Hello from sunny Woodford Lodge.
 
A wonderful week of weather and fishing. Calms and bright sunshine are usually the kiss of death for top water sport. But this week has showed that it's not always the case. Although the dry fly sport has been difficult, fishing sub surface has been some of the best enjoyed for many years. And with fairly settled weather forecast this excellent sport should continue. Weekend boats are now becoming heavily booked, as is Litton. But there are still boats available most weekdays and afternoon and evening sessions are well worth a try at present. Look forward to seeing you soon.  

Weather:       A warm and sunny week with very light Easterly breezes and some showers.

Water:            Water levels falling very slowly at all venues. The clarity is excellent at all the lakes. The water temperature has risen this week to 18°C at the surface.

A fantastic fishing week at all the lakes. Despite the very warm, bright conditions the fish have fed and been caught in great numbers. There have been some incredible hatches of buzzers throughout most days and these have encouraged the fish to gorge themselves and this has made for exciting sport most of the time.

During the daytime the fish have tended to move offshore into slightly deeper water making the bank fishing more difficult. But later in the evening and early morning they are easily within reach although often not easy to tempt. Boat anglers have found fish at all times, often very close to the surface. Although deep fished nymphs fished static have worked, many anglers have found that their flies are beneath the fish with this method and realised that a slow retrieve or fishing with a floating tail fly has resulted in many more takes as the flies are fishing at a much shallower depth. Dries and emergers have also worked though the fish are spoilt for choice with so many real offerings on the surface. Black seems to be the favourite colour at present with Diawl Bach, Cruncher and Buzzers all working well. HEN and red Holo DBs also well worth trying.

Chew : Bank. North Shore, Walley, Nunnery and Herons. Boat. The Dam to behind the Island, Roman Shallows to Nunnery, Stratford, Moreton, Walley and Woodford.

Two competitions this weekend enjoyed excellent results. The Scierra Pairs fished by 34 anglers took 164 fish. Winners were PAUL ROACH and DAVE JOHNS. The Southern England Eliminator saw 29 competing. 184 fish were taken with JOHN HORSEY taking top spot. His limit bag included a 5.08 rainbow.

Chew:              1405 trout taken by 321 rods, average catch 4.4 per rod

Bob Handford