Plenty of Water!

Well I have to say at mid January we have had one very mild and wet winter! Even if it is dry and freezing for the next six weeks.

Lakes, Reservoirs and rivers are all full. It all looks good for our spring fed rivers and lakes during the coming summer fly fishing. For example, the whole of winter 2005/2006 saw the rivers Coln and Leach catchment area recieve only ten inches of rainfall. Despite this we experienced good flows into early July.

By the end of December 2006 the same catchment had already recieved twelve inches of rain! Terrible for the winter grayling fishing perhaps, but assuming plenty soaks into the ground to re-appear later and does not all run-off, it's money in the bank!

Tight Lines

Steve

December 2006 Fly Fishing Report

Happy New Year everyone!

December was a very busy month both for us and fisheries. During the Christmas break many waters were packed with anglers, which was nice to see. After 2 days of over eating, it's nice to hit the water and it seems many people feel the same.

We have yet to experience any really cold weather and fish are very active for the time of year. Loynton, Cound trout fishery and Lechlade all produced good numbers of double figure rainbows during December to both lure and nymph tactics. The same tactics also caught good bags of fish at these venues.

Marton Heath and Danebridge fished well, responding to a mixture of lure and buzzer patterns to suit conditions. I saw only a few anglers fish Willington, which is a shame. Yes it can be a difficult water in winter as it is not stocked as heavily as smaller waters and the trout often hold deep.

However, carefull fishing with bloodworm, buzzers, damsels and shrimp flies can put you in contact with some well conditioned fish to around 8lbs. It's not a numbers game, but if you enjoy challenging fishing for grown on fish I suggest giving it a try. They fight like hell too, this is the only water I've ever been taken into my backing on and it's happened 3 times in 2006.

Looking to January sport will continue much the same unless we a hit a prolonged cold spell. Heres the the good fishing continuing!

Tight Lines

Steve