Fishery Reports and News 21st November 2004

River Calder Lancashire despite the cold weather and low flow, anglers fishing this East Lancashire river have been catching chub to 3lbs. The Whalley Abbey stretch controlled by Hyndburn & Blackburn AA is worth a visit. Barbel to an estimated 8lbs have been caught from this improving river. Baits casters, coloured gentles meat and cheese paste are worth trying. Hyndburn & Blackburn AA cards are available from tackle shops in Burnley Accrington Great Harwood and Blackburn.

River Ribble Despite the cold weather some anglers have found a few chub, no reports of barbel. Anglers float fishing with casters or gentles on the lower Ribble catching dace, small chub and the odd roach. Good grayling in the higher reaches for fly and bait fishers. Long Preston Deeps water controlled by Bradford City AA a few chub to 3lbs being caught on casters and gentles in conjunction with hemp filled swimfeeder. The weather forecast for the coming week is for mild weather, Once we get rid of the snow off the hills and the salt off the roads the Ribble will be well worth a visit from Wednesday. Chance of good barbel and chub from lower Ribble on Pellet and boilies as water temperature increases.

River Aire Its been tough fishing over the past few weeks, cormorants are being seen in ever increasing numbers. Three mink trapped and killed last week. Odd good chub being caught along with pike to about six pounds. Despite good water levels and flows the fishing remains poor. Few grayling being seen or caught.

River Kennet Low and gin clear with floating weed, few barbel caught on pellets. A 3lb perch reported on lobworm bait. David Hallett had a barbel of 10-12-0 on meat ball. Prospects for coming week should improve with mild weather forecast. What is needed for this river is a week of rain though I cannot see much rain being forecast.

River Teme Prince Albert AS water well worth a visit by members, good catches of chub and barbel. Some anglers have taken six barbel in a session to 9-10-0 Top baits pellets and casters. If you plan to fish the Teme I suggest you use 12lb breaking strain line There are lots of snags and Teme barbel are known for their fighting ability

Tewitfields near Carnforth is open for coarse fishing and any method on the trout lakes at coarse fishing prices. Plenty of trout on all methods. Anglers coarse fishing on the big lake taking good bags of specimen roach,rudd and perch, one angler had over 12lb of quality fish in just two and a half hours fishing. Frank Parott from Borwick had a great mixed bag. Four pike have been caught and returned.

River Douglas This is another improving river which is well worth a visit, Mick Holgate of Standish has enjoyed good sport on the river fishing legered bread catching plenty of chub to 3lbs. Anglers fishing gentles and casters are catching roach and chub, odd barbel being caught to 4lbs. One must ask the question. Where did these barbel come from?.

Pendle View Fishery near Clitheroe Its been a cold, wet week, Winter appeared for a few days, with mild weather forecast for coming week conditions can only improve. The match and pleasure lake have not been busy. Those who did fish caught quite well, one angler had 17 small carp and some nice roach and perch. The main lake has yielded some roach and perch. The most successful tactics have been with maggot and corn. The main lake has proved difficult this week for carp with only two catches being recorded. One angler caught a 21lb mirror using a pineapple pop up boilie over a bed of hemp. The other catch recorded was a 12lb grass carp. This must have been the quietest week ever recorded for carp. Possibly due to sudden drop in water temperature.

Rutland Water Best fish this week was a 7lb 10oz rainbow taken by Mansfield’s Phil Clamp who was boat fishing off New Zealand point. Phil used a silver tube on a wet cell 2 line. The week before his boat partner John Cook hooked and returned a brown estimated at 15lb. Other areas worth trying from a boat are Sailing Club across to Inman’s Spinney, the main basin, inside Barnsdale Creek, Armley Wood, fishing lodge frontage and Church Bay. There has been plenty of fry activity around the banks with rainbows crashing into the fry in places like the fishing lodge harbour, Whitwell Creek and Stockie Bay. Armley Wood, Finches, Yellowstone, Inmans Spinney, Spud bay,Church Bay, Normanton bank, Whitwell front and Barnsdale front and steep bank have also been productive. Retired Rutland Water retail assistant Trevor Ashby has been recording some excellent fish from off the peninsula, using a minkie/diawl bach combination. Trevor has caught the majority of his fish late afternoon with fish weighing up to 5lb. Best rainbow 7lb 10oz taken by Phil Clamp of Mansfield

Grafham Water Highlight of the week at Grafham Water was the annual Fur and Feather bank match. This was fished to a 6 fish limit from 8.30 am to 4.00pm. Anglers weighed in their best brace to win a luxurious Anglian Water Christmas hamper. 27 anglers took part in this event, which was fished on a cold wet day. The intrepid anglers were not to be deterred and they managed to catch 91 fish giving a rod average of 3.37. This wasn’t including the numerous out of season brown trout that were returned to the water. The top three weights were very close. The winner of the event was Northampton angler Mark Haycock. Mark caught his 5lb 15oz brace of fish with a sinking line and two white boobies from the low numbers on the dam. Only two ounces behind in second place was junior angler Richard Cooper. Richard, from Empingham, is also a season ticket holder
Ravensthorpe Reservoir Northampton’s Darren Palmer is fast becoming Ravo’s big fish expert. In October he took an 11lb 5oz rainbow this has been overtaken by a 13lb beauty taken bank fishing this week from platform 6. A cats whisker on a floating line secured his personal best fish. Mick Griffin and Dick Haynes topped the boat catches, taking a total of 24 fish in a morning session. Dick’s best fish weighed 8lb 4oz and came to a black and orange lure. Colin England of Coventry returned a 10lb 4oz fish, whilst Richard Singleton took a 9lb 10oz fish. Sinking lines are taking most fish from the boats. Black and orange lures fished slowly 10-15 feet down are the best method. Bank anglers should fish floaters with cats whisker, diawls and corixa proving best. With the water now extremely clear following the frosts prospects are excellent for bank fishing. Large rainbows can be seen cruising the shallows off the platforms. Pike anglers are reporting some big specimens, with three over 30lb. Last day for boat fishing is Tuesday 30 November. Permits for bank angling until 31 December, can be obtained from the small vendor hut between the car park and the lodge.

Pitsford Water Boat anglers are catching in the main bowl using minkies or tubes on a di5 or di7 line. Phil Tomlin caught a 9lb plus brown by the valve tower which he returned, plus four rainbows up to 4lb. Phil fished silver and gold tubes on a di7 line on the rudder. Bank fishermen are also catching. The pines and sermans bank are the places to try with the best method being white lures fished on a floating or slow intermediate line. The fish are close to the bank so don’t be tempted to wade.

Ardleigh Reservoir There has been some excellent sport for pike anglers recently with pride of place going to Mick Scutter who had 11 pike in one session. Fishing from a boat using both dead baits and lures Mick had 2 fish at 18lb, one at 17lb, with the rest between 8 and 11lb. Kevin Reynolds landed one of 12lb and Ben Jefford had several smaller pike down the western arm. Even Shaun Plumb on the pole couldn't avoid the pike and nearly netted one estimated at 15lb. He had to be content with a good bag of over 70 roach and perch. Michael Rolfe also had a bag of around 100 perch and Matt Blyth had a good mixed bag of roach, perch and skimmers from the Butterfly Lake. Not forgetting the carp anglers season permit holder Connan Soanes landed two beautiful mirror carp of 23lb and 16lb.