Week by Week reports

A blue sky and a moderate North West wind welcomed the start of this year’s Autumn League. Frank, Kevin and Gerry headed for the No5 Boil, which had been fishing its socks off for the last few weeks, only to find six anglers already in place here, so they settled in as close as possible. With fishing not as easy as expected, Frank managed to hook a good fish on a Minkie only to lose it, but landed another nice 4-1-0 specimen not long after. Meanwhile, Phil and Brian were fishing down by the Hut with not much luck. John, fishing alone on the Railway Bank of No4, had a slow start, but managed two fish by 12.30pm on a Diawl Bach and a Minkie, including the heaviest of the day at 4-2-0. Things started to improve at 1.00pm with the surprise arrival of the stocking tanker. Gerry had a nice 3-5-0 fish on the Causeway on a Damsel. An hour and a half later, at 2.30pm, those fish that had been stocked in the South West bay of No5 had reached the Causeway. By now anglers were catching, on average, every third cast, and had to be towed when it was 4.00pm and time to pack up. A great day’s fishing with all six competitors bagging up. 

Conditions began with a flat calm, but around 11.30am a light South Westerly breeze started up. Everyone was concentrating their efforts on No4, where fish were showing all over the reservoir. The East bank in particular was popular, with anglers lined along the whole length of it, and plenty of fish being caught. The washing-line was the preferred method, although the Minkie was just as successful. Heaviest fish on the day was a 6-6-0 rainbow to John Ferguson, with John O’Regan also getting a 5-7-0 specimen, and Vinnie King landing one that went 3-6-0. At the same time there was a Start Fly-fishing session going on by the hut, and this also saw a good turn-out.

Very pleasant mild weather at the start gave way to cloud and the odd spell of rain, but it didn’t seem to affect the fishing. Once again, there were plenty of fish to be caught, with some good sized ones amongst them. Andrew got a 4-14-0 rainbow on buzzer from the South West bay of No5, while Gary also weighed in a 4-8-0, and Frank a 4-7-0 fish. Good fish were also seen moving in No4, off the causeway and the West bank, where Michael Heritage caught on Diawl Bachs on the washing-line. At the moment the trick is not whether you’ll catch, rather than how many two pounders do you put back while waiting for something better. Fish mostly feeding on daphnia, but we are also seeing fry and corixa feeding, and there have been some good buzzer hatches.

We were lucky with the weather again today, with mild overcast conditions seeing fish not far down and feeding hard on daphnia. After losing four fish last time, Gary’s pupil Ben had a blinder, landing seven fish, while Joe O’Brien, Brian Jenkins, Ron Fry and Gary Manley (not in the competition) all did well fishing No5 off the Causeway. John persevered here fishing buzzers on the floater into the wind to get a couple of nice fish, best 4-2-0, while Phil also had a 4-11-0 and Andrew a 4-8-0 rainbow. The first platforms down the West bank also produced a lot of fish, both to buzzers on the floater and Boobies on the Fast Intermediate, even if the action slowed up a little in the last hour. With two matches to go John has a five point lead, but this could change if colder weather makes the going more difficult. However, there is talk that 2,000 more fish are due to be stocked before the Fur & Feather, so who knows?

As predicted, over 1,000 fish had gone into Nos 4 & 5 early the previous week, so we expected it might be harder to find the four pounders we’d had last week. Frank however, fishing from the West bank of No5, managed to land a 4-14-0 fish as part of a double hook-up, throwing the larger fish up the bank for Drago to rescue, while he dealt with a smaller rainbow that had also taken the point fly. He then went on to get a few more fish on the floater from No.4. We were pleased to see that many of the newly introduced fish were sizeable, chunky specimens which gave a good account of themselves. The DI3 with the Booby or the floater with buzzers both worked, without being especially size-selective. With one match to go, John is on 37 points ahead of Frank on 36, while Gerry has put in a consistent performance to total 31, so it’s certainly not decided. With a lot more fish to go after, things are also looking very good for the Fur & Feather in two weeks time.

Despite temperatures dropping significantly during the previous week, the fish were surprisingly high in the water and instead of DI7s, it was DI3s and Intermediates that took fish with even the odd one on the floater. The cold certainly hadn’t affected the fishing. With totals into double figures during the week, things looked good and those of us that made the effort weren’t disappointed. The morning saw fish coming out along the Causeway and West bank of No5, but there were also fish to be caught from the SW bay and the Houses bank, as well as the East bank and Railway bank of No4. The afternoon saw some better fish, including a near-five pounder to Gary and a four pounder to Ben. Tony Fox also had a few on nymphs on the floater, so it certainly wasn’t Boobies or nothing. Frank secured the second win he needed to take the overall top spot, ahead of John who came unstuck looking for a big one, while Gerry was rewarded for his consistent performance with third place. See you at the Fur & Feather! It may be chilly but the fishing will warm you up!

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Final Positions