DATE:                                Monday March 31st
REPORT AUTHOR         Ben
NOTABLE CATCH:        10+ Ian Gaskell and Tony Plant
NOTABLE BAG:              5 fish for lbs
BEST RAINBOW:            6lbs 6oz for Paul Ashcroft
BEST BLUE:                    2lbs for John Duff and Ron Melling
BANK ROD AV:             3.63 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:             4.75 fish per angler

Sport: It was a funny day today, it mild with an easterly wind and although it threatened to rain it never actually materialised. In the calm areas buzzers were hatching off and trout were rising for them but few anglers got buzzers to work well.
Tony Plant was an exception who caught six fish on a skinny olive buzzer, nothing on black though, and he caught several more on a green pea. Ian Gaskell caught all but one of his fish on a green pea and his boat partner Bob Fitzpatrick lost five more on the same pattern. Tony, Ian and Bob caught their fish on drifting boats from Gull Island, Currys and The Northern Shallows. Also out on a boat fishing a half day was Ron Melling he caught 6 trout to 3lbs from the Willows on cats whisker fished on a midge tip.
Billy Rennit and Lee Millroe had nine trout to their boat from the Causeway and down in Hollins, they caught on a mixture of lures and diawl bachs.
On the shore you didn’t need to go far, the wind has been blowing into Hollins Bay for a few days now and there are a lot of fish in there. Buzzers were hatching off and bank anglers were casting at rising fish. John Duff has three and lost three in just two hours of fishing, and Terry Overy took six fish on a copper John from the same area. The best catch how ever came from Bell Point and fell to Gary Graham. Gary took nine trout on a floating line and a gold headed cats. The best fish of the day was caught by Paul Ashcroft. He caught it on a bloodworm at Two trees and it tipped the scales to 6lbs 8oz. (pictured below) The rod average on the bank today was pretty good as all bar one angler were on half day tickets. Tight Lines Ben

Paul Ashcroft caught this 6lb 8oz rainbow on a bloodworm at Two Trees

DATE:    Sunday March 30th
REPORT AUTHOR    Nick
NOTABLE CATCH:    10+ fish for Peter Andrews, Andrew Bentley, Mark Taylor
NOTABLE BAG:    5 fish for 13lbs 3oz for Mark Taylor
BEST RAINBOW:    6lbs 9oz for Andy Grabham
BEST BLUE:    2lbs 3oz for Jason Rogers
BANK ROD AV:    4.8fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:    5.5 fish per angler

The day dawned calm with blue skies. The breeze that was forecast didn’t materialise until well into the afternoon, and then it’s presence was brief before the surface returned to calm with a slight ripple dissected by lanes like glass. Luck was in for Stocks as today the Airflo World Bank Masters qualifier round was hosted. Nine rods participated in today’s round and the score was impressive. The pegs were set out either side of the always popular Bell Point.

Mark Taylor won the round by a considerable margin. Mark landed 14 fish to win, fishing a hot head damsel in the morning then switching to washing lining buzzers with a floating line in the afternoon. Mark commented that it was important to cast across the wind and allow an arc to form in his floating line after straightening. As the buzzers came round, following the arc, the line just kept tightening up. He lost a fair few as well as did most rods today. Well done Mark. John Cook came in second place with 9 fish landed, his technique using a woofta booby with buzzers. Best fish of the comp’ was Andy Grabham’s fin perfect 6lb 9oz rainbow (see pic), caught using a white snake with an SSI line. Andy didn’t want his fish so he gave it to me! Thanks Andy. The standards were high amongst all who took part with 52 fish landed across the 9 rods, giving a rod average of 5.8.

On the boats fish were found everywhere but with varying degrees of success; ‘right place right time’ springs to mind. The best scoring boat had a great day with 26 fish between two rods. Across all that fished today, whether on bank or boat, the buzz word was buzzers (sorry); with a good hatch all over the water that started from very early in the day.

One last thing; A number of bank anglers took to the East bank today and good catches were had. With the spring like conditions we’ve enjoyed today set to continue for the rest of the week Stocks really is the ideal place to enjoy a good walk in beautiful surroundings, with first class fishing along the way.

See you here soon,    Nick.

DATE:                                  Saturday March 29th
REPORT AUTHOR          Ben
NOTABLE CATCH:         10+ fish for Jock Kettles, Jock Cree, Laurie Taylor and Paul Davison
NOTABLE BAG:              5 fish for 15lbs 8oz by George Ashton
BEST RAINBOW:            6lbs 8oz for George Ashton. 6lbs by Derek Sibson
BEST BLUE:                     2lbs 8oz for Jock Kettles
BANK ROD AV:            3.92 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:            7.86 fish per angler
SPORT: Windy but a lot warmer and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer still. It was great to the rainbow warriors out on the boats today. They had great catches across the board but Jock Kettles caught particularly well. Jock fished over the Northern Shallows on a Di3 sinker with a candy booby on the point and gold holographic diawl bachs on the point. The majority of his many trout tout the diawl bachs. Great angling. Jock Cree also caught very well, although I’m not sure of his tactics, as did Laurie Taylor who had steady sport on a yellow dancer.
George Ashton caught a great bag of fish from the same area on olive nomads and Paul Davison and Derek Moore got buzzers to work to great effect to tempt 19 good trout to their boat.
We saw some good catches from the shore as well. Bill Headley caught nine trout from Harltey’s as did Graham Caruthers on an intermediate line and cats patterns.
The catch of the day for me though was taken by 10 year old Ben Godlonton (pictured below). Ben was on his first ever fly fishing lesson with mum and dad. We tried, unsuccessfully, to find some shelter on the east bank where we could practice casting so we headed back to the jetty area. There was plenty of shelter along Hartley’s but there were anglers all the way along, so we braved wind and started to fish by the jetty. It was too windy to learn to cast really but they all did exceptionally well. Ben fished a single daddy long legs on a floating line. He cast it out into the wind and inched it back as the wind swept it around towards the shore. He was soon into a lively rainbow, and then another and another. The daddy was sinking and with Ben keeping his line under control it just kept tightening up. He caught 3 rainbows, a wild brownie and lost a bigger fish. Good angling! Not to be out done Mum Emma caught a nice blue and Dad picked up another rainbow. Not bad for their first time out. Tight Lines Ben

Ben Godlonton caught 4 trout and lost another whilst fishing into the teeth of the wind on his first ever attempt at fly fishing.

DATE:    Friday March 22nd
REPORT AUTHOR    Ben
NOTABLE CATCH:
NOTABLE BAG:     3 on the scales for 8lbs 8oz Antoon Gysbers
BEST RAINBOW:    3lbs oz for Antoon Gysbers
BEST BLUE:    2lbs for Dick Hooper
BANK ROD AV:    3.0 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:    4.5 fish per angler
SPORT: The bank fished well today a 3 fish rod average was achieved by anglers that all fished on half day tickets. Antoon Gysbers caught well on a Watson’s Bumble and a red diawl bach at Bell Point and along Hartley’s. He found that if he cast out to the wind lanes and allowed his floating line to drift round with just a slow retrieve he get a take. He commented that all the fish he caught and all the takes he had came soon after the flies had landed so the trout were high in the water. Later anglers also caught on Watson’s Bumble.
Out on the boats today were Paul Davison and, fresh back from Portugal, Derek Moore they had nine to the boat in a half day session. Their best line was a Di5 and they picked up fish from Curry’s Cast, The Buoy Line and Ben’s Beach on various mini lures. Tight Lines Ben

REPORT AUTHOR    Paul.
NOTABLE CATCH:    10+ fish for Steve Smalley.
NOTABLE BAG:    5 fish weighing 10lb for Mrs Appleton.
BEST RAINBOW:     Several weighing 3lb.
BANK ROD AV:    4.33 fish per angler.
BOAT ROD AV:    3.50 fish per angler.
SPORT: A cold and breezy day but at least the rain that was forecast didn’t materialise. Best catch of the day went to boat angler Steve Smalley who caught into double figures. Steve drifted all over the res and caught from most areas including gull island and currys cast. Steve found several patterns effective including blobs, damsels and cormorants fished on di3 or di5 sinking lines. On the bank there were a few anglers who caught 4 fish but with 5 fish was Dave Hitchen who caught on an orange lure on a sink tip line in Hollins bay. Also landing five fish and very pleased was season ticket holder Mrs Appleton. She caught her fish from Hollins bay and Hartleys bank with her best pattern being a Montana. Most other anglers found lures effective with the colder conditions, we need it to warm up again then buzzers and nymphs will once more. See you on the water.