River Bela

Had a day on the river bela at milnethorpe the weather was warm but with a tricky downstream wind.

I walked the river and found odd fish rising in pools and picked them off all on dry's a good day all in all.These fish were not the biggest fish i have caught on the river but on a 3 weight rod they still fought well.

not big fish but nice to catch

 

 

Red Letter Day

After the rain of friday and sat the rivers were a no go so off to pennington ressa a went on parking up i noticed dave knocker nixon in the distance on wandering over he said the fish were hard on the feed and he had already had 7 fish all on drys.

I tackled up and had a hectic 5 hours catching loads of fighting fit rainbows all on drys

 

knocker landing one of many

 

 

 

 

 

you can see the beetle in the trouts mouth

 

High Fairbanks

Last weekend i had a trip up onto High Fairbanks trout fishery its one of the jewel in the crown off WADDA waters with brilliant top of the water fishing with massive olive hatches.

With it being a catch and release water and a good 10 min walk from the car park its not overly fished.The weather was fine with a good ripple on the water.

On getting to the water the fish were on top and feeding well myself and greg were soon into fish and continued to catch most of the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

carp on the fly

With the weather set fine for a few days it was off in search of my first carp of the year on the fly.On getting to the water there were a lot of carp on the surface after feeding dog biscuits and getting the carp feeding it was time to have a cast and as you can see below it worked!!!! A very dogged fight and after a good few minutes a 10lb plus fully scaled mirror carp was landed.

 

 

Making the most of it

 

With the weather a bit better trips up to knott have been on the cards,i have been snatching a few hours after work.

The fishery has been in good form with plenty of fish topping and everyone catching lots of fish,on looking at the signing in book it was clear to see that people are catchng on a variety off methods from lures too dry's and austin has been catching on his secret hot spot spider !!!!!!

Myself i have been using small beetle patterns and on weds night there was a trickle of olives hatching off these had the fish on top and mopping up the olives.

If you have not been up lately i suggest you have a trip up as its fishing its head off

 

All shapes and sizes

With the weather set to break i took a few hours off work and headed to my local club water at knottallow tarn the weather conditions were just about perfect with a light warm wind blowing across the tarn.

The fish were on the top and feeding well on getting to the water i could see lots of black gnats on the water,i caught lots of fish on various size gnats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bank holiday browns

After finishing work it was straight off to knott for a few hours fishing on  the way past knocker nixon he told me had had been catching well and with fish topping  all over the tarn.

I put a size 16 black beetle on and was straight into fish after a hectic 90 mins i had 7 trout to my name.On  his way past knocker said he had well into double figures.

 

 

a small trout from knott

 

Eden

had a day on the eden today at ks fished musgrave bridge stretched,parked up and had a look over the bridge to find a few fish feeding on drys.

It looked like they were feeding on black gnats had 1 in the first pool and then walked for a good hour or so and didnt see another fish all day,the wind was strong/cold not the best conditions but with work sunday monday it was the only time i could get on the river.

 

 

 

High Fairbanks

Today i had a trip up high fairbanks its the  jewel in the crown of the WADDA in my opinion sat on the hill tops above ings.

With it being a catch and release water members only and a good 5 mins walk from the car park its not overly fished and with stunning views of the mountains its the perfect place to spend a few hours and let the stress of the working week melt away.

As usual the resident trout were in obliging mood and could be caught on drys or wets i caught mine on small beetle patterns.

 

stunning views from high fairbanks

 

 

 

 

one that got away

19th april some off the top

 

 

few vids and a casualty of war

 

                                           
                                               Albert catching a brown trout from the bela

                       

                                                                          
                                                 Catching a nice rainbow from high newton

          The casualty of war i hooked and landed a beast of a trout estimated to be
          into double figures  but alas my net came out a poor second and snapped
           clean in half,putting a premature end to  my session.
          
         
                                                    

High Newton

With a day booked from work i planned to fish high newton till dinner time and then head to the bela hopefully just in time for loads of olives coming off and trout sipping them down at there leasure.I arrived at high newton bright and early heading for the top end of the water i opted for a small nymph with a grhe on the point.It wasnt long before i was into my first fish and they kept coming after a hectic 3 hours session i had lost count of the number of rainbows i had caught.I packed up and headed for the bela on getting rigged up and rushed to the water to have a look not a olive to be seen,after a good walk around about 1.45 the first olives started to hatch of it wasnt a massive hatch but just enough but to my dismay i didnt see a trout all afternoon so im still waiting to catch my first bela brown trout

they keep coming

 

 

and coming and getting bigger

 

 

27 inch of angry rainbow

 

                                                             

 

 

a few olives

 

 

 

 

weekend trips

With the weather picking up i managed to get out both days sat i was on high newton,it was cold and with no fish moving on went the intermediate line and 2 PTN  flys.I must have done 2 laps of the fishery keeping on the move and having 10/15 mins at each new place but nothing happened.So sunday with the wind blowing i changed tack and went to wych elm again it was hard work but managed 3 fish.Roll on the new season hopefully it will be a lot warmer and the rivers will be a lot lower and fishable




typical whch elm trout





high newton


 

sat 12th

With the weather going to be dropping to -14 and snow forecast i went for a short session down wych elm again as i dont know when i will be able to get out again.

As with last week the fish were on top but it was a lot windier and it felt like the temp had dropped about 10 degrees,Again i had the fishery to myself i went with the same approach a small beetle (size 18) and was soon into a nice blue trout i had a few more through the day a mixture of blues and rainbows.

wych elm

After yesterdays effort i woke this morning to find another dry day (2 in a row we are geting spoiled now) so after a bit of deliberation i decided to visit ken down at Wych Elm fishery at Holme.

On getting there i was amazed to see trout topping and feeding on the surface i was more than happy after crossing kens palms with some silver i set up and started fishing,At the end of a very enjoyable day i had caught 5 trout all on drys (yes dry fly fishing in january who would have thought it).

It was nice to get out and see ken again and have a crack over a few cups of coffee and to catch as few fish as well was a bonus.

wych elm fishery not the biggest place you will ever fish but well worth a visit




 

high newton or hyperthermia

With lull on the weather i decided to give high newton a go today for a few hours,On getting out of the car i thought was it going to bw worth it.on getting onto thw water i could dee another 2 anglers (i mean nutters) over by fantasy island.

I quickly found a semi sheltered spot and put on a intermediate line on and i small (size 14) black wooly bugger and started to fish,to cut a long story short i picked up a couple of trout one blue the other a rainbow.

I lasted about 2 hours and that was enough but it was good to get out on the water and at leasr i didnt blank.

fantasy island looking from the dam wall

me on warmer day up high newton

knott

With the weather more like june than october i had a few hours on knott the tarn was flat calm and there was quite a few fish moving.I fished dry;s and caught a few trout the best being this small fingerling trout my 2nd one caught and as you can see they like a f fly.

river bela

Had a morning session on the river bela at milnthorpe the weather was fine and warm with a slight breeze

i parked up at the beef sheds and walked up towards the road bridge and fished the parsonage field stretch as there was a few fish topping i had a few fish out of this stretch,i made my way back down towards the sheds and then continued up the otherside of the sheds picking up fish here and there.All great fun on a 3 weight rod.

first fish of the day a 1 lb fish

a stunning 2 lb + trout

a long and lean bela brownie

bigland tarn

After a week of work and a sat morning i used my WADAA exchange ticket and had a few hours up bigland tarn, I cant remember the last time i fished it.

On sighing in i noticed there had been a few caught it was a nice warm day but the wind was blowing hard towards the dam wall,i had a quick walk around and didnt see a fish move i fished a few bays and managed to catch a couple of trout on bibios.

tubing on knott

with th rivers up and un fishable tony riley suggested a afternoon up knott on the float tube, tony had just taken delivery of visions new float tube and he was eager to put it through its paces.

On pulling up into the carpark the weather was just about perfect a light ripple and nice and warm we set up and it wasnt long before we were both into brownies,off the bank dave helm was picking up fish from the bank casting to rising fish all in all a good day

tony ready for the off with the new vision keeper float tube

tony slipping the net under a fighting fit knott brown trout

another brown trout

me just about to land a nice trout

a nice trout (note to myself learn to smile ha ha)