As I'm sure you're aware, the trout season on our lovely river comes to an end on 31st October - no more trout fishing after that. If you have a Winter Ticket you can carry on fishing for Grayling of course, or coarse fishing, from Beats 3a downwards except Beat 5 (and Beat 7 is still unavailable), but not Beat 1 nor Beat 2a or 2b.
The river is currently in the 60cm+ range, but it may drop before Tuesday - possibly. I did fish 2a at about 40cm last week, and it wasn't too bad, and my colleague caught 3 Rainbows and I had a Brown, all on nymphs, so it is possible, especially if contact-nymphing. The temperature was 13 degrees then, so still a bit warm for Grayling perhaps, but there are Trout to be had.
If you don't fancy that, or your rod-finger gets itchy after 31st, don't forget the Reservoir. Your trusty colleagues have been slaving away today in support of NIgel to clear the banks and extend the casting points, as you can see below:
It'll be obvious if you visit, but the tree in the centre of the pic (far side) is substantially slimmed down giving a lot more space. You wouldn't believe how much wood and brash needed to be dragged around two sides of the reservoir and down the bank to the bonfire site. There, they had to be cut down to size, and carefully burned on a very well-managed bonfire (if I say so myself). It was all good physical exercise, and very enjoyable (in between the showers), with Coffee, Doughnuts, Home-made Sausage Rolls, and even Hot Dogs cooked on the fire; thanks to Andrew in particular, and Nigel for those.
All the time we were there, the fish were rising, and it has been recently stocked, however there is still quite a lot of weed just below the surface, so the fishing should be fun, as well as the rewards high, potentially. Do bear in mind that as the reservoir banks are raised above the surrounding fields, it can get very windy there indeed, so pick your day.
Do please send in a Catch Return even if you blank there, as we're very keen to know how successful the fishing is this year, and how much it gets used. If you go Winter Fishing, then Returns are only needed for Grayling, as we should be avoiding the Trout, but if any are caught, we must return them as carefully and quickly as possible.
Hope to see you at the AGM on 1st December, if not before, or the next work-party on Dec 2nd.
Cheers
PeterB
P.S.
And here's another view of the newly cleared banks after Nigel's heroic brushcutting, and a brief follow-up from me to clear a few stubbly bits.
Make the most of it, but please send in a Catch Return even if you catch no trout; we are particularly interested to know how often it's visited and what you catch, or if you don't.
You can also send in Returns from the river, as we count the Grayling, but don't bother to list any trout accidentally caught and released on the river. You can always list other fish caught, in the comments, and even what you caught them on.
They all get read and appreciated.
Cheers
PeterB
P.P.S.
The banks have now been manicured to resemble a £500 a day beat on the Test, thanks to Keith and his mower. So now it's mown mown and no more moan moan.
We're very lucky to have club members who are so readily prepared to spend good fishing time improving the beats for everyone else. Thanks Keith.
Cheers
PeterB