No.1 Wed 5th June

were pleased to see that it had cleared up nicely since then, with some weed growth on the marginal slope. Vince started on the Houses Bank of No5, but apart from some early fish, sport slowed up. The rest of us were scattered round No4, some on the East bank where Tony had one on nymphs, Gary caught on a static Booby, with Andrew taking one on a deep buzzer. Frank, John and Kevin reported seeing a lot more fish moving along the Causeway, though, with Frank taking a lot of fish. The highlight of the evening was a 7-3-0 rainbow which John took on a small buzzer fished on a cul washing-line with about 15 minutes to go. As a bank of cloud came over, more fish started to show along the East bank, with Andrew taking another two on a Green Widget and one on a Diawl Bach. It was great to see such a good turnout on our first evening in the series, and from the size of some of those fish showing in the evening, we could be seeing quite a few more ‘Troutmasters’ specimens coming to the scales over the summer.

No.2 Wed 12th June

had fished earlier in the day had apparently enjoyed good sport, wet weather soon set in by the time we started. Frank was the only one of us to catch consistently through the evening, keeping a couple and putting another three back, from halfway along the West bank of No4. Apart from the odd chance earlier, the rest of us all landed a blank-saving fish in the last half hour. Tony did well to get one of the better fish to take a dry, the type we had seen moving, often surprisingly close in, whenever the rain eased off. Despite some bird activity earlier, some of these fish came to Boobies rather than nymphs, which led us to think they might have been feeding on daphnia, which is prevalent in large clouds in No5 at the moment. At the moment Frank has a one point lead over Kevin and John, but it’s still early days and no doubt the reservoirs are going to test us all through the summer, as usually happens, but we expect to see more of these decent fish turn up.

No.3 Wed 19th June

conditions during the afternoon, but by the time we arrived at the water the sky had clouded over and fish were starting to show. Some of us put back fish early on No4, thinking it was going to be easy fishing, only to struggle later on. Others, like Frank Daley and John Ferguson, moved to the Causeway on No5 where they found more moving fish, especially towards the East end by the culvert. Roger caught his on nymphs on the washing line, while Tony has his on dries, with Frank fishing rather deeper. After trying the Intermediate, Andrew went back to Boobies on the DI5, losing one and landing another from the East bank of No4. John managed to find another good fish, which gave him the ten points, but it was great to see No5 back to form after we lost a few fish there last month. The weather is so unpredictable, it’s difficult to say how the reservoirs will fish, but one thing’s for sure, you need to be versatile to keep on catching. We all have our favourite methods, but sometimes you have to try new things.

No.4 Wed 26th June

was going to be a lot easier than it eventually turned out.  After this result, the series is getting extremely close, with just one point separating Frank Daley, John Ferguson and Tony Fox. Kevin Blackwell and Vince King are not far behind either, so at the halfway stage this competition is finely poised and there’s still all to play for. No doubt the vagaries of the weather will give us Walthamstow regulars more problems to sort out, but that’s all part of the fun. At least on Wednesday Evenings, if someone manages to sort it out, the rest of us get the chance to find out how they did it in the pub afterwards.

No.5 Wed 3rd July

fact there was no shortage of activity, both from trout crashing at speed, or sipping something leisurely off the top. Frank put up with the weed-choked Railway Bank of No4 to take a couple of fish early on DI3 and Minkie, while Pat was doing well on the Causeway from No5 on nymphs. On the West bank Dave was getting plenty of takes on the Bung and nymphs, but found them difficult to hit. John got a fish late one end of the Causeway on nymphs, while Vinnie got a couple from the other end on DI5 and Boobies. More fish started showing in the final hour, but proved tricky on dries, although Dave missed a good pull on the washing-line. Frank and John are a few points ahead of the rest of the field, but with the heatwave that is currently forecast, we could be in for some more testing fishing, so the outcome is far from certain.

No.6 Wed 10th July

from a recent stocking, both on No4 and No5. Many of these were furrowing their way through the surface, often in groups of three or four. There were some better fish around as well, though. Both Kevin and Andrew got three pounders, Kevin’s on the floater, Andrew’s on the DI7. Vinnie was unlucky to put five fish back, only to have his run of takes dry up, while both John and Pat put fish back and lost others. Small Boobies or Booby Hoppers along the top got more follows than takes but it was still exciting stuff. With Frank turning in another consistent performance, there are now just three points separating him from John and Tony, with Kevin and Vinnie not far behind. With 20 points still up for grabs in the next two evenings it’s still anyone’s competition.

No.7 Wed 17th July

by at least three feet on both reservoirs as well as a lot more weed evident around the banks, it did not look good. However, Tony was settled into the South East bay of No5 and getting regular takes on buzzers and floating line. On No4 Frank was doing equally well on the culvert on DI3 and Boobies. Kevin and John picked up fish along the Causeway where on No4 fish were seen moving up and down just the far side of the weed, maybe after fry, hoglice or corixae. Having said that, we spooned the fish caught to find very little inside them, apart from a couple of buzzers, so maybe they were just getting excited over daphnia. With one match to go, which Frank can’t make, Kevin, Tony and John will be looking to catch up. With just four points covering the top four, we could easily see a tie on points, in which case the overall winner will be decided on weight.

No.8 Wed 24th July

the margins. In these conditions, it appears that fish are more attracted to the side of the reservoirs where the wind is blowing from and, sure enough, in the South Westerly breeze we had today, there were fish moving along the Causeway in No4, where John Cowley was fishing, and in the South West bay of No5, where the rest of us has gathered. Although they did not seem interested in dries, buzzers were certainly working, with Tony catching five, John Ferguson one, Kevin another, and Pat getting a sizeable perch which put up a good scrap. Kevin had worked that, although he could have tied Frank on points for the overall lead, to beat him on weight he needed a brace that went over 14lbs, so like the rest of us he took a relaxed view of the evening and put everything back. Over on No4 John Cowley missed a tap and had a good follow which seemed certain to take his fly until it turned away. Frank takes the Ken Gunn shield with a good score of 46, deservedly so, being the only one of us not to suffer a blank in the series. Thanks for everyone for supporting the series throughout the often changeable conditions of the summer. We will continue to meet up on Wednesday Evenings, on the bank as well as in the pub, in the weeks to come, so you are welcome to join us for some interesting, if tricky fishing. Don’t forget that some of the better resident fish are bound to show as temperatures cool down, so it’s well worth keeping in touch.

Back to News >>