Hi all,

I am neiw to the world of Fly Fishing. I have a day coming up on Vale End, I have had a few hours on the water before and really I didn't expect to catch as I could barely cast. I have been practising as much as I can and have improved alot.

I am looking for any advice on the water and any knowledge from the more experienced is welcome indeed.

Thanks all.

Firstly, Fooligan, welcome to the Forum - I am sure you will enjoy it on here

Vale End is part of the Albury Estates with several waters in Surrey in close proximity and one lake in London.

Try and pop into Mr Cockwill's shop near Vale End for up to date advice and I am sure he will be glad to assist and help you on your way.

I am sure, too, that many anglers on the day will be happy to help you with fly selection and advice and may even gift you with a few patterns.

They are pretty fisheries and whilst I find them restrictive in terms of price and no C&R (Catch and Release) allowed, they are generally well stocked and should be enjoyable for someone starting out in this wondeful sport.

I wish you the best of luck for a fun day.


Ben

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Thanks for the warm welcome Ben, I too feel more at home with the fly than my previous adventures into Carp Fishing. I will pop into Mr Cockwill's shop and keep an eye on the other anglers (hope I'm not to shy to ask a few questions).

I feel like Vale is not the most difficult water and maybe getting a feel for what a bite and a knock feel like will help me on my journey. I will be looking for other waters and eventually heading for some rivers and streams.

Thanks again.

Fooligan,

It was a day on this water that re-awakened my interest in fly fishing quite a few years ago. It's a good one to start with and I think they allow you to "carry over" your ticket if you don't catch your limit.

Have a great day and I hope you get as much pleasure out of developing your fishing as I have.

And well done for finding this forum - better than any book you can buy.

Gudgeon

You are correct about them letting you carry over the ticket.

I am busy craming in as much knowledge as I can and this forum is proving invaluable, not to mention friendly and welcoming.

This is very encouraging :-)

I have an entire day so, I hope the conditions are good, at least I can get some good solid casting practice in if nothing else and like you say get to use my ticket in the future.

Welcome to the Forum, Fooligan, as said before, you will pick up loads of info on here, I am in my second winter of this addictive sport and have found the forum invaluable.

As for Vale End, you are coming into the period where it fishes well, try the Blue Flash Damsel, seems to work for most of the year, you can get them from the tackle shop mentioned or Tony the head balliff usually has some to sell. The usual winter lures such as Wolley Buggers and Cats Whiskers have worked for me as have Montanas. If the weather warms up a bit on a cold day like today, try a small red or black buzzer in the top 3 feet. I would recommend trying the smaller lake to start with, have had more out of there than the bigger lake, but that is just me, always best to find out for yourself.

The locals are a friendly enough bunch, you will get the odd miserable git who wont tell you what exactly he is using, but that is a rarity.

Best of luck, let me know how you get on, I have a season ticket there and use it about twice a month so always interested how it is fishing. The fishery website is usually quite informative and if you want any more information let me know and I will help if I can.

All the best
OTT

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'If you didn't waste your youth, you never had one!'. Bloke in the public bar circa 1970

Excellent info, I'm off to the shop as soon as I can get by and get my fly box packed out and ready to go. I am building quite a list!

Not to mention my building anticipation.

Hi
Vale End and Weston are usually fairly easy,sometimes stupidly easy,having said that like anywhere they can be hard at times.
Damsels,cats and Nomads usually work well along with buzzers and hares ears.Egg flies are also deadly at times along with bloodworms in their various guises.
Fished at Weston a couple of weeks ago and had my fish on buzzers fished shallow and plucks and knocks and some lost fish on egg flies from Mill lake.
The lower pool at Vale End can colour up with heavy rain due to the feeder stream.The fish will quite often be close to the bank,so search these areas first before trying to reach too far.The fish will quite often be high in the water unless it gets really cold.We all fish differently,but i find a slowish retreive usually works with most flies and buzzers fished ultra slow or static,ie allowed to just go with the breeze,same with egg flies.Look at the website for up to date reports and whats working etc.
Weston main lake should reopen by 12th December,whilst Powdermills is lowered for maintenance.
Whilst Albury is not the cheapest fishing,it does allow tickets to be held over if limits are not reached.Fished Syon about 4 weeks ago or so and had fish to 6lb,this is also part of the Albury set up.

Thanks Chub1, great tips.

I know that Syon is part of the estates waters and it is very close to me. I just thought that it would be busy as it is so close to London. When I get more proficient then evening visits will be on the cards.

This is another reason for me heading into this scene, I can carry a rod and light kit with me and get on the water more often. With course fishing (Carp) there is too much tackle to carry about and although I do enjoy that side I want to get out as often as I can. I am lucky that I have the Wandle on my doorstep and once I feel more confident I will be getting on there too.

For now though still waters are my marker and the help you guys are giving is awsome.

I will certainly report how the day goes.

I keep saying it thank you, this forum is a breath of fresh air. I was afraid it may be a bit of a closed dhop but I could not have been more wrong.

I'm close to the Wandle too.Alas it runs through some less than salubrious areas.Morden Hall has some nice looking water available,which is let to a club.
Syon is ok actually,yes it can get busy but its a fair lump of water.Can be noisy due to the aircraft