Ascott Ponds in the Cleveland Hills.

I fished one of my clubs stillwaters for the 1st time today. Ascott Ponds are set in the beautiful Cleveland Hills just outside the village of Faceby. Not knowing what to expect i took 2 feeder rods, one set up to fish the Method Feeder and Halibut Pellet hookbait and the other to fish Groundbait feeder with Maggot or worm hookbait. I also took my match rod set up fairly light with a size 18 hook and a 0.14 hooklink. I finally arrived around 7.00am after returning home to collect the maggots i'd forgot! Anyway the weather was horrid. Windy & rainy so my 1st priority was a peg with some shelter which i promptly found at the far end of the big pond. Firstly i tried the Method feeder. I squashed soaked pellets around it and hair rigged a bigger pellet for hookbait. After around 10 minutes to baitrunner sprang into life and after a brief fight i had a pristine 3lb-ish Carp in the net....

Feeling like i'd nailed the tactics 1st cast, i recast to the same spot but around half an hour of nothingness followed. Being an impatient fella i felt a change was needed so i set the Method rod to one side and cast a feeder loaded with groundbait and a maggot hookbait to the same spot. It produce and instant result with a Tench of around 1lb in the net....

30-40 minutes of switching between the two rods produces nothing so i decided to have a dabble in the margin swim i'd been feeding with groundbait and maggots. I'd plumbed up earlier and was surprised to find 5 foot of water right under my rod tip. Worm was the hookbait as i'd heard the pond held some nice Perch up to the 2lb mark. The Worm had barely hit the bottom when the float slid away. After a fierce fight a Tench of around 10oz was mine.....

A few more Tench around the half pound mark followed along with some small Perch, then my 1st Skimmer appeared, followed by 2 more small Tench and another 3 Skimmers, the 4th of around 10oz being the biggest.....

Then the Skimmers disappeared and it was 6-10oz Tench and small Perch with the odd half pounder thrown in for the next 3-4 hours. I had the odd dabble on the feeder line to no avail but after a run of small Tench on the Waggler i struck into a much weightier fish. It was a Bream and came to the net without too much fuss. Around the 2lb mark.....

A final Tench followed to round off a most enjoyable session that produced around 20lb of fish.

3 weeks of fishing!

Nearly a month since my last post so i'll cover a few trips in one go. After the opening day debacle i was determined to land a few Pike from the stretch where i'd lost six in a few hours. So i returned for an evening Spinning session. 1st cast and i had a fish on! and this one i managed to land!! Only a Jack of 4lb 6oz but it was a relief to finally land one...

Shortly after i hooked into another Jack of 5lb 14oz...

 After another hour or so i landed my final fish of the session. Another Jack of around 3-4lb...

All fish were caught on a long bright yellow shallow diving Crankbait.
After that i had another blank session. This time on the Swale, a river i've never fished before. Fishing for the legendary monstrous Chub but to no avail. I fished mainly Meat and Bread but its seems trotting maggots or casters is probably my best bet for the future.
Next session of note was back at Franks Farm on the Tees. This time i took a Deadbait rod as well as a Spinning rod. I started off catching a few small Perch on Spinners, then i slipped a Makeral into the margins. Within about 20 minutes a Pike picked it up and sped down river with it. After a Brief fight i slipped the net under a seasons bests of 9lb 6oz. A very long fish which i'm sure will be around 3-4lb heavier come January February time....

That same day on the evening i popped down to a stretch on the Leven i've never fished before. I snaffled 4 Trout to 12oz on worm in an hour. I kept one for my Dad :-)

So after a blank on The Tees at Croft i was determined to put it right and ventured back there for a full days session. I found a lovely looking glide and the plan was to trot maggots under a Stick Float. But first i had a quick cast of a piece of bread to the end of the swim to check for Chub. Immediately a small Chub of 1lb 4oz took the bait but it seems his bigger brothers and sisters weren't with him after a few biteless casts. So i switched to the float. I was feeding Hemp and Maggots. It took around an hour to land my first fish. A beautiful Grayling of 14oz, a new PB for me!

After another biteless few hours i tried bread on the feeder again. After a clonking bite and a fierce fight a 1lb Eel was in the net, another PB. No photo this time i just slipped him back. After another hour or so i decided to pack up for home. On the walk back i noticed a fine looking swim and couldn't resist a few casts. My Meat hookbait was only in the water for 10 seconds when a Chub of 2lb 13oz snaffled it

 Next a Chub of 3lb 2oz, followed by another of 3lb 4oz...

That was nearly 10lb of Chub in about 30mins! Time to go home while i'm on top!

Next trip was another new venue for me. The River Ure at Kilgram Bridge near Bedale. Again i went with mainly Meat as bait. I also took some worms, Maggots and a bit of Groundbait. After a few fishless hours on Meat i switch to a groundbait feeder with Maggot hookbait. I immediately got amongst some small Brown Trout and Gudgeon. Then i flicked the baitrunner on my reel on whilst i sorted some bait out. The reel suddenly screamed off and the lump on the other end headed downstream. Praying my fine wire size 18 hook would hold i eventually slipped the net under a PB Chub of exactly 4lb..

So thats just about up to date. Apart from a quick session this morning spinning for Perch. I was using a small Chrome Spinner. I had a few Perch the biggest being around 8oz then as i retrieved to Lure the line suddenly went solid. I thought it was the bottom but then it started to move off and take line with ease. The fish casually swam right past me and towards an over hanging tree. With a massive bend in my rod i put my hand on the reel to slow down the fishes escape to the over hanging tree. At that point the hook pulled and i was left wondering what might have been. I'm convinced it was a twenty. I've never hooked a fish thats felt that big before. Gutted. Oh well thats fishing!