Fly Fishing Reports

Happy New Year from all at Stocks Reservoir,
Preparations for our opening day on February 20th are well under way. The fish for start of the season are looking awesome: full sharp fins, really silver and built like torpedoes….Can’t wait!
Just thought you would like to see the monthly stats for last season before this one gets under way (See table below).
Also here are some of the Stocks regular’s best achievements over the year gone by, they’re pretty impressive.

1.    Paul Davison: Paul is a Stocks regular and good friend to the fishery. He has maintained his place on the England team with another cracking season and it has come as no surprise to us that he has been asked to captain England in the 2010 Autumn International. Paul is famed for his dry fly expertise and his results over the past couple of seasons have shown him to be one of England’s very best fly fishermen. Paul fishes for the Ospreys and early in the season they tragically lost their well loved captain Davy Hodgson. They honoured him in the way he would have chosen by becoming the 2009 Lexus Champions. Well done guys.
2.    Darren Booth: Darren is another Stocks regular and he has represented us for many years along side his Stocks Greys G-Tec team mates. He has been extremely consistent in the competition circuit for several seasons and has gained the respect of many anglers up and down the country, not just for his fishing ability but also for being a nice guy. The latest of Darren’s successes started when he caught a 21lb 8oz rainbow from Stocks, this was his ticket to the Trout Masters fish off. He won our local final and represented us in the Grand final on Grafham Water. As the only angler to catch from both bank and boat and with the most fish Darren was crowned the 2009 Trout Masters Champion.
3.    Ian Gaskell: I am glad to say that over the past few seasons I have had the pleasure of fishing along side Ian in the Stocks Bowlander Falcons. But it was in the Lexus European Individual that Ian really set the world on fire. The final was held on Chew Valley last autumn and the fishing was very tricky. Against a top class field Ian used a Stocks pattern the black widow on an SSi to be one of just three angler to catch five trout. Ian’s bag included some cracking grown on Chew trout and he beat the other two on weight to become The 2009 European Individual Champion. He won a Lexus RX450 car for a year and to top it all one of the rainbows in his bag was the biggest of the match so he also won a weeks fishing holiday to Norway with John Horsey. That’s what you call winning in style!
4.    Bob Cooper: Bob is another member of the Stocks Falcons and last season he showed us why we nick named him Sir Bob and that at 70 years of age he is still a force to be reckoned with. His season got off to a great start when he fished his way to top individual in the spring disabled international match on Brenig. He then won a gold medal in Scotland as part of the successful England disabled team. To finish the season off nicely he once again found himself at the top of the pile as he re-qualified for the 2010 team…..Good angling.
5.    Bill Orrell: Bill is a Stocks season ticket holder that doesn’t fish the on the competition circuit but perhaps he should. He is at home on both the river and large still waters, but Bill’s specialty is seeking out those specimen trout and he’s very good at it. Last year Bill caught seven Stocks doubles and many more over 5lbs but amazingly amongst his catch was the season’s biggest rainbow and the season’s biggest brown. He fished in the doubles club fish off at the end of the season and won it with; yes you’ve guessed it, a big fish. This earned Bill a free season ticket for 2010. He also won £100 and The Duncan Hesketh Trophy for catching the biggest brown. But his story doesn’t end here. Historically this is the third time he’s won the doubles club fish off, the second time he’s won the Duncan Hesketh Trophy and in total he’s caught 37 double figure trout over six seasons! Bill’s favoured hunting ground is between Granger Point and Davy Jones, where he moves between all the spots that have produced for him in the past. His favoured method is a floating a 15ft leader and a home tied black tadpole variant he’s named the Cyril.
6.    Chris Guthrie and the Stocks G-Tec Team: Nick Halstead, Darren Booth, John Calvert, Steve Welsh , Mike Laycock and Carl Nixon. The Stocks G-Tec team has been sponsored by Stocks for many years and they have become great friends. This year they came 7th in the Lexus International Team final and the end of the year they won the Rio 4s. Chris Guthrie was in great form, in the Lexus International final on Rutland he showed brilliant skill with small dries to take the top Individual spot, something he had almost achieved earlier in the year whilst fishing in the English final on Chew. Impressively he was top individual in the Rio 4’s as well!
7.    The Stocks Harriers: Steve Bland, James Vann, Bob Fitzpatrick, Phil Burgess, Paul Kitchen, Andy Taylor and Steve Lind. The Stocks Harriers became the first Bowlander team to reach an International final when they qualified in the Anglian on Rutland Water. To prove it wasn’t a fluke they did again a few weeks later in the Lexus on Chew. It was brilliant team effort with some great catches right round. Bob Fitzpatrick also did very well in the individual matches picking up three new titles.
8.    The Stocks Barracudas: Peter Scholes, Richard Hood, John Hood, Steve Ainsworth, Paul Bannister & Charlie Mitchell. The Barracudas became the second Bowlander team to qualify for an international final. Well done guys I am sure there are more to come.

It is great to see the Stocks regulars achieving such heights. The Stocks Bowlanders are going from strength to strength and more and more teams are pushing for places in the international finals. It is only a matter of time before we take our first title!

Monthly stats for 2009