Wessex

[exerod]

Well after the initial flurry of activity with kelts and pike it’s been all down hill. I had not even seen a fresh fish until last night. We had a bank high flood two weeks ago but doesn’t seem to have brought anything in, unless they have all run past me. Also I’ve only seen one sea trout so far.

As I said I did see a fish last night and I thought maybe things would be on the up but no contact. Just to add to the misery I had to share the beat with 25 swans, one of which was an angry cobb that spent all night chasing the others, knelt in a cow pat (no waders), was overcome with hay fever and got bitten by the dreaded “Blanford Fly” so I now have a lump the size of a tennis ball on my forearm.

Back next week for more!

Tight lines

Andy

[zeolite]

Andy
Is there not a cure for the "Blanford Fly"? I have had a bottle or two of it as one of my colleagues goes by the brewery on the way to Swanage. Personally I am hooked on the "coiderrr" that you get down there. Drinking a bottle of Frome valley at the moment.
Anyway at least you have been fishing which is more than I have at the moment.

[zeolite]

www.badgerbrewery.com/beers/fly.asp

[exerod]

Nice one Ian, I shall look out for it

Cheers

Andy

[exerod]

They're here!!!

Went down yesterday evening after a blistering hot cloudless afternoon. Lost a good salmon and got a three pound sea trout (returned). This is the latest first fish of the season that I have got into in three seasons on the Frome.

Any news from the Avon?

Andy

[zeolite]

Hey Andy.
Any luck down in Dorrrrsset?
My bosses haven't seen fit to send me down there yet.

[exerod]

Hi,
Up to three weeks ago I thought I was on for a blank season! The spring/summer fish either went straight through or were never there in the first place (news from the good beats upstream is very rare).
However about a week before the heatwave broke some grilse started to show up, I got one while the temperatures were still at their peak and it gave no fight and practically went belly up as I netted it, thats how hot the water had got. I stopped fishing after that until it cooled down a bit.
A few fish are still coming in, Rob Mason came over last weekend and got his first salmon south of the border and his first pike too.
The sea trout runs are a bit disappointing, no build up of fish just odd small shoals that rattle through the beats in a couple of hours. The sea trout are in excellent condition though.

Who ate all the sand eels?


Andy

[robmason]

I thought the grilse were in excellent condition too. Nothing skinny about them here.

[zeolite]

That is one fat fish Andy. Glad to see that there are some fish around.

[robmason]

The Frome once held the UK record for largest sea-trout I believe.

[exerod]

Well I had my last day of salmon fishing on the Frome today (season ends 31st August) and it was a blank. This brings to an end a completely back to front season for me here. Not one spring or early summer salmon landed and then six grilse and one salmon in July/August when I cant usually get a thing.
A fair number of red and black fish have appeared in the pools in the last two weeks which must have been there all along hiding in the deep holes among the weeds.
The sea trout runs remain fairly dismal!

Andy

[robmason]

Back to front, but still a good effort all things considered. Lets hope the Exe picks up!

[hodge]

A few of us ventured out yesterday to see in the new season. One fish was caught - alas, not a salmon, but a brownie of around half a pound, which took a liking to my tube fly!!

Best wishes for the new season to one and all.

[buster1571]

Don't know if this is of interest to anyone but good info regarding salmon runs, time of movement of fish etc!

www.ceh.ac.uk/BillsWork/2005_Salmon_Report.doc

[exerod]

No fishing for me on opening weekend as there is now a shallow lake where the Lower Frome should be! More rain on the way as well

The link posted by buster makes interesting reading but at the end of the day all the research by the CEH (centre for ecology and hydrology) hasn't yet produced a single extra salmon in the river

Andy

[exerod]

I finally made a start on Saturday. River nearly back in it's banks but all a bit of a struggle. One trout hooked and lost and one good pull (kelt/pike/trout but probably not a springer!) on black and yellow tube fly. As we are in for a dry week hopefully next weekend will be a bit more fishable



Andy

[hodge]

Hampshire Avon came up trumps this week - 28 lb+ fish taken from the lower river on Monday.
Will be fishing with renewed vigour with the hope of connecting with one of those!

[exerod]

Good to hear there are some big fish about. What sort of state is the Avon in at the moment. The lower Frome is still only just within its banks and only dropping about an inch or two a week. At the current level there are only a few yards of smooth fishable water on each beat, the rest of it is a great big boily mess.

Andy

[hodge]

Still alot of water, but going dowm slowly - heavy line needed to get down, the river is really moving!
Another fish of 14 lb was caught on Tuesday.
Must be worth a go upstream (Somerley etc.), as fish have been going through the counter on the Royalty.

[hodge]

Somerley produced yesterday - someone managed a 23 lb fish and another one was lost.