While on holiday in Yorkshire in June/July 2007 I visited the Stake Hill Fishery. It was newly opened (in April) and offered good mixed fishing, albeit fish sizes were quite small.

The lake was high on the dale in a nice setting but the weather was awful on the day, with a cold wind blowing and no sun; but it was dry. None the less, I battled on and didn't do too bad.

The bag amounted to a couple of small tench, some small bream and four carp.

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I weighed only the biggest which was just under 3lb. (I didn't write down the figure but think it was 2lb 12oz!)

The largest was a chunky little thing that took a bunch of maggots dropped near the margin almost as soon as they hit the bottom. It fought very well.

Not a bad outcome for a very windy and cold day. I legered for all fish with the rod tip submerged to combat the wind and a bobbin bite indictor shielded from the wind.