Oh well after a lot of driving over the past few weeks I decided to stay local this week and go both days to the oaks lakes at Sessay. With the weather scorching I fully expected a shallow approach to be the way forward on Saturday and for an across approach be better on the Sunday when its usually harder. Normally there is between 50-60 on a Sunday and 25-40 on a Saturday, but with the fish o mania on at woodlands you could guarentee a few ‘straglers’ who didn’t manage to get on. And so it proved as we had 54 on Saturday!!!
As usual when im fishing local I was travelling with Maver Barnsley star Ian Bowman and it was my turn to drive, Ian had been going for the past few weeks and Is a keen advocate of feeding hardly anything, im completely different however and sometimes are too positive for my own good!!! He explained what he had been doing and I kept my ears open but I was keen to fish shallow. Sods law when we drew next to each other”!!!! ian drew 4 and I was on 5 also my old hero Dennis Geldard was to my right so we was sure to have a really good bit of banter. I suggested a 3 way quid and both obliged, this was gonna be close I thought.
My plan was really an out and out shallow day and the night before didn’t even consider having to fish across but with 54 on I was concerned and felt id need to at least start across with pellets. The weather was scorching and it was easily 20+ degrees while we where setting up and there was not a breath of wind- this was gonna be hard!!!! Bait for the day was 2 pints of micros and 4 pints of 4mm just incase it was a shallow day. Peg 5 is funny to plumb up because its very deep across, and almost touching the mud its still 2 foot deep!!! Normally your looking at 8-10 inches over there. Now this is great in winter but once it warms up u need to fish in the shallow water to stop the liners.
I was still fairly happy as I felt 40-50lb would win me a few quid on what looked like a hard day. Rigs for the day was a 4×10 malman cedar float for the pellet across and down the side where I found the same depth on a top 4 by the reeds, and 3 shallow rigs using malman wire stemmed dibbers, one at 6inch deep, one at a foot and one at 2 foot, all with a hair rigged band. All rigs where on 0.12 with a 16 tubertini 801 for across and a 20 barbless carp feeder for the shallow rigs. And all rigs where attached to white hydro.
After a good bit of banter before the start we kicked off and I simply threw 10 pellets at 8m and would feed this every 30 seconds or so and hope to catch shallow, and shipped straight across with a 4mm expander and a bottle top pot full of micros. I had my first fish instantly, a 2lb mirror! A brilliant start. Both me and Ian had 5-6 fish in as many casts then it was like a light switch and everyone just stopped catching!!!! There were fish everywhere on the surface, infact it really opened my eyes as to how many fish are in Cedar!!!! Poor Dennis who was in a corner must have had 1000 fish just laid in front of him and every time he so much as blinked they just scattered everywhere!!!! It was an awesome sight.
Unfortunately though it was rock hard and the only fish anyone could catch where shallow, luckily I had a trick up my sleeve and ‘mugged’ my way through the difficult middle hours!!! Instead of trying to feed shallow I just kept my eyes open and one minute id snare one from down the edge that was basking, next I’d see a reed floating and id drop my rig next to it and catch one and every time I saw a half decent fish I tried to ‘mug’ it. It worked a treat as I had 10 f1’s down the edge on it aswell as 4-5 better carp. Ian and dennis plugged away shallow and kept commenting how they could only catch 2 then nothing so I was fairly happy knowing that the across line would come good later on. It was interesting to watch the f1s being mugged, as they where litterally gasping at the surface and you wouldn’t think you would get near em but they simply follow your bait down and take it straight away!!!! The mirrors where the same if you was slow enough, for instance once I was fishing across and noticed a mirror about a top 3 out and quickly shipped back dropped the rig in and after a brief tussle a 4lb mirror laid in my net.
Going into the last hour and none of us could call it between us!!!! I decided to stick it out across and after a fairly steady 30mins I caught really well for the last half an hour and also landed a 2lb f1 right on time, which ian commented on and said ‘that’s the clincher kid!!!’ I wasn’t convinced though. We both estimated 33lb and dennis was admitting to 35lb, tense times!!!! Ian was first to weigh and put 41lb on the scales I didn’t think I had that and put 42lb on!!!!! Happy days. Dennis weighed 35lb as predicted and I won the 3 way quid and the section- brilliant!!!!
On Sunday I woke up and the weather was identical!!! Ian was picking me up this morning so a bit of a lie in was in order. I decided to fish it a bit differently, and was going to fish maggots, id brought 6 pints with me and wasn’t taking any home!!!! Id also convinced myself not to even try shallow as I knew it would be the same catch 2 fish then nothing type of day where you get drawn into it and end up wasting an hour for very few fish. I went and drew peg 21 which if im honest isn’t very good due to the shape of the island in front of ya. But luckily I had some space and a corner and I fully expected a ‘mugging’ middle 2 hours again and this gave me plenty of little holes where the f1s could hang out!!!
Rigs for the day was a mugging rig- simply 10 inches of line and a little dibber, a mud line rig which was a 4×10 carpa bully with a little bulk 4 inches from the hook on 0.10 and a 16 801 and white hydro. This was set about 10inches deep touching the bank. Id plumbed a little away but after a chat to Adam Richards he convinced me I needed to go a little further. I also plumbed a rig in front of the sedges which is about 2 foot deep, this was also a 4×10 carpa bully on 0.10 and a 16 but with strung out 11’s. due to my space I just couldn’t help myself and also fed a SHALLOW line!!! Eejit. I kicked off by dumping a full 250ml pot of maggots on the mud line about half a black pot on the 2 foot line and also few a few down the side and shallow. Once again it was important to get a good start as the bites dried up again, and luckily I had 4 f1s and 2 ide in 6 casts on the 2 foot line before it died, by now though I could see a few fish on the mud swim most likely ide. Sure enough I had 4 in 4 chucks but it wasn’t brilliant and I felt it was a bit early for across. Id noticed a lot of swirls for my shallow fed maggots so had a look but the usual 2-3 fish then nothing happened and I kicked myself for even feeding it and coming off that mud line!!!!
I worked out that by shipping a kinder of maggots across and waiting for no longer than 30 seconds then shipping back and repeating was the best bet as, as soon as the stirred up mud stopped they could see the shadow the pole cast and spooked!!! It was hard work but it seemed to be working and I was catching pretty steady albeit small fish, but everyone around me was catching nothing so I felt I was doing well. I also had a spell mugging fish but felt my far line was a lot stronger than Saturdays, albeit I was probably on for a smaller weight as the fish where smaller. Going into the last hour and the mud line came really good and I was getting a lot more bites. At the end I was pleased and felt I’d probably won the section again. And so it proved, I weighed 40lb, Alan Scotthorne produced a stunner with 91lb from peg 9, how he caught that I will never know, but well done. Young Denty was second with 71lb and it fished a bit better than yesterday which was good.
Well that’s 4 pick ups in 4 matches for me at sessay and im in love with it again although im sure ill mess it up again soon!!!!
ive got a few matches there this year startin with maple on sunday any suggestions would be appreciated. we are pegged 44-66 i dont know the flyers as ive never fished this lake but been told a load of different baits work. ive been told paste down the track and meat or pellett to mud and down the edge. but ive read your rewiews and thought id give you a go as you seem to know the fishery well. is maggott worth a go?caster or pellett shallow?
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