Six members and one guest travelled to Northampton to bank fish this first class trout fishery. We were greeted with wet and breezy conditions which didn't put off the hopes of a good day's fishing

We chose to fish at various places around the lake with some catching from the start but others struggled to find fish. It became evident the fish were more concentrated in a few areas and once located it was possible take a decent bag of fish

Floating lines were the order of the day for most and using the washing line technique with a small booby or a FAB on the point and nymphs on the droppers. It was necessary to fish quite slowly and some fish were even caught while the flies were static

This was the penultimate 2016 Championship points event and the 2 main contenders were both present. Ray Burt was 4 points ahead of Ian Watts before we commenced fishing but Ray managed to win the day with Ian in 3rd position and so extended his lead. The final round of the Championship is at Chalybeate on Sunday the 20th of November. The updated Championship points table can be found elsewhere on this website

It was decided to fish to a 5 fish catch and kill limit so that after the 5 fish bag was caught we could carry on fishing on a catch and release basis for the rest of the day

Although the conditions were quite miserable at times, we all enjoyed the days fishing

Full results:

• 1 Ray Burt 5 fish 11lb 0oz - 9 returned
• 2 Martyn Gray 5 fish 9lb 8oz - 0 returned
• 3 Ian Watts 5 fish 9lb 1oz - 2 returned
• 4 Mark Tremain-Coker 5 fish 8lb 4oz - 8 returned
•   Keith Nicholson 5 fish 8lb 4oz - 1 returned
• 6 Peter Thomason 2 fish 3lb 8oz - 1 fish returned

TWFFS Autumn Tour - A great trip and a controversial ending!

The now annual Midlands tour kicked off this year at Rutland where 5 members arrived following a hearty breakfast at the Stibbington Truck Stop on the A1. Our odd number proved not to be a problem when Bob Shaw picked up a stray Irishman who promptly drove him up the North Arm much against his wishes!

The others headed South, eventually converging in Hideaway Bay where the fish continued to be reluctant, but were caught fairly regularly during the day on a mixture of blobs and boobies. Luckily, Bob didn't allow his Grand Tour to deter him and he eventually joined the rest and overtook other members with consummate ease, finishing as top rod with 7 good fish

We then retreated in the face of a chilling east wind to the Courthouse Inn in Thrapston who have been host us for the past 3 years, and as usual we were welcomed by a good range of beer and some prime cuts of steak for supper

Next day we headed off to Eyebrook where the conditions had changed and after a very still morning, we enjoyed a warmer southerly breeze for most of the day. We were joined by Richard Lovett on his first outing since Chew in April (damn, I promised not to mention that again ...) and Ian Watts, who had come via Liverpool and practice day at Grafham (it's a long story ...) A bit of spice was added to the day when the Eyebrook staff very kindly donated a free day ticket for two as a special prize for our top rod. A very generous gesture

By the lunchtime break, honours were fairly evenly split with fish caught in one's and two's, some on glass lines and floaters but with no discernible pattern to the day. In the afternoon however Richard's dry fly skills came to the fore, and by a combination of lighter tackle and poaching fish the chairman had kindly risen for him, he won the day by bagging a total of 6 fish. Generosity seemed to be the watchword for the day however and Richard has very kindly donated his prize for the AGM Raffle in January

We then retired again to the Courthouse to freshen up before we headed off to our favourite curry house for more beers and an excellent meal before a couple of nightcaps and a (fairly) early night

Conditions changed again as we headed closer to home at Grafham for our points day. Heavy rain (together with Messrs Gray, Burt and Hancock) welcomed us on arrival, and then it got seriously wet during the morning. Fast glass lines and tequila or pink and yellow fabs and small boobies were the preferred method, and at lunchtime our two Rays of sunshine (French and Burt) were in the lead with 5 and 4 fish respectively

The sun did appear in the afternoon and good catching continued for some with Ray French stretching his lead, while Mr Burt lost his stickability and a number of fish, and could only manage a nice brown in the afternoon

So by 5 o'clock, 4 boats headed for the jetty to weigh in and compare notes, while a fifth containing Messrs Watts and Hancock were seen disappearing towards the dam, presumably for a second session. Having waited a reasonable amount of time, the main party adjourned to the Wheatsheaf to discuss what draconian punishments should be meted out to the delinquents, and wait to hear what pathetic excuses would be forthcoming

As it happened it appeared that Ian was relying on Sooty as timekeeper (??), and Sooty in turn was relying on his brand new genuine Russian watch bought at a market stall in Marrakesh which for some reason was running on mid-Atlantic time ie 45 minutes slow. Of course no mercy was shown and the meeting was adjourned to allow the chairman to look up the rulebook, wait for the bribes to arrive in plain brown envelopes, and reach a reasonable decision

And so to the results of this match day, which rely totally on the honesty of our members (??) and reflect fish caught by close of play at 5pm, although some were weighed in later;

• 1 Ray French 10 fish 15lb 1oz
• 2 Ray Burt 6 fish 12lb 2oz
• 3 John Hancock 4 fish 8lb 10oz
• 4 Mark Tremain Coker 3 fish 6lb 4oz
• 5 Graham Morgan Plumb 2 fish 3lb 14oz
• 6 Ian Watts 1 fish 2lb 8oz (3 more after 5pm)
• 7 Bob Shaw 1 fish 1lb 12oz
• 8 Russell Bell and Martyn Gray 1 fish 1lb 10oz
• 10 Richard Lovett 0 fish

Many thanks go to Mark for organising a great weekend, much enjoyed by all, and we're all looking forward to another expedition next year

Attendees: Ray French, Bob Shaw, Graham Morgan Plum, Ray Burt, Mark Tremain-Cocker, Martin Gray, Russell Bell, Ian Watts (Editor)

There was certainly no 5-hour delay at the Dartford Crossing when eight members undertook the rather uneventful trip up the M1 to Draycote Water. In fact, listening to the news on the way, in between singing the Proclaimers anthem, "I'm on my way from misery to happiness today", a newsflash reported that it was officially Autumn. Was this the result of Ray French leaving his house without his usual summer attire we wondered? Gone, as with the Summer, was the ‘Robin Hood’ comedy outfit of peaked cap with matching green ‘budgie smuggler’ shorts, tanned bandy legs and Green Flash pumps and in its place was what can only be described as fashion's, "Derelicte!"

The draw for boat partners was undertaken over breakfast at the Dun Cow, Dunchurch and the 'Dream Team' pairing of Mark Reo-Cocker, fresh from recently qualifying for England, with the rather less than fresh, Ray 'Bag Up' Burt. Bob Shaw despairingly and rather resignedly, sighed, "Not Again!", on drawing Frenchy. The Big Un drew Martin and the inexperienced pair of Watsy and Graham were left to discover what Draycote was all about!

Conditions were very bright and extremely windy and the weather was described as atrocious by some and only lumpy by others! I suppose these descriptions depended on whether you had a Lidl store in your village or one termed, Li-dell!

Some headed for the relative shelter of Rainbow Corner but the 'hardy' few journeyed to the far shore to brave the elements. The 'Testosterone Fuelled' boat of the Dream Pair was last seen thrashing away at D buoy. Unfortunately, for all, the fish were not in an obliging mood and at lunch there were some 3's, also 2's and 1's and the odd blank. Bob Shaw, recently retired to Merseyside, now deemed an 'Honorary Scouser', and in his much maligned accent stated that, "Eh, Eh, it’s rough out there, innit, like you know!" The Dishonourable Scouser, as usual, acted as translator!

The ladies were practicing for their English National and in discussion with a frustrated TWFFS member over trout following and not taking, one lady commented rather knowingly, even condescendingly, that if the fish are not taking then you should use a smaller blob or booby. Said member politely replied that he couldn't tie his booby's and blobs in size 16!

Conditions eased late in the afternoon and towards close at 5, the fish started taking more confidently and then aggressively. This was reflected at the weigh-in where there were 'familiar' tales of missed arm wrenching takes, whirlpool swirls, solid pulls and lost at the net fish. The result was a tight affair with two anglers each catching 7 fish. The Big Un and Bag Up were looking nervous at the end but The Scotsman had the larger bag, by incredibly, some 5lb! Martin and Bob both, credibly, had 6 each, Robin Hood was 5th with 4, our England Qualifier had 3, Watsy managed a solitary 3 pounder and the 'Odd Blank' blanked! The 'Mano et Mano' war was surprisingly won by Bag Up Burt and from a car leaving the car park, all that could be heard was, "I'm on my way from misery to happiness today, aha, aha!!!"

Congratulations to Russell and also to all that turned out, for what was for some, a rather frustrating fishing experience. I certainly had an enjoyable day, in good company and look forward to the next social outing. This was a points day and these will be updated soon.

Results below:

• 1 Russell Bell 7 fish 201b 6oz
• 2 Ray Burt 7 fish 15lb 8oz
• 3 Bob Shaw 6 fish 13lb 4oz
• 4 Martin Gray 6 fish 9lb 3oz
• 5 Ray French 4 fish 9lb
• 6 Mark Tremain-Cocker 3 fish 6lb 9oz
• 7 Ian Watts 1 fish 3lb 1oz
• 8 Graham Morgan Plum 0 fish

Biggest Fish: Russell Bell 3lb 8oz

BBFC Annual Invitational Floating Line Competition

Following a week of extremely hot and unseasonally humid weather, and temperatures projected to reach 30 degrees, plus a practice day when more blanks were recorded than during manoeuvres on an army shooting range, prospects for a productive day on floating lines were extremely limited

However the carefully selected TWFFS team was full of optimism when we met for a briefing from Russell and Mick who had spent many hours in the glaring sun the day before. Unfortunately, the only information we were able to impart was on the best method not to catch fish and the locations where the fish definitely weren't!

Unperturbed, after a solid breakfast and a confident stride to the boats, we went out determined to grind out a result. By lunchtime it became apparent that a couple of fish each would put us in a good position, so having reviewed tactics and confused ourselves completely, we headed back out into the glare to swelter for another few hours

But grind it out is exactly what the team did, coming in a very creditable 4th out of 18 teams, many of whom were led by highly experienced and competent anglers. During the extended dinner and presentations afterwards, while TWFFS narrowly missed out on the podium prizes, Scott managed to win the prize for biggest fish at 2lbs 13oz, and we managed to haul much more than our fair share of raffle prizes, including a travel rod won by Keith Lawrence

The final results were as follows:

• 1 Grand Max 11 fish 19lb 5oz
• 2 Fish Hawks 11 fish 17lb 14oz
• 3 Meridian 9 fish 14lb 8oz
• 4 TWFFS 7 fish 11lb 12oz

Individual results were as follows:

• Keith Lawrence 1 fish 1lb 6oz
• Simon Newman 2 fish 2lb 15oz
• Scott Benton 1 fish 2lb 13oz
• Ron Lewis 1 fish 1lb 10oz
• Mick Priest 2 fish 3lb 0oz
• Russell Bell 0 fish 0lb 0oz

With several members heading for the Anglian Water Southern Final at Grafham, numbers were a little light for this event. In addition, the risk of fishing with the chairman was bit too much for Gary Collins, who decided to take to the bank at Ferry Point in the morning, and Richard Denney, who decided to "potter about" on his own for part of the day

In the end seven members had a good breakfast in the Outdoor Centre before venturing out, with Dave Crouch getting close to a blanket ban for turning up unannounced, despite his protests that he’d updated the website weeks ago. While some tried to find fish at Hook House and Ferry Point in the morning with a number of fish taking and then lost, it became pretty obvious that most success was being enjoyed by the dam from Canoe Club down past the towers, with a number of fish being taken ever closer to the dam itself

Those who started at the dam early got a good head start, and while others caught up to some extent by lunchtime, the usual switch off came on in the afternoon and catches dried up. Attempts to weedle out fish in Hook Straight and from Ferry Point to Chingley later in the afternoon also proved pretty fruitless, so the final results (most were fishing catch and release) were as follows:

• 1 Ray Burt 12 fish
• 2 Nick Cox 10 fish
• 3 Dave Crouch 8 fish
• 4 Martyn Gray 6 fish
• 5 Graham Morgan Plumb 6 fish
• 6 Russell Bell 5 fish
• 7 Mick Priest 3 fish

Just for info, the reservoir was very busy all day, with rowers, sailors and any method anglers out in force, but mostly not causing too many problems. In the afternoon the banks filled with walkers, cyclists and sun bathers and I’m told that both the Boathouse Restaurant and the Outdoor Centre café were very busy

The pedalos and rowing boats came out after lunch, but were restricted to a cordoned section around Canoe Club, so while a small area was inaccessible, most members agreed that there was still plenty of room to fish

Thirteen members fished this trophy event. As usual in our boat competitions, every attempt was made to pair less experienced anglers with our more capable members and it is hoped that this improves the catches and enjoyment of all participants

The weather was mild with moderate south-westerly breezes and from sunny spells in the morning the cloud cover reaching 100 per cent by afternoon we had near perfect conditions. The water level was high for this time of year at Bewl (around 90 per cent) and in most places was very clear

The majority of boats spent the day in the main bowl of the reservoir and most fish were taken on the Chingley Wood side of the tower and within 150 yards of the dam, although fish were also taken much further back. The most successful methods centred on fishing the top few feet of water with slow intermediate or floating lines. Successful flies included Diawl Bach, small Blobs and Boobies – all fished slowly

A total of 73 fish were weighed in. The average weight was 1lb 15oz with a number of fish topping the 3lb mark. The rod average for the day was a good 5.6 and all participants had fish to weigh in

The Corrib Cup is a Championship event and is one of the events designated for additional Championship points. The first six places gained points and the result was:

• 1 Ray Burt 8 fish 18lb 11oz
• 2 Peter Thomason 8 fish 15lb 5oz
• 3 John Hancock 8 fish 15lb
• 4 Mick Priest 8 fish 14lb 6oz
• 5 Richard Denney Snr 7 fish 13lb 0oz
• 6 Martyn Gray 7 fish 12lb 4oz

The Championship points will be added to existing scores and the Championship table will be updated but this result now places Ray Burt and Ian Watts as joint leaders with 26 points each

Ray Burt is now the holder of the Corrib Cup for 2016

A very enjoyable day's fishing was followed by our usual thirst-quenching at The Chequers in Lamberhurst

This was a busy day at Bewl as a number of members used the opportunity to have a practice day before the Anglian qualifier on the Sunday either with the Society or in their respective teams

Most of the 15 members present enjoyed a good breakfast at the Visitors’ Centre before pairing up and receiving a jetty-side match briefing from Russell, standing in for Keith Lawrence as organiser

In the morning session, those who found the fish around Canoe Club, Bewl Straight and down to Rosemary Lane did very well indeed, and those who didn't, didn't! Methods varied, but blobs and nymphs on fast and slow glass lines prevailed

Lunch was taken at the Boat House as the wind picked up making early afternoon conditions a bit more tricky, but members gave generously in the raffle, with Ian Watts being typically argumentative over the selected prizes!

Some members were able to catch up with the early leaders in the afternoon as the weather settled, mainly on stockies under 2lbs each, and the final top 6 point winning results were as follows:

Best bags (and points!!)

• 1 Ray French 8 fish 15lbs 4oz
• 2 Ian Watts 8 fish 14lb 6oz
• 3 Gary Collins 8 fish 13lb 14oz
• 4 Bob Shaw 8 fish 13lb 6oz
• 5 James Dench 8 fish 13lb 0oz
• 6 John Hancock 6 fish 11lb 2oz

Biggest fish: Ray Burt at 2lbs 7oz

Weekend Outing to Blagdon and Chew

I'm afraid that I've left my report for the TWFFS website a little late, and with the intervention of a Guinness addled trip to the Corrib in between, my memory is failing a bit so I've checked with participants on the results for the weekend before publishing

Five TWFFS members and one distinguished guest (Ralph Painter) travelled to Somerset to enjoy the spring scenery and hopefully some spectacular early season nymph fishing on two of the west country's more famous lakes

As it turned out, the cold winds we'd been experiencing continued, leading to some blustery conditions which didn't lend themselves to too much twiddling, but Ralph showed us how things should be done on Blagdon on our first day with 4 fish in the morning and another two in the afternoon. Things slowed up considerably in the late afternoon, so we were very happy to retire to the Blue Bowl for some excellent Butcombe Bitter and supper which enabled us to re-group and re-energise for the next day

Conditions didn't change much on Chew, and as we'd been warned, the fishing was tough and conditions worsened with continuing easterly winds which kept us rocking for most of the day. Both Bob and Jeff did well to recover some form with good catches in the circumstances but at the expense of the use of some less imitative patterns!!

In all a very enjoyable trip however, to be repeated next year. The final results were as follows:

Blagdon

• Ralph 6 fish
• Ray 2 fish
• Jeff 2 fish
• Bob 0 fish
• Graham 1 fish
• Russell 4 fish

Chew

• Ralph 1 fish
• Ray 2 fish
• Jeff 4 fish
• Bob 3 fish
• Graham 1 fish
• Russell 1 fish

Nine members fished this early spring event. The weather proved mild with a slightly blustery wind. The water at this friendly fishery was gin clear and the trout in fine fettle. This was the first event where championship points were awarded. (With the exception of those events designated for higher points, championship points are awarded to the first five places: 12 points, 8 points, 6 points, 4 points and 2 points)

The two main lakes at the fishery both fished well and by lunchtime everyone had caught fish, mostly on buzzers using floating lines and very slow retrieves. All the fish were in excellent condition and fought hard. The afternoon session continued to provide good fishing and the event was fished to a three fish limit with all subsequent fish released and adding 2lb to the total weight of the first three fish

The results were (Including released fish):

• 1 Micky Heasman 3 fish 6lb 3oz plus 14 - Total 34lb 3oz
• 2 Keith Nicholson 3 fish 6lb 7oz plus 8 - Total 22lb 7oz
• 3 Peter Thomason 3 fish 5lb 8oz plus 7 - Total 19lb 8oz
• 4 Russell Bell 3 fish 5lb 14oz plus 6 - Total 17lb 14oz
• 5 Ian Watts 3 fish 5lb 9½oz plus 4 - Total 13lb 9.5oz
• 6 Alan Dean 3 fish 5lb 9oz plus 4 - Total 13lb 9oz
• 7 Graham Morgan-Plumb 3 fish 5lb 7oz plus 3 - Total 11lb 7oz
• 8 Chris Ball 3 fish weighing 4lb 8.5oz plus 2 - Total 8lb 8.5oz
• 9 Mark Tremain-Coker 3 fish 5lb 11oz plus 1 - Total 7lb 11oz

The best fish of the day fell to Keith Nicholson and was one of the eight fish he released. Its estimated weight was in the region of 8lb!

An enjoyable and successful day's fishing was concluded by a variety of excellent beers in the Queen's Head where majestic Thames spritsail barges are moored on the quayside

This mid-week event was originally intended to be held at Elinor fishery in Northamptonshire but due to recent widespread flooding, the owners had kindly and honestly advised us that the fishing had been adversely affected. Not wanting us to experience anything less than the usual high quality offered at this very pleasant venue, the owner suggested we move the fixture to another fishery so after a quick consultation with members who had registered for the event, we decided to fish the banks at Bewl Water where the new season had opened only two days previously

Five members fished and from the experience of the previous two days, commenced from the Dunsters Bay area, two going via the nature reserve to Monty’s Seat and then along to the Gorse Bushes, one going to Dunsters and the Gorse Bushes and two going towards Tinkers Marsh. Keeping in touch by mobile phone, we were aware the fishing had slowed from the relatively easy rate of opening day but by careful and consistent effort, good catches were achieved in the rather windy and overcast conditions

The results for the day were:

• John Hancock 8 fish
• Martin Gray 7 fish
• Graham Morgan-Plumb 6 fish
• Ray Burt 6 fish
• Peter Thomason 6 fish

All the fish were in good condition and many nearing the 3lb level. Altogether a very enjoyable day which was concluded with a very enjoyable beer in The Chequers in Lamberhurst

We shall look forward to fishing Elinor when next on our fixture list