Angling Reports For The Lake District to 21st April 2009

Updated 24th April 2009

ENGLISH LAKES FLY FISHING WITH PATRICK ARNOLD
ANGLING IN THE ENGLISH LAKE DISTRICT (149)
Including some Fisheries in North Lancashire

This Report covers Game Angling, Coarse Fishing and briefly Sea Angling.
The Fly Fishing ‘Hints and Tips’ are based on the Author’s own experiences.

The Author’s Award Winning Reports aim to help anglers, especially visitors to the area, to find out : Where is fishing well and What are likely to be the most successful tactics.

GOOD SPRING WEATHER………

APRIL continued with some of the best spring weather for a decade or more with temperatures well above average on some days, although often the sunny days were accompanied by an easterly wind. It has been particularly dry.

TROUT STILLWATERS

With the cooler breezier easterly winds and often bright sunshine fishing has been patchy.

Bigland

With only sporadic hatches of Buzzers and the surface activity in short and sharp bursts the anglers who switched tactics to suit were rewarded with moderate numbers of quality hard fighting Rainbow Trout : Ken Harvey 11 to 5lbs. on Damsel nymphs and John Platt 8 on Buzzers.

The best methods have been a floating line and a long leader with Damsels nymphs, Diawl Bachs or Black Buzzers alternatively an intermediate line with Damsel nymphs twitched back across the bottom, especially near weed beds. For those using lures Orange Fritz and Cat’s Whiskers worked well.

Esthwaite Water

The Trout have been holding deep with only a few coming up to the surface when cloudy and the wind drops, especially in the late afternoon or early evening if it hasn’t been cold. The best catches have come from boat anglers with worm or spinning generally better than fly tactics : Chris Perry 10 Rainbow Trout with the heaviest of 6 lbs. 3 ozs. on spinner ; Ray Cummings 7 Rainbows and 1 Brown Trout also on spinner ; using a sinking line and an Orange Dancer lure, John Gardner had 5 Rainbows to 3 lbs. and a Brown Trout. During an evening session Stuart Coldwell landed 9 Rainbows with the best of 8 lbs. using an intermediate line and Damsel nymphs. The Esthwaite Water Troutmasters Fish-off was won by Dave Morris with 6 fish for 14 lbs. 8 ozs., including time bonus and he goes forward to the Final to be fished at Grafham Water on 18th May.

Buzzer hatches have been sparse with just a few coming off when cloudy or in the evenings when the wind drops and these have brought a few fish up to the surface.

The Rod average was 4.7.

Update 24th April

With a few more Buzzers hatching than of late there has been an improvement in catches.

Ghyll Head

It has been unpredictable here with Rainbow Trout caught using a wide variety of tactics and flies with the most successful Black Spiders size 16. When the Trout were up on the surface although hard to tempt anglers using very small dries had the most success.

One angler recorded well into double figures.

The two best areas have been off the big rock at The Shallows but particularly in the Wall Bay as it was more sheltered here from the east wind.

High Newton

At times difficult on this upland Water when windy but those anglers choosing the right tactics recorded good catches of Rainbow Trout, mostly on Black Spiders or Black Beetle patterns both size 16.

Rises have been patchy. On one occasion one regular angler was catching on Black Beetles but when he tried a variety of dries including ‘F’ Fly, Griffiths Gnat, Shipman’s Buzzer and Suspender Buzzer all of the same size not a single rise yet
alone a Trout brought to the net! It is strange how a fly that can work on one occasion doesn’t on another in similar conditions. It is only by changing flies, the size of flies, leaders and tactics generally that an angler develops techniques that will catch a Trout or two when no one else is. This is the “thinking anglerâ€