ENGLAND TROUTMASTERS REPORTS FOR WEEK-ENDING OCTOBER 26TH, 2018
Blackdyke Trout Fishery, Norfolk
Mixed results this week with boat anglers having the best of the sport. Fish are near the surface taking daddies and buzzers but seem to be just out of bank casting distance. Seasoned angler Malcolm Cole had 12 fish off the bank on Friday on Cats and Hoppers which was the best bank result all week, other bank anglers landing only 1 and 2s. Martin Smith had 16 fish off the boat on Friday using Daddies and Cat’s Whiskers. Other successful patterns were Hoppers, Bloodworms and Damsels. Follow us on facebook for regular updates or our web-site www.blackdykeflyfishing.co.uk
Blithfield Reservoir, Staffordshire
As we experience another week of fluctuating weather – following cold, wet, windy conditions we then saw highs of 17C on Wednesday – we can be thankful that the trout are behaving as nature dictates and mov-ing in to the margins to feed. Anglers who resisted the temptation to wade out beyond knee-depth were rewarded with several tactics pro-ducing good sport. Floating lines came up trumps while the best fly pat-terns varied from small White Boobies and lures at the start of the week to Bibio, Black Hoppers, Black & Peacock Spider and Bob’s Bits by Sunday afternoon! The water clarity has improved greatly which has also ensured that boat sport is still producing very successful returns, particularly on the South Lake. An interesting note this week is the rise in numbers of brown and tiger trout being recorded as they become more mobile in the cooler temperatures.
Noteworthy returns this week include on the 15th for permit holder Bar-ry Turner with 6 fish from the South Lake banks in just a few hours. On Tuesday 16th season permit holder Paul Walker fished from the banks for around 2 hours and recorded 7 fish, mainly on an Invicta. Earlier on the same day Geoff Forman recorded 6 fish from the South Lake banks, including a lovely brown trout, all caught on Black Spiders. The 17th proved to be an incredibly good day with a rise in air pressure and settled conditions. Permit holder Barry Turner again enjoyed great sport with a total return of 10 fish, all caught on small white lures, from the bank, while visiting rod Robert Arrowsmith used Black Pennell and Bibio patterns to record 7 fish from the bank. Boat pairings also submit-ted creditable returns on the same day: permit holders Brian Jones and Graham Wood returned 10 fish to their boat on the South Lake and vis-iting boat pair Tim Buckett and M. Rudding also recorded 10 fish to their boat, all caught on Hoppers and Shuttlecock CDC patterns during the afternoon. On the 18th season permit holder Derek Spilsbury fished for just a few hours and returned 6 fish to the bank on the South Lake while season permit holder Alan Miles enjoyed a great morning on the banks with a total of 9 fish. On the same day permit holder Terry Dallaway also fished from the banks and recorded 6 fish to Bibio and dry fly patterns. His catch included the best fish this week, a stunning 5lb 8oz brown trout caught on a Black Bibio Hopper. Towards the end of the week on the 20th permit holder David Marlow returned 5 fish from the banks, as did visiting rod Tom Clasper who counted a lovely brown trout amongst his total. This was safely released in accordance with fishery rules. Also amongst the returns this week were a 3lb 6oz rainbow trout for Paul Walker; a stunning brown trout for Mick Grant; a 3lb 4oz rainbow for Alan Miles; a 3lb 4oz rainbow for Alan Mould and a 3lb rainbow for Dennis Anslow.
A reminder this week that the Reservoir will close to visiting permits, in-cluding syndicate anglers, on November 15, 2018.
Best areas: drifts in towards the Gorse Bushes, drifts into Watery Lane, drifts towards Dougies, Rainbow Corner (Mon, Tues, Fri only), Old Man’s, Mary Lou’s, Mickledale Bay.
Best dries: Black Hopper, Claret & Pearl Hopper, Daddy Longlegs, greased-up Bibio.
Best lures: White Minkie, Orange Blob, Baby Doll, White Booby.
Best nymphs/wets: Invicta, Bibio, Black Pennell, Black & Peacock Spi-der.
Current rod average: 2.88.
Elinor Trout Fishery, Northamptonshire
For the week October 8 - October 14 the 141 anglers caught 659 fish of which 574 were returned. Best fish:
8lb 4oz Jim Nixon, Kettering, Candy FAB
7lb 2oz Chris Holland, white/green lure, boat
6lb 9oz Finbarr McSweeney, Rushden, Damsel
6lb 8oz Bryan Swain, Brampton, black/green lure, boat
6lb 8oz Steve Owen, Kettering
6lb 4oz Mike Bownes, Wilsthorpe, Black Shipmans
5lb 7oz Mick Moseley, Rushden, Daddy, boat
5lb Paul Mortimer, Thrapston, white/green lure, boat
4lb 14oz Darren Oram, Aldwincle, Bloodworm
For the week October 15 – 21 the 185 anglers caught 788 fish of which 679 were returned. Best fish:
7lb 5oz Chris Selby, Yaxley, Olive Snake
7lb 4oz Bob Symes, Geddington, Black Booby, boat
7lb Mr Chapman, Black Buzzer, boat
6lb 8oz Dave Macqullin, Worboys, White Apache
6lb 5oz Bryan Swain, Brampton, White Snake
6lb 3oz Brad Gifford, Kettering, Brown Midas
6lb 2oz Barry Chillingworth, Northampton, Damsel, boat
6lb 2oz John Elderton, Earls Barton, Olive Snake, boat
6lb 1oz Lazloe Boden, Rothwell, Silver Invicta, boat
5lb 12oz D. Cooper
5lb 12oz Mr Shannon
5lb 5oz Mike Edwards, boat
5lb 5oz Shane Dickens, Northampton, Damsel, boat
5lb 5oz Bryan Swain, Brampton, Daddy
5lb 3oz Trevor Partridge, Corby, black/green lure, boat
5lb 2oz Chris Selby, Yaxley, Olive Snake
5lb Graham Wright, Deeping, Hopper
Best bank areas are boat bay, dam, gravel bar, brookside. Best boat areas are dam, boat bay, gravel bar. Beat patterns white/green lures, Olive or Black Snake, Bloodworm, small Damsel, small Black Buzzer, Red Cruncher, wet or dry Daddy, wet or dry Hopper. A good couple of weeks with the rod average above 4. On cloudy days the fishing has been fantastic with fish being caught on a variety of methods including dries, washing-line or lures pulled just under the surface. Both boat and bank anglers scored. In sunny, breezy conditions the fishing was tricki-er especially from the bank. Boats continued to catch if they fished deeper. The majority of the big fish listed above have been returned. All fish have regained condition after limited feeding during the August heatwave and are fighting extremely hard.
Pike Fishing: Elinor will be holding three weekends when anglers can fish for pike from boats: November 24(fully booked) & 25; December 8 & 9; December 22 & 23. Fishing is 7.30am until dark with lures or sea deadbaits only. Payment in advance to secure booking. Single angler boat £27.50, Two anglers boat £45. Bookings/further info by email or telephone 01832 720786
Sunday November 11 is the date of the Dave Hughes Memorial Fur & Feather competition. Boat and bank anglers are welcome to en-ter. £25 entry fee includes fishing fees (£5 for season ticket holders), fishing 9am-3pm, 6 fish limit, 2lb/hour time bonus.
Proceeds from the raffle will be split between the Air Ambulance and the British Heart Foundation.
Foremark Trout Fishery, Derbyshire
This week the fishery has experienced several nice autumnal days with a mixture of bright sunshine and overcast conditions. The winds have in the main been light, in the 5-10 knot region, and coming from the south/west. The water temperature has stabilised at around 12C which has suited the fishing. Although the water level dropped earlier on in the week as the Dove was in flood following last week’s storms, over the week the water levels in the reservoir have continued to gradually rise, but as we said in last week report, it will take a considerable time for the levels to rise to normality.
There are still a lot of fish close to the banks with the fish continuing to target the fry, with the productive areas being the bank/dam wall in front of the lodge, Flamingo Bay opposite the lodge, Verdun’s Point and Hut Point. From the boats, the top dam wall and tower area includ-ing the aerators is still a productive area, as is the area around number 1 buoy. Several boats have caught on the drift through the main basin whilst the cascade has produced some significant catches, most of which have been caught near the bank in shallow water. Anglers are also reporting lots of fry-feeders in Carvers Arm, with the successful fly patterns continuing to be white lures, Ct’s Whiskers, Damsels, Hop-pers, nymphs, fry imitations and Daddies.
On Monday, DCAC member Mr Price used Boobies to land 9 fish on the Ticknall side of the reservoir, while Mr Fogg landed 5 from the Boils using Olive and Orange Fritz. On Tuesday, regular visitor Scotty Wilson landed 16 on white lures in the wind lanes coming off the boils, while Paul Walker took 8 fish from the point in front of the lodge. Wednesday was a quiet day but on Thursday Mr Lancini landed 5 while Mr Wilson returned to catch another dozen fish on floating fry patterns and he used similar tactics on Friday to land a further 11 fish. Paul Walker again bagged up using Damsels, all his 8 fish coming from the beach in front of the lodge. On Saturday Mr Herod landed 6 fish including one of over 4lb, these all succumbing to a variety of fry patterns. Mr Marples landed 4 on Orange Minkies. Mr Baker landed 3 fish from the beach in front of the lodge during the morning, then took a boat in the afternoon and landed a further 3 fish from the Cascade, using a White Minkie. Sunday was a very bright day with the reservoir hosting a national uni-versity sailing regatta, and hence conditions were not in the anglers’ favour. Nevertheless M. Wilson, fishing in front of the lodge at the far end of the beach, caught 5 fish on a sinking line using a Cat’s Whisker.
Weekly stats:
Number rods: 62
Trout taken: 23
Number trout released:101
Total catch: 124
Weekly rod average: 2.0
Thrunton Trout Fishery, Northumberland
Some good numbers of fish caught this week due to some more settled weather. Fish are still feeding just below the surface with some good sport still to be had on dries, Lures and nymphs are also proving pro-ductive as the fish feed on fry as the nights draw in. Quite a few dou-bles and fish in the region of 4 to 10lb have been recorded this week including some lovely browns that were safely returned. Trevor Wadds from Longframlington released 9 fish on Long Crag and 2 on Coe Crag with a mixture of flies including Diawl Bach, dries and lures. Ken Glen-ton from Ashington safely returned 10 to the bottom lake and 4 to the top lake using Diawl Bach and dries. Lol Seddon returned 6 to Long Crag with Diawl Bachs and white lures. Les Dinsmore released 11 on Coe Crag using Daddies and Yellow Dancers. Alan Sheppard from Stakeford returned 6 fish to Coe Crag using Hare’s Ears and black nymphs. Dennis and Rob Hopper from Durham returned 19 fish be-tween them off both lakes, Rob with 12, one a 5lb rainbow and Den-nis’s best a lovely 6lb brown. Jim Smith from Blyth had 13 off Long Crag and 1 off Coe Crag all on dries. ‘Spike’ Millican, also from Blyth, had 12 on Long Crag using white lures and Black PTN. Austin Churm used a Hare’s Ear and black and green lures to land 14 fish between both lakes. Alan Morton from Gosforth had 14 fish from Long Crag us-ing Buzzers, dries and Blobs. one of his fish was an 18lb rainbow. Mick Brown from Bedlington released 20 fish 16 off Coe Crag and included in his catch was a 15lb rainbow plus an 8lb and a 12lb brown. Martin Gaffney had some ‘great fishing’ returning 9 fish to Long Crag in a 3-hour session using PTNs. Rob Hall from Morpeth returned 19 fish be-tween both lakes with a Bunny Leech, best fish 10.8lb. George English from Blyth returned 6 during a 3-hour session on Long Crag using an Apps’ Bloodworm. John Pringle from Wooler safely released 7 fish on Long Crag also on an Apps.
Stew Younger from Blyth used Apps and Buzzers to catch and release 12 to Long Crag and 3 to Coe Crag. Rob Hall returned 7 to Long Crag on his second visit using Buzzers. Eric Carmichael from Rowlands Gill released 10 fish over both lakes ‘Great day, some big fish’ 12lb, 10lb, 5lb and 3lb. Michael Hall and Andy Cherry had a good afternoon re-leasing 13 fish between them all on dries.
Fly Box: Diawl Bachs, Buzzers, Daddies, CDC, PTN, Cat’s Whiskers, Yellow Dancers and Hare’s Ears Nymph
Please note: Long Crag will be closed this Sunday October 28 due to a Fritz 'n' Flies competition, Coe Crag will remain open as usual. Apologies for any inconvenience caused to our regular anglers.
Patrick Gray caught this 5lb brown trout from Thrunton fishery.
Jim Foggon with his 12lb Thrunton rainbow.