Summer League round 9 Sherwood fishery Holmedale lake 30.7.2022

[Leo Martin]

Summer league round 9 Sherwood fisheries Holmedale lake 30.7.2022.

After many years of being regulars, it's been a few years since we visited Holmedale lake and there has also been a change of ownership. Driving down the meandering road you are met with new signage and a lot less bumps in the track. The old hut has been refurbished, a café added and outdoor undercover seating to devour the breakfasts on offer. Fishery own feed pellets is another change and these retail at £2.50 a bag, labelled and marked. It is another form of income for the owners in these challenging times and there are very few fisheries now where any pellets can be used as the owners struggle to make ends meet.

The lakes have had a good clean out, bankside vegetation cut back and platforms are Work in Process as they get to be upgraded. A lot of work has been put in by the new owners and it shows a big difference, well done guys.

We had the whole of roadside bank, a small match was at bottom end on fieldside and a couple of pleasure anglers on pegs 10 and 11.  Friday nights wheel of dreams delivered peg 50 to yours truly, not the best end of the lake but its just nice to be back fishing again in good company. Andy w8 to my left although hidden behind some shrubbery and Steve Curtis to my right. The spare peg to y right was discounted as I could not see past my top kit towards 51 due to vegetation. Winner winner for Andy w8. Likewise Steve Curtis who had lily pads to his left. Cannot be helped its how the draw goes. Theses lilys were to add to Steves frustrating end of match

Plan was method feeder, Bomb,  pole lines at 2+2 and best margins swims I could see were top 2 each side in 2 feet  of water, rocks on bottom so no flat base. Not good and this assessment proved correct
A rather unhurried set up, drive down, drop tackle off and park up so much aided by the Friday night draw as our anglers arrived as and when and no mad rush after an onsite draw.
A peep of Glens whistle and its off we go. Method chuck to in front of aerator. Other lads at our end were taking advantage of vacant pegs and chucking across.  With an aerator in front of me there was no chace of me trying the far bank as Holmedale fish would simply tie me in knots around the  midway obstacle. Steve Curtis was first to wet his landing net as it was a fish first chuck swiftly followed by a second one. My own feeder rod wrapped around  and carp number 1 was on its way, number 2 duly followed as well.
There was a lot of fish movement and activity in the water, bubbles being blown everywhere as the fish routed around in the silty bottom and other anglers were also  wetting their landing nets as the fish were feeding. The fish activity lasted about 45 minutes in our swims before all signs of activity and showing on the surface went, it did not stop the rod t.ps going around overall though.

Summary of my match would be 1 Carp on bomb rod, 3 carp on pole line at 2+ 2 when they turned up to feed at 15:15 having fed area all day. Rest of my fish on method caught in and around the aerator. The fish were not feeding consistent and best run was 3 fish before they were off. Needless to say if I went close to the feature, the fish were quick to disappear around the back of it, I think 4 or 5 lost hook lengths trying to bring the back to the front. 8mm, 6mm fishery pellets, yellow washter only baits I caught upon. .
Enjoyed my day, nice to revisit the place and would really consider putting it in our portfolio and going back again. Time of visit is key as we used to suffer from early or late visits where spawning or cold weather affected the fishing. I think everyone caught fish which is great news despite being tightly pegged. Our end of the lake is not renowned for being the best area and I believe the fishing would have been much harder if anglers were on opposite bank restricting options for those with a far bank chuck.  Not sure how further down the lake fished having people on opposite  bank, maybe someone can fill in the details.

The roadside bank whilst possibly being more consistent in results and less peggy, does also mean no barrows required and long slog pushes of all our gear which is becoming a much welcome and appealing to the older members of our club of which I am one. It does come at a cost though and one which Smiler is counting. The road is a public thoroughfare and this means walkers, runners, dogs on leads, dogs off leads, horses and the dreaded cyclists. It is a shared responsibility as we block the roads with our poles and people want to use the road. Good manners and simply waiting for an obstacle to be moved never hurt anyone however the cyclist is riding to achieve a time hence the impasse but damaging and breaking someone's property is never going to land well. It is made worse when the guy laughs as he continues on his journey. Pegs at most risk being 30 and 56 as these are the first ones, generally the middle ones gets some warnings.

Andy w8 had a steady start fishing across, he tried his pole, plundered some late on from "our" shared peg 51 pallet but his major change was switching feeder rods to a longer one to help casting and retrieving fish from the opposite bank for a section win. Always a good day alongside Steve fishfinder Curtis and able to pick up various tips. His main approach was feeder across which with consistent catching proved best line. The lilies were always going to invite him and at a cost which proved true. Steve also fell foul of adding a third net around 14:30 and he wont be the first or last who suffer this curse. The last hour was very frustrating and possibly cost him the match, no doubt Steve will add his tales of woe to the forum. Funniest moment was him holding a "rod" in both hands and lading a fish. He was emptying his bladder ( still on his peg) and the tip went round on his feeder rod. Yes he landed the fish, good dangling Steve.

I had very limited views of everyone else, the 2 pleasure anglers opposite caught coinsistly all day, margin, pole and feeders in use.
Well done to Jasper on another match win and all other brown packet pickers. Thank you to Jasper for your organisation, and running the match seamlessly as always. Thank you to Steve for weighing in and Glen for time keeping. Special mention to Steve Guy for locating the availability and suggesting to Jasper the venue as it was short notice in the calendar due to a vacant spot this one.

Be interesting to see everyone else's feedback on venue, tactics. Baits etc, please share a small write up of your day to help us in the future.

Apologies for dashing off, I had to get to Grimsby, grandsons birthday so long day for yours truly.

Next match is round 10 and on bennies at Lindholme. Loads of confirmations and payments required please.

[fishfinder]

Peg 49 for me just past the last small island in open water not the best area,but did have a chuck across as no-one was pegged on opposite bank. My margin was not good could not get anywhere near the spare peg to my right and top 3 was the furthest I could fish it and had a lily pad in front of it so I knew where the fish would go.Started across and caught steadily for 90 minutes then they disappeared on that line as they did for leo next door fishing to the aerator. Tried in front on paste only 1 carp on that line,1 on the lillies and nothing in the edge,struggled in middle of the match to catch. With 90 minutes to go back across on feeder, started to catch a few fish again but with an hour to go had a bad spell lost 2 on feeder in 2 chucks then got a knot in my line on trying to unpick it broke the line and had to re-rig,next chuck got another knot and broke off,re- rig again,tried edge and caught one that smashed me in the lillies as predicted then another one did the same so up the bank with that,so in that half hour 4 fish lost, 2 re- rigs and no fish,got sorted on feeder and had 6 in last half hour.finish with 135lb enough for 2nd and section win.
Enjoyed the day and all had a few,im sure we would have struggled at that end if there was a match opposite, and the parking would have been a nightmare with more cars the carpark at our end was full with just our cars,and the traffic behind us as leo said is not good. Some good things there but several negatives so was left undecided on the fishery 

[jasper31]

Peg 34 for me.....

Been a while since we were last at Holmedale but thought - keep it simple. Decided it would be short on pellet / bomb & Method to lilly's and an edge line

Having a bit of time to set up i also made  paste rig up to fish on the short line....idiot!!

Whilst plumbing the margin i bumped a couple of fish so thought they might be there to start with - the other match on other side start before us and everyone one of em threw the rod out to the middle..... on our side when we started everyone did the same, well i went in the edge with a little cad pot of bait and corn on the hook....in the first hour had over 20lb's before they went iffy. Great start, so i then went on the bomb after - feeding regularly with 6mm and 8mm pellet i started getting a few from the off. i was catching steady but it did start to tail off so went on short line with 6mm pellet - 2 foul hooked fish and one caught i decided to try the paste on the same line - 3 missed bites / a couple of foul hookers and 2 fish caught that frustrated the hell out of me so that went up the bank....back on bomb and caught a few more.
last 2 hrs spent in edge feeding a pot or 2 of groundbait and fishing until it went quiet. started on corn but quickly changed to double worm and the bites were quicker and more positive - sometimes just ripping elastic out....
I tried my clicker to see how i did and i thought i has 122lb very surprised they went 153lb - so another thing i'm shit at....lol

Results attached