Latest News and Pictures 2024

Entries in Reverse date order

Junior Contest 2024         3 November 2024

The contest was later in the year than usual as the original contest date coincided with heavy rain causing the water flowing over  Ham Bridge to render it impassable. The conditions today were relatively mild with no rain forecast.

Four teams met to joust for the team trophy and the individual victor. The teams were - Rosie and Martyn Macefield; Elijah Brookes and Ian Wilson; Phoebe and Matthew Gibbs; and Jimmy Holman and Richard Stowe. 

Sport was inevitably slow reflecting the approach of Winter but everyone caught at least one fish and the sight of the golden carp going about its own mysterious agenda quickened the pulse of more than one angler.

At the weigh-in great care was taken to check the scales regularly and spectacles adjusted for maximum clarity. Weights were recorded to the half ounce and as a nod to the passing of the ages drams were never mentioned. (Look it up on your phone Penelope!)

Elijah and Ian shaded it by half an ounce from Jimmy and Richard in the team event but Jimmy barrelled past the opposition by 12 ounces to claim the individual trophy.

A close encounter of the little fish kind was appreciated by all.

Thank you Richard and Jane for organising the event so successfully.

Newbridge on Wye        24 October 2024       Outing

The very heavy rain which had caught the Teme the previous week had weakened as it moved westward so the rivers only rose a few feet and settled quickly. The residual increased flow from the rain and the increased flow from the dam releases meant that the flow was high and the colour acceptable for coarse fishing.

Bob started just below the Ithon but eventually was forced  to move because of the speed of the water and the number of leaves in the water. He moved into the slow deep water 20 yards or so above the Ithon inflow where Kevin had so much sport a fortnight previously and caught some trout and grayling - but what grayling - the two biggest were over three pounds each !! I have fished the Wye for over sixty years and caught many hundreds of grayling but never weighed one over three pounds. The river keeper said that in the fifty years he had walked the bank he had only heard of one many years ago. I caught one of two pounds fourteen ounces about fifty yards downstream of where Bob was fishing about twenty five years ago but to catch two in one day - three pounds five ounces  and three pounds two ounces - is outstanding. Well done!!

Steve struggled with his bad shoulder but landed five grayling which averaged over a pound on average along with the inevitable trout. (Trout are inevitable at this year as they move up the river to find suitable spawning gravels at this time of the year and gobble any maggots that they come across).

I moved downstream to Cornwall where I had caught some fish on our last visit. landed three chub and lost two more, one found something on the bottom to transfer the hook to and the other just pinged off as I was trying to bring it to the net. I was disappointed to only catch two grayling in that spot but along with a few trout it made for a good day.

Richard was again unlucky not to drop onto a few fish apart from the inevitable trout.

We said goodbye to Steve Grimwood, the river keeper,  and that lovely stretch of the Wye and saved our memories until next year.

We look forward to the Junior Competition on the third of November and the Christmas Competition on Sunday the 24 November at Wicken's Pool.

Ham Bridge / Wicken's Pool 19 October 2024 Contest

On the afternoon of the15th October it started to rain and it rained all day on the 16th only stopping shortly after midnight. On Wednesday the 17th it dawned bright and sunny and pretended that nothing had happened but the rivers revealed what it had done. The Teme had risen over 14 feet at Tenbury and when Steve Johnson went to Ham Bridge he was diverted to Newmill Bridge but declined to enter the flooded road there. His photo of the old bridge at Stanford, shown below, was taken that day from the new bridge just downstream.

On Saturday the river was obviously still too high so we changed the venue to Wicken's Pool which was not as coloured as I had expected. It was a glorious late Summer day but we didn't know how it would fish. As it turned out the carp were by no means in a feeding frenzy and the two caught, one each for John and Richard, were not the biggest in the pool but very welcome. The rest of us slogged away at the smaller denizens of the pool and small they were - I caught all day and didn't reach 4 1/2lb in total.

The catch may have been small but we all caught fish and had a day stolen from Summer. When it was pouring down on Wednesday I didn't imagine for a moment that we could have had such a good day's sport but Wicken's turned up trumps. Shirley came up trumps as well by showing us how we could bypass the muddiest part of the track by walking down the grass field (or winter wheat).

Newbridge on Wye    10 September 2024        Outing

On Tuesday (8th) lunchtime the Ithon was like liquid mud and the Wye was fairly clear but well up. I didn't think there was a chance that the Ithon would be fishable for several days and the Wye above the Ithon would be problematical. Steve said that he and Kevin would be coming anyway so I made some cheese paste - more in hope than expectation.

Checked the rivers just before lunch on Wednesday and was amazed to find that the Ithon had cleared dramatically. I have fished it quite often in the last 50 years but never seen it improve so quickly. It was by no means clear but it was nearing fishable. I emailed the good news to Richard and brought the maggots out of the fridge.

I started about 45 yards above where the Ithon enters the Wye while Kevin started about 20 yards below me but on the opposite bank - the side we normally fish. I started with bread expecting to catch chub but had nothing so turned to maggots and caught trout as I expected but nothing else. Kevin was hauling out trout but had some grayling as well. 

After lunch I decided that perhaps the Ithon had cleared enough that the water downstream of the confluence would be fishable - and it had!! I fished about 2/3rds the way down Cornwall and landed three chub, two grayling and a few small trout all on maggot.

Steve is still severely hampered by his bad shoulder, Richard couldn't find a good spot and Bob eventually found some trout and landed a beauty of over two pounds which of course could not be recorded as it was out of season.

An outstanding performance by Kevin particularly as he had to leave early! Ten grayling and two chub plus lots of out of season trout made for a cracking basket. Well done indeed. 

An outstanding performance by Mother Nature as I would not have believed that the Ithon could clear as it did.  

Newbridge on Wye    26 September 2024        Outing

Cancelled -  River high and rising

Newbridge on Wye    12 September 2024       Outing

Rain at the beginning of the week and fairly high releases from the Dams resulted in the river being up about ten inches. It had cleared surprisingly well overnight but remained a bit murky. The weather had turned a bit colder which didn't help.

I tried trotting a worm and caught a few small trout then eventually tried fishing with bread which I am more familiar with and promptly caught a chub. A nine ounce beauty which must be the smallest chub I have caught at Newbridge but was very welcome.

Pete caught three nice trout in the afternoon with one belter just over two pounds on legered worm. At lunchtime to Richards' amazement some fish started to rise just below the Ithon and he quickly put his dry flies into action. Several came to the net but unfortunately they were all small trout.

Dave Evason put his trusty worms into action but was disappointed that most of the fish were undersized trout. 

The conditions were not favourable so it was fortunate that we caught anything at all.

Tenbury    7 September 2024     Competition

I was not fully recovered from my little clash with Covid so will simply give you the contents of the email I received from Richard.

"I arrived at Tenbury before 9.00 today. Waited quietly then walked the river. I knew all the regulars had cried off for different reasons but no one else showed at all so at 10.30 I drove away.

It was a very mirky, drizzly morning and the river looked relatively low, slow moving and slightly coloured.  Richard"

Newbridge on Wye  29 August 2024      Outing

Sorry for the delay but Covid  rendered me unable to sit up to record yet another win by the all conquering Geoff Rimell. This time his weight was not inflated by a large chub but by some quality grayling - first on worm then on wet fly. Ten grayling all over a pound is something to write home about. 

Dave Evason shed his commitments for a welcome return to the river and he had half a dozen grayling and a beautiful trout of two pounds 14 ounce to celebrate. Pete Watts has been absent from the podium recently and left it perilously late this time but saved the day with by a 5 pound 2oz chub .

Ed Bradley is getting to grips with the river with a good mixed bag and Richard Stowe persevered with his dry fly to good effect. I  had a nice grayling first thing on a sunk nymph but left it to the last quarter of an hour to find out how to fish on the day and caught another fine grayling..

Bob was as cheerful as ever and was well pleased with his one pound three ounce trout.

A  very successful day recording the best total weight for a long time.

Wicken's Pool          24 August 2024      Competition

I must begin by apologising to John Stevens and Shirley Allington for not thanking them at the end of the day for lending me various items of tackle which I had stupidly forgotten to bring with me. Without their generosity my day would have been ruined. 

The day's fishing was similar to the last trip to Wickens in that most of the the carp did not see fit to leave their sanctuary by the island but this time we had someone in the form of John Stevens who could put a feeder amongst them. The first one slipped the hook at the net but seven of them didn't so he had a good bag.

Ian Wilson landed a cracking carp of an ounce over five pounds in the late afternoon to save his day while Richard was honing his perch catching skills  for the junior contest.

Shirley started the day with one of the few carp which had not sought sanctuary by the island. The fires of optimism were soon quenched by the heavy drizzle and unfortunately not reignited by the drier, warmer afternoon although he did have another bite late on.

Newbridge on Wye    15 August 2024      Outing

The releases from the dams had been stable for a month and the forecast was light rain for the morning clearing to overcast for the remainder of the day. Rain in the hills had brought the Wye up a foot at Ddole farm at Rhayader (just upstream) on the Tuesday night but the river had dropped back so was only a few inches up and slightly peaty - not ideal for the fly. The light rain in the morning was very light but the overcast in the afternoon turned into a downpour but became light again for packing up.

Geoff did it again with his cheese paste getting him  a nice chub and the worm a couple of nice grayling. Steve demonstrated his skill at trotting a worm with the best trout of the day at 1lb 14oz, a nice grayling and a shedful of small trout. Pete Watts showed that his absence on the previous two trips hadn't completely driven his mojo away with a fine brace of trout in the pouring rain.

Ed Bradley returned from a longer absence and spent some of the morning trying to get out of Builth with an obstinate Satnav sending him round in circles. His skills hadn't deserted him but hooks larger than sixteens had deserted his tackle box and he blamed that on a series of lost fish while using worms.

The constant yo-yo-ing of the river levels never makes for good fishing conditions and the following day the river was well up due to the rain we endured and  the powers-that-be increasing the releases from the dams yet again. 

It will all be different next time!

Newbridge on Wye    1 August 2024         Outing

The releases from the dams have stabilised at normal Summer level at last so normal Summer tactics should work. For some reason the only place where there was any consistent surface activity was in the usual hot spot just below where the Ithon drops into the Wye.

Geoff made the most of the hot spot catching two chub on cheese paste, four grayling on the fly, and a couple of trout on a worm. Richard stuck to dry fly and caught several grayling, some below Geoff and later in the day some in Cornwall below.

Bob continues to fall for the Siren song of the fascinating deep water just above where the Ithon drop in. The lower the water level falls the more the fish move into the more lively water and desert the "slow water runs deep" areas. Before the population crash in the British rivers in the mid 80s the Wye had vast shoals of Dace and when the river was high and coloured Bob's section of the river used to become packed with Dace. Unfortunately the Dace disappeared with the arrival of the Goosanders in the 80s.   

Steve is still struggling with his damaged shoulder and gave it best at lunch time. I stuck to my sunk nymph and managed to get three from the top pools and one from Hoyvel at the bottom of the beat.

It is delightful to see the river running low and clear again but a bit of a puzzle why there is no insect life to bring the fish to the top. 

Breaking News     Steve Johnson caught a gudgeon while fishing at Newmill recently - the first one I have heard about in decades. It was said back in the day that the Teme was paved with these popular little fish which saved many an angler from a blank in the winter time and were known in some parts of the country as Gonks from the croaking sound they would sometimes make when lifted from the water. 

When the barbel appeared in the Teme it caused a revolution in fishing practice. The all conquering popularity of the float was ousted by the swimfeeder packed with maggots and hemp. The position of President of the Society at this time was Richard Skan who made no pretensions of being a great angler (I never saw him fish) but had a great affection for the Society. He declared that this new-fangled method of fishing for these new-fangled fish which produced such large weights was not proper fishing and that he would provided a Cup for the best total weight of Gudgeon caught in the Society's competitions on the Teme. He claimed that it was the only fish that he caught more of than anyone else.

Ironically his claim was never put to the test as the Cup never entered circulation because those new-fangled fish ate all the gudgeon before anymore could be caught!. It is a measure of the decline of the barbel in the Teme that enough have now survived for a specimen to be caught

Thank you Steve for bringing this to my notice and giving me an excuse to present this little snippet of the Society's history to  todays members. 

Wicken's Pool    25 July 2024       Competition

Warm and overcast but the water was fairly clear apart from a muddy patch by the island. The conditions were made for someone to whack a method feeder near to the island and fill their boots. However the five of us who turned up didn't go for that style of fishing so no-one did!!

For reasons known only to the fish they didn't move out from Fortress Island and cruise round as usual while we were there,

so very few carp were caught. Richard caught one shortly after we started and I thought "Oh here we go." but his carp catching ability left him forthwith. The other one was the beautiful golden Koi carp which Shirley has caught previously. It weighed in at 3lb6oz and fought very well but the carp-catching ability promptly left him as well.

The remaining three of us battled it out with maggots and sweetcorn but even that maggot magician Dave Hemming couldn't bewitch a carp into taking a maggot - they simply weren't there. The other Dave - Evason - equally good at enchanting carp could not find the right spell - although I caught him muttering occasionally.

As the session drew to a close I put the maggots into one tub, threw some liquified bread onto the beautifully mown grass for the waterhen, put the rig away onto its holder, put the sections of the whip into the outer one and put the cap on it, took the net off the landing net handle and the handle into the pole bag with the whip and then noticed that Dave was casting in again - we weren't finishing at six we were finishing at eight !!!

I will probably remember next time.

River Elan Height Gauge.   Information

The graph below is taken from the official monitoring station data published on the internet and shows the height of the River Elan a short distance below the dams. When the dams are overflowing the height may be over two metres and fluctuating fairly rapidly but once they stop overflowing the height is dependent on the quantity released through the valves in the dam. 

I have added the vertical and horizontal lines to the graph to illustrate various points in height and time which are significant to us. The blue line which has a step-like form is the published graph. The engineers are constrained in the amount of water they release by a legal minimum level known as the compensatory level they must not drop below. In normal conditions the level seems to be allowed to settle at 0.379 but after a prolonged dry spell more water is released to keep up with the water abstracted at various locations throughout course of the river and for irrigation of crops.

The very erratic graph shown here is very unusual and results from the need to alter the height of some of the dams for maintenance purposes compounded with a few very heavy thunderstorms.

Our first visit coincided with the highest release I have seen at 0.512 metres, the second visit  at 0.379 is normal Summer level and the last visit at 0.473 was quite high. The graph of the last visit shows a fall in water level part way though the day but that did not reach us while we were fishing as the monitoring station on the Elan is some miles upstream. 

Newbridge on Wye  18 July 2024

River fairly high due to releases of cold water from the dams for maintenance work supressing fly life. The warm water from the Ithon helping aquatic activity so fish gathering at or below the confluence maintain the success of this favourite fishing area. 

Geoff hit on the most successful method for the conditions and stuck to trotting a worm for most of the day. Trout, grayling and chub all falling victim to a luscious worm with the best being a lovely chub of three pound ten ounces. Other baits proved less popular as did legering. Interestingly he caught a couple of smallish chub under a pound and a half which had escaped being harvested by the Goosanders. Richard had one down the bottom of the beat of roughly similar size so perhaps Steve Grimwood's attempts at chasing the goosanders away is bearing fruit. 

The other Steve, Johnson, suffered physically and mentally as the tendonitis in his right shoulder prevented him from casting but not from yearning to cast.

Bob tried many of his favourite baits but eventually the luscious worm was the only successful offering.

The releases from the dams have since fallen to normal summertime levels so perhaps if we have no heavy rain above the dams it will give me a chance to compete against those skilled with a worm on the next visit - or I will have to try my luck with the worm myself!  

Tenbury     13 July 2024        Competition

The graph of the river height at Tenbury had flat lined at low summer level so fine and far off was going to be the tactic for success. At noon on the day before the competition the river rose nine inches at Tenbury which meant it was brown and muddy and crying out for worms. But I didn't have time to get any. Geoff offered to give me some but I was too stubborn to accept help. 

I fished Peg 5 which wasn't quite high enough for the fish to come out of the main current onto the slabs so my bread and maggots were ignored. At lunchtime I moved  to Peg 3 which is a dream to run a maggot down but not on the 13th.

Geoff legered a worm and caught a cracking bream of 5lb from Peg 8. A great specimen for his first bream and I hope he gets plenty more in the future.

John caught a couple of eels and a fish that none of us had seen before - a chub/bream hybrid! It had the head of a chub with no sign of the downturned telescopic mouth of a bream but the body was deeper and narrower than a chub with grey fins and scales like a chub.. 

Why oh why didn't I take a photograph of it! I didn't think of that until the next morning. I really am getting past it.

Bob fancied Peg 1 but had no joy there so moved to the bottom of the beat with no change in fortune. Richard tried peg 11 all day but did no better.

It was a difficult day for those who had fished the beat before but for Geoff and Bob it was casting into a complete mystery with nothing to guide them. Let's hope we can have some better luck with the weather.

Newbridge on Wye   4 July 2024   Fly-fishing-only Competition

The authorities decided that they had run off sufficient water from the dams to do whatever they wanted to do and reduced the flow to normal summer flow. This should have helped the dry fly action but didn't seem to do so. Perhaps the insects whose presence is so necessary for dry fly sport had decided to wait and see if this was yet another false alarm or a more lasting period of calm before venturing out. A bit like putting the chair out onto the patio.

Steve who is desperately struggling with a bad shoulder induced by overdoing the strimming work on the river banks managed to cast left handed and catch two good grayling and a trout. He was using a gold head nymph as there was nothing rising. He showed Richard what he was doing and, monkey see monkey do, imitation is the purest form of flattery etc., etc., Richard almost beat him at his own game. On went a gold head and out came one trout and two fine grayling failing to catch his mentor by two  ounces. I'm sorry to inform my gentle reader that the book has been closed and I am no longer taking any bets on what method Richard will be using at the next visit to Newbridge.

Geoff pottered about with a dry fly and surprised two beautiful brownies over a pound on the stretch opposite and below where the Ithon joins the river. His knee operation was a great success and he navigates the bank well but reckons that when the other knee is done he will be galloping  about like a two year old - horse that is not a human!

Peter Watts had not fly fished before but managed to catch a very nice grayling near the end of a arm tiring day. When I find out what he caught it on I will amend the text accordingly but whatever it was it was triumph of perseverance.

Roger was awaiting a cataract op. and was having great difficulty tying a fly onto the leader so we will excuse his lack of success.  

I climbed to the top of the podium, creaking more than I used to, on the backs of several strokes of luck. The second fish I hooked made my three fly leader look like a ladies crochet exercise (in the beginner's class) necessitating a complete rebuild. Deteriorating eyesight and dexterity meant a half hour adjournment before I was back inaction only to find that the returned fish had excited some others and I landed anther good grayling. After lunch I fished the bottom pool which has been good to me in the past and landed a surprise chub. No one can claim that catching a chub on a weighted fly is anything more than a stroke of luck. On my way back to the car I dropped in at the head of the Aber Pool (the long pool leading down to the junction with the Ithon and down to the head of Cornwall). There is a fast current there with some small bays in the rock wall which sometimes hold a grayling so I let my weighted nymph roll into them - no nothing - but then when I lifted the fly out I was met with a solid weight which proved to be a one and a half pound grayling. The total weight of my three lucky fish was six pounds six ounces which was more than half of my grand total. With luck like that you do not need skill.

Many years ago I was lucky enough to see some grayling in one of those bays. It was in mid afternoon with low clear water and the sun was behind me blinding the fish The bays have a smooth sandy floor and it was like seeing fish in an aquarium about three feet deep. Someone had thrown some sweetcorn in and the fish were swimming round picking up the grains - but they simply dropped them again. After about 15 minutes I realised that all the grains were completely ripe and sealed off at the end which attaches them to the cob.  Grayling do not have pharyngeal teeth like a chub which can pulp a ripe grain in seconds so presumably the ripe grains are indigestible to the grayling. Lesson learned - when I fish with sweetcorn for grayling I always use open ended grains on the hook.

29 June 2024   Newmill Bridge      Competition

The water was low but carried a greyish cloud which Rob Brookes claimed had unusually persisted since the last high water. It reminded me of the colour of the Ithon produced by the grey clay of that river's catchment. Some of the tributaries of the Teme share a common watershed with the Ithon across the Radnor Forest so perhaps the the idea is not completely unfounded. Why the colour has persisted for so long is a mystery - the Ithon has completely cleared for weeks.

Rob Brookes grabbed the favoured low water swim. Peg 1 and made the most of it catching small chub and dace on float fished maggots then Bang!!   he hooked a much larger fish. Bob is too experienced an angler for the dreams of a big barbel or monster chub to persist for long  for although the fish was very powerful it didn't have the weight for one of those. It turned out to be a lovely large brown trout which eventually came to the net and was safely released. Unfortunately for Bob it was ineligible to feature in his catch, as would also have been salmon, sea-trout, lampreys and bleak under the rules of the competition.

Geoff started well with a couple of small chub but then struggled to catch three more fishing the Pike Hole. This is one of those pegs which flatters to deceive. It looks really good but when you fish it you discover that there does not seem to be anywhere where the current does not swirl around.

Steve was very badly hampered by his bad shoulder which is a result of doing too much work with a strimmer cutting back the vegetation so that we could all enjoy our fishing. He needs months of physio to put it right.

I was badly hampered by overhanging branches which were the result of my own ineptitude. It was my job to cut off the over hanging branches and I missed two. Talk about ineptitude!!  I should never have landed the first small chub. When I tried to bring it in I discovered the over hanging branch and when I untangled it I found that the chub had become entangled in some weeds at the edge of the water and when I pulled it out from there the rod became entangled in the over hanging  branch......... Oh dear. When the red mist cleared a little I took off the bottom section of the rod, untangled the rod tip from the over hanging branch, pulled the chub out from the weed again and safely netted it. Who said that barbless hooks fall out! The words of a friend from my student days echoed through my head in his wonderful Barnsley accent "Burt, if you fell down a pitshaft you'd come up selling matches".

20 June 2024  Newbridge on Wye     Outing

The weather forecast was ideal but I had misgivings regarding the large amount of water being released from the Elan Valley dams. As it turned out it appeared to aid coarse tactics, reduce the effectiveness of the fly (Wet and Dry) and render the sunk nymph useless. I stubbornly fished the sunk nymph nearly all day.

Geoff had his big trout on a worm and his big chub on the old classic cheese paste while Dave was catching big grayling on a trotted worm. In the extra water the grayling really put a bend in the rod.

Steve Johnson as a result of all the strimming he has done has a poorly shoulder so could not fly fish but managed two nice grayling on worm. His son Kevin had a stack of small trout and grayling on the wet.

Peter Watts without Bob Griffiths on hand to spur him on slipped off the podium and had to be happy with some small trout while Richard couldn't get amongst them either and had to be content to weigh in a small trout.

When I fell in at the top pool I lost my olive coloured  Hardy cap and to celebrate I have ordered a new Hardy cap in a different colour. I feel sure that the most observant among you will notice the difference in shade at the next meeting!

5 June 2024   General update

Steve Johnson has been putting in a lot of work with his strimmer at our three river venues and on one occasion strimmed all the way from Peg1 to Peg 12 at Tenbury. He's done the car park at Newmill several times and also the access to the swims at Tenbury, Newmill and Ham Bridge. It is amazing how quickly the vegetation grows down the Teme valley at this time of the year and how it can completely cut off all sight of the river. 

I joined him on a couple of occasions and we logged and burned the trees that had been cut down around the car park at Newmill. We surmised that they had been cut down by the organisation that had erected a broadband relay transmitter there some years ago.

My concerns regarding the Wye at Newbridge were allayed considerably yesterday when I caught some trout and grayling at Builth on both dry and wet fly and lost a near two pound grayling as well. A thunderstorm some mile upstream of where the Ithon enters the Wye where we fish below Brynwern Bridge had caused a landslide which dumped a load of lovely Ithon grey clay into the river course. It ran like cement for a couple of weeks but has now almost completely settled thank goodness so all looks well for our visit there on the 20th. 

11 May 2024   Wicken's Pool    Contest

Sorry for the delay in entering this report - computer problems!

Glorious Summer day with carp spawning furiously round the island and roach in the margins which left the perch as perhaps the only fish in the pool not preoccupied with procreation. Perhaps that line of reasoning fell at the first fence as no perch over five inches were netted.

After an hour I had only caught 2 small perch and one small roach using liquidised bread and micropellets as attractant and and maggot as the hookbait  while Richard fishing the next peg had caught a carp. I walked round the lake mulling over the idea of setting up a rod (I was using a whip with a light elastic) but no-one had caught more than three small fish so I decided to to stick with the original plan. I was extremely lucky that when I hooked a carp it was obviously weary from the task of spawning and my two and a half pound hooklength stood up to the task of landing all 3lb 8oz of it.

They say that it is better to be lucky than lovely and I'm living proof of that as Richard lost a second carp on sweetcorn and Ian didn't get an extra carp to add to the two he landed. I'm sure that the fish spawning around Dave didn't help his cause nor Shirley's bad hand didn't help him. 

It will all be different next time.

9 April 2024 Wicken's Pool

Putting up an emergency notice with Ian Wilson. Appropriate to my position as Executive Chairman of this august body I watched Ian dig a hole and then held the post while Ian bashed it with a sledge hammer. Made sure that the post did not intrude into the line of the mowing machine so as not to incur the wrath Shirley. Job well done!  My grateful thanks to Ian for providing the sledge hammer and even more grateful thanks for wielding it

Light bank clearing

1st & 2nd April with Steve Johnson at Ham Bridge and Newmill Bridge. Trying to clear access to the swims during the Spring growth spurt. 

7th April with Vincent Brian at Tenbury. Steve had been been there fairly recently with his trusty strimmer so we cut off some branches and removed a sunken branch from Peg 6

20 April 2024 Wicken's Pool Silver fish Contest.

One of those early Spring days where if you were in the sun and out of the wind your stripped off all your woolies but conversely in the breeze and out of the sun you were frozen stiff. Still without my glasses following my cataract operation my wife magnanimously ferried me to Wickens and dumped me there while she went off shopping and visiting relatives.

The fish fed fairly well before midday but the afternoon was a struggle. I used liquidised bread and a few maggots to attract the fish with maggot as hookbait. I tried bread punch but having to use a large float because of my compromised eyesight the shy-biting fish simply ate the bread and thanked me with a bare hook. A five metre elasticated whip with orange Hydrolastic, 2.5lb Supplex hooklength and a size 18 hook completed the outfit. Attention to the hook is vital when Perch are being caught as their bony mouths can ruin a hook in seconds. When the hook is new it will slide into a maggot without any problem but after a time catching perch you will be struggling to hook the maggots cleanly and struggling to keep a perch from falling off - time to change the hook.

John Stevens whose winning 6 1/2lb catch was boosted by a lovely perch of 1lb 11oz rang the changes of bait between red and white maggots, dead red maggots and pinkies. They all seemed about equally effective.

6 April 2024   Wickens' Pool   Contest

A very coloured and  very windy Wickens' Pool welcomed the contestants when driving up the track with all your gear was but a faded memory.

Everyone caught fish but inevitably some more than others. I wasn't there to record the event so cannot record if Shirley's one ounce consisted of more than one fish or more than one species but it was more than the total catch of one contest there last year so is not to be sneezed at.

Kevin had two good carp in his catch with one being a beauty of 5lb 9oz. and Ian caught the only other carp to gain second place. Richard acted on his observation at the previous contest - "I should have brought some maggots" - by edging out Steve and gaining third by 2oz.

Congratulations to everyone for catching in such difficult conditions. I have recovered from my cataract operation and hoping to have new glasses so that I can fish the next contest on the 20th of this month revisiting Wickens'. This is an innovation for us being a silver fish-only competition. 

Don't write off carp fishing on that day if that is your preference because although carp do not count towards the catch for the competition on that day any large specimens will be weighed and considered for the President's Shield competition. This is awarded for the largest fish caught in a competition during the season. This was won last year by John Stevens with a 6lb carp caught on the 22nd of April - one of ten he caught on that day at Wickens'

16 March 2024  Wickens' Pool Contest

Bright start then overcast; light rain before midday, heavy rain late afternoon. The water was very coloured due to recent rain. John Stevens led the way with three carp (9-11-00) followed by Kevin Johnson with 2 carp plus some silver fish for 6-10-00.

Ian Wilson had a carp and some silver fish for 2-11-00 closely followed Dave Evason with 2-05-00 who missed out on the carp. 

Steve Johnson and Shirley Allington also missed out on the carp registering 10 oz and 4 oz respectively. 

Richard Stowe missed out on the carp and the silver fish - is reported to have said "I should have brought some maggots".

Report compiled by Lance Burton from information supplied by Richard Stowe.