Latest news from Albury, Surrey

Updated September 16th

Weston main lake is now open for fishing and we will start to drain Belmont lake at Vale End in the coming days. We still have plenty of spaces left on the Grayling fishing trip on the River Itchen and the talk with Peter Cockwill. If your interested please see details by scrolling down. Also Winter Season Rods are available to buy online. A winters season rod offers fishing from October 1st 2019 until the end of March 2020. These months often offer some of the best fishing of the year.

The new fishing lodge at Weston is really coming on nicely with hopes that we will be up and running for the start of next season.

Despite some welcome cooler weather the fishing is still fairly challenging but hopefully in the next month or so we should be back to normal and the fishing pick up. Last week produced 118 fish with fish taken on a range of flies from big bright lures to the smallest of nymphs. The fishery continues to produce some nice big fish in the 8lb to 10lb bracket (see pics below). The key to success at the moment is regular fly changes. Changing size, colour and speed of retrieve of your fly is important as is moving around the fishery as opposed to staying in one spot for the whole day.

We have started to put together some Albury Fishing Club Events which anyone is welcome to attend. To book a place order on line or email [email protected]

Grayling Fishing on the Lower Itchen October 17th 2019. Book a place now.

An Evening with Peter Cockwill at The Drummond Pub November 13th (not 3rd) 2019

Also other news is that if you have been fishing recently you may have met our new member of the fishery team, Steve Moon (pic below) who started a couple of weeks ago. Steve has a wealth of fishery knowledge and is a mad keen fly fisherman.

A stunning brown trout weighing 8lb 12oz taken from Powdermills by Neil Eyles (see pic below).

Please note that the police and environment agency will be carrying out regular patrols of the fishery so please ensure you have a valid rod license and all fish caught are declared and paid for. The picture below is of a recent patrol.

ATTENTION ALL ANGLERS. We have recently caught and banned some anglers abusing our system and practicing catch and release which is NOT permitted on any day ticket Albury water. We now have a number of voluntary bailiff’s who will be on the look out.

We now have for sale through the website ‘Starter Fishing Outfits’ for £69.99. Included is a 9ft 5\6 weight rod, reel loaded with a floating line, tapered leader, flies and safety glasses.

In the absence of Albury Game Angling shop we will now be selling Fulling Mill flies, spools of leader and tapered leaders. These will be available from the bailiff. We will look to expand our range over a period of time.

Latest news from Syon Park, London

Updated September 16th

Day Member entry 08:30. Last entry is 18:00. Fishing permitted until Dusk . No Catch and Release Permitted.

Cash will not be accepted on the bank for Day/Season Memberships or for Fish Tokens. They can all be purchased online or on the bank using a Credit or Debit Card

If you are a first time visitor please call the bailiff on 07956 378138 the day before to get the gate entry code. Just start fishing, we will issue your membership/entry card and tickets on the bank.   Please note that the gate entry code changes often, get used to using your card to gain entry or you won’t be able to get in!

Syon Park Fishery Is Open!

Opening weekend is now over and with nearly 100 fish caught over the past three days lets have a look at what’s been catching. No doubt you will have seen from our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook feeds that Blue Flash Damsels have accounted for some of the bigger fish this weekend. Fished at 2-3ft and with a steady fast retrieve. Lots of big fish have been seen swimming around the bridge but the biggest ones caught this weekend were further up the lake near the newly reestablished island.

The funny thing with lures is that they tend to turn other fish off feeding. Zipping a big fly through a pod of fish can usually guarantee a chase from a few fish, routinely catching one early on. The rest of the fish seem to get the idea that the big mass of feathers heading towards the bank is probably best avoided. Catching much more consistently and accounting for larger numbers of fish this weekend, the humble buzzer.

Any angler new to fly fishing will look at you with a very puzzled expression when shown the thinly wrapped coloured hook. However they are one of the most deadly flies. Fished between 1 and 3 ft on a 9-12ft leader the buzzer imitates natural food in the lake perfectly. Black and red are the best performing colours with garish pinks and oranges also tempting many fish. A very slow retrieve often results in arm wrenching takes. It’s worth keeping an eye on the end of your fly line though as small takes can often be seen in the slight movement of the line away from the angler.

Trout Masters Competition – September

This fantastic 9lb 12oz rainbow was caught by syndicate member David Cheng. Currently top of our Trout Masters leaderboard, this fish was taken on a blue flash damsel.

Daniel Ondu had a great bag of 6 fish on opening day. The biggest was this 9lber caught on a size 12 Montana.

Why was Syon Park Fishery Closed?

Syon Park Fishery usually gets drained once every two years. It gives us a chance to evaluate our fish stocks, make a huge dent in the fish louse population, and complete bank maintenance.

Why was the fishery closed for so long?

The lake hasn’t had a substantial drain down since 2012 when the Wyatt Bridge was restored. Our main aim this year was to restore the island that had disappeared under the surface of the lake. We received funding from the Environment Agency which allowed us to hire a digger and purchase materials to rebuild the island and create wetland hemispheres at various points around the lake.

The funding was provided  by the Fishery Improvement Fund. Money could only go towards habitat and environmental improvements. We reclaimed some of the deeper areas of the lake, created areas to plant a larger variety of plant species, and most importantly rebuilt the island with the addition of an outer ring for submerged vegetation.

All of this work was completed within a relatively short time frame. The increased drain down gave us time to really dry out the lice habitat and also spray and remove a lot of reed growth. It has however gone on slightly longer than we envisaged. The river that feeds the lake runs through an ornamental pond at West Middlesex Hospital. This pond has a maximum depth of six feet. Five and a half of those feet were full of silt with only a small head of water flowing over it. This water warmed up much quicker due to the depth of silt. The hospital works over ran slightly when the original estimate of 100 tonnes of silt was increased to 500 tonnes.

Where can I find more information about the drain down and fishing at Syon Park?

Our Facebook page is a great place to see videos and pictures about the drain down. We will also be added a drain down page to the Syon page on the website. Updates in the future are going to be taking a slightly different approach. There will be a normal weekly update on this page. There will also be a more detailed video on the Syon Park Fishery Facebook page. This will include pictures and videos from the week before and some information about the week ahead. Make sure you give us a like to keep to to date with all the goings on at Syon.

We’ve uploaded videos of Syon Park from the Sky! You can really appreciate the seclusion provided by Capability Browns tree line when you fly over the top and see the city sprawl around us. See Lakes From Above Page.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter @SyonParkFishery