Tues 30th Apr

Great morning for fishing, the sun is shining and with a very mild gentle wind. Swarms of midges all over the banks, the buzzer fest continues. Everybody on the water thus far has caught with a variety of methods from lures and sinkers to floaters and dries with honors even.
I would think that the top rod today will be well over double figures and probably 20+ fish.

Update later......

The day ended as it had begun with lots of fish rising to buzzers.
Top rod today was Nick Woodward with 10 fish. A very good showing from the many Blues now stocked at Curley's- the largest today was well over 3lbs. Rod average today was 3 fish.
Conditions looking set for the week so should be good catch rates each day.

Sunday 28th April

Consistent good fishing continues........

After yesterdays results Rick and Andy with over 35 fish between them, you might think that things wouldn't get any better but today will prove that conclusion wrong, I think.
Steve Hardman has just started and has 3 fish to the net already and missed 3 more at least. He is fishing with floating line and a CDC buzzer and a Daiwl Bach on a dropper.
more to follow.....

Saturday 27th April

As May slowly comes to an end we are at last beginning to get some consistently good fishing here at Curley's.  Buzzer hatches are happening daily and in more quantities, great if you want a more natural approach to your fishing. Two guys on today, have had over 20 fish between them on predominantly black buzzers, floating line and refreshingly without the use of an indicator!
This will continue if this particular weather pattern continues, let's see what tomorrow brings!

Friday 26th April 2013

There is a bit of a stronger colder breeze on today from the direction of the dam wall. Jim McGinley has had 5 on various lures, cats whisker, nomad and zonker. Steve Moffat was on 2 when I last spoke to him using a cats whisker. The fish are not down deep and floating line is adequate at present.  

Thursday 25th April 2013

There is virtually no wind on the lake at present. It's overcast, mild with the odd spot of rain now and again. As I write this there are fish feeding off the top virtually all over the lake. Perfect. 

Wednesday 24th April 2013

There is a gentle breeze from the dam wall at the minute giving a lovely ripple to the water. Fish are topping everywhere and also clearly feeding on the surface at this time. Perfect conditions for a dabble.

St George's Day

Bit blustery today on the water but still highly fishable. Sun shining no signs of showers so all in all a good day. The ripple on the water is hiding fish movements but I am sure some of them are there. Maybe try a hopper just in the film and let it blow about. I've always had success with brown and claret but I am sure black or olive would also work. Couple of fish caught to the early starters more to come as the day gets warmer.
Got the delivery of green muclin silicone paste and some whizz lube, been on delay for sometime. The muclin in is great for making your fly line float high in the water and the whizz lube is a decent line cleaner. Look after your lines and you'll get better and longer service out of them!

Sunday 21st April

Happily the forecast is wrong today, in fact it is looking like a good day for fishing. The really good news is that there is a really good buzzer hatch going on, the first real hatch this year! All along the roadside pontoons and along the embankment fish are rising freely. Time to dust off all those, Shipmans, suspenders, shuttlecocks and F flies. Just been talking to one angler who is attracting the fish to his fly but without any takes. If this happens then go either smaller or try a different colour and this should ensure proper take and fish to the net!

Update later.......

Saturday 20th

Really bright Sunny day today, make the most of it! Ken Sexton, one of our new members made the most of his day yesterday ending up with 9 fish to black and olive lures in the deep. Well done Ken a day for you to remember but I am sure you will do even better when the water warms up a little more.

Don't be fooled by the sun the fish are still deep!!!!

Friday 19th

Looks like the forecasters have it right today for a change. The high winds have left us with just a soft ripple on the water and the sun trying to peep through.  Should be good prospects for today and the weekend.

Fishing Techniques
Following on from yesterdays "discussion" on presentation, the next point raised by both myself and Terry Phillips is to do with presenting the fly at the right depth. This is critically important in any form of fly fishing but arguably more vital on stillwaters and reservoirs. Why?
The fish will be affected by the conditions in which they live just like us! Trout will vary the depth at which they live subject to various conditions

1. Water temperature - any extreme and down they go, hot or cold, in search of more comfortable conditions.  They can't simply take off or put on a layer of clothing!
2. Food - fish can feed at any depth and at anytime. Just think if the fish are feeding on Chironomid as they hatch then they are going to be hard on the bottom. As these "buzzers" grow they start to make their way to the surface and the fish will follow them, so the depth of the fish will always be a moving feast right to the surface.
3. Safety - the main aspect of safety for the fish is us. We are the main predator so it stands to reason as with all wild animals, that they do not want to be caught and will be very wary of us. Yes of course we see fish swimming past us a lot but how many of these highly visible fish do we actually catch? I have a theory that the fish we can see near us are the ones that have been caught and released a number of times and are more switch on than others and therefore harder to catch. They have learnt the hard way how to avoid being caught again, so they are not that "frightened" of us stood on the bank with rod in hand. However the majority of the fish population will not seek our company and will be spooked by us all the time!!

So start to think like a fish, work out all the influences that they are subject to and use this to decide upon your method and set-up. Not the same old, same old!!!!!

Thursday 18th April

Very windy night but has eased a lot over the last hour or so. Because the direction is more SW then Curley's is actually reasonably sheltered and more than fishable especially on the pontoons along the roadside.  More and more fish having a look around the surface but the majority still deeper.

Fishing technique
I mentioned previously about Terry Phillip's priorities for fishing and in his opinion the most important aspect being Presentation but what is this??
It is basically how the fly is seen by the fish and this starts with both the cast itself and then the movement in the water.

• Firstly casting, plenty of time I see casts that land really heavy on the water creating a disturbance, some even land the line on the water only to be ripped it off again into another cast!!  We sometimes forget that fish are wild animals and just because we can't always see them, then somehow they can't see or feel our presence.  How stealthy would you have to be to get close to a wild rabbit in a field before it fled?  Why should a fish be any differant and yet we think that we can just chuck the line and fly out any old how and still expect to catch fish? One of the advantages of stillwater fishing is that there is a much greater tolerance of disturbance as the fish get "used " to it happening but the more wary a fish is in certain conditions, bright light, calm, clear water, the less tolerant they become and can be spooked very easily. 
• How the fish see the fly is also critically important to successful fishing. we must alter the presenation of the fly to suit conditions and the flies we are using.  How many of us just have one "default" leader set up that we use in all conditions? For those of you at Terry's presentation he showed us a number of his default leader set-ups and one was 20 ft long!! Why? Well a number of reasons:    

1. Stealth - keep the flies away from the fly line and have a greater distance between droppers 
2. Natural movement - the nearer the flies are to the fly line the more their movement is influenced by the movement of this heavier line. If we want to fool fish into thinking that what we are offering is "real" then we MUST make it move as the fish would expect that insect to move!!! 
3. Depth - the longer the leader the deeper we can fish with a floater   

So generally we need to be better casters, more thoughtful and avoid same old, same old. Start to think like a trout more! Imagine a trout swimming 20 ft away from a pontoon - what do you think it wants? and more importantly what would frighten it or make it move away? 

Comments more than welcome...............                                        

Tues 16th April

The weather looks to be getting progressively better each day and this is having a positive effect on the fish. They are certainly moving about more and are generally more active, however the majority are still deep as the water is still very cold.
I am confident that this will improve as the warmer conditions prevail.
Catch returns have been varied between a few blanks and 6 fish but taking experience and skill into account then there will always be a variance.

It was interesting listening to Terry Phillips over the weekend when I asked home the secrets of his success and to abbreviate the result in order of priority was:

1. Presentation.
2. Depth
3. Keep moving
4. Fly selection

But how many time do we put them in reverse order????

Open weekend Day Two

The open weekend draws to an end today but still time for you to take advantage of our half price permits and add much needed funds to Derian House, Children's Hospice.

Great day yesterday, fish caught, new techniques learned from the variety of experts on hand to help. Great presentation by Terry Phillips showing us how he goes about being one of the most successful competition fish fishers around today.

Warm today 12 degrees already! Little bit of a breeze putting a ripple on the water. Fish being caught already be the early starters!
Plenty going on again today... Come and join us?

Open weekend day one

Day one of the open weekend is underway with fish being caught already!
Should turn out to be a good day all round. Weather is very good at present, mild temps, light breeze, some fish rising over the lake and this should increase as the day progresses.

Update later......

Demos will start around 10am....

Warming up nicely

New stocking of fish and slightly warmer water equals more action. Top rod today was Phil Rees with 10 fish followed by a few fly fishers on 5 and 6 fish notably Phil Rees' son in law who had lesson with me in the morning and then proceeded to fish and catch decent rainbows during the afternoon.

So what's changed? It's the introduction of new fish that have sparked life into the older residents, a lot of the over wintered fish are now feeding again.

So it's looking good for the weekend.......!!

Thursday 11th April

Only a couple of days to go before our charity weekend.
The demos will start at 11am with Terry Phillips who is the current International still waters champion and National rivers champion. Terry will do doing 2 demos during the day showing us some of his secrets that have made him so successful. You will even be able to look in his fly box, something that comp guys are generally very wary of doing!
I will then be doing a demo on Tenkara, on the water so you can have a cast and see how easy it is to get perfect presentation with this unique form of fly fishing.
Pat Stevens will be hard at work in the meeting room fly tying and will be able to show you some techniques and fly patterns and be able to answer all your questions about any aspect of fly tying.
We will have a few qualified Instructors who will be able to help you to overcome any problems with your casting or maybe show you some new techniques.
Bolton fly tyres will also be here to show you all the activities they get up to over the year, fishing and fly tying presentations.
We will be having a raffle with some good prizes, well worth having a punt and all the proceeds of the raffle and all other donations will go directly to the charities.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST DON'T FORGET IT'S HALF PRICE FISHING PERMITS ALL WEEKEND

i.e. 8 hour 3fish ticket for only £14.00

Wednesday 10th

Another better day , let's hope the trend continues. The longer forecast looks good for our open weekend!
Fish are being caught today by most fishing but most are being caught around 12ft deep to either sinking lines or under indicators. Quite a few of the over wintered fish are showing and these certainly fight well above their weight especially the blues.

Sunday 7th April

Another fine day at Curley's, will turn out to be one of the best days for a while. Jim McGinley is already on 3 fish and has only just started.
The day improved yesterday into the afternoon with Ian Harwood landing 5 fish to lures.
Here is one around the 4lbs to 5lbs mark

Sat update

Ice melting fast in the sunshine.
Fish beginning to rise and on the move

Bodes well for the afternoon and tomorrow.

Grand National Day

Ok Hands up if you are going to have a bet on "Rainbow Hunter" in the National today?? Got to be worth an each way flutter?

On to more serious things - bottom corner of the fly lake is frozen but is already melting in the sunlight. Still lots of places to fish from. Heavy frost last night so the fish maybe a little lethargic till mid morning then hopefully things will start to happen.

Update later.....

Friday 5th April

All the ice has gone off both lakes now and the water temps is at 2 degrees which is as warm as it's been for weeks! Still a cold ish Easterly blowing. Fish are still moving around and the ones that have been caught today have only been around 5 ft deep on floating lines!

Top rod today thus far Jim McGinley with 5 fish

Milder weather forecast for the weekend.

Cold again but fortunately very little ice around so everywhere is fishable with the exception of the coarse lake which is iced over.
Easterly wind is a bit chilly so wrap up warm. Fish are rising periodically.
Update later.....

Just a couple of Yearly memberships now available for £300, once these have gone there will not be any more available till next year!

Don't forget our open weekend 13th and 14th April FREE CASTING CLINIC for a donation to charity! Demos and presentations etc... 

HALF PRICE PERMITS ALL WEEKEND!!!

8lbs Rainbow!

Ian Harwood has just caught a very decent fish estimated at around 8lbs

Pity you covered the tail up, Ian, it would have been like a rudder but well done on a great catch!

Please note there are bigger in stock that have not yet been caught!!

Spring is over

So did you all enjoy Spring, it lasted just the last 2 days! Warmer days and nights and the fish came alive and on the feed. Catch rates went up, top rods each day with  7 and 8 fish and most people chipping in with 2's and 3's.
Last night however the temperature gauge dropped again, the little lake has re-frozen and the fish have become less active again. Still fish being caught but not in the same numbers.

Roll on Summer!

Easter Monday update

Ian Aspinall is now on 7 fish in a 2 hour period and 6 of these were over 3lbs!!!
Jim McGinley is on 5 fish in the same time but he is catching the older residents!

Easter Monday

Certainly not Fool's Day at Curley's today. At last the fish have woken up and are on the hunt for food.
Ian Aspinall surprised himself landing 2 fish with his first 2 casts of the day! Even the older residents are showing and not too deep either, an intermediate line or floater with indicator are all that are currently required.
Let's hope this is the start of better days, even the little lake has thawed!

Either way April has got be to better than March was, hasn't it???