Youldon Waters Coarse Fishery

23/09/2026

23/09/2026

Plenty of action for Alan and Dave, Sunday, with h**p/tares and meat doing the damage. But how things can change, today, Ade was back on the top lake, and had mostly skimmers, a few crucians and a tench. I've had another couple of evenings on the bottom lake. Day one, on the chickpeas, a couple of bream and the wonky common, rarely caught, but slight buckle. Had loads of bites, but couldn't hook them. Decided on day two, 6mm expanders over my feed mix, and a through the water setup, hoping to get more positive takes near the bottom. The tactic worked, lots of bream and a couple of small skimmers, then another big common. Not one of the very biggest, but a growing stunner.

22/09/2026

Ade's recent catch on the bottom lake.
"Morning Mick can I book a peg next week on the top lake please. Finished with 29 bream 4 good skimmers and a rudd good day. Cheers Ade"

18/09/2026

Managed another go at the crucians this afternoon, another swim, another bait. Down the edge again, in about 3-3½ft of water, bread over crumb and h**p. The rig was an 0.4gm bodied float, shotted with a bulk at 9ins from the hook and a single dropper 6ins below, to bomb the 8mm piece of punch straight to the bottom. Feeding walnut sized balls of crumb/h**p soon had the fish lined up, smaller silvers to start, but then the crucians moved in.
So, another lovely catch of crus, and a couple of dozen small roach and skimmers moved.

17/09/2026

Ok, not one of mine. Well not the fish, but our Russell's 65 from his current French trip.

14/09/2026

The Crucians are being caught more regularly now, along with a few tench, most recently Phil, Ade and Bude Pete. I managed a quick dangle, after my friend had dropped of his machines, ready for some groundwork tomorrow. A slight slight twist with the cooked grain prep, adding some Natrepel, and the Crucians loved it, corn on the hook. I'd guess garlic oil would do the same.
The bottom lake continues to produce great catches of bream, a few tench and, not to miss a meal, the carp. I've had three accidental captures, including two of the biggest mirrors, both nudging towards twenty.

08/09/2026

Although I've had little opportunity to fish myself, the Lakes have fished well, even with lower water levels. The top lake is producing lots of skimmers, roach, crucians and tench, although you need to persist with feeding to force the better stamp fish to push the small silvers out.
The bottom lake continues to reward the right approach with plenty of bream, tench and carp.
Our annual visit from Simons group yesterday, resulted in some decent bream and a 20lb ghost for Simon.
Today, big Mike also had his first holiday session of the year. Again, some bream showed up, although not in the usual numbers, perhaps the weather change. Also a nice double mirror. And before he left, I joined him on the next swim, for a change of bait, to corn, which seemed to do something, as the carp came straight to it. Although not without incident, one snagged and two hook pulls (probably foul hooked) I did have three stunning Commons, two mid to upper doubles and a possible 20. Then the bream showed.

08/09/2026

It's been a busy week, preparing for a new borehole, that's now drilled. 250ft down to an untapped supply, that will secure the fisherys water supply for ourselves and a future buyer. Pumping kit being installed tomorrow, then we test water and pump.

27/08/2026

Had it all to myself today, but only managed an hour, in and around the rain. So, after being beaten up by the carp a couple of times, I changed to a more selective bait and feeding method. Fishing closer in, where I could reach with my cupping kit, I sneaked a small pot of h**p and casters, then lowered a pole float from the wag rod with double caster on a 16 barbless acolyte silvers hook. As hoped, with the stealthy feeding, no carp or bream noticed, and my first four fish were tench. It didn't last, after the four feeds, the bream turned up, and it was one a b**g. I'm sure that had I been doing a longer session, I could have started another line 4 or 5m away and repeated the process. I may try that another time, but I don't mind catching bream, and there's always the chance of finding the elusive crucians or perch.

26/08/2026

Another nice day on the top lake, this time it was Paul and Den catching lots of silvers and crucians on a variety of baits. Great to see them feeding properly, after a slow start to the season. It's been apparent that many of the stillwaters, I follow on the match channels, have fished oddly this year. I share the view that much of it is due to the change in climate and low water levels, causing multiple spawning events. This has been occurring each year, for the last 4 or 5 and has resulted in abnormally high numbers of small fish. The lower Lake hasn't been affected in the same way. The bigger species, particularly the carp, bream and predators, have controlled the fry population and the fishing has mostly been excellent throughout the whole of the year.
To finish, I've continued to refine my tactics with the chickpeas over my feed mix in a new swim. This time I've stiffened up the mix with the liquor from the chickpeas, and it's made a noticeable improvement. Putting in a walnut sized ball every cast has brought a bite a chuck. Not particularly my intended target, but almost all carp, including perhaps the fastest growing of the bigger Commons, looking to surpass the humpbacks. Five landed, but three bumped and one hook straightened. Enjoyable none the less. The photo of the biggest doesn't do it justice, the downward angle doesn't show the depth of it's body, making it appear longer. But I wasn't going to stand with it, and my photographer couldn't squat down with her new bionic knee, or lean over after her cataract op yesterday. Did well though.