Shearwater lake nr Warminister Part 1

My fishing seems to have taken a back step at the minute due to work and family life but managed to

spend a couple of weekends down at shearwater lake nr Warminster. For those that are not in the know this is one of the jewels in the crown down this neck of the woods in fishing terms. Whilst no match fishing is allowed on the lake it is very well known for its specimen carp and large shoals of bream and skimmers as well as holding a good head of roach.
The lake its self is approx 37 acres with depths from ranging from 4-6ft all the way to 20 odd ft on the dam wall. The lake is surrounded by woodland it is a part of the Longleat estate which holds another 3 lakes.
I managed 2 days on the lake 1 being the 6th July and the other on 12th July fishing different methods throughout the 2 visits.

6th July
Having arrived early and expecting the gates to have just opened I arrived to find the gates opened and Bivi's everywhere (The gates used to open at 0700 now it looks as if they are open 24/7 allowing the carp anglers to fish both banks) So picking a swim wasn't going to be easy due to limited swims left. I opted for a swim about 50 meters further down the lake from the boat house which was free and was perfect for the tactics I was going to use for the day.
With Shearwater I like to split the day down into 2 fishing 2 methods one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
The plan was to fish long traditional feeder tactics with natural baits moving on to fishing a pellet feeder short in the afternoon the target species was the skimmers and bream, but trying to sort out the better stamp of bream.
 Morning Feeder gear

The long swim consisted of the following bait and tackle
50/50 mix of brown crumb and Browning's Champion Choice Sweet Breams ground bait with chopped worm and caster fed through a Browning Wire match medium cage feeder with a lob worm nipped of with a caster on the hook.
The tackle used for the job was a Browning Black Viper MK12 rod, a stepped up feeder rod powerful enough to get the feeder out long but not sacrificing on the sensitivity to spot the finicky bites that sometimes are encountered here. Reel was a Browning Xitan MF 940 reel matched to 0.22m 9.80lb Cenex Feeda line. Hook length was a 3ft Cenex 0.16mm 6.0lb finished of with a B911 size 14 hook.

Afternoon Pellet Feeder Gear

4mm/2.3mm dampened Skretting pellet with a small amount of Sensas IM5 natural mixed in. Hookbait was a 6mm Bait tech strawberry jelly pellet.
Tackle consisted of a Browning Champion Choice 11ft super feeder to a Xitan MF 930 reel. Reel line was again Cenex Feeda 0.18mm 6.10lb. Pellet feeder was a small Guru inline feeder finished off with a 3 inch Cenex 0.14mm size 16 PR36 hook.

Onto the mornings swim, with knowledge of the bottom of the lake being firm and stony (just ask the carp anglers when they retrieve their heavy leads to find them bashed up)  I wanted to fish long but at the same time accurate and comfortably so found a marker on the far bank and cast out. Retrieving the feeder I had 85 turns ideal for what I wanted to achieve. Next part was to get some bait down on

the bottom so changed to a bigger feeder  less the hook length and cast out 10 big feeders full of chopped worm and caster plugged by the 50/50 mix of brown crumb and ground bait. A change of feeders and a added hooklength and another cast out saw me sit for about 5 minutes before the rod wrapped round and a nice bend in the rod saw me land a carp ! (not what I came for but neither or less a fish in the net)
Another cast then saw the tip slowly go round and with less of a bend in the rod and a welcome sight came to the surface in the shape of a 4lb bream. This carried on for about 2 hours before the bites died of and the swim became quiet (had a feeling the carp might of bullied their way in and pushed the bream out as they have a tendency to do). Theory was proven when yet again the rod tip shot round and carp number 2 was shortly in the net after a quick fight.
Having sat for approx 10-15 minutes it was clear the bream had backed off from the feed but there were indications they were there just not sat right on the feed, so I changed to a 5ft hook length to see if they were still interested in the hook bait.
This proved a good choice as it wasn't long before another bream fell victim to my landing net. The change seemed to work and the bites seem to come quicker. Overall I must of had about 75-90lb of bream all in a mornings work average size was 4lb moving up towards 7lbs. Next stop was the pellet feeder in the afternoon.

For my pellet feeder swim I clipped up at 45 turns so about halfway short of the long swim I had used in the morning. Same again I was after the bream but expected to catch a few carp (I had been throwing 4mm pellets down the edge all morning to see what would come in close, needless to say the carp were in in numbers mopping up the bait then moving back out and by the looks of it preferred the more shallower water.
Now with my pellets I had prepared them that morning with the rest of my bait and with the sun shining down on them They could have dried out, What I tend to do now is bring an atomiser for just this occasion. A quick couple of sprays every 15-30 minutes and a towel over the top keeps the moist and soft ready for when you need them.

I like to mix the 2.3mm and the 4mm pellets together and with a bit of groundbait ands to the dinner on a plate effect when using a pellet feeder, depending on the day I will either use a hookbait similar to what I am feeding or I will use one that stands out as a sight bait (natural pellet with a red hookbait stands out which can lead to quicker bites as the fish target the larger sight bait.
With my first cast as the I sunk the line I had a bite almost straight away, a 5lb bream what a result. The fish were clearly in the warmer shallow water as it then manic over the next 3 hours with skimmers and bream fall to the net at a fast pace (one thing I did notice was they were a better stamp

of fish to those caught on the long feeder tactics) clearly the bream and skimmer are used to being fed pellet on a regular basis and are quite happy to indulge.
 To speed up the bites the hook bait was now not being inserted into the pellet feeder as the bream were hitting it sometimes in mid water or just as it hit the bottom. Still the carp were happy to sit just in front of my footplate and much of the free offerings I had been feeding. With the time ticking on and about 100lb of bream caught it was time to call it a day.

Looking back it seemed the bream were happy to feed on the long line yet backed off after a while once the carp moved in (a change of hooklength sorted that), yet on the shorter line they were confident to feed quite aggressively with a better stamp of fish ending up in the net. Clearly pellets are their choice bait and out caught the long swim.

Notice this is Part 1, Once I get the chance I will write up part 2 which saw me change from feeder tactics to the slider and pellet wag methods.