June Reflections

Ken looks satisfied - a limit bag on 6th June in bright conditions

Now we are in early July it is worth reflecting back on Burrator fishing in June. The month, it seemed to me, was one of transition where, at the beginning, the weather was still quite mixed; some days nice and warm and others still quite chilly especially once the sun went down. Fish were still mostly taken in the middle of the day so hanging on for a good evening rise was largely a waste of time. The above picture shows Ken Hindley, our former chairman and long standing member, looking pleased with a nice bag of rainbows taken on a bright afternoon. By the time of our club competition on 11th June the conditions were changing rapidly, as Mike Duckett reports below:

Club Competition - Wednesday 11th June
It was a fine warm day, perhaps too warm for wearing waders and not wading. A couple of times I had to get in to the water just to cool my lower regions down!

Pat - June competition winner with five fish for 7lb 3oz

Because of my personal circumstances I had to fish early and be home by 4.00pm. Tony Vallack and I arrived about 9.00am and found John Jeffrey already there and into a fish. I elected to fish from the roadside bank that runs from the smaller dam to the Longstone Manor. I fished the first hour with nothing to show so switched to a Montana Nymph on a floating line. As I was making that change Pat Power arrived and began fishing what is fast becoming known as Stockie Corner. All of a sudden I began to catch fish. I don't know if it was the change of fly that did it or the way Pat seems to attract fish to the area. Whatever the reason the change was almost instantaneous and I landed my five fish limit in the next hour. Pat was hooking them at the same rate, with John all the time shouting encouragement. His cries of 'Not another one Pat' could, I'm sure, be heard over at the dam. 

Mike's five

Tony, meanwhile, tried a number of spots on the Longstone Peninsula and located fish by tempting them with a Dawson's Olive Nymph. When I met up with him later he had found a number of fish out on the point, and, fishing his favourite intermediate line, landed another three fish in a very short time.

In  the end Pat Power won it with a total weight of 7lb 3oz.

Tony on The Point - a picture of concentration

Boat Fishing & Brown Trout
As the month went on, and the boat was returned from its brief sojourn to Fernworthy for use in the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships, it got progressively more use. Mike Duckett, Peter Macconnell, Pat Power, and a couple of new members have been getting afloat. Initially catches were quite good with the best rainbow falling to a size 14 Kate McClaren fished by Peter Macconnell. Though by the end of the month the weather and consequently the water had become so warm that fishing near the surface was unproductive. Mike Duckett, however, had a decent bag one evening by fishing the extra-fast sink line and a white Booby Nymph. The fish were in ten to fifteen feet of water and a bit further offshore than is typically the case.

Another feature of the boat fishing throughout June has been the pleasing increase in the number of brown trout caught. They tend only to be round half to three-quarters of a pound but are feisty little fighters and beautiful to look at.

3lb 10oz - from the boat

A typical Burrator Brownie