Surrey S&TA home water
An extract from last year's diary.
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 to Lake 4.
The bottom lake had 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