Heskin Old Hall Latest Outing December 19th 2009

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Saturday December 19th 2009 my mate Steve and I went to our local haunt Heskin Old Hall Farm near Wrightington Lancashire just off the M6 northbound at junction 27. We fished pond No 2 and it was frozen over on arrival, we had to break out 2 swims using a piece of scaffold tube attached to some rope, the ice was over one inch thick in places.

Once we started fishing the usual suspects came into the swim and responded to bread punch on the bottom, I fished about 5mtrs out and depth of swim was approx 5feet.It was a bitterly cold day but the silvers showed in numbers needless to say we were the only2 anglers on the fishery. This fishery fishes well throughout the winter & is well stocked with carp also,unfortunately none showed on this day


During the day I changed to fishing caster on the drop at about 2 foot deep and caught several large roach, I also fed some micro pellets & the skimmers came up off the bottom .I had to go deeper at some points to find the fish due to the cold weather & varied the depth numerous times. We had really busy day , good job on a cold day, I like to keep busy looking for the fish in different swims.


The pictures to the right are of the fishery, the resident ducks were in attendance, they did have a usage as we used them to clear our swims of floating ice, this we achieved by throwing in lumps of bread , they are always looking for food and will travel from angler to angler looking for a few tit bits.


While we were fishing the weather took a turn for the worse and began to snow, we had to put our brollies up to protect us from the wind and snow but they soon became covered in snow, all of a sudden the snow fell off the broillie and startled Steve and myself.

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This photo shows Steve in his swim with his back to the gate as you enter the fishery, notice the snow covering the ice, this photo was taken after it had snowed for approx half an hour, the sky was blue for a short while but turned to grey as it went cold later. There is good stocks of silver fish and the stamp is also really good as the picture shows a roach of about 10oz in the net over all the ice we have broken.


This is the second year that Steve and myself have fished through the winter months and Heskin Old Hall Fishery has provided us with some very good days fishing, we have had to break the ice on numerous occasions but we have always caught well.


There are 2 other pools on the fishery but these are slower going when frost & ice are around.All the pools are worth a look when the weather is warmer and you should catch plenty of fish with simple methods used.We are not tied to Heskin and will venture out to other local fisheries for a change of venue, but Heskin is the place if you are looking to catch silverfish in the winter.


Pictures to the right are of the pool at the end of the day and of a pied wagtail that was keeping us company for most of the day, there were two wagtails on the ice and I kept throwing them a few maggots every now and again.This article has been written while the UK is in the grips of one of its's coldest winters for years, the weather will play havoc with our weekly outing and it may be sometime before we are out on a commercial and the next article is written, if you live in the north west of England , why not give Heskin Old Hall a try

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