Rd-2-Lindholme Lakes - Strip Lake - 15.11.2025

[Leo Martin]

Big Bash Winter league round 2 Lindholme Strip Lake 15.11.2025

Round 2 and a visit to Lindholme Strip Lake for a totally different type of fishing to round 1 at Lodge farm Thistle Lake. After 36 hours of continuous cold rain curtesy of Storm Claudia everywhere was sodden. Some local rovers were overtopping and although Aaron had made a request to him upstairs for a foot of rain to top up his lakes, he was now regretting his words and hoping for the torrential rain to stop. We are traveling through Autumn at speed and the long hot summer is fast becoming a distant memory.

 Its fair to say the fish in the lakes at Lindholme are struggling to cope with the changes in transitional temperatures however Strip Lake continues to buck this trend. The heavy stocking of F1s drives the competition for food between them and bites were plentiful. Our Bashers were wondering if all the recent heavy rain affect this feeding pattern for our match there?

8 hardened Winter League Bashers were joined by 2 welcome and familiar guests for the match and everyone's names spinning on the rotating wheel of fortune for Friday nights draw. 2 sections with 5 anglers on each bank.
 
The Big Bash breakfast committee arrived extra early to dine together and share their plans for the day. It was also hoped for an early match start as well due to a winter 3pm finish time.

Lads on early numbers and Willows side bank had the cold wind from behind, Lads on Loco bank had it in their faces. The rain had eased off however light showers returned as we were almost all set up and ready for John Lanellys whistle at 09:30.

All in and Mr Fox was the first I saw catch a fish,  fishing on his short pole approach. Sat on peg 2, I was fishing on my maggot line at 1 o'clock which was facing Big Glens memorial bench so could not see much action up the lake.

Despite the cold rain the fish were feeding and I had opted to  start on a maggot line, feeding heavy and 4 on a 14 hook was the bait. Bites were very regular and the landing net in and out every put in. I stayed on this till about 12 :30 when they had slowed down and also  the stamp of fish were not as large as I would have liked. I had been feeding a hard pellet line at 2+1 in front and started on 6mm pellet and again into bites and fish. I kept on this line but the fish were still small so I dropped a wafter and method feeder on my rod over my feed area, but again the fish stamp was not enough for  my liking. I kept swapping and changing till the end of the match, 4,6 and 8mm pellets, and back on maggots however the bites had really slowed up in the second half of the match. The rain had stopped and wind dropped around 1:30 ish and this is when my bites slowed down. Still a  busy and enjoyable days fishing when you consider the time of year and recent weather.

Peg 2 Leo  Martin 49-9

Peg 4 Gavin Cooper  38-11. Gav caught in several areas of the match, short pole, Bomb / feeder rod to 10m, and his best run of fish would have been in the margin in the last hour.

Peg 6 Keith Smith 60-13 and a section win. Keith started on long pole as this method had been successful for  him last time on the lake. He switched to short pole and with 2 lines, maggot and pellet lines built his weight for the brown envelope.

Peg 8 John Lanelly 59-7 and 2nd in section. Well done John

Peg 10 Mark Radford 136. 2 and match win. Fishing Maggots close in his margin to the right the fish kept coming for Mark all match. More importantly they were a larger stamp of F1s to bring Maggot mast Mark his well-earned reward with a match win. 4 .5 pints of bait used to keep the fish feeding and ending up in his nets.

Peg 14 Nigel Cooke 36.5, well done sir

Peg 16 Steve Jackson 72-1 and  2nd in section. Busy day for Steve with some quality fish in his net.

Peg 18 Andy Woolfall 48-6 Although Woolfy had came with a plan and some words of wisdom from Tom Scholey of looking for the heavier fish, they were not playing today.

Peg 20 Tracey Benson 76 and a section win. A different approach fomr Tracey today who ditched his expanders and chose maggot and worm. A good second half and last hour in margins on worm boosted his  weight to  achieve a section win.

Peg 22 Dave Fox 57-7. Maggots fished close in was Daves approach and he also suffered form a much smaller stamp of fish than the other end of the lake.
Around the lake the fish have been caught on maggots, soft and hard pellets, and also worm for  those reading and due to fish the lake.

Many thanks to John Lanelly for the time keeping.

Special thanks to Gav, Keith and Mark for assisting with the weighing in duties.
Well done everyone for sticking it out in the cold wet conditions, I think winter is on its way and its time to shake the moths off the thermals.

Next match is on 29th November at the inform Grange Park, confirmations required and Paypal is open. 3rd match of the league and another different type of fishing awaits us.
 
The Big Bash Fur and Feather is also open for payments and confirmations. Match date 13th December, venue Strip Lake Lindholme.