Fishing Reports
Fishery Report at Saturday 10th October 2020
At long last I am starting to give some positive news. Our new outlet pipes have worked ‘a dream’ in getting rid of the flood water and all our banks are accessible and platforms clear. A number of the willows along the bank which were affected by the strong winds have been trimmed back (many thanks Rupert for all your hard work on these) and are causing no problems. We do have one stuck in the river above the club hut but this is not causing any problems so will have to ‘wait its turn’. Now on to the important matter of the fishing. The water is beginning to clear nicely and as expected, when this happened, catches have gone up. Since my lasr report on 29th September 152 fish have been taken with a rod average of just on 1.5 fish per rod visit. This I expect to increase as the water continues to clear. 1180 fish have been stocked since 15th September with a further 3 or possibly 4 stockings between now and mid November. This will obviously be kept under review depending on catch returns. Now onto ‘how to catch them’. Well most reports I have received from those who have caught have found the fish either on or fairly near the surface especially along the west bank; off the gravels on the north bank and down the bottom by the outlet. I know of fish being caught on nymphs; daddies; hoppers and green and black or green and white lures. Most members have advised that our trout ‘wanted it ‘pulled a bit’ with a wake fly on the top dropper often gaining the trouts interest and successful hook ups. However I am sure other methods have and will continue to work. The most emphasis seems again to be getting the depth right; speed of retrieve rate right and pattern not so important. Anyway we all hope the fishing continues to improve as the water clears so that we all (hopefully) can enjoy the excellect autumn and back end sport that our lake has offered so often in the past.
Roger
Fishery Report at 29th September 2020
If our lake wanted an influx of fresh water to ‘buck things up a bit’ it most certainly has had it over the last four days. The heavy rains have caused flooding and water levels went up effectively covering all the platforms. In addition we have had some willow trees keel over in the strong winds. However all is not bad news. Your working gang worked tirelessly today clearing the willows and recovering seats which had been washed into the Lake. In addition our new outlet was opened up releasing an enormous amount of water from the Lake into The IDB Ditch. This has resulted in water levels dropping and although some of the platforms are still a few inches under water a lot of the bank is, with care, easily fishable. The extra water has started to help our algal bloom clear and fish are starting to be caught (thank goodness I hear you say) all around the lake and today (Tuesday) quite a few were rising. Levels will continue to go down provided we do not get heavy rain again soon and today we stocked a further 400 trout on top of the 400 put in last week. A further stocking is planned for next week so there are plenty of fish to go at during this autumn period. Let’s all hope now for a spell of settled weather so we can all enjoy some good fishing which we all so richly deserve.
A casualty of the Coronavirus outbreak is that we have decided to cancel the Eric Kett/ Frank Wright Memorial Match planned to be held on Sunday 11th October. We feel Covid restrictions could make it ‘a not very sociable event’ which is just the opposite to what we want our Matches to be. We are hoping however that our Christmas Match on Sunday 13th December can go ahead – but who knows!
Roger
Fishery Report at 23rd September 2020
400 Rainbows and a few Brownies went in last week to supplement the existing stocks remaining in lake. We all hoped that this would liven things up a bit and although a few were caught (18 caught to 17 rod visits) I fear the present coloured green algal bloom in the water has prevented more feeding. Our quarry as you all know tend not to like coloured water as it makes it very difficult for them to see our fly / lure patterns. A further stocking is planned for next Tuesday (29th September) and we all do so hope that the cooler and wet weather forecast over the next few days will help the algal bloom start to disperse. If not I fear that the challenging fishing will continue until such time as the water clears. Further stockings are then planned during October and possibly into November.
The coarse fishing has now finished until 1st November when Pike Fishing Only is allowed along with our trout fishing. Thanks to all of you who helped remove small roach and rudd from the Lake by rod and lining recently and particularly to Dennis Willis who organised the 2 day event. Over 1600 small roach and rudd were successfully transferred to two adjoining fisheries. We are constantly looking for best ways to reduce our small coarse fish population but at present, owing to nature and contours of our lake, rod and lining would seem to be the only practical option. However we would gladly welcome any ideas members may have as we recognise rod and lining will only make a very small dent in the lake populations.
Anyway let’s hope the lake soon clears and we can all start to enjoy some good autumn and back end season fishing.
Roger