Sixteen anglers turned out on a wonderful frosty and clear morning at Chalybeate Springs for the annual TWFFS Fur & Feather event. Hot Coffee and breakfast rolls were much needed on this cold bright day

Fishing in pairs, anglers anticipation of some good fishing after a cold snap was well rewarded with good fish coming to the net regularly

Our Chairman Peter Thomason put down an early, and as it turned out an unbeatable marker, for best fish with a quite superbly conditioned 6lb 9oz rainbow trout. A good number of 3, 4 and 5lb fish also came to the net

Four anglers were catching fish steadily, Peter Thomason, Andy Sawyer, Joel Beaney and Paul Wade - it was clear that the Furry Cup winner was going to go to one of these 4 finely tuned and supercharged fishermen

The other 12 could only watch and admire these chaps go about their fly fishing business of chasing the cup - and boy does this little chalice take some filling at the annual Dinner Dance

Time was called and the weigh-in was a tense affair - who would the winner be? It was close but our winner with a splendid 6 fish and a total bag weight of 17lb was Andy Sawyer - hearty congratulations from all attendance. Second place went to Peter Thomason with a bag weight of 14lb 6oz which included that wonderful 6lb 9oz specimen. Third place went to Joel Beaney with a bag weight of 13lb 8oz and forth place to Paul Wade with a bag weight of 11lb 0oz

After a splendidly supported raffle and special thanks to Jim Streeter for looking after us all so well on the day we departed for the Huntsmen pub where we were royally looked after with an exceptional beef stew and dumplings followed by spotted dick and custard - a perfect end to a perfect days fishing (well for some anyways)

Andy, we all look forward to what you put into the Fur and Feather Cup at the Jubilee Dinner Dance on the 28th Feb 2015. Three cheers to TWFFS

• 1 Andy Sawyer 17lb 0oz
• 2 Peter Thomason 14lb 6oz

Best fish Peter Thomason with a 6lb 9oz rainbow

Itchen and Scratchin'

Well there were ten of us, then the excuses came in ...

Gary Collins got a heavy date on the Friday which these days means a long recovery time, Micky Heasman put his back out doing something physical, hopefully on home ground, Richard Denny decided to kill a bambi on the way and trash his car (he survived intact), and Bill Rankin never did get his website access sorted!

So then there were six. Well sort of ...

New member "Gerry" turned up - a really friendly guy who was warmly welcomed by us all, but who promptly disappeared as soon as he met Ray Burt - or maybe he was looking for a different Tunbridge Wells club? Who knows, but it did mean that there were more of Chef Laurence’s excellent bacon rolls to go round, so no-one really complained

So with full bellies and hope in our hearts, the Famous Five headed out on a beautiful morning to seek out the Ladies of the Stream. After several days of heavy rain, the river was at full height, at some spots already above the level of the track leading down to our parking area. But the sun came out, the mist cleared, water visibility was pretty good and as usual Mr Burt led the way with his French leader, stripey strike indicator and pink flies - nothing weird there at all!

He was immediately disqualified from any competitive element of the day however, when he confessed that he had gone on a practice day to Elinor before the last and decisive points day of the season. Practice day at Elinor?? Surely grounds for a stewards' enquiry!!

Most of us caught fish, with Keith adopting the time-honoured tactic of hooking a sea trout while on the phone to Diane and Russell taking a nice grayling, dropping it into a bed of nettles then being stung repeatedly while trying to retrieve it - there is a fish god after all ...

Attendees:

• Ray Burt
• Keith Laurence
• Alan Dean
• Dave Cahill
• Russell Bell
• Gerry

An early start is needed to complete the journey in time to have breakfast in the anglers' kitchen at the imposing mill on this extensive and interesting fishery. Most of the eleven members who made the journey arrived in time to enjoy the Chairman's "Masterchef" production of bacon rolls and tea: only one went to the wrong location but managed to arrive by the time we commenced fishing

The quarry at this time of year is grayling and the method is the now standard Czech or French nymph technique fishing a team of leaded nymphs at short range through the likely lies. Most of our members are fairly new to these methods and we were very pleased to have the ready help and advice of Ray Burt and Bill Rankin: two experts who are very generous in sharing their knowledge

The river was in good form with just a hint of colour from recent rain. Fish could be seen over the gravel bars and the keeper had told us that numbers of sea trout and salmon had moved into the fishery. With the help of Ray and Bill, most of us fished two heavy nymphs, using long, light rods, pitching the flies only a leader length away and keeping in close contact as they trundled through the holding places. The technique demands close attention and any slight movement of the leader needs a quick response. The prize is the elegant grayling with its slim profile and sail-like dorsal fin. Our mentors were successful in enabling all of us to catch fish and confirmed their own expert status by each catching a good bag nearing or exceeding double figures. For those moments between fish, the gentle surrounding countryside provided much of interest, including the spectacle of a group of rooks mercilessly mobbing a buzzard who strayed too close to their roost

We look forward to another visit to this fishery on 15th November

Roll up roll up for the Mystery Tour!!

The TWFFS Magical Mystery Tour of Midlands waters began on Saturday the 11th October with a visit to Grafham for our club points competition. Eight members started the day with a fine breakfast at the Wheatsheaf and gently meandered towards the water for a 9.15am start

With the majority of our group staying over for a further two days fishing and not desperate about lugging a load of dead fish around in overheated cars, a novel way of recording catches for the competition had to be found. The solution was to measure fish caught with measuring tapes presented to each pair, with sheets to record catches, duly witnessed by one's boat partner

With the usual jokes about what Mrs Burt is told is a full 9 inches, and at least one member (sorry!) trying to record in centimetres to gain a tactical advantage, the experiment was a success on the day, with the only concern being whether the measurement could be done quickly without unduly distressing the fish. All fish were returned relatively unharmed however with the majority being caught on daddies and hoppers with the occasional fry patterns thrown in

The top 5 match results were as follows:

• 1 Martyn Gray 4 fish measuring 70 inches
• 2 Russell Bell 4 fish measuring 67 inches
• 3 Mark Coker 4 fish measuring 59 inches
• 4 Bob Holland 3 fish measuring 50 inches
• 5 Ray Burt 2 fish measuring 32 inches

Prize for biggest fish went to Peter Thomason for his 19 inch singleton. Oooh Matron!!

And so to the Court House Inn in Thrapston which used to incorporate the local police station and jail, making the cops and lawyers in the party feel right at home! We were joined by Keith Lawrence for the evening and the next day, and following an excellent curry in what from the outside looked a pretty dodgy location, we returned to the Inn for even more beers and some live music

This split the party somewhat with the geriatrics retiring to bed, Andrew Hope and Mark Coker getting stuck at the bar having a more and more incoherent conversation about rods, and Keith and Russell pogo-ing away to the sound of the Cortinas. A good night enjoyed by all – well maybe not Bob once Mark had found his bed and his "night music" voice - or Keith whose bed seemed to be of the man-eating variety (I.e. folding, but not in a good way...)

On Sunday we headed off after another good breakfast to Draycote in a thick fog. This made comparing notes at lunchtime a bit difficult, since no-one really knew where they'd been. To add to the confusion, Keith and Mark insisted on catching Browns in Rainbow Bay including one excellent 4 pounder for Keith. In the afternoon the pattern changed a little, with Ray French and Peter Thomason pulling in 7 and 6 fish respectively sitting out of the wind at the top of Tofts, and Mark braving the elements again and pulling a total of 5 out of Rainbow to an interesting combination of minkie boobies and nymphs

On arriving back to the Court House we enjoyed a good dinner of Hot Rocks steaks (self cooked on very hot volcanic platters) and were heading for a quieter evening until our venerable chairman decided that a bottle of Talisker behind the bar had to be attacked. After a few drams we hit the hay, more than a bit concerned about the hurricane forecasts for the next day. Our intention had been to return to Grafham, but at dawn it was obvious that the conditions were against us, and even a quick visit to Elinor (just up the road) couldn't persuade our brave members to get out of their cars and cast a fly

The journey home was pretty horrendous (gales, rain, Monday traffic, incidents on the M1, M11 and M25) but we all got home safely and I think that most will be up for the trip again next year, when hopefully we'll get in a full 3 days fishing

Fifteen members fished the Nigel Turner Memorial Trophy despite the water which looked more like poorly mixed green pea Cup-a-Soup

In the afternoon water clarity improved dramatically thanks to the arrival of the wind and although fish were showing in other areas the majority of fish were taken either on or around the aerators

Some impressive fighting fish were caught with six of the 55 taken being well over the 3lb mark for a rod average of 3.6

Ray Burt’s 7 fish weighed an incredible 18lb 9oz and he only lost top spot to Richard Denney who had the same weight but caught 8 fish

Nick Cox took the best fish of the day with a cracking Rainbow of 3lb 13oz and Junior Member George Denney, fishing on a two fish ticket, took his bag for weight of a 5lb 7oz

The results:

• 1 Richard Denney Jnr
• 2 Ray Burt
• 3 Bob Shaw
• 4 Nick Cox
• 5 Richard Denney Snr
• 6 Bob Holland

A good turnout of 16 members arrived at Bewl for this year’s pairs challenge on a breezy day with a good mix of high cloud, some sun and moderate winds. We were therefore able to leave the tower hogging to our all method friends and go looking for prey in some of the more traditional areas

Most members stuck to the main bowl or towards Chingley and the entrance to Bewl Straight, although Messrs Collins and Dench had considerable success along the Grassy Bank directly opposite the Lodge

A busy sailing day led to some interesting confrontations, but good humour was maintained throughout, even when Bob Holland and Ian Watts chose to join in the starting line-up of the Laser Pico 2-handed race!

Most fish were caught higher in the water than in recent weeks and while a good many stressed fish were going airborne throughout the day, there was evidence of a growing number ready to start chasing, although the takes did still seem to be a bit hesitant

And so to the results:

• 1 James Dench and Gary Collins 16 fish 28lb 12oz
• 2 John Hancock and Keith Lawrence 13 fish 28lb 9oz
• 3 Bob Shaw and Russell Bell 14 fish 26lb 0oz

Best fish: John Hancock 3lb 3oz
Best bag: Jim McGonigle 8 fish 17lb 2oz

The fishery has been kept well as usual with a very good stock of fish, thanks Jim

Weather overcast but humid, the morning turning to broken cloud with long hot sunny spells

All competitors were given one of each of the Fullingmill flys, one Green Damsel with blue flash tail, one goldhead off-white bodied Daddy Long Legs and one CDC Shuttle Cock

After breakfast rolls we then walked off with a drawn number

Fish were showing themselves all over the lake but with high air pressure they were a lot more reluctant to take than usual

It was hard going in the morning but Ray Burt had soon pulled his 4 fish out of the honey hole area before lunch, with just a handful caught by other competitors

After banter and lunch the walk off was reversed and fish were still moving but catching remained hard and slow

Micky Heasman did well in the conditions, being the only one to catch on the high point scoring dry fly (fish weight x2lb) finishing 3rd overall

Most fish of the day were caught on the Daddy Long Legs (fish weight x1.5lb) including Mick Priest's 3 fish pushing him to 2nd place. Ray Burt had 2 of his fish on the Damsel (fish weight x1lb) and the other 2 smaller fish on the Daddy dropping him to 4th

Mark Tremain-Coker plugged away all day on the Daddy to which he caught all 4 of his fish moving him to a well deserved victory. The best fish of the day went to Russell Bell with a fine fish of 4lb 8oz

All 24 fish caught were of good quality, strength and condition all bar Ron 'The small fish dispatcher' Lewis catching a 1lb racing snake of a trout that had caused him to carry it around the lake to weigh it in, now known as 'the walk of shame'!

The results

• 1 Mark Tremain-Coker 4 fish 10lb 9oz
• 2 Mick Priest 3 fish 9lb 13.5oz
• 3 Micky Heasman 3 fish 9lb 7.5oz
• 4 Ray Burt 4 fish 9lb 2oz
• 5 Scott Benton 2 fish 6lb 9oz
• 6 Ron Lewis 3 fish 5lb 3.5oz
• 7 Andy Stoner 2 fish 4lb 12.5oz
• 8 Russell Bell 1 fish 4lb 8oz
• 9 Alan Dean 1 fish 3lb 4.5oz
• 10 James Dench 1 fish 1lb 12oz
• 11 Chris Ball, Graham Morgan Plumb and Martyn Gray blanked

We all had a good day despite hard conditions and the points system went down well, leaving everyone guessing the victor

The second round of the Chalybeate Pairs took place on the 31st May. There were 8 teams fishing this round of the prestigious Chalybeate Pairs Trophy kindly donated by fishery manager Jim Streeter. Although, 3 of the teams only had 1 person fishing

It was a fine spring day with good amount of warm sunshine interspersed with some cloud cover. As usual Jim had made sure the lake was well stocked great quality fish for us to hopefully catch. Fishing had been good in the previous week so hopes were high for some excellent fishing. We were not to be disappointed

Fish were caught from the off and most were using tadpole or Gonad type lures in various guises. Black based lures such as the Jack the Ripper or Green Pea/Viva type tadpoles seemed to fare best but fish were caught using the ubiquitous Cat’s Whisker tadpole. Russell Bell caught well on his now famous Tartan Damsel nymph. The fishing slowed after the first couple of hours but fish were still being taken

After lunch the fishing was again quite slow but as the afternoon progressed rods began to bend and quality rainbows were being either despatched or returned by those that had already caught their 3 fish limit

Results:

• 1 Keith Nicholson and Peter Thomason (13 fish)
• 2 Russell Bell and Chris Ball (12 fish)
• 3 Ron Lewis and Keith Lawrence (9 fish)
• 4 Scott Benton and Andy Stoner (7 fish)

Best 3 fish bag was caught by Andy Stoner and the best overall bag including returned fish was Russell Bell

Many thanks to Jim for cooking the breakfast rolls and for ensuring a well stocked fishery in great condition

The third and final round will be held on Sunday 5th October

Eight members and one guest met at Bewl Water on a nice but windless morning. After drawing for boat partners we set out on what was to turnout to be quite a hard days fishing

There were not many fish rising so not much to cast at. By lunchtime Andy Hope had 5 to the boat and I had 4 and not much else for anyone else

At this point I must point out that my boat partner, Nick Cox, seemed to be acting as my personal Ghillie, as every time we moved to a new area he put me on fish but could not manage to catch one himself. This went on all day until 4.55 when he caught 2 in 2 in his last 2 casts

At 5pm we came off the water and weighed our catch. The 8 members landed a total of 28 fish and a total bag weight of 51lb 14oz

On the day John Hancock was 3rd with 5 fish for 9lb 5oz, Andy Hope was 2nd with 5 fish for 9lb 11oz and yours truly was 1st with 7 fish for 12lb 8oz

Full results:

• 1 Ron Lewis 7 fish 12lb 8oz
• 2 Andy Hope 5 fish 9lb 11oz
• 3 John Hancock 5 fish 9lb 5oz
• 4 Ian Watts 4 fish 7lb 9oz
• 5 Ray Burt 4 fish 7lb 0oz
• 6 Nick Cox 2 fish 3lb 10oz
• 7 Mark Tremain-Cocker 1 fish 2lb 4oz
• 8 Martyn Gray didn't catch

A good day was had by all

Fourteen members attended the annual Dave Clark Cup which is our only bank competition at Bewl Water. Many partook of the breakfast supplied by the Society and held in the sailing club

Rob Barden, one of the rangers, took us over to Ferry point where he suggested we fished from there round to Dunsters Bay

The weather was very trying for us all with a North Westerly blowing right onto us. Thinking that the wind might blow the fish near to the bank we saw a few fish rising but they were just too far out

Out of the 14 members that fished 9 caught. Congratulations goes to James Dench who, along with Andy Hope, walked about 6 miles to catch the winning bag. Using a DI 5 with a Boobie and FAB James managed to catch 4 fish

After a very hard days fishing a few of us had a couple of beers in the Chequers which had a roaring log fire to help dry some of us out

Results

• 1 James Dench 4 fish 7lb 1oz
• 2 Dave Crouch 3 fish 6lb 3.5oz
• 3 Bob Holland 3 fish 6lb 1oz
• 4 Ian Watts 2 fish 4lb 11oz
• 5 Mark Tremain-Cocker 2 fish 3lb 1oz
• Mick Priest 1 fish 2lb 3oz

Best fish was caught by Bob Holland 2lb 6oz

Eighteen anglers welcomed the first club trip of the season on Bewl and were rewarded with an incredible catch of 111 fish for a rod average of 6.16. Although there were fish to be caught from Chingley point down to Dunsters and Bewl Straight, like last season's open day there was rich pickings for those prepared to battle it out with the many other boats and bank anglers down at Rosemary Lane and Tinkers Marsh

Nine members managed to get their limits using various methods from Intermediates down to Sweep lines and successful patterns ranged from Buzzers, Cormorants and Black Hoppers to Blobs and Booby's

After a brief lunch, Russell "Raffle" Bell's regular prize win and the usual banter provided by those most successful In the morning, pretty much all of the party headed back down to open water off Tinkers Marsh where there was a rather large pod of fish high in the water, and very much to some anglers delights 'in the chasing mood'

Weather conditions were better than forecast with a moderate South-Westerly breeze and sunshine for most of the day. The wind strengthened during the afternoon and those who had ventured down Bewl Straight had a chilly and choppy return

An excellent day!

The top five anglers awarded points were:

• 1 Bob Holland 8 fish 18lb 13oz (Best fish 3lb 4oz)
• 2 Andy Hope 8 fish 16lb 13oz
• 3 Ray Burt 8 fish 16lb 7oz (Best fish 3lb 3oz) ( Prize winner )
• 4 Keith Lawrence 16lb 6oz
• 5 Ian Watts 16lb 2oz

Five members attended the Chalybeate Springs Trout Fishery event on Wednesday 26th February

We were greeted as usual by Jim with tea, and egg & bacon rolls for breakfast, and the prospect of a good days fishing

We were not disappointed. Lines were cast at 9am and we fished until lunch at 12.30pm and resumed fishing at 1.15pm until 4.00pm

Between us we caught 43 fish on various flies including Cats whiskers, Jolly Green Giants, and Bow Tie Buzzers

My thanks go to Jim and the other 4 members for such an enjoyable day