DATE: Wednesday 30th July
REPORT AUTHOR Nick
NOTABLE CATCH: 8 trout for Phil Davies, 7 to the boat for Brian and James Dryden
NOTABLE BAG: 3 fish for 6lbs 3oz James Dryden
BEST RAINBOW: 3lbs for several
BEST BLUE: 2lbs 3oz for Phil Davies
BEST BROWN: n/a
BANK ROD AV: 5.5 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV: 1.4 fish per angler
Sport: Grey and overcast with drizzle hanging in the air and a light breeze from the west giving a text book ripple………….. Together these changes provided hope that there would be an immediate improvement in sport. By noon the sun was out again and the rest of the day brightened as each hour passed. All hopes were not entirely lost with the sun’s reappearance however, and fish were caught. Definitely a better day than of late.
Bank anglers chose the dam and Grindy’s Lawn area and it paid off with buzzers and traditional wets catching very well. Phil Davies had all 8 of his fish on buzzers in quite shallow water commenting that he should have had 16 but for all the takes that he missed.
Best boat pair of the day were local rods, father and son Brian and James Dryden who had 7 to the boat once they finally cracked the method, fishing cats whisker high in the water with a rapid retrieve.
Cooler and cloudier is the forecast for the days ahead so hopefully we’ll see the rod averages continue to rise.

Nick.

DATE: Monday July 28th
REPORT AUTHOR Nick
NOTABLE CATCH: 3 trout Matthew Bracewell
NOTABLE BAG: 2 fish for 5lbs Matthew Bracewell
BEST RAINBOW: 3lbs+ for Matthew Bracewell
BEST BLUE: n/a
BEST BROWN: n/a
BANK ROD AV: 1.0 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV: 0.5 fish per angler
Sport: Hot and bright summer days with very little wind have made for very difficult fishing lately. The same applies for most other waters so this will be of no surprise. Fish stocking continues at the usual levels at Stocks so once there’s a change in the weather we should see some excellent catches. Bank House is algae free and fishing well to buzzers, dancers and damsels when bright, with dries fishing well in the evenings and when overcast.
Back on Stocks Matthew Bracewell, aged 8 yrs showed his Grandpa how it’s done catching 3 good fish including a 3lb+ rainbow with a boobie sunk using a DI7 line, finding fish at depth in the dam area. Well done Matthew!
Note: Approaching Stocks from Clitheroe there are bridge repairs in Newton so please follow the diversion signs from Waddington taking the alternative route to Slaidburn via Grindleton. The diversion adds about 5 minutes to the normal journey time. Hoping for cooler temperatures…..

Nick.

DATE: Sunday 20th-Tuesday 22nd July.
REPORT AUTHOR Paul.
NOTABLE CATCH: 7 fish for Rudolph-5 fish for Ron Melling.
NOTABLE BAG: N/A.
BEST RAINBOW: 4lbs+ for Rudolph.
BEST BLUE: Several weighing 3lb.
BEST BROWN: N/A.
BANK ROD AV: 1.00 fish per angler.
BOAT ROD AV: 1.04 fish per angler.
Sport: The very hot and bright weather has continued over the last few days and has impacted on the fishing as is usual under such conditions but there has still been a few fish about. I was out myself the other day and after trying sinking lines at various depths with little success a change to drys turned the day around, even in such hot bright conditions. Had there been any cloud cover both me and Rob felt we could have had some great sport. Rudolph fished the other day and caught 7 fine trout with 2 trees being his best spot. He fished a floating line with a bumble pattern on his top dropper and dabblers and wet flies on middle and point. Ron Melling fished on Monday in the hot bright conditions and stuck with dry flies and was rewarded for his efforts with 5 trout. Rons fish came later in the afternoon as the sun dropped a bit with the dam area being his best spot. A black sedge hog was his best pattern. See you on the water.

DATE:                                     Friday 18th July.
REPORT AUTHOR             Ben.
NOTABLE CATCH:            6 fish for Ian Gaskell
NOTABLE BAG:                 5 fish weighing 12lb 0oz for John Hood
BEST RAINBOW:               4lb 1oz for Richie Kelly
BEST BLUE:                         3lb 7oz.
BOAT ROD AV:                  2.31 fish per angler.
Sport: Today was the final day of The Lexus Championships with six teams of six anglers easterly winds. The trout were tricky to catch but were lying very high in the water. Two tactics emerged either dries or boobies and wets stripped backed through the surface on a floating line.
The best areas were the Causeway, Cook’s Creek and the Willows across to Gull Island and the Northern Shallows.
Ian Gaskell was the top individual catching six trout on two cats boobies stroked back on a floater. The second individual was John Hood with five trout caught on dries and I was third using tequila boobies, midas and midget gems.
However this was not and individual event it was all about team consistency. Each angler was ranked from 1st to 36th and the members of each team were totalled up to give a team score. The results are shown below:

1st Greys Team Stocks
Name                   Place points
John Hood              2nd
Chris Guthrie         4th
Darren Booth         8th
Mike Laycock         11th
Steve Welsh            14th
Martin Griffiths     26th
Total Points             65      No. Fish: 20

2nd The Stocks Falcons
Name                  Place Points
Ian Gaskell               1st
Ben Dobson             3rd
Bob Cooper             15th
Paul Bebb                16th
Ian Ritche               27th
Bob Fitzpatrick     29th
Total Points             91        No. Fish 19

3rd The Stocks Cormorants
Name                Place Points
Mark Taylor               7th
Richie Hunter           12th
Mick Glancey            17th
Richie Kelly               22nd
Shaun Gaskell           23rd
Nick Thornborrow 36th
Team Total                117       No. Fish 12

Greys Team Stocks: Richard Hood, Mike Laycock, Chris Guthrie, Martin Griffiths and Darren Booth

Stocks Falcons: Sir Bob Cooper, Bob Fitzpatrick, Ian Gaskell, Ian Ritchie, Paul Bebb and Ben Dobson

DATE: Friday                18th July.
REPORT AUTHOR        Ben.
NOTABLE CATCH:      11 fish for John Hood
NOTABLE BAG:            11 fish weighing 23lb 1oz for John Hood
BEST RAINBOW:          4lb 5oz for Richard Haughton.
BEST BLUE:                    Several weighing 2lb 8oz.
BOAT ROD AV:             2.5 fish per angler.
Sport: It was the second day of the Lexus Individual Championship. It was far from ideal for fly fishing with very strong winds and bright sunshine for most of the day, but the winds did subside a bit and we got some cloud cover. Several anglers caught well during the latter stage. The fish were looking up and willing chase or take dries. Intermediate lines caught well for some and floaters for others. I will be able to give more detail tomorrow, once everyone reveals their tactics. Tight Lines Ben
1st John Hood 11 fish for 23lbs 1oz
2nd Peter Edge 10 fish for 20lbs 5oz
3rd Darren Booth 8 fish for 16lbs 12oz
4th Ian Ritchie 7 fish for 16lbs 6oz
5th Tony Newall 6 fish for 11lbs 15oz
6th Andy Campbell 6 fish for 11lbs 14oz
7th John Brown 5 fish for 11lbs 5oz
8th Steve Welsh 5 fish for 10lbs 1oz
9th Tom Bird 4 fish for 8lbs 13oz
10th Shaun Gaskell 4 fish for 8lbs 7oz

From left to right: Shaun Gaskell, Ian Ritchie,Steve Welsh, Peter Edge, Richard Haughton, John Hood, Tom Bird,John Brown, Andy Campbell, Warren Langridge, Gordon Leavy and Darren Booth