16
- The float was a diamond shape in a 4x14
On the first
drop in the float buried in seconds, and a decent sized Skimmer was in the net.
This was the start of 2 hectic hours; good sized Skimmers and Roach were coming
every put in. I never managed to catch one of the bigger Bream on this
occasion, but I will be back in the near future for another go!
