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Daily Reports from 2005
Report for : 26/02/2005 by Ben Dobson
Sport: Opening Day Sport:
Wow.... By the grace of the gods all the snow completely missed us and the conditions for the opening day looked no less than good with a light N.E wind, rising temperature and rising air pressure. However we could not have predicted the day's sport that lay ahead. Even though we had spread the stockings around the reservoir the North Easterly winds had blown a huge amount of fish into Hollins Bay and the first anglers of the season were met with immediate success. By mid morning we were hearing of individual scores in the twenties and thirties and we knew that something extraordinary was taking place. Looking down from the lodge you could see bent rods all over the place even some the boats had come into the bay and were enjoying some seriously frantic sport. Some of the anglers in the bay were knocking up what can only be described as cricket scores. Remarkably two anglers, Jim Hunter from Way-Menston and Michael Low from Glasgow shared the biggest catch of the day, both landing an incredible 81 fish!
Further a field some anglers avoided Hollins bay and went to fish the new water at the Northern end of the reservoir and, although the fish were not present the same large numbers, they were rewarded with some good catches and some nice over-wintered fish. John Sutton and Rick Nuttall fished all along the eastern Shore from Curry's cast to Halstead's Hike and they landed a very impressive 25 fish to their boat many of which were over wintered. One bank angler who did not leave his name started his season in Newclose Bay away from any stocking points and was rewarded with three over-wintered browns the best of which was 5lbs 8oz (all returned). At the end of a remarkable opening day we received back 76 returns (many were not handed in) they showed that five double figure fish had been caught and the rod average was an incredible 22.6 fish per angler! The heaviest bag was 20lbs 8oz caught by Kenny Wall from Bradford. He receives a Koma large arbour Reel and spare spool. The best patterns of the day were tied on hooks!
Number of Doubles: 5
Best Rainbow: 12lbs 8oz to Kenny Wall from Bradford
Best Brown: 5lbs 8oz to Mr?
Best Blue: 3lbs to Frank Hartley
Best Bag: 20lbs 8oz to Kenny Wall
Best Catch: 81 fish to Jim Hunter from Way-Menston and Michael Low from Glasgow
Patterns: Black and gold fritz and white lures
Report for : 28/02/05 by Phil
Sport: The Weather held good for Sunday, and may even warmed up a touch! The wind was still in the east but had dropped to a light breeze. 12 Year old Tom Newton landed the biggest fish of the day to become the youngest ever member of the doubles club. Congratulations Tom!
Tom and his dad were fishing from a boat just up from Two Trees when Tom's line staightend and a Rainbow that wieghed in at 11lb 11oz took off and had Tom's dad reaching for the back of Tom's lifejacket to stop him going over board!
From the bank Hollins bay was again the top hot spot. Both Paul Kitchen and Matthew Holdroyd landed 16 fish each from in and around Hollins Bay. They found black/black & gold fritz worked well as did Dawsons Olive and Damsels fished on an intermediate line with a steady retrive.
I wonder what the rest of the week will hold in store?
Phil
P.s If anyone has any questions they would like answered send them into us by e-mail with the word "question" in the subject box and we will do our best to answer them for you.
Number of Doubles: 3
Best Rainbow: 11lb 11oz to 12 yr old Tom Newton
Best Brown: N/a to
Best Blue: 4lb 8oz to Paul Kitchen & Paul Steele
Best Bag: 14lb 4oz to Tom Newton
Best Catch: 16 Fish fish to Paul Kitchen & Mat Holdroyd
Patterns: Black Frtiz, Cats & Damsel
Report for : Tuesday 1/3/05 by Phil
Sport: Curtis Brunker had the best of the day today landing an impressive 33 fish. Most of his trout fell to a bloodworm on the point with an okey dokey fished on the dropper. The Best blue of the day was taken by Sheila Dandridge on a Montana off of Bell Point.
Mr Forshaw had the best of the boats taking a total of 6 fish from Newclose Bay and Gull Island. Grindy's lawn also provided some sport for the boats up under the trees where the fish were sitting about 3-5 feet deep.
Tight lines
Phil
Number of Doubles: 0
Best Rainbow: 4lb to Mr Ivill
Best Brown: N/a to
Best Blue: 2lb 8oz to Shelia Dandridge
Best Bag: 4 fish for 11lb to Curtis Brunker
Best Catch: 33 fish fish to Curtis Brunker
Patterns: Balck Buzzer, Bloodworm, Damsel and Cats
Report for : 2/03/05 by Ben
Sport: A moderate Easterly wind dominated the conditions and was today it felt particularly lazy! Bell point and Hollins Bay produced the goods for the bank anglers. The best method in exposed windy areas was orange or olive lures fished slowly on intermediate lines, whilst out of the wind a team of olive buzzers left to drift also produced good catches. From the Boats it was Grindy's lawn that ruled the roost this is where Thomas Falls caught most of his 'best catch' and the big 12 t0 13lb Rainbow that was witnessed and released to fight another day. We had two more tagged fish caught today so make sure you check your fish before returning them as we are sure many tags are not being collected. The tag is small and yellow, green or orange located near the dorsal fin.
The Weekend Ahead: Sunday looks like the pick of the weekend as the wind is dropping to 3mph. On Monday (this week) we also had a very light wind and a hatch of small black buzzers that the fish were surprisingly quick to take advantage of. Ross Philips had the best catch of the day on a ginked up size 16 black shipmans.....Talk about early dry fly action! Lets hope it happens again.
Number of Doubles: 2
Best Rainbow: 12-13lbs to Thomas Falls from Liverpool
Best Brown: None
Best Blue: 11lbs 0oz to Ray Mercer from Preston
Best Bag: Two fish for 13lbs to Ray Mercer
Best Catch: 14 fish fish to Ross Phillips from Newton le Willows and Thomas Falls from Liverpool
Patterns: Orange fritz, Olive Fritz and black buzzers
Report for : 03/ March /05 by Ben
Sport: Willow Island produced its first good catch of the season Mr Grimshaw and son took 14 fish from all around the Island on Buzzers. The more clement days are producing sport great early sport on buzzers if you try them keep them small in olive or black and there is a chance you might pick up some nice over-wintered fish. Derek Fitchie from Lytham fished around Bell Point and Ben’s Beach with a sunken Daddy to take 12 rainbows and blues. This pattern can be lethal in early or late season give a try, it’s best fished on a slow sinker with a twitchy retrieve to get that hackle moving. Other anglers found that mixing the retrieve up between slow striping and figure of eight worked well. The fish seem to take just after the strip right at the beginning of the slower retrieve.
Number of Doubles: 1
Best Rainbow: 10lbs 2oz to Glynn Dodd from Gt Harwood
Best Brown: None
Best Blue: 3lbs to Mr Corkhill
Best Bag: four fish for 10lbs 8oz to Mr Corkhill
Best Catch: 12 fish to Derek Fitchie from Lytham
Patterns: Sunken Daddy, orange lures and Stocks Hummungus
Report for : 04/ March/ 05 by Ben
Sport: Today fished very well, from the bank we had a rod average of 7.6 whilst from the boats the average was slightly less at 4.2. One thing I did notice was that individual anglers were either catching a lot of fish or very few, this suggests that the trout are moving in very tight pods so it is very important that keep trying new areas until you ‘strike oil’ so to speak! One boat angler told me that he fished in all his usual favoured hot spots to no avail then caught nine in one drift in the Northern Shallows. When the fish are moving in pods like this, I find, it is always better to fish the on drift at least until you have located the fish. Like wise the conditions will favour the wandering bank angler. There are still a lot of fish in Hollins Bay but I would like to bet that there are some real hot spots still yet to be discovered, especially over on the East Shore.
Number of Doubles: 1
Best Rainbow: 10 -11lbs (returned) to Igor Biluba from Stockport
Best Brown: None to
Best Blue: 4lbs 8oz to Mr Hodges from Clitheroe.
Best Bag: 4 fish for 11lbs to Mr Middleton from Blackpool
Best Catch: 20 fish fish to Stefan Rodowics from Mellor Brook
Patterns: orange lures and Gold Ribbed Hares Ear.
Report for : 05/ Mar/ 05 by Peter
Sport: Today certainly wasn't one for the faint hearted on stocks with a bitter cold northeasterly wind and regular busts of driving sleet. However for those that ventured out the rewards where there to be had.
Season ticket holder Frank Hartley from Oswaldtwistle fished hard all day from the bank, and was rewarded with seven fish for his efforts, including a cracking 13lbs 8oz Rainbow Trout taken in Hollins bay on an orange shipman’s buzzer fished deep.
Also 19 year old Adam Page from Bolton caught a stunning 10lb 8oz Rainbow from Hartley’s on a black and red buzzer, This is only the third time he has been fly Fishing, So you can imagine how chuffed he was!!
The best bag of the day (10 Fish) went to Nigel Haigh all taken on buzzers and nymphs, closely followed by 18-year-old Jim Hunter who had nine. Also two guys fishing at Willow Island took nine to the boat, fishing boobies on high D lines, this indicates that the fish are now spreading well. There were also plenty of other anglers who took three and four fish bags.
The weather is forecasted to brighten up and become warmer tomorrow, making prospects look good for sunday. I expect that Hollins up to bells point will fish well, as should Grindy’s and Willow Island. However the other usual hotspots are well worth a cast or two. The best flies will be black and olive buzzers, shipman’s, orange and black fritz, Bobbies and Montana!!
Hope to see you soon, tight lines Peter.
Number of Doubles: 2
Best Rainbow: 13lbs 8oz to Frank Hartley from Oswaldtwistle
Best Brown: 2lbs O-W to Melvin Wood
Best Blue: to
Best Bag: to
Best Catch: fish to
Patterns:
Report for : 6th Mar 05 by Ben
Sport: The Brassie was the very apt pattern of the day as references to balls and monkies could be heard on the reservoir shores and the cold also effected the sport as the day got off to a slow start. Like on many frosty days it is hours just after lunch when the air temperatue lifts just enough to stimulate the fish into action. Far more fish were caught today in the afternoon than in the morning. Philip Pendlebury from preston had the best catch fishing from Ben's Beach to Bell point. He caught most of his fish on a size 14 Brassie (Ptn buzzer with a gold bead head.)Other anglers caught catches 5 to 7 fish in the afternoon on mainly larger black buzzer patterns. Even I wet my line first time on the reservoir this season. Peter and I put a Pint on the most fish as we set off down to Hollins bay for the last half hour of the day. Peter picked up two fish quickly, one on a cats and one on a buzzer on the dropper. After a while I decided that it was his line that was making the difference so we swopped rods and yes youv'e guessed it he immediatley hooked into a lovely 3lb blue on my tackle. So I've decided to extend it to a season long competition!
Number of Doubles: 0
Best Rainbow: 7lbs to Alex Hitchen from Clitheroe
Best Brown: None
Best Blue: 4lbs to Mr ?
Best Bag: four for 9lbs 6oz to Alan Kennel from Leeds
Best Catch: 8 fish fish to Philip Pendlebury
Patterns: Buzzers, Brassie, Cats Whisker
Report for : 7th March 05 by Ben
Sport: After a cold start the day warmed up quite quickly and with wind down to a very light breeze the conditions looked good. Norman Fanshshaw from Croston pointed his boat north and Headed for Newclose Bay. After a while he found fish hard on the bottom so opted for a Di 6 line and Cats mini lure, he fish Eaking Shallows and Willow Island to land 14 fish to his boat. On the shore things started slow but picked up well. Hollins Bay was the hotspot Steve Flynn and his fishing buddy had 13 fish on small damsels retrieved quite fast on floating lines. This week is supposed to get warmer so the fishing prospects look good.
Number of Doubles: 0
Best Rainbow: 5lbs to Steve Flynn
Best Brown: 3lbs o-w to Mr S Mctear
Best Blue: 2lbs 12oz to Norman Fanshaw
Best Bag: 4 for 8lbs to Mr Dimsdale
Best Catch: 14 fish fish to Norman Fanshaw
Patterns: Damsels, Cats, Buzzers
| Report for : Tue 8th March 05 by Peter |
Sport: Today the air temperature was noticably warmer and it seemed to warm up the sport.
The best bag was 13fish taken by Mr Everett While he fished from Grindy's Lawn up to Davy Jones, all these fish where taken on an intermediate line while washing lining buzzers with a booby on the point.
Two other anglers also took 14 fish to their boat while drifting from Willow Island to the causeway, these fish were taken on damsels and buzzers fished on floating lines.
Keith Landless took the best fish of the day at bell point, it was a Rainbow estimated at around the 8lb mark before being returned.
All in all most people caught fish today with quite a few seven and eight bags. And with the weather due to get better as the week goes on the fishing can only do the same.
Hope to see you soon, Peter.
By the way next time your up be sure to check out the new range of damsels from Fulling mill they're absolute fish magnets!!
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 8lb (est) to Keith Landless |
| Best Brown: 2lb (est) to Bill Orrel |
| Best Blue: 3Lbs to Shelia Dandridge |
| Best Bag: 10 Lbs to Nelly |
| Best Catch: 13 Fish fish to Mr Everett |
| Patterns: Damsels, Black Buzzers and Nymphs. |
| Report for : Wed 9th March 05 by Ben |
| Sport: Today was positively buzzing! There was one method that out fished all the others, buzzers fished with an ultra slow retrieve. Tadpoles also accounted for some good bags but buzzers were definitely the order of the day. Mr Adamson landed an impressive 18 fish with a damsel and buzzer combination just to be pipped at the post by Paul Taylor who was also buzzering. On the boats Peter and Derek Moore had good sport, fishing floating lines and yep you've guessed it buzzers, they found hot spots at the south end of Gull Island and Willow Island. We certainly are getting some great early hatches on the more clement days, long may it continue. The rod average was 6 fish a man......not bad for early March! |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 8lbs to Kieth Landless |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: Many of 3lbs to Many people |
| Best Bag: 9lbs+ to Philip Davies |
| Best Catch: 19 fish to Paul Taylor from St Annes |
| Patterns: Buzzers, & Tadpoles |
| Report for : 10/3/05 by Peter |
Sport: This morning conditions where perfect on stocks, and with the vast amount of buzzers that have been hatching off in the last few days prospects looked good for an entertaining days sport.
The best bag went to Mr Forshaw from Croston, he took 13 fish on a cats whisker fished on an intermediate line.
Mr Biluba also took 9 nine fish in between willow island and the causeway in the new area, this is a good indication that the fish are now spread.
Other anglers fishing off the bank took the majority of their fish on buzzers and damsels nymphs. Mr Whiteside from Penwortham took seven on a bloodworm which is pleasing to see.
I suspect that Lobworms would fish well tomorrow, However as there not allowed I would try Damsels, White fritz, Cats, Humungus (silver and red), Black and olive buzzers and Bloodworms.
Tight Lines
Peter.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lb to Mr D Speak |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 4lb to Mr D Speak |
| Best Bag: 10 lbs to Mr I Biluba |
| Best Catch: 13 fish to Mr Foreshaw |
| Patterns: |
| Report for : 11/3/05 by Ben |
| Sport: A very windy start to the day kept many anglers away, but from those who did come I only received 5 returns so please remember to fill one in before you leave the fishery. From the 5 that were handed in, it looks as though they were rewarded for their hardiness. They caught a total of 39 fish, which is just short of an eight fish average. The method was buzzers and the windy conditions favoured the bung tactic although some anglers did very well just free lining them. The hotspots were Hollins to Barn Quarry. Just to correct yesterday's figures, the best catch was actually caught by Mr D Speak from Great Harwood who had sixteen fish including some nice blues to 4lbs on a white nomad. The wind looks to dropping off a bit tomorrow so it should be more comfortable fishing. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lbs 8oz to Mr Reeves |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 5lbs to Mr J Firness |
| Best Bag: 2 fish for 7lbs to |
| Best Catch: 16 fish fish to Mr D furness |
| Patterns: Buzzers |
| Report for : 12 march 05 by Ben |
Sport: Today was the trout masters fish off for 2005. Only seven anglers attended but the standard was high as the field included three England Internationals. Nick Halstead took an early lead and landed 4 fish quickly and the rest of the field were playing catch up. He was using a Cortland blue fly line and a roly-poly retrieve with a cat's whisker on the point. Alan Nairn from Seaton was also fishing a white lure this time on a 40 plus intermediate and as Nick's takes started dry up Allen closed the gap, they finished the morning session all even on 5 a piece. After lunch, a few early fish to John Calvert and Bob cooper put them back in the running and at this stage there was only two fish between the top four places. Allen Nairn responded with three fish taking him to eight and putting some day light between him and the next three anglers. The Comp went right to the wire Allen didn't get another fish and Nick made a late comeback on the last peg but unable to make the fish stick he only landed one of six fish hooked. The results of a gripping match were as follows.
1st Allen Nairn with 8 fish
2nd Nick Halstead with 7 fish
3rd= John Calvert and Bob Cooper with 6 fish
Well Done to Allen Nairn beating three England Internationals to earn his place in the National Final on Grafham. We'll let you know how he gets on.
The other anglers had the freedom to roam the rest of the reservoir and there was some great sport to be had. Derek Fitchie fished a fast sinking Line with a white tadpole to take three lovely wild brown trout all between 1lb and a 1.8 lbs. He then fished a floater to take two rainbows the best of which was 8lbs a lovely fish to end a nice morning session. Jim Hunter had 9 fish to buzzers in Hollins Bay and out on the Boats Peter Andrews fished nymphs off the two Islands to tempt 9 rainbows and blues. We finished the day with a very respectable rod average of 4.5 fish.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 8lbs 0oz to Derek Fitchie from St Annes |
| Best Brown: 1lb 8oz to Derek Fitchie |
| Best Blue: Numerous at 2lbs 8oz to |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for10lbs to Nick Halstead |
| Best Catch: 9 fish fish to Peter Andrews and Jim Hunter |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Eggs, White lures |
| Report for : 13 March 2005 by Peter |
Sport: Another good hatch of buzzers greeted the anglers as they arrived at the fishery this morning. The Sky was blue and there was not a cloud to be seen and all looked set for a good days sport.
For those who ventured out early enough to catch the buzzer hatch the fish were there to be had, Mr Milner took the best bag of the day with twelve fish all on black buzzers, Mr Whittle and Luke Starr also had four apiece on buzzers and damsels, they had four fish apiece.
However after lunch the wind got up which never seems to mix well with the bright sunshine and it made fishing conditions difficult. However Mr Coates managed seven fish from the bank and most other anglers managed one or two but said the fish where coming short.
Darren Booth and his friend took 11 to their boat including a stunning 5lb blue fishing from Willow Island to the causeway. Darren was using his fish finder at the time and said there was alot of fish lurking at about 10 foot down in this area.
The best fish of the day went to Mr Everett a cracking 7lb 14oz Rainbow.
Prospects look good for tomorrow as it is due to warm up this week, If I were out fishing I would fish a floater or slow tip as the fish are very high in the water, and I would fish a damsel nymph on the point and size 14 buzzers and diawl bachs on the droppers.
Hope to see you soon, Peter.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 7lb 14ozs to Mr Everett |
| Best Brown: n/a to n/a |
| Best Blue: 5lbs to Darren Booth |
| Best Bag: 12lbs to Mr Everett |
| Best Catch: 12 fish to Mr Milner |
| Patterns: Damsels, Black Buzzers, Nymphs, Egg Fly, Cats and black Tadpoles |
| Report for : 14th. March 2005 by Ben |
| Sport: It was a cold start to the day and a moderate southwesterly wind added a bit of unwelcome chill. All-weather angler Frank Hartley was one of the first on the water and he waded out up to his knees in Hollins Bay. Frank fished a floating line, a 15ft cast and three flies. On the point he had a size 12 red holographic Diawl Bach, on the middle a size 12 scraggy bibio buzzer and on the top a size 14 red holographic Diawl Bach. Frank fished just 4 hours to take 10 rainbows and blues including a nice over-wintered specimen. He used the short section of line immediately leaving the tip of his rod as a swing tip indicator as the South Westerly breeze slowly blew his flies round in an arc. This is a great tactic in breezy conditions. Elsewhere season ticket holders Rodger and Sheila Dandridge started to fish at Bell Point, Rodger had three fish in five casts but the cold wind persuaded them to move round into Newclose Bay. Rodger built up a very respectable catch of eight fish all falling prey to a damsel nymph fished on the point. Out on the boats Steve Smalley from Gisburn took out his friend Peter Jones to teach him a thing or two about reservoir fishing and he's obviously a good teacher as Peter landed six fine rainbows to Steves two.... I'd leave him behind next time Steve! By the afternoon the wind had dropped and swung to the south and a good hatch of buzzers was tempting the fish up in the water and they were even sipping them off the top in Hollins Bay. Norman Forshaw from Croston fished a team of small brown buzzers from a boat in the Northern Shallows to take the best catch of the day. He found the fish all the way along the Northern shore tight into the submerged willows. This area is going to be a real hot spot when the water warms up a bit. We ended the day with a 5.3 fish rod average. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 12oz to Norman Forshaw |
| Best Brown: 2lbs to Peter Jones from Clitheroe |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Mr OJoyce from High Bentham |
| Best Bag: 2 for 4lbs+ to Mr O Joyce from High Bentham |
| Best Catch: 12 fish fish to Norman Forshaw from Croston |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Damsels |
| Report for : 15/3/05 by Peter |
Sport: Heavy rain brought the reservoir up about two feet over night. However it seemed to have a good effect on the fishing rather than a bad one, and with a much milder start than we've been used to of late the fish remained relatively high in the water.
The best bag of the day went to Ged Oxley from Merseyside with a very respectable 20 fish from the bank fishing in Hollins bay. Ged later told me that his Secret weapon for the day was the old faithful Cats Whisker. However he then proceeded to explain, much to my surprise that he been fishing it under a bung on a floating line. His best fish was around 3lb 8oz, however he lost one around the six pound mark and was snapped by an even bigger one than that.
Also off the bank Dave Zalans had 18 fish on a Montana, using a long leader on a floating line. Keith Landless had 15 fish, and Bill McDermott also took 10 fish from the bank on a Damsel Nymph alongside his good friend Ted Evans who had 9 on a cats Whisker.
There was only one boat out today but Ian Ritchie and Brian Whitlock showed there expertise by taking 20 fish to there boat all on Diawl bachs and buzzers while fishing at willow island.
With a 7.5 fish rod average today, prospects look good for tomorrow. And with the fish being so high in the water at the moment I would try a floating line, with either a Montana or a Cats whisker on the point and Daiwl bachs or Buzzers on the droppers.
Tight Lines, Peter.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 5lbs to Mr Williams |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 4lbs to Mr Bill McDermott |
| Best Bag: 11lb 2oz to P Cowan |
| Best Catch: 20 fish fish to Ged Oxley |
| Patterns: Montana, Cats Whisker, Damsel Nymph, Buzzers, Daiwl Bachs and Black Fritz. |
| Report for : Wed March 16th by Ben |
| Sport: Milder but windy are the two words to best describe this morning and it was the wind that determined where most people fished. On a day where most of the boats struggled for a few fish Keith Charnock certainly cracked it. He found a nice sheltered area behind Willow Island and was immediately successful As he landed a nice blue with his first cast. Many more followed the first into the net with just as many nipping and pulling but not connecting. He was fishing a slime line with a cats on the dropper and a viva on the point. After a while he switched to buzzers, three black buzzers on a 15ft leader, and once again found himself amongst the fish. He finished with an impressive 15 rainbows and 3 blues. On of which was tagged so he won a pack of Fulling Mill flies as well...Some people have all the luck! Back on dry land Pete Cowan, who was up from Scunthorpe for a few days, was building up a nice tally fishing a combination of diawl Bachs and buzzers. Pete had sixteen fish made up of a nice mix of blues and Rainbows up to 3lb 10oz and to finish it off he got smashed by something really big! The Stocks Ness Monster Strikes again. On the whole it was a day of mixed reports and the rod average was down on yesterday to 4.1 fish per man. This was probably down to the strong winds. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 10oz to Pete Cowan from Scunthorpe |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs 8oz to Pete Cowan from Scunthorpe |
| Best Bag: four fish for 10lbs 8oz to Pete Cowan from Scunthorpe |
| Best Catch: 18 fish fish to Kieth Charnock from Southport |
| Patterns: Diawl Bachs, Buzzers, Lures with lime green in them |
| Report for : 17th march 2005 by Peter |
Sport: Now in this country, a good weather reputation has never being one our strong points, and today was no exception. With 15mph south westerly winds and occasional showery spells fishing conditions where far from perfect.
However taking the conditions into account, for those that did venture out, equipped with the neoprenes and hot coffee some of the catches where very respectable indeed.
Mr Ian Shaw from St Helens took the best bag while fishing in Hollins Bay. He took 10 fish on an Olive Damsel fished on a sink tip line, the best being a stunning blue trout of 3lbs.
The second best bag went to Mr Cross, he took 6 rainbows the best was estimated between 4-5lbs before being gently slipped back to fight another day! Hopefully when it's a six pounder!!
Out of the nine anglers that did fish today, two more took four fish bags and all other anglers caught fish barring one.
Tomorrow the wind is due to drop right down to 8mph with sunny intervals forecast. This will hopefully bring the fish higher up in the water, making floating lines with Diawl Bach's and Buzzers the order of the day. Fingers crossed!
Hope to see you soon.
Peter
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lb 8ozs to Mr F Davis |
| Best Brown: N/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Mr I Shaw |
| Best Bag: 6lb 8ozs to Mr F Davis |
| Best Catch: 10 Fish fish to Mr I Shaw |
| Patterns: Olive Damsel, Orange Fritz, Montana, Buzzers and Diawl Bachs. |
| Report for : 18th March 2005 by Peter |
Sport: This morning the weather didn't turn out as forecast. There was a stiff breeze in the air and a low mist covered the reservoir. This made fishing conditions far from perfect.
However after lunch the mist lifted, the air temperature rose and the wind dropped down to a whisper. This allowed for a massive hatch of black buzzers, making conditions perfect for some good sport on floating lines.
Mr bird from Elsmere Port took 10 fish on a black fritz, while fishing at Willow Island. His best fish was a stunning 9lb 11oz rainbow trout and he also took a cracking 4lb 8oz overwintered Brown Trout and another Rainbow of 4lbs.
Halstead's Hyke on the east bank produced 10 fish for Mr Dinsdale. He took his fish on a Yellow Zonker, his best being 3lb 8ozs. Also from the bank Mr Graham Hart took 8fish in Hollins bay on Red and black buzzers, including a 4lb 8oz overwintered rainbow and two others around 4lbs.
Later on in the day the fish started sipping buzzers of the surface and those who stayed had some good sport with buzzers on floating lines.
Tomorrow it is forecast to be sunny and warm with 2mph winds. This should continue to warm the water up and will hopefully bring those overwintered specimens up from the depths.
Peter.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 9lb 11ozs to Mr Bird |
| Best Brown: 4lb 8ozs to Mr Bird |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Bill Orrel |
| Best Bag: 21lb 11ozs to Mr Bird |
| Best Catch: 10 Fish fish to Mr Bird and Mr Dinsdale |
| Patterns: Black Fritz, White and Green Fritz, Montana, Zonker, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs and Damsel Nymphs. |
| Report for : Saturday 19th March by Ben |
| Sport: What a beautiful day! Hazy sunshine and only the lightest of breezes and the Choronomids were hatching in large numbers and their empty shucks lined the water's edges. The onset of spring has also woken the toads; thousands of them are currently making their annual migration down to the water to breed… I suspect that black tadpoles will fish well in a couple of weeks! Back to today, as expected the shallow buzzer grounds had attracted the fish and they were feeding hard. Mr G Ashton had Grindy's lawn all to himself, this area is brilliant for buzzer fishing and it didn't disappoint today. He fished a combination of black buzzers and okeydokeys to take an impressive 20 blues and rainbows and he was home in time for lunch. Elsewhere Keith Landless, whilst not enjoying the same privacy as Mr Ashton was enjoying similar action. He was fishing a team of black buzzers with a red and green heads in Hollins Bay. He also had non-stop action landing and returning 24 fine trout before lunch. It was nice see Keith's expertise at unhooking and returning the fish. Every fish never left the water or touched a net and each swam off quickly with a sharp flick of the tail. The early afternoon saw the Haziness disappear and the sun shone down more intensely, what little breeze there was had by now disappeared and the trout became much harder to catch. It was if someone had flicked a switch. Nigel Haigh was fishing the willows in the Northern Shallows after a good couple of hours on floating line and a team of Diawl Bachs his takes dried up too. Rather than carrying on with a method that seemed to have had its day, he decided to change his approach. He new that the flies were good but assumed that the fish must have moved down in the water. So he switched to a Courtland blue intermediate line and moved his boat into deeper water further off the willows. Sure enough he was back into fish taking a further seven in tricky bright conditions…there is always a way! Peter Appleby was also out on a boat he tried the blob to no avail and then switched to buzzers to take an impressive 18 fish. The Best fish of the day came from Newclose to a cat's whisker. Eric Sunter from Bradford was the lucky captor the fish ran him on a merry dance until finally succumbing to the net. It bottomed out his 12lb scales so he got it witnessed and returned it to fight another day. Down at the dam another over-wintered brown couldn't resist a well-presented white lure. Ken from Halsall was the man on the rod. It tipped the scales at 7lbs 8oz. The rod average today was 5.9 fish per man |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 15lbs (Estimate) to Eric Sunter from Bradford |
| Best Brown: 7 lbs 8oz to Ken from Halsall |
| Best Blue: 4lb 8oz to Mr E Sunter |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 15lbs 3oz to Alex Mcewan from Ochiltree |
| Best Catch: 24 fish to Keith Landless |
| Patterns: OkeyDokey |
| Report for : 20th March 2005 by Peter |
Sport: With overcast muggy conditions this morning and a warm wind the water temperature continued to rise.
The best catches of the day went to John Rudolph and his friend fishing at Willow Island from the boats. They took 23 fish to there boat all on buzzers fished on floating lines. Their retrieve was a slow figure of eight with an odd pull or jerk included. This tactic worked a treat and often induced a take. Also from the boats Dave Morris and Allister Beaumont took 17 fish on buzzers and black lures from Newclose Bay. And John Heywood was astonished when a cracking 6lb overwinted brown trout came up and sipped his Carrot fly clean of the surface while fishing at Halsteads Hike on the east bank. His friend carefully took a quick photo before he sportingly returned the fish for someone else to enjoy another day. Every year at around this time when the water temperature starts to warm up it brings these overwintered fish up from the deep channels on to the shallow planes as they roam for food. These fish are most susceptible to white and black lures fished slowly on floating and intermediate lines, but can be taken on nymphs and dries as john proved today. These fish are in pristine condition, and have big full tails.
Off the bank some good catches when recorded mainly on black and lures and buzzers. The best bank area's where Hollins bay, Bells point and Newclose Bay.
Peter |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 11lbs est to Criag Lowan |
| Best Brown: 6 lbs est to John Heywood |
| Best Blue: 4 lbs to Phil Straton |
| Best Bag: 10 lbs to Mr Howarth |
| Best Catch: 15 fish fish to John Rudolf |
| Patterns: White Classic FM, Black tadpoles & Buzzers. |
| Report for : Monday 21st March by Ben |
| Sport: A moderate easterly wind was present all day although compared with the winds that we experienced earlier this month, this one was mild. It actually felt like it was going around you rather than through you...if you know what I mean. The wind made for tricky fishing for the bank anglers in Hollins. The most successful of the Bank men was George Ashton who took nine nice fish mainly on Okey Dokeys and Black Buzzers. Most of the boats headed north towards willow Island and Phil's Flats. Peter was out today with season ticket holder Bill Orrell and they were the top Boat toady, tempting no less than 20 trout to Hare's Ear Diawl Bachs and buzzers. At first Peter was striking the takes and missing more than he was catching, but after a while he allowed the fish to sweep his line through water putting themselves onto the rod. This was by far the more successful tactic. We ended the day with a 5.2 fish rod average. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lbs to Mr Lee |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to George Ashton |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 12lbs to George Ashton |
| Best Catch: 12 fish to Peter Mercer |
| Patterns: Hares Ear Diawl Bach and white tadpoles |
| Report for : Tuesday 22nd March by Ben |
Sport: This morning the sky was grey the wind was North Easterly but thankfully the vast majority of the rain had passed through. Although we had quite a lot of rain over night it was not enough to affect the water level and by lunch time the wind had swung to the south and dropped off considerably. Perfect conditions to drift Keith Landless's buzzers round at a steady and deadly pace. Fifteen of our rainbows fell prey to his green-headed black buzzers, all were returned to fight another day. There are still boats out on the water but up to now (6pm) Roger and Sheila Dandridge have had the best catch, they landed 15 fish, 10 to Sheila 5 to Roger ...that gets Roger back for last week! Sheila was fishing a white Classic Fm on the point with a Black green buzzer on the dropper; they fished the front of both Islands and the Northern Shallows. The rod average so far today is 5.4 fish per man.
P.s. I stocked some whoppers today!
|
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs to Kieth Landless and Sheila Dandridge |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Sheila Dandridge |
| Best Bag: 4 for 7lbs 12oz to Kevin Martin from Cleveleys |
| Best Catch: 15 fish fish to Keith Landless |
| Patterns: Black & Green Buzzers and white tadpoles |
| Report for : 23/03/05 by Phil |
Sport: Hi folks, Really sorry I don't think this report will be up to your usual expectations...... 'cause even though Ben & Peter had written a cracking summary of the days sport for me to simply add the final results to..... I hit the wrong button! and have been unable to recover said work.....
So instead here is the news for today!
The morning was overcast but mild. The best patterns on the bank were buzzers, as it was with the boats. Some good catches from Willow Island and Newclose Bay this morning on the boats. As the afternoon went on the sun showed and the wind dropped. Gerry Brewer caught a personal best rainbow of 11lb 5oz. This full tailed long fish took a black and green lure fished slowly in Barn Quarry. The trout moved down in the water as the sun increased and intermediate lines and black lures was the best tactic of the afternoon producing the best catches. |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 11lb 5oz to Gerry Brewer |
| Best Brown: N/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lb 8oz to Bill Orrel |
| Best Bag: 2fish for 13lb 2oz to Gerry Brewer |
| Best Catch: 10 Fish each fish to Bill Orrell & Mr Sugdon |
| Patterns: Buzzers and Black Lures |
| Report for : 24th March 2005 by Peter |
Sport: As I looked out over the reservoir this morning I couldn't believe how much the weather had changed in just one month. With overcast hazy skies, a light southerly breeze at most and a humid feel in the air, the scene was set for a great days sport. And it did not disappoint! By 1 o'clock one gentleman was back at the lodge with a big smile on his face! He then proceeded to tell me that he'd just broken his rod, but that he couldn't care less as he'd landed his personal best brown trout of around 6lbs while doing so. This fish was then returned, Well Done!
Also off the bank Mr John Backhouse from Tosside caught a cracking 7lb Brown trout on a Black Fritz and Philip Grimes landed a stunning 12lb 9oz Rainbow in Barn Quarry.
Off the boats Andrew Scott and Stuart Peart took 46 fish to the boat using Nymphs and Daiwl Bachs in the morning and Lures in the Afternoon, from the Northern Shallows in the new area. Andrew caught 30 of the fish, including a 4lb overwintered rainbow and a fantastic 8lb 2oz overwintered Brown Trout. As I write there's still quite a few anglers on the water and any more success stories will get a mention tomorrow, so don't worry if your not in!
Tomorrow the weather is due to be much the same making prospects look good. The best tactics will be floating lines with small lures or Weighted Nymphs on the point and Daiwl Bachs or Buzzers on the droppers.
Dont miss out! Peter. |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 12lb 9ozs to Philip Grimes |
| Best Brown: 8lb 2 ozs to Andrew Scott |
| Best Blue: to |
| Best Bag: to |
| Best Catch: 30 Fish fish to Andrew Scott |
| Patterns: GH Hares ear, Buzzers, Daiwl Bachs and Black n Green Lures. |
| Report for : 25th March 2005 by Peter |
Sport: Today reminded me much of opening day as anglers lined the banks from the Hollins bay to the horizon and with a light westerly wind and overcast skies the scene was set for a cracking days sport.
Off the bank this morning fishing started well and most anglers caught fish, but as the day went on it seemed to get tougher, probably due to angling pressure.
However from the boats fishing was excellent and quite a few boats recorded scores of 10 fish or more, and quite a few in the twenties, including some crackers! These fish where mainly taken from the Northern Shallows and Willow Island on Buzzers, Daiwl Bachs and Hares ear nymphs, all fished high in the water on floating lines.
While fishing at the Grindy's Lawn off the bank Mr D Bell decided to try a Black Knat dry fly and was pleasantly surprised when a stunning 9lb 8oz Blue trout decided to sip it off the top and Daniel Richmond took the best bag with 17 fish from the boat including a cracking 12lb 8oz Rainbow from willow island on a Daiwl Bach.
I also spoke to another angler who had caught and returned a Rainbow at Willow Island that was reported to be well into double figures, this fish was taken on an olive nymph, but sadly he didn't hand his return in so we have no name.
If tomorrow is anything like today then prospects look good especially from the boats, I would try a Hares ear on the point and Daiwl Bachs or buzzers on the droppers. Tight Lines, Peter.
|
| Number of Doubles: 2 |
| Best Rainbow: 12lb 8ozs to Daniel Richmond |
| Best Brown: 4lbs to Mr Dixon |
| Best Blue: 9lb 8ozs to Mr Bell |
| Best Bag: 12 lb for 2 fish to D Bell |
| Best Catch: 17 fish to Daniel Richmond |
| Patterns: Hares Ear, Daiwl Bach, Buzzers angd Damsels |
| Report for : 26th March 2005 by Peter |
Sport: What a glorious day was the cry from the anglers at 8 o'clock this morning and it was. The bright sunshine and blue skies made fishing conditions far from perfect though, but by 11 o'clock a light north easterly wind got up, the sun disappeared behind the clouds and the fish came out to play.
Off the bank the majority of anglers caught 2-3 fish and a handful of 7-9 fish bags where recorded. The majority off fish where taken on Buzzers and Black Tadpoles including a couple of crackers!! The first of which was taken by Martin Landless on Black Buzzer, This fish was witnessed and estimated between 9-10lbs before being returned. Also Malcolm Hunter from West Yorkshire landed a lovely 9lb 10oz Rainbow from Hollins Bay on a black Tadpole.
Fishing from the boats continued in the same vain as yesterday with some brilliant scores being recorded.
Mick Randell and Dave Holt took 45 fish to there boat mainly using floating lines and buzzers, however Mick tempted a cracking 12lb 9oz Rainbow to his Black and Green Fritz later in day.
Peter Andrews and Steve Rhodes took 28 fish to their boat including two overwinted rainbows around 5lbs and a Beautiful 10lb 2oz Rainbow that fell to Peter's rod.
The best catch today went Nigel Haigh and Nick Halstead, they were fishing in the new area around Willow Island and all along the northern shore. They took 74 fish to the boat all on Buzzers and egg flies. They also commented on the large no of overwintered fish and reckoned nearly 50% were enjoying their first meals of the new season!!
Tight Lines, Peter.
|
| Number of Doubles: 2 |
| Best Rainbow: 12lb 9 to Mick Randell |
| Best Brown: 3lb 8ozs to Mr Gifford |
| Best Blue: 3lb 8ozs to Daniel Richmond |
| Best Bag: 10lbs for 4 fish. to Daniel Richmond |
| Best Catch: 37 fish each fish to Nigel Haigh and Nick Halstead |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Diawl Bachs and Black Tadpoles. |
| Report for : Sunday 27th March by Ben |
| Sport: An overcast and drizzly start may not be good for comfort but it's not bad for catching fish and on the whole the reservoir fished very well today. A steady easterly wind was present though out the morning and with occasional shower thrown in it felt considerably colder than of late. Buzzers, nymphs and tadpoles all fished well from the bank. Frank Green had nine mainly on black buzzers; Frank fished all the way up the western shore. Mr Greenfell also landed nine fish but the best bank catch went to Mr M Watson from Barnsley who fished Bell point and tempted 11 fine trout to a gold-headed damsel. Out on the boats Dave Morris and Alistair Beaumont enjoyed good sport they fished off the front of both Islands. Dave was on buzzers and a floater whilst Alistair opted for nymphs and a sink tip. They both scored well landing 27 fish to the boat and they said that there was little to choose between the two methods. They did notice that the fish were nipping the flies without hooking up and they found that if they ignored these quick takes and reframed from striking that the fish would often come again and take the fly properly. The best catch of the day went to Terry Wilson from Carnforth who really got amongst the fish in the Northern Shallows. He was fishing a floater with a large PTN on the point, which did most of the damage, but a heavy rainstorm after lunch stopped play during which Terry couldn't buy a take. After the rain had died away the reservoir went flat calm and the trout started to rise everywhere but nearly all the anglers said the same thing, that they wouldn't look at their dries and terry found the same thing until that is, he stopped trying to imitate the little gnats that they were actually taking and offered them a big mouthful in the shape of a black booby and bingo three on the trot.... it's a funny old game! We finished the day with a 6.5 fish rod average |
| Number of Doubles: One lost at the boat |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 8oz to Paul Williams (many others returned) |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Many Caught |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 10lbs 7oz to Jeff Marsden |
| Best Catch: 19 fish fish to Terry Wi;son from Carnforth |
| Patterns: PTN, buzzers, Damsels, nymphs |
| Report for : Monday 28th March by Ben |
| Sport: The wind was almost non-existent today, black buzzers were hatching over all the shallow parts of the reservoir and the trout were rising to sip the small flies from the surface film. Despite the near perfect conditions the fishing was surprisingly tricky but like always there was way! I took to the water this afternoon armed two rods, one with a buzzer set up and one with a sink tip and a team of cormorants. I was feeling pretty confident. Ian Gaskell from Stockport joined me and we set off to gull Island. After missing a few takes on the buzzers I switched to the sink tip and was immediately rewarded with a nice rainbow but just when I thought I had a method it went quiet again. Ian on the other hand was slowly but surely building nice tally, he was fishing a floating line long leader and a size 10 Diawl Bach on the point he had flies on the droppers but they seemed irrelevant as every fish took the point fly. I landed another nice blue (when I eventually copied Ian's method) but he took 8 in just 2 hours. Tucked in behind Willow Island Mr P Broad from Thornton was fishing a large pheasant tail nymph as the point fly on a floating line set up. Mr Broad landed 13 fish and every one came to the PTN on the point. Talking to other anglers they had found the same, Mr Forshaw: 8 fish including a 9lb 8oz rainbow all on a diawl bach fished on the point.... The point fly at the moment is crucial the best options are large diawl bachs, large PTNs of similar drab nymphs. The best retrieve was a slow figure of eight. The rod average today was 4.3 fish per man. |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 10lbs to Richard Brown |
| Best Brown: 10oz to Mr? |
| Best Blue: 3lbs 8oz to Charles Flynn |
| Best Bag: four fish for 10lbs to Mr Foachim? |
| Best Catch: 13 Fish fish to Mr P Broad from Thornton and Nigel Haigh |
| Patterns: Dwial Back, PTNs and buzzers |
| Report for : Tuesday 29th March by Ben |
| Sport: I am very sorry that the report is late. I have just totted up the catch returns and yesterday certainly fished very well. 25 returns showed a 6.1 fish rod average! From the boats the best areas were Willow Island and The Northern Shallows and from the bank Hollins Bay and Bell Point. Once again diawl bachs and buzzers ruled supreme, a big diawl bach or PTN on the point with buzzers on the droppers being the most successful tactic. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4.2 to Shiela Dandridge fron Wigan |
| Best Brown: 1lb 12oz to Ron Owens |
| Best Blue: 5lbs to Rod Landless |
| Best Bag: 10lbs for 4 fish. to Mr Obrien |
| Best Catch: 19 fish fish to Rob Landless |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Damsels |
| Report for : Wednesday 30th March by Peter |
Sport: Today was slightly colder than it has been of late, however the fishing continued in the same vain as late and some exellent scores were recorded.
The best bag went to Ian Ritchie from Chorley, Ian caught staggering 33 fish while fishing from the boat at willow island. He took all these fish on Diawl Bachs and Okeydokey's fished on a floating line.
Keith Landless also took 30 fish on Black Buzzers while fishing in Hollins bay from the bank.
All in all everyone I spoke to had a great days fishing and they all caught fish. For 21 anglers we had a very respectable 7.7 per man rod average.
The weather is due to stay fine tomorrow, with sunny intervals and light winds so don't miss out!
Peter. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 7lbs to W Cambell |
| Best Brown: 1.8lbs to Simon Smith |
| Best Blue: 2.8lbs to Terry Dunleavy |
| Best Bag: 10 lbs to Mike Westercott |
| Best Catch: 33 fish to Ian Rithie |
| Patterns: Dawson's Olive, Montana, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, PTN and Hares Ear |
| Report for : Thursday 31st March by Ben |
| Sport: Today may mark the start of a change in tactics. Buzzers still fished well for some Keith Landless had 17 fish from Bell Point and Hollins Bay to take the top catch off the bank. But else others found the buzzers slightly less productive. Red Holo Diawl Bachs scored well, as did Okey dokeys, bloodworm, Damsels, Black and Green Lures, orange classic fm and Ptns. So the method certainly wasn't as clear-cut as it has been of late. Mick Randle and David Holt found a method that worked extremely well for them. After trying Diawl Bachs and Buzzers with limited success they opted for Okey Dokeys and Hothead black buzzers to knock up tally of 50 fish to the boat with rainbows to 5lbs 8oz and blues to 3lbs 8oz. We are due for a warm southerly wind over the next few days maybe it will restore some order to the methods. We ended the day with a 7.1 fish rod average. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 5lbs 8oz to David Holt |
| Best Brown: 2lbs 8oz to Mr ? |
| Best Blue: 3lbs+ to Stan Waterworth |
| Best Bag: four fish for 11lbs to Rudolph |
| Best Catch: 26 fish fish to Mick Randle |
| Patterns: Red Holo Diawl Bach, Okey Dokeys and Black and Green lures |
| Report for : 1/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: With the wind swinging round to the south today it was quite mild for the most part of the day. The light wind set up a lovely ripple and it looked nice.
Most of the boats headed up to the north end of the reservoir where, with two completely different method's, two boats landed well over 20 fish to the boat. One was fishing black buzzers and catching most of their fish on the droppers at about 3-4 feet while the other fished a DI3 and mini lures fished slowly at about 6-8 feet. Interestingly as one was catching the other was not and vice versa. This shows that the fish were moving up and down quite a lot in the water today. When takes have been quite regular and then dry up, it often pays to try a change of depth before delving in the fly box for the next killer pattern.
The bank fished better this afternoon with the best catches being taken from Hollins bay with a combination of nymphs and buzzers proving their worth once more.
|
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lbs to Mr Cort, Phil Crossley, Mr S Flynn, B Gaskell and Antony Flynn |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lb 8oz to Antony Flynn |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 10lbs to Frank Brindle |
| Best Catch: 20 fish fish to Dave Zalans |
| Patterns: Black buzzers, Mini lures (Various colours), montana and damsel |
| Report for : Saturday 2nd April by Ben |
Sport: The southerly wind didn't last long as it had swung back to the east by mid morning but it remained light and the reservoir fished well. Today Norman Carter tried his hand at fly fishing and proved to be pretty good at it. He hadn't fished before but Stocks regular, Derek Fitchie lent him a rod and a pair of waders and brought him along for the day. The man is a human fish magnet. Derek tried changing his flies but couldn't stop him catching! Norman caught over ten fish on various flies close in to the shore near two trees and just to really rub the salt in he finished his day with a 5lb blue and rainbow that was estimated at 16lbs by the fellow anglers fishing along side. I think its safe to say he's hooked! Jim hunter was also having a good day fishing Ben's Beach. There was big hatch of buzzers and the fish were feeding high in the water, Jim Greased up his leader to make it float and fished three diawl Bachs just under the surface to take fifteen fish and he lost a seven pounder at the net. Greasing up the tippet is a method that is under used when the fish are feeding high; I think that if more people had fish this way today the rod average would have been even higher. Every boat was out on the water today and it has to be said that they out fished the bank with a whopping 7.2 fish rod average. Mr J Dovey from Chester had the highest tally. He was fishing an orange classic fm on a floater in Phil's Flats. The overall rod average for the day was 6.1
Ps. The southerly wind lasted just long enough to bring us the first swallows of the year. Spring is definitely here!
|
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 15lbs+ to Norman Carter from Westbourne |
| Best Brown: 2lb 8oz to Mr M Taylor from Bramhall |
| Best Blue: 5lbs to Norman Carter from Westbourne |
| Best Bag: 12lbs to Colin Gregory and Mr J Dovey |
| Best Catch: 15 fish fish to Jim Hunter and Mr J Dovey from Chester |
| Patterns: Dwial Bachs, Orange Classic FM, Buzzers |
| Report for : 3/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: A much more tricky day today with the weather, whilst mild, being very changeable. Patches of flat calm were then disturbed by breezes that swung round in direction fro NE to SE to W. Brightness gave way to hazy gave way to grey and back again.
Top rod Peter Andrews scored 20 to his boat fishing Black buzzers around Willow Island and the Northern Shore. A change of tactic was noticeable on the boats today with other good catches being taken with drab lures or black boobies fished just sub surface. The boats out fished the bank by nearly 2 to 1 today proving that on tricky days it helps to be able to cover more water.
However as I say that there were one or two Bank anglers who sussed it today. Mr A Robbins landed 19 fish on the bank including a nice 4lb 8oz Rainbow and a lovely 4lb Blue. His top patterns were a Green Fritz on the point and a black spider and a Whiskey fly on the droppers. He fished round from Bell point and along Ben's beach using a floating line and a steady retrieve.
So all in all a good day was had. But........ I have one little thing I would like to say... Please, Please, Please, Please, Please fill in your returns and put them in the box. Not only are they invaluable in writing these reports, but also they are essential to the management of the fishery.
Now I am not mentioning any names here of those whom I know did not put their returns in today, (Mr Beaumont, Mr Morris, Mr Sutton, Mr Turner, Mr Wakeman) some of them even told me that they had! Please, please put your returns in the box guy's. Many Thanks Phil
|
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lb 8ozs to Mr A Robbins & Mrs Worswick |
| Best Brown: 2lb 8oz to Stuart Campbell |
| Best Blue: 5lb to Mr Worswick |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 14lbs to Mr Worswick |
| Best Catch: 20 fish to Peter Andrews |
| Patterns: Black Buzzer, Mini Orange lure, Black spider, yellow, white and green fritz |
| Report for : 04/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: It was quite choppy on the water today. The wind was SW all day and it was a lazy one!
Geroge Ashton thought he was in for the day of all days when he hooked and landed a 12lb 4oz rainbow first cast from his boat. It took a black buzzer behind Willow Island. George went on to land another 13 fish, most of which fell to the black buzzer. Norman Fanshaw was top rod today with 21 fish to the boat, an outstanding catch in akward conditions. He was fishing a team Diawl Bach's on a floater. Norman took most of his fish from round Willow Island as well.
A frustrating day was had on the bank by Jim Hunter who roamed far and wide in search of his quarry and dispite hooking 9 fish in a row he failed to land any of them!! (check those rubber hooks I put in your box Jim! :p) Speak to you all again tomorrow, Phil |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 12lb 4oz to George Ashton |
| Best Brown: 2lbs to Norman Fanshaw & S Whittaker |
| Best Blue: 2lb 8oz to S Whittaker, Norman Fanshaw, John Clegg and George Ashton |
| Best Bag: 1 fish for 12lb 4oz to Geroge Ashton |
| Best Catch: 21 fish to Norman Fanshaw |
| Patterns: Black Buzzer, Diawl Bach and Damsel |
| Report for : 5/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: What can I say... If yesterdays wind was lazy, this one never got out of bed! Here's hoping that winter is having its final say and that the weather can only improve from here on in!
It was bitter in the wind chill today, but those who braved it were rewarded. A rod average of 6.92 with the best catch of 16 fish coming from the bank to Peter Cowan who took the majority of his fish on a hares ear with a little white tail. From the boats Dave Thompson took the honours for the day with the biggest Rainbow and Blue and the heaviest bag. Dave took his 13 fish from the front of Willow Island where every single fish he caught came to a damsel fished on an intermediate with a slow figure 8 retrieve.
|
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 5lbs 8oz to Dave Thompson |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lb 8oz to Dave Thompson |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 14lbs to Dave Thompson |
| Best Catch: 16 Fish fish to Peter Cowan |
| Patterns: Damsels, Hares Ear and Cats whisker |
| Report for : Wednesday 6th April by Ben |
| Sport: The wind and rain kept all but hardiest of anglers away today and with the conditions deteriorating further over the course of the day it was the early birds that had the best of the sport. The morning fished very well with some big catches being taken from Hollins bay but as the day progressed the wind got stronger and the heavy rain started. Although the rain kept breaking to give long dry periods it still put enough down to lift the water level by two feet. Ray Entwhistle scored well in a morning session he caught twenty fish, two of which were tagged so he received two prizes. Ray fished a black and green lure on a floater. Ray Mercer also caught a tagged trout along with fourteen others to take the second biggest catch of the day. Both Rays were fishing in Hollins Bay. By the end of the day 13 Hardy anglers caught 71 fish giving a rod average of 5.5 fish. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 2oz to Peter Cowan from Scunthorpe |
| Best Brown: 3lbs to Mike Walker from Scunthorpe |
| Best Blue: 2lbs 8oz to Tim Taylor from Lytham |
| Best Bag: 3 fish 8lbs 8oz to Peter Cowan from Scunthorpe |
| Best Catch: 20 fish fish to Ray Entwistle |
| Patterns: Dawsons olive, Damsels, Buzzers & Black and green lures |
| Report for : Thursday 7th April by Ben |
| Sport: Today's weather was typical of April, all four seasons in the space of an hour! It was lovely and warm during long sunny spells this afternoon, the odd trout was sipping buzzers from the surface and then from nowhere a hailstorm arrived with stones capable of causing serious injury to the newly arrived willow warblers. On the whole the conditions were far better than yesterday and the water level has just about stopped rising. A hatch of buzzers kept feeding trout occupied the hail storm crippled a lot of hatching flies on the surface and after it had passed there was a great rise. Bill Orrell was fishing in Hollins Bay, he was hoping for a trout with a green tag to go with orange and yellow ones (if he is successful he will receive one of the fly rods donated by Fulling Mill, Vision and Masterline) He failed to get the tagged one today but more than made up for it with a cracking 13lb 12oz specimen Rainbow. Bill got into the fish near Bell Point whilst fishing a black tadpole on a slow retrieve. It made a blistering run going deep into his backing, lucky for Bill it turned back towards the shore and after a dogged fight it was finally netted by Jim Hunter who had been fishing near by. Out on the boats Mr Charsworth was working his way along the Northern Shore fishing tight into the Willows when something very solid took his damsel on the point and immediately made for the trees. After an arm aching fight a beautifully proportioned 9lb rainbow finally succumbed to the net. Keith and Rob Landless were fishing their teams of buzzers in Hollins Buy and one or the other of them seemed to be reaching for the net all afternoon. Keith took the best catch of the day an impressive twenty fish taken in changeable conditions. With one boat still out on the water the rod average so far is 6.6 fish a man |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 13lbs 12oz to Bill Orrell from Chipping |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Stan Waterworth from Bury |
| Best Bag: 1 fish for 13lbs 12oz to Bill Orrell from Chipping |
| Best Catch: 20 fish fish to Kieth Landless |
| Patterns: Damsels, Black taddpoles, Diawl Bachs, Buzzers |
| Report for : 08/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: I think I'll let the comments on the returns cover the weather for you today.... Thank goodness it is a better forecast for the weekend.
Ben Bayliss "I can't feel my Fingers"
Adam Larbelestier "Horizontal Snow"
Bill Orrell "Good fishing - Bitterly Cold"
Got the picture.. add to this a wind that didn't know where to come from and it looked like a tough day in store. Ben & Adam went up to Grindy's lawn first thing but after struggling with the swirling wind over the dam moved into Hollins Bay. There was some shelter here and they were able to get a drift going. They quickly found fish and before the session was over they had landed 21 to the boat. From the bank a Cats Whisker took 14 fish for Mr Barnes, but Jim Hunter took top rod with 30 fish in all. Most of which fell to a team of Diawl Bachs although a damsel accounted for a few savage takes that Jim hooked up. Jim took his fish as he worked the bank Between Two Trees and Bell Point.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 8oz to Ben Bayliss |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Jim Hunter |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 8lbs 6oz to Mr Dryden |
| Best Catch: 30 Fish fish to Jim Hunter |
| Patterns: Diawl Bach, Cats Whisker & Black Lure |
| Report for : 9/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: Despite a stiff Westerly the fish could be seen regularly feeding in the wave.
Karl Seddon fished a sedgehog on top to tempt 6 of these fish from the boat at Davy Jones. Karl converted two of these takes and lost another at the net.
But by far the most effective method today, accounting for some 50+ fish by 5 anglers, was dead drifting a team of diawl bachs or mixed with buzzers on the droppers. Just cast out, straighten up and let the wind do the rest, and if you don't get any interest quite quickly, move on a few yards and try again.
Mr M Watson took top Rainbow with a 4lb fish from Hartley's. It fell to a Black buzzer fished behind a Diawl Bach on the point. This was one of 14 fish each to Mr M Watson and Mr G Watson from Barnsley. Hartley's, Bell Point and Hollins Bay were the hot spots for today.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lb to Mr M Watson |
| Best Brown: 2lbs to Jim Hunter |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Mr G Watson |
| Best Bag: 3 Fish for 8lb 4oz to Mr M Watson |
| Best Catch: 16 fish to Jim Hunter |
| Patterns: Buzzers and Diawl Bach's |
| Report for : Sunday 10th April by Ben |
| Sport: The Northwest fly fishers fished the water today. 16 of them took to the water with a sweepstake on the best fish and bag. They caught a variety of methods from diawl Bachs to lures and they had a 4.5 fish rod average to the club. Now I have to confess that I have misplaced the name of the angler that won the pot. He caught a 10lb 9oz rainbow and had a total bag weight of 16lbs 8oz. The big rainbow took an orange lure in Newclose Bay. If any of the party read this e-mail please send me his name and address, as he is in the 2005 doubles club! At the start of the day we were recommending Diawl Bachs and buzzers to all, as they had fished extremely well on Saturday. However some anglers were quick to realise that things had changed. Alistair Beaumont and Dave Morris fished the nymphs for half an hour or so with limited success, so Alistair switched to a sinker and opened the lure box. After two casts he had two fish so Dave changed as well. Now that they had the method they kept on the move fishing the East Bank, Curry's Cast, Newclose bay, Willow Island, in fact I think the only place they didn't go was the Dam. The caught pretty much everywhere but did find some hot spots along the way. They ended the day with 61 fish to their boat. It just shows that if it isn't happening its best to change. From the shore Dave Salons fished his way back from the East Bank to take 17 fish, the best catch from the shore. All his fish took a gold head White Classic FM fished close in to the shore on a floater. One strange thing did happen today. Boat anglers saw a man walking up from Grindy's Lawn with a very big fish. The head and tail were sticking out of either end of his bass bag. We have no record of this fish on the catch returns. So if you know who this angler is please let us know we would love to know how big the fish was. He was described as tall slim with glasses and was a very good caster. |
| Number of Doubles: 1 or 2? |
| Best Rainbow: 10lbs 9oz to Mr ? |
| Best Brown: 2lbs to Mark Broughton from Lytham |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Numerous caught |
| Best Bag: Four fish for 16lbs 8oz to |
| Best Catch: 34 fish fish to Alistair Beaumont from Lancaster |
| Patterns: Mainly Orange or White Lures and Some people Diawl Bachs |
| Report for : 11/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: First of all my apologies for the lateness of this report.... However we had a couple of nighttime visitors who had no rod licences and no day tickets and using worms in the bird sanctuary!! So we, with the help of our local constabulary, asked them politely to leave :)
It was a very windy day yesterday with gusts upward of 25 mph. Again depth seemed to be the key today. Keith Landless caught 15 fish using buzzers and a floating line while Frank Hartley used a sinking line and nymphs to land 14. The thing that they had in common was the depth of their flies was about 6-8 feet. Roger and Shelia were top boat with 10 to the boat. A good number of which fell to a white classic FM on the point. Top spots were Bell Point and the front of Gull Island
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 10lbs est. to Mr Jones |
| Best Brown: 1lb 8oz to Eric Coates |
| Best Blue: 3lbs 8oz to Tony Plant |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 10lbs to Mr J Baron |
| Best Catch: 15 fish fish to Keith Landless |
| Patterns: Black Buzzer, Diawl Bach and Classic FM. |
| Report for : 12/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: Mr Anderton had a red-letter day today. He caught a total of 24 fish from the bank. He used a variety of flies of which Buzzers and Cats Whisker proved the most effective. Using a floating line Mr Anderton worked the shoreline from Barn Quarry round to Grange Point picking up fish all the way round. The Biggest of his fish was a Silver Rainbow at an est. 6lb 8oz. This fish was returned to fight another day.
Sheila Dandridge was top rod from the boats with 6 fish to the net. The front of Willow Island was the best area for Sheila and her favourite white Classic FM did the trick again, tempting the majority of her fish.
It was a pleasant day with a milder wind than of late blowing a steady Westerly most of the day. There was just enough sun about to keep the chill away but not too much to send the fish down.
I am going for a do myself tomorrow so I'll let you all know how I get on tomorrow, but please be kind to me if I blank :)
Phil |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 5lb to Bill Orrell And Mike Hiscock |
| Best Brown: 8oz to Edwin Murgatroyd |
| Best Blue: 3lb 8oz to Rob Landless |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 10lbs 4oz to Mr Furness |
| Best Catch: 24 fish fish to Mr Anderton |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Cats whisker and Classic FM |
| Report for : Wednesday April 13th by Ben |
Sport: The wind was variable today. It has blown from all directions but remained extremely light and for long periods it dropped away to nothing. The trout have been gorging on buzzers all day; they were hatching off the water in numbers from start to finish. The top rod on the boats was Jim Hunter who fished off the front of Gull Island and the in the Northern Shallows. He fished a team of small diawl bachs and took most of his twenty fish haul on a size 14 drab diawl Bach on his middle dropper. On the shore rising fish were teasing the anglers and proving a bit tricky to tempt. Ray Entwistle was the most successful with 17 fish to the net close followed by Ray Mercer who landed 11. I'm not sure how Ray Entwistle was fishing but I know that Ray Mercer fished from Hollins Bay to Bell Point with White and Black Lures.
Phil and Peter took to the water for a couple of hours after lunch and there was definitely a competitive edge to this trip. Phil was armed with an intermediate line, a blob, a hare's ear and a viva on the point. Peter went with the floater and Diawl Bachs. They both returned 2 hours later, still good mates I'm glad to say, The score was 5-3 to Phil. Peter says that it was my fault for giving him the wrong fly for his top dropper. I think there will be many rematches to follow! The day ended with a rod average just shy of 6 fish a man.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 4lbs 8oz to Ray Entwhistle from Clitheroe |
| Best Brown: A few Wildies upto 1lbs to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Jim Hunter |
| Best Bag: 2 for 5lbs 8oz to Ray Entwhistle |
| Best Catch: 20 fish fish to Jim Hunter |
| Patterns: Diawl Bachs, Black lures |
| Report for : Thursday 14th April by Ben |
| Sport: It was very wet this morning there was a nip in the air but by lunchtime it had faired up and warmed up a bit. Once again there was a good hatch of buzzers and the trout porposing through the waves picking off crippled shucks as they tried to hatch off. Keith landless had sixteen fish none of which were netted as he simply removes the hook whilst the fish is in the water. Keith caught these fishing a black tadpole and buzzer combination. Out on the boats Fred Bainbridge and his boat partner were catching plenty I Know that between them they had about thirty to the boat but I don't know the tactics as he didn't hand a return in but they certainly covered some ground fishing all over the Reservoir. Fred had two doubles today the first was 11lbs 1oz and the second was 13lbs 6oz (Pictured at the bottom of this page). The rod average for the day was 7.4 fish per man |
| Number of Doubles: 2 |
| Best Rainbow: 13lbs 6oz to Fred Bainbridge |
| Best Brown: 8oz to Stan Waterworth |
| Best Blue: 3lbsMr P Norcross to Mr P Norcross from Widness |
| Best Bag: four fish for 10lbs 8oz to Mr P Norcross from Widness |
| Best Catch: 16 fish to Ken Landless |
| Patterns: Black Tadpoles, Buzzers, Blobs |
| Report for : 15/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: With the first stock of browns going in today, a cold Northern wind dominated the scene.
The civil service held their annual fish off today and were well attend with 37 anglers turning up to do battle. Most of them set off to find a bit of shelter on this western bank from Two Trees round to Grange Point. The eventual winner was Tom Hogg with only one fish for the day....a 13lb 3oz Rainbow! Second place went to Colin Eastwood with 2 good fish for 12lb 12oz and Third went to Andy Robinson with a bag weighing 10lb 14oz. Well done to all those who took part and congratulations to the winners.
From the Boats Jeremy Lucas took top rod for the day with 20 fish to the boat. The best area for Jeremy and his boat partner, Mr Minnikin who took 14 trout, was the top end around Willow Island and Phil's Flats. The Best method today was to have a Black or white lure on the point and then nymphs, diawl bach's or buzzers on the droppers and a steady retreive with an occasional change of speed to induce those following fish to have a go. |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 13lb 3oz to Tom Hogg |
| Best Brown: 2lb 8oz to Jeremy Lucas |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Jeremy Lucas & Mark Broughton |
| Best Bag: 1 fish for 13lb 3oz to Tom Hogg |
| Best Catch: 20 fish to Jeremy Lucas |
| Patterns: Diawl Bachs, Black or White Lures |
| Report for : 16/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: It was indeed a game of two halves today. In the morning it was predominatley buzzers and nymphs that did the trick. As the day progressed sinking lines and lures were the method. Black buzzers and black or olive lures (tadpoles or damsels or similar not too big)were the pick of the best patterns.
Peter Andrews and Nigel Haigh shared a boat for the morning and had 20+ fish to the boat all on buzzers and nymphs despite the cold wind. They told me that the fish were well spread along the north shore from the limit of fishing to the causeway. Newclose Bay fished well from the bank producing the best Blue (4lb) of the day for Mr Gifford. This can often be a neglected area from the bank but is well worth putting on your hiking boots and making the 20 min walk to get there for some fantastic sport.
Welcome to our newest member of the Doubles Club, Stuart Campbell, who landed a lovely 12lb 4oz Rainbow. This trout fell to an Olive Fritz off the front of Gull Island. I promise that the missing pictures from the Doubles Club Rouges Gallery will go up tomorrow....... as soon as me and Ben can figure out this D**n computer! |
| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 12lb 4oz to Stuart Campbell |
| Best Brown: 2lb 12oz to Mr Ploughright |
| Best Blue: 4lb to Mr Gifford |
| Best Bag: 3 fish for 18lb 8oz to Stuart Campbell |
| Best Catch: 20 fish to Peter Andrews |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Damsels and Black Tadpoles. |
| Report for : Sunday 17th April by Ben |
Sport: The wind switched early this morning to a light South Easterly and the conditions looked good for the Yorkshire Eliminator competition which saw twenty of the regions finest take to the water to try and qualify for the final which will be held at the end of the year on Rutland Water. The boats were well spread from the start, about half went north to the Willows and Gull Island and half remained in and around Hollins bay. As a bunch they fished extremely well they caught 193 trout giving them a rod average of 9.65 fish. The rules were that they took the first four fish caught and then they were awarded 2lbs for every fish returned thereafter. There were places in the final for the top four rods and the Results were as follows.
1st Fred Bainbridge 27 fish 54lbs 6oz
2nd Billy Thompson 18
3rd David Mee 16
4th John Sutton 11
Jeremy Lucas who had 19 fish, Stuart Minnakin who had 16 fish and Andrew Szoradi who had 14 fish did not realize that they had to be back on the jetty for 5pm and their late return left the organizers with no choice but to disqualify them. This was very tough, as all of them had fished extremely well, but the rules do have to be carried out to the letter. The Winner Fred Bainbridge fished a blob on the dropper with a damsel on the point to take a very convincing win catching 9 fish more than his nearest rival. This the third year in a row that he has won this event not bad going considering the stiff competition. The overall rod average for the day was 6.63
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| Number of Doubles: 1 |
| Best Rainbow: 11lbs + to Stuart Minnakin |
| Best Brown: 2-3lbs to Many were caught |
| Best Blue: 3lbs 6oz to John Sutton |
| Best Bag: 9lbs 11oz to William Paul |
| Best Catch: 27 fish fish to Fred Bainbridge |
| Patterns: Buzzers, Blobs and Damsels |
| Report for : 18/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: Spring is definatley on its way, even if it is not quite here yet!
There are a few swallows around taking flies from the water and the trees are greening up nicely (bring on that Hawthorn Blossom).
This Morning we had the first of our annual visting Osprey's. It was hunting up and down Hartley's and fishing by the jetty this morning, but with the seagulls never giving it a moments peace it soon retired to the top end somewhere.
The fishing was good today, but with no boats out the rod average was 3 fish per rod. The Wind started from the NE but swung right round to the SE by mid morning. The best patterns were Buzzers, damsels and White Lures. Bell point fished best although Grindy's Lawn held some fish for Graham Kennily fishing buzzers under a bung. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 8oz to Bill Orrell |
| Best Brown: None to |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Graham Kennily |
| Best Bag: n/a to |
| Best Catch: 5 fish to Graham Kennily |
| Patterns: Buzzer |
| Report for : 19/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: A strong cold Easterly coupled with bright sunshine made for testing conditions today.
Bell Point was the best spot for Rob Landless who was top rod with 9 fish. Rob caught most of his fish on black buzzers drifted on the wind. His best fish was a stunning 5lb 8oz Blue Trout which gave him a good run around before allowing its self to be brought in and released.
Mr Jobson from North Seaton put himself in pole position for the Duncan Hesketh Trophy today with a magnificent 8lb 14oz Brown trout. Mr Jobson was fishing a slow intermediate line through the waves at Curry's cast with a viva on the point when this trout took hold and screamed off. This fish had obviously been in for a while as all the fins were full and mended. Its tail must have measured 8 inches from tip to tip and it had a mouth that would have made short work of any minnow careless enough to get in range.
The rod average for the day was 3.29. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 8oz to Mr Meridith |
| Best Brown: 8lb14oz to Mr Jobson |
| Best Blue: 5lb 8oz to Rob Landless |
| Best Bag: 14lb 12oz to Mr Jobson |
| Best Catch: 9 fish to Rob Landless |
| Patterns: Viva, Buzzer & Black Leech |
| Report for : Wednesday 20th April by Ben |
| Sport: We will be glad to see the back of this Easterly wind tomorrow as it certainly cooled down the sport today. With all the rain of late the water level is back to brim full which bodes well for the coming months. Today Hollins Bay to Bell point was the definite hot spot accounting for the two best catches Rudolph fished a black fritz, white classic fm and an orange palmer to take nine, whilst Ray Entwhistle fished a variety of lures to take eight. The boats struggled a bit today in the difficult wind, but the one thing that is crucial when boat fishing after the water level has just risen is to cast to the shore. The trout feed right in the edges over the newly flooded ground. Tomorrow sees the return of the warm more clement weather so the fishing should quickly return to more imitative methods and the sport should hot up once more. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs to Rudolph |
| Best Brown: 2lb 8oz to Elwyn Griffiths |
| Best Blue: 2lbs 4oz to Elwyn Griffiths |
| Best Bag: 10lbs 8oz for 4 fish. to Rudolph |
| Best Catch: 9 fish fish to Rudolph |
| Patterns: Black Tadpoles |
| Report for : 21/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: With the weather warming up today there was fly life on the water again. Fish were showing their noses all over, in particular at the dam and in Hollins Bay. Despite this the best catch of the day was taken on a sunk line with a black and green on the point and an orange blob on the top dropper. Igor Biluba caught 22 fish using this method. His top area's were Grindy's Lawn and the Back of Willow Island. Paul Tayor and his brother Tim took 28 to the boat in an afternoon session using nymphs, buzzers and bumbles. They foun that Hollins Bay and Ben's Beach fished best.
From the bank Ray Entwhistle was top Rod with 15 fish. Ray fished a floating line with a weighted Olive point fly to take everything down just that little bit.
With the forecast for the rest of the week to remain warm with sunshine we can expect more surface activity as the insects start to hatch in earnest (I saw my first olive of the season today). We will keep you posted as to what is out there.
Phil |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 9lb 12oz to Nick Halstead |
| Best Brown: 3lbs to Igor Biluba |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Igor Biluba, Mr Ballard & Mr Leaver |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 14lbs to Igor Biluba |
| Best Catch: 22 fish to Igor Biluba |
| Patterns: Orange Blob, Diawl Bach and Damsels |
| Report for : 22/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: What a beautiful morning, so good in fact I had to go and have a couple of hours myself! I jumped in a boat with Rob Landless and we headed up to Grindy's. The stiff Easterly was still on the water making the drift very quick without a drogue (that's the last time I leave the jetty without one!), but we both managed a fish each from two drifts there. After that we headed round in to Newclose Bay. We did a series of short drifts on to Eaking Shallows where Rob took another nice fish on his Black Woolly Bugger. I picked up one more from the front of Willow Island and we both dropped one from behind the island. Those of you who know my preferred fishing style will have no difficulty in guessing which fly I caught my two on...... those of you who don't will just have to ask me next time you are here! :)
The day really belonged to Charles Flynn who took top rod with 13 fish. Charles fished a floating line with a Montana on the point, which accounted for most of his fish. He worked his way along Ben's Beach (Also a good spot for several other anglers today) until he got round the corner to Beetles Drop. With the wind blowing right to left across him, Charles was able to drift his line round nicely before retrieving. Beetle's Drop was definitely the hot spot for the day.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs 8oz to Mr N Shaw |
| Best Brown: 4lb to Mr N Shaw |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Mr Meecham |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 9lb to Mr P Gaskell, Mr Meecham & Mr Horsfield |
| Best Catch: 13 fish to Charles Flynn |
| Patterns: Damsel, Montana and orange nymph |
| Report for : 23/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: What can I say.... Love the sunshine hate, that Easterly! It was still with us today and blowing strong again. But Despite these testing conditions everyone seemed to have a good day. The role call of honour for those who were outstanding today is as Follows:
Dave Morris Top Rod with 19 fish.
Malcolm Hunter 12lb 5oz Rainbow.
Steven Amos 10lb 12oz Rainbow. (Welcome to the Doubles Club both).
The best looking fish of the day undoubtedly belongs to Gavin Murray with his stunning 7lb 12oz Brown Trout in immaculate condition. Picture to follow.
The key to today seemed to be to follow the wind and let it lead you to fish. Anywhere where the wind pushed into a corner (e.g. the dam, Corner of Newclose bay and Hollins bay) or in the lee of the island's or the East Bank there were fish to be had. In the slack water buzzers and diawl bach's were best whilst in the waves Cats whisker and Damsels fished just below were favourite. The rod average for the day was just shy of 5 fish per rod from both bank and boat.
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| Number of Doubles: 2 |
| Best Rainbow: 12lb 5oz to Malcom Hunter |
| Best Brown: 7lb 12oz to Gavin Murray |
| Best Blue: 3lb 8oz to Dilwyn Parry |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 11lb to Jim Baron |
| Best Catch: 19 fish to Dave Morris |
| Patterns: Viva, Buzzer, Cats Whisker and Damsels |
| Report for : Sunday 24th April by Ben |
Sport: Today was a beautiful April day with bright sunshine and a light wind that had lost all but a trace of its cold bite. However these conditions are not the best for catching large bags of trout and the fishing was definitely trickier than of late. On the bank Windermere anglers were taking on Horwich Anglers in a head to head fishing match. It was very well attended 44 anglers representing Windermere and 35 representing Horwich. They all fished very well in tricky conditions to catch a total of 206 fish. The way the match was decided was based on the average weight of fish caught by the members of the two clubs. The Windermere angler's averaged 4lbs per man and the Horwich anglers averaged 5lbs 13oz so the trophy goes their way this year.
The fishing was tricky on the boats as well, we were just short of a bit of cloud cover and during the rare occasions where a cloud did block out the sun the trout were quick to the surface, feeding on the buzzers that were hatching off and when the sun finally sunk down towards the horizon in the evening the remaining anglers enjoyed a cracking hour with fish rising all over the water. Tim Taylor and brother Paul came for an evening session, they timed their visit perfectly taking 20 fish to their boat during the evening rise. They caught nearly all their fish on bumbles fished back though the surface. The top catch of the day went to junior angler James Fisher who fished from Barn Quarry to Hollins Bay again he found it by far the most productive in the evening. He was striping back small tadpoles on a floating line and covering rising fish when the chance came up, most of his sixteen fish took a black taddy but he did catch on other colours. James certainly lived up to his name! The Hot spots were Barn Quarry, Grindy's, Ben's Beach, Gull Island and Phil's Flats.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 8lbs to Steven Prior |
| Best Brown: 2lbs 14oz to E. Holcroft |
| Best Blue: 3lbs 6oz to F Mercer |
| Best Bag: Four fish for12lbs 8oz to Rob Collins from Prescot |
| Best Catch: 16 fish fish to James Fisher from Chatburn |
| Patterns: Black taddy, Dawsons Olive, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs |
| Report for : 25/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: White was the colour of choice to day with all the top catches falling to flies with white in them, Classic FM and Cats Whisker being the favourite patterns.
There was the obligatory Easterly again today, but with the forecast set to change direction tomorrow maybe that will be the last of it for a while. It was bright and choppy on the water and the fish were down, well below the wave.
Bell Point was the best area for Tony Newall who landed one first cast and dropped another second cast off the point. Sheila Dandridge got her fist one out of Hollins Bay but also found fish in the lee of Bell Point to end the day with 4.
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| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 3lbs to Rodger Dandridge |
| Best Brown: n/a to |
| Best Blue: n/a to |
| Best Bag: 4 fish for 9lb to Tony Newall |
| Best Catch: 4 fish to Sheila Dandridge, Tony Newall and Mr E Murgatroy |
| Patterns: White Classic FM, Cats Whsker & Buzzers. |
| Report for : 26/04/05 by Phil |
Sport: Mr Haughton had one of those rosey days when you can do no wrong. He told me that it almost didn't matter what fly he put on or where he cast his line, there was a trout lying in wait.
Mr Haughton started his day up by Grange Point and fished, with the wind at his back, right round in to Barn Quarry. He landed a total of 17 fish including the best rainbow of the day. Buzzers, Montana, GRHE and Black Fritz all caught fish for Mr Haughton, but the Hares Ear (with and with out a gold head)proved effective for several other anglers.
Ken Whiteside was top rod from the boats with eight in an afternoon. His best area's were the front of Gull Island and Willow Island. Ken's Top Pattern was his own tied Black & Red Cormorant. |
| Number of Doubles: 0 |
| Best Rainbow: 6lb est to Mr Houghton |
| Best Brown: 2lb 4oz to Mr Wilmot |
| Best Blue: 3lb to John Clegg |
| Best Bag: four fish for 11lbs to Mr Foster |
| Best Catch: 17 fish to Mr Houghton |
| Patterns: Hares Ear, Buzzers and Cormorant |
| Report for : 27/4/2005 by Peter |
| Sport: Well thankfully this morning the wind had changed from a dreaded easterly to a pleasant southwesterly and most anglers enjoyed some excellent fishing. Duncan Hesketh was the first to arrive and found a pod of rising fish in bens beach, He took two lovely fish at 3lb 8ozs each and was back in the lodge for his 10 o'clock cup of tea! Off the bank there was some good scores recorded, Mr Butcher took 15 fish on black buzzers and Mr Garrett took 12 fish on a tups indispensable from barn quarry, also Keith Landless landed a double figure rainbow, which was witnessed and estimated around 12lbs before being returned. Off the boats Steve Smalley and John Driver took 20fish to there boat using cats and viva's fished on Di3 lines. After there outing John explained how he'd just broken his new Hardy Swift and he also had to purchase another Di3 line from our shop, but the less said about that the better I think!! Also John Calvert and Phil Burgess took 19 fish to there boat using Di3 lines with Dabblers, Diawl Bachs and bibio's including a whopping 13lb Rainbow (rtd) which fell to John's rod. Tomorrow's Forecast isn't great but the fishing prospects should be good if today is anything to go by. Tight Lines, Peter. |
| Number of Doubles: 2 |
| Best Rainbow: 13lbs to John Calvert |
| Best Brown: 2lbs to Phil Burgess |
| Best Blue: 3lbs to Steve Garrett |
| Best Bag: 10lb 12ozs to Mr C Edwards |
| Best Catch: 15 fish to Mr Butcher |
| Patterns: Cats, Black Tadpole, Buzzers, Diawl Bachs and Bibio |
| Report for : Thursday 28th April 2005 by Peter |
Sport: This morning conditions looked good with a light south-westerly wind and overcast skies, however by 1 o'clock the gale force winds arrived making casting very awkward from the bank and the boats. Four anglers shared the top rod from the bank with 5 fish each for the day, One of these anglers was Bill Orrell and his bag included two stunning Browns, one around 5lb and one around 6lb. Bill took these fish on his own secret pattern called a Cyril using an intermediate line.
The best bag of the day went to Neil Stuart Fishing from the boat in Hollins Bay, he took 9fish on a Black and gold Humungus fished on a floating line with a long leader.
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