Sinking line and lure attarcts new personal best rainbow
The biggest trout of the week at Rutland Water was also a personal best for its captor Richard Cooper, from Empingham, Rutland.
Having spent some time fishing earlier in the day with his boat partner Keith Jones, Richard decided to go back out on his own in search of a ‘big fish’ and was rewarded with his personal best 6lb 2oz rainbow.
Richard took the fish in the main basin on a sinking line with a lure.
Buzzers doing the business for Chris
County Durham youngster Chris Coates only took up flyfishing at Witton Castle Lakes a couple of weeks ago and, after starting off by catching fish of around a pound, he soon moved on to the two-pounders.
Now, however, the Stanhope-based lad's personal best has been smashed once again with this rainbow of almost double that!
It's been a week of top of the water sport at the Co Durham venue, with free-rising fish taking even during the hot bright parts of the day.
CdC Shuttlecock Buzzers and Shipman’s have been producing the better bags.
Father and son enjoy hectic action at Fontburn
Fourteen-year-old Adam Munday, from Morpeth, Northumberland, enjoyed a fantastic first trip to Fontburn Reservoir in his home county.
Fishing with dad Gary, the pair took a limit catch between them totalling just under 24lb including three fish over 4lb.
Adam finished off their triumphant visit with this cracking fully-finned 4lb 12oz rainbow caught on chartreuse PowerBait.
Salmon season hits top gear
Excellent salmon fishing reported from a number of Irish rivers this week, among them the River Erriff in County Galway, which reported its best period of catch return for many years with 80 salmon and 43 sea trout banked.
Good angling conditions and water levels saw up to 18 salmon landed in a day. Catches were boosted by a bout of heavy rainfall midweek which saw a great run of fresh fish entering the river.
Brian Holloway, a regular U.K. visitor to the Erriff, had a fantastic week, landing 11 salmon, most of which were returned.
Big doubles all the rage at Avington
There have been some tremendous catches at Avington Trout Fishery, near Winchester, over the past month, with plenty of double-figure fish landed.
The best fish of the month was a 14lb 12oz rainbow from lake 3 caught by Brian Porter on a Daddy. This was closely followed by a very big brown trout from lake 1 weighing in at a whopping 14lb 9oz, taken by Chris Belton.
Numerous other heavyweight trout have been caught, with Stalking Bugs and various damsel patterns doing the damage.
For venue info, log on to www.avingtontrout.com
River Tay salmon season extended
The salmon season on one of the best game fishing waterways in the UK is set to be extended in a bid to give fisherman more hours on the bank during the peak of the year.
Sport on the River Tay usually hits top gear just before the season concludes on October 15 but officials have announced this will be pushed back until October 31 in certain areas for at least the next three years.
Anglers will now be able to target the venue between Perth and Dalguise for an extra fortnight and all fish caught in the added on period must be released and reported to help research projects.
Rutland produces best rainbow of the season
Rutland Water has produced a season’s best rainbow of 6lb 9oz for Bury St Edmunds angler John Harper.
John fished the South Arm with boat partner Adrian Coor, using a floating line and one of Adrian’s small Damsel Nymphs on a 9.5lb leader and a floating line.
Brown trout have been elusive recently but match angler Frank Sumnall, from Tunstall, Stoke on Trent, managed a fine 5lb 6oz specimen from Manton using a Di-3 line and small Sparkler fly.
The Manton area produced fish to dry fly for one or two anglers, the first time this area has fished for a couple of weeks with the west wind pushing on a lot of the loose weed that was making things difficult.
Mike Burnside and John Heslop managed a bag of seven rainbows for 20lb 8oz, the best going 4lb.
Lures accounted for most of the fish with fast sinking lines the order of the day although one or two boats persisted with intermediate lines and Diawl Bach and were eventually rewarded with limits apiece.
Angler battles wind and rain to land big prize
A cold and rainy day didn't stop Tim Dyer from venturing out for a fly fishing session, and he was rewarded for his perseverance with this fine 13lb 10oz rainbow trout.
Tim, from Ruthin in Denbighshire, took his prize from his local Llandegla Trout Fishery after he fished a Purple Zonker on a 6lb leader and a floating line.
For venue info, log on to www.llandeglatroutandcoarsefishery.com
Valuable prizes for sea trout anglers in 2011
Sea trout anglers on the east and south coast of Ireland, the west coasts of Scotland, England and Wales and on the Isle of Man have an excellent chance to win one of the many valuable prizes on offer in a free prize draw by collecting scale samples from any sea trout they catch in 2011.
The Celtic Sea Trout Project (CSTP) is incentivising anglers to take samples of scales from any sea trout they catch over the season in specific “priority” rivers.
The priority rivers are:
IRELAND: Shimna, Castletown, Dee/Glyde, Boyne, Dargle, Slaney, Colligan, Bandon Argideen, Currane
SCOTLAND & ISLE OF MAN: Luce, Nith, Annan, Esk (Border), Neb, Sulby
ENGLAND: Esk (Border), Ehen, Lune, Ribble
WALES: Dee, Conwy, Clwyd, Dwyfor, Glaslyn, Dyfi, Teifi, Tywi, Tawe
The prizes are:
• A £500 tackle voucher prize to the angler submitting the most scale samples from any CSTP priority river in 2011.
• Three £350 tackle voucher prizes to each of the three 3 anglers who return the most scales from priority systems in 2011 within each of other three regions: Ireland (inc NI), Scotland and IoM, Wales, or NW England
• Ten £100 tackle vouchers to be awarded to 10 anglers to be drawn at random from the remaining scale samples submitted. (this includes samples submitted in 2010 and those from non‐priority rivers within the project area)
There are major unanswered questions in the understanding of sea trout, namely:
•where do they go at sea and how are their stocks structured and interlinked?
•what is their marine ecology (feeding, growth, survival and life history variation)?
•what environmental and other pressures are they exposed to?
•how do their life histories (and thus fishery quality) respond to environmental variation?
The CSTP intends to provide this missing knowledge and to translate it into fishery and conservation benefits for countries bordering the Irish Sea.
The winners will be chosen based on the scale samples submitted to us before 31st March 2012. The prize draw will take place on the 1st of April 2012. Winners will be contacted directly.
Big rainbows fall to buzzers
Braces of stillwater trout don’t come much better than this fine pair, taken by Dave Minall on a visit to the day-ticket Tavistock Trout Fishery in Devon.
The angler, from Torpoint in the same county, caught the fish, which weighed 9lb 14oz and 7lb 7oz, on buzzers during warm and overcast weather conditions.
Dave went on to take two further fish in his session. For more venue information, log on to www.tavistocktroutfishery.co.uk or call 01822 615441.
Anglers having to work hard at Grafham
Anglers have had their skills well tested, but rewards have been good for those with the right tactics. Chris Bobby fished Sanctuary Bay during the Wychwood Mixed Pairs event and landed rainbows of 5lb 14oz and 5lb 4oz, one to a Hopper and one to a Booby.
Elsewhere, Phil Cotton took eight fish for 24lb 7oz while fishing for Team Airflo in the southern final of the Anglian Water Airflo International.
Fish have been feeding on a variety of items including snails, pinfry, various nymphs and dry flies in addition to shrimps. The water surface has often been littered with ants, spiders, sedges and some buzzers, perhaps explaining why shoals of fish have regularly been seen at the surface, even in bright, sunny conditions.
Various methods have been successful and have included teams of nymphs, wet flies and mini lures on anything from floating lines to midge tips, slow sinkers and Di-5s. The washing-line method has been the most popular.
In general boat fishing has been most productive, but banks have fished best early in the morning or in the evening.
It's a trout bonanza at Bewl Water!
Fly anglers at Bewl Water in East Sussex are continuing to enjoy a hugely productive season, with a fish-per-rod average of more than 7 being enjoyed by visitors in July!
The management at the venue claim that the 'extraordinary success of those opting for catch and release' as the main reason behind the unprecedented productivity, which they have said would be remarkable for any part of the season, never mind for July.
At less than 18C, the water temperature has so far remained low for the time of the year, which has led to the trout staying close to the surface.
Best areas for boats are the Main Bowl, the area near the cages, Belgrano Bay, Canoe Club Corner and Seven Pound Creek. Successful flies are Boobies, Floating Fry, Hare's Ears, Diawl Bachs, Hoppers and Buzzers.
Most anglers have been catching using floating lines and as long a leader as can be managed. The dam wall and Chingley have once again been the best places for bank fishing.
Places are still available for Bewl's cash prize floating line competition on Sunday August 14.
There is a £1000 cash first prize and other cash prizes totalling £3000 in value - contact Fishing Lodge for details on 01892 890352.
Big brownie falls to buzzer
Bloodworm buzzers and similar patterns are still accounting for numbers of big brown trout at the nation’s stillwater trout fisheries, but very few have come close to beating this superb 15lb 6oz specimen, caught by Tony Meredith.
The Wrexham-based angler was targeting Graiglwyd Springs fishery, located at Penmaenmawr, North Wales, when he hit the jackpot.
For more information about the venue, log on to www.graiglwydsprings.co.uk
Kids show the way with salmon catches
Visitors to the famous Galway Weir Fishery on the River Corrib overcame the less than ideal hot and humid conditions to bank no fewer than 58 salmon from the venue.
Among those successful was young Amy Quinn, from Loughrea, who landed her first ever salmon, in the shape of a fine grilse of around 5lb, which fell to a fly.
The salmon season is now in full swing on the weir, with fresh fish coming in on every tide, and with water levels remaining good.
To enquire about fishing the venue, contact Seamus Hartigan by emailing shartgalfish@tinet.ie.
Tiny fly lures giant Ravensthorpe trout
This superb 11lb 2oz rainbow trout was the highlight of a great day’s sport on Ravensthorpe Reservoir for Andy Kress.
It fell to a small black dry fly, which Andy, from London, only chose to use after seeing another boat on the Northamptonshire venue take a hefty 9lb trout on the same pattern.
He said: “Ravensthorpe has been one of my favourite fisheries for the last 20 years and I have put the time and effort in and tend to catch well there. On my latest visit I was on a boat with my 12-year-old lad, over in Catwalk Corner when a nearby boat took a 9lb fish on a small black dry.”
“I had taken a 2lb fish on a Diawl Bach but the fish were shy. I set up a new leader on 6lb mono, put a small black dry on the point, a red Diawl Bach on the mid dropper and a new Kj Sus Buzzer on the top dropper.”
“About 10 minutes later I had a steady take and knew I was into something special. The fish kept its head down and I did not see it for over five minutes. When I got a first glimpse I realised it was a ‘double’ and after another five minutes, some powerful runs and angry head shaking, my lad slipped the net under the fish.”
Big browns fall to Wooly Buggers!
There can be few better-looking game fish than this spectacular 11lb brown trout, taken by Anke Kondla.
The German tourist, who hails from Frankfurt, took the fine specimen on a fly from Lough Inagh, in Connemara, Ireland, after it fell for a Black Wooly Bugger fished on a sinking line.
The same fly accounted for two more brown trout in the boat, with 12-year-old Eric Rauschmann taking a 2lb fish and his father Marc catching a four-pounder.
For more information about fishing on the venue, log on to www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie
Bag limits galore at Jubilee Lakes
Fishing has picked up considerably at Jubilee Lakes, near Darlington, Co Durham, with tiny Diawl Bachs, Pheasant Tail Nymphs or similar patterns accounting for a stack of fish.
Most visitors have been enjoying full bag limits, particularly those casting to trout that are actively feeding, rather than those that have been mooching around - as many do when the water warms up in July.
One of the best trout of the week was taken by Keith Olley, from South Shields, who landed a 7lb 3oz fish on a Natural Zonker
Kids making hay at Esthwaite Water
THE children are starting to break up from school and many have been fishing with their usual enthusiasm at Esthwaite Water Trout Fishery, in Cumbria.
Two lads who had an action-packed day were James Hyde and Jamie Wood, both from Doncaster. The friends fished around the cages area and several other deep water marks to take a trio of plump rainbows.
Worm hookbaits presented at 15ft-20ft down was the successful approach for James and Jamie.
Rutland rainbow joy for Rob
Rob Keeber, of Leicester, landed a number of quality fish during a recent day trip to Rutland Water, topped by this cracking 6lb 2oz rainbow.
He found the most success using dry flies in the Manton Bay area of the venue, with bites increasing once the cloud cover arrived.
However, it was a move to the main basin later in the afternoon which saw Rob land his biggest fish.
He fished the slicks around the boils with a Di-5 line and a size 12 black and green variant.
Elsewhere on the fishery, the best brown trout of the week weighing 4lb 8oz was taken by John Machin from Nottingham.
First trout for Chris!
Season ticket holder Kim Lewington, of Sutton Bassett, introduced his son Christopher to the art of flyfishing for trout, and the pair enjoyed a profitable evening boat session at Eyebrook Trout Fishery, Caldecott.
It was not long before Chris had caught his first rainbow trout, in fact two trout, both taken on an Orange Daddy Longlegs.
Elsewhere on the fishery, the heaviest recorded brown trout of the season at 7lb 8oz was caught and safely returned by Mr Gladding, who boat fished off the Island.
The fish was taken on a GRHE.
