A mild but stormy day welcomed the dozen of us who took part in our regular end-of-season (for season ticket holders) ‘Final Fling’ competition. Unlike all our other matches, in this event the shield goes to whoever gets the biggest fish, rather than numbers or total bag weight.

   As often happens, these big fish can often show only at the end of the day, and often with your very last few casts, so it’s never over until the 4.00pm whistle, and no matter how badly you’re doing, it’s always worth plugging on until it’s time to reel in.

   Further complicating the issue was that the reservoirs had been stocked just two days before this event, and not all this new intake was small. Having said that, we were all impressed with the quality of the fish that were caught. Nearly all of them were silvery, and fought far above their weight in the cold, clear water conditions.

   As often happens, the first few platforms along the West bank of No5 were soon taken, and were producing fish almost from the off. Billy and Kevin, fishing next to each other, enjoyed a good run of fish on the Booby, even if they were only average size. As soon as Billy experimented with static Buzzer on the floating line, however, he landed a four pounder, and definitely found that the better fish preferred the nymphs.

   Jim, Dave and Barry were getting good sport further down the West bank, along with John, who started opposite the Island. Frank, who had been exploring a slightly more coloured No4, reported losing several good fish, and eventually dropped in along the Causeway next to Andrew Smith, who was enjoying a good run of fish on the DI7 and Booby, despite a blustery cross-wind.

   It appeared that the proportion of larger fish could have been slightly better on No4, which possibly had received less of the recent stocking than No5. Certainly, the last hour or so here produced some three pounders, including another nice one lost at the death by Frank.

   At the weigh-in Billy’s chunky fish took the top spot, ahead of three pounders to Kevin and Andrew, but what was most impressive was the sheer numbers of fish caught. Billy reckoned he’d put back about 30, Jim over 20, Kevin 12-20 and Andrew Smith 15+, and most others reported double figures. If these stockies continue to feed hard on the bloodworm and daphnia, we should be in for some great fishing in the spring.

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Dave Jarvis waits for that next take

Results

The North West corner fished well

An awkward wind along the Causeway