Game angling: Regional round-up

Sep 18 2011 Sunday Sun

Derwent Reservoir 01207 255 250

FLY anglers have found The Meadow and above the Sailing club to be the hot spots this last week with top flies being Dawson’s Olive, Consett Budgie, Black Fritz, Bibio and Katie’s. Multi-bait anglers fishing at Hunter House and The Oak Tree have recorded the best returns with orange or pink power bait eggs and magic dust/trout pellets in a feeder. The cash competition was a great success with 60 anglers fishing, Doug Pearson won the bait fishing side with eight fish for 22Ib 15ozs winning him £250 cash, Doug also had the heaviest fish, a rainbow weighing 5Ib 12ozs winning him a £75 voucher. The winner of the fly side was Clark Mondal with a 12Ib 14oz bag winning him £250 cash; the winner of the £75 junior voucher was Anna Rogan.

Fontburn Reservoir 01669 621 368

The North shore bays and the dam wall have proved the most productive areas this last week with fly anglers catching well using patterns such as Daddies, Black Spiders, Bibio, Cats Whiskers and Fritz lures, multi-bait anglers have found pink or chartreuse power bait eggs to be top bait. Anglers catching well included Gordon Rice who netted a 4Ib rainbow and a 3Ib 12oz golden trout, the latter winning him £300 in the sweep, Paul Dodds netted seven rainbow and one blue for a total weight of 25Ib 8ozs including two fish over 6Ibs, John Tulip landed eight rainbows for 25Ib 4ozs his best was 5Ibs, Alan Miller had seven rainbows and one blue for 23Ibs, Dennis Clow caught a cracking 6Ib 4oz rainbow, while J Playford and G Robson both landed trout of over 5Ibs.

Sharpley Springs/Waters 0191 581 8045

Big bags recorded this last week and leading the charge was Mark Cromer from Morpeth with 17 fish, hot on his heels was Mathew Holdroyd with 16 trout and Peter Appleby had a busy few hours landing 14 fish. Not just big bags but some big individual specimens also with Dave Cardwell from Darlington netting the heaviest weighing in at 11Ib 8ozs, Tom Crickton from Winlaton was more than happy with his fish weighing 11Ibs, Anthony Burns from Sunderland caught a very fit 9Ib 2oz fish while John Know returned a cracking brown trout of 4Ib 8ozs. Top patterns this last week included Buzzers in Olive or Black, Shipman’s, Damsels, Hoppers, CDC Sedge, Mini Muddlers, Bloodworm and Yellow Blobs.

Aldin Grange Lakes 0191 384 6090

Lots of action from both lakes with good returns recorded, tactics have been a little varied but a floating or intermediate line seem to have been best this last week with trout for the most part not feeding that deep, patterns working well have included Buzzers, Bloodworm, Diawl Bach, GRHE, PTN and Damsels, some anglers are pulling lures and catching a few, the best patterns have included Cats Whiskers, Dawson’s Olive, White Zonkers and Fritz lures in Black, Olive or Orange. Trout for the most part have been in the 2Ib to 5Ib size all in tip-top condition and the rod average for the week was very healthy at 4.

Witton Castle Lakes 01388 488 691

With autumn well on the way the trout at Witton are starting to think about the winter so putting on a little weight to see them through is on their minds so the fry are stating to be chased and anglers have been seeing this and changing their tactics to suit, patterns such as Zonkers in Natural, White and Black, Cats Whiskers, Jack Frosts and Appetisers have all started to catch well and you should make sure at this time of year to have a few in your box. Anglers amongst the action this last week included Alan McPhail who netted 19 fish his best weighed in at 7Ibs tempted off the top on a CDC, Andy Graham from Middlesbrough was hot on his heels landing 18 trout, Tony Ward from Weardale caught 11 on Nymphs, Fred Walton from West Auckland landed 12 fish his best was a cracker weighing 16Ibs while Bernie McKewon from Meadowfield was more than happy with his bag of five fish which included a brown trout of 15Ib and a rainbow of 7Ib 8ozs.