Fly Fishing & Fly Tying

Lechlade & Bushyleaze, w/e January 25

2012-01-25T09:33:52+00:00

Tim Small at Lechlade writes:

A Happy New Year to you all! I am sorry there has been such a delay since the last report, I managed to get away for two weeks over Christmas and have been paying for it ever since.

We still need a lot of rain this Spring to top up the water table but, despite only about half an inch of precipitation while I was away, the river has come right back up to near normal winter levels and the fish on the farm are now happy and feeding hard. We do get a certain amount of �compensatory growth� so they are piling on the weight. We are finding plenty of fish up to 20lb and some very nice, big brownies. Average size on Bushyleaze is well up and will be for some considerable time. Average size is going up on Lechlade with every day that passes and should be 7-8 pounds with a lot of much bigger fish. There are still some of last years brownies coming out, all in double figures.

The aeration is at long last turned off on the farm, that was costing us several thousand pounds a month. Mercifully, the weather was mild between Christmas and New Year and we saw plenty of anglers through the door. Thank you. A year ago we were frozen over. I was in Colorado for Christmas, clear sky�s and minus 20C but my fishing buddies still insisted I go out with them. We drove out to the middle of a 200-acre lake, along with about 40 other anglers, drilled a hole in 18in of ice and caught perfect, wild rainbows, about 12 ounces each, and one salmon! I thought this was probably going to be a very boring, silly past time, but it was very enjoyabale. There were custom built Winnebagos on the ice, with removable panels in the floor and all modern comforts! I was just as happy sitting on a cold box of beer in shirt sleeves! The enormous, occasional, huge cracking ice sound was a bit disconcerting but no one else seemed to take any notice! I was thinking I should have done this at Bushyleaze last year�.Can you imagine the Health and Safety implications??!

The return of river flows here is slightly baffling but having observed Cotswold rivers and aquifers for nearly 40 years now there is a fairly plausible and interesting reason. The Cotswolds have two aquifers, the inferior oolite, which reacts pretty fast to rainfall, and the great oolite, which stores long term excess of rain. Cotswold geology is pretty strange and these two different layers actually reach the surface in different places because of geological formations, formed in the ice age. So, although the water table is still very depleted around here, a lot of the lakes and wells are way down, there are some rivers, fed by the great oolite, that are running well. This aquifer covers an area from The Welsh Mountains right over to the Alps. Who got buckets of rain over the Christmas period? The Welsh. Sadly, this aquaifer recedes very quickly in the Spring which is why we need so much �surface� water now but it is a blessing all the same. Both fisheries are still crystal clear, so I would imagine that the ‘Cotswold flow’ is still not there but temperatures and conditions mean the fish are hungry and happy and ready to play. Ideal for stalking and fish are more than happy to take dry flies on Bushyleaze. On the warmer days there have been plenty of hatches of buzzers.

You really should bag up if you come along, we are so top heavy on the farm that we are being very generous with our stocking, putting good amounts of fish in almost every day. Lechlade seems to be working well with short tailed, gold-head damsel nymphs. There is not a lot of fry bashing going on so small to medium sized nymphs are the order of the day. ‘H’ is still catching on semi submerged Daddys. You can have great fun on Bushy, using small dry flies. Buzzers, damsel nymphs and GRHE�s are all good too.

I will get back to regular monthly reports at the beginning of next month but here are the rather belated results for December:

Lechlade saw 415 Anglers catch 857 fish. 65% were between 6-8lb and 35% were between 10-13lb. Best fish went to Mr Corrigham at 14.4lb on Boxing Day and Mr Knight had a 14.3 Brownie early in December. (This month’s biggest is already at just under 17lb, for Mr Mason). There were several 40lb+ bags.

Bushyleaze saw 263 rods catch 1,075 fish, at an average of 3.5lb! To me that looks like everyone bagged up. There were a host of fish between 6-7lb.
Remember, if you go on to the website it is worth refreshing the pages, in case your computer has a memory. The online booking page has finally died a death, because of various legalities, but you can phone in and book in advance or order gift vouchers. There is still a calendar that shows the dates, on both waters, that we are closed.

We hope to see many of you soon and thank those of you who came over the Christmas period. Unless something horrendous happens, there will be no price increases this year. Tackle sales are well down so we may have some good offers coming up before the end of March. I am sure that our prices are competitive with other retail suppliers and most of the internet. Remember you get personal service and a proper back up if something goes wrong.

Hoping for a great year, We will look forward to seeing you.

Tight lines,

Tim, Rob, Ben and Charlotte ... and soon-to-be Beth, who will take over marketing and Corporate� and look after me!

Salmon Fishing Reports from Ireland’s Cork Blackwater river (Blackwater Lodge Salmon Fishery)

2010-07-06T05:06:33+00:00

River Report for June

The river level for June has probably been the lowest for about 50 years, which means that most fish are holding in the tidal reaches rather than running into the main river.
The table below shows the average height for the month for the last four years � since the start of the drift net ban.
This year it was 0.18m compared to the average for 2007-9 of 0.41m.
In fact it was only above 0.30m (which we would normally regard as summer low level) for 2 days during the whole month. There have also been few rods out fishing for the month.

Statistics for the Month of June for 2007 - 2010

——————— Year 2007 2008 2009 2010

Number of Fish Caught 44 21 51 24
———- Catch/Rod Day 0.25 0.09 0.30 0.30
— Average River Height 0.35 0.39 0.48 0.18

We can see from the Table that � whilst the catch number for the month was not high at 24 � in fact the catch/rod day was 0.30, exactly the same as that for 2009 when there was far more water in the river.

In fact, 22 of the fish were caught for only 24 rod days in the week from June 12 � an average of 0.9 fish per rod day, which was extremely good. One angler caught 5 in one afternoon � all on fly & 4 were released. Best fish of the month was a 12 pounder released on Upper Kilmurry.

July has started off well after a small fresh in the river on the 2nd. Seven grilse have been caught for 6 rod days in the three days from July 2-4.

For all the very latest information please see the Blackwater Lodge Fishing Report page on :
http://www.ireland-salmon-fishing.net/FishingReport/fishingreport.htm

Prospects
Even although the river is very low, the clarity is good and runs of larger grilse (4-5lb.) are coming in.
There is more rain forecast during the week, so the prospects of sport for the coming week are quite good.
Very small flies, light worming & spun shrimp are working best, though fish are also being met on spinner.

Where to meet us
Glenda is fly-casting demonstrator at the Irish Game & Country Fair at Birr Castle in Co. Offaly on August 28 & 29th.
We will also have a stand at the Fair.

Availability
We have availability of rods & accommodation in the next couple of weeks.
Late summer and backend weeks are now filling up fast, so contact us quickly if you are thinking of fishing later in the season.

Flytying Wax

2011-03-25T14:56:59+00:00

Sadly, and after many years of consistent use my fly tyers wax has come to an end.
A one inch thumb sized piece was given to me in the late 70’s and, having been used ever since on many hundreds of flies is now down to a piece about the size of a match head. (I learned to tie flies using a cut-to-length piece of silk, well waxed, which was always finished off with a finger tied whip finish). Unfortunately the elderly gentleman who gave the flytyers wax to me passed away several years ago.
The wax was a lovely translucent brownish shade that I used for turning Pearsall’s Primrose silk the necessary shade of olive for Greenwells etc. Also it had the most wonderful aroma (Well, I liked it anyway although the Main Trout Catcher - AKA the missus, didn’t - there is also have an issue on me using Napthalene crystals to preserve flytying materials…however that is another story!)
Over the years, and seeing my precious supply steadily dwindling, I’ve bought and used (including beeswax from a wild hive living under the bedroom floor!) several alternatives but none have given the necessary shade required when dressing Greenwells.
Recently I bought Veniard’s fly tyers wax and was surprised on opening the packet to see a pitch black cube marked ‘COBBLERS WAX’. A bit dubious as to how a standard Greenwells Dry fly would turn out, I VERY lightly waxed the silk and was shocked to find that the silk turned to a darkish mahogany-olive, similar to a bronzed flytying hook, nothing like the lovely shade I need to tie the current batch!
As a last resort I’ve tried warming a few different waxes and mixing them throughly by hand.
I am not really happy with the shade of olive obtained on the primrose silk, although it’s better than nothing. But the problem now is one of maintaining consistency and as my supply of other waxes is small this solution won’t last too long either.
The Beeswax I feel is a good start (the aroma is similar to my original piece) although I think it needs to be darkened somewhat but I’m not sure how to do this (boil it?).
Also I note that my Beeswax floats in warm water but Veniards Cobblers Wax sinks.
Can anyone point me in the right direction as to a good flytyers wax which will turn Primrose silk a nice shade of olive for Greenwells?
Thanks Chaps

Mind Boggling and a Challenge!

2011-11-02T19:06:31+00:00

Through recommendations from fellow flyfishers, replies posted to inquiries on this forum, books I own such as Bruce Sandison�s excellent �Rivers and Lochs of Scotland� and general internet searches, I have come to the conclusion that there are a mind boggling number of loch and river, Brown Trout, Sea Trout and Salmon flies that I need to tie for our holiday in Assynt in June 2012.
So many in fact, that in order to tie the twenty or so Sea Trout, ten or so Salmon and at least thirty Brownie patterns, I will be too busy tying flies to go on holiday
- That�s roughly 60 patterns, in 3 sizes, and 3 of each for myself AND for my wife (I am allowed no unfair advantage, you can be sure of that!), totalling some 600 flies or so.
Apart from postponing our holiday for a year, words like �serious overdraft, �move to a bigger home�, �marriage and addiction counselling� come to mind.
SOOooo to cut what could be a long and tiresome posting short; I humbly challenge fellow flyfishers to a sort of fly version of �Desert Island Discs�; to think about limiting the selection to three flies ONLY for each of the three species and then post your recommendations.
I know it would be hard enough for me to limit myself to three fly boxes, let alone three flies to fish Powdermill, my local water!
Well chaps, there we are. Are you up for a challenge or as boggled as I am?

Lechlade & Bushyleaze, w/e November 3

2011-11-03T10:09:57+00:00

Tim Small writes:

It is difficult to sit here and report on the previous few days fishing only to find that conditions change again. However, I am now reasonably confident that autumn fishing has truly arrived. We have had some frosts and some very much needed rain. Although the river has still yet to come up, and therefore the farm is still vulnerable, Bushyleaze came up 4 inches in a 24 hour period last week, which means the water table must be recovering. And I walked down the river this morning and could ‘smell’ water. I think it is about to come back. We need it.

I have never seen the water, in both lakes, so clear. The fish at Lechlade are close to the margins and great for stalking. We are seeing good catch returns and some good browns are coming out (well done, Mr Mackean Junior!) Dry Daddies are working well on both waters. The shoals at Bushyleaze appear to have broken up. No, it is not because they are about to spawn!

The upside of having been so quiet is that the fish being stocked in to Bushy are close to 4lb and there will be a feast of doubles, both rainbows and browns, for Lechlade this winter.

The catch returns over the last ten days have been very encouraging.
Best wishes and Tight Lines,

Tim.

What’s the biggest wild brown ever from the Hampshire Avon drainage?

2011-10-16T08:46:24+00:00

I had an amazing experience on the 30th of September on the Wilton Club water on the Wylye, a 28” wild brown, read about it here: http://fliesandstuff.blogspot.com/2011/10/wylye-monster.html

It’s been suggested this might be the biggest wild trout every caught on the Wylye. I’m not a trophy hunter per se but I would like to hear from anyone who might know of bigger fish in the past.

Thanks
Keith

Lechlade & Bushyleaze, w/e October 4

2011-10-04T07:08:45+00:00

I apologise for the long gap since the last Report. As you can imagine conditions have been changing on a daily basis and I do not want to send out a positive report only to find it is wrong 48 hours later.

As I have mentioned several times this year, I have not known a season quite like this in my near 40 years in the business. We entered the year snowed and iced in which didn�t clear until mid February (having started at the end of November last year). We then had kind, but completely dry, conditions for a few weeks and the fishing was excellent, especially for the browns on Lechlade. This was followed by the heatwave in April and I think the majority of this years problems emanated from that period. We then entered the coldest summer for 20 years but still no rain. It looked as if conditions should have been perfect. Water clarity has been the best I have ever seen but the water temperatures stayed stubbornly high. A few weeks ago it started getting cooler, we even had a ground frost one morning, and we started to get some fairly promising rain. The fishing started to pick up a bit and I was hopeful that the worst was over. The forecasters were even forecasting severe cold and snow by mid-October (which could still happen, God forbid). And then, as we all are witnessing, we have seen the hottest October days on record. What a life! However, it looks as if that is on the way out now, all we need is some very decent rain. I don�t think we will get it this week. Rob and Ben are doing a first class job keeping the fish on the farm alive, it is a 24/7 worry.

BUT the catch returns over the last few days have been very encouraging and getting better every day. Water temperatures are dropping slowly, despite the daytime temperatures (down to much longer nights), the fish in Bushyleaze are no longer shoaled up but well spread out around the lake, and the fish in Lechlade are spread out and feeding off the surface. There are no mortalities and the fish that are coming out are in good shape. We are back to daily stocking, some doubles came out over the weekend and an angler had one of the big browns stocked last winter. I hope I am not speaking too soon but I am fairly optimistic. If there are any changes I will let you all know.

We are getting some calls saying that the website still says that Lechlade is closed for August. I have updated it fairly recently. If you are logging on it is worth refreshing the page as it might just be ‘storing’ your previous log on. The online booking form is still not working. I will get back on to that. The diary is still accurate though so you can go and see what days we are shut, without committing yourself.

Rob has held his first fly tying evening and a good time was had by all. These will take place on the first Wednesday of every month in the clubhouse at Lechlade. If you are interested in joining in please email Rob at rob at lechladetrout dot co dot uk. We are catering from beginners to experts. The next one is this Wednesday.

We hope to see you all soon (so does my Bank Manager! We have barricaded the building with our electricity meters, 35 Kilowatts an hour, 24/7, since late April is going to be a bit scary when they take an actual, rather than estimated reading.

With best wishes,
Tim and the team.

First time in UK/Ireland/Scottland

2011-03-14T15:10:15+00:00

Even though I live in Sweden I am a big fan of FF & FT. And since every number of the magazine is filled with spots you have to fish before you die I have now started to plan fishing location nr 1.

Ok, so if you had a rather limiited budget, but still wanted to experience some great trout fishing, where would you go, and stay? Im flying from Sweden so any fishery located rather close to an airport is a bonus

Thanks in advance for any help.

rgds
/ Richard

Lechlade & Bushyleaze, w/e August 26

2011-08-26T07:14:10+00:00

Just an update to let you know that we are opening Lechlade again from this Saturday. We have cut the vast majority of the weed and repaired the pontoons. The water is crystal clear, and has been throughout July and August, but the fishing has been nigh on impossible. Water temperatures are down to a sensible level now and I am hoping for the best. We have stocked with fresh fish. I will send out an angling report next week to let you know how it is going but you are welcome to give it a go in the meantime.

Bushyleaze is also gin clear, but again the fishing is tough, when really all the indicators are that it should be fishing well. Two of my instructors fished it today and bagged up but everyone else was finding it hard going. There are a few lice up there but not as bad as some summers. There are one or two �distressed� fish showing, I think these are the ones that got stocked during that hot spell in April and May. We are only finding one or two dead fish a week, much less than you would normally find at this stage of the summer.

We seem to have missed all the rain but are keeping our fingers crossed. Keeping the fish alive on the farm has been a 24/7 job but so far, so good� The long range forecast is for a cold and wet September. We really need it so we can get going again.

Thanks for your tolerance,� I will always try and give honest reports. For those who have joined the mailing list recently I can assure you that these reports are always a lot more fun than this, and considerably longer!

Have a good Bank Holiday weekend and I hope to see some of you here.

Tim.

Lechlade & Bushyleaze, w/e July 18

2011-08-02T09:07:31+00:00

Both lakes are unbelievably clear. Lechlade is often pea soup at this time of the year and we are thinking of closing for a few weeks. This year it is gin clear, as is Bushy, so I see no reason to shut. Even after 40 years in this business I have no idea why conditions can vary so much�.maybe something to do with the big ice cover last winter?

The fishing on Lechlade isn’t easy, but it never is at this time of year. I think they call it Dog Days. Fish are being caught and they are easy to see and stalk. Very ocassionally I throw some floating fish food in to the lake and the fish come up straight away to feed so they are hungry. I am sure that it is that there is so much natural food around that you have to be just that bit more �on your toes�. Challenge yourselves and give it a go, It can be done! As usual, you are more than welcome to transfer to Bushyleaze if you are frustrated. Howard and George, two of our instructors, seem to catch fish fairly easily�.even some of the big browns. Howard swears by a dry daddy, George likes small, yellow shrimp stalking bugs.

Bushyleaze is fishing well and the size of fish is well up, around the 4lb mark. These ‘bulges’ happen when we get a bit quieter and our current batch of fish keep growing. Good news for you. They are shoaling up ccassionally, mainly over the springs in the woods, but the last couple of weeks of cool and windy weather have seen them dispersing again. There have been good evening rises and dries will work all day on Bushy.

Report for June. On Lechlade, apart from a 13lb brown, caught by Mr Hill from Devon, there were no doubles, but a good amount of fish between 7-9lb, mainly taken on GRHE�s, Mayflies and Black Buzzers. 173 rods caught 589 fish, which isn’t bad, considering a lot of those were probably 2 fish tickets. 372 Anglers visited Bushyleaze and caught 1456 fish. Largest went to Mr Macauley at 8lb. There were a huge amount of fish landed between 4-6lb.

Good news, Bad news. The good news is that there has been a small reduction in the price of fish feed this week. Only about �18 a ton but at least it has stopped going up. The bad news is that we have become very aware of a lot of people coming in to fish Bushy at the weekends who have not paid. We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea here (I sound like that guy on The Apprentice!). To police Bushy full time would cost more than the revenue we are losing. However, we are being ripped off � and so are you. We have no idea of how many fish they have caught, so stocking levels are affected and you are subsidising their fishing. If you have any suspicions about anglers up there, please give us a call. We WILL be conducting random ticket checks in future, so please do not be offended if we ask to see your ticket. The police and EA have kindly offered to help with this so don�t be surprised if the Boys in Blue approach you. You all know how I like to run this place but I suspect that you know I will not be taken for a ride. The last two I caught were out on float tubes!!!! That is really taking the mickey.

Rob is still hoping to start his Fly Tying Club, Please let him know if you are interested. (The Lechlade cockerels are now just dried capes! I do miss them but there were far too many. We ate them and they were absolutely revolting! Tough, tough, tough).