Nicholas S

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. Pleased we managed to catch one in the end, for some reason whenever I take a friend along the fishing is always difficult!

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 only 1 for myself! At that point James had to call it a day so we vacated our good spot and rowed back to the lodge to meet James’ Dad who was coming in the boat in his place. The afternoon was slightly frustrating. Another boat had anchored in the spot we were in that morning and were catching quite regularly. We, on the other hand were struggling. What made it infinitely more frustrating was the master-class being demonstrated by group of bank anglers who were catching trout with almost robotic regularity whilst we looked on in amazement! In the end I managed to pick up two more trout but that was nothing compared to the numbers that were being caught from the bank. In the end we called it a day but before rowing back I plucked up the courage to ask the bank anglers what fly was doing the damage to which I heard just one word: Damsel! Typically the one fly I didn’t try, oh well, food for thought for next time.

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 and due to no catch and release (I hate that rule) we had to call it a day. Managed to up my trout pb to 4.75lb which I was very pleased about. The day was soured a bit at the end after I got in an argument with the Neanderthal who runs the place about his rules. Don’t think I will be revisiting in a hurry.

Terrific fish Andrew! I would say that most of those were Brownies, the first two pics could be Sea Trout but if you regularly catch silvery trout then I would assume that there is a strain of Brown Trout in the river that are naturally quite silvery. The odd good sized silvery trout gets caught on the stretch of the Kennet I fish and a lot of people have said they are Sea Trout. It's also possible that they are Sea trout that managed to get upriver but then got landlocked I guess but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will provide further input. An interesting question though! N

Great report Anderoo, looks like fantastic fishing! N

I thought that tadpoles tend to mainly congregate in the margins and hence if your baits were placed away from the margins I doubt you would have had such a problem with tadpoles eating everything! N

The Rod Box is a well established fishing tackle shop (mainly game) that is already in Winchester. N

I would imagine that this will be shown on the Horse and Country online tv channel too. N

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 the bottom of a small valley which provides some seclusion and provided I fish with the accommodation blocs behind me the view across the lake is stunning. On this particular occasion I was lucky enough to have the lake all to myself, just how I like it! Although ‘standard carp tactics’ dominate here, I find it terribly boring and like to travel as light as possible and stalk the carp off the top with bread usually, a tactic that seems quite productive on this particular lake! After walking most of the way round the lake and not seeing any signs of fish I was beginning to question my judgment in attempting to fish off the top so early in the season. However, I soon stumbled across a large group of fish milling around near the surface much to my excitement! After getting them confident feeding off the top I flicked out a large chunk of freelined bread and waited in anticipation. Sure enough it didn’t take long before a big (estimated mid-double) greedy Mirror Carp was resting in the net. I think 4 more followed, all a good size, capping off a fine evening. On my next trip here I will bring the fly rod and attempt to catch my first carp on the fly!

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 (wish that money was spent on improving the habitat for wild Brownies and Grayling but oh well). Managed to catch one small rainbow on a small gold head Hares Ear whilst retrieving it upstream! All in all a very pleasant evening on a water I hope to fish again.

Cheers Gorton, will give you a call either tomorrow or Friday. N

To reiterate Budgy's comments, I also haven't used a 'feeder braid' that I liked at all! Stick with good low diameter lure braid as Budgy suggested. As for getting lost of plucks, if you are using a maggot clip and fishing for Bream, Carp etc then I would just wait for the rod tip to pull round before striking. N

I recently purchased a Berkley Skeletor 2 (the first link above) and it is very nice, and sexy too! N

Are there any forum members who know anything about Eastleigh and District Fishing Club or Eastleigh Railway Institute (also a fishing club despite the name)? They are both based near Southampton and I'm looking to find a bit more information on the fishing they offer and in the case of Eastleigh Railway Institute, some contact details too! N

Boat fishing, the relative who we stay with has a lovely wooden lake boat with an outboard. Problem is the lough is so large that it is hard to ever find it without a chop and hence achieving an even speed is quite tricky. However, I hadn't considered using a hand held GPS before, food for thought! I think one of the main reasons I didn't used to catch many was because I wasn't trolling at the right depth. The lough is extremely deep and after reading some of the catch reports from the recent competition it would appear that those who had the most success fished quite deep and interestingly just drifted with the waves without the engine, something I hadn't even considered before when lure fishing. N

Well I'm interested in both really although I expect that given the baggage restrictions with Ryan Air I will be limited to just taking my lure fishing gear this time! I have been to the Lough many times and am familiar with most of the locations you mentioned although all my fishing in the past has been around Barley Harbour. However, I very much doubt that tactics and species will vary much from the areas you have fished. I would love to hear more about your experiences fishing there, what sort of fish you've caught and the methods emplyed etc. I know there are good pike in the Lough but I've never managed to get a one of a notable size unfortunately. Would be fascinated to know what the coarse fishing is like there. In the past I simpy trolled a spinner off the back of a boat (I wasn't that experienced back then), used to catch the odd small pike and perch and even some lovely brown trout but I always knew I wasn't even coming close to tapping into the fishing the Lough offers. N p.s. If you would prefer, PM me!

If you find the fish are being really spooky then I would suggest doing what some fly fishermen doing when fishing a dry fly and tying on a couple of feet of fluorocarbon (using a 3/4 turn waterknot) onto your mono mainline/hooklength. This will sink the last section of the hook length and avoids spooking the fish. It's a good tactic and works a lot better than trying to use flurocarbon straight through but as Anderoo says, eventually you end up with a loop of sunken line. N

Hi Gorton, Thanks for replying. I'm staying in Barley Harbour which is just south of Elfeet Bay. Have you fished around there? Which areas are you familiar with and what is your experience of the fishing on the Lough in general? N

Has anyone here fished Lough Ree in Ireland before? It's an enormous stunning Lough right in the centre of Ireland, received a bit of press recently after hosting the International Pike Festival. I will be fishing there in June and was wondering whether anyone here has fished there as well? N

Nothing beats Passion for Angling in my opinion! Catching the Impossible is good but Martin Bowler doesn't have half the charisma of BJ or CY. Also enjoy watching the Jeremy Wade and Cyril Chaquet's programs. Compleat Angler is well put together and enjoyable. Some of John Baileys programs on Horse and Country are worth a watch too. If anyone didn't know already you can stream Horse and Country fishing programs here: http://www.horseandcountry.tv/country/fishing N

According to wikipedia, 23lb!! N

Can you fish here on a day ticket or do you also have to be a member of Godalmnig AS? N

It depends quite a lot on what you're after etc. There's a lot of fishing oppurtunities in the South West! I do a lot around Bath so may be of some help. N

Yes I heard they were a bit of a handful! N Has no one fished here then?! Surely not!!

Has anyone fished here? I've heard good things about it and the lakes look nice (saw them when visiting the safari park!). I'm not really interested in the carp fishing there, more so in the other species, roach, perch, and tench in particular. Any useful info would be much appreciated! N