Wet

Morning fishing at Bourley. Very wet.  No fish.

 

First taste of boat fishing

Iver Fly Fishers had an outing to Draycote reservoir on Saturday.

I was in a boat with Reg.

For an inland water it was surprisingly choppy! Dry, some sun, but very windy.

I tried a floating line, then a sinking line (I was later asked what sort of sinking line and had to admit I had no idea!)

I had 2 droppers so I was fishing with 3 flies at a time – first time I’d done that. It’s not too bad with a floating line, but with the sinking line you really have to watch the rod tip to avoid pulling the first flies in too far – I had several horrendous tangles as a result.

I tried many flies – Peter-style montana, PTN, red buzzer, an orange blob. I tried an orange booby on the point, leaded damsels, an Alley Cat (Peter’s Cat’s Whisker variation), and a white Cat’s Whisker.

Nothing till 5pm when I finally caught a 2lb 12oz trout on the Cat’s Whisker. Around that time I noticed little flat winged flies appearing which I later identified as midges of some sort. Most of the club members caught 5-8 fish using buzzers – and when I checked up on midges I found that buzzers are recommended flies.

I had been a bit disappointed in the lack of fishy interest in my flies, but when I got home I saw that my Alley Cat was a lot smaller than when I’d started. It had looked like the one on the left. So fish had been nibbling it without me noticing.

 

Haywards Farm opens

Last day of February and Haywards Farm opened. Peter took me  for a morning’s fishing. He caught 4 (and a brown which he had to put back) and I caught 3.  I managed to net them all myself which was a first for me. And I caught them all on a Cat’s Whisker which I made!!

Looks a bit bedraggled, but did the business!

 

First fishing trip of the year

Blackwool Farm.  Cloudy, breezy, but dry. We fished the far end of the big fish lake with the wind behind us.

I tried all these flies but had no luck. The one other angler there that morning had better luck at the near end of the lake – he tried spots all round the lake – where you fish is as important as what you fish.

But that was more than made up for by the barn owl who hunted around us for the last half hour of our stay.  I’ve only ever seen barn owls at dusk before, and not for many years so that was a real highlight for me.

Peter caught an 8lb fish which we took to the smokery at Tillingbourne Trout Farm near Dorking. Peter will collect the smoked trout next time he is in the area.

Lunch at the Half Moon pub in Northchurch. Best cheese and ham toasties ever!

 

Reg’s birthday treat

Peter took Reg to Blackwool fishery as a birthday treat and I got to go too. There was a group of 3 already fishing when we arrived – it was the birthday of one of them and he was being treated to a taster session of fly fishing.  By lunch time the only people to have caught any fish were the 2 birthday boys! Reg caught a 4lb fish followed by a very impressive 9lb trout. The others were there for the day, but we went off for a pub lunch followed by a trip to a smokery to smoke the trout.

 

Evening’s fishing, no fish for me

Spent a pleasant evening fishing at Bourley. Tried daddys, blue flash damsel, cat’s whisker, and black gnat type thing, all to no avail. Peter caught a small trout on a booby as he was winding in to pack up!

 

Ladies fly fishing day at Albury

Vale End, Albury held a  Ladies Fly Fishing Day today, and I had booked a session as an improver. Fantastic day with casting lessons, guided fishing, cooking demonstration, BBQ lunch, fly tying demonstration and more fishing.

I hooked a fish and was going to try to net it myself, but managed to lose it before I even had the net in my hand! I eventually caught a 2lb rainbow at 5.30 on a blue flash damsel, the Albury favourite fly, and let someone else net it for me. It fought well.

My casting has improved – sometimes the line actually floats in the air before landing on the water.

More Ladies Days are planned for the future – excellent! Contact Tony Hern for details.

 

Netting practice – or not!

Went fishing at Bourley after school today to practice netting fish myself. But could we find any fish to practice on? We could not!

I must learn to tell my lines apart – I had a sinking line in my reel, and Peter told me to put a fly line on – but I selected the slime line by mistake and fished with that for an hour! I didn’t think I was casting very far!

Forgot my camera, so no pictures this time. There was good purple haze from heather or ling and a couple of dabchicks were around, but I saw no insects.

 

First fish caught at Bourley!

Finally caught a fish here! A small but perfectly formed brown trout of just over 1lb. Caught with a cat’s whisker I made myself.

 

Weston on the Albury estate

Peter and I went to Weston, part of the Albury estate near Guildford. A very enjoyable morning’s fishing marred only by the lack of fish (but I got to keep the 2 fish tickets for use anywhere on the Albury estate before April next year).

Started on the Lower Millhouse lake, where there was a pair of coots (fulica atra) with 4 black fluffy young with red and yellow markings on their heads. There were lots of Common Blue Damselflies (enallagma cyathigera) and an emerald green one, possibly Emerald Damselfly (lestes sponsa).

We then moved to the main Weston Lake where there was a veritable whirlpool of trout leaping out of the water like dolphins. But it appeared that we were witnessing the display team in action. We could see fish everywhere but they were totally uninterested in feeding. By the time we left at 11.30 only one person seemed to have caught anything!