ENGLAND TROUTMASTERS REPORTS FOR WEEK-ENDING JUNE 8TH, 2018
Blackdyke Trout Fishery, Norfolk
Variable results this past week. Some anglers caught double figures (17 the best) but some were not having much joy. Water temperature is still cold and clarity is excellent so you can see the fish, but deciding on what they are taking has been tricky. Best methods have been Daddies, dries, Diawl Bachs and Damsels. Fish are just under the surface about 10 seconds down. Dragonfly starting to hatch over the water and small black beetle on the grass. Early evening rise very active.
Blithfield Reservoir, Staffordshire
Despite a forecast for thundery downpours during the week the reservoir managed to escape them and instead the conditions remained fairly settled. Now that the upper layers of water have warmed up and insect life is abundant the trout are happily cruising subsurface and readily taking dry flies as well as nymphs and buzzers which has resulted in some excellent returns. Pearly or holographic patterns often produce great results during brighter spells along with oranges and reds, but on days where the light has been dull and flat claret is by far and away the most successful colour. This week Claret Shipman’s Buzzers and Claret Hoppers performed well on most days.
Noteworthy returns this week include on the 28th for season permit holder Phil Sadler with 10 fish to his boat, all on Claret Shipman’s; Permit holders Graham Wood and Brian Jones paired up in a boat and recorded a superb 38 fish; visiting rod J. Curry enjoyed a great day of catch and release with a total of 20 fish to his boat and visiting rods Derek Graham and Dru Lunney returned 38 fish to their boat. On the 29th visiting rods Wayne Jordan and David Barker fished from a boat and returned 18 fish between them, while visiting ‘in-form’ rod Simon Caddy caught and released 40 fish, including 2 lovely brown trout, to various tactics from his drifting boat. On Thursday 31st it was again visiting rods who recorded the highest returns with boat pair Chris Howkins and Yousef Dar ending the day with an incredible 57 fish by using a number of methods including Blobs and pink lures. Andrew Esplin and Colin Nesbitt returned 30 fish to their boat on the South Lake to Blobs and Olive Damsel patterns. On Friday June 1 visiting rod Alex Urquhart recorded 20 fish while his boat partner, the afore-mentioned Mr Caddy, returned 25 fish resulting in another very creditable boat total of 45. The current rod average is 6.05
On Saturday June 2 the reservoir hosted the annual Cancer Charity Day, arranged by Steve Owen. Once again it was a phenomenal success with all boats selling out within a week and some excellent returns recorded on the day. Final placings were: 1st Tony Smith and Roger Smith 19lb; 2nd Yousef Dar and Doug Skins 17lb 14oz; 3rd Steve Thyer and Colin Smith 17lb 1oz. Biggest fish was awarded to Tony Smith for a 3lb 2oz rainbow. The event raised over £2,000 on the day and also saw cheques totalling £3,500 presented to Cancer Research and Breast Cancer. The rod average for the day, based on the returns, was 5.46. It will be held again next year on the first Saturday in June.
On Sunday June 10 the Staffordshire Ironman event will once again affect access to the reservoir until 2pm. However, this year, access is available all day via the B5014 from Handsacre, through Hill Ridware and Blithbury.
Chatton Trout Fishery, Northumberland
Trevor Wadds from Longframlington returned a 10lb 12oz rainbow to Dunnydeer Lake caught on a Diawl Bach. Luke McMahon from Ashington returned a 6lb tiger trout caught on a Hopper. Fly box: Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Shipman’s Buzzers, Hare’s Ears, Hoppers, Pheasant Tail Nymphs and Yellow Dancers. All three lakes are stocked weekly. Fishery closes at 9pm and 5pm on Saturdays. Dunnydeer Lake and Ross Lake are fully booked on Saturday June 9 due to the 'Hopes Dreams' Fundraiser. Chatton Lake will be available to fish in this day. Attention all angling night owls! All night fishing' on Saturday June 23 - come along anytime during the evening/night and purchase a fishing permit for however long you would like to fish. Remember to bring a head torch! No need to book.
Draycote Water, Warwickshire
On May 4 the Draycote Fly Fishing Association held a charity fishing match in order to raise funds for the charity ‘Help for Heroes.’ 12 boats, 24 anglers set off form the jetty at 9am in a light breeze and bright conditions interspersed with some cloud. After 8.5 hours of an excellent day’s fishing on a gorgeous spring day, the results of the day were as follows:
1st – Chris Hawkins & Roger Symons (54 fish to the boat)
2nd - Yusef Dar – Alex (38 fish to the boat)
3rd - Jason Sly & Mark Johnson-Jones (29 fish to the boat)
4th - Kevin Pearson & Garrick Stafford
5th - Mike Smith & Steve Tritt
The first five boats chose a prize for their efforts before the group retired to The Dunchurch Social Club to some much-needed refreshments and an excellent buffet, laid on by the managers Tina and Tony. In total £585 was raised on the day and thanks goes to all who took part and were in some way involved from the members of the Drayctoe Fly Fishing Association. The event was supported by The Alex Booth Fly Fishing club and The Police Trout Fishing section alongside members of the Draycote Fly Fishing Association. The rules of the competition were 2 fish then C&R with all other fish counting as 2lb. Donations for prizes came from: The Draycote Fishing Lodge; Trout Fisherman Magazine; Trout and Salmon Magazine; The Police (Yussef Daar); SKB Fly Fishing; W H Lanes Fishing Tackle (Coventry); Go Outdoors (Coventry); Garry Evans Fishing Tackle; and Mick O’Farrell (Fly fisher and author).
Elinor Trout Fishery, Northamptonshire
For the week May 28 - June 3 the 156 anglers caught 649 fish of which 498 were returned. Best fish 5lb 5oz to Jim Lister, from Walsall, on a Damsel from the boat; 4lb 14oz Peter Cox, Luton, Daddy, boat; 4lb 8oz Pete Nightingale, boat; 4lb 8oz Darren Oram, Aldwincle, Black Snake, boat; 4lb 8oz Bob Walmsley, Desborough, Black Buzzer. Best bank areas the dam, Pensioners Point, east arm. Boat - all areas holding fish. Best patterns are Damsel Nymph, adult Damsel, wet or dry Daddy, Black Buzzer, Fraser Nymph, Red Diawl Bach, Hare’s Ear, Orange Blob. Huge numbers of fishing rising during the day to damsels although they are certainly not easy to tempt. A Damsel Booby or Daddy pulled across the surface has worked well when there is a decent ripple. North east winds continued to dominate which didn’t produce good evening rises. Possibly the fish were full from feeding heavily all day. Apart from Damsels, boat anglers have also had success with long leaders and Buzzers down the middle. Bank fishing was difficult on bright days but reasonable with some cloud cover.
Foremark Trout Fishery, Derbyshire
This week has demonstrated a significant change in the weather pattern, starting from Monday which was overcast with a 12mph easterly/north easterly wind to Sunday June 3 with a 4mph north/north westerly. There was very little ripple on the water Sunday. Coupled with this and with the reduction in wind, the cooling effect on the water has been negligible and the water temperature has risen from 15C to circa 18C by the end of the week. The increase in water temperature caused the fish to seek deeper water so that they can take advantage of the thermocline. However, that is not to indicate that the fish are necessary at depth since dry flies have been equally successful in attracting fish. While there have been bank angler successes there is no doubt that fishing from a boat has been the most productive means of fishing.
On Monday Messer’s Critchley and Harding had 18 fish to the boat caught on Blobs, Snakes and dry flies. Tony Kirk caught 3 from the bank in Sunblest on Buzzers. Mr Rice caught 5 from the bank, while Mr Skudder and Mr Hunt caught 9 and 8 fish respectively from boats. On Tuesday Scotty Wilson caught 15 from a boat using a Blob and a Black Daddy Longlegs near number 4 buoy. Messer’s Coley and Taft bagged 11 to the boat. Mr Fogg on Wednesday caught 12 to the boat while fishing in the vicinity of the cascade. There was a significant hatch of mayfly in Carvers Arm. On Thursday John Scragg recorded a bag of 14 fish caught on a Mayfly from around number 4 buoy. Alan and Belinda Dawes utilising black and green lures caught 12 to the boat from the cascade. Messer’s Cotterill and Tildesley returned 11 to the boat using Buzzers with a Blob on the top dropper.
On Thursday of this week Pete Kornisky caught 4 pike up to 26lb (for photograph see www.facebook.com/FlyFishStore). Mr Jones also had a pike of 11lb. Pike have also been observed swimming around both the Lodge and Sailing Club pontoons.
Friday brought a flat calm to the reservoir and the fishing became decidedly more difficult. Scotty Wilson caught 6 fish describing it as a ‘hard session’ drifting into the middle of the reservoir. A fish stocking occurred adding another 600-plus fish to the reservoir. Saturday was a better day for fishing and Scotty Wilson had 12 fish on orange lures on a Di-5 sweep line from the cascade. Messer’s Wagstaff and Ryles had 23 to the boat on Buzzers and Pheasant Tails. Mr Critchley landed 12 in an afternoon session from the centre of Carvers Arm using a Shipman’s. Mr Betts of DCAC caught 6 on a boat from in front of the beach in off the Fishing Lodge. Mr R. Gent fishing from the bank Hut Point to Sunblest caught 5 on Buzzers. On Sunday the All Ability Fly Fishers visited and had some good sport. Sean Higgins and Harold Pritchard had 16 and 7 to their boat respectively mainly on Blobs pulled on a Di-3 line. Sean had a “perfect” silver bar 4lb fish in his catch. Mark Goodge (the man behind the scene, organiser of the All Ability Group) and his boat partner Tim Crofts fishing Diawl Bachs/Buzzers caught 18 and 8 fish respectively by slow drifting into the Sailing Club pontoon. This week’s fishing has clearly demonstrated that it is essential to fish with a variety of techniques and flies to secure a good bag of fish.
Siblyback Lake, Cornwall
The North Bank, Marshes and Two Meadows continued to produce the best sport, with anglers averaging 2.9 fish per rod. Plenty of buzzers, both green and black, as well as hawthorns in the air, has meant that fish are looking up to feed and a selection of dry patterns (including Bibios, Black Gnats, Hawthorns and Beetles) have all produced good results. Successful subsurface nymphs, fished on a sink-tip or intermediate line, included Hare’s Ears, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Pheasant Tails and Montanas. There are a lot of fry in the margins, which has meant that pulled lure patterns (Cat’s Whiskers, Baby Dolls, Orange Fritz and Tadpoles) have produced some exciting sport. The best fish caught during the month was a 4lb 14oz rainbow, caught by C. Hall from Pensilva, using a Tadpole. Water levels have started to drop, exposing some fresh bank.
Thrunton Trout Fishery, Northumberland
The mixed weather led to anglers having to adapt their techniques to allow them to land fish. Suspender Buzzers and emergers have proved very successful, as well as Blobs and Pheasant Tail Nymphs. At the beginning of the week the cold north easterly winds continued, so anglers were forced to fish deeper in the water, but during the latter part of the week the sunny conditions mixed with the high humidity made fishing rather challenging for some. The Junior CAST sessions during half term, saw all the children enjoying their experiences. Thanks to Barry Mitchell for his guidance and tuition. We also had 4 GAIA instructors at Thrunton who gave tuition to any anglers who were interested in improving their casting technique and general knowledge about fly-fishing. Thanks again to all of them
Bob Smith from Morpeth safely released 5 fish from both lakes during his short session using a Pheasant Tail Nymph; Longframlington angler Trevor Wadds used dries and Bloodworm to return 6 fish to Long Crag; Rodney Burn from Morpeth safely released 6 fish to Long Crag using a Blob and PTN; Newbiggin angler Jack Metcalf had a ‘good day’ releasing 14 fish back into Coe Crag using Blobs; Ricky Usher used a Red Chamois to safely return 10 fish between both lakes; Graham Wilson used a Black Hopper to land 5 fish from Long Crag having an ‘excellent’ day; Les Dinsmore found Black Spiders to be most successful returning 8 fish to Coe Crag; North Shields’ angler Corey Dow landed 14 fish over his 2 visits this week using Diawl Bachs; Mick Brown from Bedlington used Buzzers and dries to safely return 20 fish to Long Crag, landing a beautiful 4lb brownie; M. Kelly landed a total of 7 fish between both lakes using a Suspender Buzzer; Jim Tuck from Blyth returned 18 including 2 doubles from both lakes on nymphs and Diawl Bachs; David Keith landed a 5lb 4oz rainbow from Long Crag on a Griffith’s Gnat. Best flies are Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Blobs, Emergers, various dries, Chamois Worms, Hoppers and Spiders. Open daily 8.30am to 9pm. Saturday and Monday 5pm close.