Fly Fishing Reports

Date:    Thursday 15th July
Report Author:    Paul
Best Catch:    Steve Bland 7 fish
Heaviest Bag:    Rob Denson 4 fish weighing 9lbs 1oz
Best Rainbow:    3lb 4oz Jim Tuck
Best Brownie:    Several for 2lb 8oz
Bank Rod Av:    2.0 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:    2.8 trout per angler
Sport: Today we hosted the 2nd day of the Lexus European Open and the conditions took a turn for the worst. We had strong winds and heavy down pours which made the fishing much tougher than yesterday. Steve Bland was top rod with 7 trout caught on mini lures fished on a slow intermediate. Jim Tuck also caught on mini lures to tempt six fine trout and Rob Denson used a team of wets to take the best four fish bag weight. We saw trout caught all over the reservoir today and with the conditions set to improve tomorrow and on Saturday we should see some good sport.
See you on the water. Paul

To find one of the qualifying places, you had to finish in the top 7 to do so.
The results are as follows.
1st Steve Bland                            7 trout for 13lb 2oz
2nd Jim Tuck                               6 trout for 12lb 6oz
3rd Rob Denson                           5 trout for 11lb 1oz
4th Mark Howard                        5 trout for 10lb 7oz
5th Laurie Taylor                         5 trout for   9lb 10oz
6th Bob Fitzpatrick                      5 trout for    8lb 14oz
7th Bob Cooper                            4 trout for    8lb 8oz

Date:    Wednesday 14th July
Report Author:    Matthew
Best Catch:    Carl Malpass 10 fish
Heaviest Bag:     fish weighing
Best Rainbow:    3lb 5oz Sam Montgomery
Best Brownie:    Several for 2lb 8oz
Bank Rod Av:    1.5 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:    4.6 trout per angler
Sport: Today we hosted the first day of the Lexus European Open.
The heat was on to find one of the qualifying places, you had to finish in the top 7 to do so.
The results are as follows.
1st Carl Malpass                           10 trout for 19lb 114oz
2nd Carl Nixon                              9 trout for 19lb 10oz
3rd Billy Thompson                      10 trout for19lb
4th Eddie Forster                           9 trout for 18lb 1oz
5th Phil Burgess                            9 trout for 18lb
6th Laurie Taylor                          9 trout for 17lb 8oz
7th John Hood                               8 trout for15lb 15oz
Biggest fish (wild card Qualification) Sam Montgomery 3lb 5oz.

Tactics for the day were well spread with some of the top placed anglers fishing traditional wet flies. The washing line method played a big part also with cat’s boobies and cormorants bringing the fish in.
Outside of today’s competition regular Lee Cowking surely deserves a mention with a stunning Rainbow of some 8lb 8oz.
Heres to the good sport continuing.
Tight line Matthew.

Date:                                     Tuesday 13th July
Report Author:                Pete
Best Catch:                         10 fish by Gary Lloyd
Heaviest Bag:                    5 fish weighing 10lb 8oz Gary Lloyd
Best Rainbow:                  4lb Gary Lloyd
Best Brownie:                   2lb by Philip Broadhurst
Bank Rod Av:                   2.25 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:                    2.78 trout per angler
Sport: Today saw several anglers out practising for the forthcoming four days of competition for the Lexus European Fly-fishing Championships, so details are a little sketchy but there were a few pleasure anglers and this is how they did. Tim Ellis and son had 5 fish between them from the dam area taking most of there fish on lures. Also on the boats Gary Lloyd had a super days fishing with expert guide Paul Bebb. They had 10 fine trout to the boat on several different methods and they found fish all over the reservoir. Mike O’Farrell had 2 fish to the boats and missed many more on Hoppers, Mike found the fish in Newclose bay and at the dam. Out on the bank top rod went to Philip Broadhurst who fished a team of nymphs on the wind to take 7 fish from Bell Point round to Two Trees. There were several other bank anglers who caught well but unfortunately no return slips were left. See you in the lodge Pete.

Date:    Monday 12th July.
Report Author:    Paul.
Best Catch:    11 fish for Bill Orrell.
Heaviest Bag:    5 fish weighing 13lb 3oz for Mr Davey.
Best Rainbow:    7lb 8oz for Andy Hulls.
Best Brownie:    2lb for Bill Orrell.
Bank Rod Av:    4.40 trout per angler.
Boat Rod Av:    4.50 trout per angler.
Sport: There were some good catches made today from several anglers and some super trout caught with plenty of rainbows and blues weighing over 4lb. The best catch today went to bank angler Bill Orrell who landed 11 good trout. Bill opted for a roving approach and fished the bank all the way along from Bens beach to Hollins bay taking fish all the way along. The biggest rainbow of the day went to Andy Hulls who landed a super 7lb 8oz fish that took a booby and put up a super fight in deep water near the dam. The biggest blue trout today was caught by Mr Davey with a belting 6lb 1oz fish that was also caught near the dam. Out on a boat today was Derek Moore who caught 10 fish. Derek caught fish all over the reservoir and found various dry flies effective. Andy Hulls and Ray Bird had a good day afloat landing 10 fish between them. They caught on several patterns with the dam and the alders being their best areas. Also landing a good catch from a boat was Tony Newall who caught 7 rainbows. Tony fished dries right in the middle of the dam wall to take his fish. There are fish right out in open water and these fish put up a super fight as they dive deep when hooked, great sport. See you on the water Paul.

Date:                                 Sunday July 11th
Report Author:            Ben
Best Catch:                     8 trout for Stuart Morgan and Ian Gaskell
Heaviest Bag:                5 fish weighing 11lbs 8oz
Best Rainbow:              7lbs 8oz Steve Macintosh
Best Brownie:               2lbs 10oz Dave Goodwin
Best Blue                        2lbs 13oz Peter Kosminski
Bank Rod Av:               4.0 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:                3.2 trout per angler
Sport: Today was a day of two halves, or should I say four quarters as the conditions this evening were totally different to the first three quarters of the day. This morning was blustery with patchy cloud, not the best for fishing! However Brian Gaskell had a cracking few hours on the Dam Wall, Brian fished a washing line rig with a black booby on the point and red holographic buzzers on the droppers. He landed five trout on the buzzers and two more on the booby. He varied his retrieve from a strip to a slow figure of eight depending on the cloud cover. There were several other good catches from the shore; Hollins Bay, Bell Point and the Dam were the best areas. The boats found it difficult during the bright and windy conditions, dabblers, and lures pulled through the surface got the best results. Stuart Morgan and Dave Goodwin had had loads of follows but just three fish to the net until the wind dropped away in the evening. They then caught ten in short order and had many more up to their dries whilst fishing over the main Basin. Ian and Shaun Gaskell turned up at 4pm for an evening on the water. They fished at the dam and over the Main Basin to tempt 15 fine trout to 4lbs 8oz. They caught on dries and on the washing line and said that the trout fought like they were possessed. Tight Lines Ben

Date:    Saturday 10th July
Report Author:    Pete
Best Catch:    11 fish by Mike Laycock
Heaviest Bag:     5 fish weighing 17lb by Ian Buckley
Best Rainbow:    8lb 14oz Ian Buckley
Best Brownie:    Several at 2lb
Bank Rod Av:    4.00 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:    4.88 trout per angler
Sport: Some early drizzly rain soon cleared to leave near perfect condition. On the bank today several different set ups were working for different anglers. Paul miller had a superb half days fishing, catching and returning 5 lovely trout to 3lb 8oz. Paul fished from Two Trees out to Bell Point and found a damsel his top pattern. Whereas had 4 fish again from Bell Point but this time Rob found buzzers were to the fishes liking. Top rod today though goes to a stocks regular Dave Flitcroft who ventured over to the East Bank and fished the Alders to take 7 fine trout including a 6lb rainbow. Dave fished a sink tip  line with Diawl Bachs to tempt his trout.
On the boats today we hosted the Copinall fly fishers who had there annual match. Twenty anglers took to the water with the heaviest 5 fish taking the top prize and on this occasion Ian Buckley lifted first prize with 5 fish weighing 17lb helped along with a cracking 8lb 14oz rainbow. Ian also went on to return 4 fish Good angling!! Also having a good days angling were Phil Burgess and David Preece who both landed 10 fish. Phil found dries to de his best method with daddies featuring high on the trout menu, Dave on the other hand found the old faithful Cats Whisker lure to be the best option. Both anglers were narrowly beaten for top spot by Stocks G-Tec angler Mike Laycock who finished the day with a very respectable 11 fish all on dries, also with 11 fish Stocks Falcon Bob Fitzpatrick again dries were the order of the day. With these warm days the dry fly action is nothing short of electric and with plenty of daddies and beetles around it looks like staying this way for a while so don’t miss the chance to get a good bend in your rod. See you in the lodge Pete.

Date:    Friday 9th July
Report Author:    Matthew
Best Catch:    12 fish for Pete Holland
Heaviest Bag:     2 fish weighing 21lb 4oz Paul Jackson
Best Rainbow:    2@ 8lb 12oz Paul Jackson!
Best Brownie:    Several near 3lb
Bank Rod Av:    3.00 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:    4.00 trout per angler
Sport: Another cracking day here at Stocks with the fish coming thick and fast to both the boats and the bank. Pete Holland and Craig Tatum managed 19 fish between them; the bulk of them came from the dam area. Both chaps found that cat’s whiskers were high on the trout’s menu today! It’s always nice to see anglers using the comments section on the bottom of the catch returns.
“Best day ever” Was Paul Jacksons comment, and who can blame him with a brace of fish weighing 19lb 4oz!  Paul took the fish near the tower off the dam wall. Surprisingly the fish both fell to Minkies fished deep. The tower can often produce specimen fish in fact it’s one of the best spots on the reservoir.
Peter Andrews and Andrew Bentley matched Craig and Pete with 19 fish; again the Dam area and the spill way produced the goods.
Stocks guide Paul Bebb was on the water with Colin Aberill, the guys managed 8 fish all coming to the daddy. And guess were they caught them?? Yep the Dam.
Good scores from the shore too with Ray Entwistle leading the way with 8 fish in all but 4 hours Ray fished Diawl Bach’s from Bell Point
Tight lines Matthew

Date:    Thursday 8th July.
Report Author:    Paul.
Best Catch:    11 fish for Gordon McGregor.
Heaviest Bag:     2 fish weighing 13lb for Derek Ashworth.
Best Rainbow:    11lb for Derek Ashworth.
Best Brownie:    Several weighing 2lb.
Bank Rod Av:    5.00 trout per angler.
Boat Rod Av:    5.83 trout per angler.
Sport: There were some good catches made today and some super trout caught with 3lbers aplenty but the biggest of the lot was an 11lb giant that was caught by Derek Ashworth. Dereks huge rainbow was caught near the jetty and fell to the charms of a daddy and put up a super fight before being netted. Ken and Mick Whiteside landed a combined total of 13 trout from both the jetty area and the dam with various lures proving effective for them. Mick also landed a big trout, a 9lb rainbow that was returned to fight another day. Bill Orrell was also into some good fish landing 7 from two trees. Bill had both rainbows and blues over 3lb with black patterns proving effective for Bill. On the boats there were also some good catches made with trout being caught from all areas. Jim Pickford and Alistair Kier landed 11 fish between them from several spots with lures being their best flies. Top catch today goes to Gordon McGregor who landed 11 fine trout. Gordon found blobs effective and like other anglers found his fish all over the reservoir. Good fishing and great fish. See you on the water Paul.

Date:    Wednesday 7th July
Report Author:    Matthew
Best Catch:    Paul Bebb 7 fish
Heaviest Bag:    5  fish weighing 12lb Pete Hope
Best Rainbow:    8lb 8oz Graham Whitehouse
Best Brownie:    4lb 8oz Mike Beverage
Bank Rod Av:    3.6 trout per angler
Boat Rod Av:    2.5 trout per angler
Sport: Similar conditions as yesterday meant the fish remained fruitful indeed!
Alistair Kerr and Gordon McGregor had 12 fish to the boat with dries, traditional wets and the odd blob getting the fish!! The guys found that a drift from the tower out over deep water was the way to go.
Stocks guide Paul Bebb was on the water with Peter Hope between them 12 fish were netted with umpteen more chases and fish falling short. Both Pete and Paul had fish coming to traditional wets and the dries. Paul did a similar drift as Alistair and Gordon; it’s been a while since I can remember that many fish holding up in one spot, the Dam really is on fire, awesome sport.
Graham Whitehouse had a cracking rainbow of 8lb 8oz. Graham fished the top of the East bank to tempt the fish on a traditional wet fly.
Ben arrived late last night with some awesome doubles. Rainbows, browns and blues all well into double figures. Ben commented on how well the fish travelled over from the farm and shot off like torpedoes no doubt heading for the dam wall!
Here’s to the good sport continuing.
Tight lines Matthew.