September Fishing Report
After yet another dry summer, September is when we start to expect more frequent rainfall to help top up the aquifers and rivers. Mid-September lived up to expectations and provided numerous days of prolonged rainfall which were very welcome. We also had a big appearance of crane flies; however, the heavy rainfall did suppress them a touch after a while.
The rain didn’t put off many anglers which braved the weather, and many were rewarded well with some quality fish;
Daniel Chidell (10lb 6oz brown), G. Crosby (9lb 12oz rainbow; 8lb rainbow), Jamie Mayall (9lb 1oz), Mr Lombard (8lb rainbow), John White (8lb 9oz rainbow), Steve Ball (7lb rainbow), J. Currie (8lb brown), Mick Searle (7lb 2oz rainbow), Les Starrs (7lb 2oz rainbow), A. Clarson (7lb brown), D. Hull (7lb 2oz brown), K. Mould (6lb 10oz rainbow), Mr Russell (7lb rainbow),Lewis Denton (6lb 8oz rainbow) and Colin Juarp (6lb rainbow). Many other rainbows, browns and the occasional blue were caught just shy of the 6lb mark.
Best flies of the month were; daddies, black and olive stalking bugs, blue flash damsels, hoppers, klinkhammers, diawl bachs and some self-described ‘dead budgies’!
Away from the fishery, most of our regulars know that Malcolm and myself occasionally enter into fly fishing competitions. September brought the final of the Scierra Pairs competition at Grafham Water, where each pair fish within the same boat, and have to catch 16 to the boat. Boats that finish before the 5pm finish have an extra 2lb time bonus per full hour added onto their total fish weight.
After a late-starting practice day with the other competitors the day before the competition, Malcolm found the most consistent method for us (with his 12 fish to my 2 fish…), and we vaguely knew the areas we would go to.
Competition day came, and by 1:20pm we had caught our limit; a lot faster than we had anticipated! We were the second boat to finish, with Malcolm having 9 and myself having 7, and then had to twiddle our thumbs by the lodge for the next 3 hours.
Multiple other boats had their limit by the end of the day, and unfortunately most of them had larger fish than us due to fishing in a different area all together! However, we were happy to end up in 7th place out of 63 boats. Not bad for Malcolm who has only fished the water five times, and myself that has not fished the venue in over five years!
Tight lines and hope to see you in the near future.
Fen
