YOU’LL STILL CATCH SHALLOW!
It might be getting colder, but no-one seems to have told the fish at Grange Park...
SOME fisheries struggle under new ownership, but Messingham’s Grange Park Fishery is thriving.
It’s 8am, and driving down the track towards the café you encounter a building full of people enjoying breakfast and drawing pegs for their match.
Look a bit further and you’ll discover four well-maintained lakes, already crowned with anglers who beat the traffic to sample the early morning sport.
It’s at this moment you realise you made the right decision in choosing to fish Grange Park, as it’s a huge hit with matchmen and pleasure anglers alike – showing that a change of ownership doesn’t always affect the popularity of a great fishery.
It’s easy to see why anglers flock here, as recent match weights across all four pools are topping 100lb, made up of F1s, carp, goldfish, crucians and ide.
A whole range of tactics works here, and some anglers are even catching shallow on casters and pellets. One man who made the most of this approach recently was Browning-backed matchman James Hall.
SHALLOWING UP
Fishing peg 25 on Heron Lake, James set up intending to fish hard on the deck – but the fish had other ideas.
“I started with a top-2 plus two sections on the pole with a 6mm banded pellet and fed 4mm pellets,” James told Angling Times. “I had a few fish on this rig, but they came up in the water extremely quickly, so I soon switched to a shallow rig at around 12ins with a 4mm pellet in the band.
“It wasn’t long before I was catching crucians, F1s, carp and goldfish at a rate of knots. The fish come really shallow in these lakes and I ended up fishing just 4ins deep to catch them!”
MARGIN ATTACK
While the shallow line was hot James kept a margin swim fed in hope of some late session lumps on 6mm banded pellets.
With 40lb of mixed fish caught shallow it was then time to switch to the margins, and the action was instantaneous. Said James: “I caught some better fish down the edge from the off, feeding and fishing 6mm pellets. Corn and meat can also work really well for this tactic, although right now pellets and maggots tend to bring a better response, and I would always fish these in a match. “Overall I had around 60lb, and as I only fished for four hours I’m confident I could have doubled that in a competition.”
So if it’s a 100lb net of cold weather fish you’re looking for, make sure Grange Park Fishery is at the top of your list this weekend.
PRICES: Adults £5 a day, £4 after 4pm, concessions £4 CONTACT: Alan on 07970 671943 or 01724 764828 LOCATION: Grange Park Fisheries, Sands Farm, Butterwick Road, Messingham, N Lincs, DN17 3PN RULES: Barbless hooks only, fishery own pellets only, no floating baits, no cat or dog food, no floating poles, no litter, all nets to be dry before use FACILITIES: Parking, toilets, tackle and bait shop, café