Today started off calm, bright and although the water in and around hollins bay was frozen it felt quite mild and somewhat spring-like. That said, it clouded over by mid morning and a north-easterly wind picked up and was bitter cold.

It was tough going out on the boats today and with a mixture of results.

Gary Jackson saw three fish on his half day trip out on the water and he caught them in Hollins Bay using a DI3 and boobys fishing a slow retrieve. Well done in difficult conditions!

Paul Almond also saw three fish from the boat today with a total weight of 7lb. Paul took all three fish on cormorant pattern flies and were taken in the Northern Shallows. Good effort, well fought for!

Only had two bank anglers on the reservoir today both of which left without calling into the lodge to give their account of what they had caught so apologies for not being able to give an accurate description of how it fished today from the bank.

To conclude, I witnessed this years first Osprey at Stocks mid morning which was fishing right out above the main body of water in front of Hollins Bay. It stuck around for about 5 minutes working its way from above The East Bank right across towards Bell Point. A first for me and very enjoyable!

More stockies are going in tomorrow mid morning in Hollins! Tight Lines

Dan

DATE Saturday March 30th Report by Ben
BEST CATCH 6 trout for Tony Taylor
BEST BAG 5 fish for 12lbs 5oz Tony Taylor
BEST RAINBOW 3lbs to Shaun Ramshaw
BANK AVERAGE 2.5 Fish per angler
BOAT AVERAGE 3.5 Fish per angler
SPORT: It was a better day today, the sun got out this afternoon and it actually felt like spring for a while. We only had half day tickets on the bank today so the rod average reflects that. Tony Taylor took six fish and lost at least as many more on his two booby method at Bell Point. His best pattern was a UV straggle cat booby; he retrieved it with a steady figure of eight and used a Di5 sinking line. Des Ashcroft was also on the shore today, he fished a black n green booby, called a willy wonka, on an intermediate line to take four good fish. He caught near the jetty and along Hartley’s towards Bell Point. Out on the boats we only had four anglers, I think the weather forecast has been a bit off putting! However they had 14 trout between them. At the Northern end of the reservoir Jimmy Brown and David McCabe caught all their fish on diawl backs and blood worms patterns after they had tried lures with no success. Whilst at this end of the reservoir (around Hollins, Barn quarry and Ben’s Beach) Shaun Ramshaw and Colin Gibbons caught their fish on Black n green boobies on Di3 sinking lines. Shaun was top rod on the boats today with five fish. So if you fancy a bit of nymph fishing its best to jump in a boat and head north. No one fished in Newclose bay from the shore, but I would guess there would be good buzzer fishing there too. Tight Lines Ben

We were quiet today with just a few anglers on the boats and a scatering of anlgers along the bank. The top bank angler was Anthony Lydiate who took four trout, two in the morning on olive boobies and two in the afternoon on a floating line and cats whiskers. His best area was around the jetty and at Bell Point. The boat anglers couldn’t fish around Willow Island and the Northern Shallows until after lunch as a thin layer of Ice covered this whole area. Once it had cleared Jimmy Brown sneaked in and caught a couple of nice rainbows and lost a few more on bloodworms and black doubles fished on a floating line. There are two new tagged fish at large so if you are paying us a visit it’s worth entering. Bank House has continued to produce some great catches. I havn’t heard how today fished yet, but yesturday the rod average must have been around 8 or 9 fish per angler. Hope to see you soon. Tight Lines Ben

Just a quick update, Bank House is fishing well to buzzers damsels and black taddies. Good numbers of fish are being caught and the is a nice mixture of all four species as well. Below i have added a couple of photos and emails that we recently recieved from anglers. Tight Lines Ben

If you have any photos you’d like to share then please email them to info@stocksreservoir.com
Cheers Ben

Weather conditions have returned to normal today with a moderate easterly breeze, overcast and much more settled. 2 More tagged fish were put in the day before things turned nasty weather-wise up here along with loads more stockies in Hollins Bay, none of which have been seen because no one has fished it since! Plenty of availability on boats as of today, we look forward to seeing plenty of fish caught!

Tight Lines

Dan