I went this morning, it was very quiet which I was pleased about. Good to see some work has been done in the last month, the platforms are back in place and alot of the backside veg has been removed.

It was dam hard though! I managed three the largest of which was a good 3lb, didnt see or hear of anyone else catching though no doubt the catch record will say different Actually I did see someone catch, as I came off I noticed a father and son fishing (well, sort of) the small casting pool at the top the lad managed to catch a trout with his landing net in the margins, I kept an eye on them to see if he was just messing about but no, it was despatched and into the carrier-bag. Didnt see Gordon as I came off so didnt say anything.

what did you catch them on? and which lakes did you fish? 3 fish is pretty good especially to 3lb.
What the biggest fish that's been caught there?
Have you ever caught any big brown trout in the bottem lake by the hut?
I've heard two people say they've had their line snapped and one even his rod broke lol

I've never caught a brown on the fly! I've not heard about any monster browns though I do know that the lake you mention is stocked with larger fish, well thats what I've been told. If the rod story is true then I would blame a fault with the rod !

I caught two in the bottom right lake, I was fishing of the first platform. I caught them on a small coral blob I have, and it is small! this was my point fly. The first was on the drop the second was whilst drifting across the breeze and just mending the line with a slow fig 8. The third, and biggest, was caught in the middle pool (the one with the island) using a muddler. I stripped the muddler across the surface for a few feet then stopped, I kept doing that and had probably three takes in total. Didnt have an interest in anything else, I tries teams of buzzers, montana, olives, static, fast, slow, under an indicator the lot.

As an aside, the long this pond at the top (the one with the lamp!) was alive with fish, it was the only one that I saw with any fish moving in numbers. There was people sort of fishing in it (splashing around) so I never bothered.

Hi Koi,

Just wondering if we should have asked Simon to move the thread to this section, never mind, this will do nicley.

Nice to hear you caught when you went on Saturday!

I also like fishing the lake with the island, and the bottom 2 lakes, and usually do ok, but sometimes have to work for the fish, depending on the conditions, etc.


Kcon1, congratulaions on you first ever trout! I guess you're hooked !

A couple of years ago there were plenty of rainbows to over 10 lb, and some big brownies, but it's a while ago and they have probably all been caught and removed.

I wouldn't like to guess whats in the lakes now, Gordon or Alaister would tell you what was stocked if you asked.

With regards line being snapped, it will all depend on the breaking strain, and will happen on the rare occasion. I lost a very big fish last year that took a small black fly on 3 lb line, and then set off down the bottom right hand lake, and it jumped at distance snapping the line, but it doesn't happen very often.

As Koi says, if a rod snapped it isn't due to the size of the fish, but probably due to a fault in the blank, or if the rod had been hit at some point by a heavy leadhead lure which caused a small fracture or crack in the blank, so the next time it is put under pressure it breaks completely.

There is a post somewhere else on the forum where it states about 7% of rods have a manufactureing flaw! Fortunatley I haven't had it happen to me yet.

Don't worry about a fish snapping a rod, it shouldn't happen, especially if everthing is balanced and the rod is reasonably forgiving when playing fish! You'll soon get confident and comfortable with your tackle!

It was hard on saturday; bright sky, quite warm plus they've done quite alot of work on the lakes. I saw very few fish moving except in that pool I mentioned above. My fish all came to the blob which was my point fly and they hit it more or less as it hit the water apart from the rudd which took the blob right at the end of a drift.

I will ask what the big fish are in there but I can say that of the fish I did see and caught none were under 2lb, they all looked decent well conditioned fish, well those alive anyway. I can say they were not your average stocky. I did see quite a few dead though which in fairness is the first time Ive seen that at mere beck.

Oh yeah and the rudd and orfe are prolific, theres bloomin thousands of the dam things plus it looks like theres been a second spawning, the margins were full of 3/4" fry, it cant be long before the trout switch-on to the fry and go banana's!

Yeah i saw all the babies there are loads by the bank, the orfe are great though if trout aren't biting, stick on a G&H sedge and you'll catch them one after the other lol

hi guys glad to here you got a few koi .iam of to mere in the morning so going to give it a bash i will try the small pond at the first lodge usually you can pick up a few in he morning on goldhead.did ya have a go in the stream yet .every time i go i try for an hour still its fun .the rudd can be a pain .anyhow of to get me kit ready regards jags

hi all just got back from the mere .the weather was great just a bit bright at times.it was a very hard day.they were topping in the morning. so tried the dry.a few hrs nothing.changed to the buzzer for most of the day.just a rud and orf. tried the bk lodge lake .madness they were jumping under me rod .so put me trusted daddy on .got me a rainbow .now i dont mind kids learning to fish but this kid came.right next to me and started doing the indiana jones whip thing.the dad and mother just left him and went fishing on the other lake .leaving him alone to whip the swim to death .ruined the swim . so i will never fish on a weekend agian mid week from now on .dam kids and inconsiderate parents thanks......sorry to moan guys.regards jags

Well last week there was a father and son who clearly had done very little and really wrecked one of the lakes. Then someone came on who had never fished before, he hired a rod and one of the staff gave him a 5 min intro and left him alone. Not only was he a danger to himself (not hat or glasses) but his casting was a danger to anyone near him. Now I know we all have to learn but that was just plain stupid, wasmt going to mention it but the more I think about it the more I realise just how wrong it was. Really left a bitter taste about the place.

hi koi .i wasnt going to mention it on here but it had to be said .i mean i paid for 8 hrs +2fish i like my piece when fishing and the odd chat but today was busy.and this family topped it.they give him a rod and left him to fish well destroy swims.i mean he was whipping over my fly .i told him to move .but he didnt .they should have a supervised learning lake on the mere .oh well have to wait till mid week now for a piece full session . cheers koi . still waiting for that coffee. in the hut lol regards jags .