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Entries in this blog

Chew Valley Reservoir - 21/03/2010

Well this is the start of my fishing blog. I must admit I never saw myself writing one of these but after being inspired a bit by some of the other excellent blogs on AN I thought I would start one myself. Even if no one pays any interest to it (quite likely) it will be a good record of the trials and tribulations of my fishing escapades!   Right seeing as the first entry in is the close season I got my fly fishing underway on Chew Valley Reservoir. It was my first time fishing there for the

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Alness - 23-25/09/2010

Three days Salmon fishing with family on the River Alness in the Scottish Highlands. Salmon have proved to be a bit of an enigma for me. Unfortunately I don’t get the opportunity to fish for them very often but when I do it seems like I have been beset by bad lack with only tales of lost fish to take away with me. Usually the fishing is very hard due to low water and on a spate river like the Alness having enough water on the gauge is everything. This year however was different, for the first ti

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Test & LRA - 05-06/02/2011

After receiving the all clear from my girlfriend I set about organising a fishing weekend that I was really looking forward to. Saturday was to be spent on the Little River Avon (LRA) in search of Grayling and the icing on the cake was Sunday where I had been invited down to fish the hallowed waters of the Test. I would be trotting the main river (the last time I fished one of the carriers - see 09/09/2010) in the hope of some of the large Grayling that this stretch (and indeed the whole river)

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Wellow Brook - 03-05/06/2010

Unsurprisingly it wasn’t long before James and I returned to the Wellow Brook. The glorious weather and hatching Mayflies meant that we spent three wonderful evenings on the river in a row! On the first evening we decided to try slightly further downstream than we had on the first visit. The fishing started well with James missing a good rise to his dry fly straight away! Despite the fact that there were fish rising along the whole stretch catching them proved to be tricky due to the low clear w

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Monnow - 12/09/2010

The following day I made a slightly mad and last minute decision to drive over to Wales and fish the Monnow for the day. I had been mulling over a trip across the border to sample Wale’s delightful river fishing for a while and finally decided that today was the day. Two hours of driving later (it should have been considerably less but I took a ridiculous countryside ‘short-cut’ which turned out to be a huge mistake) and I had arrived at the Monnow and boy was I excited!     The river lo

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Monnow & Honddu - 18-19/09/2010

After getting a taster for fishing in Wales the previous weekend (See September 12) I decided to make a weekend of it and invite my friend Alan over to join me on a trip that I had been excitedly looking forward to all week. Early Saturday morning I picked up Alan from the train station and before long we were making our way to the river. I decided that we should try a stretch upstream of where I had fished the week before and one that I had heard was particularly nice. The river here is especia

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Thames - 02-03/10/2010

A great weekend spent fishing the Thames with Alan and his dad Trevor. Saturday was spent at Trevor’s secret location, a beautiful spot that gave us an appetiser for the sort of fish it can turn up on my last visit (see 29-30/08/2010) but sadly that time we were left empty handed. This time we had decided to adopt a more relaxed approach and feeder fish through the day hoping to build the swim up for Bream and possibly Chub and Barbel later in the day/night. The feeder fishing was excellent with

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Upper River Chew - 16/05/2010

Popped out for a few hours mainly to explore a new section of river (the Upper River Chew) which belongs to Knowle Angling. I took my rod along just in case obviously! To be honest I was a little disappointed, the river seemed very small (too small to be stocked with Rainbow Trout which apparently it was although I didn’t see a single one!), quite silted up and very overgrown. Wading was virtually impossible due to the deep silt/mud and casting was a nightmare. In the end I managed to tempt a co

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Bristol Avon - 27/07/2010

A very enjoyable evening on the Bristol Avon spent in the company of newly acquainted fishing pal Graham who also enjoys fly fishing the river for Coarse fish. We were fishing a new stretch (for me) and had numerous Chub. Graham let me use one of his latest creations (basically a large foam beetle) which worked wonders for the Chub who seemed to find it irresistible. Graham mainly fished a popper hoping for a Pike or Perch but they all seemed to be a bit shy that day! Still, I learnt a lot fishi

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Bristol Avon - 24/08/2010

Decided to finally have a go for the Barbel that I spotted on the Bristol Avon (see Aug 3rd). After the recent rain the river was a bit coloured and looked spot on so I was quietly confident. Took me a while to find the spot as it’s not a ‘known’ swim. Eventually recognised it (I was on the other bank before so it wasn’t obvious) and after scaling the barbed wire fence and making my way through the shrubbery I was gobsmacked to find someone else fishing there!! Couldn’t believe it. Disgruntled I

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

River Test - 26/12/2010

Going fishing on Boxing Day when the thermometer is registering -10C really makes you question your sanity. That was exactly the case when Alan and I ventured off in the half light early on Boxing Day. Despite the Siberian conditions we were both very excited. A day Grayling fishing on the Test is always special and although the weather was doing its best to force us indoors, nothing was going to get in the way of us getting to the river! I must admit, when we arrived and got out of the warm car

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Midford Brook - 06/04/2010

Bit behind on blog updates! Starting with a delightful short evening fly fishing in early April spent as a guest of my friend James on the banks of the Midford Brook (a tributary of the Bristol Avon) just outside of Bath. Spring had appeared to arrive and whilst the flora wasn’t in blossom yet, the warm temperature and sweet smell to the air reminded why I love this time of year.   Only spent about an hour fishing, the river was fining down and had recently been stocked with Rainbow Trout (wi

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Newton Park - 07/04/2010

Another short evening session after work, this time fishing for carp at Newton Park Lake. The lake itself is lovely; set in Capability Brown’s magnificent landscaped grounds with an old Georgian manor house overlooking it. Rather unfortunately the estate has now become a University who clearly have no regard for keeping to the original architecture of the place and some of the accommodation blocs are a little bit of an eyesore in what was once clearly a majestic setting. Still, the lake is at th

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Sutton Bingham Reservoir 10/04/2010

An enjoyable and hot day spent on Sutton Bingham reservoir in Somerset with my friend James and his Dad. It was my first time on this reservoir but I had heard good things from James who had fished it many times in the past. As it was the fishing started brilliantly with both of us catching good trout almost straight away! As the day wore on the fishing got almost too easy and we both had to try to use flies that we thought would reduce our chances of catching! In the end we got our bag limits a

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Blagdon Reservoir - 17/04/2010

My first time out on the famous Blagdon reservoir, the home of Stillwater fly fishing apparently. The reservoir itself is stunning, set in the Mendip hills with the lovely village of Blagdon overlooking it. It really is a picture and a real pleasure to fish. The day itself started brilliantly with James and I seemingly anchored up right over a shoal of Rainbow trout: we immediately started getting knocks whilst everyone else seemed to be struggling! By lunch time James had managed 5 compared to

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Newton Park - 23/04/2010

Another short session back at Newton Park this time with my friend Jack who hadn’t really done any fishing before so I had promised him we might be able to catch a carp! Typically it was quite hard and the fish were being quite coy when rising and were not easy to hook. Jack pulled out of a good take early on and we had to wait to it was virtually dark to get another opportunity. Luckily this time it resulted it a nice carp of about 6.5lb which slurped up some crust from virtually under out feet

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Rocklands Mere Fishery (Norfolk) - 26-27/04/2010

Was away in Norfolk for a few days for a work related course and after researching potential fishing opportunities in the area was pleased to find out there was a small trout lake nearby that offered a catch and release evening ticket, perfect! The first day I got there as quickly as possible after having an early dinner and found the place all to myself, bliss! However, despite the fact there were clearly fish everywhere the fishing was hard work, in fact I hadn’t caught anything by the time th

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Blagdon Reservoir - 01/05/2010

My second visit to Blagdon reservoir with James. Despite good fishing conditions (overcast and a bit rainy) the fishing was very difficult for most of the day. James who only fished till the early afternoon caught a cracking Brown trout of about 2lb (released) but apart from that we struggled as did everyone else it seemed. However, in the evening I noticed a proliferation of boats in one area down the bottom end of the reservoir. I set off toward them hoping that this was a good sign. It was. A

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Knowle Angling waters - 03/05/2010

A lazy days fly fishing spent sampling my new clubs still-waters. Fished three in total, none really in earnest, and ended up with three lost fish. Particularly liked the 5 acre reservoir (Chew Magna) that is the largest still-water the club has. It seems like difficult fishing but it is a pretty reservoir with lovely wooden platforms extending out into the lake. Looking forward to trying to crack that one in the future.

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Lambourne - 10/05/2010

A lovely day spent fly fishing on a stretch on the Lambourne that I normally trot in winter with my fishing partner and good friend, Alan (AKA 'Thames Oddity'). We were both looking forward to the day and were buoyed up after meeting and chatting to Matt Hayes at the Sportsfish 10 year anniversary show that morning. Incidentally he’s a thoroughly nice guy who much to our disbelief, happily chatted to both of us for ages!   Neither of us were/are particularly experienced at river fly fishing

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Publow Lake - 11/05/2010

A spell of nice weather prompted me to have an evening fishing after work. I decided on fishing Publow Lake, one of my new clubs (Knowle Angling) waters and one I was not familiar with. On arriving I could see plenty of fish swimming around in the shallow end of the lake and managed to tempt two on a Damsel and a dry fly. I decided to move down to the other end of the lake to not disturb the fish too much at the shallow end. Although I tempted a few fish to nibble, no positive bites were forthco

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Box Brook - 11-12/05/2010

The fair weather continued and I couldn’t resist two more evenings fishing after work. I had recently got my membership for a stretch of the Box Brook, a lovely limestone river not far from Bath which I was looking forward to fishing. The river was running low and clear and from the road bridge I could see a number of Trout and Grayling. The occasional splashy rise from a small Brown Trout added to the excitement and I couldn’t wait to start. The first evening was not hugely successful; I think

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Blagdon - 17/05/2010

A very hard day on Blagdon Reservoir. After my success on the previous trip here I felt confident that I would again be able to get a few but the wind made fishing a nightmare! It not only caused all manner of casting problems, but also meant that rowing for me was painfully hard work and most annoying of all, the blooming anchor kept on slipping! A few friends who I recognised eventually took pity on me and offered to tow me (they had an electric motor) up to the top end and into a quiet bay. T

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Box Brook - 18/05/2010

I couldn’t resist another session on the Box Brook after work and headed down as quickly as possible straight after work. The river again looked perfect with the occasional trout rise providing clues as to their presence. Although I wasn’t quite as successful as last time I managed to tempt a few Brown Trout in what was another enjoyable evening on the BB.

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

Newton Park - 21/05/2010

Some nice weather prompted me to take up my promise to return to Newton Park and attempt to catch a carp on the fly. I brought along James this time as he had never even caught a carp. We only had a few hours to fish and although there were plenty of visible fish basking in the sun, it was hard work getting them to confidently feed. We only had one rod so I offered James the chance to get the first one. As it turned out, one missed take was all we got. However, we were set on returning and settl

Nicholas S

Nicholas S

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