Monday March 1st "Saint Davids Day" my mate Steve and I decided to visit Charity Farm Fishery near Wrightington Lancashire, just off the M6 northbound at junction 27.There are four pools to choose from and we opted for pool3.It was a cold morning with frost on the ground but it was dry, little were we to know that we would have all the seasons in one day.

Pool 3 is not very big so tactics would be pole only working 2 swims and the margins later in the day.I started off at a 10 o'clock position with about 4 feet of water at 7 metres.I put in some micro pellets and had breadpunch for hookbait.First time I put the line in the water it went under within seconds and I was into a skimmer.Not a bad start to the day.Next time I put in,again the float went under and I had another skimmer.This action was to continue for an hour or so and I had plenty of fish.

The swim went quiet so I went to my 2 o'clock swim which was about the same depth, I had been feeding this one with micros, hemp & maggots, when I put the rig in it was not long before the float burried, this time the jerking action on the line told me it was a roach.it was a good size roach and more were to follow.This swim was producing roach only compared to the other which was only producing skimmers.

The weather was very changeable, one minute it was sunny & bright, the next it was cloudy & dull.Just after lunch we were in for a shock when it began to rain slightly, next minute the heavens opened and we had hailstone & sleet for over 5 minutes, we did not expect this at all.Once the hailstones stopped the weather turned into a summers day.

The 2 o'clock swim started to slow down so it was back to the 10 o'clock with breadpunch on the bottom.

The photo to the right shows my rod bag after the hailstones, we had our brollies up & these took a battering with the wind.Throughout the gale the fish were still biting and I was catching steadily, alternating between swims.When the sun came out I decided to have a go up in the water on caster or maggot.Nothing much was doing so it was back on the bottom on punch.

The roach I was catching were of a good stamp and the picture right shows one of the good ones, the skimmers were not bad also, there are some large bream in this pool and last year I had one over 4lbs, nothing showed of that size today.There are good sized carp in this pool but none showed, I think we need some good warm weather to bring them onto the feed.

The fishery has 4 pools to choose from, pool 4 being the largest.Pool 1 has an island feature and seems to be popular with the carp anglers.Pools 2 & 3 are small compared to the others and seem to be the least fished.There are good toilet facilities on site, this due to the site also being used for caravans and an equestrian centre. There is a website for charity farm with all the details of the pools and facilities.Day ticket was £6

Overall Steve and myself had a good day out at the fishery and will have a return visit to fish one of the other waters later in the year.We caught loads of fish and this made up for the last two weekends we have been out.The river Dane at Middlewich was a disaster with no fish caught and a private fishery we fished also provided little action , hence no reports on the site.

Next Outing Stoat Hall or Heskin Old Hall Pool 1