Fishery of the Week Worsbrough

Once home water of the Barnsley Blacks, Worsbrough has changed with the times

EVEN our greatest anglers have to start at the bottom, and there is one very special venue where the careers of many such legends took flight.

Barnsley Blacks’ Alan Scotthorne (main pic), Denis White and Tommy Pickering are household names that have a strong affinity with Worsbrough Reservoir.

On the outskirts of the South Yorkshire town of the same name, Worsbrough was among the finest silverfish waters of its time.

The stars honed their skills there in the 1980s and 1990s as they pursued its vast shoals of roach, bream and hybrids.

BIG CHANGES

Fast forward to the present day and the fishery has undergone something of a transformation that has played a significant part in keeping its banks busy.

With dozens of commercial fisheries springing up close to Worsbrough, the management came up with a cunning plan to keep their angling customers happy. That came in the form of a large stocking of carp several years ago.

The combination of mirrors, commons and quality silverfish struck all the right notes, and anglers could only guess what might show up next.

Dynamite Baits and Shimanobacked angler Nick Speed is another high-profile angler who cut his teeth at Worsbrough, and although he ventured elsewhere to build his career, the revamp has drawn him back.

“I’ll always remember my early sessions on Worsbrough and how they helped me fall in love with fishing. Although the reservoir is now very different, the fishing is every bit as good as it was back then,” explained Nick.

“One day you can put together a big bag of bream that could include big skimmers and slabs over 4lb, while the next could be dominated by carp that are already breaking into double figures.”

SPOILT FOR CHOICE

All 60 fishing spots look identical, but each one offers something a little bit different beneath the surface.

One end is extremely shallow but it gradually gets deeper as you go down the reservoir, with depths sloping down to 12ft at the dam wall end.

In recent weeks pegs 12 to 26, 35 and 36 have been producing bites from both bream and carp.

COMMERCIAL TACTICS

When bream come into the equation you could be forgiven for thinking that an old-school groundbait feeder approach would fare best.

While that is true in the summer, it’s all change now autumn is here.

The Method feeder is king at the moment, and you’ll have no shortage of action with a small

flatbed version.

With such a large expanse of water in front of you, trying to ‘give it the big ’un’ and hit the horizon when casting your feeder may seem like the obvious thing to do.

In fact it is much more beneficial to chuck shorter distances with a lot more accuracy.

“Worsbrough may have changed over the years but it has lost none of the charm that I remember from when I was younger,” said Nick.

“The new face of the fishery has made sure it has kept in touch with the modern angling scene and it is the ideal place to for both newcomers and experts to wet a line this weekend. Give it a try.”