Sat here typing my mid term report it seems like only yesterday I was sat here praying for rain for our rivers and dreading the thought of a drought and low summer levels in our waterways, now it just doesn’t seem to want to stop raining and my local rivers are currently unfishable.
My season really got going early doors at Blagdon Lake, an early season visit found it to be fishing its head off and I bagged up in no time, it was easily out-fishing Chew Valley at the time and although still fishing well it seems that from recent reports that Chew has caught up in the fishing stakes with some huge bags of fish so now is the time to head to Chew and give it a go. Try a floating line long leader with a team of buzzers, diawl bachs and maybe a bead head damsel pattern on the point if the fish are a bit deeper. I like to fish a bank with a cross wind, throw out a long line and let the natural drift fish my flies around for me, maybe just using an ultra slow figure of eight retrieve to keep in touch with my flies. If the weather turns warm try very first thing in the morning or last light with a couple of dries, this can give some explosive sport through the summer months.
Other reservoirs worth a visit at the moment are Clatworthy and Wimbleball, I’ve heard they are both fishing well at the moment with some real quality fish coming out. I find both these venues fish best from a boat as the fish can shoal up and fishing from a boat helps you search the water more easily. In recent seasons I have had some awesome days on Wimbleball fishing just a team of dries, I think this is down to the clarity of the water there as the fish always seem to be looking up for their next meal.
With all this rain and good water levels it’s also time to turn your thoughts to some sea trout fishing. This is strictly a night time event in the pitch black of the night for the best fishing but if this not for you it is also possible to catch sea trout during the day with coloured water conditions. Search the web and you will find access to day ticket waters on some West Country sea trout fishing venues.
Other places worth a visit are Burton Springs fishery near Bridgwater, I use this a lot for my tuition, it’s a well run fishery with really friendly staff and the chance of catching some quality brown trout aswell as blues and tiger trout.
More recently I fished the river Frome at the Casterbridge fishery near Dorchester. I had a great day on the water down there and although I went for the Mayfly, weather conditions saw only a trickle coming off so had all my fish on a heavy nymph with the fish having their heads down in the chilly temperatures. I urge you to get down there and give it a go, it’s a really picturesque fishery and run by a great guy called John Aplin who knows his stuff, with the added bonus of it’s very affordable for prime chalk stream fishing.