From 20th to 27th September Liz and I took a camping holiday in North Yorkshire staying at Parkdean’s Skipsea Sands holiday site, somewhere that we were familiar with having camped there twice previously around the Easters of 2018 and 2019 – and probably would have done so again in 2020 but for first wave of the covid pandemic.
Talking about the ‘CV19’ thing I’ve realised I probably was in close contact with it in Xmas 2019 when I was hospitalised for a few days with kidney problems – I recall several people being removed from my ward and the hospital staff wearing face masks and being told that those patients had got ‘the flu’. Visiting was unaffected at that time though and we were free to wander round the hospital wards and visit the inhouse ‘Greggs’ and ‘WHSmith’, etc.
Back to Skipsea …
Before I get on to fishing again – camping on Parkdean sites is EXCELLENT. For £10 a night for our 7-man tent it can’t be beaten even if just for a patch of land on which to pitch the tent – just try and find anywhere else for that – even pitching in a farmer’s cow field would cost more than that. BUT, at Parkdean, not only do you get a pitch but also good, clean toilets and showers, electricity supplied (no meter charges), and entertainment passes for the nightly shows are included in the cost.
To fishing matters … the site has its own small fishing pool…
… but on our 2018 visit we took no rods nor tackle so there was no fishing that trip… but on the 2019 trip we managed to sort out, and just about load into the car alongside the camping gear, one set of shared tackle and our rods to partake of a day’s fishing session. And the blog of that day recorded…
“We both float fished, Liz mainly on maggot, myself worm. There were plenty of movements – dipples, swirls, and even at one point a huge mass of bubbles just in front of Liz – and we were getting line bites, float nudges and attacked baits but hardly one proper take – and between us only one fish was caught and that fell to Liz – a roach of around 1oz which, as the title says, took all the prizes of the day! First fish, smallest fish, biggest fish, most species, and last fish LOL.
There were a couple of other guys also fishing and Liz was speaking to one of them on one of the evenings when she was at the bar – he’d fished 3-4 days and hadn’t caught anything of note and not a lot of those not of any note either! He also said the other chap had had one decent tench on one day and a carp of a pound or two on another day. So seems like the fish are very wary and shy in the pool but I suppose they do get to see baits more often than most…”
So, the trip of 2021 was planned and I posted on the ‘Maggotdrowners’ forum regarding our intended trip – and had a few comments on there regarding other fishing opportunities in the surrounding area – one of the comments coming from one of my blog followers, ‘jacksonb1’ who recommended ‘Westland Lakes’ … thanks!! … other places were ‘Mill Ponds’ and ‘West End Farm’, both of these very close to each other and within 2 miles of the campsite.
As it was, I really had a very short time to ‘research’ any of the options on any of these suggestions although I did remember passing Mill Ponds’ entrance signage in previous years on our touristy days out…
Westland Lakes … (https://uk-fisheries.co.uk/fisheries/westlands-lakes-2/) unfortunately had to discounted this trip due to logistics … would have to initially locate it, sort out fishing details (eg look at pools to decide where to set up, etc) all which would take up a lot of our valuable fishing time. So, not this trip, although held in mind for the future. Does have a strange rule there though (http://www.westlandsangling.com/rules.shtml) – with groundbait having to be fed by ‘cup or feeder’ (although I suppose a bait dropper would be acceptable)….
West End Farm … didn’t find much info on this – but did see ‘Buggs Lane’, where the pool is located, in passing one day … about 20 yards from the entrance to Mill Ponds.
Mill Ponds … (https://www.facebook.com/palmersmillpond/) is the place where we actually fished, a bit of a misnamed place now really though as there were initially 2 ponds BUT they have now been connected by removal of the intervening bank to become a singular Mill Pond. As I said earlier, it was quite close to our campsite, probably less than 3 miles from tent door to waterside.
So arriving in Skipsea on the afternoon of Monday 20th we set up camp for the night … visited the clubhouse bar where beer was at London City prices! A bottle of Doom Bar = £5.40! Tuesday morning we set off for a reconnaissance of Mill Ponds arriving to find one angler there to whom Liz chatted and gained some info .. we walked the around pool and one other pair arrived to ‘check it out’ whilst we were there. Wednesday, we set off at 0730 with the tackle for the day.
On arrival, there was one angler already in situ where we had thought to fish from and so we elected to fish from a bit of a ‘spit’’ formed when the bank between the original pools had been removed thus making a bit of a bottleneck that fish had to pass through to move from one end of the pool to the other.
Floatfishing with laid-on maggot (6lb line, 5AAA driftbeater float, size 16 hook) was generally the order of the day, other baits not being so effective when tried.
Catches of the day…
Myself: 1 x tiny (thumb sized) carp, 1 x 2lb 1oz ghost carp and 2 rudd (ca 3oz and 8oz)
Liz: 2 x roach (ca 2oz and 6oz) and (last cast of the day too) 1 x 4lb 2oz ghost carp
Observations of the day: the pool became quite busy from around 1030 – and when we left there were probably only 2 fishable swims left free. Also there were 3 ‘pairs’ fishing, usually there’s just Liz and myself and occasionally on one of our club waters there’s another pair although I don’t think the lady fishes much as she tends to do hourly walks around the pool more than anything.
Ummm … the two ‘fish’ photos above … not sure what was going on but the picture quality is poor and usually is good. Canon Ixus SX120 camera (10mp). The ‘scenic’ pics taken on my mobile camera are far better. Wonder if there was dew/condensation on the camera lens? Need to check that out…. also need to put a new thermometer in the bag as being September I start recording water temps and I set it out for that reason but on leaving I forgot about it and it may still be there in the water’s edge :(
PLANS:
We’re off again on Monday for a week – this time to Chichester Lakeside in Sussex (Surrey???) and hoping to get a day’s fishing in at the day ticket lakes next door to the camp. No tent this time, luxury of an onsite caravan.
stevetheangler 
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