Grayling Fishing Weekend at Wherwell – 22/23 October 2016

Twelve Chiltern Club members gathered at Wherwell for the annual grayling fishing weekend, and to enjoy the excellent food and hospitality provided by Hughie and Eileen O’Reilly.

The weather conditions were incredibly mild for the time of year, and really warm and bright towards the end of the Saturday morning, with just a light easterly breeze – at least until the Sunday afternoon when the wind started to pick up a bit and made casting – and particularly up-stream nymphing – very difficult.

But the fishing conditions weren’t easy at any [...]

November 1st, 2016|

24th September 2016: The Martin Grant Memorial Trophy (Heaviest Bag)

This competition was held at Farmoor 2 reservoir and was an afternoon boat fishing contest using only the flies tied previously in the morning’s fly tying session. The winner was to be the heaviest bag consisting of upto four fish.

The morning dawned bright but windy and upon arrival at the venue we were advised that the wind exceeded the limits permitted for boats to go out on the reservoir. Nevertheless, fly tying commenced in the faint hope that the wind would moderate by lunch time and permit boats to [...]

October 3rd, 2016|

Fishing in a Hot Week in July

I fished Rutland right at the start of the very hot week in July, beginning Monday the 18th.  A group of us fished the very warm Monday morning, with just a very light breeze from the west.  Some anglers drifted along the Normanton shore and had success with floating lines and a team of buzzers.  The other successful method was drifting down the middle of the main basin , through the aerators, pulling blobs and boobies on Di5 and Di7 lines.  But as the heat built up in the [...]

August 7th, 2016|

Secretary’s Plate Competition – 23 July 2016

The Secretary’s Plate (Heaviest Fish) Competition

Once again this competition was held on Ravensthorpe Reservoir. It was a boat based contest with a “kill two fish then catch and release” ticket.

The weather was warm and sunny with occasional cloudy periods and a slight and often variable light breeze.

Fish were seen rising throughout the day though well spread apart across the reservoir. It appeared that many fish had gone in to the deeper, cooler water.

Stuart Foulds/Geoff Darby and Keith Allison/Keith Vernon went to the north (Coton Bay). Soon Stuart had caught [...]

July 28th, 2016|

Bob Sharp’s River Report, May – July 2016

12th May, Upper Avon at Salterton, Hampshire.

River in fine form and weather sunny and with a light breeze. Started the day upstream nymphing with a mayfly nymph. First fish took immediately and came off immediately! A 1.25lb grayling and 2.5lb brown trout followed and then the fish ‘shut off’ for the day although we tried all kinds of nymphs, both leaded and unleaded and a range of dries.

18th June on the River Coln near Bibury.

This is a delightful small stream. No fish rising so started by upstream nymphing with [...]

July 18th, 2016|

14th May 2016: The Ray Bull Trophy (Heaviest bag) Competition

This relaxed, friendly competition and BBQ was once again held on Farmoor II. This is a boat contest with an eight fish limit. Thirteen anglers in seven boats took part.

The day started with light cloud and later developed sunny periods and a chill light northerly wind. From the start the boats scattered, people heading for their favourite spots.

Keith Allison quickly gave John Pearce a lesson in blob fishing by catching on the first cast. For the rest of the morning they drifted across the water taking fish from virtually anywhere and [...]

May 25th, 2016|

Keith’s Allison’s Visit to Farmoor II

On 21st April I paid my first visit this year to Farmoor II which proved to be a ‘red letter’ day . The weather was cloudy, the temperature approximately 10 degrees with a North Westerly wind blowing at approximately 12 mph .

My old fishing pal Doug and I were setting up our rods in the bay in front of the boats and we saw some fish rising . Could we be in for a good day ahead? Having seen this activity, we decided that it had to be a [...]

April 25th, 2016|

Great Day Out at Draycote

Friday, 11th March, Draycote Water, Stuart Foulds.

I arrived at Draycote Lodge at 7.45am for a days fishing from the bank. The morning mist hung over the lake and I could just make out “D buoy” from the bank at Dunns Bay. The water was almost flat calm with a slight breeze blowing towards the bank. I set up a slow intermediate with a black and green lure (similar to the ones we have tied recently).

On the first cast I landed a 2lb rainbow. On the second cast I lost [...]

March 14th, 2016|

Speaker Evening – Mark Turner

Our speaker this month was Mark Turner. Mark started the evening by tying a basic nymph fly and and then showing how, by the addition of a slightly different material into the dressing, you can change the appearance of the fly and the way that it will catch fish. He followed this by tying an “Irish” Mayfly which is much more heavily dressed than those that we would tie here. After tea and coffee Mark showed us how to tie on a wing and stressed the importance of matching the two sides [...]

February 21st, 2016|

26th September 2015:  The Martin Grant Memorial Trophy (Heaviest bag)

This competition was held at Farmoor and was a boat contest involving fly tying in the morning and then using those flies to catch four fish in the afternoon, the winner weighing in the heaviest bag.  Five anglers took part.

The morning started at 09:30 with us seated around a table in the back room at Farmoor as usual John Goldie was late and when he did turn up was locked out of the building by the Ranger who had to go and sort out a boat problem.  Eventually John [...]

October 6th, 2015|