Thursday 23 September 2010

WILDLIFE

Wednesday 22 September 2010

PLANNING FOR 2011

Despite continuing to stock fish at the pre-planned rate during the summer, for some inexplicable reason, catch averages have been lower than expected during the last couple of months. As a result there will be a larger than usual number of fish to overwinter this year. At the start of the 2010 season, the size of fish being stocked were significantly smaller than usual, due mainly to the hard winter which slowed growth. In order to avoid a similar situation next year, Duncton Mill Fisheries, our main supplier, is planning to start rearing our fish earlier so that, given normal winter conditions, the fish that we receive at the start of the season will be larger than normal. This will result in fewer fish in each consignment but, with the larger number of overwintered fish, we will have a good range of sizes for the start of the 2011 season.

Our visit to Duncton Mill Fishery proved to be a mixed experience as we not only saw lots of superb trout basking in the warm sunshine but we also managed to get caught in a downpour when the heavens opened and we were literally soaked to the skin. I was still so wet when we eventually got home, some hours later, that my wife immediately assumed that I had fallen in the water! The things we do for the benefit of our fellow anglers.

Friday 17 September 2010

CLUB COMPETITION AND BBQ 2010

A total of 47 fish were caught by the 25 anglers who took part in the annual Club Competition on Friday 20 August. This is a disappointingly poor performance given that the majority of them are considered to be very experienced at dealing with the vagaries of our water, but as usual the fish were not all prepared to make life easy.

Friday 23 July 2010

PEACE AS WELL AS BEAUTY

In the heat of the day, these two old boys decide to have a little nap in the sunshine. They know that there is no need to rush. There is plenty of time catch your limit.

Monday 12 July 2010

SUSSEX FLY DRESSERS GUILD - 2010 COMPETITION

Members of Hastings Fly Fishers took on visiting members of the Sussex Fly Dressers Guild on Saturday 3 July. This was the third year that this event has taken place and the score was one win each.

Each team consisted of twelve anglers:

Six from each team fished from the bank in the morning while the others paired up (one from each team) to fish from the boats. In the afternoon they swapped over.

The weather was hot with a slight breeze and some occasional thin cloud. Despite the warm conditions, all 24 anglers stuck it out, but overall the fishing was exceptionally hard with only 28 rainbows being landed for a total weight of 45lb 12ozs. Almost half the fish (13) were taken by the morning boat anglers, with morning bank anglers only managing 7 fish. The afternoon proved even harder with only 8 fish being caught; 5 fish falling to the boats and 3 to bank fishermen. By the end of the afternoon most anglers had had enough and were more than ready for the barbecue.

Results
Hastings Fly Fishers Club Sussex Fly Dressers Guild	22 fish 6 fish	34lb 10ozs 11lb 2ozs
Best Bag	K. Blundell	9lb 10ozs
Biggest Fish	K. Blundell	2lb 7ozs
Best Bank Bag	N. Harle	3lb 14ozs (2 Fish)
Best Boat Total	Blundell & Davis	11lb 11½ozs (6 Fish)

No angler caught his 6 fish limit and only two anglers managed 5 fish. Jim Adams caught one of the water’s fine wild brown trout while fishing from the bank by the willow tree, but unfortunately this does not count as all browns have to be returned immediately. Ten anglers failed to catch anything (bar the odd perch and rudd) which shows how hard the day turned out to be and all anglers were pleased when the fishing was finally over. After a few drinks and plenty of BBQ food everyone was happy once more. No doubt everyone went home a little wiser as Powdermill once again proved to be the real winner and virtually all the fish lived to fight another day.

As usual, your intrepid reporter failed to capture the highlight of the day when one of the visitors, fishing from the dam, put his rod down only to see it slide into the water as a fish hooked itself. Apparently, not prepared to lose his precious rod, he rushed into the water and just managed to grab it before it disappeared. A very risky reaction as the dam is quite steep and slippery, but on this occasion he got away with it. Maybe we should advise bank anglers to wear life jackets!

It goes without saying that we all appreciate the time and effort that Mandy and John (The Catering Corps) spend cooking the BBQ food for us all to enjoy.

Monday 28 June 2010

IN THE HEAT OF THE DAY

Last Thursday the fish delivery was late, so Vic, the bailiff, decided to have a few casts from the dam while waiting for the fish to arrive. It was 11am and boiling hot, no breeze and clear skies. Seven casts and two fish later (he missed a third), the consignment arrived and he had to get back to work. The moral of this is that if you know what you are doing you can catch fish, even in what appear to be very unfavourable conditions. We are continuing to put more fish in than are being caught, so with the continued settled warm weather there is absolutely no excuse for not being able to catch fish.

Monday 21 June 2010

SAFETY FIRST

Rumour has it that local bookmakers were refusing to take bets this year on the likely hood of a Club member falling in off the jetty. They were right, but fortunately it’s very shallow there. No one dares to calculate the average age of Club members, but you would be very unlikely to meet a member under the age of 55! Visitors can be a little younger, but for some reason flyfishers in the south east tend to generally be a pretty decrepit crowd. So it is very important that anglers use the correct method for getting in and out of a boat. The ropes attached to the jetty railings are a valuable aid and not just there for decoration. The following sequence of ten photos shows one of our geriatric members using the correct method to safely negotiate the delicate art of entering a boat. But even when afloat, you need to watch out for hazards... look out for that willow tree! Unfortunately, your intrepid reporter was unable to get the actual shot of the angler (who shall remain nameless) crashing into the willow branches as I was falling about laughing at the time.

Thursday 10 June 2010

NEWS FROM A CANADIAN COMPATRIOT

I was pleased to receive these photos from Pete Leduc who resides in Northern Ontario, Canada. He's currently fishing for speckled trout and Lake trout but it will soon be the season for bass which will enable him to use his new outcast pontoon boat. I have asked him to send us some pictures of this intriguing craft as it is not something that we are familiar with in Europe. From web pictures, it appears to look like two canoes joined together by a frame with a seat attached. I cannot imagine how some of our older members (which come to think of it happens to be the vast majority of our our members) would get into this contraption, let alone control it.

Wednesday 9 June 2010

EVEN THE BAILIFF CAN BE BEATEN

The conditions on Monday looked perfect for a late evening rise. The previous evening the reservoir had been alive with rising fish. So this was the perfect opportunity for Vic, the bailiff, to invite his pal Big John to partake in an exciting evening's dryfly fishing.

By 5pm fish were starting to rise and conditions were perfect. A brief shower of rain put a stop to any activity and the evening proved fruitless. However. your intrepid reporter, always striving to bring you the latest exciting news, could not resist taking a few shots of the inactivity. After all, it's not often that the bailiff blanks!

Thursday 3 June 2010

MANDARIN FAMILY

A pair of mandarin ducks (Aix galericulata), have raised a large brood of chicks at the far end of the reservoir. I am told that there were around twenty chicks originally but the current number is now nearing single figures, presumably due to the activity of predators. Your intrepid reporter has never managed to breed mandarins at home, despite having specially constructed nesting boxes for them, as foxes and an itinerant mink have always got the prospective parents before any such activities could take place. Every time someone with a camera goes to photograph the family on the reservoir they are never in evidence, unlike the friendly coots who parade their young up and down the dam.

Wednesday 26 May 2010

AN ENJOYABLE DAY FOR A FIRST TIME VISITOR

"Many thanks for your prompt response to my original email enquiry. I thought I should let you know how I got on.

I went yesterday and had a great day!

Once I found it that is!!

What a little gem of a place. I saw Vic as soon as I arrived and got myself sorted re the booking in etc and I bought some flies from him.

It was clear blue skies at the start of the day so I thought I would try the bank straight across the reservoir from the Jetty as there was a bit of shade there. I stayed there for about 20 minutes and nothing so I went to the north bank straight up the middle and fished to the West of the reed line but fairly close in. This felt better. I was fishing 3 flies on an 18 foot leader, floating line. Generally mix of buzzer, diawl bach and hoppers. Initially I was casting to the bank and with the wind behind me it was a cracking arcing drift. I then started casting out towards the middle of the reservoir and had a couple of knocks. My cast just about reached the end of the reed line.

But then I changed my point fly to a beaded nomad and caught one on my top dropper which was a black buzzer. I had a few more knocks but nothing held and a couple of fish swirled with a bit of a hatch going on. I experimented with a few flies including a Daddy and again more knocks and three fish were hooked but I lost them all. Starting to think it wasn’t my day. I moved out in line with the end of the reed line and carried on casting towards the middle and letting the flies just drift. I was now on just 3 black buzzers. I caught another that just hit them taking the top dropper and causing a fair tangle. Once sorted I had about ten minutes to wait for the next on the middle dropper and then in consecutive casts caught another one on the middle dropper and two on point. Four fish around the pound mark one pound and a half and my last fish was 2lb. They fought pretty hard too.

I bagged up by 2pm and had a good day at a new water which isn’t always easy.

I hope I get to use Vics Mayflies another time as I didn’t try them.

Thanks again, Neil

Friday 14 May 2010

THE ENTIRE FLEET IS AFLOAT

With the poor weather and the lack of a boathouse the annual boat refurbishment has been a long protracted affair. However, at long last the entire fleet has taken to the water and is now ready to meet the heavy demand expected during the busy mayfly period. There are three types of boat - the smaller white boats suitable for single use; the large white boats perfect for pairs of anglers and the medium sized green boats which can also accommodate a pair of anglers. The small boats are easier to row and control in the wind. The large white boats enable anglers to avoid each other's badly cast flies and the green boats have flat bottoms and are very stable. However, the larger boats are reputed to be harder to row and can blow about in the wind.

As the only angler who claims to have been seasick while in a rowing boat on the reservoir, your intrepid reporter is more aware then most of the relative merits and failings of each boat, but each member has his favourites. Yes, I really did feel seasick a few years ago and threw up over the side, thus contaminating Hastings' drinking water. However, by the time I had struggled back to the jetty, I felt much better so I turned around and rowed back out, to eventually get my six-fish limit. Happy days!

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BIRDLIFE IN PROFUSION

The birdlife on and around the reservoir is a wonder to behold. Three kinds of woodpecker (Green, greater spotted and lesser spotted) can be seen most days eating peanuts from the feeder by the lodge along with the usual assortment of smaller birds. Blue tits can be seen constantly popping in and out of the nesting boxes in the adjacent trees. The coot chicks follow mum around the fringes of the reservoir. Hopefully, fewer will be prey to foxes than last year when many chicks were taken. Grebes, herons, kingfishers and even the dreaded cormorant can all be seen at various locations around the reservoir. After the departure of the thirteen swans, a pair of young adults arrived and, at present, appear to be happy to remain with us. There has been no sign of the rare Hobby as yet, but it is still a bit early for this bird of prey to make an appearance.

Wednesday 12 May 2010

A TADPOLE EXPLOSION

Although there has been little sign of frogspawn this year, the number of tadpoles that are in evidence on the margins of the reservoir are greater than in previous years.

Tuesday 11 May 2010

TROUT TACTICS CATCH LARGE RUDD

With the number of insects emerging at this time of year, the imitative tactics being used by fly fishermen at Powdermill are producing the usual crop of large rudd which inhabit the water. Most are simply returned and not reported, but discerning anglers do appreciate the beauty of these resident fish who's fry help feed the hungry trout. John Austin caught this 3½lb rudd while fishing from a boat and was photographed by his boat partner, Keith Bulndell.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

THE MAYFLY ARE HERE

I believe that, this year, Chris Richards is the first angler to catch a rainbow on a Mayfly while using dry-fly tactics (15.20 on Tuesday 4 May).

It's not the best of photos, having been taken using the camera in his mobile phone while the fish lay in the bottom of the boat with the fly still attached. Earlier that morning, your intrepid reporter, being a fair-weather fisherman, had decided not to fish due to the cold NE wind. However, Chris fished in a relatively sheltered spot thus avoiding the worst of the cold wind to tempt this discerning trout.

The bailiff, Vic Partridge, has a stock of locally tied Mayflies which are particularly deadly on our reservoir. These sell for £5 for four flies.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

LUCKY THIRTEEN

A great deal of wildlife can be seen at Powdermill but, for some inexplicable reason, it is a very rare occurrence to see a swan on the water. So it was particularly exciting when no less than thirteen swans landed early on Friday morning. Sadly, they are unlikely to stay and, by the time you read this, are probably long gone.

Tuesday 26 April 2010

WHAT IS THIS TO DO WITH FLY FISHING?

For some considerable time, the bailiff has been attempting to catch the unwelcome visitor who attempts to raid the provisions in the clubroom. For weeks the cunning creature outwitted the bailiff by delicately removing the bait without setting off any of the traps. Finally, the creature became complacent and attempted to remove the peanut which the bailiff, in desperation, had been super-glued to the trap. For those that want reassurance that it is now safe to enter the hallowed portals of the clubhouse and yet are sufficiently brave to view the proof... open the second picture! Not for the squeamish.

Tuesday 26 April 2010

ANOTHER HAPPY VISITOR

"I fished last Friday from a boat and enjoyed a great afternoon of fly fishing with a total of six fish including a super full finned 4lb 6ozs fish pictured. Thank you for a great day of sport. I will be back for a day on the mayfly next month."

From Emil Morfett via email.

Monday 26 April 2010

THE FRENCHMEN KEEP COMING