Newhay Fishery & Carp Farm, Near Selby – North Yorkshire
The promise of a small, well stocked pond with Carp reaching well into their thirties was sounding good as we loaded our gear ready for a three night session.
100 miles later and after a quick stop at the excellent butty van next to Selby 3 Lakes we arrived at Newhay;
The fishery is at the end of a farm track and is situated amongst farmland in relatively peaceful surroundings. For directions click here;
Two lakes greet you as you arrive, one on the left is a large well stocked pleasure lake with all the usual suspects, Bream, Tench, Roach and of course Carp – which do grow to low twenties.
The second lake is the specimen lake which, when we arrived, was almost empty of anglers. At around two acres with two small islands in the middle Newhay’s Specimen lake holds a good head of specimen fish, a lot of which could be seen cruising around on the surface.
As there where 4 of us fishing we ensured we were spread out around the lake.
Map of the Lake
Maddie chose to fish the so called disabled access swim which is marked “1” on our map,
For the first night I chose the swim marked “2” on our map, Tremayne fished the swim marked “3” and Dean chose the swim marked “5”.
This meant we had coverage of the whole lake and hopefully a very good chance of catching some decent Carp.
Weedy as hell!
The difficulty with Newhay is the weed growth which is quite aggressive; everywhere you look there is weed. Other Anglers commented that they had not caught anything because of the weed; they “simply could not present bait properly”.
To combat the weed Chod rigs where the order of the day for me, Tremayne opted for long hook lengths while Dean and Maddie fished a range of different tactics…
On the surface:
Tremayne seemed to have all the fish in front of him, they where shoaled up, on the surface in front of peg “3” and “4” [on our map] – another angler was in peg “4”, he commented that he had been getting runs but no fish. When he packed up the next morning Tremayne moved into his swim and I moved to where Tremayne was originally thus ensuring we still had an area of the lake locked off.
The first night was fishless! As Tremayne and I moved our tackle to our new swims Maddie caught the first fish, a common of just over 20lb. This fish came from a clear spot in the weed using bottom bait tactics and Mainline Cell Boilies.
Tremayne also began to catch fish from his new swim but by using floating dog biscuits which the Grass carp loved, despite a lot of Commons, Mirrors and Ghost Carp in the vicinity only the Grass Carp seemed to be getting hooked. Tremayne had 4 Grass Carp from the surface in total, the biggest being around 15lb.
Beating the weed:
As I looked out from my swim I could see Carp cruising, they seemed to be following a route along the channels in the weed. I decided to present pop up Mainline Cell Boilies [tipped with a slice from a White 10mm Nash Bait pop up] on the Chod Rig amongst the patrol routes.
Presenting a Chod Rig in the NEWHAY Weed
Left hand rod was placed close in next to a small set of pads, the middle rod was placed near a hole in the weed where the Carp seemed to visit each time they passed and the right hand rod was lowered in front of the rushes to my right…
Interestingly I could see my hook baits, how my rigs looked, how they were presented and more importantly when the fish where coming near!!
Action:
The middle rod was the first to see some action, I positioned myself behind some bank side vegetation and flicked small balls of sloppy ground bait over the pop up, the ground bait mixture was a simple blend of Something Fishy Power Carp Super, Ground Pellets, Boilie crumb and lake water.
The fish swooped in from all directions to investigate the splash and subsequent cloud in the water, the middle rod ripped off but when I lifted the rod the Carp parted company with the line and leaped over the rig like a scene from free Willy!!
Slightly wounded I recast the rod and again built up the fish’s confidence by using the cloudy ground bait.
After a while of fishing in my new spots, baits clearly visible from the bank, my right hand rod tore off without warning, the fish darted across the lake, around my middle rod swim, through the pads on my left and back out into open water just to make all of its friends aware it was hooked – after a five minute battle a mint 22lb Common Carp was my reward.
I went on to catch another Carp, this time a Grass Carp from the surface [at last I hooked one!!] the new Korda surface system working a treat.
Dean gets a slice of the action:
As evening approached Dean also had a do on the surface, a lot of Carp had gathered between the islands and Dean took full advantage of this bagging a 23lb Grass Carp in the process.
He and Maddie both bagged a couple more between them as well as a couple from the bottom…
Wheel and Come again….
After just 48 hours Tremayne and I packed up and went, Tremayne headed for Pendle View and me, well I am off to Wyreside Lakes as soon as I post this Blog! [Watch out for the report when I return]
The last I heard from Dean was that the fishery owner was driving his boat around the islands pumping barley oil into the lake, in the process he cut both of Dean’s lines with the outboard motor… Oh the joys!!!
Captures on the Newhay Specimen Lake
Verdict:
Newhay would be a good lake if there was less weed, infact Dean, Maddie and Tremayne fished there a few years back and really bagged up with fish to just under 28lb being caught. Another friend, Ricky B, had 19 runs… Nothing of the sort this time!
I think there are a few tricks being missed by the owner but I am sure he is trying is best to put things right – the economic downturn has seen a reduction in bait being thrown into most lakes and as a result the Carp are reliant more on natural food, as the natural stuff lives in the weed the fish are not as likely to clear big areas of the lake bed as they feed.
It is important to point out that the swims are not designed for Bivvies and sadly the toilet facilities are grim to say the least, one Portaloo serves the entire site and it is only cleaned once a week. Holding your breath for the time it takes to go is not really effective and at some stage you will have to breathe in! No surprise then when you see anglers making for the bushes!!
The quality of the fish outweigh the poor facilities the weed just adds a challenge, if you fish well you can do the business with relative ease and Newhay will always be a cracking surface water. Perhaps it will come into its own in winter and maybe I’ll be back later in the year when the weed has died down – infact that is quite an exciting prospect!!
To rate this in one go would be wrong, 4 fish for the facilities, 7 fish for the fishing experience is a fair conclusion and for the price Newhay is well worth a go [£30 for 48 hours, cheaper in Winter]….
Overall six fish
Six Fish
Danny.
