Fishing mania

Over the last two days lots of people on the water and guess what every single one of them caught.
Included in this were absolute complete beginners who have never fished before!!!

Some lovely Blues came out to boot!

Winter weather is upon us?

In spite of the less than favourable conditions, lots of good fish are still being caught.
One guy out on the teeth of a gale and almost impossible to control the line but still caught some great trout.
Worst day of the week today then better fishing conditions forecast for the rest of the week.

Why not post your favourite winter tactics on here for all to read!!!

I'll start.....
Intermediate line, 16ft flouro leader with 2 droppers. Flies: from blobs, lures, buzzers, daiwl bachs and small nymphs dependant upon water temperature and general conditions. Progressively count down the flies till I get some action and not forgetting the all important "hang" on the retrieve. If this doesn't work I change flies and/or move and keep moving till I find fish.

Fish stocking

Some absolutely cracking fish were stocked today - 100 rainbows and 100 blues all 2 1/2lbs to 4lbs.
Trust me if you latch onto one of the 4lbs blues you're in for a treat!!!!
Make sure you have at least 6lbs leader and better still 8lbs - you'll need it.

Please handle these fish with care - don't touch them with dry hands and get them back into the water asap (or better still don't take them out in the first place). Allow them to FULLY recover before letting them go from the net.
Barbless or De-Barbed hooks only - strictly enforced!!!

All the pontoons have now been fitted with "astro" turf so they are good to walk on without slipping.

Enjoy!

Fishery Improvements

Went out this week and bought a load of "astro-turf" for the pontoons.
We have been "testing" this for a few weeks on the first pontoon and it has stood the test of time so the new investment was warranted. Geoff has been happily laying this down on all the other pontoons today and will finish off tomorrow. So no more slippery walks fishing. I'm sure you will all agree a much better option than the much, much cheaper chicken wire!

The fishery will have a new stocking tomorrow with twice the numbers of fish as normal!
Should have some good looking blues in there as well.
Tightlines for the weekend

Great conditions

Very good fishing today with 2 rods in particular.
One getting 9 fish biggest about 4lbs all fully finned and in perfect condition.
The second with 5 fish to 3lbs and a much bigger fish estimated at 5 to 6lbs which ended up actually breaking the rod!!!
Forecasts good for the weekend.

Best tactic - intermediate line or floating line with long leader but MUST be very slow retrieve with intermittent stops.

Better weekend

Good to see quite a few fly fishers on the water this weekend.
I had to de-ice my car this morning for the first time this winter, testament to the plummeting temps. Very sunny day on Sunday but this cold night time temps again had the fish all over the place. Some were moving about on top and Nathan, one of the bailiffs had a good fish to a Dry Daddy. However I suspect the majority of the fish were much deeper and an intermediate line and a very slow retrieve was the way to maximise your opportunities.
Quite a few picked up ones and twos but hey that's fishing!!!
I spent most of the weekend in the new tackle shop starting the shop fitting, -- not long now!!!

Fishing Report

Nov 1st

Report by Jim from Atherton
"I had a good day at Curley's.  Slight breeze but still warm conditions. Caught 4 good fish, all fully fined in excellent condition. Lost another 3, one snapped my leader! Best fly a black and olive montana nymph and also a black pennel"

Fishing report

The fishing went quite well over the weekend and all those who took advantage of the better weather were rewarded.
I had lessons Sat & Sun and so was able to watch the fishing, still finding guys who stick to one place and never move!  Everyone who fishes stillwaters or reservoirs needs to get into "hunter" mode - keep moving and searching.  The only reason for stying in one place, any amount of time, is because you are catching!

Saw one guy on Sunday who caught 3 fishing in his first 3 casts!!
The fly responsible a "Pink Minkie" just shows that the old saying of offering something that hasn't been seen before will work.  Remember though that this doesn't just mean a different fly it can also mean a different retrieve - faster, slower, more erratic, etc....

Talking of flies - I have just finished the fly display boxes for the shop, all labelled up and full of well tied samples. We will have as good a fly selection as anyone and probably better than most other local tackle shops,  Nearly 200 patterns/sizes to choose from.

Fishing report

Just thought I'd share with you a little report of fishing today. This is by Oliver a young chap who is on the England Youth Fly Fishing Team.

"I arrived at Curley's and was met with a relatively calm lake with just a slight ripple. I started off on one of the roadside pontoons and got a few plucks but nothing solid and so moved onto the embankment and altered my method. I changed to a competition sized cats whisker with a floating line and leader of about 15ft.  With a static presentation followed by a very slow retrieve I hooked into a good rainbow of about 3lbs, this was followed by another 2, all fully fined and good looking fish. I was a great couple of hours and it won't be long before I'm back at Curley's"

Stocking tomorrow (Friday 28th)
Looking good for the weekend!!!

A little slow one and two's being caught but generally quite hard work. Had a visitor on today from London who caught a very nice 4 lb rainbow that brought a good smile to his face.
Been talking to a lot of members of the local fisheries - Roddlesworth, Entwistle and all are reporting difficult conditions and low catch rates.

Stocking again on Friday with 2 to 3lbs Rainbows.

Small lake fishing really well with large bags of roach and perch.