Blog

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 58 occasions and caught a total of 91 trout, 73 of which were returned. A trout of 4lb was caught at Little Springs. Half of the fish caught were from Great Springs and Little Springs. The usual variety of flies appeared in the returns; Blue Flash Damsel, Black Spider, GRHE, buzzers and Adams.

River – members visited the river on 9 occasions and caught a total of 3 fish, two of which were sea trout smolts.

A lot of the trout in the lakes have been caught and released, they are starting to shy away from big flashy flies. Nymphs or buzzers fished near the surface are more likely to succeed.

Sea trout smolts can be identified from their silvery appearance and eyes that are slightly larger than a resident brown trout. These fish, nearly all females, are migrating downstream to the sea to feed, they will return as mature sea trout.

If a smolt is caught by accident, sea trout are out of season in the Southern bylaw region until 30 April, it must be returned immediately without being handled. Slip the barbless hook out of the fish and return it from the landing net after giving it time to recover. Sea trout smolts fight above their weight and might need a few minutes to recover. These small sea trout are future 10lb-ers.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 57 occasions and caught a total of 117 trout, 90 of which were returned. Ice in the rod rings at 6:30am today didn’t prevent a member from catching a trout at Lower Figgs.

The strong, very cold north-west wind made the fishing difficult but two trout over 4lbs were caught at Great Springs and fish of 8lb and 6lb were caught at Luffs.

The top lake at Little Bognor produced more fish than the lower lake.

River – members fished the river on 3 occasions and one fish was caught at the Fish Pass. The water level is slightly higher than normal and the water has a green tint but is fishable. The fish were rising at the New Riffle and taking terrestrial flies blown on to the water by the strong winds.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 67 occasions and caught a total of 165 trout, which was a very good result. Fish were caught at all the lakes and 124 were returned. All of the trout caught at Little Bognor were returned which is good to see. The biggest fish of the week was 5lb 12ozs, caught at Little Springs. Two 4lb trout were caught at Great Springs and Luffs produced a 5lb fish.

A wide variety of flies produced fish including the Blue Flash Damsel and the GRHE. Fish were moving well at Little Springs this afternoon and were feeding just under the surface.

River – the season opens on Saturday and the river is looking very good. The water level is slightly higher than normal but the water is not coloured. There is a good chance of an overwintered fish this weekend.

Lakes – Members visited the lakes on 86 occasions and caught a total of 202 trout, 147 of which were returned. A very good start to the season. Little Springs produced most of the fish. 12 wild fish were caught at Little Bognor.

Seven trout over 3.5lbs were caught, the biggest was 5lbs. The stand out fly was the Blue Flash Damsel. Other flies; Gold Bead Montana, Black Tadpole and Black Spider were also successful.

Tadpole imitations should be successful for the next few weeks !

River – The Rother water level has dropped and everything is looking good for the opening of the season on 3 April.

Several members braved the cold winds and found plenty of trout at Little Springs. Montana and blue flash damsel were successful flies with members catching 6 or 7 fish each.

The traditional Tuesday Club gathering for lunch at the hut has been postponed until after 29 March when groups of six members can meet outside.

Luffs was a little coloured and strong winds made the fishing difficult.

The river season opens on 3 April. The river is flooded at the moment but hopefully the rain will ease and the water level will drop.

This report covers the last two weeks of the season.

Week ending 23 November

Members visited the lakes on 21 occasions and caught a total of 16 fish, 9 of which were returned.

A junior member caught fish of 5lbs and 6lbs from Great Springs and returned both fish, well done !

2 wild fish were caught at Little Bognor, one weighed 1lb and the other was 4ozs which indicates that the trout are successfully spawning in the stream between the two lakes.

Week ending 30 November

Members visited the lakes on 42 occasions and caught 20 trout, 16 of which were returned. Four fish over 4lbs were caught and 1 over 3lbs.

It was an unusual season but some excellent fishing, both on the Rother and the lakes, at the end of the season compensated for the brief interruption to our sport.

This update covers the last four weeks, 26 October to 16 November.

Week ending 26 October

Members visited the river on 8 occasions, caught 4 fish and returned 3.

The lakes were very busy, members made 61 visits and caught 67 trout, 41 of which were returned. A trout of 7lb 10ozs was caught together with 2 over 6lbs.

Week ending 2 November

Members made two visits to the river but caught nothing.

The lakes again performed well. During 11 visits members caught 29 trout, 4 of which were over 6lbs and 28 were returned.

Week ending 9 November

The river closed at the end of October.

Members visited the lakes on 44 occasions and caught 25 trout, 1 of which was a wild fish. One trout weighed 5lbs, 7 fish were returned to the lakes.

Week ending 16 November

Members visited the lakes on 27 occasions and caught 28 trout, including 1 wild fish, 17 trout were returned. Four trout over 4lbs and 2 over 3lbs were caught.

This update covers 5 October to 19 October.

Week 1 – Lakes: members visited the lakes on 39 occasions and caught 89 trout, 46 of which were returned. Three of the fish were over 6lbs and the biggest was 6lb 12ozs. Three other fish weighed over 4lbs. The fish were caught mainly from the rainbow lakes.

River: members visited the river on 9 occasions and caught 12 fish including a sea trout of 3lbs. Nine of the trout were returned.

This was probably the best week of the season so far, in terms of the numbers and size of trout that were caught.

Week 2 – Lakes: members visited the lakes on 34 occasions and caught 41 trout. Several fish were over 5lbs and the heaviest was 6lb 6ozs. All of the trout were rainbows, 19 were returned.

River: members visited the river on 10 occasions and caught 7 fish, 6 of which were returned. The recent rain should encourage more sea trout upstream.

The weather was kind all week and members took the opportunity to fish the river. The Estate is looking beautiful and crane flies are about in large numbers.

Lakes – Members fished the lakes on 4 occasions and caught 6 trout including 2 wild fish which were returned to Little Bognor. The successful fly pattern was the Black Gnat.

River – Members visited the river on 22 occasions and caught 21 trout, 15 of which were returned. A sea trout of 4lbs was caught near Rotherbridge.

Fish were showing in the middle Beats yesterday evening. Successful flies were GRHE, Shrimp, Olive and Black Gnat.

The Tuesday Lunch Club at Great Springs is continuing until the end of the season with social distancing rules in force. Please use the WhatsApp group to liaise with other members.

This update covers the last two weeks, from 7 September to 21 September.

It has been a good two weeks with better rod averages. Several large fish were caught on the river.  Hopefully the rain forecast for Wednesday will bring the sea trout up the river. None have been caught so far this year but they are downstream, ready and waiting for rain.

The rainbow lakes are cooling down and will be worth fishing from this weekend onwards. A member caught a couple of fish on Lower Figgs yesterday so some of the trout have survived despite the lakes having been so warm this summer.

Week commencing 7 September –

Lakes – Members visited the lakes on 14 occasions and caught 11 trout, 6 of which were returned. One fish from Little Bognor weighed 3lb 8ozs, Black Gnat was a productive pattern.

River – Members visited the river on 18 occasions and caught 13 trout, 10 of which were returned including 3 wild fish. One fish was estimated at 3lbs. Good fly patterns were Grey Wulff, Pale Watery and Copper John.

Week commencing 14 September –

Lakes – Members visited the lakes on 8 occasions and caught 12 trout, 11 of which were returned including 1 wild fish.

River – Members visited the river on 12 occasions and caught 20 trout, 14 of which were returned including 2 wild fish. The river produced four good fish estimated at 3lb, 3lb 8ozs and two at 4lb. Successful flies were GRHE, Hopper and Sedge.