Last day of May

Good looking day today but quite a strong westerly over the fishery making catching a little more challenging. a combination of the wind and bright sun have caused the fish to go a little deeper and this is where the difficulties lie. How do you present and keep your flies in the fish zone? Most sinkers will take your flies down through the zone and missing the fish layer. So what do you do?

One very effective method is to use a sink tip line but this can add unnecessary cost to your days fishing so what's the alternative?

Use poly leaders

Loop to loop to your existing floating fly line and hey presto you now have a sink tip all for only £3.99. So you can hold your flies in the sub surface zone for longer. The clear intermediate only sinks at a rate of 1.5ins per second.

The fish re still turned onto naturals, buzzers mostly olive or black, daiwl bachs etc...

Tuesday 28th May

At the end of May already? All of our fishing rivers, reservoirs and stillwaters should be at their peak now but we are still suffering from the long hard winter. Insect life is way behind, yes we have plenty of chironomids about but sedges have been scarce and as for hawthorn flies?? I haven't seen any at the fishery only at the river!
Generally speaking we are getting warmer water temps so the fish are a lot more active. In fact as I type this post the water is alive with rises to buzzers all over the lake.
Could be a good day for those who fancy wetting a line!


Fish rising feeely to buzzers and sedges between light showers

Bank Holiday Monday 27th

Brisk start today for those wetting a line. Quite a few fish caught ALL on buzzers of one variety or another and ALL very shallow.
Top rod up to now is Jim McGinley on 4 fish, he will end up with double figures before the session is over!

Tip of the week 

I see quite a few people fishing buzzers in all manner of peculiar ways. A good way to fish them is to cast across the wind i.e. with the wind left to right or right to left from your position, allow your line to be blown in the direction of the wind. You'll end up with a big bow in the line with the buzzers moving exactly as the naturals would be.
Don't retrieve, just let the wind do all the work for you. Sometimes you will NOT feel any take, you must watch your line like a hawk and lift at any sign of movement - do not wait for a tug on the line - takes can be very gentle and subtle.
If you think there is a fish on, lift the rod in the general direction of the bow in the line not just vertically - there will be too much slack to hook the fish!
The normal set up with this method would be a floating line (could be any line actually) with a long leader with 3 flies (2 droppers) Initially use 3 different coloured flies and maybe even different sizes and swap about till you have located fish, what depth they are feeding in and what pattern they are interested in.
A fantastic method of fishing! Try it!

Bank Holiday Sunday

Another day of sunshine with a light breeze form the West. Maybe a day for hoppers just under the surface or even present a lure a little lower with a long leader on your floating line or with an intermediate.

Make hay while the sun shines not looking too good for tomorrow but what do they know???

Saturday 25th May 2013

It is a lovely sunny morning at the fishery and it was virtually flat calm when I arrived this morning. A little bit of a breeze has started coming over the dam wall but this is easily manageable from the pontoons all around the other parts of the water. I have no details as yet as to what's catching but there are a few fish on the surface showing themselves so they cant be that far down.  

Update, black buzzers have proved successful on the pontoons by the roadside. Fish have also shown interest to lures on intermediate lines. Despite the lovely sunny conditions, the wind has remained with us and I think the combination of both these elements have sent the fish just that little bit deeper than they were this morning.  

thursday 23rd May

Cold Westerly across the fishery today, almost back to January again!
The sun is shining but not having much effect on the temperature at present.

Just the time to try moving a muddler about in the wake, this can produces some vicious takes.

Also hoppers presented on or just under the surface can work really well, black, brown or claret can all work well.

Tuesday 21st May

Warm and damp today - ideal conditions for a good buzzer hatch. Fish rising steadily all over the lake.
Got a group of teachers here today form one of the local schools doing a fishing course with the Countryside Alliance and Mr Charles Jardine in attendance.
Last time Charles was here I had him float tubing! no chance of that today more's the pity.

Mon 20th May

Good day today for fly fishing - gentle warm breeze, cloud cover - all in all pretty near perfect.

The fish were a little quiet over the first part of the day not much rising but then as the day warmed up fish began to rise all over the lake. Some were taking buzzers inevitably but other we taking a larger insect that I didn't get a close look at to identify 100%, but would hazard a guess that they were a variety of Sedge.
Top rod today Phil Rees with 7 fish most of them Blues all on or near the surface!

Just taken delivery of some more flies 6 variations of "Daddy", some hoppers, lots of buzzers, bibios, black pennels, F flies, Okay Dokeys, Bob's bits etc etc

Still the same price 0.75p each or 10 for £6.50

Sunday 19th May 2013

Its a relatively mild day today at the fishery. There is a gentle breeze from the dam wall and every peg is easily fishable. There are plenty of fish showing on the surface. I will update with details of catches later. Its overcast but the sun is trying to poke through the clouds so fingers crossed for a warmer afternoon.

Sat 18th May

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, I have been teaching on the river almost all week. Back to normal now though....? whatever normal is?

It certainly isn't normal weather at present, mist and drizzle with a surprisingly chill breeze, cold on the hands.
This has sent the fish a little down maybe 3ft to 6 ft with the odd one still rising.

Fish still being caught on a variety of methods from buzzers to Zonkers. Jim Mcginley is the top rod up to now with 4 fish all on a floating line.

We have the North West Ladies Fly Fishing Group with us today, the first time they have visited Curley's, hopefully not the last.

If any of our readers are interested in joing the the group, you can contact the organiser, Vee Carlson on 07886 81770 or email b9vee@lycos.com

More details to follow

Wed May 15th

Not much happening today on the fishery for obvious reasons - constant heavy rain for those of you not in the area!
Yesterday was another good day for those fishing - Top rod was Mick with 9 fish, lots chipping in with 3's and 4's.

Tip of the Week
Casting
This is obviously an important part of fly fishing, the ability to control the fly rod and fly line.
Many a time I get the comment that, I can't do that or cast there, because of the wind, restricted back cast space or the ability to cast further out etc etc.
The aim of fly fishing is based upon having the ability to put the fly where it needs to get to not just put it where you can simply reach!
It is undeniable that the better we can cast the more fish we will catch!

A lot of fly fishers who come to Curley's are basically self taught or have had a beginner's lesson some time ago. I am sure Tiger Woods started off "having a go himself" when younger but then went onto have lessons. Since then he has practised lots and tried to learn more about technique to improve his skills. Wasn't it Gary Player who said that " the more I practise the luckier I get"
Admittedly not everyone wants to become an "expert" fly caster or indeed become an "instructor" but knowing how to do the basics to a decent standard is all that it required to become a decent fly fisher and catch more fish.

I will be happy to organise a "group" lesson for anyone wanting to re-visit their technique at £20 for a 2 hour lesson. Just let me know if you are interested and we'll try to find a suitable date and time that's good for everybody. This will be for the exclusive use of Curley's Fishery customers only!

In the meantime we have an excellent book available that shows all the basic and more advanced casting skills with very good diagrams, written by a couple of Pals of mine for only £9.99

Mon 13th

Bit of a blustery wind today from the SW but perfect conditions for buzzer fishing for a righthander on any of the roadside pontoons. This was proved today by Phil Rees who has had 5 fish to natural Daiwl Bachs.

This is a pic of a good Rainbow caught by Steve Moffat over the weekend but was only half the size of one that he caught before it.

Saturday 11th May 2013

There's a bit of rain about at the minute and a gently breeze from the dam area. A lot of fish showing all over. Mr McGinley is again leading rod at this early stage with three to a spider in the surface layers. 

Stop press ! Jim is on four now

Another update, Jim now on nine fish to what in fact is an orange rubber legged apps fly, I can see why he thought it was a spider. Plenty fish for him and there is also a broken rod as a result of some attention from one of the larger residents.

Friday 10th May 2013

It has been a morning of drizzle, gentle wind, rain, stronger wind etc etc. Basically the weather doesn't know what to do today. Thankfully nobody told the fish and they are generally still near the surface and being caught readily on buzzers and also lures. I have trimmed the bushes at the roadside and the remnants are in a pile by the wall. They still contain flies and sight indicators so that favourite fly you had and lost may be amongst it.

The following is courteous of Phil Rees.

 When I arrived at 11:30, the strong wind and rain did not bode well. However, the two anglers on pontoons 3 & 4 (the most sheltered) had both caught using cats whiskers, so obviously some potential. After a couple of hours trying various lures on both floating and sinking lines on the other pontoons, I had managed to catch one nice blue, but had no other tugs. Fortunately, the wind dropped a bit so I decided to try the dam wall stages; it was still difficult but looked as the wind may drop further. I noticed a few fish rising well out and decided to try a team of diawl bachs but avoided the temptation of using an indicator and fished with a very slow retrieve. The bites were very gentle and not easy to see (slight dip of  end of the fly line) but I caught 10 in total and lost at least 3 more. Not bad for an otherwise bad day. 

Phil Rees

9th May Thursday

As always at Curley's whenever the wind is in any direction other than a Westerly is is very sheltered. Such is the case today - strong Southerlies are hitting almost everywhere but here at the fishery it's calm and quiet!!
Lots of fish still being caught all over the lake to almost any method - top rods yesterday 7 fish with anything from zonkers to buzzers.
More later

Tuesday 7th May 2013

Its another beautiful day here with a gentle breeze coming from the South East. There are a few fish rising to the top. Fish have been caught on buzzers near the surface as well as on lures on intermediate lines. It may still only be May but don't forget the suncream today as its supposed to be our warmest day yet. 

UPDATE
Everybody has caught again today with most on around 5/6 fish.Top rod with 10 fish some to buzzers and some to would you believe "zonkers"  and mayfly nymphs??? In other words just about anything could and most proably will work!!

Bank Holiday Monday

Great looking day, the sun is up a ripple on the water.

Andy Gaskell has brought along his brother in law from America, Gary Walsh. Andy is wining this fish off currently but round two will be back in the States for Small Mouth Bass - Good luck Andy!!

Not too many fish rising as yet but they will as the day warms up more. Any natural should work best today, especially buzzers and Daiwl backs

Top rod today up to now is Bob who has had 8 fish all to a pearly PTN. Everybody have caught fish mostly to buzzers, black being the favoured colour today.

Saturday 4th May

What a difference a day makes! The weather has completely changed again, back is the cold wind that plagued us for so many recent weeks.
So far the fishing is still good with catches all around the lake but they do need a little bit more thought into the tactics. Some are being caught deep with intermediate lines and others just under the surface with floaters. Natural fly patterns are still working but then so are lures stripped back.
I am sure it will all change again over the next days of the holiday weekend when hopefully better weather returns.

Everybody fishing has caught no blanks at all. Top rod on 6 fish today up to now with half the day left.

Friday Bank Hol Weekend

The bank holiday weekend off to a bumper start with fish being caught all round the lake. Great conditions for buzzer fishing, overcast, warm and a little breeze. If the forecasted showers appear later in the day they should only improve things even more!

 

Good looking rainbow just returned to the water
This customer finished his 4hour ticket with 6 fish two of which were over 5lbs

Jonnie below and Steve Moffat both finished on 11 fish each!

Johnnie Stuart with his 7th fish of the day

The majority of fish are now in the upper water levels and this makes your presentation even more critical - Can I emphasis this important issue once more and if you haven't read my last post on this subject you can access it by looking for the post dated 18th April

Thursday May 2nd

Another good day at Curley's
Top rod yesterday was 10 fish by Mick Stuart who followed it up today with another 5.
Everyone caught today rod ave was 4 fish per angler.

Weather set for most of the week so don't expect the tactics to change much - floating lines with dries or wets slow retrieves although the best fly today was an Okay Dokey under an indicator.

Tightlines

PS don't forget the sun tan lotion but don't get it on your fly lines it ruins them big style!

1st May

May has started with a bang, the first fish to the net today was caught by John Burrow (pic below) who now had had 3 fish all on buzzers.

A fully finned "silver" fish of 2lbs

Look to the right to see the latest bargain in the tackle shop!

Update

Top rod today so far is Mick Stuart with 7 fish and going strong. He should beat his own record today of 11 fish in one session achieved last week. All of his fish have been in the top  2ft of water