Week 6
10 July After our customary pre-drink in the Ferry Boat, we headed in for our 6th instalment of the Wednesday evening league. Everyone’s hopes were high, with the water gin clear, and a gentle 7mph s/w wind, rods laced up, off we went. Tony Fox, and Peter Baker decided on a good long walk, and headed for the houses bank on no5, to have it all to them-selves. From the off they could see fish moving in the distance. Also feeling his legs needed a good stretch, Peter Gulliver headed to the top bay of no5. Joining up with some of the pleasure anglers already there, Dave Gary settled for the East bank of 5 and Frank and John on the railway bank . With everyone in their place, fishing started. Dave fishing the washing line with two buzzers got of to a good start, landing a nice fish early on, with Peter Gulliver soon also into a cracker on nymphs, fish were moving freely all along the west bank of 5, a lot of last weeks stocking. Now the same could not be said for Frank and John down on no4 , not a fish to be seen anywhere , unlike the previous week where fish were popping up along all banks, after 3hrs fishing between them and just one fish caught, they decided it was time to move. Also on the move were Tony and peter who were fairing no better on the houses with 4hrs combined fishing and not a touch for either. Peter headed for the cause-way of 4 and Tony headed for the west bank of 5, where he started catching from the off on his thrusted dries but not happy with the size, he returned them all. Dave had by now caught his second keeper and was laying back pretty relaxed, only to be disturbed by frank charging in and throwing out what looked like half a rabbit, whatever it was, it worked, Frank was soon into his first fish of the evening and with time running out he had his second. For some it was a night of frustration, lots of fish but few takers and with time up it was the long trudge back to the Ferry Boat where we started. After the weigh in Frank came out on top with Dave a good 2nd. Looking at the table the league is wide open. Full results as follows: |
Week 5
03 July The hot weather finally arrived and with it came a fresh stocking of fit, hard fighting rainbows. Whilst the freshly stocked fish could be seen tight against the concrete on the margins of reservoir 5, all anglers chose to ignore these in favour of chasing some larger resident fish. With Tony Fox and Peter Baker away representing Bewl in a club match on Grafham there was a chance to add some decent points to the leader board for those who could make it. Dave, John and Peter again focussed on reservoir 4, where they would catch a fish each on minkies before john caught his 2nd, a nice 3lb fish that he would later regret returning. Matt, Jacek and Frank would all start on the house bank and the adjacent bay on reservoir 5. Frank didn’t fancy sharing the fishing with a couple of resident cormorants though so quickly moved to the point on the East bank where he caught and kept a fish before heading to number 4. It was quiet for Jacek and Matt but a short move 20yards along the bank saw Jacek into fish where he too kept his 1st on a black lure. Matt had hooked into a number of fish but takes were either savage, leaving his leader in pieces or super tentative leading to missed or lost fish. At around 8pm all anglers would around the reservoirs in search of fish for the weigh in. Frank ended up on the East bank of Reservoir 4 where he was having good sport on dries and landed his 2nd keeper. Dave would stop on the causeway of 4 where he reported hooking a large carp (or a huge trout) that would take him to his backing at ludicrous speed before everything went slack. Jacek, Matt and John all ended up in the corner of reservoir 5 near the hut with Jacek tight in the corner. Matt had the pleasure of watching Jacek pull in approx 10 rainbows in a 30min period and not knowing if one of these would be his last Jacek kept rolling the dice before keeping one of the smallest fish ever recorded in the summer league (1lb 12oz). Frustratingly, Jacek would go on to catch a further 3 much larger fish soon after. Either side of Jacek, Matt and John were struggling in comparison. Matt eventually managed to land his only fish of the night and John also couldn’t add to the one fish he had kept early on. Many had small regrets when it came to the weigh in: either missed opportunities, lost fish or returning fish they perhaps should have kept but this is what makes the Summer and Autumn leagues so exciting. Whilst all anglers chose to go in pursuit of larger resident fish, 2 newly stocked fish would have given the angler a minimum of 8 points and an early night at the Ferryboat. Well done Frank with two solid fish and a bag just shy of 7lb. With three weeks remaining frank is cruising up the outside looking to topple one of the early leaders. Full results as follows: |
Week 4
26 June The scorching hot weather never materialised for the 4th evening of our summer league and from 6pm fish could be seen crashing at the surface about 6-10 yards off the causeway of Reservoir 5. Peter Gulliver was the only angler to target them though as a fierce North Easterly would make it difficult to keep your patterns in the zone for long enough. Instead Matt and Jacek fished the East bank of reservoir 5 whilst Dave, John and Tony would focus around the boil on Reservoir 4. Tony and Dave chose to use a selection of minkies and fry patterns on a floating line while John preferred to pull a bit faster on an intermediate with a larger minkie. Crucially, John’s minkie had a pincer hook at the tail to convert the nips into takes. The action on 4 was intense and all 3 anglers had soon caught and kept their two fish limit. John reported that he would have a pull on almost every cast between 6 and 7pm before things started to slow down. Meanwhile, Matt and Jacek were both using small boobies on DI5s but whilst they were getting lots of attention, this could not be converted into solid takes. Then came the classic 'angler shuffle' at about 8.15pm when all anglers simultaneously went for a wander in an attempt to find fish and catch the two 'keepers' required. Peter Gulliver moved to the North East corner of 5 where he hooked and lost a decent fish on diawl bachs. Jacek moved around to the bay adjacent the house bank where he was quickly into fish and landed his two for the weigh in. Matt however, worked his way along almost every platform on the causeway. With no joy he was seriously considering calling it a day and he was regretting not trying buzzers due to the sheer volume of hatches he had noticed along the way when he finally caught his first fish at 9.16pm, followed by a larger second fish that took him to his backing at 9.23pm. His fish were caught tight in the corner near the hut on his favourite booby on a DI 5 and proved that its worth persevering until the end as the bigger fish are often caught later on in the evening. It was a great nights sport, with all anglers seeing some action. A tight weigh in followed where Matt just edged ahead of a jet lagged Tony to take the full 10 points. I don’t think Tony will mind after catching a 100lb + tarpon earlier in the week!! We are now halfway through this years fixtures and four different anglers have taken the full 10 points so far but as only the top 5 results will be counted in the final table it promises to come to an exciting conclusion at the end of July. Well done all. Full results as follows: |
Week 3
19 June Westerly winds, heavy showers and poor water clarity greeted the anglers for round 3 of the summer league. The majority chose to fish the West bank of no. 5 where the wind was more favourable, but John Ferguson set up near the boil on the railway bank of no.4 and Matt Mccoll chose to fish the houses bank. Both John and Matt would benefit from this separation from the crowd. On the West bank and causeway the anglers fished various methods with little success. Nymphs, lures, dries and Peter Baker’s sink, all fished at a variety of depths could not tempt them. This was surprising as conditions appeared great and the reservoirs have been fishing so well recently. On the railway bank John had started well and using a snake to great effect had bagged two nice rainbows. His experience would tell him that the poor water clarity would make things difficult on the night and he chose to keep his first two fish before later releasing a much larger fish. Meanwhile, Matt was into a good number of fish on the houses bank but just couldn’t get them to the net. Five fished hooked – Four snapped leaders and one fish lost - all on small boobies on a di 5. If you hook a fish with a small hot coral / sunburst booby in its pincers please feel free to return the flies to him! He thought he had blown it and used the time to invest in some new leader in advance of next Wednesdays match before heading round to the causeway expecting to find the rest of the anglers with full bags. It was here that he learnt that it had been a tough night for all and with 9 minutes remaining finally managed to land a nice fish by creating a disturbance with small booby on the surface. A tough night indeed, we normally save the ‘blanks’ for later in the competition when temperatures increase but the evenings results have certainly tightened things up at the top of the leader board. A special mention to John, his solid performance and sound judgement catapults him to the top of the leader board. It is all to play for next week and with temperatures forecast in excess of 25 degrees, it might well be even more challenging… Full results as follows: |
Week 2
12 June Apologies, short report this week and we will resume full service next week for round three. With fish visible on the surface of number 5 lots of anglers chose to use dries. Tony and Peter were both in the mix again but Jacek Klekowski won on the evening with an excellent bag – 2 fish for 7lb 04oz. Well done Jacek. Full results as follows: |
Week 1
05 June A lovely evening and a South Westerly wind met the anglers on the first tie of our summer league and following reports of great fishing on no.5 the anglers spread across this reservoir in lieu of chasing some of the larger fish rumoured to inhabit No.4. Many favoured the West bank but Matt McColl, John Ferguson and Peter Baker settled on the houses bank and it wasn’t long before new member Neil Cohen (not in the competition on the evening) hooked into a fish, followed by Peter and a missed fish for both John and Matt. Early on Matt was catching in higher numbers but a 2 bag limit makes the format exciting and choosing to keep his first two fish would later regret not persevering to catch a couple of larger ones. Peter on the other hand kept an early 4lb rainbow and chose to release a number of fish in search of a larger bag. An admin error on the website (apologies now corrected) meant that Peter had packed up believing the competition ended at 9pm and was regretting not keeping one of his earlier fish. John shouted over that it was 9.30 and as it happened the fish really came on at this time. Peter still had enough time to set up his rod and following some great sport caught his second ‘keeper’ at the death. You will not find many anglers that can rival Tony Fox on dry flies and he had also caught two good fish meaning that the resultant weigh in at the Ferry Boat would be tense. Well done Peter Baker who took the lead with two fish for 6lb 11 ½ oz, just edging past Tony Fox with two fish for 6lb 9 ½ oz. Full results as follows: |
Back in the Ferry Boat Inn was well attended. Tony Fox, who recently won the Final Fling with a stunning 5-11-0 rainbow, is here tying up one of his killer patterns, along with Harry Fox and Kevin Blackwell. Don’t forget, there’s another Fly Tying Evening on Wednesday 6th March, also in the Ferry Boat Inn, beginning at 7.00pm.
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Farmoor 2 fished extremely well for its regular Fur & Feather event, sponsored by Craig Barr’s Flash Attack Flies, given the time of year. Under rather more comfortable conditions than last year, 39 anglers achieved a rod average of 1.4, with a top bag of 9 fish for 17-10-0 (inc time bonus) to Mark Haycock. 2nd was Gary Morris with 8 fish for 15-15-0, with Harry Fox (right) 3rd with 7 fish for 14-10-0. Harry has also been selected for this year’s AT TEFF team in the European Championships in Montenegro, so has obviously hit form at the right time! Well done Harry!
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Participants enjoyed better conditions than the previous day, which saw driving rain in the afternoon. With a close-to-capacity field, which included several internationals, fish were being caught right from the start, with no areas really being quiet. Winner Andrew Scott landed 13 fish, blanking on just one peg, to finish with 20 points, but WFFC member Billy Bridgeworth made the most of a good start on the Houses Bank to pick up 7 fish and finish a good 5th out of a field of 18. He now goes through to the Southern Semi-final at Elinor in March
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A wet, miserable morning awaited the anglers who braved the 2018 Fur & Feather. With winds blowing from the S/SW, most anglers opted for the Causeway, fishing into No4, with others trying their luck in the Bay by the Car Park. Barry Shedden, who was fishing halfway along the Causeway, had his four fish by 9 o’clock, fishing a DI7 with a short leader and a single Booby. Peter Baker, fishing next to Barry, also caught early on.
Meanwhile, John O’Regan and Dave Jarvis had started fishing on the Houses Bank, where the fishing had been phenomenal, and the trend continued today, with John catching his limit quickly, with an absolute cracker that hit the scales at 3lb 13ozs. Back on No4, late arrival Frank Daley had started fishing along the East Bank, where he was rewarded with a nice 2lb 14ozs rainbow, up from the Steps. The method with the lads on No4 was hopefully to get a few good fish, with the backdrop of No5 fishing so well, then pop over there for the last hour and hopefully get your limit. And this is what happened with most of them. The Houses Bank had been the chosen location, where Jim Dillon, Andrew Smith and John Ferguson managed to get their limits, but with so many now on the Houses Bank, the last hour with the fish probably pushed them further out, and things started to get hard. Like last year, Andrew Smith did a tour of the lakes, getting names and addresses, as well as the whip for the biggest fish, and ‘guess the total weight’. Later back at the Ferry Boat, when everyone had got their drink, we had our usual weigh-in outside. After that, with the scores added up, Dave Jarvis did the formalities, and crowned John O’Regan the 2018 winner, followed by new Rutland resident Frank Daley, with Jim Dillon finishing in 3td place. Well done to everyone for making this our best day of the year. Happy Christmas to you all! |