worsborough dam barnsley

[sammorley1]

hi just been for a walk round worsborough dam with a friend, looks nice and big, my kinda water, any one know anything about this place ? carp stock sizes etc, tactics where abouts to fish, there was some guy there with a nod pod managed to squeeze a few sentences outa him. but not really anything to go on.

[freeliner]

Hi folks,

I know this is a long time after the fact but I thought I might be able to shed some light on catching a few at the old res at Worsbrough. Obviously this is personal opinion but some of it might even be relevant to someone out there!

I have fished the old resser for over 30 years on and off since the days of the big matches where all the countries top flight match men used to turn up to do battle with each other to catch the big shoals of bream and hybrids that were so prevalent back then. They are still there now but to a lesser extent since the cormorant problems on there in the late 80's and early 90's. These shoals, or what's left of them, have now been relegated to the nuisance fish to a lot of anglers on there these days as the place is often fished by we carping chaps as much as by any other types of anglers.  

It was taken over and has been well run by Barnsley and District Amalgamated Angling Society around the mid nineties I believe, someone could probably put a closer date to that. They have stocked it at quite regular intervals during the last 25 years or so in an effort to make it a superwater of the North to rival places like the mighty Drayton reservoir in Daventry, Northamptonshire. Various problems have plagued the club and prevented them from achieving this hallowed goal although I think that overall they have done a very good job considering all the unexpected issues they have suffered from over the years. From problems with serious leaks around 15 years ago to the crumbling walls of nowadays at various areas around the place, there has not really seemed to be any luck for any notable length of time, on the side of this dedicated and hard working club.

We used to catch up to maybe 50lb of small stockies in a hectic short evening session on there back in the mid to late 90's. All pristine, with scale patterns to die for on some of the mirrors but then they can be like that when they are under a pound or two can't they? I don't think that many of these have made it through to the present day though as there were a number of incidents in the new millenium where fish unexpectedly died at alarmingly regular intervals. I don't know if some kind of nagging, recurring pollution was the issue, or oxygen level problems perhaps, but it seemed that every summer there would be far too many dead fish seen on the banks of this big, open and often quite windswept but very beautiful place. I used to use a waggler rod and fish up in the water in these days with casters for bait in a style not a million miles away from the way you use a modern pellet waggler. On a windy day it would be hard on the bottom with meat, corn or small boilies, a simple stringer was all the free bait that was needed on here back then. I could never resist catching a few on freelined meat as well occasionally.

As mentioned already, the regular stocking programmes that were carried out over the years, eventually started to make an improvement in the quantities of fish that did survive the various issues, and by the mid 2000's we were catching fish up to low doubles with plenty of high singles around to back them up. It was boilies all the way for me from there as the rampant bream shoals would destroy any particle beds any foolish angler would dare to put out there. I used to love to catch them really close in on meat as well, either freelined or on a light float set up but meat was banned around 2010 (ish) and I never really found a bait quite as good again for this style of stalking them on here in the edge.

Fast forward to present day and after more effort by the club, including the continuing restocking programme, we have a great runs water (when you are on the fish!) with fish rumoured to be up to mid twenties around the place (somewhere!) even if in very small numbers at this size. My Worsbrough p.b. is a lowly 19. 04 but I feel that there are definitely bigger in there with a low twenty certainly not being an impossibility. Anyway it's a great day out with three rods allowed and night fishing allowed (If you buy 3 membership single rod books at around £45 per book). Get on the fish and you can expect to be busy with spombing or a catapult. I fish at close to medium range but some of the lads down there that can cast (ahem, I can't) do exceptionally well at long range. It's an out and out boilie venue for me now with maybe the odd foray into particles occasionally in the summer that usually ends up with me covered in bream slime. 

All the usual quality baits work well on there. RG Baits 365 or the formula have been pretty good recently for me. Over the years they have liked eating Nash scopex squid, Nutrabaits trigga, Dynamite the source and Dynamite robin red glugged in the same liquid when I have tried them with these. I am not really telling anyone anything with this last bit am I? It's been noted to do a few more fish in an average winter than most venues as well, making it often worth a try through the colder months.

So there you have it, fellow water watchers of the night, a brief and not too detailed account, according to yours truly, of the still great (to me) Worsbrough reservoir, all 60 acres of it. I hope that this helps if anyone wants to look briefly towards a beginner type venue where the fish are not huge but sometimes can present an awkward challenge. It's all experience innit?

[newmarket]

On 28/01/2022 at 17:46, freeliner said:

Hi folks,

I know this is a long time after the fact but I thought I might be able to shed some light on catching a few at the old res at Worsbrough. Obviously this is personal opinion but some of it might even be relevant to someone out there!

I have fished the old resser for over 30 years on and off since the days of the big matches where all the countries top flight match men used to turn up to do battle with each other to catch the big shoals of bream and hybrids that were so prevalent back then. They are still there now but to a lesser extent since the cormorant problems on there in the late 80's and early 90's. These shoals, or what's left of them, have now been relegated to the nuisance fish to a lot of anglers on there these days as the place is often fished by we carping chaps as much as by any other types of anglers.  

It was taken over and has been well run by Barnsley and District Amalgamated Angling Society around the mid nineties I believe, someone could probably put a closer date to that. They have stocked it at quite regular intervals during the last 25 years or so in an effort to make it a superwater of the North to rival places like the mighty Drayton reservoir in Daventry, Northamptonshire. Various problems have plagued the club and prevented them from achieving this hallowed goal although I think that overall they have done a very good job considering all the unexpected issues they have suffered from over the years. From problems with serious leaks around 15 years ago to the crumbling walls of nowadays at various areas around the place, there has not really seemed to be any luck for any notable length of time, on the side of this dedicated and hard working club.

We used to catch up to maybe 50lb of small stockies in a hectic short evening session on there back in the mid to late 90's. All pristine, with scale patterns to die for on some of the mirrors but then they can be like that when they are under a pound or two can't they? I don't think that many of these have made it through to the present day though as there were a number of incidents in the new millenium where fish unexpectedly died at alarmingly regular intervals. I don't know if some kind of nagging, recurring pollution was the issue, or oxygen level problems perhaps, but it seemed that every summer there would be far too many dead fish seen on the banks of this big, open and often quite windswept but very beautiful place. I used to use a waggler rod and fish up in the water in these days with casters for bait in a style not a million miles away from the way you use a modern pellet waggler. On a windy day it would be hard on the bottom with meat, corn or small boilies, a simple stringer was all the free bait that was needed on here back then. I could never resist catching a few on freelined meat as well occasionally.

As mentioned already, the regular stocking programmes that were carried out over the years, eventually started to make an improvement in the quantities of fish that did survive the various issues, and by the mid 2000's we were catching fish up to low doubles with plenty of high singles around to back them up. It was boilies all the way for me from there as the rampant bream shoals would destroy any particle beds any foolish angler would dare to put out there. I used to love to catch them really close in on meat as well, either freelined or on a light float set up but meat was banned around 2010 (ish) and I never really found a bait quite as good again for this style of stalking them on here in the edge.

Fast forward to present day and after more effort by the club, including the continuing restocking programme, we have a great runs water (when you are on the fish!) with fish rumoured to be up to mid twenties around the place (somewhere!) even if in very small numbers at this size. My Worsbrough p.b. is a lowly 19. 04 but I feel that there are definitely bigger in there with a low twenty certainly not being an impossibility. Anyway it's a great day out with three rods allowed and night fishing allowed (If you buy 3 membership single rod books at around £45 per book). Get on the fish and you can expect to be busy with spombing or a catapult. I fish at close to medium range but some of the lads down there that can cast (ahem, I can't) do exceptionally well at long range. It's an out and out boilie venue for me now with maybe the odd foray into particles occasionally in the summer that usually ends up with me covered in bream slime. 

All the usual quality baits work well on there. RG Baits 365 or the formula have been pretty good recently for me. Over the years they have liked eating Nash scopex squid, Nutrabaits trigga, Dynamite the source and Dynamite robin red glugged in the same liquid when I have tried them with these. I am not really telling anyone anything with this last bit am I? It's been noted to do a few more fish in an average winter than most venues as well, making it often worth a try through the colder months.

So there you have it, fellow water watchers of the night, a brief and not too detailed account, according to yours truly, of the still great (to me) Worsbrough reservoir, all 60 acres of it. I hope that this helps if anyone wants to look briefly towards a beginner type venue where the fish are not huge but sometimes can present an awkward challenge. It's all experience innit?

Thanks for that . I’m 200 miles from you but nevertheless that was a damn fine read , very interesting indeed , and must have took you ages to write . I’m amazed nobody else has had the courtesy to reply tbh but It’s probably a quiet time of year for the forum .

thanks again , and I hope your great grandson catches a forty from Worsbrough , sounds a nice place 👍🏻