Salmon fishing in England

Previous seasons reports etc. in the ARCHIVE

28/03/11 Catches have been pretty steady recently with nearly all anglers catching and patient anglers rewarded with more salmon in the net. The larger fish have evaded capture except this 21 pounder caught yesterday by David Bollen from Rugby, pictured here with his brother Brian.

24/03/11 I've seen a few hundred anglers visit Palm Springs now and I'm pleased to say the vast majority have had a memorable day. That usually means catching fish and plenty of them. The business thrives or dies on customer satisfaction. I have some expert anglers who catch several each visit but I bet they can't remember, say, a 15 pounder they caught last season. Occasionaly an angler fishing here will experience the memory of a salmon he caught for a lifetime. There is a little known rule (invoked only 3 times before)  that if an angler blanks 3 times in a row he can fish for free until he catches. Well, Andy Cissell from Luton was on his fourth visit and I left him on Tuesday, still fishless, with fingers crossed. Joyously, I got a call that he finally landed this 18 pounder. It makes a change to have a kitchen for a background! Did he enjoy fishing for 3.9 days with no catch? Would he have started out on this journey knowing the result? What if it had been a gudgeon? What if he had caught it first cast on the first day? then nothing for 4 days? All of us anglers know the answer to these questions and I just can't help feeling a little jealous. 

15/03/11 The catches are very steady now with nearly all anglers catching and this was demonstrated last Saturday when The Derby Flyfishers Club booked the whole fishery for the day. Of the 8 anglers, 7 took home a fish each . Here they are with their catch which included two 28 pounders. The club is always on the lookout for new members and they will show you how to have a good time like this! email davetomlinson@ntlworld.com.

11/03/11 Yesterday, Andrew MacDonald brought a party to have a good day out and they managed to do just that. I served lunch myself as Carol was away. Everbody caught salmon, biggest 19lb, nothing out of the ordinary happened but they wanted to see this picture on the website. Maybe I should post any anglers picture on request, relevant or not!

08/03/11 It was glorious sunshine all day which lifts the spirits no end. Ollie Franklin from Bicester organised 7 anglers to visit from the Oxford area. & 7 salmon were caught including this 25 pounder by Mark Loughray, we had a laugh as his head just manages to get above his big salmon. Here I am holding the smallest salmon caught at the lake, it must have been resident for at least a year. The angler who caught it did not want to be identified but his name is a Hertfordshire town and he can be found at Farmoor reservoir, see if you can guess!

03/03/11 Tuesday saw a visit from some expert anglers and as expected they caught some nice salmon, here they are with the two big fish caught that day. From the left, Peter Fletcher who had 2 and lost 2. Arthur Sykes 5, biggest 24 1/2, Ron Gent 5, with his 21 pounder and John Eaton who had no luck which shows salmon fishing is not reliable at all. Ron had a voucher bought for him last June and I bet he wished he'd cashed it in earlier. If you want to come but need an excuse, get someone to get you a voucher as a present, see the bookings page.

19/02/11 It's feels really good to be posting on this page again. I think it's safe to say that the worst of the winter is over and this installment marks a complete recovery from the multitude of problems that the bad weather had spawned. Nick Lane caught a 21 pounder earlier in the week and yesterday 3 local lads caught 7 between them pictured here with the salmon they kept to take homeKeith Jones (in the middle) had his 18 pounder second cast and returned one much bigger. On his left is Tony Natale with his only fish, a superb February silver salmon of nearly 23lb and Rick Cooper who had 3 for the day. 

04/01/11 Fishing has resumed again after Decembers terrible freeze and catches have been ok rather than really good although all anglers have managed to get a fish or two. Spending most of a month under the ice has left the salmon below par but some nice fish have been caught notably on the 2nd when Nick Hunter finally got to the fishery with his mates and landed 3 20 pounders, and a 14 amongst others. ... 

27/11/10 It's hard to keep up with all the big fish caught at the moment. Two plump silver salmon were caught in the snow today. Nick Elliot from Thrapston had this 28 pounder taken from above him on one of the picnic tables.  Bob Buckby from Nuneaton had the third biggest ever from the fishery at 33lb 12oz on his second cast on (you guessed it) a Cat's Whisker. 

26/11/10 November seems to be the month of thirty pounders, in fact if you wamt to be in the Troutmasters competition for this month a 29 pounder will not even get you a look in! We nearly had two thirties in one day today but although Barry Evans had a 32, his mate Phil Hoffman (both from Leominster) had a salmon a tiny fraction under, there's honesty for you| Here they are with local angler Jim Mawson (on the left) holding his fish which weighed 23lb 8oz. I put the rest of this years very big salmon in the lake yesterday so I would guess that the next two months will give a prospective angler their best chance of taking home a salmon like these. The lake is still ice free at present, it takes a hard frost all day and night to prevent fishing but keep your eyes on the weather if you are planning to book.

20/11/10 Today the fishery was booked by Chris Skuse, one of our original visitors, and most anglers caught 'grilse' in the 5 pound region but one salmon stood out a mile and that was this fish caught by David Tarbun from Warwick, coming in at just over 30lb. For a change I took a photo of the angler as the subject as I'm sure you'll agree, David's smile (and deerstalker, his lucky hat!) says it all. That's 2 thirty pounders in 2 weeks but don't think it's too late to catch one youself, as there are still plenty of trophy salmon in the lake, and I'm stocking more this size next week.

19/11/10 Catches have been settling down recently so that today 4 anglers caught 14 salmon which is a satisfactory day's fishing for all involved. Greg Herod had an 18 pounder and Stan Cullen from Hampshire had this salmon in the fog on a Cat's Whisker which weighed in at 27lb and 4oz. 

12/11/10 I've come straight from the fishery and onto the computer because I'm eager to report the biggest salmon of the season caught by Mick Hood from Nuneaton and it weighed 31lb 6oz. It took a cat's whisker on the drop and had to be played for 35 minutes before being captured, that's just over a minute a pound which seems to be the rule for time taken to land here, as well as in the rivers. Here is the proud captor with from the left Andy Gohl ( who took home a 22 pounder caught on a black damsel), Gary Richardson, and Mick's friend Dave Green. Dave took home his smallest of approx 5lb but refused to have a picture taken holding his against Mick's, he said he'd never live it down! Maybe that's why his eyes are closed tight shut!

09/11/10 Yesterday Paul Richardson (whose articles I'm sure you've read in various magazines) revisited with his dad, Arthur. The weather was atrocious, pouring rain and howling gale all day in spite of the sheltered nature of the fishery site so it was two brave anglers and one fishery owner that ventured down to the bankside. Bravery was rewarded second cast for Paul who landed this near perfect 25 pounder. Arthur had his first salmon on the bank (after blanking when they last came in late June) and apart of a couple of pulls each, that was all they had for the day. The fishing has been like that this season, famine or feast, which can be disappointing; however the lake is fully stocked and it's worth giving yourself a good chance of catching your fish of a lifetime just like this one. Interestingly this salmon had been hooked and lost twice before, reinforcing my point about tackle in good condition.

23/10/10 The catch rate suddenly shot up on the 21st. I'm not sure why; wind went back round to the west, bright days with good ripple on the water, some good fishermen found some interesting techniques, and I tried a couple of experiments. Lyn Cobley caught two 20 pounders and his party of 8 had 29 altogether. The next day five anglers banked 10, headed by Andrew Bailey and on the left Andrew Maltby with 21 and 22 pounders respectively, both coloured cock fish. They had stayed in the hotel for a few days and played golf too, to celebrate AB's birthday. In the picture is a roller meaning that visitors have a nice new carpark for their cars, no need to get muddy! 

12/10/10 I don't think anyone will beat the distance Eamonn Panton travelled to fish here,(part of a visit to see relatives really) because he is a resident of Urangan,Queensland. He has caught all kinds of exotic fish and added an 18lb salmon to the list. Here he is complete with hat!I'm also pleased to say that the fishing is on the up as the weather cools. All anglers landed salmon, Eamonn's friend Bryn Jones banked a 21pounder as well.

7/10/10 Today the whole fishery was booked by Ian Vickers who brought a party down from Tyne and Teesside. Fishing was slow and anglers either hit the jackpot or had nothing. Here are the lucky winners! From the left, Bob Smith 26lb, Barry Porter 24lb and Tony Laughton 28lb. The fishing has been like this as I've tried putting in only large fish as an experiment for the beginning of this season, more smaller ones have gone in now too, to reduce the number of blanks,

9/10/11 The weather has been warm and muggy from the east and catches have not been good. Graham Amy came for a 2 day stint and fished solidly throughout both days. On the 8th he had an 8 pounder and was finally rewarded next day with this superbly tailed 27lb salmon What we need is some cooler weather, water temperature is still 14C, fingers crossed!

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