Mescar Lakes, Lydiate, Merseyside

[dave u]

Fished here for the first time in June. I'd heard good things about Mescar, and was looking forward to giving it a try. It was a sunny day, which at least provided some crumb of comfort as the fishing was dead. No-one around the lake seemed to be catching, least of all me. I arrived at 11am, and didn't have a single bite until 3.30pm, which turned out to be a small roach. I had been using corn, but there was nothing happening with that so I switched to meat and that tempted the roach.

I'd been putting bait into two swims to the left and right of where I was fishing, close in next to some reed beds. It had been a long slog, but late in the afternoon the rod tip went round and I was into something big. So big that it took off around the corner and into the next swim, and I couldn't stop it. The problem I had was there was a big tree between the two swims, meaning I couldn't just walk around and play the fish from there, I had to try and bully it back around the corner.

I was using 6lb line, and a light feeder rod, not the ideal equipment to force the fish back to where I wanted it. Luckily enough, it chose to come back of it's own accord, and shortly afterwards it came up to the surface, seemingly ready to come in. It looked around 15lb, a personal best for me, or at least it would have been had I not been too keen to get it in. As soon as it saw the net, it took off for the middle of the lake and snapped my line near to the hook.

After such a slow day, I knew this had been my one shot at making a success of this trip, and I'd blown it. Not a hard luck story, it was completely my own fault for getting too excited and not waiting til the fish was ready to come in.

I gave it another 15 minutes, but my heart wasn't in it now, I knew that I'd blown the only chance I was going to get as no-one else on the lake was doing anything either. So I packed up my stuff, walked back to the car and just about made it before the heavens opened and the rain began bouncing down in biblical proportions. I hadn't packed my umbrella, so I timed my departure just right. About the only thing I got right all day!