Lechlade latest
Here's the latest report from Lechlade/Bushy - looking promising and i think they'll both be back to their best before long!
I don't want to tempt providence but we have had three days of rain and some chilly nights and everyone bagged up on Lechlade yesterday so maybe we are moving out of this extraordinary period of difficult fishing. Bushy has been back on full form for the last couple of weeks. Having been doing this for the last 36 years I am still totally baffled on how the fishing has been over the last few months. For those of you have visited...and been so patient, you will have seen how beautifully clear both of the lakes have been and conditions have seemed perfect. The joys of this job (life), that you are confronted with, and I learn about,and find something new every day. I gather I am not the only fishery that has been hard, I am not putting it down to climate change or anything but something has happened and it is probably staring us in the face. Perhaps we are victims of our own success and are pushing these waters to the limit with the amount of fish that go in and come out, but the biomass always remains pretty much the same. Just know that every drop of water in my lakes travel through my veins and life before you get here and I will always strive to make them the best fisheries in the country. I have even looked hard at the change in diets this year, that we feed our fish on the farm, with the move towards replacing some of the fish meals and fish oils with vegetable proteins.
On the same sort of note, some of you will be aware that there has just been a huge increase in the price of fish feed, nearly 20% in the last week, on top of a similar rise earlier in the year. This is certainly going to impact on a lot of fisheries who buy in all their stock. As things stand, I have no intention of any price increases in the foreseeable future. You will be amply rewarded with the size of fish that go into Lechlade this winter, I am confident of a near ten pound average once we know that the fishing has improved. Yesterdays returns were not far off a nine pound average.
Anyway, enough soul searching...back to business!
Reports for October:
Lechlade: Not surprisingly, Lechlade was not good but I was surprised, and slightly relieved, to find that 363 (very patient) fishermen caught 281 fish. Mike Weaver, from Leominster, had the largest fish at 11lbs 5oz, and Dale Wright, from Hereford had three fish between eight and a half pounds and ten pounds. Mr Morey from Swindon bagged up on his first ticket and then bagged up again on his second ticket with a good range of fish between 5 and 8lbs. To honestly report the best flies of the month would be a joke! It was try anything. Yellow stalking bugs were a noticeable success but tended to provoke the fish rather than induce a natural take.
Bushyleaze: 595 Fishermen caught 1903 fish, so a definite improvement, even though there were still a few "over summered" distressed fish to be seen. Mr Brown, from Bristol, had a lovely 4lb brown during some guided tuition. There were a lot of browns caught during the month, they seemed to come back on form quicker than the rainbows, especially interesting as we had not stocked any since April. Mr Bayer, from Kidlington, had the largest rainbow at just under six pounds.
Prospects for December: This should be one of our busiest months and I would really recommend using our "On Line" Booking facility on our website so you don't have to queue up in the shop for too long in the mornings...and there will be some Corporate Bookings too so check that we are open before you come. Hopefully we will have had a lot more rain and some colder weather and things will be totally back to normal. As mentioned above, on Lechlade, you will be spoilt with some very large fish. I am expecting a lot of 20lb plus fish to come to the net. On Lechlade, bigger lures will start to work well but don't forget that buzzers and small nymphs always remain effective, fished on an intermediate line. Keep with a floating line on Bushyleaze though and enjoy fishing dries and small nymphs, the fish will always oblige
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