NEWS - 2008
Bitterly cold, three layers of clothing and I took a boat out at 9am. The sun was shining briefly and I rowed over to the bubble which I hadn't really tried all year. Second cast I hit a fish well in excess of two pounds using an intermediate with a very short leader. It fought well but alas there were no more. I moved over to the bushes and again within a few casts hardly moving the line I caught another in excess of two pounds and so it went on through the morning. As soon as I caught a trout nothing more happened and I had to move. I covered the reservoir even rowing as far as the old stream bed up at the top on the left hand side, there was still quite a flow, as I could feel the line tension the deeper my line sank. All were near the bottom and as with position it required me to change fly often and vary my retrieve. I noticed two rises up at the top and put a line of buzzers on a floating line. Within seconds I'd hooked another 2lb plus fish which had hoovered both droppers, both embedded in the lip. By lunchtime I had six in the bag with the heaviest just under 3 1/2 lbs and only one under two pounds. Flies used were Damsel, H/E, Buzzers and I finished with a small cats whisker. The appearance of the rainbow a the end of the season says it all, it's where the pot of gold lies. A fitting end to very pleasant season, especially as we now appear to have a social side to the club where our fishing widows can commiserate with each other. Thank you HFFC. David Nicholls (Member)
The Powdermill Cup now has its own page detailing all the winners. See it here. The Powdermill Cup
The rabbit population around the reservoir has been steadily increasing and the number of warrens in the bank at the rear of the dam has been a cause for concern. If left unchecked, their excavations could severely weaken the dam, so the rabbit population needs to be kept under control. There is arguably no more humane way of thinning out the number of rabbits than be ferreting.
The Club’s annual fishing competition and barbecue took place on Friday 12 September and for most of the day it was sunny and dry, but we did have one heavy shower mid-afternoon. The nineteen competitors were split into two groups. One group fished from the boats in the morning session and then swapping over with the other group in the afternoon, to fish from the bank.
Prize Winners:
Heaviest Bag: Don Burt (10lb 14ozs - 6 Fish)
Heaviest Boat Fish: Don Burt (2lb 5ozs)
Heaviest Bank Fish: Dave Nicholls (3lb 5½ozs)
The evening Barbecue was well attended and an enjoyable time was had by all. All six pages of the October edition of our MEMBERS NEWSLETTER is entirely devoted to this event.
To rectify the obvious error of the Branch never having fished against the Hastings club, the committee set up an annual competition for the “Powdermill Trophy”.
The competition was run on the same model as the Troutmasters final whereby half the day is spent bank fishing and the other half spent boat fishing. It was a game of two halves and the second half saw the successful ‘bankers’ headed for the boats and even more testing conditions than the morning ‘boaters’ had experienced as the weather had deteriorated. Regardless of the result this event was never just about the silverware. It was always about making friends and forging a link with another like minded club in our own county.
Results Summary:
Hastings Fly Fishers Club: 34 fish (55lb 9ozs)
Sussex Fly Dressers Guild: 11 fish (17lb 14½ozs)
Best Bag: John Noble (9lb 5ozs)
Biggest Fish: Tim Stacey (2lb 2ozs)
‘The Last Breath’ is a UK Film Council funded film which has just been mainly shot at Powdermill reservoir. As well as the reservoir itself, the interior of the clubhouse / fishing lodge was used as the ‘Dive hut’. I understand that even Vic’s hat, complete with flies, was borrowed to add rustic colour. Did I say ‘borrowed’? I understand that Vic’s fee was a bottle of whisky!
Both bank and boat fishermen continue to find fish. At this time of year, fishing can be hard and often the best times are early morning or late evening, but with the unseasonal weather conditions, the trout are exceptionally active and are being caught throughout the day. Work has begun to clear the area between the bailiff’s cottage and the fishing lodge.
The reservoir will be closed to casual anglers on Friday 12 September 2008 as we will be holding the annual competition for club members.
The annual fishing competition for club members will take place on Friday 12 September 2008 followed by a barbecue in the evening. All members should have received a letter with a return slip to enter the competition and/or confirm if you are attending the barbecue. Please return these as soon as possible if you have not yet done so.
Members of Hastings Fly Fishers took on visiting members of the Sussex Fly Dressers Guild on Sunday 6 July. Each team consisted of twelve anglers.
The weather was awful with strong winds and showers including the occasional torrential downpour in the afternoon! Despite the miserable conditions all 24 anglers stuck it out and although the fishing was exceptionally hard a total of 45 fish were landed, weighing 73lb 7½ozs. Boat fishing was awful with nearly all fish falling to bank fishermen.
Results Summary:
HFFC: 34 fish (55lb 9ozs)
SFDG: 11 fish (17lb 14½ozs)
Best Bag: John Noble (9lb 5ozs)
Biggest Fish: Tim Stacey (2lb 2ozs)
The two young geese are growing apace and have now turned from yellow to white. Foxes are targeting the young of the waterfowl population. Mallard chicks are particularly susceptible when away from the water. The young coot chicks do not stray too far from the water’s edge so are less likely to fall victim to a prowling fox. The Bailiff is having to protect the flowers that he has planted with wire netting in order to try and stop the rabbit population from eating the entire lot.
Spotted in the car park at Powdermill. I particularly liked the addition of ‘2008’ !
The two chicks that were hatched for Vic, in order to replace the cantankerous goose which was killed by a fox, have now taken up residence in an enclosure in the Bailiff’s garden. They have a cosy shed to shelter in, complete with heat-lamp and a small run.
Chris Richards has finally landed a ‘big one’. After many years of struggling to find time to go fishing, Chris has managed to clock up eight visits so far this year. As a result, he is having a good year. On Wednesday 4th June, he managed to find time to fish from 4pm until 8-30pm. He was soon into the 11lb 10 oz rainbow which proceeded to take all his line onto the backing. At several points during the titanic struggle he thought it was never going to end up in the boat. Finally, with aching arms and a beating heart, he managed to slip the landing net under the fish.
A club member, who shall remain nameless, had a bit of a disaster last week. He had left his dry fly floating on the water while he contentedly sat in his boat having a refreshing cup of tea. Needless to say the inevitable happened and the next thing he knew was that his valuable Sage rod was disappearing over the side. Despite the bailiff’s efforts to recover the unfortunate anglers equipment it still remains somewhere between the willow tree and the sunken road.
OTHER BIRDLIFE: This has been a bumper year for our bird population with over 30 baby blue tits having been raised in our nesting boxes around the fishing lodge. The aquatic bird population is also doing very well with plenty of chicks in evidence.
Purely by accident, your intrepid website reporter has just found out that the Hastings Fly Fishers Club had made an appearance at the annual Parish Council AGM held in the Sedlescombe village hall in April. Tim Stacey and Doug Rigby went along on 29th April and "set out their stall". After such a lot of hard work they obviously then had to adjourn to the local hostelry for refreshment whilst the meeting went ahead.
On 18 May, while fishing from the far bank adjacent to the green hut, Mick Coleman caught a rainbow weighing 12lb 1oz, on a Mayfly Nymph. Although Mick and Maggie Coleman were the generous donors of the latest addition to our fleet, L’Aquapêche 370, Mick prefers to fish from the bank.
One of the very few eyesores which has been quietly rotting away has finally been removed after many years of neglect. The Portaloo, once considered to be the height of luxury has been standing neglected and unused for so long that we only just managed to demolish it before it was classified as Grade II listed!
If you are a club member and have not yet been accosted by the bailiff... Beware! He’s after your money. He is offering to provide you with a beautifully embroidered Club Badge for the bargain price of £5.
As a result of the recent report on the latest good fish to come out of Powdermill, I have received a couple of e-mails from subscribers wanting to know a bit more about the method used. In response David Nicholls has provided me with the following:
“I was using an intermediate line with a 6lb leader, about 15ft of it. I'd tried with a floater and long leader but they appeared pretty deep. The fly was a size 12 green nymph. I was up in the far end where the huge bay is just past the last little bay on the right... [it] weighed in at 10lb 15oz.”
I thought you might like to see a couple of the photos sent in by David Nicholls which were taken at Powdermill this week. David wrote: "They're still out there. It was the day after the snow and it was still thawing. Mid afternoon at the far end. A brilliant afternoon's fishing which also yielded a 2lb 4oz fish to the net. This seemed a mere minnow when placed alongside."
Visitors who brave the fickle weather are reaping the benefit of quality over-wintered fish. Chris Dance caught a six fish limit totalling 14lb 4ozs, which included a rainbow weighing 4lb 6ozs. Ian Colclough of Weybridge Guns & Tackle in Surrey visited us on a far from ideal March day and was so delighted with his day’s fishing that he actually e-mailed us to tell us about it!
Welcome back everybody. This year the main fly fishing season at Powdermill Reservoir starts on Saturday 1 March 2008.
If you intend to go out in a boat during the initial weekend it may be wise to book it in advance. It is advisable to be reasonably early for bank fishing, rather than stroll along at midday only to find that all the best places are taken.
Fishing during the last few weeks has been exceptionally good for the time of year. Fish are still well spread throughout the reservoir with trout being caught along all the accessible bank areas.
