A Mid Week Session At Osprey

By Gordon Razey

It all began quite a while ago when out of the blue Derek Pye invited me as a guest to fish Osprey Lake at the HDAA complex at Brough.

It took a while for me to find a gap in my shifts but eventually we settled for a mid-week 24hr session and soon the day was on us.

As I’ve never fished Osprey Lake before, I decided to use a marker float to try and find some clear spots amongst the many weed beds that could be seen from the bank.

It took me quite a while but eventually I got the rods out and Derek soon arrived in his mobile bivvy. His white van!

I wasn’t really expecting to catch to be honest. It was more of a social for me and as I’ve not been carp fishing as long as some, I wanted to pick up a few pointers from Derek on feature finding.

Once he’d left I was sat looking across the lake thinking of a game plan. My rigs were bang on the money and I had every confidence in the bait I was using, but something got the better of me and I decided to reel in and change my bait slightly. Instead of double bottom baits I went for a snowman using a 10mm pineapple pop up.

I’d recast by 7.30 and by 9am I was having a nice fry up!Once I’d polished that off I was sat feeling a little bit despondent and decided to start pulling a few things together and get ready for an early finish.

At about 9.30 as I had my back turned, one of my alarms started to sing loudly, at first I didn’t know which rod it was but the spool spinning gave the game away!

I lifted into it and just like the text books the lead dropped off and the fish hit the surface. It didn’t fight much at first and I thought I’d hooked a decent Tench however once closer in, it put up a bit more of an effort and I was praying not to loose it.With a bit more coaxing it slid into the net.

When I looked into the bottom of the net I was quite chuffed. I thought maybe I’d had an 18lber? But once on the scales and that needle whipped past 20 and settled on 22lb 2oz I just couldn’t believe it. I was over the moon, my fist carp over 20lb and a new PB.

Once I’d taken a few photos I texted Derek to tell him the news and to thank him for inviting me down. I’m so glad I made the effort to fish Osprey. It’s not an easy venue but boy are there some nice fish in there!

Once Derek was settled in he came down to my swim and we had another knock about with the marker float and we found another spot closer in which I decided to fish to with my right hand rod.

The hours ticked by and we had a good natter on and off, but soon the light was drawing in and we retired to our bivvys. It was about 2am when I had the first sign of life on my right hand rod, but nothing developed and then several more times through the course of the night.

The night came and went and Derek had to be off to work early, so I got up and had a bit of a chat before he left for work. He’d had a Tench in the night but that was it between the two of us.

Two PB’s In A Day

By Will Jubb

As the waters began to cool, out came the pike rods and after a quick dust down they were in the car ready for the day ahead. But, before we got any further, we had to dash to rugby training for Hull Wyke Rugby League ahead of a big game the next day.

Two hours later, with Ellis and Gareth in tow, it was off to Hawk Pond. After arriving, two dead bait rods were placed down the edge on either side of the peg and a lone carp rod cast to the middle of the pond.

While my dad, brother, Gareth and Ellis were on Kingfisher, I stayed with the rods. I dozed off around midday but was awoken by a single bleep on the carp rod-but thought nothing of it. A few seconds later my dad came back to see how I was doing, another bleep.

The line went slack. I tightened down, the line went slack again. I struck but thought there was nothing there (how wrong I was!). As the line came closer, suddenly the rod bent over but there was little resistance.

To my shock a Bream like a dinner plate went over the net cord. WOW! It was the biggest Bream I’ve ever seen and the scales went round to “8lb on the button”. A shock PB.

Rod repositioned, I sat down not believing my luck.

Ellis came back and sat next to me and as we talked I heard a buzzing sound. I checked the carp rod-nothing. Then, it dawned on me. It was the pike rod! I ran down the bank, the rod was bent in half. I struck. It felt like I had hooked a submarine. It took line at a steady pace but there was nothing I could do.

It decided to stop out in the middle of the pond and I began to gain line. It came in too easily for the fight to be finished. As it came up out of the depths it looked like a Donkey. It looked at me, turned and powered back out to the safety of the deeper water. After another 10 minutes of warfare, I gained the upper hand and before the fish realised, it was in the net. Other anglers around the pond came to see what the fuss was about and stopped in awe of the creature.

The scales pointed to 19 lb 8 oz! My biggest Pike by 10 lb +! I released her back into her watery home and stood up. I was speechless. A truly monumental fish in my short fishing career.

At 12 years old, little did I know how this would assist in meeting the people which I have, the opportunities which have arisen, and the subsequent personal achievements I have realised in the two years that have followed since that special day.

April 09

Will Jubb