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Thursday's Weather

Max: 11°C (51°F)
Min: 7°C (46°F)
Wind: Southerly
Wind Speed: 25mph
Pressure: 981mb
Sunrise: 05:42 GMT
Sunset: 18:26 GMT

BBC Weather Forecast

Week Ending Friday 22nd February · By Ray French


The fishing has been really good this past week for both Any Method and Fly rods bolstered by some excellent weather. It has been fortunate that on the days with sun there has been very little wind which has resulted in visible hatches of small flies around mid day. This had the effect of inducing the Trout to rise higher in the water and in the more sheltered places even seen the occasional Midge being taken from a rise. As a consequence the bank fishing has been very good with many Fly rods catching on floating lines using imitative patterns

The Any Method boys have also benefitted by the weather and feeding Trout with small spinners taking a lot of fish at midwater as an option to bait on the bottom

Having said all that, as always it is not a fish a chuck for everybody or every time. The fish are well spread out and shoaled up and it can be a case of feast or famine so it is very much a matter of keep moving and/or talking to the Rangers who are up to speed with what is happening

I mentioned the lack of wind contributing to the catch rate and yes at Bewl have always found the wind speed and direction fundamental to success. Certainly at this time of year a cold wind will immediately put the fish off, down or both. Not deep necessarily just down. So in rough windy conditions best to seek the Straights, Bays or banks sheltered from the wind. More so at the moment because the water still has a significant element of colour as a result of filling the reservoir which will concentrate on the windy banks. I talked water colour last week and the good news is that the pumping seems to have ceased now with the fill at 98&percent;. That and less wind has shown an improvement in water clarity this week which I'm assured will continue

Hot Spots

Once again the majority of fish have been caught within 80m of the bank and in some places very much closer. Trout have been caught all down the North side of the reservoir from the Dam to the top of Hook Straight from boat and bank including the Playground, Hook House, Seven Pound Creek, Bramble Bay and Bramble Point. All have fished well for both boat and bank anglers and it is always a favourite at the top of Hook early season especially after a few days of dry weather. Remember Hook Straight was well stocked

Muscle Bay, the area from Monty's Seat to Ferry Point has fished well as has tight in at Chingley Point from the boats

I have had reports of fish at Dunstars Point and Hatherell's Bay halfway up Bewl Straight and although Rosemary Lane has been the most affected by the coloured water a little bird told me that the adjacent Tinkers Marsh has yielded fish to some of Bewl's adventurous regulars

Methods

Again because of the warmer weather and fish movement methods have varied almost hour by hour. I was witness to that on Wednesday when out with John T, a beautiful sunny windless day that actually started a tad overcast

We began out from the playground fishing in about 15ft of water and picked up fish steadily on two unweighted mini white Minky Snakes on Di7 line. Once down the retrieve was a slow fig 8 back to the boat then lift, hold and lift again. The flies literally scraped the bottom, constantly bring up small weed covered rocks or muscles but they also brought up fish, either mid retrieve or on the hold and hang. This method has worked for us since last November from the boat and is still a good way to start. It is though reliant on the boat being anchored or stationary in flat calm for best results

As the sun broke through and the morning warmed, the takes went off so we did the same and continued on a mini tour around the lake as usual. We caught one or two but nothing like the start. Probably not staying long enough in any one place, impatience is not a virtue. However around mid day we ended up at Chingley Point where there were a couple of any method boats with fish bags out. So we stopped about 40 yds out from the rocks as they were but further round the point. We continued to fish low and slow which had definitely been the method earlier but now, not so much as a touch. I put it down to the sun. At mid-day on Wednesday it was very warm and the lake was flat calm, yet the guys in the nearest boat were obviously catching and they were spinning. Earlier when we were catching at the Playground the spinning boys were not catching at all. In fact over the week with the coloured water they had faired better on float and bait but here at Chingley it was different, so I stopped fishing and watched them. They were using small metal lures, evident by the sparkling flash in the bright sun, cast towards the bank ... and the key to their success ... the countdown ... there wasn't any.

An immediate medium/slow retrieve was the method and they had four fish in the hour we were there. I did see the last one of the four hooked, mid way back on the retrieve at most 3ft down, possibly less.

I had already changed the Minky Snakes earlier to Boobies and lengthened the leader to 10ft to get the flies off the bottom, thinking that the fish had maybe moved up a bit but evidently was still not high enough. So on went a floating line with Blob, Silver Pearly Cormorant and the mini Snake on point. John stayed down, just in case but the fish seen caught was the last to come out at Chingley before we called it a day at 2pm. Slightly disappointed that the floater didn't work and the words 'Stable door' came to mind. In fact I learned later that nobody was catching around lunchtime, the fish had done what milk does in the sun ... gone off

Apparently they did come back on about 4 pm which is often the case at Bewl

Anyway we had some good fishing, John kept four fish for the table I put mine back. I normally put them back these days unless John is short of his 4 which over the season can be numerous especially in high summer or mid winter when 2 is considered a result

• I have to say that the fish we caught were of mixed size, in excellent condition and fought well. The picture below was typical of the stock at the moment, this one was nearer 3lbs than 2lbs, caught on a mini Snakelet (shown) on the carpet in 15ft of water

Note

Bewl Management asked me to remind you that due to the increasing demand for boats it is advisable to book early to avoid disappointment, especially weekend bookings

Have a good week. Ray F

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