2010 Archive
The Casting Clinic enjoyed a sunny morning in ideal light wind conditions on the East Warwick, where Mike Heritage, assisted by Mark and Roger, helped Honor, Henry, John, Andrew and Hector with the kind of tips that can make a real difference to your everyday fly-fishing. Plenty of improvements were seen all round.
Our annual Fur & Feather competition made the most of a relatively mild weekend to produce plenty of good fish, with lots of four pounders, as well as a couple of five pound fish. Barry Sheddon celebrated his return to the club with a fifteen pound bag to take the shield, while John O’Regan took the Best Fish with a 5-3-0 specimen. Out of the 31 that fished, no less than 19 took their 4-fish limit, making this our most productive winter match ever Results and more pictures>>
The final Autumn League match saw some great fishing, despite the cold weather. Another ten points for Frank Daley saw him take the title just one point ahead of John Ferguson, who couldn’t get the big fish he needed. more>>
The second Fly-tying Evening
saw Gary Inwards continuing with effective patterns for Walthamstow, like the bloodworm, while in answer to a request, Andrew Green went through essential grayling patterns like shrimps, hare’s ears and Czech nymphs, along with a couple of buzzers. Our next fly-tying evening will be on Wednesday 12th January.
Here’s a 3-8-0 trout to Jonas, one of our beginners, from No5 during a junior coaching session. Chairman Gary Inwards commented, “We have some really keen young anglers attending the junior coaching sessions, and it’s a pleasure to teach them when they are as dedicated as Jonas. Our thanks to Thames Water and Pro-Active North London for supporting this initiative”.
More on junior sessions here>>
Peter Lapsley from Fly-Fishing & Fly-Tying magazine came down to Walthamstow, his second visit since the original article (see>>) back in September 2007. This time he looked around Nos 4 & 5, as well as the East Warwick. This article appeared in the January 2011 issue.
Our Grayling trip to the River Test at Wherwell escaped the worst of the weather, even if we didn’t see as many olives hatching during the day as last year. A small pearl flashback beadhead olive shrimp was one pattern which worked well, getting 40cms+ fish for several of us, including Jerry Pearce on only his first grayling trip. Generally the Duo was the most productive method, although the occasional fish was taken on dries. More pictures>>
Michael Heritage pipped Tony Fox by a couple of grayling to win the SEFFF Rivers Qualifier on the Lower Itchen. Andrew Smith also looks likely to qualify for the National Rivers Final on the Welsh Dee, finishing 4th in his first ever qualifier. Once again, we were lucky with the weather and the state of the river. Good water clarity made it easy to spot the grayling, even if getting them to take proved a little harder. Although bugging with goldhead hare’s ears and pink shrimps was most effective, fish also came to small nymphs on the Duo and even dries.
Walthamstow Wanderers finished a creditable 6th place out of 24 teams in the CEFF/Airflo Bank Classic Team Final at Elinor. On what looked like a hard day, Frank Daley, Mike Heritage and Vinnie King got nine fish, just four points behind winners Team Seighford.
The Loch-style National at Chew saw Harry Fox qualify for the England team on a hard day which saw many good anglers blank, his dad Tony included. Mike Heritage and Andrew Green also found it hard going, so well done Harry!
Strong winds affected the Club Trip at Grafham, which meant that the boats weren’t allowed out. This didn’t stop Frank having a great time off the bank, with more than a dozen fish landed. Gary also got in on the act along the Dam, catching an estimated 8lb bream hooked fairly in the mouth on a small White Booby fished on a DI3.
It appears a lot of good fish are feeding hard on the ‘Alien Killer Shrimp’ close to the banks all around this reservoir.
The East Warwick opened on the 1st September. Early reports are encouraging, with good fish being seen in the NE inlet boils, apparently feeding hard on daphnia. 2010-2011 season ticket prices: £180 (£100 if you already have a season ticket for Nos 4 & 5). Walthamstow FFC club members only. Season tickets can be bought at the Gate Office with cash/cheque payable to ‘Thames Water Utilities Ltd’, two passport photos and a current WFFC membership card.
A good brownie from the causeway on No.4 to Vinnie. Estimated at 7lbs, it took a size 14 Claret Cruncher on the top dropper with just a couple of rod lengths of line out. It was witnessed by Hector and Earl before being returned, and goes to show the type of grown-on fish that are in the reservoirs.
The Wednesday Evening Series ended with another tough evening. This made the overall top placings very close, but Vinnie deservedly got his name on the shield, thanks to some good bags early in the series. Final positions here>>
The CEFF/Airflo Classic regional heat was won in convincing style by the Walthamstow Wanderers team of Frank Daley, Mike Heritage and Vinnie King, with Mike taking the top individual spot with 7 fish ahead of Kevin Blackwell. Overwintered fish continued to show with a near five-pounder to Frank (who lost something substantially larger, maybe a carp) and another four-pounder to Vince Howley. Boobies on DI5 or DI7 generally the most effective method, with fish still in close. Full results and more pictures here>>
The Troutmasters Fish-off was won by Vinnie King with four fish for 10-0-0 on DI7 and Boobies, ahead of Winston Chan with two for 5-1-0, also on Boobies. Best fish of the match was a four pounder to Pat O’Neil on floater and Minkie, with John Ferguson getting a three pounder on the Booby. Phil Smithson and Gary Inwards, although getting takes, failed to catch. Conditions which felt distinctly chiller than the preceding two days, plus a NE wind which increased into the afternoon, probably made for tricky fishing. Despite some early fish from the Causeway on No5, the afternoon saw more come out from the Railway bank and NE corner of No4.
The postponed Bank Clearance made the best of some better weather to do another good job on the Railway and East banks of No4, where the brambles are at their worst. Chas Cleaver also showed off his skills as a tree surgeon with some nifty work on the gap behind the platforms on the top of the West bank of No5. Here’s a few of us enjoying a tea break courtesy of Frank Daley.
1100 rainbows were stocked on 23rd April (2 tanks into No5, 1 tank into No4). This will boost the 500 rainbows that were put into No5 on 1st April following the pre-season stockings of 1,200 and 700 fish. These March fish are now bright and silvery, and most are big enough to make them difficult for the cormorants to swallow easily. We will get marked fish, but these are the ones that got away, and proof that this stocking policy is working.
Half-price season tickets are now available for anyone who participated in the Start Fly-Fishing events during 2009. The rangers have a list of names of the thirty or so who took part. Remember to bring along two passport sized photographs. The dates for
the 2010 Start Fly-Fishing programme will be announced as soon as they have been confirmed more>>
The 2010 AGM/Auction saw a reasonable turnout in The Plough. Business discussed included the forthcoming Bank Clearance, a meeting with Thames Water, the Winnerweb and Airflo heats, plus the reimbursement arrangements for the Start Fly-fishing events. Sid Gardiner was invited to the vacant position of WFFC President, in recognition for his services to the club. Kevin Blackwell and the team then capably sold off around 150 lots, including some great bargains.
Colin Goodman scooped the pools in our ‘Final Fling’ with a 3-6-0 rainbow taken on DI7 and Booby from No.5 on the Causeway. Ron Fry, Andrew Green and Gary Inwards also caught, out of the 14 that turned out. Sunny conditions with a light Northerly saw action earlier than expected but this hot spell was brief. When spooned, fish were found to have been feeding hard on bloodworm and hoglice, so should overwinter well, and be in good condition for when the day ticket reservoirs reopen on Saturday 13th March. More pics here>>
Two weeks of snow briefly closed the reservoirs to anglers for health and safety reasons, but good fish were landed on the Warwick soon after it reopened. Browns and rainbows to 5lbs have been taken on buzzers, Zonkers and Tadpoles.
