3.30am.......
Really?? Surly not time to get up at this God forsaken hour?
Indeed it was and today was match 4 of the season between me and my Dad.
Today's match was going to be at another venue neither of us had fished before and was called Gillmoor Fishing Lakes situated between Harrogate and Ripon.
After driving to Cawood to meet Dad we set off to go find this venue which we literally knew hardly anything about. I'd searched online for a few hours yesterday and found only scattered information, some dating from many years ago. I wasnt expecting big things however one part of information I did find said it was a place that fished quite well even when cold and today was freeeeeeeezing......
Following the sat nav we ended up going on a farmers off-map road that very nearly ripped the bottom of the car off, a track through a field and a puddle that if we had gone in my car it would have disappeared into. We then saw the sign for the fishery. It would later become apparent that we had actually drove straight past the fishery before our cross country drive!!!
Note to self - Turn right straight after the sign for Gillmoor Foods next time!!
We entered the fishery and parked up.
The first Lake we could see (literally 20 seconds from the car park) was the Top Lake, the one we wanted to fish. It looked quite nice if a little run down. Two large islands and about 20 pegs evenly spread around the lake, vegetation in the margins too. We plumped for the two nearest pegs as it meant less of a walk and also one of the islands was easily accessible from both pegs. Sitting there it did feel very remote and a peaceful place. Unfortunately it was very cold so was going to be a bit uncomfortable this particular day.
Still undefeated with the Frenzee rod made my choice easy for today. Yep the Frenzee again and Gillmoors Fishery has very few rules so I chose to use the elasticated method feeder approach today.
First cast was 7am and we had planned to fish for 5 hours.
Dad had opted to use the pole and fish as close to the island as he could reach.
The first hour and a quarter passed and Dad had already caught just short of a dozen small roach whereas my method feeder approach hadn't produced anything as yet.
Then all of a sudden my rod bent round and after a good fight I landed it. It was a 5 lb Mirror Carp caught on a Dogma Secret Agent Pellet. This shook Dad into putting the pole away and setting his feeder rod up. His 11 roach only weighed a combined total of about two and a half pound so he needed something bigger.
Half an hour later I'd caught again. Another Mirror Carp, this time weighing 3 lb 12 oz and caught on a strawberry flavoured bag up hard pellet.
The next 90 minutes were fruitless for me. Dad had banked a small carp of about 2 lb 9 oz to stay within touching distance.
At 10.40am I was in again and another Mirror Carp. This time just a 3 pounder caught on Sticky Krill Pop Up. Dads face was sullen as he had failed to register another fish during this time.
An hour later it was time to pack up with neither of us catching in the last hour.
A victory again for me 4-1. Dads first hour catching roach secured him a point but it meant that my lead for this season was extended to 18-2.
Gillmoors is a nice remote fishery and I will definately be fishing the top lake again when its warmer. I'll also be giving the bottom lake a crack too in summer.
me and my mate were there that day, we spoke to you briefly. a nice little fishery with a good head of fish, but like you say a little run down could do with a good tidy up, and the stagings sorting out. if you ate looking for a good days pleasure fishing well worth a trip.
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