Probably a day that most Iver anglers would rather forget!

Out of 14 Iver anglers only 10 fish were caught and 8 anglers blanked.

Enough said!

Not the best of days with the wind coming from a north westerly direction, biting cold at times partly because of its strength. It undoubtably put the fish down.

The wind blew straight down Bewl straight and those that ventured to its end could only fish in the side bays due to the rough water out in the middle of the main arm.

Consequently a large number of boats ended up in Hook straight where the conditions were fairer.

The hour plus travel to Bewl consisted of the occasional heavy shower but by the time fishing started these had subsided although the sky was still partly overcast.

By afternoon the sun started to appears in the breaks and, if you managed to get into one of the sheltered side bays in Bewl straight, the sun did have the occasional warming effect. By the end of the day, at say 4.00pm, conditions had improved a little although it was still somewhat chilly still with the continual wind.

The Event :-

Starting at 9.00 prompt at least 6 (not sure of the seventh) of the Iver Boats raced for the cages. In fact I do not think that there were any non-Iver boats there at all. It goes to show that Iver were quite happy to anchor up in the hope of ‘a big one’ near the cages whereas other non-Iver boats went elsewhere, partly drifting. Let this be a lesson for us! Some of those that drifted caught reasonable bags, perhaps six fish, although, like Iver, there were a few disappointments. It was a day when drifting to find the fish by and large paid benefits.

Back to the cages. Ron Lusardi caught the first at 9.30am to be followed at 10.30am by another, the largest of the day as it turned out. Little did he know that he would not see another all day!!!

Roy was seen to be heaving away at a fish for a good few minutes at about 10.15am but lost it as it was nearing the net. A shame, because he was not to see another either.

At about 11.00am Iver boats started to leave the cages to venture elsewhere.

Allen and Keith briefly visited the south end of the dam and then worked their way down Bewl straight. There were no drifters there, - too rough, and, like other boats, anchored up in the sheltered side bays such as Tinkers Marsh and Dunsters Bay. Nothing doing by 2.00pm (other than someone caught a 5lb pike) so they returned to the cages. By this time there was nobody near the cages at all. After a brief stop they moved down Hook straight chatting to Ray Simpson on the way who was no far from the cages near the south bank. He had just caught his first (and only) fish but his partner Reg Renn was still out of luck – and would remain so.

Down to the end of Hook Straight. It was like Picadilly Circus at the very end with about 10 boats tucked in a few hundred yards. They were catching a few fish but then I guess that they would with that number of boats. Various boats, including Stan and partner Dave were drifting from as near as they could get to the crowd back down Hook Strait for 400 yards or so. Drifting paid off because they had caught 2 fish apiece. Not much but far better than others.

Allen and Keith, unable to get into the tight corner with the other 10 boats also started drifting in that area. Hey, bang, Allen had a fish on, his first take, and last as it happened. But it was not to be. It came off.

There did not appear to be any particular line or fly that prevailed during the day although floaters and intermediates seemed to suit the shallow end of Hook Strait better. Most people tried various lines with various flies and it was more a matter of being in the right place at the right time to tempt the fish.

Keith had a baptism of fire. It was his first boat trip with Iver, not a good day for an inauguration into boat fishing. We have all blanked at times but this was exceptional.

Allen and Keith packed up at 5.00pm not realising that finishing time was actually 6.00pm. So they returned to the lodge and waited for the rest to come in with their gloomy faces!!!

The weigh in :-

First we discovered that there were NO scales at the lodge. On retrieving the Iver Club scales it was discovered that they did not work either (flat batteries?).

A non-Iver fisherman came to the rescue and that was the moment of truth – to discover the few who had caught fish.

Ron Lusardi took the honours with the two fish that he had caught early in the morning. He had both heaviest bag and heaviest fish, tough that there was not a whip!!

Other than that there was little to shout about.

Here’s looking forward to out next trip when fishing will undoubtedly be better.

Jeff Hickson 2 fish Ron Lusardi 2fish 8lbs 13ozs (4lbs 6 ozs)

Roy Palmer 0 John Weaver 0

Reg Renn 0 Ray Simpson 1

Dave Blanchard 2 Stan King 2

Malcolm Golding 0 Brian Whity 0

Eddie Gray 1 Ken Williams 0

Allen Dixon 0 Keith Jones 0

Ken Williams and Reg Wren entered the Southern Federation of Anglers regional match recently on May 15^th at Bewl. It is open to anyone although part of the entrance fee is to join the Federation.

In all there were 10 boats (20 persons), Ken & Reg fishing separately. The top 4 persons go through to the National Final to be held at Rutland on September 24^th.

There was a light wind from the south, although sometimes variable, generally blowing up Hook Strait, just right for drifting. Ken spent most of his time covering Hook Strait although he and his partner did have a brief spell at ‘The Nose’. Reg on the other hand started off well down Bewl Straight but eventually followed the others to Hook Straight.

So how did they do? Well, read on :-

Ken tried a floater but had nothing and so changed to an intermediate. This was a wise choice because, using his welsh Dahl Bach fly and Pheasant Tail he caught one from ‘The Nose’ and two from the Hook.

His total for the day was 3 fish for 6lbs 13ozs, heaviest being 2lbs 10ozs.

Meanwhile Reg used nymphs on both a floater and a sink tip and hauled out four fish. Two were from right down Bewl Straight and two from ‘Seven Pound Creek’. His total weight was 8lbs 2ozs, heaviest being 2lbs 2ozs, thus clipping Ken by just over one lb.

Not to matter, Reg was overall 3^rd and Ken was overall 4^th (BY ONE OUNCE!!!). So both Ken and Reg go through to the National Final round in September.

Congratulations go out to our Iver Flyfisher team, well done.

This year’s boat pairs event was held at Eyebrook, one of the smaller reservoirs but still with plenty of acreage.

Reg Renn and Allen Dixon were defending the title after their last year’s success at Draycote.

This year there were 6 pairs (12 persons) with everything to play for.

The recent dull weather had dispersed leaving a fine bright day with about 60% cloud coverage.

The occasional light breeze broke what was otherwise calm water. However, its direction changed back and forth from westerly to southerly.

Kick off was at 9.00am (Reg & Allen arrived with a few minutes to go) and the word was that the fish were on the far eastern side in an area known as the ‘Willows’. So needless to say most boats headed that way.

There were fish rising and jumping so floating lines (or intermediates) in the light ripples were the orders of the day.

Several persons (Stan & Allen) tried Hi-Di’s when the water calmed and the fish disappeared but to no avail. Fast sinking lines were out although Dave caught all his fish on an intermediate.

Fish came slowly using buzzers, shipmans, etc, and for most it was hard work.

Around 3pm the fishing all but vanished with only the very occasional fish. The morning and early pm had been the time for make or break. The fish were not close into the shore where it was shallow and very weedy but were several hundred yards out where it was deeper although not suitable for Hi-Dis.

Several pairs tried to drift but this proved very difficult because so many boats had anchored up at the spots where drifting was suitable.

Stan & David had set up a drift by the dam and Stan lost one at the net. By the time they had completed that drift and were ready to start drifting again another boat had anchored up in its middle near to where Stan had just lost one. So much for that drift!!

Tim & Ken persevered and continued drifting, albeit by dodging the numerous anchored up boats.

It paid some dividends for them and they caught many fish that way.

However, there were two outstanding pairs being Allen/Reg (last year’s winners) and Mick/Steve.

They had all caught steadily until mid afternoon and they had 12 and 11 fish respectively. Many of the fish were small stockies. So were there any big ones to sway the scales? At the weigh-in there were – Allen had a nice fish of 3lbs-10ozs - and together with Reg and their 1 extra fish it gave them the title for yet another year. Well done Allen & Reg.

Highlights :-

1. Stan was not happy when a boat anchored up in the middle of his drift!!
2. Allen cast out, put his rod down, reached for a sandwich when bzzzzzzzz. The line screamed out and ultimately it was landed as the biggest fish of the day. In a twist the dropper was missing when the fish was finally landed (caught in the net during the first attempted netting!).
3. We were visited by a black swan that looked lonely amongst all its white neighbours.

The Eyebrook weigh-in (in pairs) :-

Allen Dixon 6 fish 12lbs-7ozs 3lbs-10ozs (heaviest) This year’s (2005)

Reg Renn 6 9lbs-15ozs Champions

Mick Hill 6 10lbs-11ozs 2lbs-12ozs

Steve Radcliff 5 8lbs-7ozs

Stan King 2 3lbs-13ozs

Dave Blanchard 4 8lbs-2ozs 2lbs-13ozs

Tim Youngs 2 3lbs-12ozs

Ken Williams 4 6lbs-0ozs

John Weaver 2 3lbs-4ozs

Ray Simpson 2 3lbs-12ozs 2lbs-12ozs

Frank Bailey 1 1lb-5ozs

Keith Jones 1 1lb-13ozs