Hornsea Mere

I intend to do a piece in the not too distant future of days spent on Hornsea Mere.

Talk about atmosphere, this place takes the biscuit!

If it's the Yorkshire Hornsea Mere Ron, never fished it, but once fell in from a rowing boat whilst staying at the Wakefield Schools Camp in the 50's.

I still remember the first meal I had there, thick chunks of dry stale bread and OXO from an enamel mug.
I hated every day of the three weeks spent there. I collected enough fossils from the beech to fill a museum

I can remember the exact period, it was when Don Cockell fought Rocky Marciano for the World Heavyweight title, lost 3p on the fight. Also had my first fight there, under the centre light in the wooden hut we slept in. Roger Gelder I think was the other lad - went on the be best mates.
He had his head up my arse forgood a few years after that, I played at prop forward, he was second row.

Took a visit back last summer, the place still looks like a prisoner of war camp.

From reading the info on the board by the Mere it's produced some good fish, including chub.

Hornsea Mere is a true wild lake. Formed millions of years ago from a glacier, it held the roach record, a fish of 3lbs 10z taken by Wilf Cutting in the 20s.

Today you will catch big pike, plenty of 20s, big perch and even bream.

I heard rumours that someone put carp into it.

It is a lake where you need to uncover many secrets to catch the fish. I have those secrets but they will die with me. I would hate the lake to be hammered by The Circus as it was 20 years ago.

I remember as a kid references to the big Roach in the mere.

I used to look at the mere on the map, dreaming of catching a Roach bigger than my friends or I had ever seen. Sadly I had no way of getting there, but maybe the picture in my head is better than the reality would have been had I fished there.