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A warm welcome to the WDAC Game section. The Club has two beautiful dedicated trout venues, three lakes in total at Winterborne Zelston and Rawlsbury.

See below for details on how to buy your game tickets and for up-to-date game-related news.

JUNE LAKES REPORT

Hello fellow game fishers,

This topsy turvy weather has again taken us by surprise and is in complete contrast to last year. This July has been one of the wettest on record and has inevitably completely changed the outlook for fishing our lakes this summer.

Winterbourne Zelston.

A lot of the surface weed is wind-blown and the result of our weed cutting. The lake is now in fine condition and perfectly fishable on the field side. The gabion wall wild flower planting is looking particularly good.

As only a few of you have fished the lake this month, there are some very good fish that have been in there for some time now.

Below are some of your returns:-

• Interesting day yesterday at Zelston. Gareth, Vaughan and myself fished for about 3 Hrs in the morning with not a single knock. I fished off the West bank platform and could see loads of fish taking what look like buzzers off to the right of the platform but try as I may I couldn't tempt them to anything. Vaughan and Gareth fished in front of the bungalow and claimed to have only seen one fish. So lunch beckoned, following lunch Gareth took my swim and tried a small lure, within 15 mins he landed two nice rainbows about four and a half pounds. Despite using the same fly and method neither Vaughan or myself could catch a thing. I was very pleased to see that there were many areas of weed free water and regarding clarity it was perfectly drinkable. Thank you so much for the work on clearing the weed, that Neptune rake is one hell of a tool.

• Another great day at Zelston on Saturday (10th) Weather was fair, slightly overcast with the constant threat of rain and even thunder. Wind was breezy but every time it slackened the pockets of open water became crystal clear and it wasn't hard to see a good number of fish. I had a strange day and was almost entirely unable to entice anything to take any kind of fly I used no matter what I changed to make a difference. Jack had far less trouble and caught all 4 of ours, 4lbs 14, 4lbs 12, 3lbs 10 and 3lbs 2.  All fought well with a number leaping several times, the fight made harder with the effort of trying to steer them away from dense weed.

They do show how perseverance pays off even in tough conditions.

Rawlsbury

Our volunteers have been busy this month ensuring that Cowleaze and Chapmans remain relatively weed free and thanks to Bob’s deliberations we now have some very good methods for extracting the weed using our capstan winch and ground anchors.

We have stocked the lakes this month including Viners and the fishing has been excellent. Some of your reports are as follows:-

• Lovely morning at Rawlsbury today. Fairly windy and cloudy with sunny spells made for tricky conditions. Started on Cowleaze which was quite weedy but the clear spots were holding a few fish that were taking from the edge of the weed and very occasionally the top but wouldn't take anything I offered. I tried Viners for a while, saw a nice fish jump but nothing took. Sandys was extremely low, too low to fish. If it gets any lower it will probably need the fish being moved. Finally tried Chapmans, also quite weedy but again the clear pools were holding fish that were circling and eating from the edge of the weed to the left of the first platform. Tried a small shrimp which interested at least two fish, and ended with the bigger fish pushing a smaller one out of the way to take it. After a good run and fight it somehow managed to spit it ! Moved towards the hut and changed to a midge pattern and with the most subtle of takes I had a 4lb 12 fish running the width of the lake. Good fight and eventually in the bag. Moved back to the platform and quickly had my second of 2lb 14. Another great fight,

• Quite easy - very small (16) pale little bug. Looks loke a Poult bloa - plae and with a very small hen hackle. Fished about 3" down.  They were coming up but not breaking the surface. Problem was getting them in, but fortunately have a very long handled net.

• Chapmans. Spent a long time trying all sorts at several fish under the oaks. Eventually got one on a Diawl Bach, shallow under an indicator.  Kept trying for the second. Eventually went over to the jetty where I had seen one rising.

Chucked a Diawl Bach at him and he took immediately. Ran like a demon which took all the steam out of him - just as well, because I had to bring him in over the weed. 4 ¼ and 4 1/2. Lovely fish.

• As expected, Chapmans after stocking was a bit difficult - the fresh fish seemed short-sighted, bow-waving to the fly and missing it by six inches. Went up to Cowleaze, excellent work clearing the lake of weed and getting the banks clear as well, the larger stocked fish were quite lethargic and at the surface. Eventually caught a 3lb 3oz and then 3lb 7oz from the depths on a cat’s whisker.

Please be aware that there is a hornet’s nest below the flagstones outside the fishing hut. Just be careful otherwise you could have a hot reception!

Have a great time in between the showers!

Tight Lines,

Paul.

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