Sunny Rhyl Sea Fishing Diary
Pickering Trout Lake - 26/08/2006
Venue - Pickering Trout Lake, North Yorkshire
Duration - 4 hrs
Bait: Maggot, Sweetcorn, Pellets
Having found myself land locked on a family holiday in a forest near Pickering, I decided to try and alleviate the symptoms(hot sweat, rashes, swollen ankles etc..) by trying a spot of 'Fun Fishing' on the nearby Trout lake.
Having not fished on a pond or lake for over 20 years, I was looking forward to reliving the experience again.
Situated right next to the North Yorkshire Moors Steam Railway station, this 4 acre lake is stocked with Rainbow Trout. There are 2 options for a day visitor. Either fly fishing on a catch and release basis or float/bait fishing on a catch and keep basis. Either way, tackle is available for hire at a nominal cost. I decided to try a bit of float fishing.
The lake offers very comfortable family friendly fishing. The lake was busy with anglers, but there was still loads of room for me to find a quieter spot for a few hours of fun.
My tackle hire include a rod and reel, float and end tackle, bait, cloth, bucket, landing net and a wooden priest.
I tried all the baits. I had no luck on the sweetcorn. There was some interest in the pellets but the killer bait for me today was the maggots. 2 on a hook seemed to do the trick.
I had several knocks before I hooked into what felt like a good sized fish. The light tackle made things interesting, with the drag right down, the fish gave a right good acount of itself. The landing net came out and I managed to land my first ever rainbow. It weighed in at 3lb 2oz.
The sun was out and my shorts were on. I had a great time just chilling by the waterfront. I had several other bites. I hooked into another good fish but this one got away just shy of the net. It was probably in the 2lb range.
Just before packing up, I landed another one. A smaller fish, but perfectly pan sized at about 1lb.
I made my way to the reception area where I presented my catch. It was weighed, gutted and bagged for the trip home. The price you pay is relative to the weight of your fish. With only 2 fish to weigh in, this was not a huge issue. However, if you have a good day and as you are not allowed to release the fish, at over £5 per Kilo, it could get rather expensive.
The dichotomy of this type of fishing at this venue is that you may actually be gutted if you land a big fish. The lake record is a 25lb rainbow. There was an 18lb fish caught and released in February. I was praying that this fella was not interested in my 2 little maggots!!!
All in all, it was very enjoyable. I will definately take the kids next time..
Happy Days!!!!!