Report of Keith Allison’s and Geoff Darby’s Visit to Farmoor II on 11th March 2017

The weather and wind speed was perfect for our first trip out this year. However when we arrived at the reservoir we thought we had made a big mistake as the car park was full and there must have been at least 100 anglers tackling up! Luckily for us they were in a bank competition on Farmoor I.

We were on the water by 8:35 am and Geoff had his first fish of the New Year on his third cast! Fishing with all home tied flies he took the fish on an orange cruncher on the point. We were both using floating lines; I had a few pulls on a white minky.

I decided to go on to a di 3 line with a minky on the point and cruncher on the dropper. It soon paid dividends and we both had 2 fish each by lunch time. I had hooked and lost one also – on a black/green booby – with the other fish coming to a cruncher and a minky.

The occasional fish was feeding on the surface, so back to a floater; Geoff having  gone through a sink tip, intermediate and back to his floater. He took another fish on a small cats whisker – the fish leapt out of the water like a salmon! Keith’s best fish of the day was taken when casting to a rising fish which took the cruncher fished just under the surface. The eighth fish came on our last drift to the jetty – on a minky – again fished near the surface.

All the fish were in top condition and fin perfect. An excellent start to the year with good company and challenging fishing.