Adventrues at WalkerWood

20 May 2011

Hi all, been trying my hand at Walkerwood recently. Lovely place, friendly people. Very reasonable at £2.50/hour. Means I can go after work for a couple of hours.

Been 3 times now. 1st trip with my son, to get a feel for the place. We both blanked. 2nd visit, stayed near the hut, after about 20mins a hit... on a viva. well, when I say hit, Mr trout took said viva, about 3m of line and then said, see ya.....

3rd visit last night, fished the bottom end, gentle ripples on the surface and the odd rise. Decided to fish a 3 buzzer cast. OMG, first cast and bang, Mr trout on, good fight on my hands, but then, something gave, and he was off. Must have been a weakness in my leader as it broke, so somewhere in the lake is Mr trout with my buzzer in his mouth.

Few casts later, (tested the leader well this time) and another bang on a buzzer, this one did not set and was off quite sharpishly. About an hour past before I hit the next, again on a buzzer about 2feet down, and guess what, no sooner than he hit and I struck, he was off….

Ended the day over at the cabin, two gents fishing there, one father teaching his son. (Its not easy trying to fish and teach your kids at the same time. But its definitely worth it) Neither of them caught anything, although there were a couple of misses like mine. Thought I would stay until light got to a point that I could no longer see my line, however out of the blue about 15 Canadian Geese decided it looked a good place to practice water skiing. Was a sight, at this point I decided to call it a day.

Really like Walkerwood, the fish are tough, the surroundings are lovely and the staff are friendly. But I will say, its not an easy place to catch. As I tell my son, its called fishing, not catching!!!

Chris 0 – Trout 3

Adventures at Westlowe Mere

3 June 2011

Hi all, thought I would let you all know how I got on recently at Westlowe mere.

Started the day of around 9:30, it was slightly overcast and a few other people fishing there.

Started on the far bank in the deeps. After several fly changes, eventually managed my first fish on a small black buzzer. About 3ft down. Very slow retrieve. Nice fish, just under 2lb in weight. Clean, no scars and full fins. Gave a good fight to start, but then came in like a sack of spuds. One down one more to go!! (2 fish ticket) continued at the same point for another 30mins with not a bite. So decided to move round. Changed to gold head hare's ear to see if I could get deeper. Again not a bite so kept moving round, about 3/4 way round the deep pool, got a hit on the goldhead, bang, felt like a nice fish but never managed to land it :-( Oh well, kept going for another hour without a bite. So sat down to eat some lunch and studied the water. Fantastic fun, watching what looked like olives hatching on the surface and quickly being taken by a trout (They may have been mayflies, but looked more like olives through my shades) Trout were taking then within 2ft of the bank. Plentiful supply. so decided to try my trusty Dawson’s olive. and tried and tried and tried. Not a bean. Though, quick change of tactics and went for a coch-y-bundi and diawl bach combo. Had many follows and a couple of half hearted takes but still managed nothing to the net. Moving on around the lake, got to the shallows. tried the gold hear hares ear again, not a knock.... Walked on, chatted to some guy on the bank and he said he had managed a few. Noticed a guy on the opposite side, hit quite a few fish in succession... thought, oh well, will work my way round and see what he's catching on. (Always good to have a banter at Westlowe, not met anyone yet that has not been happy to chat and share knowledge) Anyway, got to the corner of the shallows and thought I would try the old Dawson’s olive there. Within 3 or 4 casts, bang the fish was on. Felt like a good fish. Some youngsters opposite said, wow, looks like you got a good fish there, and on them saying that, the fish acrobatically jumped, double back flip with tuck.... and I thought to myself, Jesus, that is a good fish!!! Gave a real good fight, took about 28ft of line, had some backing out ready as I was not sure how long this would go on for... Went deep too, at times like this you realise just how deep the water gets. Anyway, after about 10mins of a fight, got him to the net. Nets get heavy when they are wet, but had to use both arms to pull this one out. Not the longest trout I have caught. (That would be the 4lb 2oz beasts I got, filled the sink corner to corner) However, it was the biggest lump of trout, looked like a proper greedy ******. Bang over the head and he hung from my digital scale. 5lb 6oz of sheer muscle. That's a PB for me. (Still dreaming of landing a double figure one) But boy did that make my day. Next cast, heart still racing and within about 1.5 meters of the bank another strike, but no take, so decided, got my two fish, time to call it a day. So off I went back up to the lodge. Of course, its a bit of a climb up the path. By the time I got to the lodge, totally out of breadth. Showed off my prize catch. (Note to self, big trout have sharp teeth, watch my fingers.) Noticed as I was leaving (Around 430 -5) Many people were just arriving.

So, a good day at Westlowe.

Chris 2 Westlowe 2