sandy bottoms

I didnt fancy the rollercoaster of a merseyside derby so I decided to have a dabble on a water I havent fished for 15 to 20 years.
When I arrived I was dismayed to find there was a sweep on but the guy on the first peg said it was ok to jump on somewhere and he reccomended peg 30. My setup was my old grandslam match rod with my 33 year old mitchell 440 loaded with 3lb maxima to a 2lb fluoro hooklenght under a 4bb waggler with 2 number 10 droppers to a size 20 spade. I was surprised to find only 2.5 foot of watet at 2 rod lenghths. I was into fish straight away and it didnt stop for the 3.5 hours I fished. I ended up with 60 to 70 fish made up of around 45 roach, a dozen gudgeon 4 perch and a carp of around 2lb. I also lost a bigger fish of 3 to 4lb late on. I dropped a few fish to hand and bumped a few on the strike. I had a really enjoyable afternoon despite the squally condiditons. I will give it another go soon.

Thought you had to have a Pilks card to fish Sandy Bottoms ... not fished for 15-20 yrs.. was your licence up to date ?

I do have a pilks card and actually showed it to the guy on the first peg. Otherwise I wouldn't have gone as that would be poaching. I tend only to fish rivers Gary. I keep my pilks card on for a bit of march to june carp stalking at carriage or some lure fishing at eccy mere and an occasional trip to mill dam if the river is in flood.

Good stuff Stan ! , I am a member on a couple of local waters .. see far too many people who think it is OK to fish... without a licence and also without the correct local card ..

With you 100% on that one Gary. At least with Pilks I have been asked to produce so that is a good thing. I actually saw the EA on the river DEE last year. I asked for a photo as it was only the 2nd time in 30 years that they had turned up. Both those times where in the last 3 years, the first being at a 6 swim pit out in cheshire I was amazed when they have bigger more well fished waters to go at.