Latest news from Albury, Surrey

Updated January 14th

Happy New Year to everyone. Last week was another good week 173 fish caught. Weston was the top performer with 82, Vale End with 65 and Powdermills 26. Best bags last week: 12 fish for Phil Gayford, 10 fish for Phil Gayford, 8 fish for Dave Bryant and 4 fish for Paul Sheppard. The mild weather has seen fish moving to small buzzer hatches during the day so small buzzers and diawl bachs have been effective as well as damsel patterns, montanas and cats whiskers.

We have added three new Teach In days for 2020. They include 3 hours tuition with Peter Cockwill, tackle hire if needed and a 1 fish ticket. The cost is £48 per person and the dates are 21st March, 25th April and 23rd May. Please click on the Teach In Day icon in the drop down menu to book or contact me by email at [email protected]

Some really nice big browns stocked last week.

Want to introduce a friend to the beauty of Fly Fishing?  Well now you can bring a buddy with you for a day’s free fly fishing.

During January and February 2020 bring any non-member for free and share Fish Tokens.

How does this work? Any day or season member can bring any non-member to fish and there is no Day Membership fee for the guest. And for the day you can both share Fish Tokens plus your guest becomes a member of Albury Estate Fisheries with their very own gate key card.

Small Print:

• Valid during January and February 2020.
• Existing members may bring a friend to fish at no additional cost. On the day your guest fishes for free and you can share Fish Tokens.
• Your guest becomes a member of Albury Estate Fisheries. If your Guest returns they will need to purchase Access and Tokens in their own name.
• You can bring as many guests as you like, limited to one guest per day.
• Any guest may only visit once for free.
• Any Fish Tokens you purchase remain in your name.
• All transactions handled on the bank.

All lakes fishing really well and the largest fish in recent weeks was a 10lb 8oz rainbow for Richard Williams fishing at Vale End (see pic below).

Best looking bag of fish was to John Stephens who caught 3 brown trout and a spartic from Powdermills (see pic below).

Largest fish taken recently for young Michael at 12lb’s taken from Vale End (see pic below).

Simon Chamberlain with a superb 6lb 8oz brown trout from Powdermills.

The colder mornings have meant that the fish have been sitting slightly deeper first thing but any rise in temperatures will see the fish move up and start feeding in the first couple of feet of water. The fish certainly appear locked onto larger lures at the moment with damsel and fritz patterns doing well. Its always worth carrying different styles of damsel patterns with you not just the gold head blue flash damsel version. Try orange and green bead damsel patterns which act as a hotspot for the fish to lock onto. With any rise in temperature during the day will normally be met by some form of buzzer hatch so make sure you have a few in your box.

The fishing lodge is coming on nicely and it is hoped we should be open for the start of next season.

On the 17th October we ran an away day fishing to the Lower Itchen Fishery in search of grayling. The event was really well attended with just over 20 people with a mixture of river experience. Some had never fished a river before and some had more experience but I am pleased to say that nearly everyone managed to catch a fish in fairly challenging conditions after heavy rain the days before we fished. Below are a couple of pics from the day.

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 January 15th

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!

Want to introduce a friend to the beauty of Fly Fishing?  Well now you can bring a buddy with you for a day’s free fly fishing.

During January and February 2020 bring any non-member for free and share Fish Tokens.

How does this work? Any day or season member can bring any non-member to fish and there is no Day Membership fee for the guest. And for the day you can both share Fish Tokens plus your guest becomes a member of Albury Estate Fisheries with their very own gate key card.

Small Print:

• Valid during January and February 2020.
• Existing members may bring a friend to fish at no additional cost. On the day your guest fishes for free and you can share Fish Tokens.
• Your guest becomes a member of Albury Estate Fisheries. If your Guest returns they will need to purchase Access and Tokens in their own name.
• You can bring as many guests as you like, limited to one guest per day.
• Any guest may only visit once for free.
• Any Fish Tokens you purchase remain in your name.
• All transactions handled on the bank
  

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Blue Flash Damsels, Cat’s Whiskers, and Cormorants have fished well this week. Epoxy minnow patterns have also taken fish in the deeper area of the lake, an intermediate line to reach the 6ft mid water depth whilst maintaining a fast retrieve has been taking many fish especially around the island.

A floating line with a 9-12ft leader is perfect for the shallow end of the lake; anywhere from the sheep dip outlet to the bridge. The past three weeks of unseasonable weather has seen some good hatches of midges, especially on brighter still days. Blue flash damsels have worked well in this area as have buzzers fished static under a bung.

What happened during drain down?

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.

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