Thinking of giving it a go on Sunday. Is it worth it this time of year? Anyone got any tips? Cheers!


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I'm going along there for the first time on Sunday too.

A couple of people on here gave me this advice...



"Halliford mere is fishing hard at the moment, I go once a fortnight for a full days session and it is hard work and frustrating at times. But in saying that you have to find what the fish are feeding on and once that is done everything becomes easier.

Fishing under the trees is my best tactic as if you hit the fish on the head they grab the fly strait off as they think its fallen off the tree. Small bloodworm apps have been going well but I get the majority of my fish of Floating Mayflies, mainly Grey Wulff or emerging Mayflies. I catch the majority on lake 3, however if you can hit the shoals on lake one you will have a great day!

Lake 4 is Pike which im concentrating on now but I am more than happy to share any info you need on Halliford Mere. Due tot hte recent weather the water level is slipping down a little and the weed is growing but it is more than fishable. It is hard due to C&R but i wouldnt change anything about the lakes! "



"Haliford Mere is just up the road from me and I fish it quite regulary. Some people have said that the fish in there are small and in bad condition. That could have been true a couple of seasons ago but Brian, the manager, has done a fantastic job there. On the last 5 trips there, all the fish I have caught have been in top condition and have put up a good scrap. There is a good mixture of browns and bows. If you get into the fish, I'm sure you'll catch a brown. He doesn't stock many but what he does stock are lovely fish.
Having said all that, the fishing is hard there at the moment. Haliford does suffer from white fluff being blown onto the lakes and covering them. Also, weed can be problematic with some swims un-fishable.
IMO, the best times are winter, spring and late autumn. The fish like a breeze and certainly do not like an easterly!
The fish do tend to shoal up but that can be true for all fisheries.
The fishing changes from day to day. One fly can be deadly one day, the next, you wont get a touch.
There is lots of wildlife there too if you into that sort of thing. There are kingfishers and woodpeckers, lots of wildflowers that keep it looking pretty."


Might well bump in to you on Sunday.

Enjoy!

Dan

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In a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing things they hate,
My fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion.

Great, hopefully the weather will be ok. I'm primarily going after the pike but I'm sure I'll move onto the trout lakes for the evening rise to try and stop myself blanking as i doubt ill have much luck with the pike!
say hello, I'll be the guy struggling while my mrs wonders where the fish are! Lol.

Took my first pike out of lake 4 on the fly today a lovely little pike of 7lb. Take waders if you are going as it is very inaccessable for fly fishermen.

---------- Post added at 08:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 PM ----------

Oh and use a perch pattern as the only fish in the lake are perch and pike by the looks of things.

Well done sir!! I'm going to head off around 5ish for the evening rise, don't think I'll be targeting pike as i don't have a suitable leader. I bought a cortland one from eBay and the seller then realised he didn't actually have any for sale leaving me in the lurch!! Oh well we'll see. The pike flies I bought came in time, I got some mice/rat patterns. Do you think they'd be any good there?

Charlie you might get lucky even without the right gear I caught this on a 6weight outfit fishing a Damsel on a 5lb leader

Oh and I should mention that the blood is all mine!:

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Had this one a couple of years back using the same tactics

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Nice!! I have some 15ib bs braid that I think might do the trick, I guess there's only one way to find out!!

To be honest im not too sure about which flies would do well on Halliford lake 4. I have had a couple of follows but only 2 hits... The perch were hitting all white flies almost instantly, but the pike came off a perch pattern. I spoke to Brian who claims perch, pike and eels are the only fish to his knowledge in lake 4. So any rising fish or bubble explosions you see id cast too instantly, which is how i hooked into my dinosaur.

As there are the only fish known in the lake id stick to Perch patterns but white roach patterns have shown interest from many perch! I have bought loads of flies which resemble rainbow/brown trout to see how they go.

The fly i used was a trout lure, 2 metal beads at the front which resembles eyes (this made the fly whistle as it was cast) a thick red body with a large green feather along the back and a green sparkly tail. the hook was probably a size 8.

I was wading on the shelf and casting out to the reeds on the left when something larger than the 4oz perch i was battling hit the fly but without a clean take. 5 mins later 2 massive bubble explosions happened off in the deep water to my right, i put my fly inbetween them and was hooked into the pike within 10 seconds of the fly hitting the water. It fought hard but for the first 2 minutes of the fight there was more and more colour of a much larger fish circling my hooked pike. Without a shadow of a doubt there are big pike in that lake but it is very hard to find a place where you can get a line into without wading on that shelf!!!

How did you get on today?

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 PM ----------

My leader was 15lb non memory nylon with a 20lb wire trace on the end.

Didn't fish lake 4 yesterday as someone already mentioned it is pretty much inaccessible for fly fisherman without waders. Had 2 hours fishing the trout lakes and didn't even have a nibble. I knew it was going to be hard and tbh I probably should have stayed at home. I guess all us fisherman are suffering from the warm water temperatures.