Brafferton Fishery, York, 12th April 2012

Peg 15 on Ghost Lake
Catching up with Paul and Mick from the Anglers Cabin forum we decided to have a session at Brafferton Fishery near York.  Paul had fished there before, but Mick and I hadn't, so we would be looking for the tips and tricks from Paul.

There are a number of lakes at Brafferton Fisheries, Match Lake, Ghost Lake, F1 Lake and Spring Lake.  Paul had selected the Ghost Lake and we chose Pegs 15, 14 and 12.

The Set-Up
Paul advised that we would not need to fish beyond 11 or 13 metres, so I decided to have two swims at 11 metres (11 o'clock and 2 o'clock).  I would also set up a margin swim towards peg 16 on my right.

Rig choice was a Malman Thicko 4x16 to 0.14 line and a size 18 wide gap pellet hook from Drennan.  I chose the heavier float as there was quite a breeze on the water and I wanted a stable presentation.

I opted to start with White Hydroelastic and switch down to Blue if I was bumping too many fish.

Bait was simple, Pellet and more pellet.  4 & 6mm expander pellets, micro, 4 & 6mm hard pellet.

The All-In
Mick on Peg 12, Ghost Lake
We were all ready around the same time and I cupped in a small cup of dampened micro's and 4mm pellets on the two 11 metre lines and went over the 10 o'clock line with a 6mm expander on the hook.

Meanwhile, Paul had quickly bagged a couple of stocky carp on a 4mm expanders.  So after remaining biteless for 5 minutes I swapped to a 4mm expander pellet and soon had the first fish in the net.

4mm expanders where bringing silvers as well as carp, so after the first hour I changed back to 6mm expander to try and tempt a larger fish.

The sport was consistent and we soon picked up the feeding pattern of once the bites dropped off to top up the swim with a cupful of micro pellets.

Paul had started to try and catch shallow and was getting some hit and miss action, but he would persist and it would reward him later.

The weather was quite changeable from sunshine and flat calm, cloudy, very windy and hailstones, but the fish were still coming.
Paul on Peg 14, Ghost Lake

Mick had changed to his bomb rod and was catching fish close to the island using banded pellet.

The expander pellet was swapped out for a banded 6mm hard pellet and while the bites took a little longer, the fish were of a better stamp, but of course this did result in the odd foul hooked fish.

No doubt many readers of this blog have hooked a flyer skimmer, well I foul hooked a 3.5lb carp in the tail that did a flying skimmer impression three times as it headed two pegs across to my right.  I ended up taking 13 metres of pole and walking down the bank.  After a good 10 minutes I managed to get back to the top kit and slowly bring this tall hooked carp to the net, which of course lead to the normal banter from Mick and Paul!

I never really tried the margin line as my 11 metre line was producing.  At around 3:30pm the fish really started to feed and Paul was fishing shallow and netting fish after fish.

We decided to pack in just after 4pm as the cloud cover had added a real chill to the air and after the hailstones we were all a little cold.

Paul had his weigh sling and scales so we did a proper weigh-in.

The Result
Mick - 19.5lb
Paul - 53lb
Me - 40lb

Conclusion
Paul was switching between fishing up in the water and on the deck using the same line.  This allowed him to eek to more fish from the swim as he was landing 3 to 4 fish up in the water to my one fish on the deck.

I've read quite a few reports on Brafferton fishery which have not been the most complimentary, but I had a very enjoyable day with consistent sport, despite the weather!

Mick's 19.5lb Net

Paul's 53lb Net

My 40b net

Comments

thisisben said…
i fished this lake on the 10th for the 1st time on opposite side to you consistantly catching carp upto an island on the method feeder and then got my rod and then my 12 lb line snapped by what i can only describe as a swamp monster tore off down the lake with a bow wave like a submarine! i will be back with my new stronger rod in the summer i think

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