September Newsletter
Hello Fellow Game Fishers,
It has been a difficult month, but a much better one than we feared. After the hottest summer on record the weather has at last begun to cool. The good news is that Rawlsbury is now open for trout fishing and our landowner has agreed an extension to our season to run until the end of November.
Work continues on improving our lakes, we have removed substantial amounts of weed from Chapmans and cut back the banks and on Friday we will be clearing Cowleaze to provide much needed fishable areas.
Winterborne Zelston unfortunately remains closed until further notice as the water level is still far too low to fish. We badly need some decent rainfall.
A quick word on tickets: a few members have had trouble buying Rawlsbury tickets on the new website. The game section password is case sensitive, so please type it exactly as sent to you (all lower case). The new site is completely separate from PayPal, so old usernames and passwords no longer apply. Some members have found buying on a smartphone easier.
Rawlsbury catch returns
Thank you to everyone who sent in a return. Here is how it went, in members’ own words.
• Arrived before 9am with a guest to near perfect conditions and plenty of action on the surface of Chapmans. Plenty of swirls around our flies but a staunch refusal to play ball. After an hour or so of blaming everything but ourselves we made our way down to Cowleaze, and it wasn’t long until we were both into strong fighting fish. Then nothing, so we gave Chapmans another go and the action was a lot more positive. Fantastic sport, beautiful waters! Chapmans: 2lb 9oz and 2lb 6oz. Cowleaze: 2lb 8oz and 2lb 12oz.
• Hard work! Very shallow. Went up to the far end and saw a couple move. Threw everything at them and, having scaled right down, managed one at about 2.5lb on a size 14 black spider. (These are new stock that haven’t settled in yet.)
• A fantastic morning at Chapmans, getting there at 10.30 and having it to myself. A few fish were rising, so I tried a dry Daddy and Damsel with no luck, then went to my usual Apache Viva. From the second casting platform I was almost getting offers on every cast, and further up in the weedy areas they were taking it on the drop on my dry line. Eight takes and four landed, weighing 4lb, 3.2, 3lb and 2.12. They all fought exceptionally well. As I had bought a two fish ticket I have bought another to cover the extra two.
• Two nice fish, 3lb and 2½lb.
• Fished Rawlsbury and no fish caught, and the three others fishing had the same result. Still a lot of weed in the lakes. • Just one fish of 2lb, but a lovely morning out in the fresh air.
• fish caught in Chapmans: 3lb 2oz and 2lb 8oz. Water level low, but not a big issue. Still weed in many areas but fishing is good. In all, a very good morning’s fishing.
• Arrived at Chapmans at 10.30 and only saw one fish, which went for my Apache but did not hang on. A couple of rises at the hut end under the trees and I rose one on a Daddy, but no luck. I then went up to Cowleaze where there were plenty of fish but very difficult to access in the weed. I got one of 3.4lb on a Viva Apache, which was quite a struggle pulling through the weeds to the net. Congratulations to the tractor grass cutter for an excellent job round both lakes. The only other observation was two pairs of ravens, which do seem quite common now.
Many thanks to Bob and all the volunteers who have turned out for work parties this month. It is very much appreciated. Let’s hope for rain soon! Tight Lines,
Paul.