ARCHIVED ARTICLES July-Sept 2002

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Rain is Badly Needed for Our Rivers

September has certainly been very dry, most rivers are down to bare bones especially in the north of England. As I have said many times, our rivers in the north of England need two good days of rain a week. I don’t feel we can have too much rain, when the rivers are carrying a few feet of water it gets rid of insecticides, nitrates and other chemicals that might get into our rivers from the fields and roads. Lets hope October will be a wetter month than the past one.

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This Weeks Anglers Mail And Other News 30th September

Anglers Mail this week has pictures of two 16lb plus barbel from the Great Ouse. Another Great Ouse fish pictured is a super eel of 7lb plus. Tring Reservoir has produced a super perch of 4-7-0 On page eight there are a selection of pictures showing big barbel caught from around the country. For you carp fishers there are plenty of pictures and text about your favourite fish, including a picture of a magnificent 52lb fish. For you barbel enthusiast there is a three page feature on barbel baits and rigs. You can read about the story of a suspected 60lb pike, but don’t get excited, the only picture is the head of a dead fish found in the Norfolk Broads on the river Bure. The pike record is still the big fish caught by Roy Lewis at Llandegfedd Reservoir weighing 46lb 13 ounces. Writing about big pike. I have just returned from Northern Alberta where I spent five days fishing a fly in lake, situated some sixty miles south of the North West Territories border. The fishing is organised by Misikew Sports Fishing of Fort McMurray. I stayed in a trappers cabin some sixteen foot by ten feet with a wood burning stove, a refrigerator and cooker the latter two which run off propane. The boats were 16 foot with Mariner outboard motors. There were Moose, Bears, Wolves, Red Squirrels, Ravens, Gray Jays often camp robbers they are certainly friendly often taking bread from your hand, and of course the Bald Eagles which often flew over head, Loons could be heard calling from the lake surface.

The fishing was some of the best that I have enjoyed in a lifetime of travel. I caught over 160 pike with several big twenties all on flies. Some fish were caught on the surface, other fish were caught in the deep water. I will be returning again in late May when the fish will be on the shallows. I was bringing a fish about 7lbs towards the boat, when a huge fish loomed up from the deeps. Just as it was going to engulf my fish, it either spotted me or the boat and turned away. That's not a fishy story, it was a very big fish. You can read my story of the trip shortly. You can hear the programme I recorded for my At The Waters Edge programme on Thursday 31st October at 1930 hrs and Saturday 2nd November at 0600 hrs.

Barnsfold Water has been fishing quite good, despite the high water temperature some good bags of fish are being caught. Black buzzers, Hare’s Ear, Ginger Hopper, and Daddies have been the winning patterns. The best catch of the week was made by Alan Dryden of Skipton who caught eighteen fish to five pounds. As from October first until the end of the month the only game fishing available on the rivers and streams are salmon, Brown and seatrout fishing ended on September 30th, You game fishers don’t have to stop fishing, several stillwaters stay open all the year for rainbow trout fishing. Another fish that will prove an excellent quarry for the fly fisher is the grayling. There are many rivers and streams countrywide holding this delightful fish where for the price of a day permit or club card you can have a good days fly fishing .Upstream nymphs and dry flies both will work. If you really want a hard fighting fish then go chase the pike. Canals rivers streams lakes and gravel pits hold this hard fighting fish. Don’t try using your normal river trouting outfit. Choose a nine foot rod for a nine or ten weight line and make sure you have a wire trace. If you want to give this branch of angling a try, your more than welcome to have a day at the waters edge with myself. That’s providing we can fit a day in when I am free. E-mail me [email protected]



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Fishing Reports 10th September

River Ribble despite the rain and sometimes coloured water some good fish are being caught. Sea and brown trout - this month is the last for both species, the season ends on September 30th. Balderston area producing good chub catches, three roach averaging about 12 ounces caught on float fished gentles, is this a sign of things to come? Though, unless we can get rid of the cormorants I cannot see the roach surviving very long. Several barbel averaging six pounds have been caught on meat and pellets.
River Wyre some nice bream to 5-4-0 caught on gentles and swim feeder rig.
River Hodder The odd seatrout being caught but they are now well coloured up and should be returned.

If you want the chance of a salmon from the river Ribble why not give river Keeper Ivan Duxbury a call on 07973 268131 Late September and October can often be good times for the chance of a salmon.

If you want some good trout fishing what about trying Rutland or Grafham both venues usually fish good this month.

Rutland Water Boat anglers have enjoyed sport in the main basin and south arm. Anglian Water warden, Paul Friend, took a “quick fire” limit on Thursday afternoon fishing a wet cell 2 line with gold and silver lures he took eight rainbows averaging 2lb. A group of anglers from Scotland enjoying a three-day holiday package recorded plenty of fish, with one of their party losing a big brown at the net, estimated to be around 10lb.

For the bank angler, fish have been seen moving in the old hall and dam areas and it is just a case of waiting for the cooler weather to bring the fish into the shore line to feed on the abundant number of fry available.

Most fish have again fallen to nymphs with the diawl bach and hares ear in particular scoring well. Other flies to try are black tadpole and gold and silver sparklers.

best rainbow - 5lb 4oz taken Mr McCormick

best boat areas - south arm (manton bay, browns island, old hall) the main basin, north arm (transformer and dickensons)

best bank areas - old hall and the dam

mid-week boat winner - Allan Wood of Owston, Leicester

forthcoming events: Anglian Water Bailiffs Pairs – 19 October - this is one of the most popular competitions at Rutland Water with fishing from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm fished to reservoir rules. Prizes for rudder and non-rudder, best brown & best rainbow. Cost is £38 or £21 for season permit holders including evening meal.
Please book by 13 October – telephone 01780 686441

Pitsford Water Sport at Pitsford is improving, after a difficult August. Late evening is still the best, when the fish move close on shore to feed on the still prolific buzzer hatches. Imitative patterns such as buzzers and hares ear being best, although odd fish are coming to floating fry and dry “daddies”. For those who are boat fishing, a variety of tactics are successful from nymphs and wet flies on floaters to tube flies on fast sinkers, depending on the depth the fish are feeding.

Competition News

Pitsford’s autumn boat leagues is now underway every Sunday morning 9.00am to 1.00pm. There is a weekly prize of a free boat in 2003 and prizes of tackle vouchers for the top three anglers over the 8 weeks. After an enjoyable morning on the water hot soup and crusty bread are provided.

The first two matches were both won with a single brown trout. Tom Robson of Northampton on 1 September with a brown of 2lb and Brian Mead of Bozeat on 8 September with a brown weighing 2½lb.

The Higham Ferrers & District Fly Fishing Assoc match fished on 7 September was won by Mr Hillyard with 6 fish for 10lb 8oz and Mr Raitt caught the best fish of the match at 4lb 14oz.

best rainbow: 4lb 14oz taken by Mr. Raitt (fishing above match)

best brown: 2lb 9oz

best boat areas: main bowl

best bank areas: gravels and sermons

mid-week boat winner: Mr. John Rule of Fordham, Cambs

fish stocked: 650

forthcoming events: Winter Bank League – 3, 10 and 17 November, 1 December. Book in 8.30am onwards, fishing 9am to 1pm, concluding with hot soup. Top overall weight and best fish over the 4 weeks win Christmas hampers.

Grafham Water Anglers at Grafham can see the large numbers of fish feeding heavily on the vast shoals of fry all around the shore-line and also in the middle of the lake, but tempting them to the hook and landing one is proving a challenge.

However Brian Calvert took four fish around the 3lb mark from the north shore on Thursday evening on floating fry.

There have been some daddy long legs seen on the water in the past few days and with cooler damper weather forecast, the fish should soon start feeding on the new food source.

Best methods are floating/intermediate lines with pheasant tail nymphs, diawl bachs, red or claret hoppers and cdc’s, small minkies and cats whiskers. If using a sinking line then cats whiskers, blobs, diawl backs and crunchers are the flies to try.

best rainbow: 6lb 3oz taken by season ticket holder Mark Brinkman from a boat in Rectory Bay on a gold tube and Hi-di line.

best boat areas: C, K and F buoys, savages creek, bowl of dam and G buoy.

best bank areas: stumps, hill farm, north and bowl of dam, harbour arms

mid-week boat winner: Mel Parrot of Bedford

forthcoming events: Troutmasters final 21 – 23 September

Ravensthorpe Reservoir Although a tricky week at Ravensthorpe with odd fish taken on both lures and nymphs, 21 anglers from ‘Intervet’ held a successful competition with a 2 fish limit. Phil Maguire only needed one to win with 5lb 4oz second was Stuart Marston with 4lb 10oz and third was Chris Orpin with 4lb.

Cooler nights are encouraging as the water temperature will drop and bring the fish back on the feed. 2 September saw fish on fry, daddies, late olives and midge. Prospects are improving.

best rainbow: 5lb 4oz taken by Phil Maguire (Intervet)from a boat on sinking line with orange lure.

best boat areas: drifting

best bank areas: the dam

mid-week boat winner: Mr Andrew Kemp from Wigston

Coarse fishing news Taverham Mill Fishery A good weekend for all lakes. There were some big catches at Taverham including Anglian Water warden, Simon Wrigglesworth with 26 tench to 6lb and three carp to 19lb 7oz. Season permit holder Bob Anderson of Taverham banked 11 tench to 5lb 8oz and 1 carp of 11lb. Day permit angler Steve Barker banked 3 carp to 19lb 11oz.

Costessey lakes have thrown up some surprises this week with 16 year old

Andy Moore banking “single scale” from No. 3 at 37lb 8oz, whilst from the Ski-pit (No. 2) junior season permit holder Stuart Masson had a Mirror of 25lb 11oz. Day permit angler Chris Lynes banked a Common of 24lb 8oz and season permit holder Gavin Buck landed a 23lb Common followed by a superb 30lb 4oz fully scaled Mirror.

I have had a busy week guiding on the rivers Ribble and Aire Rob Osterman from Oregon has fly fished with me on the river Aire for pike and despite bad weather rising water had some good sport. Another angler was Stephen Ainscow of Ramsbottom who really enjoyed himself fly fishing for pike Bob Stephens of Coventry caught a personal best chub from the river Aire at Keighley weighing 5-3-0 on legered bread flake. On the Ribble Chorley angler Peter Goodban caugt seven chub averaging 4lbs the best at 5-2-0 Eighty year old Bob Tomlinson a retired police officer from Blackpool had a good catch of chub from the river Aire.


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Go Chase The Pike With A Fly - Part 1

I moved slowly upstream peering intently into the gin clear water, the bright sunshine allowed me to see every pebble, stick and even the minnows in the bottom of the pool, No breeze ruffled the surface. A shoals of bait fish hung close to a weed bed. Nothing moved as I peered intently into the water. The combination of my long peaked cap, and polarised glasses helped me search deep into the flowing water.


I blinked, then squinted, "Did I see a pike" I asked myself, then squinted again. Yes, there it is, I spotted a fin movement, then a tail moved, enough for me to realise, I was looking at a pike. The perfect predator. My eyes move slowly up the length of a fish, it must be thirty inches or more in length. My heart beat a little faster as my brain went into over drive, like a computer. As I worked out the angle of the cast, then distance to target. I aerelised some line, then realised I needed a bit more, I pulling off a few more feet from the reel. All the time I was keeping my eyes on the fish. I was the hunter, the hunted is a fish that goes back a few million years. It probably weighs 14lbs Its there for catching, if I don't make a mistake.


The fish is moving slowly upstream, I have just one chance, then shoot the line, the fly landed with a slight plop hardly breaking the water surface. The fish moves its head slightly then slowly turns. This is the moment I have been waiting for all morning. I twitched the line imparting life into the fly. A fly that was created in Northern Canada. Its tied up on a 3/0 Partridge hook using Polar bear hair and a few strands of crystal flash. Its’ some six inches long and comes alive in the water when moved.


I made a six inch strip, the pike was off the starting block moving fast towards my fly, creating a bow wave. I gave another quick strip of some three inches. The big one couldn’t resist it, there was a big swirl, a boil. Then the fly had disappeared as the fish turned for the deep water. The strip strike set the hook, his speed and momentum carried the fish skywards, head shaking, gills flared. For a second, perhaps two, you stand spellbound watching this fighting fury crash back into the water. Its like an explosion as the water erupts, the ever increasing circles going across the river. After some minutes the fish is bought to hand. I bend down then take the barbless hook from the scissors of the pike’s mouth then watch it swim off slowly.

Catching A Pike On A fly Isn’t new


In the Diary of A. J. Lane (1843) page 52 He writes Pike, and heavy ones too, rise tolerably freely to flys dressed very largely & of gaudy peacock feathers, shoe’ be made up on large double or even sets of hooks. At the bottom of the page it states One of the best flies is an imitation of the Sand Martin. I think we can forget the last sentence. In the Badminton Library Fishing by H Cholmondeley-Pennell Pike & Coarse Fish 1885 page 62 there is mention of fly fishing for pike. On page 95 in The Book of the All-round Angler by Bickerdyke there is a short article on fly fishing for trout. Then do we know the truth behind the Kenmure Monster?. Taken its said, from Lock Ken by the gamekeeper on a peacock herl tied on a hook. Isn’t that a fly. It shows that fly fishing for pike isn’t new. Though listening to some of the present day anglers who have started to fly fish for pike, its something they have discovered. I caught my first pike, on a fly made from a birds feather, whipped on a size 4 carp hook with some fine nylon line, then I added some silver paper from a Players cigarette packet along the shank of the hook. Its very difficult to find anything that’s really new in angling. The hair rig, was used by tunny anglers, the boily by American carp anglers. Who is to say the various Indian tribes in Canada didn’t use a fly to catch pike. When writing of flies, we are not talking of small flies, used for salmon and seatrout. Pike flies are sometimes seven or eight inches in length, often tied on a size 6/0 irons.

Some Successful Pike Flies

If you were to take a look in the fly boxes of a few anglers who target the pike, you will discover hundreds of different fly patterns. Just as today's anglers fishing for rainbow trout, carry several boxes of fly patterns, but only use a dozen flies. Its the same with us anglers who target the pike. I have several boxes of flies for pike, but for most of my fishing I probably only use a dozen patterns. But with various colour combinations that dozen probably grows to a hundred or more. Most of my pike flies are tied up on Partridge CS43 2/0 to 4/0 or Cox and Rawle uptide 1/0 TO 5/0 A few flies have been tied up on Ade Swier designed hooks.

One of my most successful pike fly patterns is without doubt the Polar fly. Its tied as follows. Tail-white Polar bear hair, not synthetic hair, and pearl crystal. Body- pearl fritz or silver tinsel strip. The wings of white Polar bear hair again not synthetic hair with pearl crystal hair. Remarks- Two types of bodies should be tied up, as one will often work when the other doesn’t. I don’t no why this is so but that's he nature of the beast. This pattern is also excellent for many saltwater species including the bass.


Other patterns are the Polar perch with a tail of Polar hair, not synthetic hair, a body of gold tinsel with 12lb mono rib. The wings are yellow buck with green buck over tying with black silk You can add purple crystal hair strands to wing, create barring effect on wing with black permanent pen. A fly pattern I really like is the Red tailed rat. There are many occasions when pike ignore a submerged fly, but will savagely hit a surface fished one. The Red tailed rat is quite simple to tie, with a tail of red buck and red crystal hair. The body is black deer hair wedge shaped, tying silk is black. At one time I had eyes fixed on these mouse and rat type patterns, but feel they are a waste of time and money. All the pike will see is an outline of the red tailed rat as its worked across the surface. Takes are usually very savage.

A pattern I first used in Canada with great success is the Sally Rand named after the famous American fan dancer of the 1930’s . The first time I used this pattern was in northern Canada. The lake water was a very colour caused by ash, from some huge forest fires that had been burning for several weeks. In fact so bad were the fires, the bush pilots often had difficulty finding the scrub airfield. On a couple of occasions we had to turn back and try the next day. I gave this pattern a simple name of orange marabou. It was on a Canadian trip when the name was changed. An American from Chicago noticed I was using this pattern with some success when others were struggling. After giving him a couple of these flies, He said "You know Martin those flies look like a fan the dancers use" He then told me about, how his father had a fan dancer by the name of Sally Rand to entertain the punters at his booth during the big Chicago show in the 1930’s. Hence the name change. The tail of this fly comprises two orange marabou left on the quill, with a body of orange marabou with some silver oval, tinsel rib or orange cock hackle, palmered down the body. Wings are four orange cock hackle. Purple crystal hair may be added to the tail and wing. This is a good pattern for coloured water.

Three patterns I wouldn’t be without are the , Lefty Kreh Deceiver, Larry Dahlberg Rabbit Strip Diver and Bob Clouser Deep Minnow all in various colour combinations. The latter two patterns are from the book Fly Patterns of the Umpqua Feather Merchants by Randall Kaufmann E-mail address for Kaufmanns tackle shop is [email protected] Clouser Deep Minnow tying instructions are on page 147 Thread-is 6/0 Chartreuse and White, Eyes-lead painted dark red with black pupils. Wings-are white buck tail on top; chartreuse buck tail underside with pearlescent Krystal Flash over the top. Tie this pattern in various colour combinations. On page 185 you will find the tying for the Dahlberg Rabbit Strip diver Thread- is 3/0 white, Tail-is white rabbit strip, red flashabou. Collar-Red and white deer hair, Head-is red and white deer hair, Eyes-are yellow 4fi mm solid plastic. As with Clouser Deep Minnows I suggest you tie up a few in various colour combinations.

Lefty’s Deceiver has been around since the early 1950’s. Its a pattern I always have with me in various colour combinations at all times, both for fresh and saltwater fishing. I well remember sitting with Lefty in his home as he tied up some flies for a Bahamas bonefish trip. Watching his hands working, was pure magic. The man is certainly a genius. The tying for this pattern comes from page 134 of Pike On The Fly by Barry Reynolds and John Berryman Instructions are as follows. Thread-white and chartreuse, Tail-white buck tail, shank length, inside white neck hackles (2 each side), extending one and a half times shank length, Body-silver tinsel with a collar of white buck tail, extending nearly to tip of tail. Topping-is chartreuse buck tail, as long as collar. Throat-several strands of red Krystal Flash. The head-is Chartreuse thread, lacquered. Eyes Applied with Faber-Castell uni-point marker.

I also have two frog patterns which have proved excellent fish catchers, we all know how pike love weeds, my frog patterns can be fished in the thickest of weeds, without getting caught up. When fishing reed beds I have had pike come a foot out of the water to grab a frog pattern as I pulled the frog up the reed stems.. The first frog pattern, I used was made by Kent Sherrington of Burnley Lancashire, it was made from balsa wood, painted yellow then given a couple of coats of epoxy. The other is made from an Edgewater Popper colour yellow on a size 4/0 hook, I tie in some near hair to represent the back legs of frog. At the front I use two or three strands of three inches of round rubber hackle. At the front edge of the foam head, I fix two eyes. But as previously stated I don’t think the pike see these eyes. Finally I always take a few popping bugs, the same as used by saltwater anglers for snook, cobia, kingfish etc. A popping plug or bug creates a lot of noise, gives the impression of something big and injured, certainly something a pike can’t resist.

Rods Reels and Lines

One thing is certain, the rod reel and line outfit you use for river or stillwater trout fishing want be suitable for chucking flies, popping plugs, or bugs and frogs for pike. The lightest rod you can use will be an eight weight then only for the smaller patterns when fishing rivers and canals. My advise is go for a nine foot nine or ten weight. The best advice I can give is purchase a saltwater model. I have tried many rods over the years, some have been useless especially in the early days of the 1960’s, Some have done a better job than others. These days I am using the Thomas and Thomas SC series in four pieces with a short fighting butt which I have found most useful, especially when playing a big fish, or lifting a fish from deep water. The SC rods combine graphite technology with tapers that can lift a long line from the water, They work well at casting both short and long distances, they load very quickly, which is most important when you suddenly see a fish moving away. I have used my SC series of rods in fresh and saltwater with lots of confidence. They will be my number one rods in the Persian and Arabian Gulf later this year when I tackle the big cobia and kingfish. Also the little tunny off Connecticut in late October. Any rod that can handle the little tunny will be OK for the pike. Sportsfish and Farlows both stock Thomas and Thomas rods. In your tackle shop you will find several brands of line which will be suitable for chucking big flies for pike. One line will not cover all aspects of pike fly fishing. To get the best out of the sport, you need at least three lines. Cortland lines are my first choice, the nine weight Ghost tip is probably my most used line. I can fish flies from the surface, down to four or five feet, depending on the speed of retrieve. This line comes with a fifteen foot clear tip, which is then built into a floating line, it will also lift cleanly off the water. Two other Cortland lines I use are both sinkers, a medium and fast sink. Its surprising how often you will use a fast sink line when fishing the big reservoirs and gravel pits. When fishing with a fast sink line I will often use a leader of three feet, perhaps eighteen inches. Masterline International have a good range of competitively priced fly lines in their Toothy Critter series. Rio have a line that’s ideal if your a travelling angler and you can only purchase one rod and reel. Its the Versitip. It come with four interchangeable fifteen foot tips, floating, clear intermediate, and two sink tips. All the lines I have mentioned can be used in saltwater, but not in the tropics. After every trip make sure your fly line is given a good clean, you will then find that you can cast a lot better on your next visit to the waterside, which means more chances of catching pike.

Reels for fly fishing are usually simple affairs, for pike fishing all you need is a simple reel. These fish don’t make long fast runs, except on very rare occasions. A Young’s 1500 series fly reel from Masterline International stockist in salmon size will prove quite adequate, either the Y1535 or Y1540 model. If your planning to fish the ocean then you need a better quality reel. I have various models of reels from Sage, Loop, Abel, Tibor, Aaron, Richard Carter and JW Young's Seaventure. They are all excellent reels, some costing several hundred pounds, designed for saltwater use and well engineered. The British made JW Young’s Seaventure reel from Masterline International stockist, they are a good reel that you can use in confidence.

Next week I take a look at leaders, accessories and pike location in rivers


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Go Chase The Pike With A Fly - PART TWO

In part 1, I discussed some of the flies, rods, reels and lines we need to use in trying to catch pike. In part 2, I am going to look at leaders, accessories and pike location in rivers. Pike fly leaders can be from two up to nine feet. Fishing a floating line, I use a leader between seven and nine feet which includes a foot of twenty pound wire. Some pike fly fishers have written in the press, You don’t need tapered leaders, others state you don’t need wire. I disagree on both counts. You want a leader with a big diameter butt section to turn over the large flies, I suggest around forty pound breaking strain with twenty pound strain where it joins the wire tippet the wire is to stop a pike biting through the line. There is only one knot to use when joining mono to wire, that's the Albright knot. Some anglers simply buy a wire trace, which comes fitted with a swivel and a snap. These are sold for spinning, not fly fishing. In fact most of what I have seen, I wouldn’t use for any type of fishing. The best commercial leaders I have used are the Cortland Climax made for pike and muskie its an excellent leader, eight foot in length with fifteen inches of wire tied in with an Albright knot. These leaders have never let me down. They are not cheap. I cut the leader back from the butt end by two feet then attach a two foot butt section of forty pound mono, which is then attached to the fly line. If your making your own tapered leaders, its most important that you use the same brand of mono, do not mix the makes. Kent Sherrington of Burnley Lancashire a very experienced angler tied me up some leaders last year, which proved excellent.

Today its possible to buy wire which can be knotted, or crimped. I have used both, but I prefer using crimps. Make sure you buy a good wire crimping tool with good quality crimps Fishing a venue where I expect big pike twenty pound plus, I have more confidence when using wire and crimps. In Wisconsin some of my musky fisherman friends use a snap swivel which they attach to the wire with a crimp. The idea is certainly a good one from the view point of quickly changing flies, but after losing the odd fly in casting, I have my doubts about this method, but those musky anglers assure me its OK to use snap swivels. I feel the jury is still out on the subject of knots, snaps and crimps.

Sinking Lines

The one area where you don’t need tapered leaders, are when your fishing sinking lines, I use leaders between two and seven feet in length made up of fifteen pound to twenty pound breaking strain mono and a foot of twenty pound wire, IE To fish a big buoyant type of fly close to the bottom, I use just two feet of leader, this includes a foot of wire. If I were to use a six foot leader, the fly would be way off the bottom so defeating the object of dragging the fly close to the bottom. The line I is use a Teeny 350 - 400 grain shooting head. This type of set up can often bring a big fish to the net when all else fails. For all other sinking lines, I will usually use a six or seven foot length of 15lb mono and twelve inches of twenty pound wire with an Albright knot to join wire to mono. The length of leader, depends on what depth I want to fish the flies, also the sinking rate of the line being used. As in all forms of angling, things can change, from day to day. It all depends on the water and weather conditions, you have to be prepared for these changes if you want results.

Accessories

Look in any tackle catalogue or visit a big tackle store, and you will see many accessories available to the pike angler / fly fisher. Many of these items you don’t need. I am going to list what I consider are essential. What you do need are a good pair of pliers, make sure they will cut wire cleanly, the last thing you want is the wired frayed, especially when you are using crimps. also the pliers will be needed to break down the barbs on your hooks. Having mentioned pliers, you can of course purchase a good pair of scissors for cutting twenty or forty strand wire. Buy a good pair, I get two or three years of excellent use from my scissors. Don’t try cutting wire with your best fly dressing scissors.

Protect Your Eyes and See The Fish


Fly fishing for pike is often very visual, we are certainly the hunter after the hunted. I just love to fish clear water rivers, streams, lakes and canals where I can visually look for the quarry. When fishing most canals you will have to be on the bank just after dawn, as once the boats start moving the water will soon colour up. Hunting pike visually requires good quality polorised glasses. You should never go fly fishing, without wearing some eye protection. You never know when a fly will strike your eye. I buy my glasses from Optilabs with my prescription lenses included. These glasses come with removable safety shields, adjustable sides, the lenses offer protection against UV. I find the glasses ideal for use in low light conditions, even up to an hour before dusk, they offer me some help in fish spotting. I have two pairs of glasses with different coloured lenses for different light conditions. For further details call 020-8686-5708 Wearing a long peaked cap is a big advantage when used in conjunction with polarised glasses.


Some Other Items Of Tackle


After many years of fly fishing for pike, I would say the biggest percentage of hooked fish have been hooked in the scissors, or just inside the mouth where the fly can be quickly removed. Occasionally the fly will be deep in the mouth, that’s when you need a good pair of long handled forceps or needle nosed pliers. The heavy duty hookouts from Masterline dealers are excellent , they come in two sizes eight and ten inches.

Where I do have a problem, is in the storing of my pike flies. I have tried plastic lure boxes, wallets, fly boxes, plastic bags and a smaller version of the tarpon anglers stretcher frame, the latter has at times proved most useful. I purchased my small size stretcher bar in the United States. It can hold about twenty two flies, it will fit in the large back pocket of a flyfishing vest.

To carry all my gear, I use a waterproof rucksack from Patagonia. Its big enough to carry everything I need, including my cameras and tape recorder. Most important of all, it doesn’t cause me any problems with my casting.

Choose The Best Waders and Jacket

Without doubt, I feel a pair of good stocking foot chest high waders are an asset, I choose stocking foot waders as hey are the best, I then buy a comfortable pair of wading boots. Chest waders will certainly help you catch a few more fish. Often a big one, especially on rivers where its possible to wade much of the area. My first pair of chest high waders were neoprene, they were cumbersome, bulky and walking was often difficult, they were also useless in warm weather. It was like being in a Turkish bath. Then along came Simms who gave us Gortex waders. Without doubt, these breathable waders are excellent and the best, light, comfortable, cool in summer and warm in winter. In 2001 Patagonia gave us breathable chest waders with built in gravel guards, they are also excellent. A pair of these chest waders, topped off with a Patagonia SST jacket will certainly keep you dry and warm on the wettest of days.

Location Of Pike In Rivers

It doesn’t matter how many hundreds of pounds you spend on tackle, if you don’t have a knowledge of water craft, then your not going to catch many fish without a lot of luck or the services of a friend to act as a guide. We all get some luck, its that type of pastime. But I try to make luck just a small percentage of my angling skills. I spend many hours at the waterside in summer when the rivers are low and gin clear, making a note of the bottom formation, weed beds, snags, current speed and direction. I also make a special note of an area where fish are seen. Remember pike love weeds and snags, Some river stretches these days have huge rocks dumped in the water to protect the river bank from erosion caused by floods. These are often good spot to find fish. The mouths of side streams also attract fish more so if there is some over head cover from willows alders or some other trees. Areas of dead tree and other snags also prove attractive to the pike.



Some rivers in the north of England will have shallow areas of bed rock followed by a deep drop off. On sunny days you will often find the pike on the bedrock sunning themselves, or they can be found patrolling the deeper water off the drop off where the bed rock ends. When you see flowing streamer weeds, pay careful attention to these areas. Pike can often be seen close the weed or just under the weed. Don’t pass up these areas, often a pike will be under the weed out of sight. I always fish hard in these areas, many times a pike has dived out from the weeds and grabbed my fly.

In areas of slow moving water, the inside of bends or bays with semi still water and lots of surface weed, I will spend quite a lot of time fishing these areas, my first choice pattern would be a frog pattern or a red tailed rat. Its surprising how much thick weed, the pike will push through to grab your offering. Sometimes the fish will throw itself skywards head shaking and gills flared as it grabs the fly. Why it does this I don’t know but its a very exciting form of fishing. You will sometimes come across an area of deep dark looking water below a high bank, or with lots of trees, these are also good spots to try often throwing up a big fish.

Never neglect the shallow water, often over hung by grass or reeds tight to the bank. Stephen Ainscow on a guided trip with me was walking three or four yards downstream to a point I had suggested he should fish, suddenly his reel screamed. The next minute a good double figure pike shot skywards, then crashed back in a shower of spray as it fought for its freedom. Another thirty seconds later it had gone, throwing the fly back to Stephen with contempt. That pike had been lying up in about a foot of water, spotted Stephen’s fly being dragged along the surface and grabbed it.

Pike Will Eat Static Flies



There are many times when a pike will follow the fly for some way, then leave it alone. If after three or four casts the pike continues this behaviour. I let the fly settle on the bottom. The pike will often come within an inch of the fly, then lay there watching it. Just as a cat does with a mouse. By gently moving the rod tip, a slight movement will be imparted into the fly. This often gets the pike a bit more interested. Then after a minute, or perhaps five minutes, the fish will move slowly forward and eat your fly. Its a most exciting form of fishing. As you stand there willing the fish to eat, your blood pressure quickly rises, as the adrenaline pumps through the body. I can guarantee your mouth will go dry, perspiration will run off your brow perhaps stinging your eyes. Especially if the fish is a big one.


Other Fish

Its not only the pike that eat big flies, trout, chub, grayling and perch will take them. Last week when I was guiding, I spotted half a dozen chub and suggested it was possible to catch them on a fly. Taking the clients rod, I flicked the Clouser Deep minnow towards midstream. Three chub investigated, one sucked the fly in, then immediately rejected it. As the fly swung in close to the bank, a big fish appeared and engulfed the fly. The strike connected with a powerful chub that moved off to midstream, I handed the rod to Stephen who enjoyed a few minutes having his string pulled. With no landing net, I waded out into the stream, where I gently lifted the chub in my arms, I then laid it on the soft grassy bank. It weighed in at 5-10-0. A big brown trout will hit big fly at dawn and dusk. Dusk is also a good time for big chub which will hit a red tailed rat savagely. Perch like a Clouser Deep minnow which they will strike during the brightest part of the day. If you have any further questions please E-mail me [email protected]


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Fishery Reports 2nd September

Rutland Water
The cooler weather heralds promising prospects at Rutland Water, with plenty of fry available. Water temperatures are slowly dropping and the recent strong winds have broken up a lot of the fine, soft weed in the margins. One or two daddy long legs have been hatching in the last few days.

The best fish of the week was a 4lb 4oz rainbow taken by Mr E Gray from Berkshire who also took the best limit of the week, eight fish weighing 27lb 8oz. Robert Gooden of Oakham took the best brown weighing 4lb plus.

Congratulations to Rutland Water Tackle shop’s Phil Brown who won the annual Mick Willis British Open Pike fly fishing championship held at Grafham Water last Sunday.


best rainbow 4lb 4oz taken by E Gray of Berkshire
best brown 4lb plus taken by season ticket holder Robert Gooden of Oakham.
best boat areas Brown island, Bunds Wall, Lax Hill, gibbets Gorse, the main basin (aerators)
best bank areas Old Hall, Green bank, the Stones
best methods Bank anglers - Floating lines with Diawl Bach, Hares Ear, pheasant tail, black tadpole, minkies, floating fry. Boat anglers – similar methods and including mini lures, gold and silver sparklers and boobies.
mid week boat winner Harrold Sansome, of Leicester (season ticket holder)
fish stocked 1300

forthcoming events Please note that boat bookings during September are very heavy with around half the days fully booked. Please phone the fishing lodge on 01780 686441 to check availability.

Pitsford Water
Geoff Adams from Northampton smashed Pitsford’s rainbow record for the season with a superb 13lb 4oz Rainbow. This was the biggest Rainbow at Pitsford for a decade. Geoff said that this ‘once in a lifetime’ fish was caught opposite the Pines on North shore using a size 14 Hares Ear. The Hares Ear a special ‘twinkle’ hand tied fly could also have caught plenty more fish that evening as the rise was perfect. Geoff has great hopes for his Troutmaster entry.

The cooler weather this week has seen the fishing at Pitsford hotting up. Seasoned anglers are proving that traditional favourite flies are still the best with buzzer patterns and hares ear dominating on both the banks and boats. Both Kingsthorpe’s Mike Stratton and Philip Kennell had bag limits weighing over 18lb each. Fish are also showing near the margins after about 6.30 pm and also at first light making for good bank fishing.

When the weather is hot and the wind is still boats are a great relief, anglers can get deep and with an intermediate/sinking line possibly sit on fish around Brixworth Bay and the Dam. During the day boat fishing has been good near the Causeway on North fields shore side.

best rainbow 13lb 4oz taken by season ticket holder Geoff Adams of Northampton
best brown 4lb plus taken by Mick Stevens of Kingsthorpe
best boat areas Causeway, Narrows also Dam and Brixworth Bay.
best bank areas Bog Bay, Cliffs to north shore also Pines.
mid-week boat winner Andy Pope of Leighton Buzzard

forthcoming events Autumn Boat League – every Sunday until 27 October, 9am to 1pm, followed by hot soup and crusty bread. Book in on the day. This will be a popular social event. Each weekly winner will receive one free boat for 2003 season. Best three weights over the 8 weeks will win tackle vouchers.
Winter Bank League – 3, 10 and 17 November, 1 December. Book in 8.30am onwards, fishing 9am to 1pm, concluding with hot soup. Top single weight and best fish over the 4 weeks wins Christmas hampers.

Grafham Water
The fish this week have continued to feed heavily on the fry in all parts of the lake with all the anglers seeing plenty of fish. The fish that are being caught are all over 2lb, with all the fish fighting fit, and putting up a good account of themselves.

best rainbow 5lb 1oz taken by Simon Lee
best boat areas Savages, Sanctuary Bay, Hill Farm, Hedge End, G Buoy, Seat, Dam Wall
best bank areas Stumps, Stones, Hill Farm, G Buoy, bowl of dam, the Seat, Harbour Arms.
best methods Floating lines, with fry imitations, floating fry, minkies, zonkers, sparklers, or nymphs either fished on a floater or a Di 7, Diawl Bachs, GRHE, PTN.
mid week boat winner Edward March (season ticket holder) from St Neots.

competition news
19 four man teams competed for the John Watt Trophy at Saturday’s fly dressers Guild match. This match was fished to new rules this year, with the anglers keeping the first four fish, then returning all other fish as this match is fished for numbers of fish.

1st London Branch ‘A’ 22 fish
2nd North West Branch 18 fish
3rd Cheshire Branch 11 fish

Best catch went to Ron Lusardi of Hemel Hempstead with 7 fish.

The annual Mick Willis British Open Pike fly fishing championship was held on Sunday with 24 anglers, trying to catch one of Grafham’s elusive Pike. One angler took two pike weighing 20lb and 12lb, these came from around the north tower and Savages. The winner was one of Rutland’s own Pike experts, Phil Brown who works in Rutland Water’s tackle shop.

Also on Sunday was division one, 5th round match of AMFC with six teams of six competing.

1st Bristol FF 27 fish for 61lb 3½lb

2nd Bewl FF 25 fish for 58lb 12½oz

3rd Queen Mother 25 fish for 58lb 8½oz

forthcoming events: Fish Tech final 11 – 14 September
Troutmasters final 21 – 23 September telephone Grafham Water lodge on 01480 810531

Ravensthorpe Reservoir Local florist and season ticket holder Graham Hutchings, of Northampton, took top spot this week taking 20 Rainbows in an evening session. Graham found fish rising off the weedbeds at the Coton end of the reservoir. His fish came to a single size 14 black buzzer on a floating line.

Dick Haynes (East Haddon) and Tom Holyoake concentrated on the Airline and had a fantastic day catching 20 plus fish. Their tactics alternated between size 12 GRHE on floaters and lures on HiD’s (Dick’s favourite ‘chicken’ pattern being most effective).

‘Pond olive’ hatches have been the feature of the week – fish responding well to green or claret c.d.c. raiders fished static in the top few inches of the water.

Bank fishing and tubing is still restricted but large rafts of weed are now breaking up and will disappear with the first strong winds.

mid week boat winner Mr Taylor of Thornby, Northampton
best boat areas Hickmans Spinney to island
best rainbow 4lb 10oz taken by Jim Gorrings of Kettering

River Ribble
The river had a rise of about a foot on Saturday, few seatrout caught also some nice chub on spinners. Good chub have been caught on lower reaches of the Ribble from Balderstone downstream. Bread, meat, boilies and pellets are the successful baits. Barbel to 8-5-0 reported at Alston. River Aire Kildwick stretch is good venue for chub and
pike. Don't try fishing downstream of Eshton Beck as dredging work is taking place water very muddy. River Wharfe chub barbel grayling and the odd good roach being caught gentles bread meat casters are all catching fish. River Ure Some good chub catches one angler
taking twenty chub averaging 3lbs each tickets from Ripon Angling Centre.
River Teme
low water conditions Mike Osborne of Cumbria fished the river catching several barbel including two nine pound fish best at 9-12-0
River Wye
low and weedy not worth the effort until we get lots of rain to give the river a four foot lift.
River Beault
Hunton London AA stretch some nice tench and bream being caught, float fishing with gentles and casters feeding with hemp seems the winning method. Some good size pike in this stretch of river.
River Bain
some good bream being caught around Horncastle and Conningsby Some good perch to 2-3-0 from the Conningsby stretch on legered
worm.

Young Anglers Big Chub
Nine year old, Jordan Egglestone of Lancaster, had a session with me on the river Aire downstream of Kildwick last Friday, before returning to school, where he caught a chub of 3-8-0. After lunch we fished for pike and Jordan was able to bring in a pike about 7lbs, I had caught on a fly.

The previous day Bradley Johnson of Mellor joined me at Kildwick where he caught chub to 4-4-0 both anglers used bread bait.

Throughout the summer holidays I have been able to take out many youngsters and they have all ended up with personal best fish.
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This Week's Angler's Mail 28th August

Big Cats In Anglers Mail

Take a look at this weeks Anglers Mail August 31st where you can see 7 photographs of big catfish including a 191 pounder being claimed as a new European record On pages18,19,20,21 and 22 you can see lots of photographs of happy anglers with their carp catches. Also in this weeks magazine you can learn all about pellets and how to fish them



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Catches On The Rivers Aire And Ribble 28th August

Chub Catch From The Aire

The next day 80 year old Bob Tomlinson a retired police officer from Blackpool joined me for a chub fishing session on the river Aire where he has a good catch of chub on legered bread. Tackle was quite simple 11 foot rod fixed spool reel 7lb line and size 4 hook with two LG shot on the line about six inches from the hook Bait was a big bit of crust. Bobs smallest fish weighed 3-9-0 and the best was 4-9-0

Ribble Chub and Barbel Catch

John Tyler of Bolton fished the river Ribble at Osbaldeston, after the river had cleared from being a horrid pea soup colour from the weekend rain further up the valley. Fishing with pellet bait hair rigged on a size 8 hook to 10lb line and feeding with hemp John caught 12 chub none under 4lbs and 6 barbel the best at 9-8-0 in a five hour session




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Game Angler Targets Pike On The Fly 28th August

Seatrout angler Stephen Ainscow who has started fishing for the coarse fish species after a long break has this week caught his first pike on a fly Stephen joined me on the river Aire on the Keighley AC water after purchasing a £2-00 day ticket from local tackle shop. I equipped Stephen with a Thomas and Thomas fly rod, floating line eight foot leader with a foot of twenty pound wire to which I attached a white streamer fly. After fishing several likely fishing spots I put Stephen in at the end of a fast run so he could fish up the run into a big pool where in the past many of my guests have taken their first pike. Ten minutes later Stephen had a bent stick and pulled string and eventually I was able to wade out on to the shallows and net the pike. A nice fish of some six or seven pounds.



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Fishery Reports 28th August

Rutland Water Loch Leven manager Willie Wilson form Kinross took time off to visit Rutland last week and recorded the best brown at 4lb 8oz. The best rainbow, weighing 4lb 8oz, was taken by Mr G Houghton from Arnold, Nottingham. 4,852 Rainbows weighing up to 3lb were stocked last week bringing the total for the season to 88,162. Despite the large amount of food in the reservoir, masses of fry etc, fish are hardly feeding, with some feeding on buzzers small olive and large red, while other fish have small amounts of daphnia inside them.





Competition news

Rutland Four Man Loch Style Team Event



The RAF Fish Hawks clawed their way to victory and just managed to pip local team Cormorants by a mere 1lb in weight. The Fish Hawks were grateful to team member Paddy Mounter who topped the individual position taking the maximum ten fish, making 27lb 13½ which included a 3lb time bonus. Paddy won the latest model “Scierra” rod, the individual trophy plus a bottle of whisky for the best rainbow (3lb 1oz). 36 anglers enjoyed an excellent day’s fishing with a rod average of 3.97.



The day ended with an excellent meal at the Lodge Restaurant and prizes of valuable tackle vouchers to the first four teams. Whisky went to the anglers catching the biggest rainbow and brown.



1st Fish Hawks 23 fish for 54lb 5oz

2nd Cormorants 27 fish for 53lb 5oz

3rd Fly Boys 17 fish for 36lb 10oz

4th Defenders 16 fish for 34lb 4½oz

Top individual was Paddy Mounter with 10 fish for 27lb 13½oz (including time bonus), Paddy also took the best Rainbow. The best Brown was taken by local angler Dave Doherty.



Ladies National



Rutland Water hosted the England Ladies National last Sunday. It was Sue Sissons day. Sue won the event with a brilliant maximum ten trout, which with a 3lb time bonus gave her 24lb14½ and a huge lead over the rest of the field.



The top 13 anglers qualify to represent England in the Home International next year and among the team will be Anglian Water’s assistant retail manager from the Grafham Water Lodge.

Tracey from St.Neots was fishing in her first final and was thrilled to be in the team. Other local qualifiers were, Margi Godwin (Northborough, Peterborough), Sue Shaw (Peterborough) and Lois Howells of Huntingdon. Anglian Water’s Fishery Manager, Jon Marshall, said “We are very honoured to hold this prestigious event at Rutland Water and Anglian Water is pleased to donate the crystal trophies that were presented to the winners and qualifiers.”



1st Sue Sissons (Bolsover, Chesterfield) 10 fish for 24lb 14½oz

2nd Mairi McFarlane (Bletchley) 4 fish for 9lb 10¼oz

3rd Wendy Miller (Peterborough) 4 fish for 8lb 2oz

4th Margi Godwin (Northborough) 3 fish for 6lb 12oz



Tuesday night boat league

Gordon grabs the glory! Gordon Bloodworth clinched the title by winning the deciding last round and taking the title by 79 points in front of Keith Jones (61 points) who doggedly chased Gordon all through the 14 week competition, which started way back in the middle of May. Gordon was presented with a £50 tackle voucher by reservoir warden Nigel Savage, who also presented Gordon with a mid week boat voucher for winning the last match of the series.



This week’s results

1st Gordon Bloodworth 3 fish for 5lb 15oz

2nd Rolland McKendrick 1 fish for 2lb 4oz (also best fish of the evening)

3rd Paul Wild 1 fish catch and release



final top four league placings

1st Gordon Bloodworth 79 points

2nd Keith Jones 61 points

3rd Roger McCarthy 51.5 points

4th Paul Wild 38 points

Barry Vaughn won a £10 tackle voucher for the best fish of the league.



best boat areas Gibbetts across to Old Hall Bay. Browns Island to Laxhill, plus the main basin



best bank areas The Old Hall, the Stones, and green bank

mid week boat winner R Edwards of Littlehampton, Sussex



best methods: Boat anglers – floating and intermediate lines with Diawl Bach, black tadpole, hares ear, booby (various) black buzzer.

Bank anglers – as boat anglers with fry patterns worth a try.



forthcoming events 4 September Floating line boat competition





Pitsford Water Sport this week has been challenging, with anglers catching well on certain days. Stan Davies of Northampton, who is a season ticket holder, had a terrific evening’s bank fishing on the north shore bank. He fished a floating line with a 12 foot leader and a single silver invictor to bag six fish in very quick succession. The fish were feeding on sedge pupa close to the bank. Weed growth at Pitsford is strangely non existant!



Fishing on the bank is definitely best early and late with more productive hatches of sedge in the evening. Boat anglers have been catching with best areas being Brixworth Bay to the Cliffs and drifting in the middle of the main basin. The trick is to keep on the move.



best rainbow 5lb 6oz taken by season ticket holder M Wright of Northampton



best boat areas Brixworth Bay/Main Basin



best bank areas North shore to Cliffs



mid-week boat winner John North of Leeds



fish stocked 650



forthcoming events Beginners courses are very popular remember its never too late in the season to start with excellent fishing prospects for September and October.



Autumn Boat League - first heat commences this Sunday 1 September, starting at 9am. Book in on the day. This will be a popular social event. Each weekly winner will receive a boat permit for 2003 season. Top three overall anglers over the 8 weeks will win tackle vouchers.





















Grafham Water This week the fish have continued to feed mainly on fry and snails. With the fry feeders feeding mainly around the margins and the snailers feeding more out in the open water, the unsettled weather conditions (wind speed and direction) have made fishing unpredictable.



Congratulations to Tracey Rathbone, assistant retail manager, at Grafham Water Lodge for qualifying for the English Ladies team. Tracey fished in the England Ladies National at Rutland Water on Sunday 25th and qualified at her first attempt to represent the England Ladies next year. Tracey from St.Neots was fishing in her first final and was thrilled to be in the team.



best rainbow 4lb 12oz taken by season ticket holder Andy Linwood of West Perry, Huntingdon





best boat areas C,K and F buoys, Savages Creek, bowl of dam



best bank areas Stumps, Hill Farm north and bowl of dam



best methods floating/intermediate lines with pheasant tail nymphs, diawl bachs, red or claret hoppers and cdc’s. Small minkies, cats whiskers, sinking lines, blobs, crunchers.



mid week boat winner John Davies of Lanarkshire.







competition news



Iain best Barr none!

This week saw an exciting final of the Trout Fisherman European Open individual. Over 1000 anglers from all over Europe entered the qualifying rounds of this prestigious event. On Saturday 106 anglers competed in the final at Grafham Water for the top prize of a Lexus 4x4 jeep.



The match started at 10am with the boats heading off in three different directions, Savages Creek, Sanctuary Bay, Hedge End, and G Buoy on a very hot and still day. The competition was fished to a 6 fish limit then catch and release. The 106 anglers caught 315 fish giving a rod average of 3 trout weighing over 2lb each.



The competition was won by last year’s winner Iain Barr of Peterborough who caught 16 fish for 29lb 13oz. Iain caught his fish on a di 7 line with a cats whisker on the point with diawl bachs and crunchers on the droppers. Most of his fish were caught on the hang the nymphs taking 6 fish. The cat taking 7 and an orange blob taking 3 fish.

1st Iain Barr Peterborough 16 fish for 29lb 13oz

2nd Lee Henfrey Leicester 11 fish for 19lb 11oz

3rd John Hardy Catterick 9 fish for 17lb 5oz

4th Gary Montgomery Larne 6 fish for 17lb

5th Paul Davison 7 fish for 15lb 11oz

6th Ron Gent Leicester 8 fish for 15lb 2oz

7th Dave Johns 7 fish for 14lb 5oz

8th Robert Sosbe Kibworth 6 fish for 13lb 13oz

9th Martin Adams Birmingham 5 fish for 12lb 9oz

10th Sean Cutting Rutland 5 fish for 12lb 4oz

Best fish 4lb 5oz taken by Dugald Macglip



All of the Anglian Water staff at Grafham Water joined with John Horsey in thanking the sponsors Lexus, Masterline and Trout Fisherman magazine for a brilliant event.



forthcoming events: Fish Tech final 11 – 14 September

Troutmasters final 21 – 23 September telephone Grafham Water lodge on 01480 810531


Ravensthorpe Reservoir Baz Street and Steve Waddingham from Loughborough had no trouble finding the fish this week taking surface feeding fish early on GRHE and Diawl Bach. They swapped to large minkie patterns for the afternoon session recording a total of 24 fish to 4lb. Graham Sanders made the long journey from Chard in Somerset to bag eight fish including rainbows of 3lb 8oz and 3lb 7oz. Graham fished GRHE on floating line anchored off the aerator.



With fish now feeding on a wide range of insect life and coarse fish fry anglers should be prepared to change tactics during the day to achieve the best results. Fish are feeding at the surface in ripple conditions and are being taken on a variety of nymphs – size 12 Diawl Bach, GRHE and

raiders being the most consistent patterns. Fish hoppers and c.d.c’s in a decent wave – size 10/12 black buzzers are best in calm conditions.

Cats whisker and minkie patterns fished along the weed fringes are taking some nice resident rainbows with the odd blue trout neow showing in bags.

mid week boat winner John Parker of Northampton



best boat areas Weed fringes and aerator



best rainbow 4lb 9oz taken by John Clarke of Cranfield







coarse fishing Ardleigh The reservoir continues to fish well for pike with plenty of jacks and low double figure fish being caught. The have been a few biggerones landed as well, with Mick Scutter landing 6 fish for over 100lb in a frantic two hour period during late afternoon. The bream fishing continues to improve especially along the bank at Noah’s Ark towards Pine Point. Some good bags have been reported with Shaun Plumb having a good mixed bag of roach and perch included. Steve Smith from Ipswich produced the best bream with a fine specimen of 7lb 10oz.



Hollowell With a sprinkling of tench being caught it’s best to go for the smaller fish at present. Before the children go back to school why not take them to Hollowell and give them a time to remember? There is excellent fishing on the dam at present and you will soon be in to fish. Best method is swim feed with a ground bait and red maggot cocktail. It won’t be long before your rod is bending with good size perch, small bream, roach, rudd hybrid and the odd tench. Why not give it a try?

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There IS Life After Bread 22nd August
Yesterday I fished a short session on the river Ribble upstream of Redscar wood. It was nice to see a few seatrout, though they are now colouring up and should be returned to the water when caught. If possible use barbless hooks and release the fish without taking them from the water. This will ensure better sport in the future.

An hour before dusk a big salmon rolled on the surface. With the river low, gin clear with little flow I decided to give legered bread a miss. I decided to fish freelined rolling meat. Not small pieces but chunks the size of a chicken's egg on a size 4 hook to 6lb line with an old Mitchell 300 1950 vintage and a 12 foot Avon rod.I was lucky to catch several chub the best two weighed in at 5-3-0 and 5-12-0 Both fish were in excellent condition

Peter Smith of Chadderton fishing upstream of the M6 motorway bridge on the river Ribble where he has taken his best ever barbel a super fish weighing 11-4-0 on legered pellet bait fished in conjunction with a swim feeder filled with hemp. Peter fished his pellet bait on a hair to a size 8 hook to 10lb line. If you're seeking a big barbel and you live in the northwest of England why not try the lower river Ribble but make sure you have permission to fish the water, a good card to have is the Preston centre card available from tackle shops in the Preston area for just a few pounds.

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Slugging For Chub

This year we have been lucky in having good rain falls to keep our rivers and streams flowing. All this rain has helped the seatrout move up our rivers and streams from the ocean providing good sport for the seatrout anglers. On the river Ribble this year the summer chub fishing has been excellent, the fighting qualities of the fish have been more like autumn chub than summer ones. An added bonus from all the rain has been a growth in slug numbers

No doubt this was good news for frogs, toads, newts and hedgehogs, but not for the gardeners who prize their flowers and plants. When I see slugs, I think of chub, living as I do within easy reach of three chub fishing rivers. I often use these slimy creatures for bait. Its a simple and often very successful way of catching chub in summer. But don’t try legering chub in deep water, I find its a waste of time. I go looking for chub, by moving very slowly upstream, keeping as far back from the waters edge as possible. You need to spot the chub, then cast your slug either well upstream allowing the bait to drift naturally downstream, or drop the bait, just behind the fish. This latter action will often get an immediate response with the chub often turning savagely round to grab the bait.

Don’t strike as the chubs mouth closes over the bait, wait until the line starts to move a few inches then tighten, I usually let the fish have its head, if its moving off downstream. I will let the fish go, then move downstream to land the fish. I have often found by doing this, the other fish in the shoal want spook and you can often quickly take another fish. But rarely do you get a third chance. The tackle is very simple an eleven or twelve foot Avon action rod, centre pin or fixed spool reel, 6lb breaking strain line with a size 4 barbless hook. If I find a big fish close to snags then I will step up the line strength to eight or ten pounds. When it comes to slugging you need to choose the black slugs and not the orange or green variety. Black slugs will out fish orange slugs, by ten to one. Why this should be, I don’t know. But I can assure you its a fact on all the rivers and stream I have fished countrywide.

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Back To The Fifties 20th August
Talking to my son Nigel the other day we discussed carp fishing. Not the modern carp fishing of bivvies, bed chairs, secret rigs and baits. Our idea of carp fishing is visiting small lake surrounded by rhododendrons, oaks and beech trees or a reed lined pond hidden away in the corner of a meadow, with an over hanging alder or willow tree to sit under. Recently we visited such a carp fishing spot. As we walked from my car, down the tree shrouded lane in the warm sunshine, I mentioned how delightful it was to return to the past when we go carp fishing to small secretive lakes or ponds, as we walked and chatted about our prospects. The sunlight filtered down through gaps in the oak, beech and horse chestnut trees. As it did so, it high lighted small groups of flying insects. Occasionally a blackbird took fright alerting other birds that a stranger was about, with its harsh ‘pink pink pink’ call. In the tree tops we could hear the soft cooing of pigeons.

Reaching the farm track, Nigel and I pushed our way through some head high nettles, as we did so we heard the sound of scaaaar-scaaar as Nigel spotted the Jay as it flew off in fright. After walking fifty sixty yards around the boundary fence. I spotted the outline of the farm pond in the corner of the flower covered meadow a few more yards and we were looking across the weed covered pond. It was about half an acre in size with nine tenths of its surface covered in weed. A heron flew of from the stream side to our left, with a harsh 'fraank fraank' sounding a bit like Frank Frank which is one of the names given to the Heron. On the far bank a moorhen often called a waterhen bobbed along with two balls of black fluffy chicks in attendance. Ten yards to our right was a small willow tree. The water in the trees shadow looked very fish able. No doubt a shoal of perch were holed up in its shadow.

As we sat at the waterside taking in this delightful summer time scene, my mind went back to my boyhood many years ago, when I fished a similar sized farm pond near Gravesend which was also covered in surface weed, except my boyhood pond was surrounded on three sides by strawberry fields. With a belt of beech trees on the fish able side of the pond. As we sat there soaking up the atmosphere, I flicked in a few pieces of bread flake, within minutes we could see the water being gently rocked close to a bit of the drifting bread, then a golden orange shaped body of a carp appeared. Slowly and quietly part of the carps back appeared out of the water as a large rounded mouth moved forward and sucked in the bread. causing a small vortice in the water. A few yards away a bigger swirl rocked the surface, sending out ever increasing circles across the opening of another gap in the weeds. Then another carp appeared with its head and shoulders partially out of the water moved forward to suck in another bit of bread.

Quietly and slowly we put our rods together, I used a centre pin reel, loaded with some fifty yards of ten pound Cortland Cam-O-Flage line. Tying on a size four Partridge Jack Hilton barbless hook. Nigel chose a Mitchell 300 reel with eight pound line, a small float and a size ten hook. Peering into the dark water I could faintly make out the shape of a carp as it slowly cruised just under the surface. Occasionally part of a carps back would break the surface. I baited with a piece of bread flake. I didn’t pinch the flake on the hook but stuck the hook through the flake then cast out with a gentle under hand swing allowing the flake to land softly on the surface. Within a minute perhaps less, a mouth appeared sucking in the bread. As the line moved a couple of inches I set the hook. The fished powered away from the bank as fast as it could crashing its way though the weeds. The rod was well bent, the reel gave a few yards of line, The ever increasing circle of waves moved across the ponds surface. A moorhen screamed in protest, probably in shock having never experienced a carp thrashing about at the end of a line on the weedy surface before.

Slowly I pulled and pumped the fish towards me, taking line back on the reel as the fish was dragged back through the weeds and water. As I pulled it back into the open water it thrashed the surface with its tail in its bid for freedom. Then the rod tip was suddenly pulled down towards the water as the reel gave a few feet of line. It was the carp’s final bid for freedom, within thirty seconds it was engulfed in the deep mesh of my landing net. I dragged it shore laying the net on a soft carpet of weed, parting the mesh of the net I could see I had caught the perfect fish, It was common carp fin and scale perfect. It could have been freshly minted.. The fish weighed 7-4-0 Nigel fishing a small bit of bread crust had a fish of similar size which was again fin and scale perfect His fish a beautiful mirror carp could also have been freshly minted. Both fish gave us a lot of pleasure, in beautiful surrounding on very simple tackle. No boilies, hair or bolt rigs, and no flavours unless you call yeast a flavour. We didn’t have to sit for hours, erect a bed chair or bivvy, but what we witnessed was enough to draw us back again to our small farm pond on a warm summers day. Who knows one of us might catch a twenty pounder, but if we don’t we will certainly enjoy our fishing days.


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Fishery Reports 20th August

Barnsfold Water near Chipping Lancashire Water temperature still high, best fishing late evening with small sedge patterns, buzzers and hoppers. Best daytime catches have been by anglers fishing with an intermediate line and small lures such as cats whiskers. Ron Dawson had the best fish of the week at 7-4-0 fishing late evening.

River Ribble Good catches of chub from Balderstone downstream to M6 Motorway Bridge, many of the chub catches being taken on pellets by anglers fishing for barbel. It would be nice to see another extra foot of water on the river. Some nice seatrout being taken on small Mapp's spoons and flies fished on an intermediate line. Lancashire Calder in the Whalley area is worth a visit if your a member of an angling club with water in this area. Lots of chub and some nice roach to 12 ounces. Try floating crust for chub its well worth the effort. Prince Albert AS have waters on both rivers for membership details write to Mr C Swindells 37 Sherwood Road Macclesfield SK11 7RR. Please make sure you enclose a SAE

River Aire Kildwick to Keighley golf club, clubs with water on this stretch are Bradford City AA, Bradford No 1 AA and Keighley AC. All three club books are available from tackle shops in Silsden and Keighley. Day tickets are available for Keighley AC waters but they must be purchased from the local shops at £2-00 a day. NO tickets on the bank.

Several chub of 4lbs plus being caught best fish reported was 4-15-0 on meat bait, anglers fishing with gentles or casters on float or leger rig, are getting nice catches of chub. Several bream to 5lbs have been caught from the deep water in the area of the golf club. Tony Roberts of Bradford had a nice pike of 13lbs on a spinner.

Many people will tell you the river Aire isn’t really worth fishing, but I disagree, I have been on the river today downstream of Silsden where I had 12 chub which included five fish over 5lbs plus weighing in at 5-2-0 5-3-0 5-3-0 5-5-0 and 5-7-0 I only had one fish under four pounds a chub of 3-14-0 all my fish caught on free-lined bread flake on a size 4 hook to 6lb line. I also included a pike of about five pounds. Remember all it will cost you is just £2-00 a day. Why not give it a try, but a word of warning. Be quiet, keep off the skyline and don’t let the fish know your there.

Local angling clubs secretaries are as follows - Keighley AC Sec Mr D Freeman 62 Eelholm View Street Beechcliff Keighley W/Yorks Tel Keighley 663695 - Bradford City AA Sec Mr M Briggs 4 brown Hill Close Birkenshaw Bradford BD11 2AS W/Yorks - Bradford No 1 AA Sec Mr H M Foster 8 Micklethwaite Drive Queensbury Bradford W/Yorks

Rutland Water The Rutland Water Fly Fishers hosted a very successful Juniors evening last Thursday. Twenty-five boys and girls fished on a very hot humid evening. Not ideal conditions: but despite that some 12 fish were caught totalling 26lb 15oz. The youngsters received help from qualified instructors before going out with senior boat men. Rods were awarded to the best fish from each group and a reel to the best bag in each group. All participants received goodie bags from Trout & salmon. The young anglers fished in two age groups - 11 to 14 years and 15 to 18 years.Congratulations to the winners in each age group - 11 - 14’s best bag Sam Edwards (Melton Mowbray) best fish Joel Bilner (Bury St Edmunds) - 2lb 13oz With Andrew Flitcroft as Sam’s boatman and Dave Doherty as Joel’s boatman. 15-18’s best bag Douglas Christy (Selkirk, Scotland) best fish Michae Hudson (Whittlesey) - 3lb 9½oz. Boatmen were Bill McIlroy and Paul Wild respectively. Following the match weigh in everyone assembled in the lodge restaurant for the prize giving. Best boatman was Bill McIlroy – who received a bottle of scotch for his efforts. Andrew Flitcroft, who co-ordinated the event thanked Anglian Water Services for their generous sponsorship and their staff for helping in the event. He went on to thank the boat men, the parents for bringing the boys and girls – one coming from Scotland to take part and Trout & Salmon who provided the goodie bags. He also thanked Martin Beaton, who helped with the weigh in and provided some of the contents of the goodie bags and finally, Tickled Trout for the excellent buffet. The RWFF Chairman John Maitland then thanked Andy Flitcroft for the enormous amount of time and effort put in to ensure its success. This was warmly applauded by all. John Wadham recorded and read out the results and took a number of photographs.Fish are still feeding on small olive buzzers, daphnia and one or two on fry. Best fly patterns are diawl bach, hares ear, pheasant tail, with gold and silver sparklers/tubes. The old favourite a leaded black tadpole, accounted for some nice silver rainbows for season ticket holders Graham Bailiss, Tony Gray and Pat Faulkner who caught over a dozen fish, while boat fishing off Gibbets Gorse. With recent extreme hot weather fishing has not been very consistent. Fish have been moving on most mornings till lunch time down the south arm, the fish are well spread out in this area, stretching from Gibbets to the Old Hall to Browns Island to Lax Hill. Competition news Tuesday night boat league This saw a nail biting finish with Gordon Bloodworth of Woodnewton, retaking the league lead from Glinton’s Keith Jones. Gordon banked on the south arm and came up trumps, winning on the night while Keith fished the main basin and blanked. It’s down to the last evening this coming week with all to play for. The best fish on the night weighed 2lb 12oz and was taken by Roger McCarthy of Melton Mowbray.



1st Gordon Bloodworth 3 fish for 5lb 10oz

2nd Roger McCarthy 1 fish for 2lb 12oz

3rd Paul Wild 1 fish for 2lb 4oz



The leader board now reads

1st Gordon Bloodworth 69 points

2nd Keith Jones 61 points

3rd Roger McCarthy 50.5 points

best boat areas H buoy, South Arm, Old Hall, Gibbets Gorse,

Lax Hill, the main basin best bank areas Old Hall point,

Normanton, Sykes Lane. mid week boat winner Ken Merridan

of Uppingham best methods: Floating line with diawl bach, hares

ear, pheasant tail, black tadpole


forthcoming events 23 August Four Man team Loch Style

25 August Ladies National

30 August Over 55’s boat competition

4 September Floating line boat competition

boat bookings - Please telephone the lodge on 01780 686441 (8am to 4.45pm) for availability, as during the next few weeks the fishery is very busy.

Pitsford Water fish week 302 (season10104) returns 193 (3642) rod average 1.56(2.7) Slater slates them again! Season ticket holder, Richard Slater of Abington, Northampton, has won the Wednesday boat league three seasons running. Not only did he bag the best three weights over twelve weeks, totalling 38lb 13oz, he took the best fish of the league as well, a rainbow weighing 7lb 1oz, totally clearing the prize table. Richard, who fished with his wife Karen on the last night, took home a bottle of whisky for best fish and £30 in tackle vouchers. Richard said it was a very good match and nice to win!



1st Richard Slater (Abington) 38lb13oz

2nd Charlie Watts (Ravensthorpe) 32lb 14oz

3rd Brian Mead (Bozeat) 21lb 3oz

4th Kevin Daykin (Hollowell) 20lb 2oz

Following hard on the heels of this successful boat league will be a new Autumn

boat league, commencing Sunday 1 September. This will run every Sunday until

27 October . The match will start at 9am and finish at 1pm, followed by a prize

giving and hot soup and crusty bread. Cost will be £5 entry fee for season permit

holders or £16 for non season ticket holders.

The bank league starts on 3 November. The price will be just £11 for a bank ticket.

This league will run until 1 December, excluding 24 November, which is the date of

this year’s fur and feather.Best brown this week was taken by Gil Mundin, season ticket holder, of Earl’s Barton. Gil boat fished the Boils area of the main basin to take this 5lb 4oz beauty. He used a sinking line and tube to take it and hopes to win the best fish this month in the Trout Masters competition.best brown 5lb 4oz taken by Gil Mundin of Earls Barton best boat areas Main basin, Brixworth Bay best bank areas North Shore point, Stilton Point, Gravels mid-week boat winner Mr Watson, Rushden best methods During the hot weather sinking lines fished deep with gold and silver tubes, fished Northampton style if the wind allows. The banks continue to be weed free. Top methods are to fish early during the first two to three hours and very late to within the last hour. Floating lines with hare’s ear or small buzzers are successful. Fish have been sighted rising very late in the evening.


Grafham Water fish week 991 (season 16325) returns 295 (4633) rod average 3.35 (3.52)

Grafham Water is fishing very consistently. The fish are mainly feeding on fry or snails, with most areas around the lake showing plenty of action. The Harbour is the most productive area for bank anglers. The best bag of the

week went to Nick Evans from Peterborough. Nick took 8 fish for 24lb 2oz best rainbow 5lb 3oz taken by Derek McKeevey of London best brown 4lb 2oz taken by I Wilmore of Girton, Cambs best boat areas west bank, Valley Creek, Savages Creek, Stubs area Marlow Bay, Gaynes Cove best bank areas harbour Arms, Stumps, Hill Farm rocks, Marlow Stones, North Dam best method floating/intermediate lines, minkies, floating fry, PTN, GRHE, Diawl Bachs, damsels and hoppers mid week boat winner Ray French of Letchworth competition news Grafham hosted the final heat of the Trout Fisherman European Open Individual event on Monday 12 August. The first two anglers in this event and the angler catching the biggest fish qualified for the final which will be held at Grafham Water this coming Saturday 24 August. 23 anglers took part with a rod average of 4.74 and average weight 2lb 4oz.

1st Russ Jackson 10 fish for 28lb 7oz

2nd John Emerson 10 fish for 25lb 4oz

3rd Ed Foster 10 fish for 25lb 1oz

Best fish Kelvin Beynon 3lb 12oz

Russ Jackson and Ed Foster can look forward to fishing in this weekend’s exciting final (John Emerson is unable to fish) along with Kelvin Beynon who goes through as the wild card entry.

Tuesday night boat league

This was the last match of the season in this popular league organised by Invicta fishing club

1st Dave Burgess 8 fish for 16lb

2nd Dave Barker 8 fish for 13lb 15oz

3rd Jason Unwin 8 fish for 13lb 12oz

The final placings in this closely fought series were as follows

1st Dave Burgess (Royston) 31 points

2nd Mark Searle (Cambridge) 27 points

3rd Chris McLeod (Cambridge) 26 points

Thursday night boat league

After 12 weekly matches this series has concluded. It was a run away victory for Robert Edmunds from Ringstead who finished on a total of 48 points with Andy Linwood of West Perry in second place on 28 points, followed by Dave Barker on 20.


On Sunday 25 August anglers from the Invicta Tuesday boat league and the Thursday night league will fish a four man team event against the fishery staff at Grafham Water. Book in at 1pm to commence fishing at 2pm with food following the event. Anglers who have participated in either of the leagues this season are welcome to enter.

forthcoming events: Saturday 24 August Trout Fisherman European Open Individual final

Sunday 25 August 4 man team event – see above

places available on beginners course on

8 September telephone

Grafham Water lodge on 01480 810531

for details or to book your place





Ravensthorpe Reservoir

fish week 117 (season9565) returns 38 (2053) rod average 3.0 (4.3)



Richard Slater of Abington, Northampton, took nine fish over the weekend. All fell to a cats whisker fished from a boat on a sunk line. Terry Thomas from Daventry left his float tube at home and took a boat out for six fish taken on a floater with a GRHE.



Best methods have been either a floating line with a single GRHE or Diawl Bach or a sinker with a fairly large bright lure fished deep. Boats are the best option as the banks are quite heavily weeded. There is a lot of fry about and when the fish switch onto this, combined with cooler weather, sport should be outstanding.



mid week boat winner G Thorpe of Markfield



fish stocked 50 – including some ‘blues’







coarse fishing

Taverham Mill Fishery

Taverham Lake continues to fish well despite soaring temperatures. The largest Carp of the week fell to Yarmouth angler Mr Eastlake who banked a perfect 20lb 9oz Mirror form the margins. This earns him the Nash Carpmaster T shirt, but unfortunately doesn’t get him onto the leaderboard. Local hairstylist Linda Anderson out fished her husband Bob this week when she landed her first ever Carp at 15½lb. The biggest reported Tench this week went to 16 year old Andy Moore of Costessey. This 5lb 8oz fish earns him the Taverham Tenchmasters T shirt.

River fishing has been poor due to excessive flood water. The water level is now falling and should present perfect fishing conditions by mid-week.





Ardleigh

The hot and humid weather has not put the pike fishing off. Regular Mick Scutter once again landed the largest fish reported this week at 21 lb 4oz. Rob Nunn from Ipswich landed 4 fish with two around 15lb.



The main reservoir is fishing well with good mixed bags of bream, roach and perch reported. Noahs Ark to the left of the car park has been a good productive spot. Several thousand additional silver fish were added to the main reservoir from the trout lake over the weekend, along with a small number of medium sized carp.



The weekend 'Teach In' proved popular with all groups of youngsters. Everyone caught a good selection of fish on the waggler over the two hour period. Tom Garbutt and Chris Loaring, both from Colchester, landed some very nice bream along with good quality roach and perch.

A special mid week boat offer over September and October will allow a single angler to have a boat for £15 or two anglers £20. Advanced booking is essential. A new boat will be added to the fleet before this date.

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Fishing Reports 15th August

River Wye Ross-on-Wye to Symonds Yat river very low and clear, lots of small fish making the use of bread baits difficult. Dozens of small fish quickly descend on the bait. A few barbel averaging about 6lbs caught on meat and pellet baits. A person ( poacher) fishing a private water near Symonds Yat under the pretext of wanting to purchase a day ticket (Have we not heard that excuse before) had a good barbel of 11-1-0 on meat bait. Rain in the hills desperately needed to give the river a big lift.

River Teme There was a slight rise in the river level of a few inches but rain badly needed. A few barbell taken on pellets meat and boilies. Some good chub have been caught by anglers fishing meat. River Severn, again this river had a rise of a few inches, fishing is rather patchy but if your lucky to drop in the right area your could have some exciting sport with perhaps twenty or more barbell. Though many anglers are returning home fish less

River Kennet Some good barbell and chub being caught on various baits from meat balls to gentles and casters. Its very disappointing to see lots of litter on the Reading and District water. If you see litter at your favourite fishing please take it home Don’t says it’s not my litter. We all need to help keep the countryside litter free.

River Ribble Good fishing for chub and barbel from Ribchester downstream to the M6 motorway bridge. Pellets, meat, and boilies the top baits. With so many anglers fishing the lower river its often a job to find a decent swim.

River Wyre Some nice perch caught by anglers float fishing with gentles. Good bream caught around St Michael's area on bread flake, gentles, casters and red worms. One bream was estimated to weight 6lbs plus.

River Wharfe barbel, chub, dace and roach being caught by float and leger anglers best barbell reported his week was a fish of 8-6-0 by Leeds anglers Joe Coleman fishing with gentles on a size 10 hook feeding with hemp



River Swale Following the torrential rains of late last week, the River Swale reached unbelievable Summer level, especially in the Brafferton-Helperby area a couple of miles or so upstream of Myton where it joins the Ure at Swale Nab to form the Yorks. Ouse. Club Match Secretary, Stuart Tate, quoted that the river was around 14 feet up at the week-end, with the flood approaching the Church wall. As a result, the Club ''Terry Hampton Memorial Match'' was not fished on Sunday and the members, instead, carried out a fish recovery exercise. There were very large numbers of gudgeon, roach, dace, chub and skimmer bream stranded in the field following the floodbank breaching and whilst this resulted in some deaths, a large number were returned to the river. The skimmer bream were a pleasant surprise because these are not normally encountered nor reported by anglers in this area



Rutland Water fish week 729 (season 39897) returns 331 (10930) rod average 2.2 (3.65) England win! Rutland Water was proud to host the Youth Flyfishing International last Wednesday. England took the honours winning by a clear 25lb in weight, from second placed team, Scotland.

Anglian Water sponsored Charles Bowers from Pinchbeck near Spalding and Luke Shevlin from Normanton. Both Charles and Luke took a brace of fish each, helping England to victory. The England team took a very creditable 37 fish with a total weight of 75lb 9½oz. Conditions were very testing with flat, calm water and odd showers throughout the day. Fish were moving on top however, keeping anglers busy. The best areas on the day were the main basin and the south arm around Browns Island.

Result

1st England 37 fish for 75lb 9½oz

2nd Scotland 27 fish for 50lb 4½oz

3rd Ireland 21 fish for 41lb 6½oz

4th Wales 13 fish for 25lb 13oz

Gavin Hunter (England) was top rod with eight fish, including two returned, for 15lb 8½oz. Darren Sumner (England) took best fish, a rainbow weighing 5lb 15½oz.

Fish have been moving on top this week and they have been feeding on small olive buzzers and daphnia. Best tactics have been floating and intermediate lines, with nymphs, diawl bach, hares ear and pheasant tail in small sizes. Bank anglers have had some great sport off the dam with diawl bach, fished on floating lines working its magic spell on the numerous rainbows that were moving there.best rainbow taken by Darren Sumner representing England Youth Team - 5lb 15½oz best boat areas middle of the South Arm and the Main Basin best bank areas the Dam, Sykes Lane, Normanton, Old Hall Point mid week boat winner Alan Mott, visiting from Victoria, Australia best methods: Floating and intermediate lines, with nymphs, diawl bach, hares ear, pheasant tail and olive buzzer

Ravensthorpe Reservoir With the cooler, more overcast weather conditions sport has been good. Local rod Dick Haynes of East Haddon, Northampton, took 19 fish on a GRHE fished from a boat on a floating line, including 3 fish over 5lb. Mark Bailett also got into double figures with a round dozen, again from a boat with a floating line and GRHE, damsels and emergers. Best catch of the week though, fell to first year beginner Mark Cotton of Northampton. Mark, who holds a starter season ticket, boated a 13lb 13oz rainbow whilst sharing a boat with local ace Bev Perkins. On only Mark’s second cast of the day he saw the monster rise and covered it with a size 12 diawl bach, an almost instant take and the specimen was netted within 15 minutes. Best methods have been floating lines with dries and emergers like GRHE, fished from drifting boats. Prolific weed growth has made bank fishing tricky. However local bank expert Jim Ferguson has been taking 5 or 6 fish a session.best rainbow Mark Cotton of Northampton mid week boat winner G Wakeman of Glasgow

Pitsford Water Pitsford Water hosted the Association of Major Clubs match on Friday. It was a testing day with changeable conditions. However Gordon Bloodworth of Wood Newton, near Peterborough, took the best bag of the match. Gordon fished for Team Rutland Water Fly Fishers. His 8 fish weighed 23lb 8oz, including time bonus. They were caught on the blob with a range of sinking lines. Gordon said he used Di3, Di5 and Di7 lines to locate his limit bag.Gordon’s excellent bag was not quite enough to clinch first place. The event was won by the Queen Mother Fly Fishers.

1st Queen Mother Fly Fishers 38lb 4oz

2nd Rutland Water Fly Fishers 34lb 8oz

3rd Grafham Water Fly Fishers 29lb 12oz

The best rainbow of the week went to Warren Scott of Corbridge. Warren fished with senior warden Nathan Clayton who spotted a large Rainbow rising in the aerator. Warren hooked this fish, which weighed 7lb 8oz and then returned it to the water. Warren used a Di7 shooting head and a sparkler. He is hoping to qualify in the Trout Masters fish off next year. Fish are feeding on the windward shore as Pitsford is experiencing large clouds of green daphnia. Small lures fished on an intermediate line are best for both boat and bank anglers. If possible fish facing the wind. Nymphs and dry flies are still worth a try. The banks are still very much weed free. best rainbow 7lb 8oz taken by Warren Scott of Corbridge with a tube fly on a sinking line in the Boils best brown 5lb 12oz taken by Mr Sear of Solihull best boat areas Causeway corners, aerators best bank areas Duffers to Cliffs mid-week boat winner Alan Fletcher of Northampton

Grafham Water This week the fish have been switching to the fry big time with the harbour area alive with big fish. Many anglers have seen fish in the 14lb plus category under the pontoon in the harbour. Fry feeding is also happening in all other parts of the lake along with heavy feeding on snails. So anglers are constantly changing between fry patterns and snail patterns.best boat areas G Buoy, Marlow Bay, Gaynes Cove, Savages Creek, Rainbow Point, Church Bay, Rectory Bay best bank areas The Seat, Hill Farm, Stumps, G Bank, Marlow Stones, Dam mid week boat winner: L B Cooper of Histon, Cambs.

competition news
This week saw the last of the qualifying heats for the Trout Fisherman European Open individual event. The first of these matches was on Sunday with 58 anglers competing for five places, plus a wild card draw for the biggest fish, for a place in the final at Grafham on 23 and 24 August. This is a very popular event with a top prize of a Lexus 4x4 Jeep. Match organiser John Horsey threw down the gauntlet to Craig Barr by telling him that his brother Iain had just won another qualifying heat just two days earlier. The pressure was on.

The boats made a six way split out of the harbour with no-one really knowing where anyone else was going! Craig headed for the Seat area and drifted across the middle towards K Buoy on a Di5 and 2 orange blobs and took 7 fish in the first drift. With no other boats on the same drift Craig was finished by 12.45pm, with other boats only just starting on the same drift.

Craig, from Market Deeping, achieved first place to join his brother Iain in the final. The wild card entry for the biggest fish of the day went to our very own big fish expert Dave Barker, from Hardwick, Cambridge, with a quality rainbow of 4lb 3oz.

1st Craig Barr 10 fish for 31lb 1oz

2nd Mark Haycock 10 fish for 29lb 9oz

3rd Gerry Read 10 fish for 28lb 8oz

4th Simon King 10 fish for 28lb 7oz

5th Clive Morgan 10 fish for 28lb 4oz

coarse fishing Taverham Mill Fishery

Dan Leone is now first and second on the Nash leader board with a superb Carp taken from Costessey No3 Lake on an overnighter this weekend. Gavin Buck moves up on the leader board with a 20lb 12oz Mirror Carp taken from Taverham Mills, stalking with dog biscuits during the week.

The leader board now stands at:

Dan Leone 28lb

Dan Leone 25lb 12oz

Simon Wrigglesworth 22lb 12oz

Boyd Setchel 20lb 12oz

Gavin Buck 20lb 12oz

Ardleigh The annual 'Always Heating' match on Saturday 11 August, organised by Shaun Plumb, proved to be a very enjoyable and productive day. Not only did the bream oblige but most anglers also managed to find some very welcome roach and perch. Shaun caught 8 bream with a good weight to finish second overall with 40lb 5oz. The winner however was Donny Ralph, fishing the Pine Point area, and landing 48lb15oz. Worm and maggot proved the winning combination. The full result was:

1st Donny Ralph 48lb 15oz

2nd Shaun Plumb 40lb 05oz

3rd Steve Gentry 24lb 08oz

4th Vic Taylor 15lb 10oz

On Sunday all boats were out pike fishing and the good sport of recent weeks continued. Rob Nunn from Colchester had 4 fish with the biggest two being 18lb and 19lb. Chris Simms landed 3 pike of 8lb, 10lb, and 14lb. A fourth boat is expected to be available from the end of the month to help meet demand. Bookings please (these boats are not self-service) on 01206 230642

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Fishing Reports 7th August

The heavy rain last week in the north of England might have stopped fishing for a couple of days but it was most welcome, the rivers have had a good clean out. Once the river levels were back to a fish able conditions coarse and game anglers experienced some good fishing. On the game fishing rivers lots of seatrout have been caught with many being returned. The rivers Hodder Ribble Lune and Eden all offered good sport. Peter Richards of Bolton legering a lobworm for chub and barbel on the lower reaches of the river Ribble caught a salmon estimated at 15lbs which was carefully returned. Some excellent catches of chub and barbel have been caught on the lower reaches of the river. From Baldestone downstream. The river banks have plenty of anglers in residence. They tell me the best baits are pellets and boilies but some fish are being caught on luncheon meat.

River Teme and Severn both need a good flush through, both rivers are low and clear, a few barbel to 8lbs and chub to 4lbs are being caught on gentles, casters, pellets, boilies and meat baits. The best fish reported to me was a barbel of 12-8-0 on swim feeder rig and gentles as bait on a size ten hook. Some big chub have been seen, but proving very hard to catch. I spent several hours trying to get a big chub to pick up my bread flake baited hook without success. So as not to spook the chub I had to keep striking off the bait when smaller chub or barbel moved into the area.

The river Kennet badly needs rain and lots of it. The river is very low with slight colour. Lots of small barbel averaging six pounds have been caught with just the odd double figure fish taken. Slough angler David Hallett had the best reported Kennet barbel which weighed in at 10-12-0 caught on swim feeder rig and three gentles on a size 12 hook. Mike Osborne made the long trip from Carlisle down south to the Kennet where he had several barbel the best estimated around 8lbs. I had two days fishing the river Kennet and a small side stream. Catching barbel to 6lbs and chub to 4-14-0 all on yeast flavoured bread baits. Fishing a small Kennet side stream I spotted a carp cruising around in a small bay. Baiting with bread flake I cast out allowing the flake to drift slowly down through the water where it landed on a small gravel bar. Within minutes the fish moved across then hoovered up the bait. In what can only be described as an exciting tussle. The fish realising it was hooked moved off quickly downstream taking several yards of line. It took some five minutes of heart stopping action to get the fish in the landing net. Though it only weighed 11-8-0 it was in my book an exciting fishing session. Tackle used was a centre pin reel, Avon action rod, 6lb line and a size 4 hook. I also had a good brown trout estimated at 2lbs plus which was a welcome surprise.



BBC Radio Lancashire

During August on At The Waters Edge programme Thursday evenings at 7-30pm Saturday at 6-0am you can hear Stephen Ainscow catch a 5lb chub, the programme then goes off to Swedish Lapland. From Sweden its back to the UK on the river Teme where I fish for barbel. At the end of the month I end up in Connecticut with author Ed Mitchell. You can listen to the programme via the internet The best way to get to your fishing is by www.bbc.co.uk./lancashire/sport and then selecting fishing on the drop down menu on the 'more from this section'. It's on the right hand side of the sports index - remembering to press go.
Fishing also features on the mini menus on the right hand side - so it should be easy enough to find.
then scroll.

Cortland Cam-o-Flage

For perhaps the past couple of years I have been using the Masterline Illusion fluorocarbon line as leader material, also as a running line on my centre pin reels with great success. I feel its given me an advantage when chub fishing on very hard fished waters. I will continue to use this line for a lot of my chub fishing. Masterline International are now importing the new Cortland Cam-o-Flage monofilament line from the United States which I have been field testing for some months alongside some other brands. I must say "I am most impressed with the Cortland mono. It comes in bulk spools with breaking strains of 6lbs 8lbs 10lbs and 12lbs. I have used the line on centre pin and fixed spool reels and there is little memory with this line which I feel is very important when used on a fixed spool reel. I have used the 12lb line on the river Teme where there are lots of snags, and the barbel fight like demons. I have felt very confident using this line and pulling fish away from the various snags on this river. Yu can win some of this line in a forth coming competition on BBC Radio Lancashire's At The Waters Edge programme. Why not take a look at this line in your Masterline dealer?

Think Before You Buy

On a recent trip to the river Kennet I called in a local tackle shop. In the window were displayed cans of luncheon meat, double the price than those sold in the supermarket. I also spotted some fancy weights selling at around £1-70 each. Since when has the colour of the weights we use stopped the fish eating our bait?. In another shop you could buy Garlic oil at over £5-00 a small bottle In your local Morison's it will cost about £1-00 Many of the baits. Many of you ask where you can buy LG shots. I buy mine from Ken Varey's in Market street, Clitheroe Lancs. its the only shop I know that stock this size of shot. In fact anglers travel many miles to get LG shots from Varey's.

On page 7 in this weeks Anglers Mail you can see a picture of Paul Buckingham with a huge Ballan Wrasse weighing 8-12-0. The fish is certainly impressive. On page 5 there are some other impressive fish an Eel weighing 6-11-0 Barbel of 14-6-0 and a Tench of 12-8-0 Neil Barry who had this huge tench also had another tench of 11-12-0. This brace of tench must be the biggest brace taken in a session. As usual in the Anglers Mail there are lots of photographs of big carp with information on how to catch carp. You can also get up to date reports on coarse and sea fisheries along with all the match reports

Trout Fisheries

Rutland Water Mother nature was very fickle this week with hot weather punctuated by violent thunderstorms. For the first time ever the Tuesday night boat league was cancelled for safety reasons owing to the risk from lightening.

Now that the weather has settled, prospects look good with a further 3000 fish stocked during the week. Fish are feeding on small light olive buzzers and daphnia. This year’s fry are growing well - some up to two inches long and they are present in huge numbers. The best bank fishing has been off the dam. Dave Doherty took his beginners course onto the dam where most of the novice anglers succeeded in taking their first ever trout. best boat areas middle of the South arm (Brown’s Island) and the main basin best bank areas The Dam, Sakes Lane, Norman ton, Fantasy Island mid week boat winner Season ticket holder Gorton Choleric of Stafford best methods: On the bank – floating line with nymphs, dial bah, hare’s ear, pheasant tail, olive buzzers, damsel nymph, dry fly. C.o.d.'s Shipments, orange, red hare’s ear, clarets From the boat – As above, but also try various density lines with lures and nymph combinations.

Ravensthorpe Reservoir fish week 71 (season9268) returns 30 (1971) rod average 2.37 (4.7) Dave Arrowsmith of Northampton, boat fishing in sunny, flat, calm conditions brought 11 fish to the boat, all taken on size 14 black holographic buzzer on the bung, fishing the dam weedbeds. Fifteen year old Jason King, of Nottingham, triumphed on his first trout fishing trip. Jason caught 5 nice rainbows, including a 3lb beauty. His uncle Albert managed a further 4 fish – all came to a size 1- white sparkler pattern fished off the boils. Despite changeable weather midweek, fish have continued to provide excellent sport to anglers prepared to change tactics to meet differing weather conditions.

Fish are feeding on damsel nymphs and snails over and around the extensive weed fringes – ripple conditions have seen drifting boats taking fish on small wets, c.d.c.’s, hare’s ears and adult blue damsel patterns. Sunny, flat, calm days have required anglers to fish single buzzer patterns (size 12 black) on long leaders or ‘the bung’, or drop deep with lures. Best patterns are white minkies and fritz damsels. best rainbow 3lb 10oz D Retmarski of Bulkington best boat areas main bowl of aerator best bank areas dome, bushes and platforms

Pitsford Water Sunday saw the mid Northants Trout Fishers Fun Day. Ian Pow, organiser of the event, said it was primarily a social occasion for anglers. They met at 9 am, drew for boat partners, and fished until lunchtime. Following a relaxed barbecue lunch, anglers redrew for boat partners and fished on into the evening. Grant Gibson, chairman of the club, had 15 fish, mostly on gold and silver tubes fished deep near the Causeway. Grant said it was a most enjoyable event, very relaxing and a refreshing change from competition. Next year’s date is already in the diary. Julian Davies of Gilders Tackle Shop caught the best fish, (in a bag of three weighing a total of just over 14lb). The biggest - taken off the boils with a sinking line and tube fly weighed 5lb 8oz and was the best rainbow of the week. Fish are still close to the banks with good rises seen at all parts of the lake. Boat and bank sport are on an equal par, which is unusual for the time of year. Fish are feeding on buzzers, damsels, and daphnia. The best patterns are tube flies on sinking lines or floating line and nymphs on long leaders. Fishing is best at the start and close of the day.

Grafham Water The feature event at Grafham this week was the annual Grafham Open, reported under competition news. This popular match ended in a nail biting weigh in. Fish have been feeding heavily on the huge shoals of pin fry in the water, even out in the middle, with snails making up the rest of their diet at the moment. Anglers are reporting seeing hundreds of fish rising throughout the day. Although these are proving hard to tempt the wait is well worth it, with the average fish now weighing somewhere around the 2lb 8oz mark. best rainbow 5lb 4½oz taken by season ticket holder Leon Smith with a Diawl Bach from a boat in Rectory Bay best brown 4lb 1½oz taken by season ticket holder Dave Waters on a small black minkie from a boat at Hedge End best boat areas G buoy, Marlow Bay, Gaynes Cove, Savages Creek, Rainbow Point, Church Bay, Rectory Bay best bank areas the Seat, Hill Farm, Stumps, G Bank, Marlow Stones, Dam competition news - Grafham Open

The rules of this popular event have been amended this year to encourage entries from non match anglers. With the rules set as drifting boats only but any fly size and an eight fish limit with no time bonus it made the anglers target the quality fish in the water. With this in mind the 38 anglers spread themselves far and wide over the water trying to get hold of some of the larger fry feeders.The best fish of the week fell to Leon Smith in Rectory Bay on a red holographic Diawl Bach fished on a floater. Dave Waters, fishing in the same match, took the best brown of the week. Season ticket holder Dave landed a beautiful looking brown on a small black minkie from Hedge End. Dave’s confidence was boosted by a practice day on Saturday. On competition day he landed 4 fish weighing 17lb 8oz. In the end the top three positions were only separated by 7½oz.1st Julian Hubbard 8 fish for 20lb 2nd Leon Smith 8 fish for 19lb 12½oz 3rd Peter Hartley 8 fish for 19lb 7½oz




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Big Ribble Chub Catch 2nd August

Despite the river Ribble having some four feet of extra water Liverpool angler Jack Bennet had his best ever catch of fish in twenty years of fishing. Jack fished some fast water just upstream of Redscar wood known as Duck Island. Fishing swimfeeder rig with bunches of gentles on a size ten hook to 6lb line Jack caught nineteen chub for an estimated weight of sixty to seventy pounds

On the front cover of the Anglers Mail week ending August 3rd Mike Clark is pictured with a 6-3-0 chub from the famous Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon at Christchurch. Mike's fish was caught on a size 12 hook baited with gentles. What I liked about this picture is Mike is smiling which is quite rare these days when most anglers featured with big fish look unhappy.

John Powlowski of Stoke-on-Trent fished the Great Ouse where he captured a huge barbel of 16lb 13 ounces, while Chris Berry of Northampton is pictured with a 6-11-0 chub from the river Thames. The picture that caught my eye was Mark Barrett with his 3-2-0 rudd from a Cambridge gravel pit. On pages 6 and 7 there is an interesting feature on record fish. You can also see three different pictures of ten pound tench the best weighed 10-9-0. If your a carp angler then the Anglers Mail is your magazine every week there are some excellent carp catching ideas and pictures of big carp. For those of you looking for new places to fish there are several pages on Where To Fish This Weekend covering the country. For beginners to this wonderful pastime there are lots of advice on pages 42,43 and 44. Its well written and photographed. In fact many experienced anglers will learn something. You sea anglers are not forgotten with several pages of coastal reports. Finally here are several pages of match reports including the Ladies National Championships

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Good Catches Countrywide August 1st

Despite all the rain the fish are still feeding, On the river Severn Gordon Cottrell of Wolverhampton had a good catch of barbel, in fact good is the wrong word, it should be super catch of barbel. Gordon had seven barbel the best two fish weighed 12-10-0 and 11-13-0 both on luncheon meat, his next two fish weighed 9-12-0 and 9-14-0 the other three fish were estimated to weigh around six pounds each. Gordon used a North-western Avon rod, fixed spool, 8lb line and a size 8 hook.

Ronald Hall of Suffolk fished his local river Waveney catching a personal best chub of 5lb 11ounces on hair rigged pellet bait fished on a size 6 hook to 6lb line.

John Thompson a carpenter of Accrington Lancashire fished the lower river Ribble catching three good barbel 8-7-0, 9-1-0 and 9-10-0 on hair rigged pellet bait on size 8 hook to 6lb line.

A.C.A The Anglers Conservation Association have a new Vice Chairman in 70 year young Fred French M.B.E Fred probably sits on more angling organisation than any other person in the country this includes being a member of REFERAC. Fred's commitment to angling and anglers is truly amazing. Like me Fred has been a lifelong member of the A.C.A. I and Fred along with many others feel every angler should be a member of the A.C.A who's job in life is taking the polluter to court.

I have just had a couple of days on the river Teme but had to return home after a couple of days fishing in heavy rain. Living in a van isn't so good when its raining hard, I couldn't dry off my wet cloths. Still I did catch some nice barbel on bread flake during my short stay including a fish of 9-14-0 9-6-0 9-3-0 and another I didn't weigh which I thought would probably have gone nine pounds.he swim I chose to fish was about two feet deep where it was possible to see he fish and when the smaller fish approached the bait I would strike it off. I didn't want to catch the smaller fish of six or seven pounds. I was after a double, sadly it didn't happen. All my fish were caught on bread. During the trip I fished another swim for chub which I felt could have gone eight pounds. No way did this fish want to eat my bait. I remember on the second morning fishing from seven O'clock until nine O'clock for this chub without moving. I stood behind a tree trunk, holding the rod and watching the bait. As a smaller fish moved in I would strike off the bait. But sadly the big fish would take though it did push the bait around with its nose on several occasions.Prince Albert AS members interested in catching good quality fish should give their Teme fisheries a try sometime. Its a delightful stretch of water.
Mike Osborne of Cumbria had a good day on the Teme catching 12 barbel to 8-14-0 and a chub of 5-2-0 fishing either bread or pellet paste as baits on a size 4 hook hook to 10lb line.

NEW ANGLING BYELAWS COME INTO FORCE IN LAKE DISTRICT

New angling byelaws have been introduced to help protect rare species of fish in Cumbria's lakes.

The byelaws, which came into force on Friday 26 July, prohibit the use of live or dead freshwater fish, salmonids or eels, as bait on 14 lakes. In addition the possession of live freshwater fish, salmonids or eels, with the intention of using them as bait, is also outlawed.

Lakes subject to the new byelaws are; Windermere, Coniston Water, Wastwater, Ennerdale Water, Crummock Water, Buttermere, Loweswater, Bassenthwaite Lake, Derwent Water, Brothers Water, Ullswater, Red Tarn, Haweswater and Thirlmere.

The byelaws were approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and have been subject to a consultation with anglers and other interested groups. They will be enforced by the Environment Agency.

The aim of the byelaws is to protect populations of rare fish, including vendace, schelly and arctic charr, which live in Cumbria's lakes. These fish are at risk from other species of fish, especially roach and ruffe, which have been introduced in recent years - probably by pike anglers using them as bait.

There are a number of scientific reports documenting the extinction of native fish following the introduction of non-endemic species. The government's Fisheries Legislative Review recommended that where rare fish were endangered in this way, the Environment Agency should ban livebaiting.

Live and dead baiting with freshwater fish are traditional and acceptable methods of fishing for pike, but on these lakes pose an unacceptable risk to rare native fish. Livebaiting is not the only successful method for pike fishing - lures, spinners and sea fish are all effective.

Cameron Durie, the Environment Agency's area fisheries manager, said: "Rare fish in the Lake District are at risk from freshwater fish which often escape having been used as livebait.

"We are sure anglers would not deliberately introduce these fish if they knew the threat they cause. We will be working closely with the angling community to make all anglers aware of these changes."

Other byelaw changes include a ban on the use of maggot, their pupae or imitations, between 15 March and 15 June when juvenile migratory salmonids are moving through the lakes on their way to the sea. The lakes affected are Windermere, Coniston Water, Wastwater, Ennerdale Water, Crummock Water, Buttermere, Loweswater, Bassenthwaite Lake, Derwent Water, Brothers Water, Ullswater, Rydal Water or Grasmere.

Additionally, the statutory close season for migratory trout on all waters in the North West, including Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, is now from 1 October to 31 March inclusive.

The penalty for breaching fisheries byelaws is a fine of up to £2,500 per offence.


Rutland Water With the recent hot conditions anglers have continued to find fish in the top 5 to 6 feet of the water. Fish have been taken in the main basin, with quite a few around the aerators, using anything from sinking lines and lures and nymphs to floaters with nymphs and even dry fly, especially in the slicks below the aerators. Elsewhere try the bottom of the south arm, around Brown island across to Gibbets and the Old Hall with fish being taken out in the open water.

best rainbow 5lb taken by Mick McKlintic on a sinking line and green booby

best brown 5lb plus taken by season ticket holder Terry Betts of Whittlesey, Peterborough

best boat areas Main basin, the aerators, bottom of the south arm, Brown island, Gibbets across to the Old Hall

best bank areas Sykes Lane, Normanton, Old Hall point, Yellowstone

best methods: sinking lines with nymphs and lures, also try floating lines with long leader and nymphs



Ravensthorpe Reservoir Best rainbow this week was taken by John Frisby of Carlton Curlieu, Leics. John’s fish weighed 5lb 5oz and took a dry daddy fromboat anchored off the island weedbeds. Shaun Marriott of Stoke Albany took Rainbows weighing 4lb 6oz and 3lb 9oz in his bag of 8 fish – a mix of dries and lures proving successful. Ravensthorpe regular John Caldwell and his boat partner Digby Lewis enjoyed an exciting session boating 20 fish between them. Cdc’s and hare’s ear on floating lines took their fish. With Ravensthorpe’s prolific damsel hatches beginning to thin out, fish are on the move and prepared to take a variety of small dries, wets and emergers in their search for alternative food supplies. Best results are coming to drifting boats over and off the weed fringes with single grhe, cdc’s and hoppers fished almost static on floating lines. best rainbow 5lb 5oz taken by J Frisby of Carlton Curlieu with a daddy long legs on a floating line best boat areas shallow end of reservoir (Coton End) best bank areas domes

Pitsford Water

Terry Pancoust of Northampton celebrated his return to Pitsford Water by taking a superb rainbow this week. Terry caught the 5lb fish off the Cliffs, bank fishing with an intermediate shooting head and a white and green lure. Pitsford’s senior Warden Nathan Clayton said it was good to see Terry back at Pitsford following his recent hip replacement operation.

New season ticket holder Brian Mead, of Bozeat, won his first boat league match on Wednesday. Brian has a ‘Starter’ ticket which is a new introduction at Anglian Water’s fisheries this year. Brian boated 5 fish whilst fishing with league leader Richard Slater.

Early morning and late evening are the best times to fish. Floating lines and small dry fly like cdc, hare’s ear and sedge patterns with nymphs like damsels and pheasant tails are the favoured methods. The banks around the reservoir are all weed free.

best brown 5lb taken by Terry Pancoust of Northampton best boat areas Duffers, Causeway, small half, sailing club, North Farm Bay, mai

basin best bank areas Bog Bay, Duffers, Sailing Bank, Pines, Rigby’s Point



Grafham Water The best rainbow of the week was taken by Richard Kirk of Rushden. Richard took a super 5lb 15oz specimen on a snail pattern in the mouth of Savages.

Early in the day and the last three hours of fishing are when the fish are feeding heavily. Fishing at this time has been outstanding, with the fish feeding heavily on the still hatching sedge and the ever growing numbers and size of pin fry in most parts of the lake, especially the north shore. With the large weed beds holding a lot of food it is always worth a close look around these with snail patterns. Some large rainbows have moved into the harbour to start feeding on the pin fry.

best rainbow 5lb 15oz taken by Richard Kirk of Rushden

best boat areas G buoy, Marlow Bay, Gaynes Cove, Savages Creek, Rainbow Point, Church Bay, Rectory Bay

best bank areas The Seat, Hill Farm, Stumps, G Bank, Marlow Stones, Dam


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Out Of School and At The Waters Edge 28th July

Many youngsters boys and girls are enjoying their first experience of angling, Many are visiting the various commercial stillwater coarse fisheries countrywide where they have been enjoying catching bream roach carp and perch. Others have been visiting local rivers where they have caught chub barbel roach dace and perch.

Skipton youngster Peter Fletcher age 13 fished the Leeds and Liverpool canal with float fished gentles and caught his first carp a common weighing 6lbs. 14 year old Tony Bannister of Bradford fished the river Wharfe near Addingham where he caught five chub and 7 grayling on legered gentles on a size 14 hook and swimfeeder rig.Tony's best chub weighed 4lbs. Another youngster 14 year old Bradley Johnson of Mellor fished the river Aire at Silsden with bread bait and caught a chub weighing 4lb 12ounces it was his first ever fish. Later in the day he lost another good chub in some riverside tree roots. Blackburn angler Peter Meredith fished the river Calder near Whalley where he had a nice catch of chub. Legering gentles on a size 12 hook Peter had nine chub averaging about 2lbs a piece. On the river Ribble a few hundred yards upstream of the M6 motorway bridge 15 year old Colin Spencer of Lancaster caught his first barbel which weighed 7lbs on legered meat bait on a size 8 hook to 6lb line. Leeds builder Barry Price fished fished the river Aire downstream of the Keighley golf course where he caught 8 chub averaging 4lbs the best estimated at 5lbs and three bream all estimated around the 6lbs mark. All Barry's fish were caught on swim feeder rig and casters feeding with hemp and caster. I fished the river Ribble upstream of Redscar wood with freelined cheese paste on a size 4 hook to 6lb line, I had four bites, four chub the best two weighed in at 5lbs and 5lbs 12 ounces. What surprised me was the number of seatrout moving upriver. Anglers fly fishing the Ribble and Hodder are enjoying some good sport. If you plan to fish for the seatrout make sure you have a migratory EA rod licence. Too many people are flyfishing for seatrout under the pretext of fishing for brown trout. If your caught with a seatrout your committing an offence unless you have the correct rod licence.

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Seatrout Catches Up On The Ribble And Hodder 24th July

As I write this on Wednesday morning 24th July the rivers Ribble Calder and Hodder are carrying extra water, in fact cionditions couldn't be better for coarse and game anglers. Fly fishers on the rivers Ribble and Hodder are catching some nice seatrout, most are being returned but I was saddened to see a five pound fish killed near Clitheroe. The angler had already killed two fish around the two pound mark. Lets only take one fish for the table and return the rest. If you want to try and catch a seatrout give Ivan Duxbury a call on 07973-268131 Our migratory fish need all the help we can give them. On the river Ribble some good barbel and chub are being caught. Alan Roe of Blackpool had a ten pound barbel downstream near the M6 motorway bridge. Anglers fishing the Prince Albert AS water on the Ribble upstream of the M6 motorway bridge near Redscar are having problems with yobs and slobs call them what you like. Its pity the parents haven't told them to respect other peoples interests. Its not a venue I would advise members to fish during the school summer holidays.
On the river Wharfe Paul Wright had a super roach of 2lb 2ounces on float fished caster on a size 16 hook to 2lb line. Peter Williams of Bradford fished a club water in his home county of Yorkshire catching a personal best carp of 23lbs 10ounces on two Dynamite hair rigged pellets. On the river Ure near Ripon Terry Sutton of Bradford had one of his best fishing sessions in twenty two years of angling. Fishing swimfeeder rig size 12 hook to 4lb line and baiting with three or four gentles Terry caught 19 chub to 4lbs in a session estimated at about six hours. He used 2 pints of hemp and two pints of gentles.
The Anglers Mail this week features Tom Petch trying out some new after shave I will stick to my Fahrenheit, Though I do envy the bevy of beauties young Tom has gathered around him I don't think its the after shave more likely to be Tom's good looks. More exciting are some of the big fish featured including a seven pound chub 14lb 2ounce barbel 27lb ounces fly caught pike Page 19 you will see some very big carp and if that doesn't get you excited nothing will. On page 48 James Davey is pictured with a big cod. Anglers Mail is full of big fish and various features covering tackle methods and baits


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Fishing News 23rd July

Rutland Water



fish week 1076 (season 37375) returns 497 (9863) rod average 2.1 (3.7)



The annual George Moore Memorial Rudder match was fished at Rutland Water on Saturday 20 July in a flat calm. Thirty-eight anglers took part and the two heaviest fish per boat where weighed in.

1st Ray Garrod and Mick Atkinson from Grimsby with 5lb 6oz.

2nd Tony Tibbert (Hambleton) and Ivan Henson 5lb 4oz

3rd John O’Shea (Empingham) and Robbie Brown with 5lb 3½oz.

best rainbow – 3lb 2oz taken by Tony Tibbert

best brown – 2lb 4oz taken by John Seaton

Anglian Water Warden, Paul Friend, who organised the match was delighted with the entry, which raised £57 which Mrs Moore

has chosen to donate to LOROS.



best rainbow 4lb 15oz taken by Phil Tomlin of Great Glen

Leicester



best boat areas main basin, aerators, spud bay to old hall, tower to sailing limits and brown island



best bank areas Normanton to dam, Sykes lane, Hinmans, yellowstone and spud bay.



mid week boat winner season ticket holder, Charlie Heron of Oakham



fish stocked: 3500



best methods: all methods are working, see fishery noticeboard for latest information



competition news: Tuesday night boat league

1st Roger McCarthy with 4 fish for 7lb 10½oz

2nd Keith Jones with 3 fish for 5lb 13½oz

3rd Luke Shevlin with 2 fish for 4lb



forthcoming events 24 July Shakespeare Match (50 boats booked)

29 – 31 July Hardy/Greys England Final (all boats booked)



boat bookings Please telephone the lodge on 01780 686441

(8am to 4.45pm) for availability, as during the

next few weeks the fishery is very busy.













Ravensthorpe Reservoir



fish week 301 (season 9079) returns 92 (1886) rod average 3.2 (4.8)



Dry fry is the method at Ravensthorpe this week. Patterns being successful include blue damsel, hopper, cdc, and grhe. A few fish are also being taken on damsel nymphs. It is best at the moment to fish a single fly on a shortish leader from a drifting boat. There will be plenty of fish rising especially between 9.00am and 2.00pm but patience is still the key.



Season ticket holder Jim Ferguson from Rugby spent Sunday on the ‘domes’ bank fishing a greased grhe, size 14, and was rewarded by 12 good quality fish.



best rainbow 5lb 5oz taken on a damsel by Derek Fenemore whilst fishing the Wheatly Fly Fishers match



best boat areas drifts from island to Hickmans spinney



best bank areas domes and platforms



mid week boat winner Jim Rieley of Chesterfield



fish stocked 395



competition news Staffs Police Match, results

1st Ian Walford - 5lb 12oz

2nd Rob Hollings - 5lb 10oz

3rd John Cartlidge - 5lb 5oz.



Wheatly Fly Fishers, results

1st John Hultman - 11lb 4oz

2nd John Poole - 9lb 14oz

3rd Derek Fenemore – 5lb 5oz

































Pitsford Water



fish week 327 (season 9003) returns 150 (3314) rod average 2.1 (2.8)



Sport continues to be good at Pitsford with superb quality fish coming to the net. As well as the 6lb+ browns taken by Rob Layton and Richard Slater, Simon Kimpton of Northampton had a lovely 4lb 2oz brown in his limit of four fish.



Bank anglers have had most success early morning and evening, whilst boat anglers have enjoyed activity throughout the day. A few anglers are trying dry fly patterns but the most successful methods are still nymph patterns on a floating or slime type line.



best rainbow 5lb+



best brown 6lb+ taken by Rob Layton , Old

6lb+ taken by Richard Slater, Northampton



best boat areas duffers and opposite sailing club end

and the inlet



best bank areas duffers and sailing club



mid-week boat winner Dave Osborne of Little Harrowden



fish stocked 600



competition news: Wednesday night boat league

1st David Easton (Northampton) who had 4 fish for 7lb 12oz all taken near the sailing club on a grhe and a floating line.

2nd Richard Slater with 4 fish for 7lb 11oz

3rd Graham Pigram (East Hunsbury) with 4 fish for 6lb 13oz.



England Fly Fishing Assoc. members fished an informal match on Thursday and

Reg Wheeler and Jeff Brown of Rushden took first place with 11 fish for 22lb.























Grafham Water



fish week 575 (season13426) returns 191 (3789) rod average 3.0 (3.5)



This week has seen some of the best sport all year at Grafham Water. The quality is second to none with some real hard fighting specimens being brought to the net.

Fish are feeding in the top couple of feet of water and any sort of nymph or dry is catching fish. Floating/intermediate lines with pheasant tale nymphs, diawl bachs, red or claret hoppers and cdcs and flash back nymphs are however proving most successful.

Evening are the best time with one angler reporting “the lake was lifting with fish, I didn’t know which one to cast at first”, this comments has been echoed by many anglers.



England Youth National

On Sunday the England Youth Fly Fishing Association held its annual championships with 40 of the best young anglers fishing for the reservoirs famous trout. Aged 12 to 17 they fished in pairs with an experienced boatman in breezy conditions and had a great day with a total catch of nearly 200 trout weighing nearly 400 pounds.



Individual winner was James Hunt (13) from Measham, Derbyshire with 12 fish followed by Luke Lavelle from Kingsthorpe Northampton and Luke Shevlin (14) from Rutland. Fourth place went to the only girl competitor, Lisa Isles (13) from Poulton le Fylde, Cumbria with 10 fish.



The winning boat pair was James Hunt and Lisa who were supervised by well known expert local angler Andy Linwood of Perry who was very impressed by their skills. ‘They both fished really well casting very skilfully and took the hard fighting fish with green nymphs fished in mid water’.



The competition was fished to new rules with 6 fish weighed in and additional fish returned to the water counting as 2lbs each.

Fishing results: qualifiers for EYFFA England team 2003
James Hunt, Measham, Derbyshire , 12 fish, 24lb-14oz

Luke Lavelle, Kingsthorpe, Northampton, 12 fish, 23 – 09

Luke Shevlin, Rutland, 11 fish, 22-06

Lisa Isles, Cumbria, 10 fish, 22-01

Kyle Burns, Cheshire, 10 fish, 19-01

Christopher Tuck, Chapel Brampton, Northampton 8 fish, 16-10

Charles Bowers , Pinchbeck, Lincs, 8 fish, 16- 01

Robert McAndrew, 8 fish, 14- 03

Ben Harris , Bristol, 7 fish 13-14

Scott Nellins, Ashington, Northumberland, 7 fish 13-0

Lewis Hendrie, (reserve) Exmoor, 6 fish, 12-08



Biggest fish: Nick Wagstaffe of Chapel Brampton, Northampton 4lb-1oz.

















Grafham Water continued:

best rainbow 5lb 7½oz taken by John Vincent of Sandy on a cdc emerger from church bay fishing the Thursday night boat league



best boat areas g buoy, marlow bay, gaynes cove, savages creek, rainbow point, church bay and rectory bay



best bank areas the seat, hill farm, stumps, g bank, marlow stones,

dam and plummer park



fish stocked: 3000



mid week boat winner: Theo Mountford of Peterborough



competition news: Tuesday night boat league

17 anglers took part this week, catching 95 fish

in 4 hours (rod average of 5.5)

1st Dave Burgess 8 fish for 20lb 2oz

2nd Norman Shippey (Cottenham) 8 fish for 20lb 1oz

3rd Andy Linwood (West Perry) 8 fish for 19lb



Thursday night boat league

18 anglers looked forward to fishing the evening

rise and with some having fished on Tuesday evening, expectations were high and they were not disappointed taking 75 fish up to 5lb 7½oz.

1st Pat Sweeney (Lidlington) 8 fish for 21lb 5oz

2nd Rob Edmunds (Ringstead) 8 fish for 20lb 15oz

3rd John Vincent (Sandy) 8 fish for 19lb 2oz



forthcoming events: 4 August – Grafham Open – great prizes

still time to book for this event, open to all



places available on beginners courses on

17 August and 8 September telephone

Grafham Water lodge on 01480 810531

for details or to book your place



















coarse fishing



Taverham Mill Fishery



Taverham Lake - is fishing well from all pegs. Best carp of the week went to Anglian Water Warden, Simon Wrigglesworth , who landed a 22lb 12oz Mirror amongst a catch of 4 carp and 23 tench. This now takes Simon to the top of the Nash Carpmasters leaderboard.

Other carp caught included a fine specimen of 18lb 12oz which fell to season permit holder Gavin Buck of Hellesdon.



Plenty of good tench are also being caught with the best at 5lb 10oz falling to season permit holder Bob Anderson of Taverham. Bob wins the Taverham Tenchmasters T-shirt this week, but the season’s best so far still stands at 6lb 8oz.



Costessey Lakes - good fishing on all lakes with good catches of quality roach and skimmers to pleasure anglers. Large bream are still being taken from No. 2 lake.


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Try Fishing The Ocean For Bass Mackerel And Mullet 20th July

At this time of the year fishing in saltwater can offer some exciting sport, three fish to target are bass, mackerel and mackerel. If your fishing for the first two species, why not try fishing with fly gear or lures, If you plan to target the bass with a fly rod and your new to this branch of the sport you will need to use a nine or ten weight rod, My advice would be to use a slow sinking line, if the fish are up on the surface you can still catch on a slow sink line by starting the retrieve a bit sooner. Two excellent fly patterns to try are Deceivers and Clouser Minnows.

Mackerel are one of the fastest fish in the ocean, they are excellent sport on both a spinning or fly rod outfit, Please don't target the fish with a broom handle rod and six feathers, treat them as a worthy quarry and only retain enough for a meal. The fish can be caught on a small Mepp’s spoon or something similar. Fly fishing with a bright coloured fly will ensure you get plenty of hook-ups. If your a reservoir trout fisherman, then you fly fishing outfit will probably be OK for mackerel fishing but make sure you give it thorough wash in warm soapy water on your return home.

Without doubt one of the nicest fish to catch in the ocean during the warm summer weather are mullet. If your a freshwater trout or coarse fisher then you will have some tackle that will be suitable. Mullet can be taken on a fly fishing outfit using imitation bread flake and chumming with finely mashed read or finely ground cooked rice. Float fishing with bread flake is a nice way of tempting this super hard fighting fish. As in fly fishing chum the fish up tide with mashed bread or finely ground cooked rice. I like to use a centre pin reel, 6lb line with an Avon rod and hook sizes 10’s and 12’ trotting the tide with bread flake is my first choice bait but gentles an bits of rag worm are also good baits. Most harbours creeks and river estuary usually have mullet in residence. If your at the coast on holiday with the family why not target this lovely fish for an afternoon while the family are playing in the sea or sunbathing.

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Anglers Mail For Top Pictures 20th July

This weeks Anglers Mail has many pictures featuring big fish from fresh and saltwater, without doubt the most stunning picture is Alistare Rawlings with a wild brown trout weighing in at 20lb 4 ounces from the depths of an Irish Lough. Alistair being a true sportsman returned the fish to give another angler a chance of catching a magnificent fish. The river Aire at Keighley was the venue chosen by Jack Maddock when he had a days fishing with his son eight year old Kevin who showed Dad how to catch a big fish. Young Kevin float fishing with gentles caught a super chub of 5lbs. The Keighley AC water can be fished on a £2-00 day ticket only available from local tackle dealer. NO TICKETS SOLD ON THE BANK.

Jason Cann from Monkston is pictured on page 6 with a magnificent 16lb 9 ounce barbel caught from the Great Ouse, before catching the big barbel Jason had a leather carp of 31lb1ounce. On page 46 Phil Reed of Beckenham Kent is pictured with a 22lb 8 ounce cod on a lure, but this is beaten on page 47 by Steve Mozsolics with a 31lb 4 ounce cod on an artificial shad. Page 49 there is a picture of Lloyed Cotter with a big tope weighing in at 62lb caught off the coast of Essex. There are certainly lots of interesting stories and pictures in this weeks Anglers Mail.


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Big River Ribble Barbel 20th July

Brian Webber an electrician from Manchester fishing the lower reaches of the river Ribble has caught a personal best barbel weighing 12lb 2 ounces on hair rigged pellet bait on a size 6 hook to 10lb line. The rivers Wharfe, Ure, Nidd, Ouse, Dane and Swale are some other rivers in the north of England that are well worth a visit if you want to seek the barbel, one of England's toughest fighting fish. In the Midlands the Severn Avon and Teme are three barbel rivers worth a visit. A Lot of my friends fish the lower Severn where they catch their share of big barbel but it isn’t for me I don’t enjoy fishing big featureless river and more so when you have horrible disco boats etc. disturbing the peace and tranquillity of the waterside. My favourite river is the Teme with its wild life flora and fauna and hard fighting barbel I have no hesitation in stating that the team barbel are the toughest fighting barbel in the country. Its river where you need ten or twelve pound breaking strain line. Many anglers use pellets, boilies, gentles, casters and various flavoured paste baits but for me its bread. On a recent trip to the Teme I ended up with seventeen barbel to 9-3-0 Mike Osborne had ten fish and John Bodsworth caught eight. It was interesting to note that our fish were taken on bread. While some anglers fishing the more popular baits never had a fish. In many instances we were able to watch barbel take our baits in two or three foot of water. Why don't you give bread a try this week? Its lot cheaper than those little white grubs and a far better bait.

Floating Baits For Chub

If barbel are not your first choice fish and your looking for some good sport why no pick a chub venue and fish floating crust and flake. During this time of the year its often one of the best ways of catching a number of chub Pick a swim where the water flows of gravel and weed with depth of between four and six feet. Often you will find the river shallows up to around one or two feet where the water flow has increased as it does so it gets to swirling around with little whirl pools as the water gets broken up. Often the bottom will be of large stones and small rocks or boulders often these areas will have some weed, the water will usually be flecked with foam with quite a lot of white water. These places also have lots of oxygen. I find the chub are often shoaled up in numbers from ten to forty fish and providing you don’t spook them you can often make a big catch. All you need for bait are a couple of loafs of bread, some size 4 hooks 6lb line, a centre pin or fixed spool reel. I prefer the former and an Avon action rod will complete the tackle set up. As I sit writing the rain is coming down which hopefully will freshen up our rivers and make chub catching even better.

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Fishing News 17th July

Fishing prospects countrywide are excellent for coarse game and sea fish, on the coast you should find plenty of mullet around the harbours and creeks try float fishing with bread using ground cooked rice and mashed bread as an attractor. On the countries rivers you should find all species of coarse fish. On the north of England and Wales seatrout rivers anglers are enjoying excellent sport. Don't forget your seatrout & salmon licence. The warm weather is just right for targeting the pike with a fly. Anglers fishing the west coast of Cumbria are catching mackerel Why not target this fine sporting fish with a light spinning outfit or fly tackle please release most of the fish you catch retaining just enough for the table. Back in the 1960's 70' & 80's anglers along with the commercial fishermen decimated the mackerel shoals so we must only harvest enough for a meal Remember we are sportsfishers not FISHMONGERS.

Rutland Water is providing good sport with the main basin again producing the goods for both bank and boat fishermen. Limit bags have been taken off Normanton, Sykes Lane and with the aerators currently switched on, fish have also been taken off some of them. Nymphs, diawl bach, hares ear, black buzzer and damsel nymh fished on floating and intermediate lines have again accounted for the majority of fish caught. Dries working well are, cdcs and shipman style in claret, red and hares ear.

best rainbow ; 4lb taken by Don Ayre of Stockton on Tees
best boat areas ; main basin (Normanton & Sykes Lane), sailing club, Barnsdale and yellowstone best bank areas ; main basin (as above) Whitwell, Armley wood, Old Hall point, fantasy island and yellowstone

Ravensthorpe Reservoir is “solid with fish” so say all our anglers this week. Boat anglers are reporting fish rising freely all over Ravensthorpe from first thing to around 3.00pm. However catching them is challenging. Fish are feeding on damsel nymphs and taking them from the surface where they are easy to spot. A floating damsel imitation and lots of patience will get you your sport but be prepared to cover lots of fish before you get takers. Spotting rising fish early and accurate casting is the key. Some fish are willing to take small dries 14 – 16s and GRHE emerger. Bank anglers should opt for the damsel nymphs again on a floating line.
Big fish this week include a 10lb 8oz rainbow taken by Baz Street of Loughborough and Andy Willis of Yardley Hastings returned a 10lb rainbow.
best rainbow ; 10lb 8oz - Baz Street of Loughborough on a GRHE
from a boat near the island. 10lb - Andy Willis of Yardley on a lure from the airline
best boat areas; Coton End and Islands
best bank areas; Platforms

Pitsford Water

fish week 369 (season 8694) returns 141 (3164) rod average 2.6 (2.8)

This week saw the brown trout fishery record broken by Rob Layton of Old who landed a splendid brown of 14lb 3oz. Rob was fishing from the bank in Pitsford Creek using a floating line with a diawl bach on the top dropper on 6lb fluro-carbon. The brown gave Rob a ‘run for his money’ of up to 60 yards (twice) and it took 20 minutes to get to the net. As it was then 10pm Rob agreed to return next day for a photograph. Rob said “it’s the best fish I’ve ever caught and I’ve fished all over the world”. Anglian Water’s Senior Warden, Nathan Clayton said “I am very pleased to see such a magnificent fish in such good conditon and we will be having it set up and displayed in the lodge”.

Generally with large sedge hatches in late evening dry fly sport close in has never been better and sermans bank and gravel bank have been the hot spots.

During the day fish are feeding on buzzers, bloodworm and damsels and are spread throughout the lake.

Best methods are small dry flies like 16 cdc, sedge patterns or small nymphs like hares ear or pheasant tail.

best rainbow ; 7lb 1oz taken by Richard Slater of Northampton best brown ; fishery record Rob Layton of Old (see above)

best boat areas ; sailing club bay, Brixworth bay and gorse bank
best bank areas ; sermons bank and gravel bank

Grafham Water Scottish angler, G Holloway visiting from Forres, Inverness took the biggest brown of the season at 10lb 5oz boat fishing savages creek using a cormorant with a slow sink intermediate line. Local angler Norman Shippey of Cottenham caught a superb 8lb 3oz rainbow which is the second biggest rainbow of the season. Norman fished from rainbow point, using a red shipmans buzzer just below the surface on a floating line. Norman who was fishing catch & release also caught 9 other trout that day also giving him the best weight of the week 10 fish for 30lb 11oz.

John Sears from Little Gransden also took a lovely 7lb 1oz rainbow from rectory bay on a floating line with a black buzzer together with his other 6 fish it gave John a total weight of 22lb 13oz. Generally anglers have found sport challenging with fish rising in all areas of the reservoir. Fish are feeding on pin fry, small buzzers and sedges and anglers are finding a variety of flies and lines proving successful. However intermediate lines with red hoppers and CDCs on floaters, PTN and flash back nymphs have taken the majority of fish.
best rainbow ; 8lb 3oz taken by Norman Shippey (see above)
best brown ; taken by G Holloway (see above)
best boat areas; G buoy, marlow bay, gaynes cove, savages cree and rainbow point
best bank areas; the seat, Hill Farm, stumps, G bank, marlow stones, dam and plummer park

coarse fishing

Taverham Mill Fishery
Taverham Lake is coming back onto form with the onset of fine weather. Best carp of the week went to Boyd Setchel of Aldreth, Cambs who landed a specimen of 20lb 12oz .Best Tench of the week went to season permit holder, Adam Motts of Norwich who landed a superb 6lb 8oz. Adam is now top of the Taverham Tenchmasters leaderboad. Relaxation of rules - the rules relating to particle baits and bait boats has been relaxed. Nuts and peas etc. can be used but only if they are pre-packed. Home cooked varieties are still banned. Bait boats may be used for positioning free baits but must not be used for placing hook- bait.

Ardleigh Reservoir Regular angler Mick Scutter thought he had done well to land a pike just over 20lb. however he was piped to best of the week by 12 year old Mathew Orchard who weighed in a pike of 20.5lb, both anglers were fishing from a boat. Generally there have been plenty of pike caught this week, mostly around 8 - 12lbs. Bream have now started to show themselves in good numbers, with excellent bags reported from Noahs Ark. Season ticket holders in particular have taken advantage of night-time feeding and Danny Baker and Clive Baldwin bagged 140lbs and 80lbs each in one session.


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Martin Gets His Own Day!

St Lawrence County executives have declared June 12th Martin James Day in a special ceremony at Waddington Beach pavilion in New York State. Local dignitaries also presented Martin with the “key to St Lawrence County”.

The Key is to mark James’ promotion of St Lawrence County through his latest TV programme, “So you Wanna Catch fish in New York State” promoting the regions great fishing and tourism sites.

Since producing the film for Sky TV Martin has been a regular visitor to the region staying at Joe Babbits St Lawrence Experience fishing camps on the shores of the mighty St Lawrence river. This time he’s back for a break and to collect his award.

Executive Director of the County Karen St Hilaire believes the film is “invaluable to the county for tourism promotion in Britain and Europe. We are glad Martin is visiting us again. This is the opportunity for us to say thank you once again for his work and devotion to the county”.

“I’m delighted to be given key to the county and have a day named Martin James day. It was a total surprise to me.”

Martin’s already making plans to return to St Lawrence County where he’ll run a fishing fortnight for newcomers to the sport.

So You Wanna Catch Fish in New York State is on Sky TV all week:

Sunday, June 23rd Sky Sports Extra at 7.00pm and 10.00pm
Monday, June 24th Sky Sports Extra at 9.00pm and Sky Sports Two at 2.00pm
and 11.00pm

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An American Adventure PART ONE

I have just arrived back from another interesting trip to the United States, it was going to be a mixture of work and pleasure. I left Manchester airport for Philadelphia just after noon which meant I didn’t have to get up halfway through the night, my US Airways flight was as always excellent, the staff making sure everyone was comfortable and relaxed with no problems. It was a different story when I arrived in Philadelphia. Going through the check in for my next flight to Bradley International I was told by the security I couldn't take my fishing reels on board as hand luggage. Explaining I had travelled from Manchester didn’t mean a thing to these people of Spanish extraction, who could just about put a few words of English together. One of these so called security people checking my ticket had to get some one else to read the flight details.

I then asked to speak to a supervisor who put me through another security check in. I was passed quickly through by two white educated Americans who said "Have a good fishing trip" Thankfully common-sense prevailed. If the American airlines don’t soon get there act together where the same rules apply to all airports, a lot of travellers are going to say "Enough is enough". On another trip to Sweden recently I was told by the girl on the check in desk at Manchester that I couldn’t take a five piece rod weighing some three ounces, though I was able to take on board a strongly made wooden walking stick. Security checks are most important especially after the 11th September disaster, but some common-sense must prevail and the rules must apply to everyone. Some people are allowed to take two items of hand luggage, others can only one item. Some airlines allow rods to be carried as hand luggage, others don't.

Arriving at Bradley International airport Massachusetts I was met by Trevor Bross of Thomas and Thomas the builders of fine bamboo and carbon fibre rods who are based in the delightful town of Greenfield. It was gone midnight when I arrived at my motel in the town. After checking in and getting to my room I had a quick shower then went to bed where I was soon fast asleep. It had gone ten am when I woke up to the sound of rain on the windows. After a shower and changing into some wet weather gear I went off in search of late breakfast. I was told by the girl on the desk I could get breakfast across the road. Toast, marmalade and several cups of coffee later, I decided to take a look around the area before making my way back to my motel to wait for Trevor who was picking me up for my first visit to the Thomas and Thomas factory.

The first thing which impressed me on arriving at the rod building plant was how it blended into the delightful countryside setting with the New England mountains in the background. My pleasure was complete when I spotted the good size casting pool. I had come to Thomas and Thomas to record a series of programmes titled ‘Where Bamboo Meets Graphite’ I would also be spending several hours over the next couple of days or so casting with many of the rods built for fresh and saltwater fly fishing. After a tour of the factory and meeting with many of the workers, I recorded an interview with Tom Dorsey Plant manager and chief rod designer for my programme At The Waters Edge on BBC Radio Lancashire. After coffee I went off to the casting pool with three of the Light Presentation series of rods. I chose two nine foot three piece rods in four and six weights and a two piece seven foot six four weight. They were all a dream to cast with. The four weight is a delightful river rod, while the 6 weight is a good river rod for use in windy conditions, I will also be using this rod for much of my stillwater fly fishing in Scotland and Ireland. Finally the seven foot six inch four weight is just perfect when fishing the upper reaches of our rivers and the many streams countrywide.

Trevor Bross had arranged for his Dad John to take me off to the Connecticut river for a couple of hours to fish for shad, these fish can be caught on lures, flies or bait. Arriving at the river we met two anglers who were leaving, so we had the pool to ourselves. But not for long, after I had made a few casts with a seven weight outfit, two spin fishers turned up. I wrongly thought the spin fishers on seeing us would then go off and fish another pool. They didn’t. In fact they cast across my fly line, after this happened three times in three casts I decided to move to another spot. So be thankful for the fishing we have in the UK where we don’t have to put up with anglers shoulder to shoulder. Thankfully that was the only place where I witnessed this behaviour. What did please me was the large number of youngsters fly fishing, it seems they are taught fly fishing at school and Thomas and Thomas got involved by helping out with rods. An idea other companies could copy.

On another occasion John and I visited the Deerfield river where John Rocco was fishing the upstream nymph for rainbow trout with some success Over several miles of the Deerfield I counted just three anglers. Sadly the river is controlled by dams which isn't good for the fishing. Again we have to think ourselves lucky that our rivers only have the occasional dam. What really surprised me, was I didn’t see any insects coming off the water or fish rising. No doubt a lot of this has to be down to the dams and the way the river flows are managed. The riverside environment in most places was excellent with only the odd bit of litter. No plastic sheets, fertiliser or supermarket shopping bags could be seen in the riverside trees and bushes. Many stretches of river are catch and release where all types of fishing are allowed from flies to worms. The fishing was free, all you needed was a fishing permit available from tackle shops, supermarkets and council offices.

Days two and three were spent in the factory where I recorded interviews, shot film and asked many questions. It didn’t seem like work, it was a pleasure talking with the work force and finding out what goes into a well designed and made rod. The quality control was excellent every man and woman taking pride in getting the job well done. I suppose that's one of the reasons why so many anglers buy a top quality American fly fishing rod. As I worked my way through the factory I managed to talk with some of the skilled work force where I quickly realised why the company made such good quality products, The front office was well organised by manageress Erika Olson and assistant Briana Hannum Rod builders Steve Terounzo, Steve Jones, John Angie and all the other guys took great care to make sure the rods they worked on were a hundred and ten percent correct. Donald Alvin Smith was working on a bamboo fly rod, its interesting to note that when John isn't building bamboo rods he builds quality guitars in his spare time. In the blank making room the team of Wallace Hilliard, Cindy Ciolek, Jim Vaughan, Tina Parker and Joe Cutting made sure every blank was perfect. If the blank didn’t measure up to all the quality control checks it was scrapped.

Each blank from start to the finished rod has a work sheet attached which each operative has to sign as it goes from one department to another. Everyone I came into contact showed their commitment to Thomas and Thomas rods. Three of the girls in rod wrapping or whipping department Joyce Kawecki, Chander Kanther-Malik and Sheila Lashier made sure every guide was in its correct position. Trevor Bross sales -cordinator was able assisted by Chris Demarco and Bob Davis. Bob was in charge of rod repairs making sure each customer was given a personal and professional service. Its interesting to note that Thomas and Thomas still get damaged rods from thirty years ago which they still repair to the customers satisfaction. Close to the factory was a small bakery and coffee shop, the coffee was without doubt the best I have ever tasted either in the States or the UK. The cakes and pastries were also good, in fact I haven’t had better, especially the blueberry muffins. I also managed some time on the casting pool. Having spent some time casting the Vector, Horizon, Paradigm and XL2 series of lightweight freshwater rods I couldn’t fault any of the models. I believe they have a model that will suit most trout fly fishers.



For my next session on the casting pool I turned my attention to some rods designed for chucking big flies in the ocean, rods that would also handle big muskie and pike. Fly rods from seven to ten weights. The two saltwater series I cast with were the Horizon and CS’s. The former were slightly faster than the SC’s. As we all know the saltwater environment is, one of the most challenging we face, rods must be of the finest quality. much of the fishing demands quick, lone range accurate and pin point casting. These Horizon models respond instantly and effortlessly, they load very quickly and cast incredibly tight loops in windy conditions. I have been using my ten weight Horizon for several months, I am certainly pleased with its performance.

The SC’s combine Thomas and Thomas graphite technology with tapers that can lift a long line from the water and cast both long and short distances. These rods are lightweight for their strength, they also load very quickly and cast well using floating, sinking and shooting heads. These rods cast wind resistant flies with ease. When your on a beach casting for several hours you will find these rods excellent with their easy loading characteristics.

During my many days of fishing for stripers from boats and beaches, I found these SC’ models didn’t let me down. I was most impressed. The winch fitting are of excellent quality as are the stripping guides which are a good size. The quality wire snake guides and hay fork tip guide certainly compliment the rods. All Thomas and Thomas rods come with an excellent guarantee so you can certainly buy with confidence as all rods can be repaired in the UK. For further details on all Thomas and Thomas rods call Sportsfish on 01544-327093 or E-mail [email protected]

On day four Trevor Bross picked me up at four am for a 500 mile round trip to Cape Cod for a day chasing striped bass and blue fish with the Capes top guide Captain Andrew Cummings. Conditions were good for fly fishing, medium strength winds, scattered cloud and sunshine. We fished the inside of Cape Cod with eight weight fly rods using intermediate and slow sink lines. The fishing was brilliant. On many occasions there must have been schools of stripers numbering some hundred fish or more, many of them over twenty pounds. It was an anglers dream day. Andrew was the perfect guide, Trevor the perfect host. Trevor didn't fish and Andrew was at my side whispering words of encouragement and advice all the time. I am sure my casting skills increased under Andrews teaching. If you get to the Cape Cod area give Andrew a call on 508-349-0819 E-mail [email protected] for further details. He will supply all the tackle you need which includes Thomas and Thomas rods. You want regret making the decision to have a days fly or spin fishing with a guide who really does know the business of catching fish. A word of warning, if you have shoes with black soles take them off before boarding his back country skiff. It will be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions please E-mail me [email protected] You can now listen to my radio shows ‘At The Waters Edge’ on the internet just type in http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/sport/fishing. In part 2 I meet up with Connecticut angler Ed Mitchell who isauthor of Fly Rodding The Coast and Fly Fishing The Saltwater Shoreline both books published by Stackpole.

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An American Adventure PART TWO

In part 1 of my American Adventure I left you having fished Cape Cod for stripers and blue fish. What a super venue Cape Cod is for the saltwater fly or spin fisher. In some areas on warm sunny days, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in the Bahamas, especially when your being poled over the flats in three feet of gin clear water by one of the top guides in the area Captain Andrew Cumming. Fishing with Andrew I had plenty of hook ups landing some, losing others. I was certainly gutted to lose two twenty pound plus stripers on my first two casts. We watched these fish eat the flies so we could see the size of the stripers quite clearly.

I find it tremendously exciting dropping a fly on a fishes nose, then watch the fish eat. As it does so I would strip strike the hook home. The first fish was in the twenty pound class, I had it on for several minutes before the hook fell out. The second fish was on for about two minutes, when again the hook fell out. Checking the hook for sharpness I found it a bit blunt, probably caused by hitting a bone on the first fish which blunted the hook. After sharpening the hook I never lost another striper but sadly not another twenty pounder wanted to eat. Though I did hook a big bluefish which Andrew and Trevor thought would bite through the line in seconds. I did get a ten minute scrap with this fish estimated at 15lbs before it got its razor sharp teeth on my leader.

. My exciting fishing session ended around two PM with the wind strengthening from the north east. It had certainly been a great day on the water. Back on the boat dock, I recorded an interview with Andrew and Trevor about the fishing, tackle required, flies and best times to fish for my listeners to At The Waters Edge programme on BBC Radio Lancashire also on the Internet http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/sport/fishing for all you readers who do not reside in the BBC Radio Lancashire transmission area.

I suddenly felt hungry, realising I had only eaten a blueberry muffin and had one cup of coffee since six O’clock in the morning. Trevor and I decided we should seek out a restaurant before starting the two hundred and fifty mile trip back to my motel. The drive back from Cape Cod wasn’t under the best of driving conditions. After some fifty miles we were hit by a huge storm with monsoon type rain and forked lightning, though I must say the American drivers were very responsible leaving plenty of distance between vehicles and driving with a lot of care and attention. Its something drivers in the UK should take note of, especially on the motorways where UK drivers insist on getting as close as possible to the car in front even in thick fog.

Arriving back at my motel around midnight I packed away all the gear and cloths so I was ready for an early start on Saturday morning. My alarm call was for seven am after a shower and coffee I moved all my bags into reception. After checking out, I had only a few minutes to wait before Trevor and his dad John turned up. After loading the car we then went off to my favourite bakery for coffee and blueberry muffins.

The arrangements were for Trevor to drive me south into Connecticut where I was to meet up with author Ed Mitchell, who has written two excellent books Fly Rodding The Coast and Fly-Fishing the Saltwater Shoreline both published by Stackpole. Both books are written about the east coast and the fishing available especially the stripers, blue fish, bonito and little tunny. Ed’s book Fly Rodding The Coast covers the tackle required, reading the beaches, saltwater fly casting, flies, reading the man made structure, knots, matching the marine bait fish and beyond. In Fly Fishing the Saltwater Shoreline Ed covers the stripers, bluefish, false albacore, bonito, weakfish and hickory shad. He discusses inshore structures, forage and flies, annual migration, fly fishing the edges, coastal planner and solving common fly fishing problems. Both books are full of knowledge and make very interesting reading. This man Ed Mitchell writes from many years of experience, Ed makes you feel your at the waterside with him.

Arriving at the arranged meeting place Ed was waiting for me, after introductions we loaded my gear into Ed’s vehicle I then said my good byes to Trevor and John before climbing into Ed’s motor for the 50 odd mile drive to Wethersfield where Ed lived. Arriving in Town Ed pointed out the oldest building in the area so I decided I had better shoot some pictures both with digital and SLR cameras. Then it was off to Ed house where I was introduced to Ed’s wife Sandy his son Ed jnr and Snickers the yellow lab who gives Ed a good workout each morning when Ed isn’t away giving a lecture or fishing.

I was soon sitting down to lunch with a good mug of tea made from Yorkshire Gold tea bags, No I didn't buy those in the States, when ever I travel abroad I take a supply of tea bags. After a nice break we headed off to the coast to stay at Sandra’s mother beach house. It was ideal, close to the beach and very peaceful just a couple of miles from the town of Old Lyme. After unpacking Ed told me the plans for the next couple of days. Tomorrow Sunday we would be fishing for stripers and bluefish with Capt Dixon Merkt of Old Saybrook from his 23 foot boat with a centre consul which allowed two fly anglers to fish in comfort one in the bows the other in the stern.

Sunday morning dawned sunny with only a light wind perfect conditions for going afloat. I cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs with a mug of tea for each of us. Breakfast over we headed of to the small private harbour close to the I-95 in Old Saybrook where I was introduced to my guide for the day Capt Dixon Merkt You couldn’t have wished for a better man than Dixon. All the tackle on board was top class and very well maintained. The fly lines had been cleaned, the hook points of the flies were sharp. All was ready to do battle with the blue’s and stripers, we slipped our mooring and headed down the Connecticut river. As we did so both Ed and Dixon pointed out places of interest, they also told me about some of the great fishing days they had experienced in the past. Tales of big stripers and blues were coming thick and fast, Dixon described some of the days when big blues would hit poppers on every chuck.

Dixon went on to say " In October we have the Albacore, or albis as they are known, which is also known as the little tunny. Often called the false albacore one of the fastest fish in the ocean, at the mention of these fish. Captain Merkt got all excited, it seemed as if his face was aglow just like a little tunny lights up as it hits a school of bait fish. Dixon said "Martin you must come across in late September early October and fish for the False Albacore" I replied "Tonight I will blank out October in my diary" My plans are to join Dixon later in the year to hunt those false albacore. If you want to join me our more than welcome.

Our first drift was over an area of shallow rocky water just downstream of the I-95 bridge, my first cast with an eight weight outfit and Teeny 250 shooting found me hooked into a nice bass around the five pound mark I could see it twisting and turning in the clear shallow water as it fought for its freedom. The well balanced tackle soon had the fish beaten, leaning over the gunwale I slipped out the barbless hook then watched the fish swim off strongly. I was quickly back in action, two strips then another fish was hooked as I fought this fish to the side I looked towards the stern, Ed was also in action. If the fishing continued like this then by lunch time our arms would be tired and aching.

At the end of the first drift Dixon motored back upstream for another drift. It was the same story more hits, some missed. Others hooked and released. The sun was shining brightly everything looked good. Depending on the speed of the ebbing or flood tide you sometimes only get in a couple of casts before starting another drift. As the tide slackened we moved further down river into Long Island Sound so we could fish more of the ebb tide. Through the clear water I could see we were over rocky ground, occasionally a bluefish would swirl on the surface. Ed spotted this action, he quickly changed over to a popper, the bluefish didn’t disappoint as it savaged the popper putting a bend in Ed’s rod. The rocky flats and rocky shoreline areas are often the spots where you might find a big bluefish, but make sure you have a wire tippet. These fish have a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. These teeth are not just pointed like those of the teeth of a pike, they have two cutting edges which will slice through a bait fish or your finger.

I was most impressed with the behaviour of other boaters, anglers and sailors, Not once did another boat cut across our drift, though Ed did say they get a few cowboys in the summer who want lots of speed, lots of noise and lots of beer. When I asked about jet skis he told me the problem wasn't quite so bad these days, The cowboys of the ocean cannot hire a jet ski unless they have the correct paperwork. This means they cannot just turn up and hire one of these noisy machines. Last year one jet skier lost his life as he tried to go at a fast rate of knots between the two boats, one being towed by the other. He was decapitated by the towing chain. If you go afloat with Dixon or any of the other registered guides in the United States your in safe hands as the guides are tested by the United States coast guard. All Captains have to follow strict rules including carrying safety equipment which includes fire extinguishers etc.

If your planning a trip across to Connecticut or Massachusetts for two or three weeks of serious fishing, my advice is take three rods, A nine foot nine weight for most of your fishing, a ten weight in case you get the chance of hooking up with some big stripers, bluefish and false albacore. Also an eight weight for the smaller bass and bluefish. If you plan to take just one rod make it a nine or ten weight. On this trip I found my Thomas and Thomas SC models with line weights of eight, nine and ten perfect for all my fishing. Though I did have a ten weight Horizon in case I was faced with some tough windy conditions. I had several reels carrying floating, intermediate and Teeny 300 line. I was also trying out a Rio VersiTip line which I have found to be most useful.

If you only have one rod and reel I would advise you purchase a Rio VersiTip with its four shooting heads. This will then allow you to fish various depths of water. Rio now make a VersiTip for the tropics which I have just purchased for my fishing in the Persian Gulf Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman this coming winter. I feel this line will help me catch a lot more fish from the shoreline. When shore fishing I only carry one rod so these new lines will enable me to fish various depths of water and no doubt catch more fish.

When it comes to fly selection the best advice I can offer is ask the local anglers and guides, you will find the American angler very helpful and informative. I always carry a selection of Lefty Kreh Deceivers Bob Clousers Minnows in various colour combinations in hook sizes from 1/0’s through to 3/0’s Popovics Surf Candy is another pattern to have in your fly box along with some poppers, also all my hooks are barbless. Bob Popovics in his new book ‘Pop Flies’ published by Stackpole books, advices long tapered leaders for presenting smaller flies with floating and intermediate line, but when fishing large heavy flies and fast sinking lines then use a shorter heavier leader. When I was out with Dixon he gave me a squid pattern to use, saying "Stripers love eating squid in this area" I believe we were fishing off Barlett Reef at the time in very rough water. In fact it become so rough we had to head back to the docks so I never got the chance to find out.

I will be going across to fish with Capt Dixon Merkt again in either late September or early October, I will also be doing some shore fishing during the trip. If you want to join me your more than welcome E-mail me [email protected] Should you be across in the Connecticut area and you want a days fishing then you can get Dixon by E-mail [email protected] or call him on 860-434-2301 if calling from the UK prefix the number with 001 I recommend the following books Fly Rodding The Coast and Fly Fishing The Saltwater Shoreline both books by Ed Mitchell and Pop Fleyes by Popovics and Jaworowski all three books published by Stackpole. Thomas and Thomas rods are available from Sportsfish E-mail [email protected] or telephone 01544-327111

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Good Chub From River Swale & River Aire 5th July

I have just had my first days fishing on my local river since the season started. I had taken Stephen Ainsworth of Ramsbottom Lancashire to see if I could help him catch a good chub. He fished legered crust to a size 4 hook and 6lb line and caught a personal best chub of 5lbs which was recorded live for my programme At The Waters Edge. It was a very happy game angler on the banks of the river Aire at Keighley a day ticket water costing just £2-00 a day.

I had three fish all chub one about 4lbs and two fives 5-4-0 and 5-8-0 both fish were taken on legered crust on a size 4 hook to 6lb line. Not only had I helped another angler to his PB but I had a brace of fives. Off to Sweden to MC the Lapland World Cup of fly fishing.

On the river Swale Mike Osborne of Cumbria fishing with legered crust had a super summer chub of 6-1-0 Sorry no pics of this fish

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Want To Catch A Big Fish?

Catching big fish today is a lot easier than when I was a boy, Lets go back to my first carp, From the start of the season on June 16th 1949 I had been going to Paddlesworth clay pit in Kent at every opportunity either fishing, watching the carp or talking to other anglers. Every time I fished I could see carp were coming close to my bait, but I just couldn't get one to pick up that bait. It was exasperating, to say the least, I used to get quite angry because I couldn't catch a carp, that was until late July.

I well remember the day. It was a Friday, I had cycled to Paddlesworth pit with Peter Tillitt. Our idea was to camp for a few days so that we could fish day and night, We chose as our pitch the top of a high bank on the western side of the lake. The tent was a small white one, known as a pup tent, there was just enough room inside for the two of us. Our cooking stove was an old paraffin primus, for light we had a hurricane lamp. No sleeping bags or camp beds in those days, just a couple of old army blankets and some big safety pins.

Arriving in the rain we pitched the tent then wrapped ourselves in our old gas capes to keep dry. Later in the day the sky cleared, with the sun shining it turned very warm. We watched an angler on the other side of the pit catch a carp. I was envious wishing that I could catch such a fish. Then, looking down from the high bank where the tent was pitched, I spotted a mirror carp of about five pounds. I quickly grabbed my rod bag and tackled up. It was with fumbling fingers and a fast-beating heart that I threaded the line through the rings then tied on a hook, all the time frightened that the carp would swim off.

I baited with a piece of brown bread and honey paste, pulled a few feet of line from the reel and dropped the bait into the margin about twelve inches away from the nose of the fish, which was still rooting about in the bottom.

There was no reaction from the carp, which continued to dig into the mud causing the water to colour up. Only the occasional bubble appeared on the surface the water was muddy—something we called smokescreening. Through the murky water I watched as the fish straightened up onto an even keel, then move towards the bait. My heart thumped, my mouth was dry and my hands were shaking as I willed the fish to pick up my bait. It tilted its head downwards the bait disappeared. With no more thought I struck upwards, there was a boil in the water, the fish shot out into the lake and my old wooden reel screamed and line disappeared off its spool. Then everything stopped: the fish had buried itself in the Canadian pond weed which was very thick.

Peter suggested trying to pull the line in a seesaw motion. I did, but nothing happened. Then one of the senior members came around from the other side of the pit. He also told me to try pulling the line in a seesaw movement. I did, the fish started to move. It was taking more line off the reel. The older angler said, "Lay the rod over to the left, lad." I did as he told me. The fish turned, I started to take in some line. But how was I going to get the fish out of the water without a landing net? This problem was soon solved when the older angler told Peter to go round and get his net. I don't think Peter had ever ran so fast in his life. He was back in no time, with the fish wallowing on the surface the older angler took the net and scooped out my first carp. I was a happy boy. We carried it with pride across the road to the Newman's cottage where the fish was put on the club scales. It weighed four and a half pounds exactly. I left Peter and cycled off home to tell my mum the good news, then I cycled all the way back to continue our carp fishing. Forty years on, I'm still fishing for carp.

These days I only fish a few days a year, Fly fishing the ocean has taken over much of my fishing time. Having said that I still try to fish for all species in both fresh and saltwater when time and conditions allow.

. Today its so very different from the 1940’s, Recently I visited the United States to chase striped bass in Chesapeake Bay. Before this I visited Up State New York to fish for muskies, smallmouth bass, and trout with a fly rod. After fishing the Grass and the Ausable trout rivers where the latter is rated as one of the Blue Ribbon trout streams in the State. I was given a chance to fish for carp at Joe Babbitt’s St Lawrence River Experience. The trip started as usual at a wet and windy Manchester airport where I was booked on a Continental Bowing 777 for my flight to Newark New Jersey, Why does it nearly always rain when I fly out of Manchester? At Newark I changed flights for the short haul up to Montreal. Arriving at the Canadian destination around dusk, It wasn’t much different from wet and windy Manchester.

John a good friend of Joe Babbitt’s met me at the gate collected my bags then led me through a throng of people to his four wheel drive vehicle. John said It’s about an hours drive south to the American border. From there another hour to the village of Waddington a few miles from the main city of Ogdensburg. At the border I was asked for my passports and green card. After a quick check we were waved through. Some two hours from leaving Montreal we were at Joe Babbitt’s camp on the banks of the St Lawrence river where they say dreams are made for carp anglers.

After a very friendly and warm greeting from Joe Babbitt, I was shown to my cabin which was home for the next few days. It was warm, comfortable and clean. With an excellent kitchen area and wood burning stove for those cold nights. After a mug of tea it would be off to bed for a good nights sleep. As I sat sipping tea, Joe told me all about the fishing available, In one sentence he said "You might catch a forty, perhaps fifty pound carp". I though a twenty pounder would satisfy me. His next sentence really got me excited when he said "There are some good muskie, pike and small mouth bass in the St Lawrence and the Grass River" Then it was off to bed.

Sometime after nine o’clock next morning Joe knocked on the door saying " Martin want some breakfast". It sounded a good idea, I shouted back "Give me fifteen minutes" Having showered I was ready for some bacon and eggs. As I climbed into Joe’s vehicle I noticed the vehicles, buildings and ground were covered in frost. The wood burning stove had certainly done a good job of keeping me warm through the night. It had certainly been a cold one. During the short drive to Joe’s favourite diner in Madrid I spotted a group of five deer, also several skeins of Canada geese and some wild turkey’s. The trees looked wonderful in all there magnificent fall colours. Joe said "I use this diner in Madrid because they bake their own bread daily and the food is good" That was OK with me. After the crispy bacon, eggs and some home made bread with lots of fresh coffee served by a good looking blond waitress I was ready for the day ahead.

Joe said "Come on I will give you a tour of the area and take a look at the Grass river, The river in Madrid and Canton certainly looked fishable, The riverside trees and bushes were quite magnificent in there autumn colours of reds, golds, oranges and yellows. The autumn sunshine of course made them look even more spectacular. No doubt the view would have been different on a cold wet misty morning. At Canton we stopped for coffee, Two hundred yards below the coffee shop on the far bank was a most magnificent soft red maple tree casting its beautiful red reflection across the river. During the following days I caught small mouth bass on a white and red clouser minnow tied up on a size one hook in conjunction with a floating line and a six weight rod at both Madrid and Canton.

During that first day tour we visited the City of Ogdensburg, the local tackle shops and the farmers market where I purchased some fruit at what seemed like bargain prices. Next on the itinerary was a visit to Wall-Mart for the necessary fishing licence. I spotted a fly/spinning rod marked up at twenty seven dollars and bought one. It was a four piece seven and a half feet in length for use with a six weight line or casting weights up to half an ounce. At this price I couldn’t go wrong. It would be ideal for those days when take a beginner fly fishing or spinning. Now I had a fishing permits I could go fishing.

Back in our cabin, I sat around with Joe drinking tea, talking about the fish in the river below our cabin. Joe said "The weed bed alongside the jetty holds bass, pike and the occasional muskie and of course carp. Further along the bank to the left the water backs up. This is good for carp with many twenty and thirty pounders being caught Sometimes an angler will land a forty pound plus fish" I asked Joe about tackle and baits.

We have various types of carp rods including Voodoo model carp rods from Masterline International, Shimano bait runner reels which are all spooled up with the best branded lines. Fox bite indicators and rod rests, bed chairs, seats, landing and weigh nets, weigh mats and scales. In fact everything a carp angler needs. I feel one of the great benefits of using the St Lawrence River Experience for carp fishing is it takes away the worry of transporting your bait and tackle to your holiday venue. You don’t have to worry about baggage handlers breaking your valuable rods or the airlines getting them lost. All for a one off payment of around 75 dollars You can of course bring your own tackle and save on this 75 dollars Personally for peace of mind, I would advise you to make the payment.


I would also advise you take a good waterproof coat and some thigh waders, Far better would be a pair of chest waders. These will allow you to wade out on the shallows when playing a big fish. A small rowing dingy is available should you get weeded by a big fish or snagged up. Of course having a boat on site allows you to bait your chosen swim more accurately. Boil baits and corn are supplied, In fact Joe will bait your swim in advance.

On my second day I decided to give the carp fishing a try, My tackle consisted of twelve foot two and three quarter pound test curve rods, bait runner reels and all the other bits and pieces of tackle,. Weights were four ounces, lines fifteen pound breaking strain with a fifty pound shock leader. The river was huge with big cargo carrying ships designed for the ocean moving up and down during the day and night. All this activity didn’t stop the carp from eating. I also felt I was fishing the ocean. I did say to one of the anglers. "All I needed was to change the boily bait for a bit of squid then I could imagine I was fishing Dungeness for cod or bass". The size 1 hair rigged hook was baited with two standard boilies with a pop up on top. The whole lot was then thrown out some fifty or sixty yards out into the river. Some of the other anglers were casting even further. What I will say is the fishing is incredibly easy put in the time and you can soon build up a big list of carp with thirty and perhaps forty pound fish. If your extremely lucky you might get a fifty pounder Even the kids catch thirty pounders.Catch a fifty pounder and you get a free weeks holiday.

Some ten minutes after casting my bite alarm sounded its strident note picking up the rod I felt myself hooked to a heavy object No line was given and apart from the fish shaking its head a few times I just pumped the fish in to the landing net It felt like a cod with its head shaking, But turned out to be a beautiful looking common carp that weighed eighteen pounds.. I stayed fishing for another half an hour catching another common carp weighing 25lbs. Then it was time for tea and some fly casting from the jetty in the hope of catching smallmouth bass.

The next day was spent sight seeing and a bit of fly casting practise, After tea I went off and fished for the carp. Its a very sociable occasion everyone sits around chatting until a bite alarm sounds its warning of a take. Using the same tackle as the previous day I cast out two boilies with the pop up on top then joined the other lads. Some ten perhaps fifteen minutes later the indicator sounded. Picking up the rod I felt a fish move to my left I cramped on some pressure to stop it then started to pump the fish in, Suddenly the line went slack. One nil to the fish. Winding in I found the bait OK and threw it back out to the baited spot. Thirty minutes later I was attached to another fish. This one took about five yards of line, Then it was the pumping game, Lower the rod take in the line lift and repeat. Soon a good carp was a few yards from the net. Where it decided to jump but couldn’t quite lift its tail.. We all shouted in excitement at this unusual behaviour. You don't expect this behaviour from a carp. That was the high light of my carp fishing on this trip. A couple of minutes later it was netted. It looked a good one. It was, My first thirty pounder weighing thirty pound four ounces. For two or three minutes it felt good to have caught a personal best carp, then I realised its all so easy. Give me a bass from the ocean on a fly I thought.

Half an hour later I caught a fully scaled mirror carp weighing twenty four pounds, Everyone thought it was wonderful. Someone shouted "What a fish you only capture one of them in a thousand" I couldn’t understand all the fuss. Later I had another good common weighing about twenty five pounds. I thought this is certainly easy, a carp angler will love this, it was all to easy thanks to Joe Babbitt.

For those who like to catch lots of big carp my advice is go and fish the St Lawrence Experience with Joe Babbitt. Your guaranteed a lot of string pullers and from my experience its excellent value for money and from what I witnessed by the other anglers you will catch a lot of big fish.


There are three types of packages, If you want to fish twenty four hours a day then the Bivy Package is for you. It will of course keep your costs down. This package includes A top quality bivy, bed chair, sleeping bag, lantern/lamp per person, cooking stove, pots all the utensils one needed, igloo cooler box, toilet facilities, communications equipment and a first aid kit. There is boat transport to ferry you various swims with a twice daily visit from Joe. Who will also collect and deliver paid for supplies and food to your bivy. Joe also brings ten pounds of cooked maize per person a day for baiting up swims.

For those of you who want to bring their wife or girl friend perhaps the children, and spend some time touring the area, visiting the shops, museums, art galleries etc., The package for you is the self catering / trailer home, Accommodation is in a two or four berth trailer with electricity and running water, bed linen, pillows, towels crockery cooking utensils shower and fridge freezer. Fresh milk and bread will be delivered to your trailer home on your day of arrival.

For two couples going across for some fishing and other activities I can thoroughly recommend the self catering cabin with its two bedrooms fitted with shower and toilet, There is a good size kitchen and lounge area that looks out over the St Lawrence river. Everything you need is supplied. For further details E-mail [email protected] or write Joe Babbitt PO B722 Waddington New York State 13694 or E-mail me martin @flyfishing.plus.com

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Fisheries Report 4th July

Barnsfold Water near Chipping Weather very unsettled with air temperature colder than the water. winning methods, slime line with small lure or floating line with beaded nymph's. Ray Rigby on a half day permit caught 10 fish up to 3lb on a black and green lure. Jack Wilson caught 8 fish upto 5lb on buzzers while Barry Foster caught 12 fish upto 4 lb on a black buzzer. Most anglers catching fish.If our fly casting isn't as good as it should be why not give Frank Casson a cal on 01995-61583 and book an hour's casting lesson at £15-00 . Its not a new rod some anglers need but a casting lesson.Another good point is make sure you clean your line after each days angling. You will find your casting will be much better.Also make sure you use a tapered leader and not a length of nylon line

River Ribble Its had a good three feet this week several salmon and seatrout moving, chances of good sport excellent. If your looking for a good days fishing in nice pleasant surrounding call Ivan Duxbury on 07973-268131 You might have a chance of booking day on this water. Coarse fishing prospects are good chance of double figure barbel from Balderstone downstream to Motorway bridge Pellets and meat baits are producing. Good chub on meat and pellet baits.

Over on the Fylde coast a few bass are starting to be caught mainly school size fish, Eels, flounder and small plaice being caught.If you get the chance of getting out from Blackpool in a boat why not fish for the tope, don't use heavyweight gear its not needed. Also use a wire trace and barbless hook so you can quickly unhook the fish and have it back in the ocean. There is no way we should kill these hard fighting and sporting fish. Martin James


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A Chub For All Seasons 2nd July

The chub Leuciscus cephalus is a member of that great family of fishes known as the Cyprinidae. in England, Its also known as the chevin, loggerhead, in northern England its sometimes called the skelly. In France its the chevain; German Dobel; Sweden farna; Holland meun; The distinguishing features are are the rather thickset head and shoulders the head is very broad with a blunt snout and thick white lips and large mouth, Hence the name loggerhead.

The dorsal fin is placed just behind the base of the pelvic fins; it has 8-9 branched rays and a convex free edge. The anal fin is rounded and conspicuously convex; it has 7-9 branched rays. Scales 44-46 in the lateral line; pharyngeal teeth 5+2 : 2+5 The coloration is a dark green or grey-brown on the back, the sides silvery though they will often have a tinge of gold and the scales are large. The fins are dark except the pelvic and anal fins which vary from a yellowish colour to orange. The tail is black when looking for chub the two give-a way points are the black tail and big white lips.

The chub is often looked upon as a river fish but some very large fish have been caught from still waters in England. From my experience the bigger chub are often found in the middle reaches of rivers but this is not strictly true as they will move upstream into the more typically fast flowing trout waters. Chub can also be found in the tidal reaches of rivers such as the Sussex Ouse. The river Charante in Southwest France is a magnificent river with a huge head of chub these fish can be found all through the river. On hot sunny days its often possible to se shoals numbering hundreds. When spooked the chub fade away ghost like. Often you will not realize you have spooked the chub. Unlike other fish which when spooked will disappear in swirls and boils as they depart in fright.

In Europe and the United Kingdom the chub is a highly rated sports fish growing to a good size, the present U K record rod caught fish is 8lbs 10 ounces, Its reliably estimated that ten pound fish exist in still waters and I feel the still water chub is one of the toughest fish to catch. When young the chub will feed on insects no doubt various nymphs playing a big part in there diet As they grow they will feed on crustaceans such as crayfish, Chub in the five pound weight class will easily engulf a six inch crayfish. They will eat small fish, frogs, toads in fact they will anything that is edible. One thing the chub is not and that's a food fish They are considered useless the flesh being soft and full of sharp bones even the French to the best of my knowledge don't eat old chevin.

Chub Fishing My Way - Keep it simple

Living as I do only some 800 yards from the banks of the River Ribble, A ten minute drive to the River Hodder these rivers are in the county of Lancashire, 14 miles in an easterly direction into Yorkshire around the market town of Skipton. I have the River Aire where I have some excellent chub fishing, many fish over 4lbs and 5lbs being caught each season. and there is probably the chance of a six pounder. A seven pound chub has been caught from the Ribble downstream of the old Roman village of Ribchester.

Chub fishing for me is all about trying to catch five pound plus fish but enjoying all the other fish I catch on the way. The current fishing season in England is from June 16th until March 14th - In Europe to the best of my knowledge there is no close season. Perhaps there might be some local regulations, When purchasing a fishing permit it pays to enquire about local rules.

I use all legal methods of fishing for the chub, During the summer months I enjoy fly fishing using a variety of flies, One of my most popular patterns is muddler minnow tied up on size 6 hooks, chub likes a big mouthful. There have been many times when fly fishing for pike with big flies tied up on a size 2/0 and 3/0 hook when they have been taken by 4lb plus chub. Spinners, plugs and plastic worms are used when I consider the conditions suitable. I rate rod top legering as my most often used style of angling, As I have found it the most efficient method in most cases. Not my most enjoyable way of angling if given a choice.

When I have that choice, I love to float fish with a cane rod and centre pin reel, Long trotting, stret-pegging, lying-on are the three methods when conditions are suitable. There are times when perhaps legering would be a better method than float fishing but I some times choose the latter as I get great pleasure from watching a red tipped quill float. This goes back to 1948 and Mr. Crabtree who wrote and illustrated an angling column in the Daily Mirror. The River Aire is a Crabtree river, Its a delightful twisting river in this area of slow deeps and fast gravel runs where one can often see half a dozen kingfishers in a days angling.

Writing of quill floats takes me back to one Christmas morning. I was on the banks of the River Aire near Keighley for a couple of hours angling. Its a nice way to work up an appetite for Christmas lunch. I tackled up with a "Chub Perfection" fitted with Richard Carter Avon Classic centre pin reel 6lb line and a 2AA shot quill float. I had chosen two swims one for trotting and the other for stret-pegging.

The sun was shining with a beautiful blue sky and the distant hills had a covering of snow. There was no sound of traffic only the sound of the red shanks and the harsh whistle now and again of the kingfisher. I sat watching a red tipped quill float slowly moving down the swim feeling in paradise. I had three bites and three fish from this trotting swim on bread flake 4-2-0 4-8-0 and 3-12-0. The latter fish was shaped like a boomerang. I then moved into my second swim, The water was nine feet deep and perfect for stret-pegging. I fished some five feet over depth with bread flake catching fish of 4-8-0 and 4-14-0. What a delightful way to spend a couple of hours watching a float. No doubt I could have perhaps caught more fish on legered crust.

The River Ribble is a water that will usually produce chub under all conditions and the number one bait has to be bread crust. Its not a water for those who lug a big tackle box and stay in one swim. Its a roving water. I usually give each chosen spot about fifteen minutes then move on if no bites. This depends on my health as there are many days when I have to stay put through being unable to walk through having multiple sclerosis.

When fishing one spot the catch rate often falls. I have on occasions had to put up with no bites and no fish sometimes for an hour or so after I have caught a fish when I get very exasperated that I'm not able to rove from swim to swim.

The rods I often use these days, are as previously mentioned a Shaun Linsley "Chub Perfection". A split bamboo rod in two pieces and 111/4 feet in length. I have found it suitable for rod tip legering, free line bait fishing and all methods of float fishing when the water depth is no more than eight feet. For fishing deep water swims I use my Olivers of Knebworth 13 foot tench rod in split bamboo rod. I also have an 11 ft 6 inch 3 piece "Chevin".in fact this has become one of my favourite rods

My two chub fishing reels are, Richard Carter centre pins, and Mitchell 300's early 1950 vintage. The line for ninety five percent of my chub fishing is done with 6lb Bs Berkley ultra thin, which I purchase in the United States at a fraction of the cost in the UK. Hooks are the best I can get, Which for me are the Partridge Jack Hilton barbless they have never let me down. So why change. Rods, reels, lines and hooks are a personal choice. I am more than happy with my chub fishing tackle.

Bait as mentioned is usually crust which I often flavour with one of the Ritchworths flavours. There are of course times when I use lob worms, luncheon meat, cheese paste and flavoured sausage. These baits are used when the rivers are high and coloured when I don't get bites on crust, bread crust is always my first choice bait when legering what ever the conditions.. In the summer I love to stalk the chub, - fishing with free lined slugs, bread flake and occasionally a couple of lob worms. When using lob worms (night crawler) and slugs I fix a small piece of rubber band on the hook after baiting.

If you don't do this with barbless hooks the bait will often come off. Hook sizes are usually 4's and 6's. The only feed (chum) I use is mashed bread or free offerings of hook bait. If you have a Morrison's supermarket in your area then your lucky. They have the best bread for fishing. Its Farmers Boy extra thick sliced cost just 39p. Perfect for crust and flake.

I don't have any problems with bite detection when rod top legering especially with bread crust as bites are usually quite vicious. A small tap then a good hefty pull. one example was the day I had planned to fish the River Aire near Keighley with some friends. On arriving at the waterside we found the river iced over from bank to bank with little chance of angling. Craig Pickles an experienced river Aire angler though he might know where there could be some open water, arriving at the chosen spot we did in fact find an area of water about the size of the average lounge.

Room enough for one person, it was decided that I should try for a chub. Baiting with crust I cast out into about five feet of water where the W/T was 321/2 degrees farenheight with an air temperature of 28 degrees farenheight. Within ten minutes the rod tip pulled round, I was a week to late on the strike. Rebaiting I cast again to the same spot. Within minutes I had a vicious pull with the rod tip pulling round savagely. The answering strike found me connected to a nice fish. After being landed it was weighed and found to go 4-4-0. I have not found on the waters I fish that cold water conditions mean slight movements of the rod tip. Ninety nine percent of my bites when chubbing are easily detected on the rod tip.

My end rig isn’t very technical, Its one or two of the new large LG split shot pinched gently on the line some six inches from the hook when using crust and about twelve to fifteen inches when using other baits. I believe in keeping it as simple as possible. I have replaced the bored bullet of the fifties for split shot of the nineties and using simple baits I have found its not difficult to catch a few chub on my local waters whatever the conditions. Other rivers worth paying a visit are river Bain in Lincolnshire, it might be tiny but its worth a visit, then there is the river Lodden which gave me my best chub at 6-5-0 on legered crust. The Severn and its tributary the Teme, The Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour. In Yorkshire the Wharfe, Nidd, Ure and Swale are well worth a visit and two association club cards worth purchasing are Bradford City AA and Bradford No 1 AA. The one problem the chub fisher is faced with on public or club waters is the idiot who walks up to you and asks, "What you caught mate" -. More often or not, its when you have spent some time creeping and crawling into position where you have spotted a good fish and have managed to get a bait in front of that fish.Go out and catch a chub this season

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Fishing News 2nd July

Rutland Water fish week 951 (season 32,732) returns 365 (8290) rod average 2.6 (3.9) 10,000 rainbows have been stocked at Rutland Water over the last two weeks, but with strong winds throughout the week fishing was difficult.

Seventeen Scottish anglers from Crawfordland Fly Fishers, enjoyed their annual week’s holiday, fishing at Rutland recorded 213 fish with an average weight of 2½lb. One of their members, Bob Fitzpatrick, recorded the best fish of the week at Rutland, a 6lb 2oz brown.

Fish have been feeding on green bloodworm, small black buzzer, small amounts of daphnia, pin fry and caenis making floating line with diawl bach, black buzzer, hares ear, pheasant tail, damsel nymph the best method. Wet flies, like wickhams, soldier palmer and silver invicta are also worth a try. Boat anglers are also catching on sinking lines with orange lures.

Twelve local ladies enjoyed a day at Rutland Water on Saturday learning all about casting, knots and fly tying. Bad weather prevented them fishing from a boat but they did learn the basics about handling one. The day was run by David Doherty and John Wadham with assistance from England Ladies Fly Fishing team members.

best rainbow; 5lb 14oz taken by C. Parkin of Stamford

best brown; 6lb 2oz taken by Bob Fitzpatrick, Scotland

best boat areas; bottom of either arms, Yellowstone, old hall, Normanton, and Sykes Lane

best bank areas; old hall, stockie bay, Armley wood, Tim Appletons and the finches

mid week boat winner; Mr Ken Broster of Chester.

fish stocked; 7,700

competition news: Tuesday night boat league
Andrew Wells, Spalding continued his winning streak with four fish for 7lb 9¼oz. Second was Gordon Bloodworth, Woodnewton with four fish for 7lb 2oz and Roger McCarthy, Melton Mowbray took third place with four fish for 6lb 8½oz.
Hilary Tomlinson, Oakham got drawn to fish with her son Martin and caught her first ever trout whilst Martin failed to catch.
The league is ideal for beginners to the sport as you may get drawn to fish with an expert.

Forthcoming events;
14-16 July Trout Fisherman European Open Individual Championship
20 July – George Moore Memorial Trophy entry for this boat rudder pairs match is £10 (plus usual permit and boat hire) with cash prizes to be won

boat bookings; Please telephone the lodge on 01780 686441 (8am to 4.45pm) for availability, as during the next few months the fishery is very busy.

Ravensthorpe Reservoir

fish week 178 (season 8178) returns 43 (1593) rod average 2.88 (5.1)

Ravensthorpe continues to provide excellent sport from both boat and bank. Boats are taking surface feeding fish on c.d.c. variants, green emergers, grhe and ptns.

Mark Flavin of Northampton stalked a superb 7lb natural brown taken just a few feet from the lodge bank on a damsel nymph.

Local angler Russ Barringer caught the biggest rainbow this week a 6lb 4oz specimen , the best of a 6 fish catch taken in a half day session.

Tom Holyoak from Gresham, Norfolk made his long journey worthwhile, taking nine rainbows to 5lb boat fishing off the domes. Tom’s fish all came to a double ended c.d.c hares ear twitched across the surface to rising fish.

best rainbow ; 6lb 4oz taken by Russ Barringer of Ravensthorpe

best brown: 7lb taken by Mark Flavin of Northampton (see above)

best boat areas; mongers point to the domes

best bank areas; dam wall

mid week boat winner; Mr Alan Kemp of Wigston

Pitsford Water

fish week 493 (season 8002) returns 207 (2833) rod average 2.3(2.8)

With the predominant west wind last week the hot spots for both boat and bank anglers at Pitsford Water were around the sailing club and inlet.

Some fish are now rising through the day, so be prepared to use floating and slow sink lines. Nymph fishing has been most successful with gold ribbed hares ear being the dominant fly, although various patterns of pheasant tail are still a favourite.

Don Rogers from Stretton and Alan Fairey from Northampton were among many that managed to catch good quality rainbows over 4lb.

Stewart Rowe, Northampton recorded the weeks best brown at 3lb 10oz during a half day fishing session.

best rainbow many 4lb+ (see above)

best brown; 3lb 10 oz taken by Stewart Rowe

best boat areas; sailing club to inlet

best bank areas; sailing club to inlet

mid-week boat winner; Robin Newson of Oxford

competition news; the Wednesday night boat league is a friendly affair with a meal included in the price and is a great way to learn and/or pass on some knowledge. You don’t have to be a regular to do well. David Cooper, Northampton taking part for the first time was paired with Bev Perkins so that Bev could show him what to do. With Bev’s help David finished 3rd whilst Bev finished 4th ! If you want to know more about taking part, please ask at the fishing lodge.
The evening, although a little cool saw some excellent sport with a rod average of over 4 for the local anglers taking part.

1st Richard Slater 10 fish for 18lb 10oz
2nd Charlie Watts 9 fish for 15lb 14oz
3rd David Cooper 7 fish for 13lb 2oz
4th Bev Perkins 3 fish for 6lb 4oz.

Grafham Water

fish week 714 (season 11,400) returns 218 (3065) rod average 3.6 (3.7)

Anglers practising for the Midlands Final Elininator for the national team were successful with various sinking lines and stripped lures. By contrast some anglers in the Tuesday and Thursday evening boat leagues had great sport with floating lines, nymphs and dry flies. Most of the action this week has come off the bowl of the dam, at G marker and in thej Plummer/Gaynes cove area.

Mr. Bradley of Bury St Edmunds had the best fish of the week at 5lb 5oz whilst Alan Pattison of Royston took the best bag with 8 fish for 22lb 8oz.

best rainbow; 5lb 5oz taken by Mr. Bradley of Bury St. Edmunds

best boat areas;bowl of dam, G bouy and Gaynes cove

best bank areas; the seat, sludge bank, gaynes cove, plummers and south dam

fish stocked 3330

mid week boat winner; Harry Broolbanks of Peterborough

competition news: Tuesday night boat league – 11 anglers took part this week
1st Norman Shippey 9 fish for 20lb 13oz
2nd Dave Burgess 6 fish for 12lb 14oz
3rd Doug Head 4 fish for 5lb 6oz
Thursday night boat league – week 6 of this ever popular match series saw 12 anglers looking forward to fishing the evening rise and trying to beat the regular lure-stripping champion Rob Edmunds
1st Rob Edmunds 8 fish for 21lb 8oz

2nd Leon Smith 6 fish for 14lb 7oz
3rd Dave Barker 6 fish for 13lb 2oz

forthcoming events;
14 July - beginners course
4 August - Grafham Open great prizes to be won bookings now being taken
full details of all forthcoming events are available at the fishing lodge, telephone 01480 810531





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Water Industry Anglers Raise £6500 for WaterAid 2nd July

Anglers travelled from throughout the UK and headed for Rutland Water to raise money in the Anglian Water Aid Fly Fishing Challenge 2002 on 26th June.This was the inaugural event for the organisers from Anglian Water - Chris Evans, Paul Dimbleby and John Skirrow. Over a third of the 58 anglers were beginners to fly fishing and thanks to Jon Marshall and his AW fishery staff, who gave them expert tuition, there were some excellent catches in spite of bright and windy conditions.

The event sponsors, participating companies and the Rutland Water Fishery (who donated a £500 cheque from money raised from the 25th anniversary tackle auction held at Rutland on the 4th May) helped to raise an impressive sum of around £6,500 for the Water Aid charity. The money will be used to provide safe water supplies, sanitation and hygiene education for around 400 people in developing countries around the world. David Moore, Anglian Water’s Recreation Manager, presented the prize-winners as follows: · Winning Team (sponsor May Gurney) 18 lb 8 oz (11 fish) – ABB/ AW/Air Pollution Products and Systems· Team Runner-up (sponsor Thyssen) 13 lb 15 oz (8 fish) – Anglian Water Technology Group· Best Individual Weight (sponsor ABIC) with 10 lb 5oz (6 fish) - Richard Slaughter (Anglian Water) · Runner-up Individual Weight (sponsor Laing) with 9 lb 7.5 oz (6 fish) - Paul Frapwell (Anglian Water)· Best Beginner Weight (sponsor WS Atkins) with 6 lb 13 oz (4 fish) – Alan Ryder (Morrison Construction)· Runner-up Beginner Weight (sponsor AMEC) with 4 lb 13oz (3 fish) – Phil Hutchins (Air Pollution Products and Systems)· Largest Fish (sponsor LES) 2 lb 5.5 oz - J Harrison (Jefco Services)· Largest Fish Runner-up (sponsor Wrekin) 2 lb 5 oz – Joe Burrows (Biwater)

Anyone interested in finding out more about WaterAid or entering next years event please contact Chris Evans on 01733 414163 or email [email protected].

The Event Sponsors were; AMEC construction, Atkins Water, Laing, ABIC Engineering, Wrekin Construction, LES, Thyssen Engineering, May Gurney, Biwater, Claret Civil Engineering, AirFlo, SNF, Andritz, Skanska, Huber technology, BXT, Insituform, Morgan Water and Jefco services.


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Fishery Reports 2nd July

River Ribble with the extra rain more seatrout are moving up river and fish are being caught on small mepps spoons and various fly patterns. Three salmon reported and all returned which is excellent news. Trout fishing is excellent on most beats. Coarse fishing on the lower Ribble has been good with a lot of barbel being caught pellets, meat and caster top baits. Chub to bread crust and flake. A good river carp of 22 lbs was taken on the Prince Albert water near Osbaldeston by an angler fishing for barbel with pellet bait.

On the Hodder some good seatrout have been caught.
River Aire Gargrave, Skipton some nice trout being caught by members of Bradford City AA. Please note there are no day tickets for this fishery.
River Teme barbel and chub fishing has proved a bit hard in some areas - look for the fast broken water try freelined cheese paste, bread and meat for chub. Legered breadcrust for barbel is my first choice.
River Severn upper reaches providing good sport for chub, few barbel. Lower reaches of the river is the place to fish if you seek a big barbel several double figure fish have been caught pellets seem the best bait.
River Wye some nice roach to a pound have been caught on float fished bread flake barbel to 6lbs on swimfeeder rig with casters or gentles as bait. Plenty of chub try floating crust for these fish which are shoaled up in the faster water.

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Coarse Fishing Beginner Catches First Barbel 1st July

60 year old Stephen Ainscow of Ramsbottom, Lancashire - a very experienced game angler for over thirty years and a member of Bowland Games Anglers Association, wanted to catch a barbel so I invited him to join me for a couple of days on the river Teme.

The first day he hooked and lost one fish, missed three other good barbel bites and caught a few chub to 4lbs.
He was certainly a happy angler.
Day two Stephen lots three fish caught a couple of chub. Around 9pm the rod tip pulled round and another barbel was hooked, following my instructions Stephen successfully played the fish to the waiting landing net. As the fish was netted I punched the air and shouted "Yes" It weighed 7lbs not an ounce less or more. After a quick picture it was released to hopefully grow into a ten pounder. For two days I had watched Stephen go from the height of happiness to despair then back to the height of happiness and a grin a mile wide.
For two days I had watched and helped Stephen try and catch a barbel and though I didn't fish I enjoyed the experience.
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Martin James On Sky TV

Martin’s latest TV programme So You Wanna Catch Fish in New York State? is on Sky TV this week

Sunday, June 23rd Sky Sports Extra at 7.00pm and 10.00pm
Monday, June 24th Sky Sports Extra at 9.00pm and Sky Sports Two at 2.00pm
and 11.00pm

Copies of the programme can be obtained from:
421 productions Ltd,
4 the Grove
Lancaster
LA1 3AL
01524 842421

e-mail [email protected]


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Martin Goes Worldwide On The Internet

BBC Radio Lancashire have decided after receiving many letters and E-mails from around the UK and the United States to put Martin James' radio show, 'At The Waters Edge,' on the Internet.
The site address is http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/sport/fishing/05002/03/river_aire.shtml You need to double click on the underlined, 'At the Waters Edge,' where it says : 'Listen to At the Waters Edge.'
A page will always have the latest show also all the previous programmes - which means the show will always have the same address - making it much easier for listeners. The great thing about putting the audio on the site is that listeners can log onto ther page and download each programme at any time - they will be able to download the programme today, the middle of the night or next year.