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Each month the Albury Estate Fisheries produces a Fishing Report on the news and events for the Albury and Syon fisheries.
Past Fishing Reports: December 2012
Past Fishing Reports: November 2012
Past Fishing Reports: October 2012
Past Fishing Reports: September 2012
Past Fishing Reports: July 2012
Past Fishing Reports: June 2012
Past Fishing Reports: May 2012
Past Fishing Reports: April 2012
Past Fishing Reports: March 2012
December 2012
How has it been Fishing?
Reporting fisheries action for the past five weeks notes a very productive spell of fishing, with, unsurprisingly, some ice interruption to contend with during December. Bank attendance has been fairly quiet, as is always the way in the approach to Christmas, with a completely mixed bag of weather for anglers to contend with.
So with light fishing pressure on the water, and plenty of stock in, anglers have been doing very well on the whole, with a number of bags taken of between four and six fish.
A number of quite large fish were also taken during the period, with the best at 11lb 8oz to Stephen Swan of Caterham.
The mildness of November held water temperatures right up, and fish were still moving quite close to the surface right up to the end of the month, small patterns on floating lines still taking most fish on catch returns, such as buzzers and Diawl Bach. Cold weather eventually arrived, sending the fish deeper, and beginning to give us some degree of icing on the lakes.
Temperatures dipped down as low as -8c, and in so doing, called a halt to all fishing apart from two lakes, where anglers continued to catch well in the cold weather – Wood Lodge Pool at Weston and Mill Lake at Vale End – thanks to a really good throughput of water.
One blessing from incessant rainfall – springs are kept flowing freely, and, a warming effect helps keep the ice at bay.
Excavation and bank reshaping work continued at Powdermills Lake, where the central channel was relieved of several year’s silt accumulation, the product tucked into the bank perimeter.
The lake has just reopened for fishing, just in time for the Christmas period, but anglers are advised to be well aware of very muddy banks, with some areas, roped/fenced off containing deep mud. Please proceed here with great caution !!
Drainage and refurbishing maintenance works have now switched attention to Park Lake on the Syndicate.
River keeping improvements have been in operation on Office Beat, alongside Weston Fishery’s lowest lake, Millhouse. This beat fully returns to the day ticket domain in 2013, with some very nice pools and glides already holding fish.
Upgrades to many of the Park Syndicate beats are also taking place, with bank strengthening improving angler access on favoured pools. The work involves reducing the stream width, resulting in a slightly faster river, giving it the ability to then carry away silt in suspension. In this way, the river cuts down to natural gravels, weed-growth is not impinged upon by suffocating silt, and trout habitat improves considerably. More fish to spot and catch …. try it out next summer….there is excellent river fishing to be had for all day anglers at each day ticket water, with the very best sport operating at the Park Syndicate. For details of this private and exclusive water, please email Tony.
All river fishing restarts on 1st April 2013.
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel – Minkie
Montana Nymph – Cats Whisker
Goldhead Daddy-long-legs – Bloodworm
Wood Lodge Pool, Weston on 4th Dec.
Of the best bags:
Vale End: 8 fish for Graham Lee, 7 fish for Darren Baxter, 6 fish for Darren Baxter, Phil Hunter and Paul Sheppard; 4 fish for Clive Onley, Bruce Coull, John Heenan, C Platt, Mike Byrne, Paul Shephard, David Naisby and Roger Martin.
Weston: 6 fish for Stephen Swan and John Tobin; 5 fish for Kluwa Leszek; 4 fish for S Longhurst , Kluwa Leszek, D Knight, Mike Byrne, Mike Tims, Fred Furey, Adrian Dooley and Jonathan Dooley.
With Powdermills closed and Park Lake draining down, fishery catch totals for the 5 week period to 17th December were:
Vale End Fishery – 201 and Weston Fishery – 243
Download Albury Estate Fishing Report December 2012 (pdf) AEF Report – 17 12 12
November 2012
How has it been Fishing?
Water temperatures continued to fall slowly during October and early November, with some great fishing to be had still very close to the surface.
Rainbows are still patrolling within the first metre of water, the weather helpfully stayed mostly mild and changeable throughout the period, and this pattern is set to stay with us until winter arrives.
Our anglers have been working on small pods of fish at the most productive venues – Weston and Vale End – and often changing flies every few casts brings far greater success than leaving the same one on all day. Don’t just satisfy yourself by using a BFD!
A quick retrieve from time to time sees the hairier Fritzy patterns now working again, particularly Cats Whiskers and large BFDs, whilst in quieter fishing, a static buzzer , carefully twitched hopper or even a Daddy brings the fish round to your way of thinking.
There were some very nicely proportioned larger rainbows taken during the 5 week spell, best at 11lb 4oz to Bruce Coull. Infact, season rods accounted for all this month’s picture fish. So, if you haven’t already, Go on, treat yourself!
The season of lake drainage is now upon us, as we freshen up the lake fisheries in readiness for the spring campaign.
Powdermills was dropped on 15th October, and will hopefully be back in action by the end of November. The lake floor is being scraped of silt, with the lake perimeter being reshaped to accommodate any extra material this produces.
Park Lake will follow in this process.
Meanwhile on the river sections, upgrades are taking place on bank areas along the beats through the Park, and also on the day waters.
This involves strengthening with willow structures before backfilling with reed plants, a much stronger bank resulting by the time the river reopens on 1st April.
Free casting lessons took place over the last 3 days of October at ‘Flyfish 12’ at Vale End.
44 new anglers were instructed, with a catch rate of 50% producing some really great smiley faces for first time fishers.
The next free session will be held at Easter Time, again at Vale End Fishery, over 10-12 April 2013.
This is the largest fish from Vale End for a year or two | 
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Vale End to a Cats Whisker (7th November) | 
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Of the best bags:
Powdermills: 4 fish for Mike Lawson;
Vale End: 6 fish for Darren Baxter, 5 fish for Mark Diakiewicz, 4 fish for Chris Stockbridge, Tim Aikens, David Wright, John Luxon and Laurence Flood.
Weston: 5 fish for Peter Cheeseman, Stuart Ashwood; 4 fish for Dan Hemmings, P Jewitt, Brian McGregor, Graham Lee, Artur Lukaszcwicz, Stephen Lay, Richard Evans, John Stephens, Jill Simmonds and Michael Tims.
Fishery Catch totals for the 5 week period to 11th November:
| Park Fishery Rainbows | 29 | |
| Powdermills Lake prior to drainage | 6 | |
| Vale End Fishery | 270 | |
| Weston Fishery | 292 |
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs
| 11 lb 4oz | Bruce Coull | Minkie | Vale End | ||||
| 10lb 4oz | David Brown | Montana | Weston | ||||
| 10lb 4oz | Peter Wadham | CW | Vale End | ||||
| 9lb 4oz | John Stone | GHHE | Weston | ||||
| 9lb 0oz | Peter Highley | Black BFD | Weston |
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel PTN
Montana Nymph Cats Whisker
Buzzer Diawl Bach
Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear Dry Sedge
Daddy-long-legs Hoppers
Instruction
Lessons are always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique.
Prospects for November
Really good! Water is currently ideal for autumn rainbow fishing. When ice is forecast, Mill Lake at Vale End usually stays open down to -6C.
Expect Powdermills to be back in action end of the month.
October 2012
How has it been Fishing?
Fishing during September continued to be very productive, as it has been throughout the summer. Temperate rather than warm/hot conditions saw fish moving and feeding happily through the day, with our anglers taking fish at regular intervals.
Following the very wet summer, the ample river and spring-flow we now enjoy shows a marked contrast to the near drought status we were enduring at the end of March, with resultant excellent late-summer fishery condition at most venues.
Powdermills has been an exception, being plagued with an algal bloom for the past 5-6 weeks, but elsewhere, lake clarities have been generally very good, and anglers often able to stalk their quarry, with fish mostly patrolling just under the surface.
This quality has been enhanced particularly at Weston fishery, where we have had virtually ‘aquarium’ clarity for the past 2-3 months.
Clear water usually comes at a cost though – and the weed-cutting boat has been working flat out all summer, moving from lake to lake.
We have seen fish shoaling at times at most venues, seemingly normal behaviour at the backend of summer, but some very nice fish have been plucked out on the edge by a careful cast, often to a dry fly.
Mostly small flies have been working best on the lakes, as fish gorged on a rich buzzer diet, supplemented by damsels and sedges, and the past few weeks have seen some great dry fly sport to daddies and Hoppers too.
With water cooling off now, flies with more of a lure bias are beginning to catch regularly again.
River beats have performed well on the day waters, the Powdermills stream being especially productive for some, a selection of small nymphs and dries working well on quite free rising fish.
Park Fishery, run as a syndicate, saw some challenging fishing through the middle part of the summer, but those thinking one step ahead and fishing the entire beat system were getting good bags of brownies, especially during September.
Fishery Catch totals for the 5 week period to 7th October:
| Park Fishery Rainbows | 192 | |
| Park Fishery Browns | 80 | |
| Powdermills Lake | 4 | |
| Powdermills River | 41 | |
| Vale End Fishery | 297 | |
| Weston Fishery | 268 |
Of the best bags:
Powdermills River : 4 fish and 3 fish for Paul Walker;
Vale End: 6 fish for David Brooke; 5 fish for Darren Baxter, Norman Gregory, Mick Hook, David Nutbeam; 4 fish for Mark Dyakiewicz, Adam Stratton, Roger Martin, Robin Haynes, J Degahaye, Darren Baxter, Mick Hook and David Weinand.
Weston: 5 fish for Jon Moxon; 4 fish for G Shepherd, G Kelly, G Dye and D Ingram.
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs
| 10lb 8oz | David Weinand | DamselNymph | VE | ||||
| 9lb 0oz | Simon Furber | BFD | VE | ||||
| 8lb 4oz | Andy Christopher | BFD | W | ||||
| 7lb 0oz | Andrew Foulds | Sunken Daddy | AP | ||||
| 7lb 0oz | Alan Avis | Cats Whisker | AP |
Key: AP = Albury Park, PM = Powdermills, W = Weston, VE = Vale End,
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
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Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel PTN
Montana Nymph small Cats Whisker
Buzzer Diawl Bach
Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear Dry Sedge
Daddy-long-legs Hoppers
Instruction
Lessons are always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique.
Meanwhile, for the last 3 days of October, Mon 29th – Wed 31st, Tony Hern is running a ‘Flyfish 12’ session at Vale End Fishery, where anglers can learn or improve their casting technique. Lessons are free and last for 30 minutes, with special one-fish tickets available for first timers.
Prospects for October
As water continues to cool down, sport quality increases to a peak during this month; expect BFDs and Cats Whiskers to dominate catch returns. On bright breezy days, hoppers and daddies will offer some excellent surface action, whilst with warmth and cloud, GRHE is your best friend.
We shall soon be starting our regular winter lake drainage programme, so please refer to website updates for the latest news on this.
When ice is forecast, Mill Lake at Vale End usually stays open down to -6C.
Albury Park Syndicate 2013
For those of you who enjoy throwing a line over river browns, then you may like to consider joining our Park Syndicate Fishery.
Membership gives you exclusive access to our beats on the River Tillingbourne (brown trout stocking), and also the private Park Lake (rainbows), together with access to the entire day ticket system at Albury.
Further details from Tony.
Download October 2012 – Albury Estate Fishing report (pdf) AEF Report – 09 10 12
September 2012
How has it been Fishing?
The cool and unsettled nature of the first half of the summer continued pretty much through July and August, guaranteeing some really excellent fishing during the period. Air temperatures rarely exceeded 22c.
Water temperatures have stayed predominantly low, and fish have been feeding right through the day, with anglers using chiefly nymphs to catch on a regular basis.
A brief spell of heat to 32c in the middle of August triggered off algal blooms at Park Lake and also Powdermills, but Weston and Vale End saw clear-water fishing throughout, and anglers able to stalk their quarry.
Whilst nymphs have been of most use, a fair number of fish have been taken on dries, especially sedges and hoppers.
River sections, buoyed by the summer rain, have been running at good levels, in good clarity, and offering some fine sport to nymph and dry fly. The river section at Vale End has been particularly productive, and stays open until the end of this month.
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel – PTN – Montana Nymph- Small Cats Whisker – Buzzer – Diawl Bach – Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear – Dry Sedge – Daddy-long-legs – WAEF
Fishery Catch totals for the 8 week period to 9th July – 2nd September:
| Park Fishery Rainbows | 355 | |
| Park Fishery Browns | 174 | |
| Powdermills Lake | 21 | |
| Powdermills River | 80 | |
| Vale End Fishery | 515 | |
| Weston Fishery | 643 |
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs
| 10lb 8oz | Jem Negus | BFD | VE | ||||
| 10lb 5oz | T Stewardson | Orange Buzzer | VE | ||||
| 10lb 0oz | Nigel Hartley | Buzzer | W | ||||
| 9lb 12oz | Andrew Bailey | Foam Daddy | AP | ||||
| 9lb 8oz | Ian Putley | BFD | VE | ||||
| 9lb 8oz | John Mahedy | Small Daddy | VE | ||||
| 9lb 8oz | Geoff Alexander | Egg Fly | W | ||||
| 9lb 8oz | Matthew Queripel | Grey Wulff | W | ||||
| 9lb 6oz | Mike Finn | Bloodworm | AP | ||||
| 9lb 4oz | Brian Prout | Montana | AP | ||||
| 8lb 14oz | David Davis | Green Damsel | W | ||||
| 8lb 12oz | JDP Stevens | Montana | AP | ||||
| 7lb 8oz | DuncanParsonage | HotheadCat | VE | ||||
| 7lb 3oz | Peter Bernhardt | BFD | AP | ||||
| 7lb 0oz | Krystian Krok | Bloodword | VE | ||||
| 8lb 4oz | Alan Brown | BPS | PM Stream | ||||
| 5lb 0oz | Jon Crozier | Dry Sedge | PM Stream |
Key: AP = Albury Park, PM = Powdermills, W = Weston, VE = Vale End,
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
5lb 4oz
Brownie
Montana Wood
Lodge Pool
8lb 14oz
Rainbow
Green Damsel
Weston
8lb 12oz Rainbow
Montana
Park
Of the best bags:
Powdermills River : 4 fish Oliver Cole and Eric Bailey, 3 fish John A Stephens.
Vale End: 10 fish Darren Baxter, 6 fish John Rolph; 5 fish Brian Wain, N Taplin, Amelda Blignaut; 4 fish P Baldwin, A Christopher, Peter Batchelor, Maurice Bryan, David Brookes, Dave Bridger, Darren Baxter, Colin Lacey, Ben Cook, Darren Baxter, Alice Pickering, Fred Howard, Paul Collins and John Mitchell.
Weston: 6 fish Ed Frosztega, Darren Baxter and Ray Baldwin, 5 fish Derek Giles, Dave Dalton and Richard Cobb; 4 fish Ian Tapley, B Dyer Grimes, P Gleeson, Steve Storer, Darren Baxter (twice), Ben Breeze, Jim Layde, Gary Jeal, J Hermon, Richard Walsh, Patrick Honeysett, John Stone, Chris Dodds, P Vizard, John Andrews, Mike Lawson, Peter Henderson, I Rodger and P Skotnik.
Instruction
Lessons are always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique.
Prospects for September
Early September brings some much welcomed settled weather. A rise in water temperature will see the best fishing away from the middle part of the day during bright skies, but accompanying cloud will see fine sport continuing.
Dries should be catching really well, with the Daddy season getting into full swing, plenty of damsel nymphs still around, and also buzzers and sedges complementing the diet, so,plenty going on.
Fully Booked Days
6th October Vale End – Kids for Kids Charity Day.
Download Albury Estate Fishing Report September 2012: (pdf) AEF Report – 03 09 12
July 10th 2012
How has it been Fishing?
The past four weeks have produced some great fishing for the time of year, courtesy of the very unsettled conditions. Day after day of rain has left most people quite depressed, but trout anglers are relishing these conditions – by mid July, our lake fishing has often become too challenging as water temperatures soar into the mid 20’s celcius. Not so this year!
With cloudy skies predominating, fly hatches have been getting airborne at will, and a steady stream of midge, olive, sedge and damsel nymphs coming to the surface has seen the best of the fishing in the first couple of feet of water, nymphs, emergers and dries all combining to produce some excellent sport for the time of year.
Big dry flies have also done really well too – firstly imitating the backend of the mayfly hatch, and latterly, sedges, with daddies too getting out and about now.
Fish are less inclined to chase a lure at this time of year, so best to concentrate on the smaller patterns; besides, you can always fall back on a Cat, or wait til the more furious speed of autumn sport.
Spell upon spell of heavy rain has left the river Tillingbourne prone to colouring up, although as it is only six miles old here, we don’t get the flood condition being suffered by so many lower lying river valleys right now.
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel PTN
Montana Nymph small Cats Whisker
Buzzer Diawl Bach
Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear Dry Sedge
Daddy-long-legs WAEF
Hot Chocolate anybody? 2” rain fell on the afternoon of 22nd June, turning the river a very strange colour, and suspending all river sport for a while! The drought conditions of March have been swiftly followed by 3 very wet months in a row. What on earth was the problem?!
Fishery Catch totals for the period 11th June – 8th July:
Park Lake (rainbows) 213
Park River (browns) 146
Powdermills Lake 78
Powdermills River 35
Vale End 230
Weston 304
Total Albury Estate Fisheries catch 1,006
9lb 8oz rainbow for Mick Hook, one of a six fish bag taken at Vale End on 7th July on Cats Whisker
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs+.
Key: AP = Albury Park, PM = Powdermills, W = Weston, VE = Vale End,
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
10lb 0oz Simon Furber BFD PM
9lb 12oz John Skidmore GRHE PM
9lb 4oz Mick Hook CW VE
9lb 2oz Steve Allum Black BFD VE
8lb 8oz Michael Hopkins Buzzer PM
8lb 4oz Mark Dyakiewicz BFD VE
7lb 10oz Alex Mulligan Buzzer VE
7lb 4oz M Strong Grey Wulff AP
7lb 0oz Mike Negus Dry Sedge AP
7lb 0oz Robert McCauley Buzzer PM
Of the best bags:
Powdermills Lake: 3 fish for Graham Lee, Stephen Swann and Graham Lee.
Powdermills River : 3 fish for Nigel Connell and Derek Snowball.
Vale End: 6 fish Mick Hook; 5 fish for Jonathan Margree and Darren Baxter; 4 fish for Steve Travers, Chris Bell, R Etherington, Charles Kyles, R Holmes, Neil Boosey and Robert Hughes.
Weston: 6 fish for Paul Vizard; 5 fish for Vincent Ashe, Geoff Alexander and Dariusz Andrzejewski; ; 4 fish for Kevin Ashdown, Dave Bridger, M Byrne, A Brooke, Robert Matson, Mairi O’Connell, Theo Tramblinas, Paul Avery, Steve Stephens and Mike Byrne.
Instruction
Lessons always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique.
Prospects for July/August
Whilst it carries on raining and staying generally cool, we can expect really productive fishing, with fish coming steadily to the net throughout the day. Fish feed best with water temperature in the high teens celcius, which is just where it is now, so you should be filling your boots!
Do expect some heat at some stage, perhaps if only for two or three days at a time – then, the best of the sport switches to during morning and evening spells, and anglers can also take full advantage of the reduced priced membership after 5pm – just £7. Expect BFDs and GRHEs to again front the fly choice.
Download Albury Estate Fishing Report July: (pdf) AEF Report – 10 07 12
June 11th 2012
How has it been Fishing?
The weather has been predominantly cool and unsettled except for a ten day spell at the end of May, with temperatures climbing to a very pleasant 28c for a number of days. Perhaps summer came and went in a week?!
We have also had a splendid amount of rain which has really addressed the ‘drought’ situation, the chalk springs in the valley recharging well during May, and some useful river scouring continuing on the river beats, shifting some silt on downstream. It looks to be enough to remove the current hosepipe ban.
The mayfly hatch was delayed along with most other hatches, but finally got going around the middle of the month and peaked around 28th May. Fishing quickly became very productive as the instant summer heat arrived, warming river and lake temperatures, also triggering off a surge in weed growth. Pretty soon it felt like mid-summer, and the best of the fishing was then to be seen away from the middle of the day. Evening rises were spectacular especially on the river venues, and a wide variety of Mayfly patterns together with GRHE were taking most of the fish.
A good proportion of larger fish were also taken, best at 11lbs to Park member Eric Bailey, who also represented Albury at the Troutmasters Final at Grafham Water.
The weed-cutting boat has been working busily for the past three weeks, and is about to start at Park Lake in the next day or two.
At Powdermills, the automatic gate entry is now ‘live’, please ensure your membership card works at the entry point. If not ask for a new one!
Please also remember to sign in and sign out on each fishery you visit, whilst making your fish token returns.
Fishery Catch totals for the period
7th May to 10th June:
Park Lake (rainbows) 377
Park River (browns) 350
Powdermills Lake 131
Powdermills River 48
Vale End 378
Weston 370
Of the best bags:
Powdermills: 5 fish for Chris Poole, 3 fish for Amelda Bignault, Graham Burridge.
Powdermills River : 4 fish for Stuart Parnell, Graham Parnell; 3 fish for 9lbs for Scott Jacobs.
Vale End: 7 fish for William Comery; 4 fish for Paul Vizard, G Jarrett, Mr Franklin, Graham Payne, Clive Couzens, Dick Barnes, Peter Wadham, G Shepherd, Paul Izatt, R Smith, S Storer.
Weston: 6 fish for Sean Flanagan; 4 fish A Stevens, R Baldwin, Chris Leach, Derek Aunger, Chris Poole, S Massie, Marcus Courtney, Bob Barnes, Arran Phillips, M Byrne, Giles Stirling, Alan Coplin, Peter Henderson, Ian Fraser, David Fowler, Stephen Taylor.
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs+.
Key: AP = Albury Park, PM = Powdermills, W = Weston, VE = Vale End,
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
11lb 0oz Eric Bailey BFD AP
10lb 5oz JohnStephens MayflyNymph AP
9lb 12oz G Shepherd BFD VE
9lb 8oz Jason Nicholls PTN W
9lb 8oz Lee Simms GRHE W
8lb 14oz Gary Howes Black BFD W
8lb 14oz Mirek Kirkillo-Stacewicz AP
8lb 10oz Richard Cook PTN AP
8lb 9oz Richard Cobb Green Nymph W
8lb 8oz Roger Judd BFD W
8lb 8oz David Monk Damsel Nymph AP
8lb 4oz Bruce Matthews BFD VE
7lb 8oz Graham Powell BFD PM
7lb 4oz Peter Carroll CW VE
7lb 4oz Brian Taylor Bloodworm AP
7lb 0oz P Davison PTN W
7lb 0oz James Grant PTN PM
7lb 0oz D King GRHE PM
4lb Frederico de Palves used a Black Creeper to deceive this fine 4lb rainbow from Vale End’s river section
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel Montana Nymph
Buzzer Diawl Bach
Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear Dry Sedge
Peter Carroll got off to a flying start with this lovely 7lb 4oz rainbow, his first effort on a brand new season rod purchase.
A Black BlueFlashDamsel did the trick for Gary Howes in taking this nice 8lb 14oz rainbow from Weston
Prospects for June
With the weather staying unsettled for the week ahead, fishing should stay really productive for the time of year, with catches right through the day. When we eventually receive some warm fine weather, expect the best sport of the day to switch to evening sessions, where anglers are already taking advantage of the modestly priced £7 evening membership fee from 5pm.
Damsel Nymph and GRHE should take most of the subsurface fish, with sedges coming to prominence on dry fly and emerger selections.
Instruction
Lessons always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique.
Download June Fishing Report (PDF) Albury Estate Fishing Report – 11 06 12
May 7th 2012
How has it been Fishing?
April turned out to be a cool and happily a very wet month, with a conveyor belt of depressions dumping lots of lovely rain on us, perking up the water supply dramatically. Plenty more is yet needed, but an excellent start in replacing lost groundwater reserves which have become very low after two abnormally dry years.
Whilst the weather had an effect on attendance, the opening month of the traditional trout fishing season saw busy banks at times, and good catches in the cool conditions. There was a fair bit of coloured water around – sandy run off at Weston and plenty of silt on the move in the river, but PowderMills retained an ideal stalking condition all month.
The brown trout season started on 1st April, with Park Fishery also reopening on that date. Low summer level of flow has now seen the river rise impressively to excellent spring condition, although usually running with some degree of colour.
Nymphing has been the best method right across the fisheries, with little fly hatch to speak of. Brief hints of warmth – memorably at the end of the first May Bank Holiday weekend, saw some good hatches of large olives, and on went the emergers.
Otherwise, BlueFlashDamsels, Buzzers and Cats have been accounting for most fish, with Mayfly Nymph especially good in the siltier waters of Vale End.
Fishery Catch totals for the period
3rd April to 6th May:
Park Lake (rainbows) 314
Park River (browns) 181
Powdermills Lake 182
Powdermills River 42
Vale End 279
Weston 240
Of the best bags:
Powdermills: 5 fish for Bob Walsh (buzzers) and Alex Nassuphis; 3 fish for John Rolph, A Gibbs, J Brayne , G Burridge and Alex Nassuphis;
Powdermills River : 4 fish John Moxon;
Vale End: 5 fish for Julian Davies; 4 fish for P Louw, Tom Batchelor, Julian Davies, D Thompson, W Buckley, David March andFrank Bryant.
Weston: 4 fish for Ray White, J Corden, Mr Baldwin, M Barber, M South, D South, G White and Richard Forshaw.
11lb 8oz rainbow for John Hooper
8lb 8oz rainbow for Peter Tatchley
8lb rainbow for Wojciech Minkiewicz
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs+.
Key: AP = Albury Park, PM = Powdermills, W = Weston, VE = Vale End,
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
11lb 8oz John Hooper GH Viva PM
9lb 8oz Mike Finn Buzzer PM
8lb 8oz Peter Tatchley Cats VE
8lb 8oz Jason Nicholls PTN PM
8lb 2oz David March BFD VE
8lb 2oz Don Thompson Buzzer AP
8lb 0oz W Minkiewicz White Lure W
7lb 8oz Chris Nixon GRHE PM
7lb 7oz Brian Prout BFD AP
7lb 4oz Ray Beard DFN PM
7lb 2oz Alan Avis Cats AP
7lb 0oz John Brayne Cats PM
Useful river fish……
6lb 10oz Jon Moxon PM river
6lb 10oz Steve Morgan VE river
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel Montana Nymph Cats Whisker
Bloodworm Diawl Bach Goldhead Hare’s Ear
Prospects for May
May offers the finest fishing of the year, with water temperatures on the rise and the greatest diversity of fly life available, culminating in the magnificent mayfly hatch, which should be starting within the next few days.
Also look out for olives, hawthorn, damsels and plenty of buzzer.
The Windknot
A fresh edition of our popular newsletter, Windknot, should have arrived on your doormat by now.
If not please check our member list and update your records.
Instruction
Lessons always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique. Three days of free lessons at ‘Flyfish 12’ – held at Vale End Fishery, 11-13 April, saw 53 new anglers instructed.
Park Fishery
A few Half Rod vacancies are available on our syndicated water on private lake and river beats. Brownie fishing a speciality. Full Rod offers a guest each day. Full access to the day waters. Please email for a prospectus.
Download May Albury Estate Fishing Report: (pdf) AEF Report – 07 05 12
April 3rd 2012
How has it been Fishing?
March offered some excellent fishing, with some beautiful spring like weather and temperatures steadily climbing to around 23c by the end of the month.
Very nice to be out fishing in wall to wall sunshine, but a continued lack of rain during the month looks like having serious consequences for all flyfishers later in the summer. A hosepipe ban comes into force later this week just for starters. In the bright weather, accompanied by cool nights, often producing a frost by morning, fish stayed deep, with no surface movement reported anywhere. Buzzers were hatching off above 10c but, fish were content to stay at some 3-4ft down and munch on the nymph.
So, buzzers and bloodworm scored well, whilst larger flies such as Montana, Cats Whisker and the ever reliable BlueFlash Damsel caught a large proportion of the trout landed.
As ticket credits always run out at Albury at the end of March, the month became steadily busier on the bank, and by the last day, 70 anglers were fishing!
The month produced 1271 rod caught fish, best at 9lb 7oz to Richard Fox, and a very healthy crop of fish in the 6-9lb range, all in fantastic condition.
The last of the winter lake drainage operations was completed by mid-March as Belmount Lake at Vale End came back on stream.
Fishery Catch totals for the period up to 1st April: Park 121, Powdermills 227, Vale End 380, and Weston 543 .
Of the best bags:
Powdermills: 6 fish bag for Sean Flanagan; 3 fish for Dave Bridger, Bob Walsh and Graham Burridge.
Vale End: 10 fish bag for Adrian Berry; 4 fish for J Skidmore,
Weston: 6 fish for G White, 5 fish for David March, T Beach, Mick Gratrick, Derek Giles (on 3 occasions); 4 fish for Roger Golding, D Anderson, K Brimacombe, S Ashwood, Mr Barnett, Mr Bryne, A Watkins, Mr Burke, Tim Aikens. F Bryant, G Jeal, D South, H Miller, P Easton.J Jenkins and Dariusz Andrzejewski.
David Nutbeam landed this 6lb 12oz rainbow from Weston on 29th March to a Black Buzzer
John Whurr used a Red Buzzer at Powdermills for this 8lb 8oz rainbow on 14th March
Andrew Smith at Weston, caught this 6lb rainbow to a Fritz/Montana Nymph
Top Patterns at Albury
Blue Flash Damsel Montana Nymph
Cats Whisker Bloodworm
Diawl Bach Goldhead Hare’s Ear
Rainbow Captures of 7lbs+.
Key: AP = Albury Park, PM = Powdermills, W = Weston, VE = Vale End,
BFD = BlueFlashDamsel, CW = Cats Whiskers!
9lb 7oz Richard Fox Cats PM
9lb 0oz Angela Ward BFD PM
9lb 0oz David Embleton Cats PM
8lb 12oz Ben Nahum Black BFD VE
8lb 11oz Bill Gaynor Cats BFD PM
8lb 8oz J Duncton Cats PM
8lb 8oz Bill Gaynor Cats PM
8lb 8oz John Whurr Cats PM
8lb 6oz Mick Gratrick Killer Bug VE
8lb 4oz F Weeden White Nomad PM
8lb 1oz Doug Hammond Nomad PM
8lb 0oz Peter Ramsay Orange Ny PM
8lb 0oz Les Mayhew BFD PM
8lb 0oz Peter Ramsay Cats PM
8lb 0oz R Waterstone Cats PM
8lb 0oz G Burridge Girdle Bug PM
8lb Vakis Paraskeva Black Zonker PM
7lb 12oz John Rolph Montana PM
7lb 8oz David Embleton Cats PM
7lb 8oz J Duncton Cats PM
7lb 8oz Graham Burridge BFD PM
7lb 8oz Les Mayhew BFD PM
7lb 7oz W Gaynor Cats W
7lb 4oz Chris Dodds Cats W
7lb 3oz Jason Nicholls Montana PM
7lb 0oz Ian Bushnell Cats PM
7lb 0oz Robert Mitchell Montana PM
7lb 0oz Robert Walsh Damsel Ny. PM
7lb 0oz M Dyakiewicz Cats PM
7lb 0oz Alan Avis BFD PM
7lb 0oz Graham Burridge Cats PM
7lb 0oz Peter Ramsay Orange Ny. PM
Prospects for April
Certainly getting colder for a while, with some northerlies, then expect some showers and generally cloudy mild days with some decent fly-hatch and fish moving a lot closer to the surface than they have been lately. And maybe a shed load of rain, mostly at night time perhaps!
The Windknot
A fresh edition of our popular newsletter, Windknot, should have arrived on your doormat by now.
If not please check our member list and update your records.
Instruction
Lessons always available, please ring for an appointment to learn from scratch, or, improve your technique. We also give three days of free lessons twice a year at ‘Flyfish 12’ – next held at Vale End Fishery, 11-13 April, booking essential.
Park Fishery
A few vacancies on our syndicated water on private lake and river beats. Brownie fishing a speciality. Full Rod offers a guest each day. Full access to the day waters. Please email for a prospectus.
Tickets
DAY TICKET CHARGES UNTIL 31ST MARCH 2013
Day Membership is £13 for new rods and £11 for existing rods.
Evening membership is only £7 from 5.00pm.
Fish Ticket prices are now 2 Fish £20 Or 4 Fish £34
SEASON RODS NOW AVAILABLE
Catch from 10 Fish for £252.50 including annual membership.
Tony Hern FISHERIES MANAGER Mobile 07976 810737Download as PDF Albury Estate Fisheries Report – April 2012
March 2012
The first half of February was dominated by severe frost and a thick layer of ice covering most of the lakes at Albury.
Mill Lake at Vale End stayed ice-free pretty much throughout, but there was little fishing elsewhere until around the 14th -15th of the month.
Mild weather has predominated since, with some excellent fishing and busy banks, the fisheries offering more productive lake sport than during mid-summer. See best bags section! A number of larger fish were also taken, best at 9lb 14oz from Powdermills.
The big freeze, temperatures going down as low as -14°c put a temporary halt to drainage and maintenance work at Vale End (Belmount Lake), but all complete here now, and fishing expected to resume on Belmount this coming weekend.
During the second half of February, good clarity was reduced with the annual early season brown algae – known as diatom – which seems to send the fish deeper. Iintermediate lines faring best, although also lengthen a leader on a floater!
For the first time in three months, an inch of rain fell (4th March), and we hope to see a lot more where that came from between now and the summer.
Lures have taken most of the fish, with Cat’s Whisker and longer tailed Blue Flash Damsels featuring most prominently in catch returns. In mild weather and in the better clarity – especially at Weston’s Main and Millhouse lakes, some anglers have done really well with buzzers amidst the early midge hatches, and even a few taken on GRHE/dry imitations.
Best fish of the month fell to the rod of Arthur Booty who landed an excellent rainbow at 9lb 14oz from Powdermills on a Cat’s Whisker.
Fishery catch totals for the period 6th Feb – 4th March:
Powdermills 75, Vale End 249, Weston 272, giving a grand total for the month of 601. The first two weeks were badly affected by ice coverage.
Best bags:
Powdermills: 3 fish for John Rolph, Julian Davies, Gary Jeal and Steve Beck
Vale End: 5 fish for R Ingram, M Gratrick, Paul Sheppard. Alan Avis(twice), D Andrzejewski and R Etherington.
4 fish for Tony Jackman, R Boyd, R Evans, J Rolph, A Avis, Xue Sun, Paul Patterson, Neil Crumbie, P Willis and J Elliott.
Weston: 7 fish for Frank Bryant; 6 fish for Dariusz Andrzejewski, Terry Beach and Mick Gratrick; 5 Fish for B Clarke and Dave Brooke; 4 fish for Tony Hill, N Lorenz, Gary Jeal, J Stone, P Thompson, D March, Des Bellew, D Embleton, D Andrzejewski, Stuart Roberts and Brian MacGregor.
Top patterns at Albury: Blue Flash Damsel, Montana Nymph, Cat’s Whisker. Bloodworm, and in milder conditions small Buzzers, Diawl Bach and GRHE.
Prospects for March
Looking forward to longer days, warmer temperatures, a lot more fly life, we are through the worst of what has luckily been a chiefly very mild, but dry, winter.
Look out some smaller patterns now as fish move much closer to the surface and water clarity improves. Belmount at Vale End should fish really well when it reopens, whilst at the end of the month the river fishing will be about to recommence.
All anglers may fish the river sections on the day waters, as from April 1. The beat at Powdermills already looks extremely inviting.