I was out fishing Farmoor 2 on Sunday in the boat, and found the fish eager to get hold of my boobies .

Betweeen the three of us we had a good spread of fish between 2 and 4lbs. Some were recently stocked and were short, plump and had slightly rounded tail fins. Others were long, skinny and silvery.

The fish that I took home and filleted had either the usual fat around the stomach, or completly nothing and just a really fine stomach / intestine tract that was completly empty and had no fat.

What I am worried about, is that with the obvious lack of natural food about at this time of year, will a lot of the less recently stocked fish die of starvation while waiting for an abundance of food to appear in the spring? The fry may be too large now, there was no daphnia or shrimp around and the only thing I could see in one stomach was a bloodworm and a couple of fag butts...

I know that there metabolism slows down and that they have made it over the worst of the winter, but what are the odds for fish survival over the winter in large resevoirs?

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This Seasons Blog

Fish can go for a longtime without food.And in v-cold water their metabolism slows down to zilch and they go into a torpid state,which really helps them survive.When the water temprature goes above 4deg the food starts moving.and the fish start to be able to digest it.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Also never assume that the fry are too big for a trout to eat. There are pike trials at Farmoor in February with a minimum lure/bait size of 6". Just wait to see how many 2-3lb trout manage to get their gobs around one of those! A whole lot more of them than pike I'll bet.

I fished Farmoor late last year and came back with a trout under 2 lbs that had a fry in it that must have been at least 4" - why on earth it was still looking at eating god only knows...there's no way it could fit anything else in its stomach! When I work out how to upload images to my gallery I'll post on the photo!

Don't think for a minute there is no food. I caught a fish on Saturday that had been lying hard on the bottom of Swanswater (which has been frozen solid for the best part of 2 months until last week). It was covered in shrimps, bloodworm,buzzers/nymphs and other beasties. There must be literally tons of stuff down there. It was this that had me changing to bloodworm patterns and I caught a further 3 fish this way.

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Ok sussed that out - easier than I thought!

Halliford mere is full of overwintered fish Vinnie, ive had some really bootiful browns out and there are a few big bows for long since past , certainly not stock of late thats for sure, if theres a food source then they should survive no problem, youll be suprised how much food there is around this time of yeargaz

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If in doubt, get the montys out

Intelligence is relative to your environment

Haddo was frozen over for nearly three months last year and this produced the best over wintered fish since I opened the fishery.

The rainbows and brownies were in excellent condition and surprisingly plump, they were full of snails, pea mussels, bloodworm and all sorts of nymphs, especially damsel, corixa and alder nymphs.

I also think that being totally frozen over helps with stress levels, as the fish do not have to cope with being chased about by cormorants and otters.

Best wishes
Mike

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At the heart of your fly fishing lies a good fly line! ...... www.flylineshop.com

Can only echo the feedback above. I have fished twice this year, once at Avon Springs and once at Holbury. Avon Springs was heavily iced over to a depth of at least six inches in the very cold weather in December, and the ice only fully cleared in mid January. There was ice on two of the lakes at Holbury just last Saturday, 22 January.

Despite all the above and also that, fairly obviously, some of my catches were recently stocked fish, 4 of the 8 fish I caught in the 2 visits had been feeding heavily. Baby damsel nymphs and phantom larvae at Avon Springs, one of the fish was totally rammed full of the phantoms, and snail and bloodworm at Holbury.

...not to mention dead keen fly fishers !

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"In wine there is wisdom. In beer there is strength. In water there is bacteria." - German proverb
JH based near Southampton

Sorry to butt in guys,just out of curiousity John.....what method and patterns accounted for your Phantom feeders. The can be right b uggers when they are on those,I find.