Have managed two trips so far with reasonable results.
Fished all afternoon on Saturday and never saw or touched a fish until about 5.00pm (would think there were no fish in the place!), when a small rise started in the calm water near the stile bank. Previously tried weighted damsel nymph and corixa with no effect. Just swapped to a size 14 beetle fishing round from the point when I spotted the rise. Missed the first fish I covered - blow off the rust! Managed three fish before I had to go. One of these was a superb green tagged fish that had overwintered - estimated weight about 3pounds. Chuffed to bits. Sorry no photo - wanted to get it back asap.
Tried again Monday afternoon from 3 till 4.30 and managed seven on a mixture of spiders and beetle.
Could see that the fish are still shoaled up and cruising the edges, but still feeding. Other people have had success with a variety of lures - assume they got among these shoaled fish as they appeared to chase anything. Tried a Kate McClaren pulled across the surface and had many chases but never connected. It was then that I spotted that, even they were swirling around, they were actually rising. That's when I swapped to the beetle, dropping it into the area the fish were and just leaving it. Takes were confidant.
Dave H
