Tag Archives: trout

We join a boy called Harry, with a fascination for fish and riverside wildlife, who sets out on a quest to catch his ultimate target - a wild brown trout...

Read More »

This post has been an awful long time coming, but finally – on a train on my way to a stag weekend in Liverpool – I’ve found time to patch together my account of a terrific day I had, doing something I do too little of these days; fly fishing. I received an email from Secretary of Errwood Fly Fishing Club, Ian Gould, offering the chance of “smashing your trout PB on fly gear”, if I joined him in the Spring for a day on the club’s venue, Errwood Reservoir. After taking a quick look on their website – www.effc.co.uk – at the quality of the scenery and the fishing on offer in the hills above Buxton in Derbyshire’s Peak District, I could not resist a visit! Ian emailed me again towards the end of March, informing me that the season had kicked off well, with some very large fish coming out, so I got down there as soon as I could. The week previous, Ian – who I believe still holds the venue record with a trout of over 14lb – had caught 3 double-figure trout the week prior to my visit. It turned out that I managed to pick the hottest, sunniest April day I …

Read More »

Despite never pledging allegiance to any “specimen angler’s code” I consider myself, by-and-large, to be a “specimen hunter” – or the more modern term “specialist angler“. Although that very term can seem a little restrictive. The angling weeklies would generally have you believe that specimen hunting is a coarse fishing-only pursuit.  Surely a specimen is a specimen though, no matter what? So why limit ourselves to just coarse species and methods? I think that a spot of sea fishing or fly fishing now and then can be rewarding in more ways than one; it provides the opportunity to set some new PBs and pick up some new skills along the way. I’ve always held the view that improving on your skills with one method or species can be of greater benefit your angling skills in general.  Maybe “all-rounder” covers this philosophy better by definition, although I would hesitate to consider myself one of these, because it implies a certain all-round capability, whereas I’m more of a trier than an achiever!  Anyway, digressions aside, after neglecting fly fishing somewhat in recent years, I had a couple of tries for perch on the fly last year and managed fish up to almost …

Read More »

January 2011:  I managed a rather sorry tally of a single session.  I should be going this week, all being well, but as far as January went, I joined Shane Calton on a trip to Toft Newton Reservoir in North Lincs, in search of its large perch.  This trout water is normally fly-only, but for a few weekends each winter they open up for “all methods” days, which allows anglers the rare chance to fish for the reservoir’s head of large coarse fish, which include some massive bream and roach, as well as the perch.  We fished on the 23rd of January which, on the flatlands of Lincolnshire, was bitterly cold mainly due to a Northerly blasting us all day. After a few drifts across the reservoir jigging lures, we were cold and biteless.  Even my home made sloe gin only warmed us up briefly, so we anchored up in a more sheltered area and rotated between lure fishing and deadbaiting.  Shane did have a run on his deadbait rig, which left teethmarks in the flank of the bait, but presumably it was a small fish, as the hook failed to connect.  This was the only bite we had between us and despite …

Read More »

A new personal best Since the start of the river season, I have focused mainly on barbel – trying to ‘up’ my personal best – and on my second session I managed a new PB with a barbel of 7lb 13oz – beating my old best by five ounces. Obviously I’m thrilled by this, but I’m still hoping for a double-figure barbel before the end of the season. A new personal best barbel for me, at 7lb 13oz Variety Most of my summer fishing sessions are restricted to weekdays after work, so when I got a day off, I decided it was time for a little variety and visit a new venue, noted for its tench stocks. Tackling up for tench I also took along my light spinning tackle and a barbel rod just in case I fancied a change later on. Arriving at the lake there was a large tent erected near the water, with recent campfires, disposable barbecues, a bow saw, a rubber mallet and loads of litter nearby. It literally looked as if someone had taken up residence. But there was no-one around! Very odd. Then when I looked into the crystal clear water, which was only …

Read More »