Moorlands Farm
Top match angler Grant Albutt leads water resurgence
MOORLANDS Farm is well on its way to once again becoming one of the best fisheries in the country
The six waters at the venue provided hectic sport to rave reviews and it was one of our first commercial fisheries, before it fell out of favour and visitors headed elsewhere.
But now anglers are once again flocking to the venue after new owner – and top match-man – Grant Albutt and his team did some hard graft to put the venue right back at the pinnacle of Britain’s fisheries.
Big weights return
Big plans have now been laid out to continue that momentum, and the first major intervention was a revamp of Bank Pool. The crumbling banks were restructured to make them stable and safe for visitors. Fish stocks are monitored to see whether top-ups are needed, with pools that are out of form sometimes given a rest from angling pressure to help them recover. That action worked wonders for Meadow Pool, with the water producing bumper weights after a brief period of inaction.
Venue regular John Hudson has been impressed by what he has seen so far, and he told Angling Times: “I’ve been coming here for years on end, and there’s no doubt it’s stepped up several levels since Grant and his team arrived.
“The fishing is top class and you’re spoilt for choice with tactics – the pole, feeder and waggler are all effective.
“It’s not just carp either, with stacks of F1s and silverfish to ensure you get bites regardless of the conditions.”
Go shallow on the pole
One of John’s favourite approaches is to fish the pole shallow on High Meadow for the vast shoals of F1s.
The fish are rarely on the bottom when patrolling open
water in summer, and setting a rig 10ins-18ins deep is the way forward.
Regularly slap your float on the surface and feed 20 casters over the top every 20 seconds. A section of worm is the ideal hookbait because it’s durable, and you can catch several fish on the same chunk.
Use 0.16mm mainline to a 4ins 0.14mm hook-length and a size 16 hook.
A grade 10 hollow elastic provides the ideal balance between cushioning the lunges of fish and having enough power to land them quickly.
Moorlands is back to its best, so now’s the time to give it a bash and see what all the fuss is about.