May 2003

Cumberland News Weekending 02.05.03

Before the recent rains began to influence the level of the river Eden, Brampton Butcher ‘Storming’ Norman Kyle managed to winkle a 17 lb. salmon from the low waters of Jackie’s Stream on the Warwick Hall stretch of the river last Tuesday, After an enjoyable days fly fishing, taking many small trout and six grayling up to 1 ¼ lb. At around 6 p.m. something larger accepted Norman’s home tied size 14 green-bodied fly wrapped with brass wire and sporting a red hackle. On the light tackle Norman’s fish took half an hour to subdue during which time it cleared the water three times and just as Norman slipped the net under the fish his hook fell out.  In between rain showers on Monday Ipswich rod Brian Holland also landed a 10 lb. fish from Jackie’s Stream on a ‘flying condom’. Mondays rain saw the Eden a foot up and still rising early on Tuesday morning which must have got the salmon stirring for Brian as he landed fish of 7 lb., 8 lb., and 10 lb. all from the ‘Battery’ on the Warwick Hall stretch, all taken on the ‘flying C’. I was traveling back from an Environment Agency North West Regional Fisheries Ecology and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting at Warrington on Tuesday afternoon, whilst waiting for the train at Warrington Station with RFERAC chairman and Warwick Hall owner Nick Marriner, Charlie Alderson the Warwick Hall keeper was texting details of Brian’s fish through to Nick. Nick’s phone was red hot, no sooner had he got it back in his pocket than off it went again as ‘hot rod Holland’ landed another salmon back home on the Eden! Much to Nick’s growing frustration, as he couldn’t fish himself that day. Still there was one consolation – the train was only five minutes late! 

The excellent sport at the Carlisle and District Coarse Angling Club’s Crofton Lake continues, last Friday the ‘Dalston Dynamo’ Joe Wilkowski had an excellent day’s sport fishing the venues south bank Joe landed two carp one at 10 lb. 8 oz. and one at 9 lb. 8 oz. Joe also landed two tench one weighing 6 lb. 1 oz. the other a splendid 6 lb. 1 oz. specimen and one of the biggest to be caught at Crofton so far this season. Joe hooked his tench on maggot hook baits fished on a ‘confidence rig’ in conjunction with a maggot swimfeeder and 6 lb. line. The carp were both landed on boilies fished on a confidence rig with an 8 lb. hook link and 10 lb. main line. 

Houghton angler Chris Scott won the opening match in this years Thursday evening league match at Carleton Hill fishery. Chris weighed in just over 5 lb. of skimmer bream caught during the last hour of the match. In second place was Gary Crowther with just over 4 lb. and in third place was Carlisle’s Pete Brown. Other catches at Carleton Hill include a personal best common carp of 12 lb. 2 oz. for junior angler Chris Hall of Wetheral who landed the fish on Saturday morning on a pop up trigga boilie. On Sunday morning Pete Armstrong who had struggled during the previous Thursdays evening match at the venue made up for it by landing a brace of 5 lb. tench on the pole. 

Mick Phillips of Eamont Bridge won Tuesday nights ‘King of Whins’ league match at the Penrith venue. Despite the wet conditions Mick landed tench to 4 lb. along with a single bream of over 7 lb. in a bag totaling 16 lb. 10 oz. on worm, corn and caster over a bed of pellet from his peg on the field side. In second place was Dave Pilling who caught a solitary Bream of 7 lb. 15 oz. on sweetcorn. In third place was Penrith’s Tony Whear with a single worm caught bream of 7 lb. 8 oz. Fourth was Steve Conner with 6 lb. 6 oz., Workington’s Sandra Aitken landed 5 lb. 11 oz. to take fifth place and Trevor Nicholson was sixth with 4 lb. 12 oz. 

On the sea fishing scene there are plenty of codling being caught with small fish coming out two at a time in places along the West Cumbrian coastline along with the occasional bass and local anglers are surprised by the number of eels now been taken so early in the year.

Cumberland News Weekending 09.05.03

Last Thursday Jim Clarke had an excellent days salmon fishing on the river Eden catching 4 fish from the Yorkshire Fly Fishers water near Wetheral. Fishing the fly Jim landed 2 salmon at the Beech tree, one at the Bridge stream and one at Quarry corner. All Jim’s fish fell to the ‘Scottish flea’. Yorkshire Fly Fishers fishery manager Mike Grimes reported 3 sea trout during a dusk session last week. Fishing with tiny ¼ inch tube flies Mike landed one fish of 4 lb. and two at 2 lb. whilst fishing at Spout beck. On Saturday David Bamford fished the fly in Jackie’s Stream on the Warwick Hall water and was rewarded with a 6 lb. salmon.

Eamont Bridge matchman Mick Philips continues his current run of form. Following his win at Whins pond last Tuesday and reported in last Friday’s article Mick went on to scoop last Thursday’s Carleton Hill match and this Tuesday’s Whins Pond match. Last Thursday’s evening match at Carleton Hill was made all the more memorable for Mick as he landed his winning bag from the golden peg netting himself £102 in the process. Mick landed 9 lb. 8 oz. of carp, tench and skimmers to win the Carleton Hill evening fixture. In second place was Andy McCabe with 3 lb. 6 oz. made up of mainly small tench. Carlisle’s Phil Harrison was third with 3 lb. 4 oz. of carp and tench.

After last weeks encouraging increase in overall match weights, it was back to scratching around for bites in Tuesday nights match at Whins pond near Penrith. However the conditions didn't affect Mick’s performance as he scooped first place with a single tench and some small roach for 5 lb. ½ oz. In second place was Penrith’s Tony Whear with a 3 lb. 3 ½ oz. tench. Glen Martin of Culgaith was third with a 2 lb. 10 oz. bream. Fourth was Steve Conner with 1 lb. 12 oz. Robert Youdale of Keswick and John Birds of Penrith tied for fifth, both weighing in 7 ½ oz. With no winner on Tuesday the Whins snowball peg now has £119 in the kitty although this season the maximum snowball payout in any one match has been capped at £100.

Carlisle’s Phil Douglas landed a splendid brace of a 10 lb. 4 oz. bream and a 5 lb. 4 oz. chub from Longtown’s West pond during a recent evening session at the water.

Peter and Susan Graham tied for first place in Tarnside Sea Angling Club’s latest club match fished from Whitehaven piers at the weekend. The Braystones husband and wife team each landed plaice weighing 1 lb. 10 oz. to share the honours. In second place was Heather Rimmer with a 1 lb. 8 oz. flounder. Top junior rod on the day was Adam Byers who landed a 1 lb. 6 oz. plaice.

Elsewhere on the West Cumbrian coastline anglers have been landing bass and codling of up to 4 lbs. although drifting weed has been making things difficult for shore rods at times.

The Carlisle and District Coarse Angling Club’s Crofton Evening League will be getting underway on Friday 6th June and will run until 8th August. Each of the ten Friday evening matches will get underway with a 6 p.m. draw in the car park. Fishing from 6:30 p.m. until dusk. The series is for members only and for those members wanting to have a practise before this years league gets up and running the club are staging two warm up matches on the 23rd and 30th May, draw times as above.

The Carlisle Angling Association will be running a coach to the CLA Game Fair at Harewood House, Leeds on Sunday 3rd August for Association members and their guests.

The price of the coach is £6 per person. Members should contact Paul Ghorst on 01228 819849 or 07900130263 for further details.

A new fly fishing magazine which will hit the shelves on the 16th May has been the first to back an exciting new competition being brought to you via this column, Today’s Flyfisher magazine from the Northamptonshire-based DHP Ltd., publishers of amongst others Total Carp, Match Fishing and Total Sea Fishing, has agreed to offer a years subscription to the magazine as one of the prizes in the forth coming competition. More competition details will be brought to you via this article in the coming weeks. Today’s Flyfisher priced at £2.70 is targeted at the beginner to intermediate level fly fisherman, plus the more experienced angler who wants to brush up on their existing skills. The focus of the magazine will be on new methods and secrets that are catching fish today. This will be complemented by coverage on traditional material, particularly traditional fly-fishing patterns and their evolution. There will be a strong emphasis on ‘live’ features and subject matter will alter on a monthly basis. Editor, Andy Petherick, is a qualified game angling instructor and regular contributors to the magazine will include international fly fisherman Charles Jardine and England international Simon Kidd.

Cumberland News Weekended 16.05.03

Houghton angler Jim Knox landed a fresh run 17 lb. hen salmon from the Moorhouse Estate water on the river Eden on Monday. Fishing the Hall stream in windy conditions Jim had just changed to a size 8 Ally’s Shrimp, on his second cast the deep-bodied fish took his fly. The fish was covered in long tailed sea lice. On Thursday and Friday last week a batch of fish moved quickly upstream, rods at Armathwaite reported two fish and two fish were also reported at Waters Meet. On Thursday Geff Berry from Carlisle had a 9 lb. salmon on a silver bladed, black ‘flying C’ and six brown trout between ¾ lb. and 1 ½ lb. on the fly from the Bottom Beat of the Eden at Lazonby. On Friday again on the Bottom Beat Tom Booker from Kilmarnock landed an 8 lb. salmon on a copper bladed, black ‘flying C’. Another member of the Kilmarnock party Wilson Collins reported four brown trout between ¾ lb. and 1 ½ lb. on hare’s ear fly’s. Further upstream Top and Bottom beat gillie Edwin Tailforth was busy on the Top beat landing an 8 lb hen salmon which accepted a stoats tail fly tied with a fleck of yellow. The best brown trout from the Lazonby beats last week was a 2 ½ lb fish reported by Mr. Whiting on a wet fly.

During the last month Broom Fishery near Annan has produced rainbow trout of 12 lb. 8 oz. for Mr. B. Jenkins of Gretna and one of 9 lb. 12 oz. for Mr. G. Holmes of Carlisle as well as tiger trout to 9 lb. 7 oz. to Mr. C. Greer of Penrith. The best bag was 14 lb. 12 oz. taken by

Mr. B. Jenkins All the waters have been fishing well, with fish averaging 2 ½ lb. to 3 ½ lb. providing great sport. Floating and intermediate lines dominated the fishing during the warmer weather and all nymph patterns worked well. Sport with dry flies and buzzers has been good, with the best dry fly being a Blue Winged Olive.

Harrington Sea Angling Club’s match at Silloth on Sunday proved to be an enjoyable affair for all 18 anglers taking part, the match fished to catch and release rules saw everyone catching fish and once measured all fish were released. It proved particularly enjoyable Harrington’s Les Charters who not only had the greatest total length of fish on the day taking 22 flounders for a total 676 cm., but also took the longest fish on the day with a 38 cm. flounder. However it was close call in the longest fish competition as three other anglers including Ernie Blows and Mike and Lisa Benson all had 38 cm. flounders it was only when the average for each anglers biggest three flounders was worked out that Les won the day, Les also had fish of 37 cm. and 36 cm. The Calder Bridge ‘Flatty King’ Alan Rigg was second Alan landed 18 flounders for 574 cm. to take second place. Lisa Benson was third with 14 flounders for 412 cm. Ross Thompson was top junior with 12 flounders for 376 cm. and Dale Rigg was second with 8 flounders and one eel for 246 cm.

Phil Harrison landed 12 lb. 9 oz. of mainly tench and small carp to win Thursday night’s match at Carleton Hill fishery. In second place was Pete Armstrong who netted 5 lb. 12 oz. of carp skimmer bream and ide. Pete Brown was third with 5 lb. 2 oz. of carp, tench and ide.

The Carlisle and District Coarse Angling Clubs Crofton Lake near Thursby continues to produce quality fish. Last Thursday CADCAC chairman Dave Gillies landed what is probably one of the biggest bream to be caught at the lake, a super fish of 8 lb. 2 oz. On Friday Dalston’s Joe Wilkowski was amongst the carp again landing five for a total of weight of 43 lb. Joe caught the carp using his usual confidence rig set up in conjunction with a ground bait feeder, his biggest fish weighed 11 lb. 4 oz. and 11 lb. 8 oz. On Sunday Longtown’s Alan Little landed a bream of 5 lb. 8 oz. and two tench the biggest 4 lb. 8 oz. Kevin Johnson landed a 6 lb. bream and CADCAC committee man Jeff Johnson had quite a struggle on his hands when a 10 lb. common carp picked up his maggot bait on a size 18 hook to 2.8 lb. line intended for roach.

CADCAC members are reminded that the clubs Summer League gets under way on Sunday with the opening match on Northumbrian Waters Whittle Dene Reservoir. Members are also reminded that although loose feeding is allowed, no cereal groundbait is permitted on the Whittle Dene complex.

The Carlisle Angling Association will be running a coach to the CLA Game Fair at Harewood House, Leeds on Sunday 3rd August for Association members and their guests.

The price of the coach is £6 per person. Members should contact Paul Ghorst on 01228 819849 or 07900130263 for further details.

Eamont Bridge's Mick Phillips made it three wins in a row at Whins pond to come within a point of league leader Tony Whear when he weighed in 14 lb. 14 oz. consisting of two 5 lb. tench and two bream. Runner up, Cockermouth's Dave Lear had two quality bream which together weighed 14 lb. 7 oz. Both anglers opted for groundbait feeder with worm as hook bait. Third placed Kevin Aitken of Workington came within a whisker of winning when he lost a carp estimated at 18 lb. at the net. Kevin recovered to net 7 lb. of bream and tench.

Cumberland News Weekending 24.05.03

The Dalston and District Angling Association have had two boat fishing trips recently. The first a wrecking trip out of North Shields saw everyone struggling in rough weather with few fish caught, although Richard Sant did manage to land the best fish of the day, a cod of 5 lb. Their second trip couldn't have been better, fishing rough ground off Berwick the Dalston lads boated over 350 lb. of cod and ling averaging 3 to 4 lb. Most of the fish were caught on baited muppets but Ralph Probert landed the biggest cod of the day on a lead headed double tailed rubber jig. David Cameron McIntosh landed 11 fish, John Rae had 14 up to 5 lb. and Ian Ferguson managed to overcome seasickness on this occasion to land 20. Everyone caught fish. Dalston DAA. Are a small friendly local club that organise regular game and sea fishing trips, anyone interested in joining the club should contact John Rae on 01228 526613. Along the Cumbrian coastline dogfish have been reported from Whitehaven, the first I've heard of this year, along with some good dabs and cod to 2 ½ lb. There has also been a report of a local angler taking a bass of 10 lb. along with a bag of 5 flounders.

When Carlisle and District Coarse Angling Club chairman Dave Gillies spotted fellow angler Dennis McDermott waving to him across the club’s Crofton Lake on Sunday he thought he was just been friendly and waved back. But as Dennis’s gesticulations grew wilder Dave decide to wander round the lake to investigate. It turned out that Dennis had hooked a decent carp, which had managed to tangle his line on a branch during the fight, leaving Dennis unable to retrieve line and the carp firmly tethered. After making some tentative enquiries about the depth of water in front of him Dennis handed Dave his rod, stripped down to his underpants and waded in with his landing net and after a few cold and anxious moments netted the carp which tipped the scales at 10 lb. 15 oz. Philip Robbins of Carlisle also had an excellent days fishing at Crofton with common carp weighing 14 lb., two at 12 lb. and one of 8 lb. Houghton angler Chris Scott also got in on the action landing 3 carp to 13 lb. 10 oz. and a 5 lb. tench.

Last Thursday evenings match at Carlton Hill Fishery was won by Carlisle’s Colin Griffin who landed 6 lb. 12 oz. of mainly ide and a few roach. In second place was Chris Scott with 4 lb. 12 oz. and in third was Pete Brown with 3 lb. 7 oz.

For youngsters who would like to learn more about fishing the forth-coming school holidays offer some excellent opportunities. The Salmon and Trout Association Junior Day at New Mills Trout Farm on Wednesday 5 June and Friday 7 June. The days run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offer superb value for money at only £15 per person. Those taking part will learn about the life cycle of the trout as well as other aspects of freshwater life, dipping for and identifying invertebrates that form part of the trout’s diet. They will also be shown how to tie flies and have the opportunity to try fly tying for themselves. They will learn how to approach the water, tackle up and receive casting tuition under the supervision of Game Angling Instructors’ Association members Glyn Freeman and Clive Mitchelhill, as well as learning how to catch and handle fish. All tackle, flies etc. are supplied on the day. Although it is important that anyone wishing to attend should bring along their own sunglasses, which help protect the eyes from stray casts as well as wet weather gear. These days have proved extremely popular over the last few years and in view of the limited places anyone wishing to attend should book early. For further details and to book your place phone Clive on 01228 548222 or Glyn on 016973 51752.

Craig Hunter and friends from the Inglewood Junior School's fishing club recently visited Longtown West Pond on a lure fishing session for pike with Professional Anglers Association Coach Chris Bowman. The session resulted in Craig's first ever pike weighing 4 lb. 14 oz. Craig was back in action on Monday evening this week with the Inglewood School fishing club catching another West Pond pike of 2 lb. 8 oz. But there is more to fishing than catching fish. So far during their sessions with Chris this year, the pupils from Inglewood school have learned about life in rivers, lakes and streams, from invertebrates to otters, from pondweeds to pike. As well as exploring the world of freshwater ecology in the classroom the group have been river dipping on the river Eden, catching and learning about the life cycles of amongst others stoneflies, caddis flies, bullheads, minnows, stone loach. They have learned about predation, discovered signs of otters and found a partly eaten sea lamprey. They have also learned about angling how to tackle up, tie hooks, cast and as well as their lure fishing trips to Longtown West Pond they will be learning about other types of fishing and visiting other fisheries in the near future. If your school would like to follow in their footsteps why not contact Professional Anglers Association coach Chris Bowman. He is also running a variety of coarse angling sessions throughout the school holidays, for more details take a look at www.bowmanfishman.fsnet.co.uk or contact Chris on 01228 674519.

Cumberland News Weekending 30.05.03

Last Thursday Geoff Berry landed a 9 lb. salmon on a flying ‘C’ from the Top beat at Lazonby. The College beat at Lazonby also produced a 10 lb. salmon last week.

Also on Thursday Mike Shaw set a new evening match record at Carlton Hill Fishery with 17 lb. 12 oz. of carp, tench, skimmers and ide. Mike fished the pole at around 5 to 6 metres. Feeding and fishing expander pellets and corn, Mike caught mainly on pellet finding bites coming a lot quicker than on corn. Fishing next to the lilies on peg 13 he caught three tench one of which was around 5 lb., two little carp, two ide and around 40 skimmers. Although Mike was pleased with his weight, he could have weighed in over 20 lb. had he not lost two carp of 2 to 3 lb each. In second place was Chris Scott with 8 lb. 2 oz. of mainly skimmers and ide. Third was Pete Brown with 5 lb. 6 oz. of skimmers and ide.

On Saturday night Carlisle's Phil Douglas landed his second double figure bream of the season from Longtown’s West Pond. Phil’s bream tipped the scales at exactly 10 lb.

16 anglers fished the Carlisle and District Coarse Angling Club opening summer league match of the season at Northumbrian Waters Whittle Dene Reservoir complex's ‘C’ lake on Sunday. Things had looked promising, in the run up to the match CADCAC members Chris Scott and Derek Kelly had visited the venue and both caught over 10 lb. of fish. However an hour into Sunday’s match a thunderstorm struck the venue and competitors had to endure heavy rain and hailstones. Weights were down on what had been expected. Mike Shaw who seems to be on a roll at the moment won the match with 1 lb. 9 oz. of small roach. Billy Sawyers was second with 1 lb. 7 oz. and Eddie Harris was third with 1 lb. 3 ½ oz.

21 anglers fished an action packed Whins Pond match on Tuesday evening with roach bream and carp active in the margins, quality fish were hooked and lost. Edenhall’s Steve Connor won the match with 19 lb. 13 oz. which included a 16 lb. pole caught mirror carp, the biggest fish landed in a Tuesday night match this season, he added tench and roach , all caught on sweetcorn. Second was Kevin Aitken of Workington with three pellet caught bream for 13 lb. Third was Eifion Harris, Carlisle with 10 lb. 4 oz. of worm caught bream and tench. Fourth Graham Henton, Cockermouth 8 lb. 14 oz. Fifth Peter Maclellan, Penrith 6 lb. 4 oz. Sixth Dave Pilling, Lowther 5 lb. 15 oz.

The Carlisle and District Coarse Angling Club’s Crofton Evening League will be getting underway on Friday 6th June. For those members wanting to have a practise a final warm up match takes place tonight 30th May, draw 6 p.m.

Tarnside Sea Angling Club’s latest match was fished on the Calderton to Nethertown beach. Raymond Roger won the match, the first occasion he has weighed in, with four eels for 5 ½ lb. In second place was Heather Rimmer with one eel for 2 lb. Third was Alan Hawthorn with a 1 lb. 4 oz. flounder and in fourth place was top junior rod on the day Liam Hawthorn with a 12 oz. flounder. Elsewhere on the Cumbrian coastline there seems to be plenty of school bass about. Cod to 2 ½ lb. although I have heard of one fish of 11 lb. reported and the Silloth area has been producing some excellent flounder sport, in a recent North West League match at the venue competitors needed over 20 founders to get into the top ten and the winner Paul Tuck had 40 flounders, in the same match a 52 cm. bass was taken.

My apologies to all budding junior fly fishers, I gave the wrong dates for the Salmon and Trout Association junior day at New Mills Trout Farm at Brampton. The event actually takes place tomorrow Saturday 31st May 2003 and is organised for youngsters in the 10-to 16 age group interested in taking up fly-fishing. Those taking part will be shown how to tackle up, approach the water and begin fishing. They will learn about entomology, fly tying, fly-casting. Youngsters will dip for and identify invertebrates and learn something of their life cycles. They will learn fly tying and their best efforts will be entered into the best-tied fly competition. Those taking part will also receive some expert casting tuition from GAIA members Clive Mitchelhill and Glyn Freeman before trying to catch some trout on the lake.

Having assisted Clive and Glyn on these days for the last two years, I can thoroughly recommend them, they are well run, offer excellent value for money and will give anyone considering taking up fly fishing a superb start in the sport. The day costs £15 per person and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. anyone taking part must bring their own sunglasses as these help protect the eyes from any stray casts. They should also bring along wellies, wet weather clothing and a packed lunch. Telephone 01228 548222 or 016973 51752 to book your place.