Date                            Tuesday 31st March
Report by                    Matthew
Best Catch                  10 fish for Will Shelton and Rob Denson
Best Bag Weighed in 2 fish for 14lb 8oz Ken Whiteside
Best Rainbow              12lb for Ken Whiteside
Bank Average              5.57 fish per angler
Boat Rod Average       6.37 fish per angler

Sport: today was pretty much perfect! The boats only just had the edge today with fish now starting to cruise a little further out. Willow Island and Grindys lawn were well worth a look today and no doubt that will be the trend for the rest of the week. As you know these areas have some silty bottoms were all these buzzers are starting out life.
Out on the water today were Paul Bebb and brothers Will and George Shelton. These two young lads had a day to remember with 16 fish between them! Paul tackled the lad’s up with the washing line; the rest was up to them and boy they did them selves proud! They found fish all over with the booby and buzzer taking an equal share.
The story has been much the same for everyone else, buzzers, buzzers, and buzzers! Not forgetting a good show on the diawl bachs. Ken Whiteside had a good day with 7 on the diawl bachs all along the northern shallows including a cracking 12lb rainbow. Rob Denson and Phil Price had 16 to there boat, all over the reservoir on yep you guessed it buzzers!
Phil Harney had a success in the ever popular waters of Newclose were he took 9 trout on straight lined buzzers from the shore.
I could go on some cracking sport has been had and I’m sure this warmer weather is going to have the reservoir lifting with activity! It’s a good week to be an angler!!
Have a look at the video above, some awesome fish have been stocked today, this short video is just a taste of what’s to come. Prier to this stocking we also introduced around 400 brown trout averaging a kilo, all fit as fiddles and ready to stretch a line or two!
Tight lines Matthew

Ken Whiteside with his lovely 12lb Rainbow

Sport: Just a quick report tonight as there were very few anglers here today which was surprising considering the near perfect conditions, I know there was a bit of drizzle this morning but when that cleared at 9ish it was quite a nice day. The best catch went to Mr Ivill who landed 9 trout in a short half-day session. He fished with a booby to take all his fish and found his best spot to be Bell point. Other anglers found fish in Hollins bay and two trees with buzzers, damsels and olive fritz lures all taking fish today. See you on the water Paul.

The beginning of April will see the first of the brown trout released into the reservoir and these fish are in superb condition. To get us off to a good start there will be a stocking of 500 fish into Hollins Bay ready for Wednesday April 1st. This stocking will include browns of 2lb+ and some spectacular specimens. Stocks could see it’s first 20lb+ brownie! We will also be stocking some cracking rainbows.

The weather this week looks brilliant for fishing, air temperature is rising rapidly to reach about 17 degrees on Saturday, the winds are light and we have plenty of cloud cover. If ever there is a time to take a day off work to go fishing this is it!
Over the course of the next week the water temperature in the reservoir will rise, this is going to have three major effects on the fishing:

Firstly it will cause the temperature inversion that has formed in the reservoir over the winter to dissipate and the reservoir water will mix. This will bring many more over-wintered fish up towards the surface and into the reach of a fly. We have already seen one big over-wintered brownie at the weekend and it is likely to be the first of many.
Secondly: The trout’s body temperature will rise with the rising water temperature and this will directly increase their metabolic rate. They will not only be able to digest more food but will actually require more food to fuel their bodies in a state if heightened activity.
Thirdly: The increase in water temperature will stimulate a plethora of aquatic larvae to emerge into their adult form. These hatches will consist largely of members of the chironomid family (non biting midges) but look out for early olives, they have a single pair of upright wings and a pair of tails that protrude from the rear of the abdomen.
As far as terrestrials go it will be a few weeks until we see the large hatches of beetles but we are likely to see a few of the early daddies. There are about 22 different species of daddy long legs in the UK. I am not sure of the exact name of the small grey variety that emerge at this time of year but their emergence, when combined with the egg laying activity of the adult chironomids, may just be enough to tempt the trout up to the surface.
Likely methods for the next week are washing lining or long lining nymphs, teams of small cormorants fished on slow sinkers or sink tips and there is a chance that you might even be able to tempt a few to dries. Watch this space!

COMPETITIONS:

A chance to represent England in the first Bank Fishing International

I would also like to draw your attention to a couple of fishing competitions that are coming up on the 4th and 5th of April. These will not affect anybody wishing to come along and fish just for the pleasure, as one will be fished from drifting boats and the other will be pegged along a short stretch of bank. So boat and bank tickets will be available to all as usual.
The first is on Saturday the 4th and is a sweepstake match from the boats. This match will be fished to international rules. It costs just £15 to enter on top of your ticket and for every entry £10 will go to the winner, £5 will go to 2nd place, we will donate £2.50 for 3rd and a tackle prize for 4th place and the biggest fish. To enter call the lodge on 01200 446602

The second competition is the CEFF Airflo Classic, which will be held on Sunday 5th. There are heats held all over the country making this the biggest international bank fishing competition in the UK. It is £17:50 to enter and each entrant will receive a free Airflo fast intermediate line worth £30. The international final will be held on Elinor Fishery in Northants.
The top qualifiers, who meet the CEFF England Team eligibility criteria, will be provisionally selected for the 2010 England bank fishing team. It is CEFF’s intention to enter two teams of three, in the first instance, to an international in 2010. Selection will be from the 2009 International final on Elinor, with the top three eligible individuals from the Individual final and the top three individuals from the Team final qualifying for England team places in the event of an International being arranged the following year. The existing arrangements for
World and European Ranking points will remain in place. For more information and competition rules call the fishery on 01200 446602
Tight Lines Ben

Date                            Sunday March 29th
Report by                    Ben
Best Catch                  12 trout for Lee Cowking
Best Rainbow              3lbs 8oz for Dave Pinner
Bank Average             3.0 fish per man
Boat Rod Average      3.2 fish per man
Sport:     It was frosty start to the day and for the most sport was a bit slow to get going. Lee Cowking however took to the water by boat and got onto a method right from the off. He fished a small black n green lure on the point with green diawl bachs on the droppers. He started out at Grindy’s Lawn where he tempted a few nice fish, he then moved to Gull Island to finish off a very productive short session. He finished with a total of 12 fine trout to the net. Al Beaumont from Lancaster was also out on the water today. Al started out on a Di5 with various lures but had little success so he started to bring in the changes. In the afternoon he switched to a straight floater with three black buzzers and this turned out to be the best tactic. He took nine fish in fairly short succession, 6 from Newclose and three from Gull Island.
From the shore there were also some good catches to name a few: Des Ashcroft took nine from two trees on a black n gold lure, Frank Hartley and Mark Wilson had six apiece from Bell Point on nymphs. The trout seemed to want the flies fished slowly today; they were surprisingly close into the margins. Al Beaumont caught most of his in less than three feet of water. Looks like a great week ahead. Tight Lines Ben

Date                                Saturday 28th March
Report by                       Pete
Best Catch                     12 fish Jim Hunter
Best Bag Weighed in    18lb 8oz by Mr Tyson
Best Rainbow                6lb by Mr Tyson
Best Brown                    9lb 8oz by Mr Tyson
Bank Average                4.78 fish per angler
Boat Rod Average         5.14 fish per angler
Sport: Well I know it’s a cliché but today was a day of two halves this morning was tricky with a swirling wind but as the afternoon progressed the wind dropped and the reservoir really came alive with buzzers hatching everywhere and plenty of fish being caught as well. The best place to fish this morning was the bank and father and son regulars Malcolm and Jim Hunter started off in Hollins bay and had 15 fish between them by lunchtime, they moved in the afternoon to Newclose Bay and increased their tally 12 fish each. When asked the best tactics without a doubt it was cormorants retrieved with a slow roly-poly. Also on the bank on his first trip to Stocks was Mr Tyson who had his 3 fish limit from Hartley’s which included a 6lb rainbow and a 9lb 8oz brown weighing in a bag of 18lb 8oz not bad for your first day! On the boats this mornings wind made presentation a little tricky but those who ventured out did well, Peter Andrews was on the fish again with partner Stuart Mcaughey they had 18 fish to the boat from willow island unfortunately we don’t have their tactics. Tomorrow looks like a cracking day with light winds so see you then. Tight lines Pete