Common Ln, Brough HU15 1PJ

07507 142 559 – andywilk@hdaafishing.co.uk

6 days accross 2 ponds, over 2 months.

Brough Membership Complex is actually where my return to fishing began. Being close to home, membership-only and offering several lakes, it seemed like a convenient place to get back into the sport and spend some time learning again without having to travel miles. I ended up fishing the large Hawk Pond throughout the summer, although despite putting in plenty of time I couldn’t buy a bite. Eventually, in an attempt to find some salvation, I moved onto the much smaller Grebe Pond. Unfortunately, the result was exactly the same.

The complex itself is tucked away just off a new housing estate in Brough, down a fairly rough and poorly maintained track. It’s not the sort of road you particularly want to be driving down with a car full of expensive tackle, with plenty of bumps leaving everything in the back bouncing around. Once you reach the entrance, there is a large locked gate, with the access code provided as part of your membership. The lakes themselves are well signposted, so finding your way around the complex isn’t difficult once you’re inside.

One of the strangest things about the place for me was the atmosphere. It was generally very peaceful, and there was plenty of space to get away from other anglers, but there was almost no sense of a fishing community. Anglers seemed to arrive, fish and leave without much interaction. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing if complete solitude is what you’re after, but for someone returning to fishing it felt a little unusual. Even when I was there, I rarely saw anyone else catching fish, and I personally saw very little in the way of visible fish activity.

There are some potential explanations for that. I later became aware that the complex had experienced serious flooding, which apparently resulted in fish moving between ponds, as well as having problems with otters. Those are obviously significant events for any fishery and could have had a major impact on the lakes. What didn’t help was the information available from the complex itself. The website appeared very dated, with references to stocking improvements going back as far as 2013 and little obvious information showing what had happened since. After spending six days fishing there over a couple of months without a single bite, it was difficult not to wonder whether the complex had simply fallen victim to a lack of investment or care.

The restrictions around visiting before joining also felt a little strange. Before taking out a membership, I contacted the complex to ask whether I could have a look around. I was initially told that this wasn’t possible, and then that it could only happen if someone happened to meet me there and walked around with me. It seemed an unnecessarily difficult way of allowing prospective members to see what they were actually signing up for. In fairness, the convenience of the location ultimately persuaded me to join anyway.

There were positives. The complex was mostly quiet, and there was plenty of room to find your own space, sometimes completely out of sight of other anglers. For someone returning to fishing, that actually gave me a great opportunity to experiment. I could practise different rigs and techniques, test new equipment and generally make mistakes without feeling like anyone was watching. I even took a new bivvy down there and decided to test it on what turned out to be an absolutely miserable, wet day.

That bivvy session probably sums up my experience of the complex better than anything else. By the end of the day, I was trying to pack the bivvy away while sliding around in the mud. Eventually I decided I was going to have to abandon it behind an old, poorly maintained hut and come back another day. On the next attempt, the thing collapsed, leaving me to somehow squeeze it back into a bag that I’m not convinced it had ever actually fitted into. I eventually returned home covered from head to toe in mud. In hindsight, that was probably the most action I had during my entire time at the complex.

There is also a separate syndicate lake, Osprey, which comes at an additional cost to the standard membership. Night permits are also available at extra cost. I never felt persuaded to spend the additional money, mainly because of the overall impression I had from the complex. I certainly wasn’t confident enough in what I had experienced on the other lakes to pay considerably more for access to another one.

Facilities are another weak point. The site was generally clean enough, but there was no tackle shop, the toilets were unkempt portaloos and the general surroundings could have done with some attention. I only encountered one bailiff during my time there and, unfortunately, my interaction with them left me feeling that they were a little rude. There were also occasions when children were apparently dropped off and left to fish for the day despite this being against the rules. With very little visible supervision, that was always going to be difficult to police.

Ultimately, I didn’t renew my membership at the end of the year. That’s not because I expected to catch a fish every time I went, and I fully accept that blanking is part of fishing. The problem was that after six days over two months, I had seen very little to convince me that things were going to improve. Combined with the outdated information, the condition of parts of the complex and the strange atmosphere, I simply didn’t feel that it offered enough to make me want to spend another year there.

For anglers who value peace, privacy and having plenty of room to themselves, there are certainly positives. It gave me somewhere to practise and rebuild my confidence when I was getting back into fishing, and being close to home was a genuine advantage. But for me, the lack of fish activity and the general feeling that the complex needed some attention ultimately outweighed those positives. I left feeling that the place had potential, but that potential wasn’t being realised.