Notes

Last week was another very unsettled one in respect of the weather, which didn’t do anything to make life easy for anglers.

Freezing overnight temperatures brought some really chilly mornings which, when conditions were still, led to some great hatches of buzzers with fish feeding freely on the surface. Sadly this changed to squally, cold winds and, at times, heavy rain and these changeable conditions really seemed to put the hatch and the fish off.

The trout certainly didn’t want to chase despite the huge amount of fry in the water this year and slow and steady was definitely the way to go, with floating lines, sink tips and intermediates being the lines of choice for most. Nymphs and smaller flies took more than the larger streamers and mini lures with a figure of eight the most successful retrieve.

The fish are currently spread out all over the lake so there are no particular hotspots but do keep your eyes open for signs of rising fish in the windows of calm weather throughout the day. Taking advantage of surface feeding fish worked well for those that took the chance to fish dry flies.

The water temperature is now down to single figures (8C) and the clarity is unbelievable. We have another fish delivery coming this week which should hopefully liven things up and get some more rods bending!