DATE:                                       Sunday May 31st
REPORT AUTHOR                Ben
NOTABLE CATCHES:          12 fish for Mark Wilson, 7 fish for Ian Ritchie & Digger
NOTABLE BAG:                      2 fish for 5lbs 14oz Martin Kelly
BEST RAINBOW:                 16lbs 5oz for Graham Bell
BEST BROWN:                     Several around 2lbs 8oz
BANK ROD AV:                    12.0 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:                      3.1 fish per angler
Sport: Today we held a blind pairs fund raiser in aid Air Ambulance service. 30 anglers braved the windy conditions and took to the water by boat. They all fished between 10am and 5pm. They killed their first two trout and then were awarded 2lbs for each fish returned. When they brought their catches to the scales they drew a number out of the hat and were paired up with the angler that drew out the same number as them. So when we read out the results they had no idea who they had been paired with. It’s a great formula for a good fun event.
Amazingly Ian Ritchie and Digger (Jim Rigby) both caught the most fish with 7 trout and had identical weights making them first equal individually and then they drew out the same number from the hat so were an unbeatable pair.
Ian fished a midge tip line with a team of wets from Blackhouse Bay all the way to the causeway and then at Phil’s Flats. His boat partner Graham Bell also did well with 6 trout and he returned a rainbow of 16lbs 8oz. They said the fish were tight in and they both lost several others and returned half a dozen wild brownies that didn’t count in today’s competition or rod average.
Digger caught his fish tight in along the Northern Shallows short lining a Di7 with blobs. Once again his boat partner, James Vann, also caught well with 6 trout to 3lbs.
The areas mentioned were the roughest areas on the reservoir so they were rewarded for sticking it out in the rough conditions. Lots of other anglers fished in the relative shelter of the west bank and caught fish but not in the same numbers. Good angling fellers.
There were loads of prizes including Greys Strata Jackets, Greys and Wychwood reels, fly lines, fly boxes lots of whisky and vodka and much more. Thankyou to all who donated a prize and to Go Out Doors who donated a 4 man tent for the raffle and goodie bags.
We raised over £700 for the Air Ambulance so thank you to everyone who took part. A big thank you has to go to Derek Moore for organising this great fund raiser. The full results are shown below.
Back to the fishing: The wind hampered things and made presentation and control difficult, but we still had nearly 100 trout caught.
Stuart and Abigail Montgomery fished from a boat yesterday and today to catch a total of 19 trout between them, not bad considering the weather. Safe travels home to the both of you and see you again soon I hope.
On the shore we just had the one angler, but he did very well with 12 trout from bell point to 5lbs. He was gone by mid afternoon as well! His best fish was 5lbs but I am not sure how he was fishing. Tight Lines Ben

DATE:                                       Saturday May 30th
REPORT AUTHOR                Ben
NOTABLE CATCHES:           10+ fish for
NOTABLE BAG:                      5 fish for 18lbs 8oz for Phil Green
BEST RAINBOW:                   9lbs 0oz for Phil Green
BEST BROWN:                       8lbs for Derek Moore
BANK ROD AV:                      3.00 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:                      4.56 fish per angler
Sport: Phil Green and Jon Morgan Parker had a cracking day on Phil’s new damsel patterns (see pics). They started drifting from the jetty along to Hartley’s and up round Bell Point and along Ben’s Beach. They then went down to the Dam and drifted right up the east bank, all the way past Curry’s. They fished di3 lines with a steady retrieve and between them they caught a total of 17 rainbows and browns to 9lbs. Good angling fellers.
Derek Moore drifted all over the reservoir with cats booby variants on an intermediate line to get well into double figures. He also caught and returned an 8lb brownie.
Melvin Wood tempted nine rainbows and browns to traditional wets and hawthorn patterns. He found fish at curry’s cast and along the Northern Shallows.
Gareth Evans and Gwyn Jones had 14 rainbows and browns to their boat on cats and other mini lures from around Willow Island and the Northern Shallows. they weighed in 10 trout for 27lbs.
Other good catches came to cat’s whiskers today from the boats.
On the shore the best catch also came to cats fished by Rob Flude at Bell Point but we fish caught from Newclose on buzzers and from Ben’s Beach and Hollins. Tight Lines Ben

DATE:                                            Friday May 29th
REPORT AUTHOR                     Ben
NOTABLE CATCHES:                9 fish for Neil Hodgson, 8 fish for Antoon Gysbers
NOTABLE BAG:                           5 fish for 12lbs 8oz for Karl Davis
BEST RAINBOW:                        8lbs 8oz for Gwyn Jones
BEST BROWN:                            Several at 2lbs
BANK ROD AV:                           6.00 fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV:                           3.00 fish per angler
Sport: The top boat today was Neil Hodgson and David Thompson with 14 trout to the net. They caught along the east bank, at The Alders and over the Northern Shallows. Their best tactics were orange or olive lures fished on an intermediate line. They were targeting daphnia feeders.
Gwyn Jones had a great fish on his first visit to Stocks. He caught a rainbow of 8lbs 8oz over the Northern Shallows on an orange lure. (See Pic Below)
The shore fished really well today. Antoon Gysbers fished for four hours this morning to take eight good fish. He put three on the scales for 7lbs 8oz. Antoon fished near side of Bell Point with a floating line a wet on the point and a cruncher on the middle dropper. All eight of his fish took the cruncher. It had a turn of blue tinsel, possibly UV behind the hackle.
Tony Taylor had six fish from a similar area this afternoon, after the wind had picked up, on orange blobs
Karl Davis also had six fish, this morning he took four on dries in Hollins Bay and then once the wind picked up took a couple more on lures. He had the chance of a few more as well.
All the bank anglers today commented how high the fish were in the water and that it was easy to go under them. Tight Lines Ben

Gwyn Jones with an 8lb 8oz rainbow caught from the Northern Shallows

DATE: Wednesday May 27th
REPORT AUTHOR Nick
NOTABLE CATCHES: 11fish for Ricky Newbolt, 9 for Mick Glancey, 8 for Rob Shelton and David Manning, 7 for Colin Jackson
NOTABLE BAG: n/a
BEST RAINBOW: 5lbs 0oz for Ricky Newbolt
BEST BROWN: 2lbs 8oz for Rob Shelton
BEST BLUE: 2lbs 8 oz for Ricky Newbolt
BANK ROD AV: 3.7fish per angler
BOAT ROD AV: 5.7fish per angler
Sport:
Today saw an improvement in sport after the last couple of weeks with decent rod averages on the bank and boat.
Top rod today was Ricky Newbolt with 11 fish found in the dam arm along the east bank from Halsteads Hike all the way down to the Alders. The majority of Ricky’s fish were caught fishing an olive booby with a DI3. Also enjoying a very productive day whilst afloat was David Manning with 8 fish (and many more lost) caught mostly on his booby whilst washing lining. David found the majority of his fish in the Phils Flats and Willow Island areas.
Notable on the bank today was that the two best catches were made by anglers fishing their own tied flies. Colin Jackson had 7 trout during his half day session whilst fishing Hartleys, fishing his own ‘skinny diawl bach’. Mick Glancey, also on a half day session, landed 9 fish from Hollins Hurdle fishing his own variant of the cats whisker.
SYNT Nick.