Churn Pool Fishery

Archive for February, 2011

Mike & John had a great day on Saturday with an initial catch each early on followed by a quiet period forcing a change in tactics.

Mike found fish on the tail end of the westerly wind with a green pea while John focused on the trout that were gently topping. Orange and Black & Yellow Buzzers worked well. By noon. both had reached their limits.

Sunday showed promise with a frost, but clear skies to start with. While a few fish were caught, it was hard work with two brief hail storms putting the fish down. Great work from Colin, Dave and Mr Bruce for sterling efforts in poor conditions. The afternoon saw quite a change with Mike Rudderham pulling out a couple of fighting fit rainbows in what seemed like minutes. Likewise for Bob Hicks and an even better result for Ian Edwards who secured four through the afternoon.

We had a bit of a kick around this weekend and found some little fellas hiding around the margins. You’ll see from the 20 pence piece that the Damsels, Bloodworm Hoglouse are pretty small. With that in mind, you may want to invest in some small hooks and dress some flies. The pictures aren’t the best, but should be of interest…

Orvis in Burford offer great representations of the Damsel in a variety of colours. Keeping them slim with a platted tail can be deadly. 

George Peck is known for his success employing the Bloodworm. The Apps  can be particularly good in different forms depending of how you represent the differing haemoglobin levels. Apart from the obvious red pattern; green, yellow or black can be fantastic.

If you want to see how these critters move through the water, search for a DVD called Bugs of the Underworld. The underwater footage is second to none. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isNLPP91NXA

21st Feb.  Update from the weekend: With the wind blowing from the east, those with warm clobber faced it and caught well casting into the breeze. With most anglers catch their limit or one fish shy, the fishing was good with plenty of plate size rainbows around 2 – 2 1/2lbs going for lures on intermediate lines. Bigger fish were tempted including a 5lb+ rainbow for George Peck. It was nice to see some familiar faces on Day Tickets also. We look forward to seeing you again soon. We suspect a father & son rematch between Ron and Gary is on the cards also.

With an overcast weekend due according to Metcheck.com, the fishing should be pretty good if tackled correctly. Keep an eye on the wind direction and water to see what’s going on. Mike Waring pre-planned a morning (18 Feb) with a true to form Damsel Nymph and had his first 2 1/2 pounder within minutes facing into the easterly wind. Mike went on to bank five before 11am. Well done also to Ron Ball with four cracking fish on the Cats Whisker. Also, Steve Wrigley is the first to report a Brownie this season.  An Apps Bloodworm tempted the 2lb beauty.

What’s working? Applications vary, but the following have produced some good fish over the last couple of weeks.   Diawl Bach 12-14, Cats Whisker (weighted) 10-12, Damsels – dark olive size 12, Weighted Apps Bloodworm on a size 12, Simple black buzzers – 8-14.

This afternoon saw new stock of beautiful rainbows ready for the weekend. The buzzer action appeared to keep the residents higher in the water as they mingled with the new faces. The weekend could be interesting with Saturday looking bright and Sunday more wet & windy, which could be a lot better for fishing. Either way, it should be fun.

Well done to Mike Waring for landing five fighting fish today along with Graeme, Ray and Mike Rudderham also securing rainbows on Buzzers and slim Damsels. Well done to todays Day Ticket customers also. We hope you enjoyed yourselves.

Here’s a snap of Graeme Cheyne and his 6lb 8oz dinner. Nice work!

Latest Members results can be seen at the bottom of the ‘Trout Fishing’ page.

This morning (Thursday) saw a huge amount of surface action as I scanned the water from the car park. Moving closer to the water, it was clear that  large plumes of buzzers were hatching. We’ll report back on hatch patterns & what’s working by the weekend, hopefully. The initial hatch appeared at first light – about 07.15. The weekend weather might be a mixed bag, but the fishing should be good. 

A few of our members have been in contact with Dave Downie recently regarding fly tying materials. Dave’s patterns and materials have proved to be very successful. Have a look at his site. I’ve linked to a topical page here…..  

http://www.flyfishingworld.eu/buzzers_and_nymphs.htm

 Best of luck to anyone fishing. Tight lines!

Saturday saw some serious wind from the west, but that didn’t hamper those who knew where the fish would be in such conditions. Trout appeared to be rising all day with most of the action during mid-morning and late afternoon. Going small was the key and Daiwl Bachs & PTN were favoured. Dave Phillips produced 10 fish in two visits this weekend with fly patterns at each end of the scale. Dave saw good results on the Cats Whisker on the east lawn and D/B’s secured a further 5 today while fishing on the tail of the wind. John Steedman, Colin Stuart and Steve Cole also bagged their limit. Steve also going small and slim with the Cruncher.  After an early loss right under his nose, Arthur Leach bagged 3 beauties on red buzzers after Gus Willis secured 4 rainbows, again on the Daiwl Bach. All fish were reported to be fighting hard and pretty acrobatic, resulting in many fish shaking the hook. Well done to all in such conditions. Weekend catches ranged from 1 3/4 to 4 1/2lbs.

Recommended: Cruncher (pictured) and Diawl Bach fished within the first 2ft.

Spooned fish have shown a great deal of black buzzers. (about 3-4mm maximum) Recommendation of buzzer patterns goes without saying. If you are fishing without your specs, Colin Stuart has recently proved size 8′s have worked well also!

The fishery will be stocked again ready for the weekend commencing 12th February. We’re sticking to 2 – 2 1/2lb rainbows for this delivery with a few brownies of the same size in the mix. 

…you just need the right clothes.

It looks like the wind will be blowing this weekend for anyone tough enough to venture outside. We look forward to seeing you.

Additionally, Saturday 5th February marks the fourth anniversary since the passing of Churn Pool founder, Martin Pollard. Wine, tea or coffee will be on had for anyone wishing to raise a glass/cup/mug. We will also be celebrating in a little more style sometime during the warmer weeks to come. We’ll keep you posted!