MAY LAKES REPORT

Hello fellow game fishers,

I think apart from a few days of rain May has been one of the driest months on record and we have all been treated to some stunning weather. We have also had reports of increasing insect life this spring. The indications are that hatches of mayfly were earlier than normal this year. The warm weather during April has meant trees have blossomed earlier than usual - something beekeepers say could be responsible for the increase in swarm activity. Swarming usually occurs in late spring and early summer, but some beekeepers have noticed the behaviour earlier this year.

Winterbourne Zelston – Our swans do such a great job of driving the Canada geese away and eating the weed!

May 24th Charity Day -WZ

This was held for the John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation (JTYAF). It was established in 2008 to honour the memory of Lieutenant John Thornton who lost his life while serving with the 40 Commando Royal Marines in Afghanistan. The day was extremely successful with all anglers catching fish. Of the 12 taking part 24 fish were caught ranging from 2lb 6oz to 5lb 5oz. Some of your reports for the month are as follows:-

• Enjoyed a lovely afternoon today accompanied by my guest. I caught trout of 4ib 8oz and 4ib 12oz on a red dial bach and a green hares ear respectively whilst Mike caught a 4ib and 4ib 8oz on a green damsel and red montana. We saw some big fish cruising around so, Mike was most impressed with his first visit which I don’t think will be his last!!!!

• I fished WZ for 3 hours 1000-1300 today. Two lovely fish on the imitation bloodworm (again!) - 4lb2oz and 4lb8oz. Full finned and very strong. The bigger one came with a bonus - a black gold head lure in its jaw, attached to a few inches of 6lb (I think) leader. You do warn people...7

• I had a fun late afternoon's fishing at WZ yesterday and despite the continuing northerly wind and cloudless sky, the conditions allowed me to take a brace of nice fish on a hog-louse # 14 nymph fished about a foot under the surface. Plenty of fish seen as the sun edged towards the west. I also saw a mature Mayfly there untroubled by bird or fish. A lovely visit, thank you.

• Did a spot of fishing Wed lunch for a couple of hours. Landed 4lb trout second cast then lost one, ....no breakage barbless hook intact. Then hooked into a decent sized fish bigger than the 4lb and it drove me into the floating weed which had blown across to the west bank cow field side. Completely wrapped in weed and unmovable the fish went belly up,

I managed after several attempts to flick the fly away with a very loose line and the fish with a ball of weed encased around it, sank to the bottom of lake, never seen that before. Greg came over and thought the fish was dead but we found those long poles in the shed joined them and slowly got the weed off the fish, It lay on the bottom about 5lb plus in weight.....after several prods and on the point of giving up it suddenly shot away ( been upside down) for about 15 mins!! Fish saved!! The lake suddenly went dead for about 45 mins....funny how it does that, then Greg had a fish and I hooked one that leaped and threw the hook. Only had two hours so reluctantly had to pack up and go with one 4lb. Strange couple of hours.

• Managed to get the rare chance to go fishing during the week on Monday with a visit to rawlsbury. Had a cracking morning with two fish between 4-5lb; one from cowleaze and one from chapmans. Chapmans was a great fish taken on a dry fly (parachute adams but bigger than your standard river flies). It was a fantastic day, look forward to fishing the rivers over the coming days with the mayfly now in full swing on the Dorset Stour!

• I did an evening visit to Rawlsbury yesterday. Lots of sedges and Daddy’s but very few rises and no evening rise. I caught one Rainbow of 4.8 on Chapmans and one of 5 on Cowleaze. Both the usual hard fighters including a big one I lost on Chapmans. One pair of Tufties on Cowleaze.

• Rain made it difficult to see through the surface, but some fish were moving. I faffed about on the western bank for a bit with a small buzzer, because a few chironomids were about, and tried various small buzzer imitations. With zero effect. Watching the fish, having moved to the western jetty, it became obvious they were very deep – just off the bottom, and feeding as they passed weed patches. Size 14 shrimp very deep, close to the bottom and had 2 in 2 casts. 5 1/4 and 3 ¾. The larger took me from close to the jetty out to the central weed patch in one run! Powerful fish especially on a #5 weight rod! Fish contained no buzzers – hoglouse, small snails and cased caddis

• Catch return for Rawlsbury. Water very clear, 4 broods of Mallard ducklings, 2 broods of goslings and a pair of nesting Tufties, Lovely evening, very still and peaceful. 3 fish 1 of 4lb and 2of 5 lb, hard fighting fish caught on small black and red Diawl Bach fished slow and deep with a floating line with a ghost tip. All three were full of very small black snails. All from Chapmans.

• Total catch was 3 fish. Guest was a young lad of 13 being guided by his Grandpa.– casting difficult in the wind, but finally got his first trout. About 2 ¾ lb on a shrimp. Very last cast of the day, though he had 4 other takes. Contained nothing so a recent stock? I started on a lure - Humungous. That produced nil interest. Changed to a sink tip and Viva Apache. Nil interest. (The logic was the recent stocking) Switched to a size 12 shrimp which took one fish almost immediately and fooled another which came off. Saw a good fish moving. That took no interest in the shrimp, so changed to a tiny size 14 and went a bit deeper. Instant take. 8 lbs. The first was 21/2.

Fish contained snails: lots of small olive snails, and you could see them snailing. Heading for a weed patch and twisting – that flash of silver. So a shrimp at the right depth and on track represented an easy meal.

• Another pleasant afternoon at Rawlsbury. Two fish - one about 4 1/2 and the other just a little smaller. Both on the same fly as last time - black and gold, size 10 fished on a sink tip line

RAWLSBURY – DRAINING CHAPMANS!

The farm manager is due to start draining Chapmans next week and this should last about two weeks or even longer. This is in preparation to dig out/excavate much of the silt that has been collecting in the lake over the years. The last time this was undertaken was about 16years ago. So, this is going to be quite a job and will obviously impinge on your fishing. I will keep you informed of the progress over the next few weeks. Ultimately, it should provide us with a lake that has a larger area to fish.

Tight lines

Best wishes,

Paul