How to crack a pressured day ticket venue

Clearly there’s no one better to ask on how to crack a pressure day ticket venue than the chaps who live and breathe them, starting with Gary Bayes, owner of Bayes Water…

1. Too wrapped up
“So many anglers are too reliant on wrapping up with distance sticks; fishing to the same area every session regardless if they’re catching or not. Accuracy can catch you a second fish if you have already had a bite, but casting into a different area can get you that first bite. Don’t be afraid to cast about looking for different spots.”

2. Keep an eye on the other anglers
“If everyone is fishing to the middle but no one is catching anything, then try closer in. The carp in my lakes have dug craters all around the margins and love feeding “in the edge”, yet most anglers fish to the middle.”

3. Know the contours of the lake bottom
“Simple plumbing tells you loads, and it’s important to find features such as depth variations. Many day ticket lakes are somewhat featureless, mine is, not much depth variation but to know the exact edge of the marginal shelf, or to find the soft to hard bottom features makes a difference. Simply cast a lead out, drag it back slowly, feel a difference, clip-up, recast to see where the feature is
and then do your wraps so you’re fishing to ‘something’.”

4. Don’t be afraid to fish big baits…
“…Especially after spawning. Most anglers fish small baits but after spawning, everywhere I’ve fished, a double 20mm hookbait usually out-fishes a small hookbait.”

5. Understand line bites
“Fishing mega tight lines, which is a mistake on most waters, or fishing ultra-slack lines, doesn’t tell you much to what’s going on in your swim. Fishing semi-slack, with light bobbins and long drops will tell you when fish are active in your swim. For instance, if you get a line bite and the bobbin returns to where it was, that’s a fish close in, so it’s time to re-position a rod.”

For more details on Gary’s fisheries, head over to bayeswaterfishing.co.uk