Fishery manager Mal Watson (tel: 07966 890086) informs me that new ‘stockies’ (in the form of carp from 6oz to 5lb) will feed throughout these cold months and they want grub so try warming your ‘pinkies’ up! Bronze, red and white maggots will all be gratefully received, along with a few micro pellets, and the pole is the method, but feed two lines to keep things going. There is some good silver fish sport to be had with roach, skimmers and ide to 2lb… what’s an ide I ask? (It’s a chub like fish you idiot … ed!) Pellets cannot be ruled out, but when it comes to perch, then maggot is the bait as worm doesn’t seem to work according to Mal, and he should know. Island Pool (28 pegs) can produce perch up to 3lb in Jan/Feb but expect six or more stripeys over 1lb in a session if you target them. I still can’t work out why a juicy lobworm won’t do the business. Casters sort the stockies out big time but keep your feed tight. Personally, I’d spray just a few ‘shells’ to begin with, and then keep feeding on a ‘sixpence’, just to draw a few carp into your feeding area and get them competing for food. Silver Pool (46) is mainly full of the bigger stockies and the odd very, very large perch, so tackle-up accordingly and look at a caster or maggot approach. Sweetcorn can be a devastating bait anytime and even perch will have a nibble! Day tickets are £6 with concessions £5 and after 1.00pm it is £4.50 and £4 respectively. There is an on-site tackle shop, with Karen serving up hot food and drinks in the 85-seater café and bar, and owners Mark and Shaun can be contacted on 01299 250427 with the lovely Tracy taking club and match bookings on the same telephone number.
