News Flash Monday 31st October 2016

Good News!

The water temperature at Powdermill has now fallen from a 20.5 high to a more seasonal 15 degrees and this seems to have brought the fish back onto the feed. Over the last 4 days 28 rainbows and one brown trout have been caught and last Friday member Bob Sanger landed a rainbow of 5lb 10oz as part of his 6 fish bag. Another bag of 5 fish was taken by another member yesterday.

Nearly all of these fish were caught from the dam.
Take the chance to enjoy this exceptional autumn sunshine at the beautiful Powdermill Reservoir before the onset of winter.

LATEST NEWS - AUGUST 11th 2016

Member Dick Telford was quietly minding his own business this afternoon fishing from a boat near the bubbles enjoying the sunshine when all of a sudden a rainbow leapt from the water and landed on his lap and then finished up in the bottom of the boat. Ever the sportsman and witnessed by his boat partner Dick ensured the fish was returned to the water non the worse from it's experience. The big question must be - who was the most surprised, Dick or the fish?

Sadly two hours later Dick had failed to attract any interest to the business end of his line!

THE NEW POWDERMILL MAYFLY

ITS NOW OFFICIAL POWDERMILLS MAYFLY IS CALLED THE MAYJUNEJULY FLY !

June saw just under 300 fish caught on the mayfly and we are still seeing lots of hatches and catches in July.

There has never been a better value time to visit us with July and August all day tickets reduced to just £25! The lake is very well stocked so don’t miss out on this great opportunity for some of the best fly fishing in the south east.

Club Competition Friday 24th June 2016

The event was brought forward from its usual time in August in the hope that this would improve catches. This certainly worked with nearly everyone getting amongst the fish with several catches of 5 or 6 rainbows. It was a great day and the only disappointing aspect was that the number of participants was down. It was a shame that it was not better attended as it was a super days fishing.

Paul Strivens was a worthy winner with a bag of 6 fish totalling 10lb 2.5oz.
Joint second place went to Terry Beeching and Peter Ralph who each had 6 fish for 9lb 11oz.

Finally a big thanks to everyone who helped and the high quality raffle donations, special thanks toVic his hard work preparing the venue and to his son Lee for laying on an excellent BBQ. Sue Brignall became our official photographer and some of her great photos are below.

URGENT NOTE FOR MEMBERS - CLUB COMPETITIONS

If you are not already aware our annual club competition and BBQ takes place this Friday 24th June. If you intend to participate and you have not yet informed Vic or Mary could you kindly do so as a matter of urgency. They will also need to know if you will be attending the post competition BBQ and prize giving.

If you would like to donate a raffle prize please can you give it to Vic. This year we are also providing a breakfast bacon roll!

Boats will still be available for visitors on this day.

Our KENT v SUSSEX match takes place on Friday 8th July. As usual this will be fished from the bank. If you would like to participate please contact Vic asap

Monday 6 June 2016

At least it is warmer this week. Last week on a couple of days the temperature was lower than that on Christmas day! This made the dam an unhospitable place for those who ventured out to fish from the bank. Having said that there was no shortage of fish being caught. Mayfly are continually hatching in numbers and the trout are feasting on them as can be seen from the surface action.

This month will see the majority of the dry fly action so a visit to our fully stocked reservoir surly is a must for all fly fishermen ( and women ).

Some days there have been very few boats left on the jetty come late morning so it would be prudent to phone our bailiff Vic Partridge between 9.30am and 10.30am to make a reservation.

Newsflash Wednesday 18th May 2016

The mayfly have officially arrived with hatches increasing by the day! The rainbows in the fully stocked reservoir seem to have cottoned onto what a good source of food they are judging by the surface action yesterday and the corresponding catches.

If you fancy some fast and furious fly fishing then get down to the reservoir as soon as possible whilst the action lasts.

Boats are proving very popular so to avoid disappointment especially if you have driven a long way it is recommended you ring our bailiff Vic Partridge to reserve one. You can get him between 9.30am and 10.30am on 01424 870498. Take a look at these great photos taken recently by Martyn Brignall's wife Susan whilst he was fishing. Two are of Paul Strevens hooking, playing and landing a rainbow and the other 3 are wildlife near the dam.

Mayfly

The first mayfly have been spotted at the reservoir. The big question is now who will be the first to catch on a mayfly this season! With calmer warmer weather arriving it is suggested a visit to Powdermill should not be delayed.

The water is fully stocked with a fine head of fighting rainbows and most anglers are taking a good bag. To avoid disappointment at the approaching busy time if you would like to reserve a boat please ring our bailiff Vic Partridge on 01424 870498 between 9.30 - 10.30.

Fishing Competition

Our annual competition at Powdermill Reservoir against Sussex Fly Dressers Guild took place last Saturday 9th April. The match usually takes place at the end of June/early July but had been brought forward in an attempt to improve catches. This certainly worked as in fact only one blank was recorded. Ironically this unfortunate person is a much respected member of Hastings Fly Fishers who has recorded bags of 6 fish in his previous visits this season.

A total of 59 fish were caught with a total weight of 110lb 3oz. Of this 67lb 6oz were caught by SFDG and 42lb 13oz by HFF. A resounding victory for SFDG gaining revenge for last years narrow defeat.
The heaviest fish weighing in at 4lb 9oz was caught by Mr Raw of SFDG.
Heaviest bags were taken by the aforesaid Mr Raw ( 12lb 4oz ) and Ray Burt ( 11lb 12oz ) both SFDG.

The warmer weather this week has brought about an increase in the number of anglers and several bags of 6 fish have been taken. Mayfly nymphs, damsels nymphs and montanas have been used successfully. If you are taking a boat out it might be worth expending the energy to row to the western arm where there appear to be plenty of fish

April 15


'Some more great photos from Bob Whelan showing why you should hurry out to visit us! The real reason for his visit was to catch his limit which he and his guest Peter Rogers succeeded in doing.'

April 10

"Powdermills at its best on Sunday 10th April " photo by Bob Whelan

April 08

Although a rise in temperature would not go amiss most anglers are catching fish and in fact several have caught 4-6 rainbows. Even the writer managed 6 last week ( see picture ).

The reservoir is fully stocked with splendid rainbows and a visit is highly recommended.

April 08

Managed to tempt 6 very hard fighting rainbows today, all of them around 2 lbs. 4 were caught on a mayfly nymph and the other 2 on a tiny black buzzer. Things are looking good for an early mayfly hatch.

Malcolm Holden

March 31

Storm Katie left its mark with three large pine trees down near the entrance to the reservoir. Fortunately, it did not block the driveway so it's business as usual.The wind was so strong on Monday that Vic deemed it necessary to ban the use of boats as a safety measure. On the rare occasions he is forced to do this he will always put a "NO BOATS" message on the boats blackboard at the entrance to the lodge.The strong winds and disappointing weather over the Easter holiday kept numbers down but most of those who did fish managed to catch (yours truly excepted!).

We had a delivery of fish yesterday and hopefully with warmer more settled weather forecast we can get on with some serious fishing. The stocks are high!

March 18

There was most definitely a call for thermals with this weeks perpetual freezing North and East winds blowing down the reservoir. We are now fully stocked and some of those hardy souls who did venture out got amongst the fish.

On Tuesday John Noble fished the dam and accounted for a fine bag of 6 rainbows totalling almost 12lb and this morning two visitors took 6 fish each.

The fish were taken on a wide variety of flies including buzzers, nymphs, mayfly nymphs and damsels. It appears to be a question of seeing what works on the day. Here's hoping for some gentle south westerly breezes as soon as possible.