Fishing Reports
Fishery Report 15th July to 24th July
Well the first few days saw some fish on the top and being caught with two members who were in the right place; at the right time and using the right method totalling 15 fish between them for their visits. However this was exceptional as only 36 fish have been caught to 61 visits. However they were good fish in good condition with all of them 2lb + and 10 over 3lbs. Best fish was 3lb 8 oz. Season totals to date are stocked 4115 and caught 2576. These last few days with hot weather and high water temperatures ( 20 degrees on Friday) have really caused the fish to swittch off and it really has been a struggle with just the odd fish being taken. Most fish caught have been taken near the top and the areas on the west bank by the willow tree and swims by cromer pier on the north bank have proved most successful. I fear that conditions will remain similar until we get a spell of wet, windy and cool weather so expect some challenging fishing if you do go down.
The coarse anglers continue to enjoy mixed results. Some tench; good roach and rudd and some big eels have been caught. Interestingly enough very few trout have been caught on the coarse fishing techniques showing that our feeding trout are still high in the water and not on the bottom.
Roger – 24/07/20
Fishery Report Sunday 5th July to Saturday 11th July
Well for our members who located ‘our trout’ and fished on the top with dries or emergers it was, considering how poor it was this time last year, a ‘pretty good week’. 109 trout were taken for 55 rod visits. The best was 4lb ( 3 of these); 39 were 3lb + and the remainder were all 2lb + and what super quality, hard fighting fish they were too! Floating lines were the order of the week and patterns such as dry daddies; shuttlecocks; bobs bits; hoppers in varying forms and light weight buzzers and hares ears have all produced fish. Best areas continue to be from cromer pier on the north bank right round to the willow tree in the middle of the west bank with fish patrolling these areas particularly in the morning and evening.
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week ( 12th ; 13th; 14th July) has continued to produce some reasonable results with the above methods and areas continuing to prove best. I did however hear of some fish being taken on the south bank just up from the Club Hut on Tuesday and I know of one member who had five fish ‘right quick’ from Cromer pier on the north bank on Sunday. With the cloudy conditions continuing for a few days yet it is quite likely that fish will continue to be caught- lets hope so anyway!! In terms of fished stocked v caught since season started on 1st March we have stocked 4115 and caught 2540 so the lake still holds a reasonable head of trout ‘to go at’.
Quite a few members are taking advantage of the coarse fishing currently available and some super quality Tench. Roach and Rudd are being taken. The emphasis really is on quality with few small fish being caught.
Roger 14/07/20
Fishery Report 28th June to 6th July
Well the cooler weather most certainly helped improve catches a bit with 84 fish being taken for 55 visits. 80 of these were 2lb+; 19 were 3lb + with the best just on 3.5 lbs. Fish taken to date total 2431 with 4115 stocked. Most of the fish have been taken from the north and west banks and have been patrolling / feeding high in the water. Most successful methods have been floating lines with patterns fished either dry or in the surface film. I know fish have been caught on daddies; bobs bits; popper hoppers; small beaded damsels; hares ear and buzzers. Again it was a situation of ‘find the shoal’ and either move along the bank with them or stay put and wait for them to return. I know members who have adopted both tactics and been successful. Although most of this week should be cloudy and cool it does look like warmer conditions will prevail from the weekend which will probably cause our fish to go deeper into the cooler water – but who really knows!
Our coarse fishing started last Saturday and for all intentional purposes it was a slowish start with only a handful of tench to 6lb caught by those members who ‘gave it a go’. Last year started to a similar pattern so it may take a week or two, and some food going in, to attract, in addition to the tench, the roach and rudd that showed well last year.
Roger – 7/7/20
Fishery Report 22nd June to 1st July inclusive– Well ‘cometh the cloud, rain, wind and cooler weather and cometh the trout’ would seem to sum up this last 9 days of fishing. Last weeks returns were abyssmal to say the laest with only 10 trout caught by 46 rods. As we all know last week was a time of brilliant sunshine, high water temperatures (at 21 degrees on one day) and absolutely great weather for a host of outdoor activities but not fishing I am afraid. And how our results reflected this!!
But from Monday of this week came the cloud and cooler weather, water temperature dropped to 18 degrees C and fish started being caught particularly along the north bank where a large shoal of feeding fish could be observed (probably chasing pin fry). Members who located this shoal have had some wonderful sport with catches of four or five fish averaging well over 2lbs being fairly common. I have just had a report today (Wednesday) from a member who fished the north bank today and she and four other members took a total of over 20 super fish for their morning session. Successful tactics would seem to be floating / slow sink lines with damsels; orange blobs or other orange coloured patterns proving favourites. The fish are high in the water and with the forecast being cool and cloudy for the next few days are likely to remain so. So summing up this latest weather pattern is affording us the opportunity of some good sport but you may well have to be observant, locate the shoals feeding high in the water and, as happened today apparently, be prepared to move around and ‘ follow the fish’.
Remember that Coarse Fishing is allowed in our Lake from this Saturday 4th July. Fishing must take place only from the platforms marked (COARSE FISHING ALLOWED) and members must comply with the rules as shown in the weighing in kiosk. NO KEEPNETS ARE ALLOWED and all fish must be returned immediately to the Lake after capture.
Roger – 01/07/20
Fishery Report 15th June to 21st June inclusive
Fishery report 15th to 21st June- Well if you ever want an example of how our trout behaviour is susceptible to weather conditions you only have to look at last weeks catches. 108 rod visits resulted in only 45 fish being taken as the hot water conditions turned the fish ‘right off’. Compare this with the previous week of cool and cloudy conditions where 313 fish were taken! Of the 45 caught the best was 4lbs with 42 being 2lb + and of these 15 were 3lb + so good fish by anybodies standards. Seasons totals show total stocking of 4115 trout with 2337 being caught. Most fish have been caught either early or late based on information I have been given with some fish showing at times on top. When an odd fish has been seen a washing line with a buoyant fly on the point and a couple of nymphs on droppers has taken a fish or two as have sinking lines with patterns such as orange blobs’, damsels and cats whisker. I know of fish being caught from cromer pier and adjacent swims on the north bank; in the reeds on the east bank; just up from the club hut on the south bank and the top north west corner.
Regrettably with current hot conditions prevailing for most of this week the fishing will in all probability continue to be hard despite the good stock of fish remaining in the lake.
Roger 23.06.20
Fishery Report 7th June to 13th June inclusive
Well a pretty good week with 133 visits resulting in 331 Trout being caught. 313 of these were over two pounds; 90 were over 3lbs; we had a 3.5 lb Brownie and the best rainbow just nudged 4lb. A total of 2292 fish have been caught since season started on 1st March with 4115 having been stocked.
Our fish continued to enjoy the cooler conditions for the first 5 days of the week with some good rises and lots of fish taken on floating lines and patterns such as buzzers; diawl bachs; hares ear or when they were ‘right up’ hoppers; emergers; shiphams etc. Those who like the sinking lines also did OK with the good old orange tadpole or orange blob doing the business. I also heard of fish being taken on gold head damsels and montanas – and probably a few more different patterns if truth be known.
Fishing the right depth continued to be key (as usual) with the fish moving up and down in the water columns as weather patterns changed. This was well illustrated towards the end of the week when the warm humid weather set in, the water temperatures again moved above 19 degrees C and the fish just went down with rods on Saturday and this Sunday having, I am reliably told, to go deep down to stand any chance of getting a fish or two. And from what I can gather the situation is the same today (Tues) with the members who have gone onto the sinking lines or fishing deep with floating lines and long leaders being the ones getting the fish. With regard to ‘best spots’ I know of fish being caught on the west bank; by the outlet on the east bank; on cromer pier on the north bank and the top of the north bank in the top northwest corner. Also the swims just up and down from the Club Hut seem to be good for a fish or two,
With very changeable weather patterns for the next few days it is very difficult to predict how our water will fish. However if water temperatures remain high fishing will prove challenging with most fish probably being caught deep. However as this last week has proved get some cooler, cloudy and breezy conditions as we had at the start of the last week and our fish could well come up again and offer some good top of the water fishing.
Roger 16/06/20
Fishery Report at Sunday 7th June 2020 – Although I do not have the latest stats for last week yet I just wanted to give you an update on the weeks fishing. Last Sunday; Monday and Tuesday with brilliant sunshine and high water temperatures members were fishing down deep and very hard just to get a fish or two in the bag and if you had one or two fish you had done well. But my what a change for the rest of the week! The cold easterly and northerly winds came in Tuesday night bringing in lots of cloud and cold air. Our water temperatures dropped and how those triploid trout of ours enjoyed the cooler conditions. This coupled with an abundance of pin fry showing for them to have a go at put them in a feeding mood and sport started to pick up on Wednesday with three or four fish showing in members bags. Things got even better on Thursday as the cool conditions continued and as I write this it is great to report that sport is very good with some super catches recorded. One member on Thursday had 6 cracking fish up to 3.5 lbs in about 1.5 hours on floating line and hares ear nymph taking advantage of the trout coming up higher in the water to enjoy a feast of pinfry and hatching buzzers. Friday and Saturday became better still with quite a few members getting bags of 6 fish + and from reports I have heard today quite a few limits have already been taken this morning. So thanks to the cool cloudy conditions we are at long last seeing the sort of fishing our lake is capable of producing with excellent conditioned fish averaging 2.5 lb + feeding on top or just subsurface and offering our members, at long last, the type of sport we all hoped we would have when lockdown relaxed to enable us the go and enjoy the sport we all love and which we all missed. As to where to fish I am informed that the middle of the west bank; the top bay; the gravels on the north bank and the pegs just up and down from the Club Pavilion on the south bank have all produced. With regards to methods it would seem a floating line with a couple of nymphs such as hares ear and pheasant tail will do the business although I am sure we all have our ‘favourite ways of catching’. How pleasing it is to be able to report that fish are currently on top and feeding well as opposed to being deep down and ‘dour’ as they have been for the last few weeks with the warm hot weather we had. So if you can get down do enjoy the current good fishing that our Lake is offering.
Roger 07/06/20
Fishery Report at Saturday 30th May 2020
Well the hot, sunny weather, as expected, has certainly brought catches down a bit. This last six day period has seen 76 rod visits account for 186 trout with the vast majority of fish taken being caught ‘deep down’. A further 415 trout were stocked last Tuesday and based on total stocking of 4115 put in since February 2020 and 1874 caught to date our lake should hold in the region of 2200 Trout which equates to just over 100 fish per acre. This is the top level we want to go into the summer months with particularly bearing in mind the current water temperature of 18 degrees C and with continued warm weather forecast for next few days.
So how do we go about trying to catch these remaining trout. Well I know everybody has their own ideas but based on my own experience; visual observation and feedback from others the answer seems to be to find the deeper water spots and fish deep down almost dragging bottom. For those members not too familiar with our Lake the deep water spots are the first 5 swims up from the club hut; the two swims just to the right of the big willow on the south bank down from the club hut; the outlet on the east bank; the gravels and adjacent swims on the north bank; the top north west corner and the middle of the west bank by the willow tree. The shallower areas of the lake such as the top bay are just not producing at all in this warm weather. As to methods well I know of fish being taken on slow sink and intermediate lines with weighted damsels inched slowly along at depth. Hi-D lines with various coloured boobies although orange seems popular have also produced and the odd fish has been taken by fishing a floating line with long leader and gold head pattern fished very, very slowly at depth. So summing up it seems you have to find yourself a deep spot , fish deep and slow and above all persevere as the fish at present are not going to give themselves up easily. Enjoy the challenge.