Monday 25 April 2016

Sunday 24th April - Durleigh Reservoir.

I could have booked in for the Clevedon v Shiplate match down at Shiplate Farm Fishery but preferred to go somewhere more natural. Team mate Sam Johnson was interested in going somewhere as well but couldn't due to other commitments. I had already suggested Durleigh Reservoir just outside Bridgwater for some skimmer fishing and decided to stick to my plan. A quick check with the Ranger and it was confirmed no matches were on and keep nets permitted.
The gates open at 08:00 and I got there about 08:30. The car park had about 10 cars and vans already parked up so I thought there would be plenty of room on this 80 acre water. Pushing my gear up to the Lodge to purchase a day ticket (£7.50) I could already see anglers dotted across on the opposite bank and it did appear to be busy so decided on the Lodge bank. I was surprised to see so many carp anglers on this bank as well and although there was plenty of room at the top of the lake I did not fancy it as it's quite shallow. I took a chance and headed across the dam wall, it's a bit of a hike but from my limited knowledge of the reservoir the weights tend to be a lot better from the far bank.
I believe I was the only angler there who was not looking fishing for carp.
Once across the dam I stopped for a quick chat with the first carpy (and to catch my breath) to see what the score was in terms of depth etc on this side of the reservoir. He informed me that the next peg along (about 50 yards away due to the brambles) was vacant and there was a bar about 40 meters out and that he had seen some good bream catches over the years there. Encouraged by this I moved on and stopped at the peg. It had a nice low bank and I could set up in the water.


Spot on and I guess the closest to an Irish Lough from where I live.

I only brought two tip rods for the session, a 12' and my 13' 8'' dutch master. 
The 12' was set up with a 20 grm open ender with a 14 hook to 0.13. Plumbing up with a lead suggested there was indeed a bar about 40 yards out where it was about 4' and just over it I thought it was around 6'.
The dutch master was set up with a straight lead and a 0.15 hook length to a 14 with a hair rig for fishing a small white pop up boilie. I tried it a few times as the bream can respond to this set up but never had a bite.
Ground bait was a mix of Lake and Black Crumb along with a little Fishmeal to which I added the traditional caster, hemp and dead reds before casting.
It started off as T Shirt weather so the sun lotion came out along with the shades.
I cast out around 10:30 with a small red worm and dead red on the hook (class). i left it no more than 5 minutes and cast out again. On my 4th cast the 2oz tip went around very gentle and a positive thud was felt on the other end I knew it was a skimmer.


Happy days the first fish.

I had another the very next cast and then it went quiet for about 30 minutes. I still kept putting in the bait in and a real wrap around bite came more or less as the bait hit the bottom, felt a much better fish and put up a nice nodding fight closer to the net, a nice bream of around 3 lbs.
The 5 hour session was not hectic and the fish did back off from time to time but I believe I hit 90% of the bites ending up with just over 34 lbs according to the spring balance.
I walked up to the next peg and asked one of the carp lads to take the picture below.


A cracking venue but check with the Ranger whether or not there are any matches on prior to planning a trip.

Contact

Ranger: Paul Martin.
Bridgwater, Somerset TA5 2AW.
01278 424786

Plan to fish the Bristol Feeder Canal on Tuesday and possibly the Docks evening match on Thursday.





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