Some hints and tips for good sport at Ancaster's Woodland Waters

It has been a case of having to pick your days wisely to enjoy the best sport on the Specimen Lake at Woodland Waters, at Ancaster.

Milder, overcast conditions have seen some cracking catches of big skimmers, roach and perch, while frosty and sunny weather have made the going very difficult, at least until the light fades late afternoon.

Strangely, clear, cold and bright days hav not been affecting the carp anglers so much as those targeting other species, with plenty of double figure fish being caught.

When Journal angling correspondent Dave Coster’s mate Andy Griffiths travelled up from London recently, to fish the biggest lake on the complex, there was a strong wind rippling the surface and it was mostly overcast.

The big skimmer bream quickly switched on to the dark groundbait and casters Andy was feeding with a cage feeder, using a single red maggot on a small hook. He was casting out 25 metres into 14 feet of water and it only took 40 minutes before he started catching.

Another method that has continued to work well is a small maggot feeder, introducing neat grubs regularly, again around 25 metres out.

Dave was in the next peg to Andy and caught some nice perch and quality roach, along with a few bonus skimmers. It soon became very noticeable that the skimmer bream prefer groundbait, while the roach and perch home in better on neat red maggots.

To highlight how the weather can affect catch rates, Dave returned to the same swim a few days later and struggled in bright sunshine. The latter is nice to enjoy, but when it is cold the fish do not seem to like it.

Along with the carp, there is one other species that is staying active when the silver fish shut down and that is pike.

These predators are tending to hug the overgrown margins, but soon come out to intercept small roach and skimmers being wound in on feeder tackle. Dave has landed several of these fish recently, while not actually targeting them.

l You can see more of Dave Coster’s angling adventures at fishingmagic.com