LYMM AC's members-only water Statham Pool in Lymm has been fishing excellently for the time of year with some really good nets of skimmers and roach coming out to bread punch. There are a lot of fish feeding up in the water but these tend to be smaller fish. What I usually do to get the bigger fish is use quite a lot of hemp to get the fish to the bottom and fish caster or punch over the top. To get the best results on this water you need to use really fine tackle. Pole is definitely the best method on this water and will out fish feeder or waggler the majority of the time. I usually use about 1-1.5lb line with 24-20 hooks, depending on the size of the bait. Your float doesn't need to be as fine because the water is quite deep so I would normally go for about 0.5 grams but people do go bigger. Your elastic needs to be soft for the smaller fish but have a fair bit of power and stretch because there are a lot of big roach, bream, chub and even the odd barbel in this water. I would go for about a number-four elastic this time of year for on the bottom and a number two or three for up in the water. Brookside Fisheries at Stretton is fishing quite well. The Snake Lake is best, mainly because of the variety of species stocked into it. The carp have not been feeding very well but you can go and catch roach, skimmers, orfe, tench and plenty of chub. The chub and others above have all been taking caster, worm, maggot and even pellet. The middle track or the far side are the best places to fish depending on the weather and fishing pressure (disturbance on the bank). I personally like to fish the far side and loose feed little amounts of hemp with the odd caster and fish caster over the top with a small tail of a worm as a change bait. There are a lot of people still using expander pellets. They will catch their fair share of fish but I believe that the fish have seen too much of them over the warmer months and a different bait will almost always out fish pellet at this time of year. You need about 2lb line and 18-20 hooks for caster or 16s for pellet. A number eight elastic should be strong enough if you take your time with any bigger fish hooked. Pole is best. There are a lot of matches on this venue so be sure to ring and find out before making a visit. Telephone: 01925 730893. | 
