March Newsletter
Welcome fellow fly fishers!
This month we are finally returning to something approaching normality. Water levels are at last receding, and it’s been a productive few weeks, with plenty of work carried out tidying the margins and introducing fresh stock across all our lakes.
Saturday 7th March – P & W FFC Competition
This match, organised by the Poole & Wimborne Fly Fishers, took place at Rawlsbury on what was a chilly and foggy day. Despite the conditions, it proved to be a very successful and enjoyable event.
A total of nineteen anglers took part, comprising nine members and ten guests. An impressive 68 fish were caught overall, with only four anglers missing out on reaching their four-fish limit.
The largest fish of the day came from Chapmans, weighing in at 5lb 1oz. It was reported to be a strong fighter, and encouragingly, no adverse comments were received regarding the quality of the fishing.
Tuesday 10th March – Annual Meeting
The Game Section Annual Meeting was held at the Royal British Legion Hall in Corfe Mullen, with a solid turnout from members.
The general consensus was that, despite the challenges of a particularly dry summer—which at times made Winterbourne Zelston unfishable—the season had been a positive one. One notable benefit of the dry conditions was the opportunity to carry out significant improvements at Chapmans, which should serve us well going forward.
Fishing Reports
Fished Chapmans today, lost one early then nothing all morning. Took a break for lunch and then went up to Cowleaze, within 30 mins bagged 2 rainbows 2lb12oz and 2lb 8oz. "Funny old game" regarding new supplier of fish, found these two full of fight and nice full fins. Personally I'm not worried about big fish, 3 pounders are plenty big enough for me anything larger starts to become a problem to eat for one. Like I said these two fought well with a bit of aerobatics, something bigger fish don't often do.
Fantastic day at Rawlsbury today , took two from Chapmans 1x3lb14oz 1x2lb2oz both slow when they took the fly but then woke up and gave a great fight ! Lost 3 , one to the reeds and the other 2shook themselves off while jumping , weather was warm and sunny with little wind , water is still murky not surprisingly after all the rain , went over to viners for an hour before heading home and hook a very lively 3 pounder I’m guessing which went back no problem. Looking forward to going to Zelston as soon as it’s open. • I went to Chapmans today arriving at 1345. I went up to the second platform and using a Viva Apache first of all foul hooked a trout in the dorsal fin which as expected got off near the net when excessive pressure had to be applied. I must say I was pleased it got off because it gave a tremendous fight . I saw a fish rise out in the middle and further up the lake and caught it on the second cast .I went on to catch two more in the same area and then moved up to the top but no luck until I went round and cast towards the previous successful area where I caught two more .
Paul – 2 at about 2 ½ lbs. Went well. One on an olive Woolly Bugger. Second on a Humungous. Neither fish contained food – but a corixa or two about and I was told frog spawn near the top of Chapmans. So tadpoles at some stage.
Just been to Zelston today had two small rainbows of 2 and a half pounds then had a lovely 4 or 5 pound brown which was released and swam off well looked a very healthy fish Thanks. • I broke my duck fishing today at WZ. I started fishing at about 11.00 under overcast conditions and with a very light SE breeze. There was plenty of action on the surface and several fish-out-of-water rises, much to my excitement, so I tackled up and with a white something or other, and headed off to the field side pontoon. Here the water was gin-clear and I was able to see fish moving. It seemed to me that the fish were shoaling and moving about the pond in a circular motion, Anyway, fishing very slowly and at depth, I was quite quickly in to a nice fish which was soon followed by another, both in the late 5lb mark.Taking a second two fish ticket, and after a snack lunch, I fished again from the same spot and had two more fish, this time around 4 1/2 lbs and 2 1/2 lbs. So, in conclusion, I had a really wonderful day at WZ and must again congratulate you on sourcing such fin-perfect and athletic fish, especially the larger ones.
I arrived at around 2:00 pm for an afternoon of fishing. I started at Chapmans Pool using a sinking tip fly line and a size 18 damsel nymph, thinking smaller flies would work well after the fly tyers day on Saturday. I had an instant take but lost the fish. To be honest, I think I was a bit late realising I had a fish on because I was distracted watching the pheasants in the woods. Fishing at Chapmans was slow, but I eventually spotted a fish cruising just below the surface on the western dam bank. I cast my fly about two feet in front of it and hooked a rainbow trout of around 2 lb. After that the fishing slowed again. I tried a range of tactics, from a static buzzer to pulling a Viva lure on a sinking line, but had no success. I then decided to walk up to Cowleaze and went back to my original tactic of using small damsel nymphs. This proved successful and I caught another fish of around 3½ lb. All in all a challenging but rewarding day. Notes following this trip was Hard work pays off! Thank you again to yourself and all that help. I have been itching to fish Rawlsbury since Christmas.
I got my 2 eventually. 2 lovely fish 3 1/2 and 5 1/4lbs. Both look like Houghton trout. Fully finned and fought really well. Grey Wulff and gold head grhe being successful patterns.
Paul 2 very nice fish. 2 lb and 4 1/4lb Quite a few rising on the Western side of WZ. Started with a blob! Then a few small bugs. 1st cast with a damsel nymph took a 2 pounder. It contained small (size 16) pale tan buzzers. No further response on the damsel, even tried a dry sugar cube emerger. Eventually put on a very small buzzer. Took the 4 pounder. It contained pea sized snails. I’ll tie up some pale buzzers! Mine are a bit dark. • I fished WZ this morning and as it was a chilling SE wind, I fished the road side/ bungalow corner, where incidentally, there lay on the bank a half eaten trout carcass, presumably the culprit was the otter. I netted two fish at 3lbs and 3 1/2lbs, both stuffed with snails and residual shells. One of the fish gave me a terrific fight but both were good sport. I left at lunchtime, very pleased with myself!
Nice to meet you and your band of merry men this morning. What a blustery day it turned out to be. I fished until about 2pm before deciding enough was enough. The newly stocked brownies in Viners played hard to get and eluded my efforts. However I did manage to find four Rainbows to around 3lbs whilst hoping for a brownie and they were all returned. I finished with an hour on Chapmans where I took two two more small Rainbows for the pot. • Two fish caught 3lb and 2.5lb A strong, blustery and cool wind but the lake was easily fishable. Both were caught on a small hares ear nymph in crystal clear water. No cormorants were seen.
I had to include this photo of our vice chairman Iain Scott with a lovely Brownie from Viners. What a birthday present!
Finally, if you have time I would recommend reading the latest WILDFISH IMPACT 2025 report. It considers the continuing assault on our wild fish and their habitat and concludes that the immediate threat to our rivers and their fish has arguably never been greater.
Tight Lines
Paul.