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