Tuesday 31st July

Final day of July! Wave bye to our apparent summer time!
Today we have a very slight easterly breeze, around 4mph. Blowing towards the dam wall, and fish showing all across the surface this morning, One Angler having a good day to Black Gnats, with 3 fish so far.

The water temp is now ideal for trout this time of year, and they are clearly happy remaining within the top few feet for most of the day. Long leader and a team of dries seems the order of the day, with 90% of fish caught over the last week to dries and fastly stripped lures just sub-surface.

Light drizzle across the entire lake, but nothing to worry about if your water proofs are up to standard.

Considering the forecast weve been lucky upto now, very little rain and the wind is minimal easterly.

Overcast, cooler than it has been, with a slight ripple, Ideal trout fishing conditions.
Fair weather anglers get your coat on!

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube Channel

Approaching August....

Sunday 29th / Monday 30th July

A quick reminder of the Monthly Members Evening session taking place on the 2nd Friday of every month, commencing on the 17th August 2012.
MEMBERS THAT ARE COMING PLEASE POP INTO THE TACKLE SHOP AND SIGN UP, ALONG WITH £3.00 PAYMENT
click here for more information.

Todays report:
Currently a Westerly wind around 12-15mph (towards the small coarse lake).
Surprisingly quite a few fish showing just under the surface, although difficult to see.
Sunday was overall a quite day as the conditions weren't too good to say the least, with strong winds and heavy rain virtually all day. However the fish caught over the course of the last 2 days have been just under the surface, no more than 3ft down. The wind and rain has cooled the water temperature down which is what we needed!

With Plenty of fish currently at large in Curleys Trout Lake, we will have a excellent August, with cooler temperatures and the month at Curleys where we see alot of Damselflies, towards the end of july to mid august. Already quite a few of them around. A marabou damselfly nymph or a braided butt damsel imitation. But if your limited to just a few dries, the trout may well take these off the surface, as a few anglers have proven over the last week, with alot of fish coming out to daddy & sedge patterns.

A view of today's conditions along with a daddy and sedge pattern, click to zoom

Current Top patterns:

1. Daddy long legs imitations (dry, fished static or slowly brought back over the waves!)
2. Orange / white Goldhead Fritz (stripped back just under the surface).
3. Black & Olive buzzers (fished around 8-12ft down, static).

Tight Lines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys Youtube Channel

Saturday Update*

Fishing very well currently, the fish have moved up towards the surface, with last nights rain cooling down the water temp.
Daddies doing well amoungst suspender buzzers, 90% of the fish caught today have been no deeper than 3ft.
Some excellent surface sport to be had later on, as the light fades towards evening.


Tightlines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube channel

Saturday 28th July

Members Monthly Evening session |Click here|
MEMBERS THAT ARE COMING PLEASE POP INTO THE TACKLE SHOP AND SIGN UP, ALONG WITH £3.00 PAYMENT

Ideal Trout Weather! Clouded over, with very little sun and the air temperature has dropped.
The water has cooled down, with the rain assisting in the process over night. So the fish will move within the top layer of water, so possibly excellent sport ahead today for the dry fly!
One Angler had all his fish yesterday to daddy imitations, with a lot of aquatic and terrestrial insects around this time of year, trout will always look up for a well presented daddy.

A colder morning, with a westerly ripple.

Team of buzzers will do well fished from the wall side embankment or from the boat dock, a westerly wind allows the flies to swing round in a natural manner.

Black & olive buzzers doing well, but the not so natural Okey-Dokey "Buzzer" doing well as of late, with 13 fish coming out to this pattern within 3 days.

Fished static under a indicator around 10-11ft down, but today will be slightly different as the water temp has dropped slightly which will encourage the fish closer to the surface, the trout may well be in the mood to chase the odd blob or two, with the water temp dropping, the trout will become much more active and less lethargic.

Float-Tubing at Curley's Trout Fishery

Curley's Trout Fishery is one of very few fisheries within the North West that still allow float-tubing on its large trout lake!
To enquire about this interesting branch of our sport, email me nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk OR ring the fishery office 01204 691199

Booking is essential if you wish to bring your own float tube down, please ring in advance to book as numbers are limited.

UPDATE:
The wind has picked up slightly around 12mph westerly.
Few fish showing near the surface, not in great numbers, buzzers and long leader will be a good way forward today.

Tightlines

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys Youtube channel

Thursday 26th July

Sun cream!

Slight easterly breeze, around 5 mph. Very mild and humid

Challenging fishing currently, but those that put in the hours and effort have been rewarded.
Mr Nick Woodward has returned for another "Okey-Dokey" session, and has managed 4 fish to this exact pattern, with a absolutely cracking bow around 4 1/2lb! With a large spade like tail, it gave a excellent account for itself.

The members session last night was again challenging, with 3 fish caught.
One day ticket angler Mr Eugene coll, managed one fish (see picture below). His first trout ever to the fly!
Good Angling!

Hopefully over the next few days the weather will cool and the water temperature with it.
Those anglers fishing deep (10-12ft) have had the most success, to various patterns but the more successful has been the "Okey-Dokey".

[Click image to zoom]

A big thanks to Mr Eugene coll for emailing me this photo.

One thing that has stood out over the last week, while we had these mild conditions the fish have been deep during the day but coming somewhat higher towards late evening.
If you work your way to around 12ft with a slow sink or fast sinking line (dependant on your method of choice), then you should hit into a few fish between 10am-2pm, after this the fish have climbed slightly. Around 6-7ft has been fishing best between, 2pm-8pm.
This is entirely dependant on the rising or climbing of the water temp. Not sure? Ask in the tackle shop before you commence your fishing session. It will also pay to start on the wall side pontoons, possibly number 4 or 5 fishing best currently, as they are ideally positioned over the "shelf".

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys youtube channel

Annual Members Monthly meet up 2012

I have now formulated a plan, having various chats with members, we've come up with the following, which will initially take place from the 17th August 2012.

Starts at 5pm til late.

Remember
The final members session will take place tonight, from 6:30pm til late. [NO BBQ TONIGHT!]
There after it will take place once a month, every second friday of every month, which will include food and drink for the small fee of £3.00.

Also...
Plus we are also formulating a plan for a Monthly General anglers meet up, which will take place once a month, where any day ticket or annual member can turn up, have a chat and catch some trout!

MEMBERS THAT ARE COMING PLEASE POP INTO THE TACKLE SHOP AND SIGN UP, ALONG WITH £3.00 PAYMENT

Tight Lines,
Nathan
Nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Oliver Avis Report July 12

Click here for today's official blog

I arrived at Curleys to be greeted with a strong wind blowing towards the cafe. My first place to go was the dam wall. One casting would be easier and two it is one of my favourite places to fish at Curleys as I feel most anglers underrate it's potential and head straight for the pontoons. I set up with three flies on a leader of around 21ft with my flies 7ft apart made up of 8lb airflo sight free fluorocarbon. I chose a cat booby on the point a red holo cormorant in the middle and a small tequila blob on the top dropper. My line of choice was an airflo di3 sweep. I can not recommend the "sweep" lines highly enough and the di3 sweep has been my most productive line for the past season which gives me bags of confidence when fishing, something I find is key to success. I started around 8 pegs from the roadside. Casting a long line I would be able to reach fish further towards the middle of the lake as your back cast is not limited on the dam wall. I cast out and began my retrieve long pulls at a medium pace after around 10 casts my long pulls were met with solid resistance and after a flurry of energetic runs a rainbow of just over 3lb lay safely in my net. This fish had taken the cat booby on the point a fly I have complete confidence in. I continued this same retrieve and achieved good results with my line once again locking up from long range at the start of my retrieve. This shows the fish are higher up in the water. One thing to note when hooking fish at range is that you must always keep a tight line, one bit of slack and the fish will be gone. The fight is unreal with the fish making several powerful runs before I am able to bring it to the net. Once again a lovely rainbow of around 3lb nestles in my net again on the cat booby. After around 30mins of no action I decided to move to the pontoon outside the cafe. Here the wind was extremely strong which limited my casting as it would be blowing straight at my face, however I knew with the wind blowing onto this bank there would definitely be fish here. Punching a line into the powerful wind was not easy but the rewards were great I was soon into action as the line locked up and I was into my third fish of the day. Several attempts were made by the fish to throw the hook including going airborne and heading deep under the pontoon. Finally I manage to get the fish in the net and what a lovely fish it was a pristine Blue trout once again around the 3lb mark. The fish at Curley's are a remarkable size and they fight like demons. It really is amazing fun! This fish had also taken the cat booby on the point. This proved the fish were higher in the water however a switch to the fast glass saw a cease in action so the trusty di3 sweep was back on and had an immediate effect. Changing around with retrieves my fast figure of eight was greeted with a solid tug followed by everything locking up. Whilst retrieving lures if you feel a pluck, tug or pull do not lift the rod until everything is solid. If I fish is nipping the fly if you continue your retrieve that fish will most likely take the fly as you continue or on the hang. I see many anglers lift the rod and sigh in disbelief. All you do by lifting the rod after a tug is move the flies out of a trouts line of sight. Anyhow, once again the fight is surreal with the fish heading for deep water then ripping to the surface. With the extreme wind it reminded me of videos I have seen of wild trout fishing on Jurassic lake Argentina. After a thrilling fight another blue trout this time just over 2lb lays in my net again on the cat booby. I keep mobile and move to pontoon 5 on the roadside. The sun soon appears to add to the nightmare conditions, but I know the fish are still catch able I count the line down to 20 seconds before commencing my slow figure of eight retrieve. This keeps the flies deep which is where the trout will head during bright sunshine. I am soon rewarded with a quick tightening of the line and I'm into another fish. Soon after I've hooked the fish I notice something different. The fight is long with the fish heading for deep water again and again something I can only describe as what a brownie or pike would do. After a tense battle I'm proud to scoop my net under the fish. A magnificent Curleys resident rainbow of around 2 and a 1/2 pounds. No wonder I found it hard to turn as it had a tail like a shovel. This fish had taken the cormorant on the middle dropper. Resident fish will take bright flies but often pick out the most drab flies on your cast that's why it pays to fish at least three and give them variety. I now know the fish are deep and decide to switch tactics. I choose to fish a team of four buzzers. I use a leader length of 22ft 5ft between each fly but 7ft between top dropper and my fly line of choice a midge tip. On the point I use a size 8 grub hook black buzzer with yellow cheeks coupled with black, olive and claret buzzers on the droppers. When buzzer fishing it's important to keep the retrieve as slow as possible eliminating any slack line. I soon have an arm wrenching take typical with buzzer fishing and I'm into a fish this fights similar to the last one however it shows it's intelligence trying to dive underneath the pontoon. I am able to stop the fish and soon have another Curleys resident in the net once again around 2 and a 1/2 pounds. With bars of silver like this I just can't help but love buzzer fishing. The fish took the point fly indicating the sun has pushed the fish right down. I continue to fish my buzzers and my determined attitude is rewarded with another solid hook up. This fish bores deep with my line just going straight down through the water column I manage to bring it up but it has lots of fight left as it burst away for deep water. It's not long before my net cradles another bar of silver, this time around 3lbs of resident rainbow. Almost grilse like with it's pristine fins, huge tail and bullet like shape I couldn't ask for anything more. This also took the point fly and concluded my trip to Curleys a place where, if you put in the effort you can reap the rewards, BIG TIME!

Thank you for reading.

Oliver

Wednesday 25th July

Clouded over with a slight westerly wind, no fish showing near the surface currently.
Intermediate or medium sink fly line to get your flies around 10ft, where the fish have been sat for the last 48hours. The water temperature is still mild, but remaining cooler towards late evening and early morning.

A floating line and indicator teamed with Okey dokey "buzzers" doing the damage over the course of yesterday, so definitely worth a go with a team of not so traditional Okey Dokey patterns first off. Vary the depth on your initial approach to the lake as during the cooler mornings the trout have moved within 5-6ft of the surface.

Members Evening Session Tonight from 6:30pm til late!

Its been fishing excellent to deeply fished buzzers, so it should be good sport tonight!

Look forward to seeing you all by the water...



A quick snap shot of today's conditions & yesterdays killing pattern!

Click image to enlarge.

Tightlines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys Youtube Channel



Tuesday 24th July

Warm and overcast (occasionally the sun makes the odd appearance), with a slight westerly wind (towards the cafe). Creating a nice gentle ripple across the entire lake. Very few fish showing near the surface, the water temperature has climbed over the last few days but not enough to put the fish off the feed. Sinking lines or floating line and long leader, deep fished buzzers or small lures doing well.

Today's top rod [1:00pm]

Mr Nick Woodward with 6 fish all to "Okey-Dokey" patterns, fished around 10ft deep, under a bung/indicator. Fishing off pontoon 4 & 5 (wall side embankment). Mr Woodward has also lost a further 2 fish at the net. Fishing slow and deep seems the way forward today.

Today's killing pattern

Orange/lime green okey dokies.
Gold head Cats whiskers.

Fish are feeding around the 8-10ft mark, the thermocline will alternate as the water temperature cools slightly towards late evening, a heavy evening rise is a distinct possibility with the warm conditions during the day falling off to cooler weather later on.  A lot of Damsel flies around the entire lake currently.

UPDATE:
Mr Nick Woodward has now netted 8 fish to the "Okey-Dokey" fly!


Get your review/article on Curley's Trout Fishery Blog!
Simply email me a picture of your catch along with a short story on your days experience!

Tight lines,
Nathan Jones
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube Channel

Monday Update*

Today's top flies, Black buzzers & cats whisker.

Click here for today's earlier blog!

[Click photo to zoom]

Weather remaining consistent, no rain as of yet!

Over clouded with a very slight westerly wind.

How to best effectively fish buzzers, coming up on Wednesday's blog!

Not sure on how to sign upto the blog? click here

Tightlines,

nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Monday 23rd July

Much better conditions than yesterday, over clouded but still rather mild.
Sunday was very warm, bright sunny and very little wind, not ideal trout conditions. However the fish will still be active but in much deeper cooler water. Known as the "Thermocline layer".

A Few fish come out today so far, but no one fishing sinking lines! Get down deep!
The fish will remain deeper until the water temperature cools down towards evening, they will still be on the look out for a food source, more than likely mid-depth to bottom feeding. The initial stages of many aquatic vertebrae are fairly easy to imitate at this depth. For example; Blood worms are one of the largest available sources at this depth, easily imitated with a spanflex worm, or a small slim red buzzer.

Ive had a Few anglers ask a few questions regarding the Washing line blog:

Ques1. What pound line would be best suited to this method?

Answer  - between 6lb and 8lb fluorocarbon, possibly a higher strength if specifically targeting big fish or aggressive takes.

Ques2. Do you use the same pound line for the droppers?

Answer -  The simple answer to this is, yes.

Ques3. What length of leader/droppers?

Answer - Depends on your casting ability and if your comfortable with casting a reasonably long leader.
               The longer the leader (within reason) enables you to cover various depths all tied onto the same cast. The shorter the leader the more likely you are to get tangles as the droppers will be too close together, and tend to spin and possibly form a birds nest while casting. Generally speaking, and what ever your most comfortable with. Between 15-22feet overall. (see picture below).

[Click on photo to enlarge]

Ive mentioned this method on todays blog as the conditions are ideal for it. Very few fish showing near the surface (currently). The Washing Line technique allows your cast to cover a range of depths, and help find the fish feeding zone, fast!



I hope this helps anglers on difficult days, Anglers out on the water currently are catching fish but its not a case of a "fish-a-chuck", you have to keep on the move, search the depths and vary the retrieve in order to catch.

Simple yet effective; Chop & change & keep on the move.

Tight Lines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys Youtube Channel

Saturday update*

The Morning Blog & an earlier blog on The Washing Line Method.

The fish have really switched on now, size 18 black f-fly doing extremely well taking 4 fish within 20minutes for one angler Mr Ian Bowker.
Off the South corner of the dam wall towards pontoon 7, alot of fish holding in this area currently due to a reasonable westerly wind circulating the warmer surface layers towards the dam, and therefore the trouts main current food source, midge chronomidae.
Abandon the lures and take out your dry fly box!

Tight lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube Channel

Washing line technique

click here for todays blog

Touching briefly on the washing line method

Washing line technique

Can be created using any fly lines, floating, intermediate and sinking. The idea with this method is that you can keep your flies either close to the surface or work various depths with a sinking line. This is a very successful method at Curley’s Trout Fishery, and can be a very effective way to keep your flies up near the surface and just subsurface when the fish are within the top few feet.

On a day like today, with the sun bearing down upon the water, a sinking line and a team of nymphs or buzzers with a buoyant fly like a booby will do well. You can cover various depths with the top dropper fishing deeper and the middle dropper fishing mid-water depth and the point fly within the top few feet. The longer the leader, within reason, the better, as it will produce more takes to this method, purely and simply, because the flies will be sat a distance apart and covering completely different depths.

This is just a very basic guide for those that are unsure of this method, ive personally had quite a few anglers enquiring within the fishery office about this exact method.

Hope this helps!

Tightlines,

Nathan

Nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys trout fishery - Youtube

Saturday 21st July

A lovely day here at Curley's Trout Fishery, the suns out and so are the midges! (non biting kind currently).
A few anglers out on the water, Jim McGinleys just had a nice bow at 3lb to a Cats whisker.

Alot of fish showing, but with this bright sunshine, they will be shooting straight back down to deeper water.
Unlike over the last few days, its been mostly overclouded and therefore the fish have been close to the surface and remaining so, just cruising no more than 2-3ft down. Dries being very successful on such days.

However with the sun being out, i recommend a slow sink or intermediate line to carry your flies to the right depth. Blobs and boobies doing well recently, stripped back and left for 20secs or so on the "hang" before lifting into a cast.



Fridays top rod goes to Member Gary Stanley who netted 7 fish to Buzzers and Black Gnat imitations.

Current must have flies:

Cruncher, Dwial Bach, Cats whisker Booby, Orange Blob, Red Klinkhammer, red/black buzzers and cats whiskers.

Tightlines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys Trout Fishery - Youtube



Oliver avis does it again!

Click here for today's blog.

Young Oliver Avis as many anglers will already know from previous blogs, fishes for the England Youth fly fishing team. EYFA Click here for details.
Oliver Avis, sponsored by Curley's Trout Fishery and he's doing excellent in competitions within Great Britain and abroad. His recent win pictured below, while fly fishing in France.

He was awarded the biggest grayling of the comp, as well as the biggest brown trout!!

Good Angling!

Tightlines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys youtube channel.

Day for the Daddies!

Excellent dry fly sport virtually continuously through-out the day!
One Angler has netted 6 fish to Daddies, and missed twice as many!

Anything on the surface currently seems to be doing well, klinkhammers, small foam bugs and daddies out on top currently.
Literally fish showing all over the lake, rising to hatches and chasing small fish, torpedo style charging towards shoals of small roach. Brilliant to see.

Last night members session wasnt easy fishing, with few fish coming out, but today the fish have been feeding continously, with a constant hatch of midges (the biting kind currently!) keeping them near the surface.
Anti-insect spray or cream is recommended today!

UPDATE:
The midges have stopped hatching to the same extent as earlier and the wind has picked up to around 5-6mph NW. Not as many fish moving near the surface, slime lines and lures seem to be the way forward this afternoon.

Tight Lines,
Nathan

Few photos...

 Above Mr John Burrow, with his first ever trout to the fly, looking a little worse for wear as its been in a plastic bag for 5 hours or so! Caught to a red Klinkhammer, the fish took as it was stripped back for a re-cast!!

A nice 23/4lb trout for Member Phil Rees, caught to a klinkhammer

Tightlines,

Nathan

Email me your photos and fishery reports/mini-articles

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

A day for any fly, and any method!

Plenty of fish caught so far and the conditions are looking excellent for this evenings members fishing session!
No rain! and the wind is quietening down!

Buzzers, Crunchers and lures such as cats whiskers, blobs and boobies all catching fish today.

Top rod so far, Mr Oliver Avis EYFA (England youth fly fishing association) member, Oliver has recently come back from France while river fishing with the England team, and has had a cracking day so far to blobs and boobies stripped back at a rate of knots!
With 6 fish to his net, and most if not all of his fish have been over 3lb! including a range of bows and blues!

Oliver Avis is personally writing up a brief report on his days fishing at curleys!
Check back soon!

Members evening session from 6:30pm til late this evening! its looking excellent!

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube channel

Dry fly fishing at its best!

Member Ian Harwood has very kindly emailed me with a photo of his recent capture.
If any members or day ticket anglers also wish to do so, then simply email me a photo with a brief report to the below address.

For today's official blog posts click the links below:
Tuesday 17th July morning blog
Tuesday 17th July afternoon blog

Get your photos and write ups on the blog, email me on the below address

Tightlines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube channel

Tuesday 17th July

The weathers changed slightly with the westerly breeze remaining, but its dropped to around 5-6mph with the occasional gust to around 10mph.
The rain is on and off, with the odd light mist shower.

All in all the conditions are ideal for abit of trout fishing!
Slight ripple, overcast and fish rising all across the lake.

Virtually all the fish that have come out so far have been to dries!
Klinkhammers, suspender buzzers also doing well.
The recent stocking has stirred up the trout and alot of which are on a feeding frenzy, taking emerging midges and the occasional sedge.

One Angler Mr John Burrow has just caught his first ever trout to a fly, which will be proudly displayed in photo form shortly. (on a more recent blog update, click here for photo).

Click here to see an earlier blog from today.
Tightlines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys youtube channel

Misty morning, tuesday 17th July

A thick mist has settled in for the morning, with a westerly wind present, around 10mph gusts.
I can just about make out in the  mist quite a few rising fish, especially towards pontoon 4-5. The fish caught over the last few days have been to mainly imitative patterns, suspender buzzers & shuttlecock patterns being the most successful.

Shot taken from pontoon 2 looking towards the dam.

The odd splattering of rain, but nothing too serious. A few anglers already out on the water [8:00am].

Not sure how to sign up to the Blogs?
Click here to view a blog tutorial

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys youtube channel.

Members Evening Session

Annual Membership holders are invited to attend The Members Evening Session, the 3rd event takes place on this upcoming wednesday. With a fresh input of more trout taken place today, we should be in for a cracking evening.

Hopefully the weather will hold off!

Looking forward to the session! & catching plenty of fish in the process!

Tight Lines,
Nathan

Stocked today

A Stocking took place today, with 200 trout, a mixture of rainbow and brown trout. Ranging in size from 21/2lb to much larger fish to 4+lb.

Member Jim McGinley netted a bow of around 21/2lb to a cats whisker, close to the surface stripped back. Within a couple of hours, before the persistant rain.
Virtually no wind, slight westerly, but with constant rain. However ideal weather for the trout!

UPDATE:
Fish moving all along the road side, near pontoon 5 & 3. After a stocking earlier they will initially move around the lake, stirring up the much larger resident fish. Keep on the move, no fish moving around your area? Move to another section of fresh water and cover that.
The rain has finally come to a halt, and the sky seems to be clearing. Check back soon for updates.

Lets hope the weather improves!

Tightlines,
Nathan

Saturday morning

A beautiful day, the suns out occasionally, and theres a very slight westerly wind creating a ripple across the lake.
Midges hatching in a few numbers early on, with the sun warming them up as they hatch out onto the surface film.
Fish showing all across the lake, taking emerging insects, sipping them in just under the surface.
Floating line, long leader and a team of suspender buzzers will do very well in the current conditions.

Alot of nice fish coming out lately in the 31/2 - 4lb bracket, and some slightly bigger residents.
90% of fish over the last 2 weeks have mainly been caught to Natural patterns, the stocked fish last wednesday has switched on recently to subsurface aquatic invertebrae.

A few Anglers here bright and early to make the best of the weather, it will be summer soon!

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Friday 13th Unlucky for some?

Maybe unlucky for some, but not for Member Gary Stanley who came out on top today, with 5 fish to shuttlecock buzzers! With a few nice sized resident fish caught amongst the stocked fish. All within a short morning session, good angling!

Just a quick thank you to Gary Stanley who has emailed me a short story of his eventful day. If you wish for your "Short story / Article" to take its place on the blogs email me.

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Have your short story here! >Email me<

"Having fractured my knee earlier this year I have the opportunity to fish on a regular basis during the week, as I only took up fly fishing in September 2011 I take every chance to practice, so as usual I checked the morning weather forecast for Friday 13^Th of July, it appeared that there was a small window of dry weather in the morning, after a quick call to Curleys Fishery office and a brief chat with the on duty bailiff. I loaded my gear into the van and set off, I know that everyone tells me to form a plan when you arrive at a venue, however I  had already decided it would be surface action as the bailiff had said fish were surfacing all over the lake. On arrival I tackled up and set off for pontoon 2 the wind was light and south easterly, which gave the lake a flat calm to my eleven o’clock and a good ripple from there on to pontoon 1, as I approached the pontoon a large fish broke the surface 10-15 feet out feeding just below the surface showing me a large back and tail fin every 5-10 feet, I  crept as stealthy as I could and cast a shuttlecock buzzer  5-6 feet in front of its last rise, the fly had hardly settled when all hell let loose, the trout instantly new it had made a mistake and fought like a demon, finally it came to the net and turned out to be a fighting fit blue around the 4lb mark, a further 4 fish came to the net over the next couple of hours with 5 or 6 missed ( still need more practice) this included a visit to the cafe for refreshment ( the smell of bacon cooking seemed to be blowing directly at me and became too much of a lure in the end) finally the predicted rain arrived  and steadily got heavier , keen I am mad I am not, so having packed up I drove home reflecting on a magical morning and planning my next trip!"

Keep your eyes peeled on Curleys Youtube channel > Videos being created and edited as i type this.


Tight Lines,
Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Thursday 12th July

Very nice day today! Suns out and next to no or very little westerly wind.
Although the air temperature is cooler than it has been lately, the fish are consistently showing near the surface. Mainly towards the east bank towards the cafe.

A few fish caught last night on the members evening session, but the wind was very strong and made casting a little difficult! We were very lucky last night considering the forecast was heavy thundery showers, when in fact, the skies were clear and the sun was out!

Fish showing occasionally near the surface? - but no matter what imitation you place infront of them, they just dont have it!?

Times like this call for something a little different, Popping Boobies across the surface can be a deadly method when the conditions are ideal. Trout can be very aggressive and territorial, and will charge, and even fly out of the water in an attempt to take a "Popped Booby".
I find when fishing a Booby on the point (with a team of nymphs etc to accompany them) and popping them across the surface can often attract alot of attention, or even when the water is cloudy it brings the fish to the nymphs on your droppers.
This technique can be effective on floating line, either fished Newzealand style, with a nymph or other small pattern trailing behind the Booby on the surface.
However ive found at Curleys that this method can be more deadly on a intermediate line, (same set up with either a single dropper or two, entirely upto you, which ever your most comfortable with) WHY? > When you start the initial retrieve in fast strips, which will pop the booby across the water, it will attact the trouts attention, or even induce a take to the booby. Followed by a slow figure of eight which will slowly sink the flies and this is the time they strike! They feel more confident with taking the flies under the surface than on top, as a booby popped along the surface doesnt look like anything theyve seen before!

Hope to see you out on the water soon!
Tightlines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Wednesday 11th July

Quite strong winds at present, 15mph gusts westerly, however the rain is holding off so far and the suns even making the odd appearence!
Few Anglers out on the water currently, Geoff the other bailiff here at Curleys Trout & Coarse fishery has just netted a fish to a olive humpback pattern.

The fish are very close to the surface, with the water clarity nearing its norm.
Members evening taking place tonight from 6:30pm until late, but with heavy rain forecast for later this evening, it may be cancelled, i will inform members, via text and upload some information to the blog on the current conditions.

Members Evening Update : ON AS USUAL

Taken from Pontoon 1 or the boat pontoon, across towards the dam.

Tightlines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Tuesday 10th July

Not bad conditions but the fish just weren't playing the game today, fewer anglers than normal on due to bad conditions earlier on, heavy rain showers and a reasonably strong westerly wind.

For those fishing its been challenging, the typical British weather not doing us any favours currently, air pressure up and down, and the weather not remaining consistent! However a few more fish showing later on in the evening as the occasional swallow swoops down over the lake, clearing the fresh hatches from off the surface.
Again as always at most fisheries, both trout and coarse, early mornings and late evenings fishing best, most of the fish caught over the last week have been first thing in the morning or later on when the fish switch on and start to feed a lot more heavily.

The water is virtually back to its normal clarity, finally! So hopefully were in for a good days fishing tomorrow, clearer water and with the Members Session again on Wednesday at 6:30pm til late, its should be good fishing. Not a great deal of the previous stock have come out yet, so hopefully the conditions will be primed for tomorrow.

One of my favourite patterns, which do very well at curleys dwial bachs, will do well tomorrow with the damp conditions overnight and the humid temperatures during the day (alot of hatches brought on by the conditions).

A lot of anglers today, have been fishing floating lines, but with very fish showing near the surface, try a little deeper, midge tip, intermediate, fast glass, slow sink, fast sink. Always keep on the move, generally the fish wont hold in one spot for long, keep on the move.

Recommended flies:

Enjoy nymph or buzzer fishing? - or are the fish feeding and your not quite sure what on?

[Sub surface invertebrate, sparing a few, move very slow with the current of the water, possibly working their way up to the surface to hatch, therefore these flies will be more effective when fished static! ]

1. Team of Buzzers, fished at various depths on either floating line and a long leader or intermediate fished washing line style.
2. A Dwial bach teamed with crunchers and a buzzer on the point covers alot of the trouts diet with 3 simple yet effective flies. 

Fish in an aggressive mood?-or chasing small fry around the shallows?

1.  Zonkers, either black or white have been doing well, they resemble a small fry (roach, perch etc) and believe it or not even at this time of year the trout are still chasing small fish, as they are a readily available food source in curleys. Stripped back, or if the trout are not following or energetic enough. Try a slow figure of eight, and allow the material to do the work, almost like a dying or injured fish, a easy meal for a trout!
2. Orange dancer and bright coloured lures fishing much better now the water has cleared up! Slowly stripped back or even the, interesting, "roly poly" retrieve. The roly poly retrieve can be a very effective method, as the flies are constantly moving at the same pace through the water which can stand out from other retrieves. A lot of trout haven't seen this retrieve before, and it can be very successful at Curleys.

I hope this will help Anglers catch more fish and any questions no matter how big or small - email me on the address below!


Members evening session tomorrow! 6:30pm til late
Click here for details on the members evening session.

Quick tip: Grab yourself a ticket mid evening and make the most of the evening rise!

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Monday 25th July

Not bad conditions this morning, occasional light rain showers, but nothing heavy.
Slight easterly wind, blowing towards the damn wall no more than 10mph currently.
Good news the water clarity has started to return after the incredibly heavy showers we had last week!

Quite a few anglers out on the water at the minute, all doing different methods. Most of them fishing deep to get below the slightly clouded upper layers.

More footage recording will take place this week and another video to accompany the friday/saturday blog.

One of two for Member Jim McGinley caught to a fire/orange dancer.

UPDATE:

The water clarity has really started to return now, and it shows, with alot more fish being caught.

The trout have come up nearer to the surface now, as the water clears and the weather cools a little.

Plenty of midges and the occasional mayfly about, although not in great numbers

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Curleys NEW youtube channel

Click here for the channel

Newly created and with a couple of simple videos on currently as trial/practice uploads.

 Brief upload and testing of quality etc

A quick & simple introduction.
Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Sunday 8th July

The rains holding off so far, and the wind is minimal. Excellent weather wise considering the forecast was appalling for today.

The water has cleared up slightly from yesterday, but still a little cloudy in colour.
Fast sinking lines and close to the bottom as possible, try and get beneath the cloudy water. The centre of the dam wall is the deepest point, around 35-40ft roughly were the pipe follows the angle of the dam. Casting out towards the cafe from the damn wall will optimise your chances of catching today, short leader to get down quicker, a buoyant fly on the point to keep the flies away from the wall and snags.

The trout will be where the clearer slightly cooler water levels are. Find the thermocline layer! and you will find the fish, a lot of anglers still fishing floating lines, switch to fast sink lines to achieve the best results.

Black Blob, white & orange fritz boobies and comorants will do well as a team.
Black will stand out in the water much better than brightly coloured lures!

Curleys Youtube channel finally up and running! check out the introduction video above.
Lots more HD videos to come soon!

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Saturday 7th July

A very different day! The suns out and virtually nil wind, a slight easterly around 7mph.
Very few fishing showing near to the surface, intermediate lines and a team of buzzers or a single black fritz.
Fished very slow, the water is a little cloudy from all the rain we've had over yesterday, so the fish wont be able to see your fly, unless its within a certain range of its vision.
Quite a few anglers out on the water today, making the best of the weather while it lasts!!

Member Jim McGinley has just netted a fighting fit bow of around 31/2 lbs.

The stocked fish will have settled by now, so slow fished lures or a team of nymphs for the bigger residents.

Dwial Bachs, black Buzzers, crunchers and bloodworm patterns doing quite a bit of damage as of late, quite a few fish have come out to natural patterns, as there has been a lot of hatches taking place over the last week with the damp humid conditions encouraging the hatches.
The mistake a few Anglers make is to retrieve buzzers and nymphs back at a pace, this will stand out from the other chronomidae (buzzers) as the natural doesnt move against currents. Instead they make there way to the surface slowly but with the current gentle drifting them around. So cast out, and let the wind or current do the work, just keeping in touch with the line with the occasional very slow figure of eight retrieve.

_______________________________________________

Short Stories

Please email me a short story of your days fishing experience at Curleys, and i will post it up on the blog, this applies to members and non members. So anyone can tell others of their experience!

This could possibly become a permanent fixture on Curleys Blog site, get your story on the blog!

_______________________________________________

Tight Lines,
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk
Curleys Youtube channel

Friday 6th July

Well for once the weather forecasters have got it spot on - It has been raining hard but just as I type this it's actually stopped and looking as if it might brighten up.
We do have some intrepid but wet anglers on the water and all have caught.
The rain will do some good by reducing the water temps and making the fish more active especially the newly stocked fish we put in this earlier this week.
Let's hope the forecasters are right again for the weekends prospects -only light showers.

Tightlines

Thursday 5th July

Over clouded with a very slight easterly breeze, majority of the lake is a flat calm currently.
Trout are rising towards the road side embankment, feeding on dark adult sedges, taking them quite aggressively off the surface. Black G&H sedges will do very well fished close in to the bank.

Fish coming out already, the stocked fished seemed to have really woken up this morning after being stocked yesterday. A larger resident fish has been caught to a daddy long legs by Member Ian Long.

Buzzers and natural patterns coming out on top over the last few days. With the usual suspects, Cats whisker, Zonkers and black fritz also catching a few trout.

The Members Evening Session held last night went well, not a massive amount of fish caught but Member Paul Knight came out on top with 4 fish to cats whiskers.
The weather held off which was also a plus! and the sun even came out towards late evening.

Mayflies out in large numbers over the last few days, and I'm sure today will be no different.

Stuck at home or work? something to watch -

An Award winning fly fishing video, a must watch.

_____________________________________

UPDATE [12:30pm]

Very hot currently, and virtually no wind. Few fish rising but not to the same numbers as this morning, best time to fish when the conditions are like this, early morning and late afternoon, (evening rise can be brilliant after a warm sunny day, just as the sun starts to die down, and the temperature drops slightly). The fresh stock of trout are still acclimatising to the water. It will be later on this evening going on to early Friday morning when they will settle.

______________________________________

Tenkara Rods & Accessories now available

Tight Lines,
Looking forward to next weeks Members Evening session! Held on the 11th, 6:30pm til late.
Nathan
nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk

Members evening session!

Takes place tonight from 6:30pm til late.

We should be in for a excellent session tonight! some very nice blues and bows went in today, along with a few larger fish.

Alot of fish showing all across the lake as the fresh stock of trout stir up the residents.

Its looking good! Weathers on our side for a change and its very mild so the hatches will be incredible!

See all Curleys Annual Members tonight!


Tight Lines,
Nathan

Wednesday 4th July

The Fly lake has been stocked today with some fine looking Triploid Rainbows to 6lbs. 

We also put in about 50 smaller rainbows - we are not changing our stocking policy by buying in smaller fish - they were simply a freebie from our fish supplier so it would have been rude not to accept!

We have another visit of school children on the coarse lake today.  This will be their 3rd visit and they must have caught over 200 up to now and are really enjoying it.

Should be a fairly good day for fly fishing so long as the rain keeps off. We had a good hatch of mayflies and sedges yesterday mixed in with the ever present buzzers of course.

Tuesday 3rd July

Members evening session Commences 4th July      Click here for further information

The weathers holding off so far, near perfect conditions today. Slight easterly wind creating a nice ripple across most of the lake. Although the top half of the trout lake is sheltered.

 A few anglers fishing Curleys bright and early this morning, beating the rain that is supposed to hit Curleys around 3pm.

The fish that have been coming out lately have been the bigger ones from the previous stocking, and natural patterns are leading the way. Black & olive epoxy buzzers doing very well, either fished under a indicator or without.

A close up shot of Member Gary Stanley, fishing the washing line technique.

Small Black Expoxy buzzer with a dry on the point to keep the buzzer close to the surface.

Lots of fish showing just under the surface, more so in the flat calm water towards pontoon 2.

Few fishing caught yesterday considering the difficult conditions. The water has now started to clear up after the heavy rain weve had, so its looking good for today, the water temperature is sitting at 15degrees around 5ft down, so in theory the fish will be within this five foot.

 Tightlines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk





Sunday & Monday 2nd July

Sunday 1st July

Junes finished and July was off to a flying start, unfortuneatly the weather wasnt,  Mr Finney managed a beautiful trout of around 5lb caught to a Black Dancer.

The wind was strong and teamed with the occasional heavy shower, there was only 7 anglers out on the water. Those that braved the condititions were rewarded.

Pattern of the day! Black Dancer, securing a lovely fully finned 5lber.

The forecast over the week is looking brighter, the wind is forecast to die completely down, with only a light breeze throughout tuesday and wednesday.

Its looking excellent for the Members Evening session, with a stocking prior to this event. There will be plenty of trout coming out.

Monday 2nd July

The weathers not brilliant this morning, quite a few members out on the water currently.
Water proofs and warm clothing are a must!

Virtually no wind however, a slight SE breeze currently [11am]

Alot of trout showing near the surface, and the majority of the fish caught over the last few days have been within the top 6ft of water.

A view from the 2nd pontoon over looking the main basin.

Tight Lines,

Nathan

nath_bailiff@hotmail.co.uk