BFFA Competition at Innis Fishery, St Austell on Tuesday 25 April 2017

 Eight members went to Innis Fishery at Penwithick near St Austell for a 10am start.  There was a very cold northerly wind blowing and I noted that the air temperature was 5C.  The water was much warmer at 12C.  We had a squally shower or two on the drive down from Plymouth but at Innis it remained dry all day with lots of sunshine although the wind remained very cold & occasionally gusty.

We all fished on a 3-fish ticket on Carbis Lake.  Pat had a rainbow early on which at 3lb1oz proved to be the biggest of the day. Bob Eccles was very successful taking his bag limit of three fish by early afternoon  He also netted some roach the biggest of which was around 12oz.  Kelvin had two rainbows and I had one.  Everyone had the occasional tug on the line but it was clear that the very cold wind ensured there was no fly hatch and very little surface activity from the rainbows.

The weigh-in was at 3pm and the results were:
Pat Power 1 trout 3lb 1oz
Bob Eccles 3 trout 2lb 14oz, 2lb 10oz & 2lb 9oz
Kelvin Nikulin 2 trout 2lb 0oz & 2lb 10oz
Tony Hooper 1 trout 1lb 15oz
Bob Prout, Tony Vallack, Tony Waldren & Peter Macconnell submitted nil returns.

Pat was declared the winner and will receive the bottle of wine.

Members meeting in the car park

Bob Prout on the south bank of Carbis

Bob Eccles netting number three

Pat fishing a breezy corner from one of the wooden jetties

Peter on the north bank of Carbis

Pat bends into the best fish of the day

Bob, Pat and Tony Waldren

Tony Vallack nets one for Bob

Tony Hooper took his only trout from this spot

Kelvin gets ready to net rainbow number two

BFFA Three Fly Competition at Burrator Saturday 22 April 2017

An excellent turn out saw 13 members arrive at Burrator for the competition.  Three different flies were handed out - a Cat's Whisker, a Damselfly Nymph and a Hawthorn Fly.  The flies are usually tied by three different BFFA members but at the March Club Meeting new member Wes Ower generously offered to tie all of them for the competition.  Several members joked that the Hawthorn Fly that Wes tied was too good to be used for fishing!

The weather was dry with occasional sun, a cool northerly breeze was coming down the reservoir but on the south side of the Longstone Peninisula it was very sheltered for most of the day.  The air temperature was around 14C and the water 12C.  The water level in the reservoir had dropped back to 91% from 100% full a few weeks ago.  With so many of us fishing we were spaced out around the Peninsula while BobP started over on the western shore of Burrator near the Discovery Centre.

A few trout were rising here & there but there was no real surface activity during the competition.  One of the flies I mentioned above was a Hawthorn and on cue we saw a few of them around the trees on the sheltered lee side of Longstone.  They are of course terrestrial but the breeze was not strong enough to blow them out over the water.  Although we tried the Hawthorn fished dry there was not a lot of interest from the trout although I did have one swirl that 'drowned' the fly.

Kevin took the best fish of the day at 3lb 2oz.  He had three others which gave him a total bag of 7lb 1oz and he won the competition by a clear margin.  Both the Bob's had a bag weight of over 3lb.  Several blue trout were caught

Pat was soon into a fish here

Bob Eccles casting at Longstone Point

Steam up! Tony Hooper's Kelly Kettle in action again

David preparing a brew with his Kelly Kettle

Bob Prout fishing the sheltered water below Longstone Manor

Bob Eccles about to net one of his three fish

Peter & Terry fishing at Longstone

The breeze occasionally came around the Point and blew along the shore. Here Anthony is trying a few casts across the ripple

Some of the Club members who fished the competition

The Three Flies tied by Wes Ower - Cat's Whisker, Damsel Nymph & Hawthorn

The real thing - a Hawthorn Fly

The results are:
Kevin Sellars 4 trout for 7lb 1oz including a rainbow of 3lb 2oz
Bob Eccles 3 trout for 3lb 12oz
Bob Prout 3 trout for 3lb 7oz
Pat Power 2 trout for 2lb 12oz
Peter Macconnell 1 trout at 1lb 6oz
David Lye 1 trout at 1lb 6oz
Terry Denley 1 trout at 1lb 4oz
Anthony Waldren 1 trout at 1lb 2oz

Bill Watson, Richard Peel, Keniesha Miller, Ken Hindley & Tony Hooper put in nil returns.

Kevin was declared the winner and will receive the carved wooden trout trophy and a bottle of wine.