Friday 31 May 2019

BFFA Competition at Fernworthy Reservoir on Thursday 30 May 2019

Eight Burrator members met in the anglers-only car park at Fernworthy for a 10am start.  Fernworthy is a brown trout fishery with natural and stocked fish.  The weather was cloudy with a fairly stiff westerly breeze blowing down the lake towards the dam.  The air temperature was about 19C while the water was around 15C.  The reservoir water level was was a little below the dam sill so pretty full.

I walked along the south shore towards the weedy area of Lowton Bay while everyone else fished the shore between the South Bank and the dam.  The westerly wind made casting easier for the right handers from the south bank but a bit tricky castiing into it along Potter's Bank.

At Lowton Bay I put on a Hawthorn Fly as I had seen a few of the terrestrial insects around.  There was not a great deal of fly activity though.  I did see a few sedges but only occasional trout rising in the small chop.  I had several splashes at the dry fly and hooked several more but although quite exciting the fish were small and the four I had would have probably been only just over the 7 inch limit.  I returned them anyway and using barbless hooks made it easy to slip them back into the water.  Some of the brownies were covered in red spots but others looked more like sea trout - just silver with black spots and crosses.  I could not tell which were stocked and which were native, wild brownies.

Around midday I made my way back towards the permit hut where most of the BFFA members were fishing.  Mike and Robert were  in a corner where a small stream entered the reservoir to the east of Boathouse Bay.  Mike had already landed a few and he was clearly fishing in the right spot as he was approaching double figures when we stopped for lunch and a chat  at one of the SW Lakes provided picnic tables.  TonyV had two there and Robert had the best fish of the day at 1lb 5oz narrowly beating PeteP's 1lb 4oz.

Some of us stayed on after the competition and  Don had another four while I had another two,  one  went to 1lb 4oz which I retained.

The final results of the competition were:
Anthony Waldren 2 fish retained for 1lb 9oz
Pete Phillips 1 fish retained for 1lb 4oz
Tony Vallack 2 fish retained for 1lb 2oz & 10oz
Robert Spooner 1 fish retained for 1lb 5oz (biggest fish)
Peter Shazell 4 fish retained for 3lb 5oz
Mike Ellis 13 fish none retained
Tony Hooper 5 fish none retained
Don Brown didn't retain any during the competition but had four after the finish at 3pm.


SW Lakes Trust Map of the Reservoir

The permit hut

Lowton Bay on the left

Tony Hooper's first brownie of the day

Anthony fishing below the permit hut

 Don, Peter & TonyV on the Boathouse Bank 
The Boathouse Bank


Mike with one of his 13 brown trout

TonyV had two here

Mike about to land another

Don fishing a breezy spot near the permit hut

PeterS did very well from this small point on the South Bank


A nice 1lb 4oz brownie for PeteP 

Mike & TonyV in Boathouse Bay

Robert had the biggest brownie at 1lb 5oz