Last Saturday I had to make a trip to Burton Springs fishery to drop off some posters for the Beginners day I’m running in June.
I arrived about 2.00pm in blazing sunshine and was greeted by Adam who runs the fishery along with his father. These guys are really friendly and switched on when it comes to running a venue, always on hand with useful advice and a smile…………what a refreshing change compared to some of the places I have been to in the past. If you get a chance to visit, don’t hesitate, you’re sure to have a great day. They have even just added a pleasure lake where you can fly fish for carp, a great alternative in the summer when the days get too hot for the trout.
After putting up the posters in the ticket room and the lodge, I thought long and hard for all of thirty seconds before deciding I just had to wet a line!! Probably not the best conditions with a big sun high in the sky but I couldnt resist having a go anyway.
After wandering around the lake to my chosen spot and sat on a bench to tackle up whilst keeping one eye on the water. No sign of any fish for the ten minutes or so while I was sat there…….no surprise there given the conditions. I decided to fish a black buzzer deep under an indicator as there were a few midge coming off the water, not everyones cup of tea I know but needs must sometimes.
I fished this method for an hour or so varying the depth, fishing the buzzer static and with a retrieve without even a sniff off a fish. Time to change, so I then tied on a bead head Damsel, fished that through the depths and with different retrieves but still no joy. At this point I realised it was time for a different plan of attack so I decided to retire to the lodge for a cup of coffee until the sun had dropped in the sky a bit.
On arriving at the lodge I discoverd Adam and his father glued to the t.v. as the Grand National was on, I’d totally forgotton about this and usually have an unsucessful flutter on the race myself. Adam on the otherhand had a bet on. The race started and so did all the shouting and cheering with it, any anglers in earshot must have wondered what was going on!
Race over I returned to the lake to find a few fish moving so I changed my set up to a black Harry Potter dry with a black buzzer suspended a couple of feet underneath it New Zealand style with the result being the first fish in the net after five minutes. The action really got going as the evening progressed with fish coming to both the dry and the buzzer, all in all a great session after a very slow start. Sometimes its just good to take a break if the fish aren’t playing ball, sit back and realx and enjoy the surroundings and wildlife………or go horse racing!!
