Surrey S&TA home water, , Wednesday 6th May 2009
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Once again The Mill was deserted, this despite perfect fishing conditions. With a gentle westerly breeze and a partially cloudy sky the fishery looked immaculate. The Alders continue to hatch in large numbers and the water's surface was covered in black gnats and a very small black midge (size 24 ish).
I started on Lake 1 and promptly lost a strong fish. The take was savage and despite firm pressure it fell off after a few lunges. A few more casts without success and I moved down to Lake 2. This lake was more sheltered and fish were splashing under the overhanging branches on the far bank. No visible rising fish so I put on a Cat's Whisker as the clarity on this lake was not so good. This fly has been by far the most popular according to the returns book and after one nice fish I got no more interest. It may be that most of the fish have seen it before and its attraction is wearing off.
I moved on to Lake 3 and changed to a new fly, a "White Prince". This is my take on Doug Prince's famous American nymph, tied in the same way but with all white goose biots and a pale hackle. Silver badger works well as does a pale golden badger. A fine silver rib completed the changes from the original.
Instant success, with a fish on the first cast so I moved on to Lake 4.
The bottom lake has not been so heavily fished according to the returns so I decided to spend a few minutes prospecting the corners that get neglected. By casting over the top of bankside vegatation rather than from the established swims I quickly found the fish tight to the overgrown banks. Once again the White Prince was successful and I took two lovely fish one of which at nearly 3lbs appeared to be a holdover from an earlier stocking, with perfect fins and tail. One fish spent ages airborne, cartwheeling all over the lake, the second fought deep and hard, a recent stock fish but pink fleshed and solid.
Apart from a very tame pheasant that followed me around for a while I saw no one and heard nothing except birdsong and the very occasional far off car. Perfect.
The Mill - Lake 3 in Spring sunshine
Wednesday 29th April 2009
The water was clearer than last week and a few fish were moving on Lakes 1 and 3 when I arrived. Weather was fine and a gentle breeze had helpfully moved the floating debris away from the fishing areas.
Lots of Alder fly in the air and a few ginger buzzers hatching off on Lake 1.
After a blank hour on mini lures I switched to a size 14 black damsel nymph and lost a really good fish off the platform on Lake 1. I changed to a different damsel (larger hook) and after 20 minutes got a fish of 2 3/4 lbs. A great looking fish, long and lean but very fit.
I moved onto Lake 3 without success before ending up on Lake 4 where I took a second fish again in peak condition, this time on a white version of the same fly.
On gutting the fish I found they were both full of small black flies which I thought were Hawthornes bibio johannis but on closer examination they proved to be more like St Marks Fly, bibio marci. I didn't see any of these flying about but presumably the fish had fed on them earlier in the day.
I also saw a very long grass snake, lots of orange tip butterflies , a peacock butterfly and several large whites. In the margins of Lake 3 several large groups of tadpoles were wriggling around. A pair of grey wagtails are looking at the outflow from lake one with interest and may be nesting there.
Only one other angler had fished before me (Derek, 2 fish) and one more turned up while I was there. Almost perfect seclusion. Nice afternoon's fishing.
The Mill - typical stock fish