Fishery of the Week Brookside
Whatever you want, Brookside has it in spades!
PARTS of the North West around Warrington and Manchester spoil the angler for choice, but one of the oldest waters on offer is Brookside Fisheries, just a few miles from the M56.
Comprising six lakes near Whitley, Brookside opened in 1992 and is popular with match, pleasure and big-fish hunters as it holds big carp and catfish, plus thousands of F1s and a big mix of silverfish.
The Snake Lake is Brookside’s flagship match water but, for hectic sport, Willow is the most popular here.
Here you could battle a big carp one minute and then a pristine ide or roach the next. However, it’s the silverfish that prove tempting to many. Fishing from 23 platformed pegs, you don’t need to be a casting master to get to the three islands – and all boast fish-holding features.
Open water swims can be as productive, especially for the big skimmers and, as the day wears on, for carp and F1s.The margins offer every chance of a 20lb carp. If not, there are big skimmers, tench, F1s and crucians.
PICK YOUR WEAPONS!
A margin attack with big baits will score well on Willow in the dying embers of the day and on island pegs, a gentle lob with a small Method or pellet feeder will pick up carp and F1s.
Willow is ideal for float fishing. The waggler will work, especially when cast into the gaps between islands using pellet or corn, but the pole reigns supreme for dropping a hookbait close to the island or fishing shallow in open water – pellets or chopped worm and caster presently work well.
Target silverfish, and all you need is a few pints of maggots or casters and a few sections of pole. Throw the bait in and fish shallow as the day goes on.
Having a rig to fish on the deck underneath this loosefeed is also worthwhile for big skimmers plus carp and F1s.
TOP DRAWS
Keep an eye on match results and make a note of which pegs have turned up good weights in the opens. These events are sometimes held on Willow and can often produce better catches than the Snake Lake!
As a rule, an island peg will offer more options and these are highly-prized by pleasure anglers but, depending on the wind, each end of the lake can be full of fish as they follow the breeze.
PICK PELLETS
Should the carp be spawning and the F1s basking, there’s still the chance to keep catching at Brookside thanks to the silverfish. Willow is full of them and match weights to 80lb have been taken, with big ide, skimmers, tench and roach the most likely targets.
These can be caught at close range on the pole or a light waggler, with regular maggot or caster loosefeed, fishing on the bottom to begin, but shallowing up as the fish move up.
For the big skimmers, though, nothing beats pellets and you’ll also give yourself a fighting chance of a carp or F1 using soft expanders on the deck.