Fly Fishing Reports

Date                Saturday 16th May 2009
Report by                Pete
Best Catch                12 fish for Bob Fitzpatrick
Best Bag Weighed in                 4 fish for 13lb 5oz by Colin Gibbons
Best Rainbow                  7lb 13oz by Colin Gibbons
Best Brown    Several fish over 2lb 8oz

Boat Rod Average    2.9 fish per angler
Sport:  Today we held the second heat of the Lexus Team events. This is the final day of competition for this year.
1st place went to the Stocks Harriers with Bob Fitzpatrick putting in a sterling performance with 12 fish on what was a difficult day the team had a total of 28 fish weighing in at 61lb 3oz. In a very close second were Greys G-Tec Stocks on 1lb 6oz behind with 59lb 13oz but with 29 fish. In 3rd were Stocks Hawks with 19 fish for 40lb 9oz. In the final qualifying place just beating the peregrines on total weight were the Stocks Badgers with 14 fish for 34lb 12oz helped by a 7lb 13oz rainbow to Colin Gibbons and a 5lb 2oz rainbow to England youth angler Tom Gott. All the anglers found the conditions a little tricky today with the wind turning 180 degrees this morning and some cold water going in over night. With the weather a little more settled over the coming days the fishing should pick up. See you in the lodge Pete

Results Lexus Team Day Two (PDF)

See Report below for day 1, 2, and 3 results

Date               Friday 15th May 2009
Report by                Matthew
Best Catch                11 fish for Iain Jones
Best Bag Weighed in                 4 fish for 20lb 5oz for Ian Dickinson
Best Rainbow                  14lb for Ian Dickinson
Best Brown    Several fish over 2lb 8oz

Boat Rod Average    4.8 fish per angler
Sport:  Today we held the first heat of the Lexus Team events. Two heats are to be held on Stocks with the second being tomorrow.
1st place went to the Stocks Falcons with a true team effort. For those of you who don’t know the Falcons team consists of Ian Ritchie, Sir Bob Cooper, Ian Gaskell, Ian Greenwood and our very own Paul and Ben! Between them they put on incredible performance with 39 fish giving them a team average of 6.5. They weighed in 81lb 9oz of quality trout, good effort guys!!
With a combined effort of 35 fish the Ospreys came in a close second, incidentally Iain Jones was the top rod on the day with 11 fish. The team put on a sterling show and one that Davy would have been proud of.
Captain Peter Kirk guided the star ship team Enterprise in to 3rd place with 28 fish. Again a real team effort with Stocks legend Frank Hartley giving the team 9 fish! Good angling Frank!
On another note the weather looks to be taking a turn for the better and as I type this now the reservoir is lifting with rising fish! It’s well worth a visit this weekend!
Tight lines Matthew

The Stocks Falcons taking top spot honours!

Results Lexus Team Day One (PDF)

Results Lexus Individual Day Two (PDF)

Results for Lexus Individual Day One (PDF)

Date        Thursday May 14th.
Report by        Paul.
Best Catch        12 trout for Ian Ritchie.
Best Bag Weighed in        4 fish for 18lbs 12oz Carl Nixon.
Best Rainbow         15lbs 8oz Terry Wilson.
Best Brown        Several 2lb 8oz.
Bank Average        fish per angler
Boat Rod Average        5.5 fish per angler.
Doubles:        3 Doubles.
Sport: Today saw the any line day of the Lexus individual competition and there were some great catches made. Here are the results. Top rod today went to Ian Ritchie who showed his class to land 12 trout for a total weight including bonuses of 25lb 8oz, well done Ian. In second place was Keith Mcadam who landed 11 fish. Keiths catch weighed in at 23lb. Third place went to Carl Nixon with 10 fish weighing in at 22lb 8oz so as you can see it was quite tight at the top. Carls bag included a super 15lb rainbow that took some landing by all accounts. Positions 4-7 all landed 9 fish so it was a close competition. The wild card went to Terry Wilson who landed a giant 15lb 8oz rainbow which books him a place in the final, well done Terry. Thanks go to all anglers who took part and made this a great comp. The first of the team days start tomorrow. Photos will be posted tomorrow. See you on the water Paul.

Date                Wednesday 13th May 2009
Report by                Matthew
Best Catch                14 fish for Rob Denson
Best Bag Weighed in                 4 fish for 20lb 6oz for Paul Kitchen
Best Rainbow                  3lb 10oz John Allen
Best Brown    14lb 3oz Paul kitchen
Bank Average    5.4 fish per angler
Boat Rod Average    4.6 fish per angler
Sport:  Today we held the first heat of the Lexus European championships. The first heat is a floating line day and with a stiff easterly breeze true class shone through.
Rob Denson took the first place spot with an incredible 14 fish! As it was international rules well executed drogue usages was paramount. Rob fished traditional wets in a team of three with the Northern end of the reservoir been his hot spot. Milan Hladik took second place with a very credible 11 fish. Not too far behind was Stocks G tec member Nick Halstead with 10 fish.  Billy Thompson took 4th spot with 9; Richard Hood missed out on 4th spot by just a pound or so however 5th place is some going! 6th spot went to Kenny Miller with 7 fish, Sam Bailey put in a fine performance just beating Bob Cooper to 7th place.
The nature of the completion has a wild card qualifier and Paul Kitchen took that with dramatic style! A specimen Brown of 14lb 3oz! The picture below doesn’t do the fish justice it was one of the finest fish of the year!
Although only one wild card was issued Malcolm Brown came pretty close with his Brownie also a stunner weighing 13lb 4oz!
On the banking away from the competition brothers Ian and Nigel Shaw had 19 fish between them on a half-day session! They both found the fish along Bens Beach with black and green Montana’s fished slowly on fast sinking lines doing the trick! Good angling guys.
Tight lines Matthew

Lexus winners day one

Paul Kithens brownie

Malcolm Browns Brownie

No report tonight.
I would like to say a fond farewell to one of England’s fly fishing greats Davy Hodgson. Davy has touched so many people over the years he spent fishing that his tragic death has truly rocked the fly fishing world. I think I speak for all when I say that we will always remember him for his endless enthusiasm, his sense of fun and his ability to see the good side of everybody he met. The competition scene has lost a fine man. We will truly miss him, he was a great friend, a great guy and a great example to us all.
Davy was also devoted to his family and adored fishing with his daughter Scarlet who under his guidance has also reached great heights with the England ladies. Our thoughts go to them all during this very difficult time.

Davy was due to fish for his team the Ospreys at Stocks on Friday. We will be holding a minutes silence in his honour before the start of the match at 10am. All are welcome.              Ben

Report by Ben                           Date: Sunday May 10th
Best Catch                                   24 trout for Fred Bainbridge
Best Bag                                       4 fish for 11lbs 8oz Alistair Beaumont
Best Rainbow                            11lbs+ for Scott Nellins
Best Brown                                7lbs for Paul Wilcock
Best Blue                                     3lbs for Mike Tinnion
Bank Rod Av                             2.3 fish per man
Boat Rod Av                             7.8 fish per man
Sport: What a cracking day. The water was flat calm in the morning and rippled in the afternoon. It remained overcast throughout and the trout were feeding on and just under the surface. Spoonings revealed small bright green aquatic flies and buzzers in both larval and adult forms. However it was not the traditional approach that scored most heavily. Fishing in the Northern Eliminator Fred Bainbridge was at his cunning best. Fred realised that the trout were pre occupied with small food stuffs and the best way to catch them was not to try and imitate the numerous flies but to draw their attention away from them. Two blobs did the trick nicely. Fred fished them on a floating line so that he could quickly cover rising fish, a long draw then induced the take. With 24 trout Fred was top rod today and has earned himself a place in the final to represent England in 2010. We don’t yet know how many places will be given to the final but it could as many as eight so here are the results to eighth place.
1st Fred Bainbridge
2nd Jeremy Lucas
3rd Alistair Beaumont
4th John Hood
5th Chris Micallef
6th Mike Tinnion
7th Steve Smalley
8th Scott Nellins
The trout were really well spread today and good numbers of trout were taken on dries, washing lined nymphs and stripped lures. Tight Lines Ben

Scott Nellins caught this cracking 11lb+ rainbow on a dry fly. It was returned to fight another day.

Date                                     Saturday May 9th 2009
Report by                         Pete
Best Catch                        27 fish by Sam Bailey
Best Bag Weighed in     5 fish for 14lb 10oz by Dave Flitcroft
Best Rainbow                 15lb by Steve Bland
Best Brown                      Several at 2lb 8oz
Bank Average                3.44 fish per angler
Boat Rod Average       6.18 fish per angler

Sport: The strong winds eased slightly today which made the angling a little easier. On the bank Dave Flitcroft was amongst the fish again with 8 fish and a 5 fish limit tipping the scales at 14lb 10oz. Dave took a walk along the east shore and caught the majority of his fish on a cats whisker, the bag included a lovely 5lb 12oz rainbow. Also on the bank Graham Jones landed his 5 fish limit in Hollins bay for 12lb he found a Dawsons olive to be his top pattern. Out on the boats a lot of the regions top anglers were practicing for the Yorkshire Eliminator for the England squad so catch amounts, flies and tactics were being kept quiet, but Isle of Man angler Sam Bailey did let slip that he had 27 fish. Also on the boats Mr Lyndon had 7 fish on a half-day ticket mostly on a white fritz. Stocks regular Steve Bland had a cracking days angling which included a beautiful 15lb rainbow which was released to fight another day . Mike Fletcher followed my lead from yesterday and took a traditional set up and landed 5 fish all on a Bibio. With the winds easing to around 4-5mph overnight and overcast conditions predicted for tomorrow the fishing should continue to improve. Tight Lines Pete

Date    Friday 8th May
Report by    Matthew
Best Catch    13 fish for Ray Bird
Best Bag Weighed in    5 fish for 10lb 8oz Richard Hood
Best Rainbow     3lb 4oz Ray Bird
Best Brown    Several for 2lb (plus a good few wild browns touching 12oz)
Bank Average    4.75
Boat Rod Average    3.38
Sport:  Some good sport had today with a more traditional approach-paying dive dense. Our Peter returned 6 good fish up to 3lb from near the spillway. Pete fished traditional wets close to the shore with the Bibio doing the most work on the midge tip. A non-to traditional approach (although equally successful) Two boobies on a di 3 did the trick for Steve and Richard. They had 11 fish between them and again found the fish close to the shore.
With the gusty winds the shore anglers had the edge today with the fish tighter in feeding in the margins. Season ticket holder John Sykes found the fish down in Hollins were he had a cracking half-day session with 11 fish! John found a team of Diawl bachs with a glister Damsel on the point was just what the fish were after!
Top rod today however goes to Ray Bird with 13 fish. Again Ray found Hollins the pick of the spots with a team of Cormorants fished slowly just under the wave.
The weekend is looking very good indeed and the fishing should only get better and better.
Tight lines Matthew

Sport: Today we saw bright, sunny conditions and a gusty wind that hampered casting and presentation, if it hadn’t been so windy it would have been a lovely day to be out fishing. Despite the conditions there were some good catches recorded both from the bank and the boats with fish being caught all over the reservoir. On the bank Mr Watson landed 12 fine trout, both rainbows and browns from several spots around Hollins bay with all his fish being caught on a damsel pattern. Ian Porter landed 14 fish on a half-day ticket with Hollins bay once again being the productive area. Ian found his best pattern to be an olive fritz lure. Also landing 14 fish was Ray Mercer who fished from Bell point round into Hollins bay, catching fish as he went on a black and green fritz lure on a sinking line. Several anglers landed 8 fish from the bank today including Ken Whiteside and Bill Orrell. Both anglers found fish in different areas from Hollins bay all the way round into Newclose bay with lures working well for both anglers. From the boats Mick Ash landed 8 fish with buzzers and daddies on a sinking line accounting for all his fish. Mick kept on the move and caught fish from several spots all around the reservoir. Peter Hill caught 10 trout including a super 10lb specimen from around Willow island with 2 boobies fished on a sinking line being the best tactic for Peter who mentioned that the trout were lying in very shallow water close to the bank. Looking at the reports it does look like the fish have spread to all areas. See you on the water Paul.

Date                                    Tuesday 5th May 2009
Report by                         Pete
Best Catch                        13 fish by Paul Kitchen
Best Bag Weighed in     5 fish for 19lb 4oz by Kevin Pountney
Best Rainbow                  4lb by Paul Kitchen
Best Brown                      11lb 4oz by Kevin Pountney
Bank Average                 3 fish per angler
Boat Rod Average        4 fish per angler

Sport: The bad weather certainly put the fisherman off today a shame really because it certainly didn’t put the fish off. Only 2 boats ventured out and Paul Kitchen in on of them landed a very credible 13 trout to 4lb in weight. Paul found drifting onto Bell Point and the east bank whilst pulling a blob and a dabbler the best method. On the bank Kevin Pountney was glad he paid us a visit when he weighed in a five fish limit for 19lb 4oz, the bag included a stunning 11lb 4oz overwintered brownie (pictured below) the bag could have been even bigger as moments later a monster from the depths took off with his fly leaving his reel screaming unfortunately it just kept going and could not be subdued. Tight lines Pete