Session #27 Chalk Springs - New PB

I treated myself to a session of 4 fish at Chalk Springs in Arundel. I have been here before and love the very clear waters and also the fact its only 10 miles from home.

I turned up at about 9am. The fish weren't the easiest to catch but that all adds to the fun. I hooked into a feisty brown trout first up which weighed 2lb 10oz:

Then my first Blue Trout ever. I have tried many time at this place but never even a close nibble until today... This one weighed 2lb 4oz:

In the afternoon I hooked into a very large fish but the line snapped as I was readying for netting. I was most annoyed, or words to that effect...

I decided to try a hand tied small dog biscuit look a like. I moved to a new spot and saw a large brown trout swimming around. After about 10 minutes I put the fly just in front of it and saw the mouth open and close around the fly. Before it could be spat out I pulled hard and hooked in. It was a great fight and proved even more so when I found that the fly was barbless!! This one weighed in at 8lb 2oz!!!

After that one I needed just one more and caught a 2lb 2oz Rainbow before 3PM.

This was my shortest but most successful day here ever. I was on a high. 

Session #8 (Trout) - Meon Springs 23rd March 2010

I headed out late this morning for my first fly session on trout. I decided to head back to Meon Springs which is where I did my introductory day last year with Dad. The weather was rainy and misty and a windy 6 degrees. I was aiming for three fish today to stock the freezer and have some fun.

I turned up at the lodge and checked in and got set up. I had asked what was catching at the moment and was shown these two flies:

I bought a couple of each for good measure and headed for Coombe lake. I started with the olive christmas tree imperonator and with in 10 casts fish number one was caught landed. It was swiftly despatched and popped into its bag. It didn't fight very hard which was a little disapointing, but lets face it they usually don't get too much practice fightingfor their lives...

I carried on fishing on Coombe until about 12:30 and then headed to Whitewool lake in front of the lodge. I headed for one of the areas that stick out into the lake and set to casting. I couldn't see any fish but switched to the black fly incase that improved the visibility in the poor light. I had a few follows but nothing touched it. So off that came and on with the christmas tree again around 1PM. One cast in the other direction and bang into another fish which, this time, gave great aerial acrobatics, but didn't manage to get off the hook. That was landed and dispatched again very quickly.

As it was cold I headed to the lodge for a cuppa and chatted to a few of the other fisherman for a bit whilst warming up.

I headed out to Whitewool again and moved around the lake looking for fish in the gin clear waters. I did see loads of frogs/toads at it in the shallower waters and the irst lumps of spawn in the weedy areas at the edge of the lake. I managed to just about get a picture of a frog right in the middle of the photo.

I then headed up to Coombe lake again for another crack. I found a big group of fish and spotted two that I wanted to catch and set on targetting them. I had a few close shaves with other fish but the two I wanted never seemed that interested at whatever and however I threw the flies at them.

Here is Coombe Lake:

I moved up to the fist place I had fish and had a few takes and lost a fliy and entire leader to a biggish fish. So on with a new leader and fly and back to casting. I got another take and the fish ran with it and spat it out again. The next take was more solid and finally into my third around 4:15PM.

I dispatched that fish and with my target filled I headed back to the lodge to pay up, weigh the fish and set off home.

The weights were not big but I had fun.
Fish 1: 2lb 0oz
Fish 2: 2lb 0oz
Fish 3: 2lb 11oz 

Relevant Links:

Meon Springs