Blog

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	74	16	126
River	18	2	15

The format of the catch returns has changed again. Each week, time and photography permitting, the catch returns will be summarised and published together with any news. This will enable regular email notifications to be sent to subscribers.

River Day

The River Day on Sunday was very well attended, everyone listened intently to Andrew’s explanation of kick sampling and re-wilding the river.

Mark Temple gave a casting demonstration, explained about tackle for the river and caught a nice fish to demonstrate his tactics !

AGM and BBQ

The AGM and BBQ will be held on 22 May from 12 noon at Great Springs.

1 May

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	111	30	116
River	7	3	6

25 April

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	83	26	113
River	12	0	11

18 April

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	120	44	135
River	10	0	2

11 April

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	69	25	131
River	20	11	11

Biggest fish from the lakes; 9lbs 8ozs from Great Springs, 1 x 6lbs, 2 x 5lbs, 3 x 4lbs and 3lbs 8ozs on a wide variety of flies.

4 April

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	81	29	227

Biggest fish 6lbs 8ozs, 2 x 5lbs and 4lbs

28 March

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	134	49	222

Biggest fish 7lbs 10ozs, 9lbs 12ozs, 3 x 5lbs and 2 x 4lbs.

21 March

	Visits	Taken	Returned
Lakes	136	41	418
River	not	open	yet

Many of the fish were over 2lbs, the best was 8.5lbs. Three fish over 5lbs and two at 4lbs were also caught. A great opening week with the vast majority of fish returned to the lakes.

Catch and Release

Catch and release is optional, members can retain fish for the pot or release them. If you are going to release trout, you must use a barbless hook. Wild fish from Little Bognor or the Rother must be returned.

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.

The links below give more detailed advice.

https://www.wildtrout.org/content/catch-and-release

https://www.keepemwet.org/

The Tuesday Club end of season lunch was held at The Badgers near Coultershaw Bridge and was well attended. It was good to meet and chat about the season’s fishing.

Ironically,  the river looked in good condition, clear with a greenish tint.

A few members took advantage of the brief period of mild weather and fished into dusk on the last day. The weeks running up to the end of the season were very productive. Good numbers of trout, including some monsters, were caught from all of the lakes.

In the last week of the season members visited the lakes on 71 occasions and caught 83 trout, 63 of which were returned. The fish that were returned should overwinter and produce great fishing next March.

Six fish of 4lbs were caught from four lakes and a monster of over 9lbs was captured at Luffs. As usual a very wide variety of nymphs and lures were used ranging from a Perdigon to a Cats Whisker.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 104 occasions and caught 127 trout, 102 of which were returned. It was an excellent week !

There were a lot of good fish caught from every lake. The trout were caught on a very wide variety of flies ranging from a Perdigon to an Ace of Spades.

Several trout of 4lbs were caught from Great Springs, Little Springs and Lower Figgs. A fish of 6lbs and two of 5lbs were caught plus the biggest fish of the week at 8lbs, the latter from Lower Figgs.

The final week of the season should see similar catches as the weather looks stable and there are plenty of trout to be caught.

This update covers the last two weeks for the lakes and the final week of the season for the river.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 104 occasions in the last two weeks and caught a total of 108 trout including some monsters; – trout of 9lbs, 8lb 8ozs, 3 x 5lbs and 3x 4lbs. The biggest trout was returned to the lake.

Trout were caught on a wide variety of nymphs and lures. The water is gradually losing colour and there should be some excellent fishing in the last few weeks of the season

River – during the last week of October members visited the river on 19 occasions and caught 12 trout, 8 of which were returned.

This update covers the two weeks ending 25 October.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 98 occasions and caught 59 trout, 39 of which were returned. Every lake was visited by members and fish were caught at all of the lakes, mainly on nymphs and lures.

River – members visited the river on 35 occasions, mostly before the recent heavy rain and caught 30 trout, 25 of which were returned. The catch included a chub of 3lb 8ozs and a sea trout weighing about 3lbs.

Lets hope the rain stops in time for a few days fishing during the last week of the river season.

Signing in

It is important that members sign in before starting to fish. There are a number of reasons for this.

The stocking levels are based, among other factors, on the number of fish caught per visit. If members do not record their visits, particularly blank trips, this can skew the numbers and resulting in under stocking.

It helps identify people who are not members and who should not be fishing or walking around the Estate.

Personal security is enhanced if it is known who is fishing, particularly on the river, should they have an accident. It is also helpful to know when arriving at the river, which beats have already been fished or are being fished, it saves following a member who has already covered the water.

This report covers the last two weeks, up to 11 October.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on a total of 98 occasions during the last two weeks and caught 66 trout, 44 of which were returned.

The fish were caught on a wide variety of flies, the best fish was 5lb from Luffs. Most lakes are producing fish, Luffs and Little Bognor are the most productive.

River – members visited the river on 19 occasions during the last two weeks and caught 9 trout, all of which were returned.

Two weeks ago there was heavy rain and the river flooded the surrounding meadows. The water level has since dropped and the warm dry weather should enable good end of season fishing.

This update covers the two weeks ending 27 September.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 68 occasions during the last two weeks and caught a total of 32 trout, 20 of which were returned. They were caught on a wide variety of nymphs and dry flies.

River – during the last two weeks members visited the river on 48 occasions and caught a total of 33 fish including 3 wild trout, a sea trout and 5 fish over 3lbs. Most of the fish were caught on nymphs.

AGM at Great Springs

About 30 people attended the AGM. Our Chairman gave a beautiful introductory speech and thanked Andrew Thompson and everyone else involved in running the club. Tim Wardle summarised the accounts. The meeting was very relaxed and brief. The sun shone, much food wine and beer was consumed and a few members actually cast a line.

The water temperature in the rainbow lakes is dropping and the recent rain should cool the water even further. The rain should also encourage a run of sea trout.

This update covers two weeks, 30 August to 13 September.

Lakes – members visited the lakes on 75 occasions and caught 41 trout, 28 of which were returned. Two wild fish were caught at Little Bognor. The fish were taking mainly dry flies; Grey Wulff, Daddy, Sedge and midge.

River – members visited the river on 35 occasions and caught 27 trout, 9 of which were returned including two wild fish.

AGM – The clubs Annual General Meeting will be held at Great Springs on Saturday 18 September at 12:00 noon.

River Day

Twenty four members attended the River Day which went very well.

A couple of our hardened Rother members (not mentioning any names!) gave in-depth advice on fishing our stretch, which led to a request for links to the fly sellers they use.

This chap supplies Irish lough flies, but his Daddys and hoppers are first class.https://www.frankiemcphillips.com/

Fulling Mill is the best of the commercial suppliers although their website is currently unavailable.

This guy is good and will tie things to order. Good for sea trout flies.

http://www.caithnessqualityflies.co.uk/

This update covers the last two weeks, 17 August – 1 September, including the Bank Holiday weekend.

Lakes – Members visited the lakes on 67 occasions and caught 24 trout, 14 of which were returned at Little Bognor. Successful flies were Adams, midge, Klinkhammer and buzzers.

River – Members visited the river on 40 occasions and caught 49 trout, 42 of which were returned. The total catch included 6 wild fish and a 4lber. A few fish were caught on dry fly but various nymphs were more successful.

AGM and BBQ

The AGM and summer BBQ is on Saturday, 18th September 2021 beginning at midday at Great Springs.

There will be no attendance charge but a burger, drink and packet of crisps will cost £5 per person. Guests are welcome and standard club rules apply if they wish to fish, the cost being £15 per person to include the taking of up to two fish which will count towards your annual allowance of 25.

Please let the club know if you wish to attend, including numbers of guests and your food requirements, by emailing lfc@leconfieldestates.co.uk or calling the office. 

River Day

The River Day is on Sunday 5^th September from 4pm. It provides members with an opportunity to look at the river with Andrew Thompson and to hear more about its habitat, fly life and good places to fish.