Author: leconfieldflyfishingclub

Lakes – the lakes were all stocked prior to the start of the season. Great Springs and Lower Figgs had been refilled and the water soon cleared. The water at Lower Figgs is crystal clear.

Since the season started the weather has been consistently good for fishing. Even over Easter when there were near record temperatures, the lake fishing was excellent. The opening week was a record start to the season and a few bigger than average fish were caught. By the first week of April the trout were rising and also chasing the roach fry.

In mid April the weather was bright and cold  and the fish were rising freely to take buzzers, particularly at Little Bognor. Towards the end of the month the weather became warmer and brighter, the trout continued to rise and take small dry flies and buzzers.

The recent warm weather has produced hatches of  Alder, Olives, Hawthorn and midges. Fish of 4 – 5lb have been caught and returned, one guest did particularly well at Little Springs using a dry Daddy. Popular flies were Montana and buzzer imitations.

Last week members visited the lakes on 90 occasions and caught 154 trout, 136 of which were returned. Fish of 3.5lbs and 4.5lbs were caught at Little Springs. For the season to date, 808 fish have been caught in 456 visits.

Catch and Release finishes on May 19 on the rainbow lakes but continues to the end of the season at Little Bognor.

River – it has been a quiet start to the season but the river is in excellent condition and the recent prolonged warm spell should encourage flies to hatch and the fish to rise.

Improvements have been made to give better access to the river at Perryfields. A few small seats have been provided at vantage points along the river.

The river has been stocked and should give good sport during May when the mayfly hatch. The trout are staying deep and hiding in the sparse streamer weeds. A deep sunk nymph run under bushes or between the weed beds should produce a fish or two.

Yesterday there was a good hatch of Olives and Alder fly at Perryfields in the evening and several fish were seen rising in the Fish Pass. The trout will begin to look up during early May and will be easier to find.

Spring BBQ – 2 June, 11:00am – 4:00pm

The date for the Spring BBQ is 2 June. The event will start at 11:00am and finish at 4:00pm. Brian Smart will be on hand to provide free tuition to members and guests. As in previous years we will be organising a BBQ with delicious food and wonderful wine included, all for £15 per person.

If you would like to attend the BBQ, please could you contact Emma Goode at the Estate Office by email on emma.goode@leconfieldestates.co.uk or by telephone on 01798-342502 to help plan the catering.

Orvis Day – 15 June, 10:00am – 3:00pm

Orvis will be holding a rod demonstration day at Great Springs and Little Springs on Saturday 15 June. The event is free and will run from 10:00am until 3:00pm at the fishing hut beside Great Springs.

Join Hamish and Jerome from Orvis Chichester and Orvis Guide, Brian Smart, for an exclusive day trying some of the finest rods available. Orvis will have a range of Helios 3 rods (the most accurate rod ever made) Recons, Superfine carbon and the new Clearwater.

Light refreshments will be provided in the clubhouse and guests are welcome to enjoy the scenery. No booking is required.

Directions: GU28 9LY and then follow the signs. Phone 07816879333 if you are lost !

This is a free event, open to members and non members.

 

 

Lakes – the hot bright conditions leading up to the near record breaking Easter weather didn’t seem to put the trout off feeding. Fish were rising on all the lakes and members had good sport at Luffs and Little Bognor. Small dry flies or buzzers fished slowly just under the surface produced the takes. The best time of day was from 4:00pm onwards.

Members visited the lakes on 89 occasions and caught 142 fish. That included a 4lb fish from Great Springs and a 5lb fish from Luffs, photo above, the latter was returned. Of the 142 fish 112 were returned.

The trout are in excellent condition, the 3lb + fish above was caught at Luffs. The slightly cooler weather next week should enable the good sport to continue.

River – Again no fish were caught on the river. The water will become warmer and the Mayfly will soon start to hatch, the situation should be different this time next week.

The wild flowers in the woods along the river are at their best at the moment.

This update covers the last two weeks, there was no internet access in the wilds of Cumbria last week !

Lakes – during the first week of April trout were rising freely at Little Bognor taking buzzers. Either a dry fly or nymph fished just under the surface, produced a fish or two. Members visited the lakes on 52 occasions and caught a total of 95 trout, 79 of which were returned.

Last week the weather was bright and cold, members visited the lakes on 70 occasions and caught 116 trout, 88 of which were returned. A number of dead fish have been found at the lakes and this is thought to be the result of poor handling when returning the fish. If a fish is deeply hooked or bleeding, please do not return it.

A number of much larger rainbow trout have been stocked and members may wish to increase the strength of their tippets !

River – the water level and colour were perfect but the rain and snow showers discouraged members from visiting the river on opening morning. The water level was constant through the opening week. Last week the bright, cold conditions were not helpful. Three fish have been caught which is better than the opening weeks of last season when the Beast from the East made the river unfishable.

There is no weed cover at this time of year and a weighted nymph fished through the deeper pools and under bushes is the best tactic. Warmer weather is forecast for the end of the week and that may encourage the fish to feed.

Lakes – the weather throughout the week was excellent and members took the opportunity to visit all the lakes. Members visited the lakes on 74 occasions and caught a total of 125 trout, the catch was spread evenly across the lakes. A fish of 5lbs was caught at Upper Figgs and two wild trout were caught at Little Bognor. Members continued to return a high proportion of the fish, 91 were caught and released.

Midges are hatching in good numbers and fish were rising to the dry fly at Little Bognor this afternoon. Olives are starting to hatch at Little Springs. Large numbers of small roach are shoaling on the surface at Great Springs and Little Springs. The most productive fly last week was the Montana.

River – the river is in excellent condition and should provide good sport on Wednesday when it opens. The water is at a normal level and has lost the colour from the rain two weeks ago.

 

 

The River Rother opens on Wednesday 3 April as permitted by the local byelaws and not on  Thursday 4 April as stated in the membership renewal letter. Members have been sent an email to correct this error.

Tight lines.

Lakes – unlike last year the weather during most of the opening week was excellent for fishing, overcast with a gentle breeze. A total of 174 trout were caught which is a record start to the season. Members visited the lakes on 81 occasions, 136 fish were returned.

Little Springs was the most productive lake including two fish of 3lb 8ozs and an over wintered fish of 4lb 8ozs. Upper Figgs produced trout of 3lb 8ozs and 5+lbs, both of which were returned.  Two wild fish were caught at Little Bognor. A high pressure system over the country this week will see warm settled weather which should encourage further hatches of grannom and midges.

River – the river is in excellent condition and opens on Wednesday 3 April.

Lost property – these Ray Ban sunglasses are on the top of the stuffed fish in the club house for the owner to claim.

Lakes – the lakes have all been stocked and some good fish have already been caught  from Little Springs. The fish are in excellent condition and it is good to see that the majority have been returned to the water. Black flies have been successful in the slightly coloured water.

AGM – the meeting was well attended and after the club’s business had been completed, everyone was entertained by Simon Cooper who gave a talk about chalkstreams.

Membership – the membership cards  for the new season will be posted shortly, in the meantime members should sign in with their membership number from last season. Please sign-in before starting to fish as this ensures members safety and accurate catch returns.

Landing nets – a national byelaw makes it illegal to use landing nets with knotted mesh. This byelaw ensures that fish are returned to the water unharmed. If you have an old landing net and intend to return trout, replacement mesh can easily be obtained online.

Fishing Licence – please remember to renew your licence. You can apply online using the government portal. There are a number of scam websites that charge exorbitant booking fees, the official website is as follows . . .

https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/buy-a-fishing-licence

 

Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held at 6pm, on Friday 15 March at the Leconfield Hall, Petworth. The AGM is an excellent opportunity for members to meet fellow fishermen and we encourage you to attend.

After the formal proceedings Simon Cooper the author, conservationist and fishing agent will give a talk about otters and his book ‘The Otters Tale’. After the talk there will be canapés and drinks for which the Committee has decided not to charge. Please bring your partner or a guest as Simon is a very entertaining speaker and his talk will be of interest to non-anglers.

Please email the Estate office (emma.goode@leconfieldestates.co.uk) if you are planning to attend, so that we can get a rough idea of numbers and can cater adequately.

 

Lakes

The lake season starts on Saturday, 16 March. The catch and release trial on the rainbow lakes will run until Sunday, 19 May unless the weather is exceptionally hot.

Barbless flies will be on sale in the fishing hut at Great Springs.

Please renew your membership before the start of the season and remember to renew your fishing licence.

Great Springs – the water level was lowered in early December to expose the roots of the Spiked Water-milfoil growing in the shallows. Spiked Water-milfoil is a very invasive plant and it is extremely difficult to eradicate. The winter weather should kill the weed that is exposed to frost.

Lowering the water level rather than draining it completely, should enable some of the aquatic life to survive which will provide food for the stocked fish in 2019. Hopefully, this approach will preserve the mayfly nymphs, olive nymphs and bloodworm which will encourage the trout to rise.

Lower Figgs – the lake was completely drained during the season because the Canadian pondweed, probably introduced in the spring by nesting waterfowl, had spread over the entire lake and made it impossible to fish.

The crystal clear shallow water and long hot summer provided ideal growing conditions for this invasive weed. The solution to the weed problem here had to be more radical than that adopted for Great Springs. The lake was drained and has been left fallow for several months. This should kill the weed on the dry lake bed and severely check the growth of the weed down the centre channel.

It is impossible to entirely eradicate Spiked Water-milfoil or Canadian pondweed but these measures should help ensure weed free fishing on those lakes for most of the new season. As well as our own staff, we have contractors ready to do hand-cutting should it be necessary. Both lakes will be refilled shortly and stocked with rainbow trout ready for the Opening Day on Saturday 16 March.

Membership Fees – the membership renewal letters were sent out in early January together with details of the charges for 2019. Membership fees had not been increased for the previous three years but some of the fees have now been increased.

Junior membership and guest tickets have remained the same as 2018 and there will be no charge for the Annual General Meeting although refreshments will still be provided.

The increase in membership fees has been partially offset by a reduction in the stocking fee. Although the cost of stock fish has increased, stocking levels will not be reduced and this, coupled with the introduction of Catch and Release at the rainbow lakes, will enable members to catch more trout.

Please return the renewal form as soon as possible so that it can be processed in time for the start of the new season.

Fully recovered and swimming away

For the 2018 season the club rules were altered to allow optional catch and release at Little Bognor as a trial. Barbless or de-barbed hooks were made mandatory and wild brown trout had to be returned.

Little Bognor

The two lakes at Little Bognor are well suited to catch and release as they are spring fed and therefore cool throughout the summer. The optional catch and release experiment was very popular. The number of visits to the lakes nearly doubled, the number of fish caught more than trebled to a nine year record and the number of fish stocked was slightly less than 2017. At the start of the season Little Bognor was a popular alternative with members who fish the river.

Throughout the season members were positive about catch and release. Many asked if it would be continued and if it could be extended to the other lakes in 2019. Occasionally the fish became difficult to catch but regular stocking ensured that there were always fresh fish available. Therefore, the Committee have agreed that catch and release at Little Bognor will continue but that it could be suspended if there are fish deaths due to high water temperature.

Barbless flies available at Great Springs

Rainbow Lakes

None of the rainbow lakes are spring fed to the same extent as Little Bognor. Water temperature at the bottom of Great Springs reached 25 degrees at the height of last summer. Catch and release throughout the season is therefore not an option on the rainbow lakes. The Committee have agreed that, on a trial basis, catch and release will be permitted for part of the season. Allowing catch and release for the first two months of the season (Sunday March 17 to 17 May 2019) on the rainbow lakes should avoid problems with high water temperatures and will prevent the trout from becoming difficult to catch later in the season.

The Committee have also agreed to allow catch and release on the rainbow lakes at the end of the season if the conditions are right. Extending catch and release to the rainbow lakes might be stopped if the water temperature gets too high prior to 17 May. The catch and release rules for the rainbow lakes will be the same as Little Bognor. The flies on sale at Great Springs will be barbless. If members do not intend to release any trout, barbed hooks may be used.

There will be no changes to the rules for the river.

Fish Handling

After hooking a trout play it out quickly and use a landing net with a fine knotless mesh. If possible do not touch the fish, barbless hooks normally drop out once the line is slack. If you must handle the fish, use wet hands. Release it from the landing net. That will enable you to nurse the fish until it can maintain an upright position and swim out of the net unaided. It might take a few minutes for the fish to fully recover.

If you release a trout from your hands before it’s fully recovered, it may sink to the bottom of the lake and die. If the fish is bleeding it should not be returned. If you are in doubt don’t return the trout. It is a good idea to use a pan shaped net to give the fish room to recover. A long handle enables safe netting and release.