Tom Gingell from Clayhanger had a great trip to Blakewell Fishery landing this fine 13lb Rainbow and pleasing a brace of 4lb+ Brownies!
Exe Valley – Rainbows
Richard Mason travelled from Dawlish to fish Exe Valley Fishery and was delighted with this 7lb 12oz Rainbow that was tempted using a black and green lure. The hard fighting rainbow was part of a 5 fish limit weighing 18lb 2oz.
BLAKEWELL IN TOP AUTUMN FORM
Cooler water suits the trout far better than the warmth of summer making fishing at still waters such as Blakewell a joy. A real tonic for the salmon or sea trout angler whose fishing is now but a memory until next spring.
Ian Patch travelled from Weston- Super- Mare to fish at Blakewell and his journey was well worth the effort. Ian ended his day with a four fish bag including fish of 13lb 2oz, 4lb 10oz, 4lb 10oz and 4lb 2oz.
Richard Banks from Ilfracombe landed a fine rainbow of 13lb 2oz in a bag that totalled 26lb.
WIMBLEBALL REPORT AS SEASON FADES
Please find the latest catch report for Wimbleball from Danny Ford. Plenty of fish showing in the narrows from the old pontoons down to Bessoms. They are holding off the weed bank 10 yards out. Anglers have been doing well with nymph patterns, Diawl Bach in particular, fisher either on a midge tip or intermediate.
The fish off for the Orvis Boat Pairs was held on Sunday, Steve Ebdon, and Andy Gooding taking 1st place with Pete Kempton and Phil Sharpe runners up. Steve and Andy won a season ticket for 2017 while Pete and Phil take home a lovely Orvis access reel and a £50 gift voucher. Both boats chose to fish the top end of the lake, with Steve and Andy doing particularly well drifting from the old pontoons to the bouy in Bessoms. Well done!
Wimbleball hosted their final competition of the year on Saturday, 4 Anglers attended the boat comp which ran from 10-4.30pm. 18 rainbows were caught with a return of 4.5 per angler!
1st Danny Ford 6 fish for 8lb 1oz
2nd Ed Trickett 5 fish for 7lb 4oz
3rd Dave Ridgway 4 fish for 6lb 1oz
4th Howard James 3 fish for 5lb 9oz
(Comp results will be included in next week’s report)
Wimbleball will stay open for November and fishing will be available from boat and bank at a reduced price. £8.50 for 2 fish, second permits may be purchased. Boat prices TBC.
Wimbleball News – Wistlandpound Club Result
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club held their Beeny Trophy competition at Wimbleball Reservoir on September 25th.
Colin Combe won with 6 fish for 8 lb 12 oz and Danny had 6 fish for 8 lb 10 oz and was runner up. 8 people fished and all by boat.
Heavy rain showers punctuated the day.
Please find the weekly catch report for Wimbleball from Danny Ford. We have been seeing some great sport in front of the bridge on dry flies, claret and black hoppers being the most productive, with foam daddies also taking their fair share of surface feeding trout. Rod average is 2.6 with the boats showing a return of 2.8. Water temp continues to drop and is showing 16.5°C
Regular anglers Tom and Bob (season tickets) had a bumper day from the boat on Friday with both anglers achieving a full bag fishing hoppers on a southerly wind in front of the bridge. Fish were showing everywhere during the spells of cloud cover and Tom commented that is was one of the best days he has had this season, well done both!
From October 1st, our boat availability will be from 9am-5pm 7 days a week. We may start to bring a few off the water so please book to avoid disappointment. October is one of my favourite times to fish on the reservoir, with many of the larger fish starting to show. Last year Steart bay was producing good bags, one to try!
Danny Ford
Wimbleball Countryside Warden
BLAKEWELL NEWSLETTER
The latest Newsletter from Blakewell Fishery
Well Summer has passed and we’re starting to get an autumn flavour with the leaves turning that lovely golden colour. The start of Autumn has seen the weather remain reasonably mild and settled which is producing perfect fishing conditions at our refurbished lake. Consequently, we are pleased we took the decision to drain the lake in August to undertake some extensive maintenance. The lake is now looking fabulous, completely weed free and fishing very well with a settled and comfortable water temperature of around 12 degrees. The trout have been in the top few inches for the first part of September and as you would expect they are happily taking Daddy’s off the surface especially when there has been a ripple. When it has been very bright, anglers have also been having good success in the top couple of feet with either a drowned daddy or gold head version.That time of the year when the trout like to take the daddy long legs off the surface! Apparently we are in for a bumper year for Daddy’s so best come to the tackle room and stock up as they’re already favourites with the Blakewell fish!
Don’t ignore the margins, some serious Rainbows have been seen cruising just a few feet from the bank! They’ve likely learnt that there are good pickings to be had close in where the water is much shallower and the fry can hide!
Jerry pictured above had seen some big fish cruising the margins and adopted a stalking approach to his fishing, very successful he was too! Fishing a 9wt Shakespere rod with a 6.4 lbs fluro Carbon Tippett he induced takes from two double figure rainbows just a foot out from the bank. The brace of rainbows weighed in at 18lb 2oz and 16lb 10oz, his fly was a gold head damsel with lure flash in the tail. Apparently a fly he swears by when stalking.
BLAKEWELL DOUBLES ON RE-OPENING
Anglers have enjoyed some great sport at the recently re-opened Blakewell Fishery.
A nice brace of trout! Not one but two doubles for Jerry Smith, I think that constitutes a good day’s fishing, with rainbows of 18lb 2oz & 16lb 10oz! (Below)
Jim & Debbie Barnes, best fish 5lb 4oz, caught on damsels and bloodworm patterns, although we’re into autumn small flies are still doing the damage the 5lber took a size 16 bloodworm pattern! Other anglers found black buzzers and black and peacock spiders to size 12 were working best… (Below)
BLAKEWELL RE-OPENS ON A GLORIOUS AUTUMN DAY
I called into Blakewell Fishery on the way home from Barnstaple just in time to meet Roger Ackriod weighing in a four fish bag of quality trout to 4lb 2oz tempted on blood-worm imitation.
Roger Ackriod
The fishery re-opened today September 10th after extensive weed clearing work on the lake that has certainly paid dividends with the water now crystal clear and the bank-side vegetation still lush and green. After a cup of tea and coffee Pauline and I took a walk around the lake to capture a few images on re-opening day. The early autumn sunshine shone into the clear water giving glimpses of several fine trout that I feel sure would have seized a well presented nymph. John Nickel informed me that several double figure rainbow trout have been stocked along with some pristine brown trout. The next few weeks will see some fine trout landed by visitors to this fine still-water with small imitative patterns most likely to succeed.
Light touch for Blakewell Double
11lb 6oz rainbow
Jeremy Johnson used a light approach at Blakewell fishery to tempt a fine rainbow scaling 11lb 6oz. Jeremy used a size 12 montana nymph presented using a 4 wt Orvis rod and 4 wt floating line. The montana nymph is one of my favourite patterns and a good choice at this picturesque well stocked water.
FRIENDLY RIVALS AT BLAKEWELL
Friendly rivalry at Blakewell Fishery saw regulars Gavin Colwill and John Piper go head to head in a competition. The two anglers landed six fish each totaling 32lb! Gavin was deemed the winner landing the days biggest trout a fine rainbow of 13lb. John’s biggest was a fine rainbow of 12lb.
