Star Carr success

Gary’s approach has the ability to succeed on both natural lakes and commercials and one of the venues he puts it into practice is East Yorkshire’s Star Carr Lakes.

The Gravel Pit is home to giant shoals of bream and weights to over 100lb are recorded every year. But don’t be deceived into thinking such catches are guaranteed – your tactics need to be bang on to take full advantage of the opportunity.

Rigging up for a winter session in front of the IYCF cameras, Gary quickly decided to fish three lines.

“It’s a really deep lake and you are going to have anything between 15ft and 20ft of water so the fish will settle without any issues despite the clarity.

“But if you stick to one thing all day, they become cagey and you’re unlikely to capitalise on the potential.”

The three lines were located at 10 yards, 30 yards and 50 yards, with Gary determined to search his swim to locate the whereabouts of the fish.

Micro pellets were firmly squeezed into the 28g medium Guru Hybrid feeder in order to get every morsel to the likely feeding zone on the bottom in no time at all.

Around 10 minutes separated each cast, with only a couple of chucks going to the same spot before he looked elsewhere.

The 30- yard zone was the first to come up trumps, with a 5lb slab falling for a bright yellow mini boilie offered alongside light brown pellets.

“I’ve found the fish, now it’s a case of keeping them feeding,” he said.

Two casts later and the same combination brought another smaller fish, but the action then ceased. The rotation policy sprung into life with pink, orange, red and white hookbaits all getting a workout. Action was never hectic, but it ticked over steadily on a day when it would have been easy to struggle.

“These fish wise up so quickly and it is important to keep giving them something different. Keep offering them a fresh concoction and the bream will keep coming to the net.”

Gary’s tackle:

Rod Daiwa Tournament Pro 10ft- 11ft with a 3/ 4oz tip

Reel Shimano Stradic 2500

Mainline Maxima 6lb

Feeder Guru Hybrid 24g- 28g

Hooklength Trabucco Diamond 4in of 0.12mm or 0.14mm

Hook Guru QM1 size 16

On a day when most would have struggled, Gary’s approach did the business