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EXTRACTS FROM A FISHERMAN'S RECORD BOOK
Club member Michael Holland died a few years ago. In 2001 Mick had been given a present of a Fisherman's Record Book in which he recorded all his fishing trips
between 17th April 2001 and the last entry on 29th June 2004. The following is a small selection of the entries.
17th April 2001 - Powdermill
4 fish from the bank. Total weight of 8lb 14ozs. Heaviest fish 3lb 11ozs.
20th July 2001 - Powdermill
6 fish from a boat. Total weight of 22lb 3˝ozs, which is a Club record weight for a limit catch. Included were fish of 3lb 15ozs and one of 8lb 1˝ozs which turned
out to be the heaviest fish of the month. These were all caught on a Gold Head Viva.
14th September 2001 - Powdermill
4 fish from a boat. All caught on either a Gold Head Viva or a Montana. Included was the Club's heaviest fish of the month at 8lb 7ozs.
Following the above entry, he subsequently fished another twelve times to the end of the 2001 season but only caught one fish! The number recorded in the book for
2001 was 37 visits for a total of 48 fish. Subsequent years were to show a marked improvement.
17th February 2002 - Brick Farm
2 Fish. Heaviest 3lb 4ozs.
3rd March 2002 - Boring Wheel, Nutley
0 fish. "Lovely fishing."
21st March 2002 - Powdermill
4 fish from the bank. Total weight 11lb 10ozs, including fish of 4lb 1ozs and 3lb 10ozs.
31st March 2002 - Powdermill
3 fish from the bank. Total weight 7lb 0ozs. Heaviest 3lb 3ozs. Warm sunny day. All fish very close to bank. Must be the temperature. Deep water catches nothing.
7th April 2002 - Powdermill
4 fish from a boat. Very strong East wind. Heaviest fish of 6lb 7ozs caught up the leg very close to the bank, 35 minutes to land.
14th April 2002 - Powdermill
3 fish from a boat. Cold N.E. wind. No rain for 3 weeks. Many more fish caught from the bank than by boat.
19th April 2002 - Powdermill
6 fish for 9lb 5ozs. Caught on orange and green Fritz. A good day but a long wait between pulls. Saw first mayfly.
26th April 2002 - Powdermill
6 fish from a boat. Gale force winds and rain (first for a month). Morning uncomfortable, better in the afternoon. 3 fish came from the inlet at the leg in a very short time.
21st May 2002 - Powdermill
5 fish from a boat. 2 on mayfly. A quiet day but what a contrast in the evening. Thousands of spent mayfly returning to water. Fish rising everywhere. A super sight.
28th May 2002 - Powdermill
6 fish from a boat. A day to remember. 2 fish on Pheasant Tail, 2 on Epoxy Buzzer, one on Hares Ear and 1 on dry Mayfly. One of my best days, all on small flies. The take on the mayfly was thrilling.
14th June 2002 - Powdermill
5 fish from a boat. Fishing was good, plenty of fish moving, but hard to catch. Warm, humid day. Thunderstorm pm. Beached boat and ran for shelter in wood.
16th June 2002 - Brick Farm
5 fish from the bank. Quiet after heavy rain. Caught fish in 1˝ hours on a yellow and orange Fritz. Water coloured after heavy rain.
7th July 2002 - Powdermill
6 fish from a boat. A good bag of fish at 9lb 14ozs. 3 on Montana (small green), 3 on black Tadpole.
6th August 2002 - Powdermill
6 fish from a boat. Good weather. A lovely day’s fishing. Caught 2 on a Viva, 4 on a Stickfly. Biggest 3lb 14ozs. Chuffed!
8th September 2002 - Powdermill
4 fish from a boat. A good day. A 5lb 5ozs trout on the last cast by the reed bed. Strong fish, went well.
18th September 2002 - Powdermill
6 fish from a boat. Cloudy, some wind. A lovely day. Started at 8.30am. No pull or fish until 12 noon. 2 caught on a Stickfly. Put a Cooper’s Damsel on dropper. Caught 4 almost at once.
29th September 2002 - Powdermill
3 fish from a boat. Fishing slow but good. The 3 fishes weighed 8lb 6ozs, 3lb 3ozs and 2lb 14ozs.
24th October 2002 - Powdermill
2 fish from the bank. A hard day fishing. Few and far between but fish were caught. Enjoyable day spent with John Noble - a very good fisherman. He also caught a tiger fish - it put up a
tremendous fight. My fish were taken on a Stickfly.
31st October 2002 - Powdermill
0 fish. Last day at Powdermill. Most fishermen caught fish but not me! Just one of those days. Can’t win them all!! A lovely season. I thoroughly enjoyed it. (Powdermill 214 fish, Brick Farm 21 fish).
2002 proved to be a busy and successful year with 78 fishing trips recorded for a total of 235 fish (1 visit for 0 from Boring Wheel, Nutley, 1 visit for 0 from Arlington, 11 visits for 21 fish
from Brick Farm and 65 visits for 214 fish from Powdermill). An overall average of just over 3 fish per trip.
10th February 2003 - Arlington
4 fish. Fresh southerly wind. Cold. Caught 2 fish on Viva and 2 on Gold Head Damsel.
23rd March 2003 - Powdermill
5 fish. Opening day at Powdermill. Warm, sunny day. Hard going. Montana for most takes. Near record temperatures for March.
21st April 2003 - Arlington
6 fish. After about six weeks, wind has gone round to the S.W. Fished into the wind and into the rough water. A job to cast far enough to reach them. Lovely, strong fighting fish. Caught
on white Viva, red and green Fritz and green Damsel.
5th May 2003 - Bewl Water
0 fish. Worst day’s fishing I have ever had. Dogs in water, boats everywhere, 1000s of people. Hardly a fish caught.
14th May 2003 - Powdermill
0 fish. Fishing dry Mayfly. 8 takes – no fish.
21st May 2003 - Powdermill
6 fish plus 1 brown. One of the best morning’s fishing I’ve had. 2 on Damsel, 1 on Pheasant Tail, 2 on dry Mayfly and 2 on a Coachman’s Buzzer. Lovely brown trout returned to the water. Finished 12 noon.
This super day was followed by a run of 10 trips with only 3 fish to show for his efforts so a visit to Brick Farm for some easy fishing was called for.
2nd July 2003 - Brick Farm
7 fish. Some very heavy stormy showers. It was good to catch some fish after all the blank days. Good fish too!
16th September 2003 - Powdermill
6 fish. Made a change to catch fish. All on orange and green (Fritz).
10th October 2003 - Powdermill
2 fish. Sunny day. Hard fishing today. Caught 1 fish at 1lb 14ozs on a Montana and a second at 2lb 4ozs on a Cat’s Whisker. Jean and Arthur came down pm. They didn’t see me catch anything!
18th December 2003 - Brick Farm
6 fish. Cold and frosty. Fish were deep. Took 2 on a black Buzzer, 2 on a Viva and 2 on a Minky. Very enjoyable.
2003 proved to be another busy year with 75 fishing trips recorded for a total of 182 fish (3 visits for 2 fish from Bewl Water, 14 visits for 46 fish from Arlington, 12 visits for 56 fish from
Brick Farm and 36 visits for 78 fish from Powdermill). An overall average of just over 2.4 fish per trip.
7th January 2004 - Brick Farm
5 fish. Very calm and mild. Fished with Peter Figg and his mate. Hard strong takes on Minkies. Fish very fast.
25th February 2004 - Arlington
3 fish. Cold water – only 4degrees but sunny. Minkies again. Fish only fed for one hour.
28th March 2004 - Powdermill
3 fish. Fished with Arthur. Fish small – 12ozs, 14ozs and 1lb.
20th April 2004 - Powdermill
6 fish. Fish caught on buzzers, mini Cat’s Whisker and Pheasant Tail Nymph.
18th May 2004 - Powdermill
6 fish. Fishing with guest Peter Figg. Caught on Mayfly Nymph. A good day.
Sadly the last entry was on 29th June 2004 when Mick went fishing with Arthur Holder to Brick Farm where he caught 8 fish, the most he ever caught in one session. Up until then he
had 24 recorded trips for 87 fish, an average of over 3.6 fish. |
