Billet Lane, Iver, 22nd and 23rd January 2011

I joined Uxbridge Rovers Angling and Conservation Society as they have some good local stillwaters and rivers.

The Christmas period and the poor weather meant that some of the lakes I wanted to try were quite simply unfishable as there was a thick covering of ice, so at the first sign of a break in the weather I decided to try URACS Billet Lane.

Saturday 22nd January

Billet Lane is a 1.5 acre working irrigation reservoir and as such the water level can vary dependant on what the farmer has taken out.

I set out to fish Billet Lane on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd of January with two separate approaches each day, both on the same peg, unlucky number 13.

Saturday I opted to fish the pole.  16 years since I last fished the pole, this would be interesting!

Here is the setup before I started to fish.  It did take me some time to get all the rollers set and to plumb up the depth, which ended up using my top 4 sections... that varying water level meant I only just had enough line on my pre-prepared rig!

I decided to fish four separate swims, two at the 2 o'clock position, 6 metres and 12 metres as there was an overhanging bush which I felt would hold some fish.  There is also an outlet pipe under the bush which I noted on a previous visit when the water was a lot lower.  The water wasn't too clear, which I thought would bode well.

The other swim was at 11 o'clock position and the same distances, again with trees to the left.  I fed the right hand swims a bit more positively and the left hand swims negatively.
Baits for the day where the humble maggot, red and white, sweetcorn, punched bread.  I used hemp as loose feed.

So, the session... well it started slowly, very slowly and it was very cold, so the coffee was a welcome warmer!  The first fish came after about an hour, a nice immaculate roach, followed by about 5 other of it's kind... all the fish came on the right hand swim at 12 metres.

I was fishing with Daiwa Hydroelastic, rated 5-8 and eventually it was put to a small test with a nice clean skimmer bream.  3 other of it's kind followed and that was the end of the session... not a lot to show for the day, but hey, I christened the pole... ;-)

At least the Robin Red Breast who kept on visting me kept me company, maybe it was something to do with the maggots I was feeding him...

Sunday 23rd January

I turned up at first light, still very cold and decided to fish the feeder instead of the pole, same baits, using some Van Den Eyne Supercup.

A small drennan open ended feeder was used and I fished over the pole lines from the previous day.  Double red maggot provided the bait of choice.

It was a similar pattern to the saturday, bites not coming until an hour into the session.  So how did it all pan out?

Roach, roach, roach and more roach... ended up with 16 roach with the best being around 10oz.  Again not a lot to show but I felt that both the pole and feeder approach worked equally well.  It was very cold both days.

At least I didn't blank on a fishery I've never been to before...

Popular posts from this blog

Lake Semerwater, Wensleydale, 15th May 2022

Renny Lakes, East Harlsey, 14th May 2023

Lake Semerwater, Wensleydale, 13th November 2022