Fishing Mania

One of those days! It seems like nothing can go wrong today for those fishing - very good conditions, if anything a little too calm but when the breeze picks up the fish are rising and giving some excellent dry fly fun. Buzzers of almost any description and colour are working - skinny, epoxy and bloodworm below, shipmans, shuttlecock and suspender on top.

 Joe Holten above had a great day or should I say a great 3 hours - 12 fish - no wonder he has a smile on his face - who wouldn't??

Good quality fish stocked again to day - lovely looking Blues mixed in with the Rainbows.

Mid week update

Absolute flat calm on the lake today, fish rising all over the lake, quite warm but a bit misty at present but that will go soon enough.
Just waiting for the fish to be delivered as I write this. Sometimes new fish "bed" in straight away on other occasion it may take a couple of days. However a new intake normally make the established fish more active as they realise that there is more competition for food.

Open Weekend Update.
1/ Casting clinic - this will be operated by fully qualified instructors and guys who are undergoing training to become instructors. All of them have been trained by me over the last 2 or 3 years.
If you buy a permit to fish then you can have a 20 min session with one of these guys who will be able to help you correct any casting faults you may have or help you with a new technique.
If you aren't fishing then you can still have a go by making a donation to charity.
Due to demand you need to pre-book these sessions in advance by
Email - mike@curleysfishery.co.uk or tel 01204 691199 or by calling into the shop.

Tuesday's update

Few fishing today, quite hard work but persistence can pay off.
You have to be prepared to change tactics, flies, depths, speed and length of retrieve and keep moving. On other day all you have to do is turn up! That's fishing for you!

Tomorrow is stocking day! Some more fish will be delivered by our supplier, all in tip top condition.

New Stocking

The lake will be stocked this week with good sized, fully finned, hard fighting, Rainbows and Blues

Perfect conditions!

Its looking good at curleys today, wind is creating a perfect ripple, and there looks to be clear skies and sun on its way. Rise rising all over the lake, and the midges are out in numbers. Its possible on a mild day like today that the trout will take your imitation off the surface.

Weathers looking good for today, and its very mild indeed.





Tightlines,
Nath

Sundays Prospects

Its looking good for sunday, nice weather for the angler, warming up a little and the wind should be a slight blow at 6-7mph.
Clear skies early morning leading on to abit of cloud cover mid to late afternoon. I would definately bring a few bloodworm patterns, they have been the top catching pattern when the weather warms up abit. Today (saturday) has been much cooler with a bitter wind blowing in south-westerly, hence Black fritz and cats whisker patterns taking most of the fish.

Floating lines, and hopefully weather depending, some excellent dry fly sport to be had!

Be prepared for a midge hatch! [Click me]

Tightlines,
Nath

Morning!

Early start fish were rising like crazy, all over the lake, black fritz still doing well, and the odd angler fishing with bloodworm patterns being rewarded!

Its a little colder today than what it has been over last few days, With a bit of a breeze about, however this is creating the "perfect" ripple all across curleys. A few fish still showing every now and again, but i think this cold wind may have put the fish that little bit deeper than they have been over last week.

Killing Patterns:

Spanflex Goldhead Bloodworm, Black Goldhead Fritz & "The good old" Cats Whisker.

Still floating line tactics, with long leader, count down the depth to find the fish, and you cant go wrong with either of the three patterns mentioned above.

[Check out this post made earlier Specifically about bloodworms: CLICK HERE ]

[A Few of the photos taken yesterday ^^^^]

Reminder - Curleys Open Weekend [Click here for details]

Bad weather isn't always bad news!!

Let me qualify this headline by saying that there are obviously degrees of bad weather - today  windy and wet but warm - so that equals a good buzzer hatch.
 Just to prove the point Steven Marsh on his first visit to Curley's is now on his way to his 6th fish of the day on a homemade bloodworm. Nature often has a way of compensating - so you are going to get wet - good clothing is a must -  but you should be rewarded.

Curley's goes international! Behind this blog I can access all the viewing figures and the blog site goes from strength to strength - we are now having well over 1000 views per week! Keep tuning in and we will always try to keep you posted with the latest information.
Today is no exception in that we have a good international following - up to now we have had the following reading the blog - 16 from Sweden, 16 from Russia, 5 from France, 5 from USA, 2 from Holland, 1 from Belarus, 1 from Columbia and 1 from Israel.   So a warm welcome to all our international friends and if you are ever over in our part of the world - come and have a fish at Curley's!

First this year on a dry!

 Well done, Brian Winward who is first person to catch on a dry fly this year - that I know of, at least. Just a short window when more fish were rising he changed to a black hopper and caught one and missed a few more.
Elsewhere on the lake, Jim McGinley had his 5 fish with Cats and black fritz.
I generously let Geoff have a day off and he caught 2 with lures.

The weather has warmed up nicely today a barmy 13c with some sun as well with the forecast similar all week it should encourage more rising fish for all you dry fly fanatics.

Cats whisker does it again

Morning, fish being caught already to gold head cats, because of the warmer weather the trout are virtually within the first few feet of the surface searching for food.

Floating lines and long leaders, with either a Cats or a Black Fritz and you simply cant go wrong.

Wind is a decent westerly, but its not as bad as it looks!

Will keep watchers updated on the latest as the day goes on, so watch this space.

Bloodworms!

Weathers on the up! and so will be the bloodworms!

Todays forecast wasnt too bright, however it was no where near as bad as predicted. A little rain but it stopped for a good few hours on and off. Very mild! And its looking good over the next few days with the temperature remaining steady, the milder conditions today had brought a good number of bow and blues to the surface.
Black fritz was the working pattern without a doubt, did have a couple of takes to a red cheeked cruncher pattern. However the trout seemed in a very hyper mode today, willing to chase the black fritz right in against the bank, excellent to see fish charging at your pattern just under the surface.

Thursdays forecast looks even better with highs of 12 degrees. Hopefully this will bring some more surface activity.

If your planning a trip dont forget to bring your lure box! I also highly recommend a slim red buzzer to imitate the prolific bloodworm Chironomidae that exists at curleys. At certain times of the year.
Tightlines,
Nath

Fishing has picked up again

As the weather has picked up so has the fishing. The fishery had it's first real experience of rising fish this year, circles appearing almost all over the lake - good to see and bodes well for the future if this milder weather continues.

The rod average today up to now is just over 4 fish per rod with the highest going to Jim McGinley with 7 and Oliver Avis with 5.

Last week the "can't fail" fly was the cats whisker, this week it appears to be a "Black Fritz" retrieved at a reasonable pace.

Fishing report

Although certainly on the chilly side the fish don't seem to mind, things starting to "warm" up a bit with these two beauties coming to the net.

Best day of the year so far....?

What a great day, bit windy but sunny, a little on the chill side but hey, it is still February!

We have quite a few fly fishers on today, good to see the fishery a little busier than normal. However there is still plenty of room if you fancy wetting your line.

Will report later in the day on the catch rates.......... stay tuned

Weekend prospects

Weather this morning has been a little less than desirable, although the rain has stopped as the forecasters promised. Clear skies on the horizon, approaching at a steady rate. Wind is still a little (on and off) breezy but nothing to be concerned about. A few anglers out on the water so will keep blog viewers updated on their progress, as the day goes on.

The weather is looking very promising for sunday, with clear skies and even some sun!!


Highs of four degrees above, wind is going to disperse over night, leaving a very enjoyable day to be had fly fishing. Although remaining a slight westerly wind, through out the day, creating that perfect ripple that us trout anglers pray for.
The damp weather followed by sunny conditions tends to bring out the typical midge hatches, although it may still be a little cold for them. Smaller fish species are still on the trouts diet at curleys, some showing themselves early morning before the anglers hit the water.

To get your angling taste buds tingling, take a look at this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1mnCGcIXzY&feature=related


Recent catches:

Mr Matthew Johnson ended his four hour ticket landing 3 fish, one nice rainbow (see photo below)

Mr Paul Johnson with a excellent catch rate of 6 fish to his net, again another nice rainbow of around 4-5lbs was had.

- will update as anglers return with their catch rates -

Tightlines,
Nath

Fishing results

Yesterday and today little slow for Curley's but most people picking up 2 to 4 fish mostly to lures.
Notable catches -
Mike Conney with 7,
 Jim McGinley with 4
Steve Moss with 4

Weather quite good, fairly gentle breeze and the fish not too deep. Most still using a floating line.

Prospects for the weekend pretty good for this time of year. At least it should be dry!

News of the Open Weekend

To mark the opening of the new tackle shop and the new fishing season we will be holding an open weekend over MARCH 17th & 18th.
Over the weekend we will be offering:

•  HALF PRICE* permits for fly fishing,  
• FREE* permits for coarse fishing (exc Pike)
• FREE* casting clinic for everyone who has bought a Fly fishing permit or made a purchase in the tackle shop. You can spend 20 mins (pre-booked) with a qualified instructor who will help you to iron out any casting problems.
• Casting Demos with Mike
• Fly Tying Demos with Pat Stevens of FlyTek
• BBQ weather permitting

*We will be asking for a small donation to a local charity for all permits and the casting clinic sessions.

So come along and get the new fishing season underway.

More news to follow about competitions and prizes.......

Fishing back to "normal"

Well, at last all the ice has completely gone and we can look forward to some good fishing again.
Yesterday saw a rod average of 4 fish per rod, not bad for the first day fishing in some time.
Surprisingly the fish were not too deep with most using a floater or slow intermediate.
Black fritz did some damage as well as egg flies under an indicator.

Prospects for the week

I am reasonably confident that the lake will be completely open from tomorrow onwards and all back to "normal"
Right now the road side pontoons are fishable and most of the embankment. The bottom end nearest the cafe is blocked with ice as it gets pushed by the wind but it is braking up and melting very quickly.

So looking good for the rest of the week.

A few hardy souls are out today getting rid of cabin fever and are being rewarded with some good fish.

Thaw continues

As the thaw continues more of the lake is becoming fishable.
All the bottom end from the boat pontoon round to the 3rd pontoon along the road are now free of ice and it won't be long before all of the lake is open if these milder conditions continue.

Fishing now available

At last we have some fishing available at Curley's
I have managed to break up a lot of the ice at the bottom end (opp embankment) of the lake and hope now that the wind and wave motion does the rest.

PROVIDED we do not get a bad freeze overnight we will have some fishing for tomorrow.

Thawing at last!

The long awaited thaw is now taking place on the lakes.
Not fishable yet but with the higher temperatures and the wind action it shouldn't be too long before some good fishing returns to Curley's.

The ice is over 2 inches thick in parts so it may take a a little while for all of it to melt.

Sunday

Sorry as predicted no fishing today but looking better for next week.

Winter Tactics ready for thawing

Morning, been out trying to break the ice up best i could, however as mike stated below its freezing over as we go. Please check back for regular updates however, as the weather for this week is due to bit alot warmer than it has been, so it wont take long to thaw out. In theory.
Sunday is suppose to be above zero, averaging 2-3 degrees. So that should hopefully help, monday is alot "warmer" with highs of 6 and a minimum of 4 degrees.
All we can do unfortuneatly is let the ice thaw out. We will keep daily blogs rolling in so do keep your eye on this site.


For when it does thaw out! - http://www.trout.co.uk/flyfishing/winter-fly-fishing-tactics-on-stillwaters/ Courtesy of trout.co.uk a very interesting article on winter fly fishing tactics.
(if all else fails ^)

Tightlines,
Nath

NO Fishing this weekend

We tried in vain today to break up the ice in order to help with the expected thaw but it didn't work.  As we got to the last pontoon the first one had iced up again.

It is highly unlikely that we will have any fishing this weekend at all.
Sorry but I guess we will have to let nature get on with it!!

Thaw??

Not fishable today but I am hoping we can break it up a bit so that the prospects will be better for Sat, Sun.
 Higher temps and a little wind will hopefully do the trick.

Still no Fishing!

Sorry still iced up.

Thaw on the way??

The forecasted big freeze didn't happen last night, fortunately!
Lakes still frozen but bit of rain and + temperatures for the next 2/3 days should see us right for the weekend? Let's hope so anyway!

Still Frozen

Sorry all but Mother Nature is still throwing more bad news at us.

Last year we were frozen for 6 weeks - it can't go on that long can it???

Signs of a thaw?

Still frozen today but showing signs of a thaw.
Trying to devise some way of breaking the ice up to help with it melting.
Looking better for tomorrow and the rest of the week with luck!

Sunday 5th Feb

Sorry Folks
No fishing today  the lakes are still completely frozen.
Fly Tying time??

We'll update here regulary to keep give you the latest information.

Saturday update

The Snow has passed over and now it's raining so we may have some fishing tomorrow with luck.
BUT..... it really depends upon what happens overnight!

Geoff, will be at the fishery from 9.00am, Sunday  and you can call 01204 691199 for more info tomorrow morning.

Lake completely frozen.

Morning all, sorry to say that the lake is completely frozen over.
Due for warmer weather so hopefully will start to thaw out and be fishable on sunday.

I am hoping to fish curleys on sunday so will keep anglers updated on the situation.

Regards,
nath

Fishing conditions

Friday update
Restricted fishing due to part of the lake freezing up.
3 of the 7 pontoons are currently clear and the bank between both lakes.
Bright sunny day, cold and no wind at all.

Sinking line tactics and regular hot chocolate in the cafe!!!

Fishing Report

Just a short update
Very few anglers out over the last couple day with the downturn in temperature - no real surprise!
Prospects for the weekend maybe getting a little warmer but who knows? - certainly not the weather forecasters so what chance do we have?

Fish should be deep although Jim McGinley managed a couple yesterday on a floater and the inevitable Cats Whisker, green version.