No doubt over week’s top trout
STILLWATER trout angler of the week was undoubtedly Anthony Meadows from Chopwell.
Fishing at the popular Sharpley Springs Trout Fishery, Meadows landed a huge 20lb rainbow from the Doxford Lake in a catch of eight fish for his visit.
Several other double-figure trout came to the net this week. Like most fisheries, the imitative patterns have been accounting for many trout at Sharpley. Patterns fished static have been effective, with Pheasant Tail Nymphs, Shuttlecocks, Damsels, Buzzers and Sedges in the late evenings the ‘go to’ flies.
Chatton Trout Fishery hosted a qualifying heat of the national TEFF Competition. The individual winners of the TEFF qualifier were Carl Nixon, Robbie Bell and Brian Lillie, and the pairs winners were Howard Robinson and Jack Hardy.
On the Northumbrian Water reservoirs sport picked up, mainly due to cooler conditions and poor weather. Rain, high winds and persistent cloud cover proved to be great conditions for catching trout. Anglers were going home windswept and soaked but happy after some really good sport.
Grassholme reservoir is to get a double stocking of trout this week. The cooler conditions should certainly enhance the sport on offer.
Fishery managers often get very frustrated when anglers do not fill in their catch returns. On behalf of these fisheries I would ask anglers to fill in these returns, whether taking fish or returning them and including nil returns.
It is important to the fisheries to make sure that stocking numbers are maintained to ensure that catch rates are high. Sweethope Loughs are offering a free fishing session for their new weekly draw from completed catch returns.
On the rivers the welcome spates have seen fish running in from the sea, with local rivers benefiting from the welcome lifts. Tyne’s upstream count has reached more than 21,000 for the season so far. With the autumn runs to follow, there should be no shortage of salmon for the back end fishing. Tyne is producing sport throughout much of its catchment.
The level at Kielder Water rose by 50cm last week, making some areas of the reservoir difficult to access for anglers. This will give those who control the water releases from Kielder few problems in sanctioning some extra water for the river when and if levels fall away