Fishing Reports 2008 Season
For the coming season I'll once again be providing, as much as possible, a weekly fishing report which I hope that members and visitors to the site will find enjoyable. As usual, I'll detail the weather, water, fishi caught, best beat, top rod as well as my ribbing of Lord Lob. Will he fish the river this season and if so will he catch anything OR will he visit the fishmonger and fib. Tight lines for the new season
Week 8; Week ending Friday 9 May 08Week 8 was a generally warm week with the river running at medium height and one would think that the CR would start to show an increase in numbers caught. Not to be with 19(11) entries for 8(8) fish. Reminds me of when I was young and chasing women - my mates would tell me all I'd catch would be an old trout, heck I can't even get that. Top rod this week shared between Treefisher, River Chatter and Milestone with 2 each followed by Wee Eck and Jack with 1 apiece. Smaller fish are now being caught with 6 of the 8 being under 8 inches. Dry flies just edged 5 - 3 against wets this week and the best fishing taking place above the ford. Best beat was from the Island pool to Kirkland bridge.. However, early indications on the CR for this week are looking a bit better. The beavers had a great night with some good work done trimming trees repairing dams etc. and plenty laughs to boot. Tight lines for the coming week
Week 7; Week ending Friday 2 May 08A peek at the CR for week 7 shows 11 entries for 8 fish (running total 34) with 1 marked?, Since this was a smaller fish it is not one we have stocked and perhaps is a lost soul from another water. Caught fish size as follows; 4 in the 6-8 inch range, 2 in the 8-10 inch range, 1 in the 10-12 inch rand and 1 over 12 inches. Looks like the smaller fish are now starting to be caught. Top rod this week is Milestone with 4 trout - congratulations. Once again the best beat is from the Weir to Waterfoot followed by below the ford and the Polnoon water, however, these were the only beats fished.
It has been another good week for dry flies which accounted for 7 out of the 8 fish caught. Some of the successful dries used were an Olive Klinky, an Adams. a wee green thing and a home tied brown thing with white wings. For us who tie our own flies I would not worry if they turn out like a dogs dinner because that is what my home tied brown thing was like and it got hammered. Glad to see, from the message board, that Gypo has joined me in sampling the delights of falling into our river, anyone out there wanting to make it a hat trick. Finally, the beavers, under the guidance of Lord Lob(it's the only way we can get him to the river), had their 1st outing on Tuesday and repaired the the groynes on the Little Cart. Tight lines
Week 6; Week ending Friday 25 April 08The CR for week 6 shows 12 entries for 7 fish with 5 of these caught by Klinky and all of Klinky's caught on the dry fly. Guess that makes Klinky the Top Rod for the week. Of the 7 trout caught 4 were caught on the Weir to Waterfoot stretch and the other 3 on the Polnoon Water The Weir to Waterfoot stretch is fishing quite well and seems to be holding the bigger fish. I was on the Weir to Waterfoot stretch this evening and the river was looking very good with plenty of bigger trout rising. Did I catch anything, well you'll just have to wait till next week to find out. The beavers start up on Tuesday (29/4) and if all ok will probably do some in-stream work - we'll try and keep any inconvenience to the bare minimum.
Week 5; Week ending Friday 18 April 08Week 5 under the belt already and due to being away on holiday I didn't get to fish the river. Looks like I missed some good fishing as the Catch Return(CR) shows 24 entries for 12 trout caught - must have been something Dipper and I said. Top rod was Gary McNulty with 5 but hot on his heels was Klinky with 4. Although wet flies were used more often, it has been dries that are catching - 10 out of the 12 with 4 on the F-fly. Best beat this week by a mile was the Waterfoot beat which accounted for 11 of the 12 caught. 8 of the trout were over 12 inches with 1 retained. I wonder what will be seen first on the river, a swallow or L.L. Tight lines and keep using the CR.
Week 4; Week ending Friday 11 April 08Week 4 has come and gone with the Catch Return showing 8 entries for 1 trout. Although the Return shows an increase from 2 fish to 7 fish as the total caught, 4 of these belong to last week - these were the 4 caught on the Earn by Klinky. Top rod, and this will make L.L green with envy, this week is Meths with 1 trout caught on the Polnoon. Now that I've said this I'll no doubt get egg on my face with a late entry showing more than 1 trout caught . A slow start to the season as by this time last year we were up at 22 caught, perhaps it is the cold start to the season. Cold or not I would encourage members to get out and about and as the Dipper quite rightly says in one of his posts "How can you catch fish from the living room." Tight lines for the coming week
Week 3; Week ending Friday 4 April 08Looking at the Catch Return it's good to see some of our new members fishing the river and using the Catch Return. I hope that our new members enjoy fishing the river as much as I and other established members do. The Catch Return for this week sees 11 entries for no fish although I know that 4 trout were caught on the Earn, to Klinky I'll paraphrase a famous saying "Your Catch Return needs you". Going by the entries the river has been mostly at medium height and in the main fished with wet flies. When I fished it on Monday it looked very good - fishy even but it flattered to deceive, a big fat zero for me. Hopefully, in the next few weeks we will turn the corner and see regular entries showing fish caught. Till next week, tight lines.
Week 2; Week ending Friday 28 March 08No fish caught this week and only 5 returns recorded in the Catch Return, not surprising given the cold weather. The added factor of the wind chill made it seem even colder and reminded me of an old joke - baby polar bear to mother bear/ mum, am i a polar bear/ mother bear, yes you are/ a little later baby polar bear says, mum, are you sure I'm a polar bear / mum says, of course you are and why are you asking / baby polar replies, cause I'm blooming freezing. No doubt this will strike a chord with those brave bears who ventured out this past week. Perhaps the coming week will see an improvement but as I write it is cold and wet - ah well. Tight lines
Week 1; Week ending Friday 21 March 08Well, the first week of fishing is now behind us but plenty of weeks left(LL) to fish the river. The season started with a cold Saturday and no fish caught. However, Sunday was a different kettle of fish entirely with late Sunday afternoon being mild and sunny, so much so that we had a few rises at the weir stretch. I was there and did a quick change to a Klinkhammer but they trout were playing hard to get and were always just out of reach. Eureka, I decide to slip into the river and gain the extra yard needed when ***&&??@@@~~~ who put that shoogly stone there - full immersion (swimswithfishes would have been proud of me) and the water was freezing. After returning half the river to its rightful place I soldiered on for 15 mins until hypothermia began to set it.
Fortunately for Brian he had managed to catch his two trout (two beautiful wild fish of 7 and 12 ins - I saw the photos)prior to me falling in as the noise I made scared fish for miles around. Talking of Brian, he lifts the first "top rod" of the season with one trout caught in the Earn on a PTN and the other caught just above the weir on a Black Pennell. Not much happened after Sunday as only 1 other visit to the river has been logged. Eight catch returns logged in this opening week and I would urge all members who have internet access to log all (inc. blanks) visits to the river in the Catch Return. Tight lines for the coming week.