Casting Around
Venue – Hoby Road, Asfordby, Leicestershire, LE14 3T
Prices – £12.50 for 3 rods per day, £20 per 24 hours & £30 per 48 hours
Contact – Mark Slade (Fishery Manager),
Website – www.frisbylakes.co.uk
Phone Number – 07414777571
Target Species – Zander / Pike
Frisby lakes is set in the heart of rural Leicestershire, a 100 acre fishery which is split into 2 lakes and a stretch of the river Wreake.
The sailing lake is a 45 acre lake with bags of features both above and under the water, with pike to over 20lb and Zander to 17lb.
The boys pit is around 15 acres with similar features to the sailing lake. The fishery record pike is in this lake at around 31lb.
There`s a 1.5 mile stretch of the river Wreake at the complex, that is full of fish, pike into doubles and some good chub and perch to target too.
Arriving just after 7am the first port of call was the tackle shop, here you can buy any last minute bits and pay for your ticket. All dead baits need to be bought from here before fishing but they are reasonably priced and there is plenty of selection. You can also get any help and advice you might need before commencing fishing.
Live baits are allowed but as at any water in the UK they MUST be caught from this complex.
After a quick drive around the sailing lake, I had decided on fishing an area called the splits, here there is a series of small islands around 60 yards out each one creating a great ambush point.
Ambush points galore over on the far bank, time for the bait boat.
I had never caught a still water zander before and that was todays target although I would never turn away a nice pike. 2 rods were set up with small baits, a small dead roach and a small section of lamprey. The rigs are simple a 24inch wire trace made from 35lb wire and a single size 4 owner hook.
The gap between the islands is not very wide so instead of trying to cast out a dead bait to over 60 yards, I simply shipped them out using a bait boat. Cheating maybe but sometimes we need to use everything available to us to get the best results.
The third rod was set up as a roving live bait, a small pike float and a lip hooked 2 oz roach was cast out into the open water near to a large weed bed to hopefully cover the water and draw in a bite.
Weather wise it was far from ideal, a bright sunny day isn’t best for predator fishing but hopefully by getting the baits near the features I could tempt a fish out of the shadows.
To keep things fresh I changed the bait every hour and also injected them with lamprey oil. I also changed from a whole dead roach to a half a roach, when the fish are hard to come by you have to keep changing your approach, especially on a new water.
After a few chats with some regulars, It became apparent that if you stick it out and keep fishing hard then you will be rewarded, the lakes slogan is “catch the dream” after all.
The river Wreake runs directly behind the sailing lake and I had watched a local fisherman running a stick float down it catching a fish a cast. Perch to 1lb and chub to just under 3lb fell to his single maggot. After a quick chat with him, he told me that there was even some nice double figure pike in the stretch too. It looks a perfect area to walk and try spinning some lures, keeping mobile is the key to cover plenty of water and at 1.5 miles long it’s a perfect size to cover in a day’s fishing.
As dusk arrived there was some much needed activity, 2 very quick bleeps from the Nash siren followed by the slix lifting slightly an inch before dropping back. Knowing zander bites can be delicate to say the least so with those small movements I just hit into the bite and hoped I didn’t miss it, at first I couldn’t feel anything but then there was a kick and I knew there was a fish on.
The fight itself seemed to last for ages, mainly due to fishing at around 80 yards but in truth was probably only a couple of minutes before I was netting my first still water zed. Weighing at just under 8lbs it’s a nice fish and one that has took some hard work to catch.
Nice reward after a long hard day.
Night fishing is allowed at Frisby lakes but if you are only here for a day session there is the advantage that you can still fish into darkness, which really is the time when the predators start to get their hunting heads on and go on the prowl.
Frisby lakes is regarded as one of the best predator venues in the UK and the lakes ooze predator fish, everywhere you look there are ambush points and features to fish to. The on-site tackle shop is packed with everything from baits to hooks and the lads in there can help you out and offer you any advice you may need.
I will be back here over the winter to try targeting the 30lb pike in the boys pit and I really like the look of a day’s lure fishing on the river Wreake.
The post Frisby Lakes, Casting Around, Pike & Predator appeared first on Danny Johnson Fishing.