03/08/11 Bob Greaves and Chris Lee from Lichfield had this haul of 14 salmon with the biggest weighing 15lb to Chris (pictured) 
Interestingly Chris had 12 to Bob's 2 partly because Chris cast that little bit more out to the middle and Bob spent more time with a fly.
I also have these pictures in from Alexander and Catherine Swanston from Stamford with salmon they caught last week.
Notice the rounders bat, that is what I mean by a suitable priest! Some of the trout priests around are not good enough for salmon.
02/08/11 The end of the season is like the last cast of the day, you always sneak in one more. When Jason Pusey from Mountsorrell could only come on the 1st of August I had to give in and allow it, and it's a good job I did. He landed 2 salmon including this one, his biggest ever at 4oz over 10lb and that's pretty big when you are 13 years old. 
25/07/11 Yesterday,was a good day for catching salmon, (8 altogether) enhanced by some inventive anglers using their skills to capture their quarry. Brian Bollen from Buckhurst Hill had four and Fergus O'Driscoll from County Limerick landed this long lean 16 pounder. I would like to say the lighting effects in this photo were intended but it was the result of bright sunshine and a dirty lens, but it does look good anyway.
23/07/11 Last Friday Lyn Cobley and his crew came up from Herefordshire to get some of (our)season closing salmon. It's much harder in July, they only had 2 on the bank compared with 29 for 8 anglers last October. That time Lyn's son Joe had 12, but he had none, and his dad got the better of him this time with this 22 pounder. (I'm changing the stocking policy next season to make the returns much more even, Ben)
12/07/11 Catches slowed down last week but seem to be picking up now, four were caught on Sunday and yesterday Neil Mundy from Hampshire had this 21 pounder on a little orange stalking bug. It seems that once the hungry salmon have been removed with prawns etc. a well fished fly is a good a method as any. Spinning hasn't been so effective as expected.
01/07/11 On the first day of the extra month 9 anglers caught 14 salmon by various methods but Tim Burton from Tadcaster caught this beautiful salmon by the best way, on a fly fished shrimp pattern. It weighed a shade under 20lb.
29/06/11 On the last day of the normal season the lake was still fishing well although I would back these three anglers to do well at any time. The best fish of the day was this 20 pounder held by it's captor Mike Smith one of his four landed. On his left is John Eaton who had 4 and Arthur Sykes, 3. Arthur usually gets the upper hand but not today..
18/06/11 In the last couple of months a few anglers have been taking full advantage of the excellent landings that have been there for the taking One of them is Leon Marklew who had this 22 pounder on the 12th. 
A 20 pound salmon is a fish of lifetime for those of us (including me!) who don't have the resources to travel to exotic locations and some anglers have had several here this spring.
07/06/11 It's interesting how weather dependant angling can be. After a brief hot spell when the wind has swung round to the east, the fishing is harder but the salmon still get caught in ones and twos rather than the big bags of late. Ian Vickers came down from Middlesborough with his mates for a few days on the big reservoirs. The fishing was slow there, and on the last day Ian came to Plam Springs while his mates fished Rutland. They teased him that he would blank but this fine cock fish proved them wrong, and it was them that struggled that day. Ian has fished with us for for three seasons now and has landed 12 salmon in 6 visits.
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02/06/11The excellent fishing continues on the 31st of May Leon Marklew from Milton Keynes had 8 in his net including the fine 18 pounder. Yes it really is him behind that disguise, (see also below 16/04/11!)
Then yesterday, four anglers banked 23 with Dick Brigden pictured here, (visiting on a brthday voucher present) with three of the salmon taken. He put his own back waiting for a big one and didn't catch anymore! but we have pictures of the other anglers on this years posting so I took this photo as he wanted to show his benefactor the sort of thing he caught.
20/05/11 The angling is superb at the moment. The day before yesterday Mike Palmer from Essex landed 11 salmon including a couple of 20 pounders. Yesterday Graham Jordan from Dudley caught 7 with this 20 pounder which beat his biggest trout by 3 pounds. The salmon have acclimatised to the warmer water now which has meant that some lucky anglers are getting some arm aching action. With wild salmon and all trout waters on the go it's possible to get the fishery to themselves too.
09/05/11 I'm trying to get a picture of Alan Barker from Swanbourne who caught a 33 pounder recently will update when I get it. Meanwhile on the 3rd May Arthur Sykes(20lb) and John Eaton (24) had these amongst 12 they caught.
You can see the blue sky in the background making for harder angling conditions but you can bag a good haul if you can get the fly and technique right. Two days later Neil Palmer from Hyde had only one take but it resulted in the capture of this hard fighting 22 pounder. There is a huge gulf between blanking and catching a fish of a lifetime like this but if you are persitent you will eventually get one and there are plenty in the lake to be caught. There is a lesson in life there, you see it in successful competitors in other sports, businessmen etc. they never give up until they've prevailed.
Neil caught this 48lb catfish a week earlier so he must be in the zone at the moment. I must say I prefer beauty of a silver salmon but then I would say that wouldn't I? Anglers show me pictures of other fish they have caught all the time which has given me the idea of setting up a gallery on this website. 
02/05/11 The angling has been really up and down, or down and up you might say. On the 26th and 27th of April 14 anglers could only manage one 16 pounder (and several lost) but in the following two days, 8 anglers caught nearly 50 ( yes I kid you not) salmon between them. I am conducting some experiments so I can try to approximate to every fishery managers ideal of every angler catching to his satisfaction, and it looks like I overshot a little. It's no easy task as no one has done this with salmon before but we are getting there. Two anglers in the right place at the right time were Mark Williamson (left) and Peter Stearne here with their 16 pounders
A lot of anglers first question on arrival is are there any big salmon to be caught and the answer is yes there are, but they are going through a phase of being really difficult to land. Several anglers have reported bent, broken hooks and searing runs ending in a line breakage. Paul Grange from Leicester showed me his reel which had its bearings destroyed by a big salmon taking off down the lake, but I'll have to leave those particular problems for you anglers to solve!
22/04/11 It was blistering hot today but salmon can still be caught, (the sport should be good until the end of June) and this was demonstrated by Paul Harrison from near Manchester who caught this brace, one 18 and one 19 pounder The fish on his right was a mended hen.
16/04/11Not every fish has to be a whopper to be special. Bryce Hanlon from Northants has had an 18lb pike and larger trout but he said that this 12 pound salmon is the best fish he has caught in 50 (yes 50!) years of fly fishing. We reminded ourselves of angling in the 70s and before, when a four pound trout was quite something; that world seems so long ago now.
08/04/11 The website provider made some software changes last week but I'm back on with the posts now. Jason Foster from Toft Newton Trout Fishery came with 5 of his anglers yesterday, here they are with the 2 biggest salmon. 
Here are some pictures of anglers and salmon from the last week, including some really nice father/son pairs. 
Ther lake will fishing at it's best for the next 2-3 months and I've put plenty of 15-25 pounders making the lake fully stocked.
31/03/11 On the 26th, Steve Usher (far right) booked 5 rods for the Warwickshire Fly Fishers. Steve and Paul Wood had been before 'way back' in Feb 2009, it's always good to see some of the original pioneering anglers. They all caught one each (biggest to Steve at 14lb) except for Paul who landed six! demonstrating it really does make a difference how you fish for these salmon. Deep and slow he said.
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 home
Keith 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. 
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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!
12/08/11 We have now closed until early October 2011. I will post a date up soon but if the weather in September is hot then stocking and opening date will be delayed. The bookings charts have been updated so you can book a date to come Oct-Dec. I don't think I'll have time to do a detailed report on last season. The rod average has been lower but the salmon have been bigger with no less than 12 landed in excess of 30lb. Of course the coldest December followed by the hottest April didn't help but some good summer fishing was had in July, so maybe the season can be extended. It's a learning curve and I've got improvements to make to the stocking etc. and maybe we'll see our first forty pounder caught this winter! Ben
23/06/11 I've sent this out to those anglers I can contact by email.
There is still a good stock (approx 200) in the lake including a good number in 20-30 pound class so I will be interested in how this pans out, I've increased maximum of anglers to 9 just for July, Ben
13/06/11 Here is a photo of me with a 33 pounder from the rearing tanks. I hope to put about 30 salmon about this size into the lake this November and my target is to have some lucky angler land a 40lb fish by Christmas. 
27/05/11 Yesterday David Hughes and his wife,Veronique, came to fish transported by this very nice Burstner Delfin camper van. Anglers have mentioned it before but David is the first angler to actually spend the night in the car park next to the fishery. Combined with a good meal at the Greetham Valley Golf Course it made a nice mini holiday. He came all the way from St Albans, so if you have a camper van and let me know you are welcome to come for a spin and park up next to the lake. 
17/05/11 The eggs pictured below have been transformed into these parr note the parr marks which will dissappear over the next few months.
Ian Vickers and Tony Laughton came to fish on ther 1st of April. Ian had 2 and Tony had this 24 1/2 pounder. Tony had a big 28 pounder in early October (see below) which means he's only had 2 salmon this season but his average is over 26 pounds! We had a joke that if he caught a 10 pounder it would ruin his average!
The fishing is good at present and I've stocked the rest of the 15-25 pounders for this season so make sure you come and get me to take a photo of you holding a salmon like this.
Updated 21/01/11 This is a picture of my utility boat used for lake maintainence. Do not be fooled by it's appearance because it is jam packed with high technology which would make Jaques Cousteau proud. It has fish finder sonar which tells me where and how many salmon are cruising, an underwater camera for locating and removing dead fish, even in 15ft of water, maybe you can just see the spear in the picture. I fitted a window in the bottom to see what I could see, but not a lot as it turned out. The white stuff is powderered chalk which I put in the lake to prevent a brown algal bloom which can appear at this time of year and upset the salmon. ( the chalk precipitates the iron out of the water). It fits in the van a treat, and is one piece of plastic!
28/02/11 Cheers to those we saw at the Newark Shooting show, I think the angling side could have been better advertised. I don't think we will be doing that one again, but we did have fun looking at all the guns. In fact it gave me a chance to upgrade the anti poacher kit. I settled on this sniper rifle (a 50cal TTR for those in the know!) for a long range take out-
and this AK47 for close up work.Notice my crazed Taleban expression when I get a trusty assault rifle in my hands, look out!
Joking aside I have banned anglers for taking extra fish. They only gain a bit of meat and I have plenty of spare salmon, but they have given up the chance of a fish of a lifetime and ruined their reputation to boot.
03/02/11 This should go in the 'Events' page but it's little used so likely to be missed. We have a stand at the British Shooting and Countryman Show at the Newark Showground so if you are there come and say hello to me and Carol.
24/01/11The salmon eggs have eyed up so they can be handled and sorted. I put a few in a measuring cylinder for this photo. I have some eggs and fry surplus so if anyone has a home for them contact me. Ben 
15/12/10 Today Lee Devonshire from Nottingham raised the fishery record by half a pound to 34lb 12oz. He caught it on a black dog nobbler with a pink flasherboo in the tail. .
This was the first salmon to have it's length measured, coming in at 41 inches long.
13/12/10 Two days ago we had a visit from Iain Barr and a film crew from Sky tv. I'll let the programme give you the story and it will be worth watching as Iain caught this 33 pounder just as the crew were packing up to go home!
It will be on in the New Year and I'll post the exact times etc. as soon as I get them.
22/11/10 I spoke too soon when I said two 30s had been landed in 2 weeks for there was still Sunday left and John Lewis from Sutton Coldfield proved me wrong with a magnificent salmon of 34lb 4oz which equals exactly John Heley's fishery record set in April this year.
It took a shrimp pattern with a savage take on an intermediate line. Unlike most big salmon (which give a deep dogged fight) it lept out of the water 4 times which must have been quite a sight, he even broke his rod on the landing net when it was finally banked! I couldn't have wished this fish on anyone more diserving; John had only caught one 6lb salmon on his last 3 visits here but I suppose thats fishing for you. 07/12/10 I've been meaning to add that John caught this fish all on his own, as the only angler at the lake at the time he had to net it onto the bank as well as play it. Imagine how he felt doing that!
I must have accidently deleted this photo so here it is again, 
26/10/10 Yesterday the record for the total number of salmon caught at the fishery was raised to 35, mostly 5-10 pounders, a sprinkling of 10-20s and a couple of 20 pounders. Considering the slow start to October it was amazing, but it must have much to do with the weather which was sunny, breezy and cold. Contrast that with today when 4 anglers only had 4 fish on the bank on a warm overcast day when the rain never let up. I can't say the anglers weren't so skilled either because 2 anglers , Dick Yetton and Wayne Salmon, fished both days. They made the trip from Alicante, Spain just to fish here and they weren't disappointed.landing 10 salmon between them. They even took some home on the plane! Here is Wayne, with Dick, holding his biggest, a 17 pounder.
10/10/10 The new season started on the 5th October marked by a visit by a team from the Trout Fisherman who are at this moment creating an article for their magazine. It will all be there if you can get hold of a copy, 5 salmon were landed but no large fish which was a disappointment as it would have looked good but I suppose that's fishing. I even had a go myself and did have the pleasure of landing this one on my new 10 weight pike fly rod.
I hadn't fished for at least a year so it is good to feel a heavy rod bent right over and remind myself what a supremely powerful fish a salmon is. Here is another nice picture of Peter Gathercole with one of his salmon.
Thursday, 23 June 2011
Dear Angler, this email is to let you know that we are opening the fishery in July for any method angling to clear the stock prior to essential maintenance over the summer closed season period. The cost of the ticket will be £20 and all salmon caught must be killed and retained at £2.50 a pound. Any method can include spinning and bait fishing with barbed hooks and minimum 15lb line. Booking is still required, fishing 9am-5pm, and a chart is on the website, so get some worms or prawns and see what you can catch! Ben Green, Palm Springs Salmon Please note I’ve had to send this email from another address. Send replies to palm.springs@tiscali.co.uk
4/11 The Troutmasters final took place last Sunday. Only 4 anglers came to compete on a blistering hot day that made the angling rather difficult. It was won by, yes you guessed it, Iain Barr (2nd left) but he only just made it with a winning salmon 15 minutes before the end. John Lewis (2nd right) had the first fish but lost a couple and William Knapper (far right) had the same number, but Iain got it with second earliest and joint most. Can you guess who is the odd one out in this photo? Well it's William on the right because he is the only one who hasn't caught a salmon bigger than 33 pounds at Palm Springs,
his biggest coming in at 'only' 29.5 !
The Spring Flyfishing Show www.thesfshow.com
14/01/10 Ben has booked a stall at the The Spring Flyfishing Show 2010 so the word can be spread about the exciting salmon fishing to be had at Palm Springs Salmon. The show is to be held at The George Stephenson Exhibition Centre, Newark Showground, Newark, Notts, NG24 2NY on the 6th and 7th of March 2010. If you are going, come and say hello and have an interesting chat about salmon and salmon fishing. It says in the flyer that you can come and meet the stars of the sport, so that must include 'Little Nellie' our taxidermied 43lb salmon grown by Ben from an egg.which will be on the stand.
24th February 2009
Nature renews itself every year and salmon are no exception. At the rearing unit this takes the strange shape of a polystyrene box which arrived last week from Scotland. Ben had ordered a special batch of eggs from the largest parents he could find, comprising 4 cock fish weighing an excellent 26-31lb and 2 hens which weighed a whopping 40 and 42lb. The rearing unit usually improves on the size of the parents so watch this space, but don't hold your breath, as it we won't know for 2or 3 years yet. (photos to follow)
I hope you have all bought your copy of Trout Fisherman and read the article by now!
26th November
The visit has happened at last! Russell, Robbie and Peter from Trout Fisherman visited us, you can read all about it in the December issue of Trout magazine out 4th Dec
Here are a few pictures from the day and I think I can say a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all. I can't relate too much as they have an exclusive but I think the following will be OK, read all about it in the exclusive article in the Trout Fisherman magazine
Off they go salmon fishing
Soon one is hooked
Reeling it in
My favourite photo of the
cover shot being taken
The days catch, they kept
one each
Happy group at the end of
the day
Rob, Russel,Ben,
Carol and Peter
are turning up regularly in spite of the hot weather (which has broken today) and it's hard to keep up with them. On the 21st of May John Coleman-Wood from Hanworth Middx came and caught a fine 24 [pounder. Even the Korean War and a triple heart bypass couldn't stop this 83 year old from casting a fly at Palm Springs Salmon fishery. He was with his son Gary, below.
there have been a few sunburnt anglers but the catched have only slowed a little in the bright sunshine. The water visibility has been only 2ft but the salmon seem to be unaffected and fight very well. Earlier in the week an angler who wishes to remain unidentified landed a 27 pounder so I got a picture of just the fish for a change, yes that is a large set of scales!
Mark Jones from Chirk took home one of 23 1/2 pounds on the 24th. I've started to single out the 25+ pounders as the 20-25s are getting quite common!
22/05/10 The very next day after George Best's 26 pounder, Oliver Hill from Chiswick, London landed a salmon half a pound larger. He caught it on a black fuzzy thing, (not a new fly but a description!). Here is a nice picture of him with his dad, Nigel.
They were part of a party from Croxley Green fly fishers club and they had a brilliant day, landing an average of 5 salmon each. More recently on the 20th of May, David West from Weybridge in Surrey took home a 23 1/2 pound salmon.
11/05/10 Sorry about lack of updates, I've been busy growing fry but there is some news. Now that the cold northerly wind has set in the catches have increased after the lean spell of warm weather with bright sunshine. A lot of salmon have been caught but no big ones (some hooked and lost), until today when George Best from Biggin Hill landed a 26 pounder on a black and green wooly bugger, it was one of 16 salmon he had in his landing net. That was one fish for every year he has been alive, his visit was a 17th birthday present,, wish I was that young. He had an exceptional day, but 5 salmon for a day ticket is almost the norm at the moment, so come before the weather changes if you are thinking about it. Here is George with his salmon.
02/04/10 I try to find something interesting to write in this column and last Friday, Steve Lambert from Stowmarket caught a salmon with his fly a foot above the water surface, having leapt clean out of the water. I tell anglers to fish the hang but that's going a bit far! It just goes to show how well fish can see above the surface, we'll call this new technique dry fly fishing. Six anglers had 25 salmon on the bank.
From the left, Walter Smith, whose 2 guests caught 3. John Vincent, the in form fisherman on the day had 8 including this 22 pounder. Steve Lambert, 6, Dave Warren 2,and on his first visit, Chris Moses from Sleaford landed 6 salmon.
12/02/10 More fisherman are visiting now the shooting season has finished and the **** weather (I can't stand the cold!) is picking up. On Tuesday Kelvin Pallett caught a cracking 25 pounder, a change from his usual barbel fishing on the Wye.
and today Mike Palmer lost count of how many he had caught! He reckoned about 20, biggest 8lb, but he needed to be sure to get a place in the record books. He was accompanied by his wife Rebecca who had bought him a day ticket gift voucher for Christmas (he made a good catch there!) . He cashed that in on the 2nd of January when he caught 3 salmon, which is more like average for here. Here he is by the water which is clearing well after the snow and rain, visibilty must be 15-20 feet now.
The fishing has been steady in the past 2 weeks with nobody drawing a blank. A couple of anglers have come close with Jamie Eales from Haydon Bridge catching a 14 pounder on his last cast on the 4th of December. The rod average has been over 3 salmon banked for December so far. Regular Arthur Sykes landed this excellent 17 1/2 pounder in the December sunshine today. 
19th of November saw another large brace of fish caught by John Lewis and Peter Langard.
Peter is on the left with a 22pounder and John is holding a 25lb salmon. It's getting dark at closing time now as you can see but the last hour is very productive at present. Today (24th) regulars John Eaton and Arthur Sykes landed 21 and 22 pounders, salmon of this size are becoming caught regularly and any visiting angler has a good probability of catching a very memorable salmon.
October 27 2009 Here is the first report for the 2009/2010 season and what a start it has been. No less than 8 20lb+ salmon have been landed and average catch of 3 fish per angler in the first 2 weeks. Here is another 2 super pictures
of Phil Earl's opening day 24 pounder. 
On the 20th of October the whole fishery was booked by Mr Cobley and his party from Ross-on-Wye. They are regular fishers of the Wye itself and found Palm Springs an excellent antidote to a slow season on their home beats. !2 salmon were landed including a 20 and 24 pounder. Here they are with their catch taken home to fill their freezers.
Three days before George Barlow came for a birthday treat with 3 friends. They landed 12 fish with Steve Alvy on the left with another 24 pounder.
Finally on the 26th the fishery record was broken twice in a couple of hours. First by regular Lorenzo Serrano with a 25lb 8oz fish
Then Alan Moore from Clacton-on-sea landed a 26 pounder.
These large salmon are giving an amazing account of themselves, jumping clear of the water and taking all the line off the reel. Yes that's the fly line AND all the backing as well!
For last year's reports see archive in photo gallery
29/11/09 Here are a couple of super pictures of a superb 25 pounder caught by Mark Stroud a local angler from Peterborough on his second visit., one of 7 he landed yesterday,
just look at the size of it's tail!
10/10/10 2010 Seasons Anglers Report for Palm Springs Salmon Fishery. A warm September delayed the opening of the 2009/10 season until the 10th of October, but it was worth the wait as 4 anglers caught no less than 30 salmon headed by a superb 24 pounder, to Phil Earl from Haverhill, Suffolk. Fishing was steady thereafter , 48 anglers landed 161 salmon, a rod average of just over 3 per day. Most of these early season fish ranged from 3-8lb but large salmon were also in evidence with 11 over 20lb. The 26th was a remarkable day when Lorenzo Serrano had a 25 ½ pounder and Alan Moore caught a new fishery record, a fine fish of 26 pounds.
The catches in November improved further when 29 rods landed 139 salmon, an average of 4.8 per day ticket. Arthur Sykes and John Eaton had a red letter day on the 25th, they banked 15 salmon each, for 30 in a day between them! Large fish for the month were one of 25lb for Mark Stroud on the 4th ,and on the 19th, when John Lewis and Peter Langard took home 25 and 22 pounders respectively.
Thereafter the terrible winter began to take it’s toll and few anglers ventured out in December and January. Some notable catches did occur, Mark Corps had 9 on the 29th of December and John Eaton returned for a salmon of 20lb on the 19th of January. It was a case of fishing around the ice and trying to keep warm. It has to be a spell of bitter weather to defeat the warming effect of the spring water flowing through the lake and ice it over, but it did just that for a lot of January. Never mind, although the rain and snow melt coloured the water, it’s only ice and high summer water temperatures that make the lake unfishable. February resumed where November left off with the same rod average of 4.8, 50 anglers having caught 240 salmon. These figures are a little flattered by the exploits of Mike Palmer on the 12th who lost count! and had to estimate his catch at 20, and by World Fly Fishing Champion Iain Barr, who caught the same number on the 16th and landed another 14 on the 28th. These large catches must have occurred because of the light fishing pressure of December and January but it is remarkable how it varies from day to day, (which must be due to the vagaries of the weather) even though the water quality stays the same
. February was a good month for large fish also with 11 salmon over 20lb landed.. Kevin Tallett had one of 25lb on the 9th and Iain Barr included one of 26 ¼ (a new fishery record) in his 14 of the 28th. Iain’s record didn’t last long, Andy James had a 27 ½ lb cock fish on the 8th of March which in it’s turn was overhauled by a 29 ¼ pounder to William Knapper on the 10th, the current record and the only one he landed that day! I can say Andy James salmon was a cock because it was an over wintered fish in spawning colours (picture on website) which is unusual for here, as nearly all the salmon stocked are in the ocean feeding stage of their lives, and not returning to spawn like the salmon found in our rivers. 5 other salmon over 20lb were landed in March, William Knapper’s friend had one of 23 ¾ on the 10th as well. The rod average fell back a little, 33 anglers had 111 making 3.3 per day ticket but the average size is increasing with most fish in the 8-12lb range at present.
April was most important for the fishery because on the 21st John Heley landed a salmon of 34lb 4oz which is the only salmon over 30lb caught in the whole year, three other salmon in the low 20s were landed too. Spring brought the anglers out in force, 55 anglers banked 213 salmon of which 132 were put back. Average 3.9
May was another excellent month, 65 fisherman attended with their fly rods catching 237 salmon average 3.6 with a good sprinkling of large fish. On the 11th George Best had a cracking 26lb 4 oz and the next day Oliver Hill had one 4oz bigger, the only one he caught! Largest of the month was a 27 pounder on the 23rd, to the rod of Dominic Warren and 4 others landed between 20 and 25lb. Pictures of most of these large salmon can be found on this website.
June was a month of two halves. Fishing was good until the hot weather arrived so from the 16th onwards there were more blanks than in the whole of the rest of the season. Even so, 90 salmon landed by 63 anglers gave a 1.4 average still not bad compared with some reports by visiting anglers who had tried to catch a wild salmon from the rivers.
So at the official end of the season a grand total of 1317 salmon were landed, of which 801 were returned and 516 were taken home by 388 fly fishermen at an average of 3.4 salmon landed per day ticket.
Once again we have tried some experimental fishing over the summer with mixed success. Arthur Sykes landed a 27 pounder in late July but I haven’t kept any detailed records on the catch rates. I’ll have to have a think on how we can proceed. Ben
08/07/10 Not much is happening now as the season is drawing to a close. The hot weather makes catching a salmon very hard work. I will try to post a report on the season soon, so here is a picture of the kind of fish I hope you will have a chance of landing next year.
This one weighed just under 30 pounds, note the Yucca flower to my left,
22/04/10 I was hoping that the record here would pass 30lb by the end of the season but it already happened yesterday when John Heley from Barton near Miltion Keynes landed a salmon of 34 pounds. It took a cat's whisker then went round the lake a couple of times before being landed.
Yes, that is John below with a 24 pounder and he stole he friend Bill's record too! On the left is their pal George Cheetham who missed their first trip but wasn't going to miss out this time!. I wonder what John's salmon weight average is after this.
27/03/10 Just a snippet to say that some anglers have found some chrominid midge larvae in the salmon's digestive tracts so some small imitations may yield results. Ben
15/03.10 It's a good job we have modern picture technology otherwise you wouldn't believe when I say the record here has been broken yet again! On the 10th of March William Knapper from Luton only banked one fish but it weighed no less than 29 1/4 pounds. His friend John Heley had 8, biggest nearly 24 pounds. I'll leave you to decide who had the better day!
11/03/10 David Barker's record was only slightly more durable than Iain Barr's at 5 days. On the 8th of March, Andy James from Cirencester caught a salmon of 27 1/2 pounds late on after a slow day. As you can see it is a cock fish that took 30 minutes to land.
08/03/10 Iain Barr's record below lasted just 3 days for on the 3rd of March David Barker from Derbyshire caught a salmon weighing 27lb. His Pal, Wayne Jordan landed a 22 pounder too,
on a day when 7 anglers landed 11 salmon. Good to see all visiting anglers at the fly fishing show.
02/02/10 Last Sunday Iain Barr returned to Palm Springs Salmon Fishery and in true World Champion style caught a new fishery record salmon, 4oz bigger than Alan Moore's 26 pounder. 
There were 3 other anglers in Iain's party, catching 32 salmon, a record fishery catch in one day. Mind you Iain caught 1 salmon twice (something that happened before with one of my salmon at Hazlecopse, Sussex) but I suppose they all count.
From right Nigel Tranter,caught 7, Gary brewster,8, Iain, 14, and Nigel's son Daniel ,3, with a 14 pounder.
24/02/10 Today Palm Springs hosted it's first Troutmasters fish off and a very exciting day it proved to be. Five anglers competed to see who could catch the most salmon in the alloted time. I thought one angler would walk away with it but it was nip and tuck all the way and some large salmon were caught into the bargain. Here they are at the end of the day 
From the right. John Eaton caught the first salmon and the biggest at 23lb, landed 4. Peter Fletcher also landed 4 including a 20 pounder (released as he had no room in his freezer!). Arthur Sykes had a very slow morning but came in with a late charge landed 4 including a 22lb salmon. Phil Earl looked good early on but couldn't keep it up with a tally of 3, and finally on the left is our winner for the day, Mark Stroud. You can see him above holding a 20 pounder part of a 6 fish haul. 21 salmon, four 20+lb in a day, these are good anglers and if they don't watch out they'll be banned for catching too many!
17/02/10 Yesterday World Flyfishing Champ Iain Barr came to Palm Springs Salmon fishery to do a feature for Sky TV's Tight Line's programme (I'll let you know when it's on) and in the process matched the record for number of salmon landed (20!) in a day. Luckily the sun shone, Carol laid on lunch, and a good time was had by all. Here is Iain on the left with his largest (20lb ) and the other visiting angler for the day Nick Lane holding his biggest at 21 1/2 lb.
11/01/10 No fishing has been possible so far in January as the extreme weather has finally defeated the warming effect of the spring water and the lake is frozen over. If temperatures hovver around freezing (as they are now) there will be a slow thaw. Phone for an update if you are thinking about booking a day ticket. Meanwhile here is a photo taken by my daughter, Flo, from our dining room window. With him and his friends around there's no need to prune the privet hedge this year!
01/01/10 Fishing was possible with reduced numbers recently because of some ice cover (which interestingly forms in the middle and not at the edges) but the catches have been good notably a 23 pounder caught by Barry Williams pictured here with his pal Jimmy Scott on the laft.
The 30th of December was remarkable as three anglers all caught their first salmon within 10 ninutes of the start. In this photo with Carol are Harvey Mobbs, Trevor Richardson and Simon McGovern 
This picture taken on boxing day shows some ice on the lake but no fishing days lost yet.
22/11/09Things have been quiet at Palm Springs Salmon with the weather and run up to Christmas. Some hardy anglers have managed to escape the wives and shopping but not many! The heavy snowfall and very cold temperatures have meant a battle for survival back at the rearing unit. That's me not the fish! We have no tap water for the house as the pipes have frozen and the hill coming in has been impassble some days. Here is a picture of the first 30 pounder I have managed to weigh from the lead batch of salmon. Note the icicles, and the hedgecutter broke the window on my left. Not a good day again today but at least the shortest day is behind us now.
The New Seasons restocking
On the 1st of October and the following 2 days Ben restocked the lake. There is a range of sizes the biggest being between 20 and 25lbs
Fishery open day a 24lb salmon caught
The day started with a glass of whisky for all and some was sprinkled over the lake as is tradition in Scotland I believe.
Ben Mike Phil John and Arthur
Phil Earl caught a 24lb salmon on opening day pictured here with Arthur Sykes helping to weigh it.
It was a beautiful fine day. Arthur and friends John and Mike who have now been several times to Palm Springs had booked for some time to be here on opening day and Phil who had not been salmon fishing before came alone. He has been fishing for big Spanish cat fish and said and I quote ' the fight was just as exciting and the memory will last a long time.'this salmon fought hard and it took him half way along the lake. The salmon was caught on a special fly tied by John Eaton and was med size mid green with a black tinsel tail, very pretty I might add. Between the 4 of them on the day they landed 30 salmon and all confessed to having a thoroughly enjoyable day.
Last seasons newsletter in archive section of Photos 12/01/10
Six Month Anglers Report for Palm Springs Salmon Fishery.
A warm September delayed the opening of the 2009/10 season until the 10th of October, but it was worth the wait as 4 anglers caught no less than 30 salmon headed by a superb 24 pounder, to Phil Earl from Haverhill, Suffolk. Fishing was steady thereafter , 48 anglers landed 161 salmon, a rod average of just over 3 per day. Most of these early season fish ranged from 3-8lb but large salmon were also in evidence with 11 over 20lb. The 26th was a remarkable day when Lorenzo Serrano had a 25 ½ pounder and Alan Moore caught a new fishery record, a fine fish of 26 pounds.
The catches in November improved further when 29 rods landed 139 salmon, an average of 4.8 per day ticket. Arthur Sykes and John Eaton had a red letter day on the 25th, they banked 15 salmon each, for 30 in a day between them! Large fish for the month were one of 25lb for Mark Stroud on the 4th ,and on the 19th, when John Lewis and Peter Langard took home 25 and 22 pounders respectively.
Thereafter the terrible winter began to take it
February resumed where November left off with the same rod average of 4.8, 50 anglers having caught 240 salmon. These figures are a little flattered by the exploits of Mike Palmer on the 12th who lost count! and had to estimate his catch at 20, and by World Fly Fishing Champion Iain Barr, who caught the same number on the 16th and landed another 14 on the 28th. These large catches must have occurred because of the light fishing pressure of December and January but it is remarkable how it varies from day to day, (which must be due to the vagaries of the weather) even though the water quality stays the same. February was a good month for large fish also with 11 salmon over 20lb landed.. Kevin Tallett had one of 25lb on the 9th and Iain Barr included one of 26 ¼ (a new fishery record) in his 14 of the 28th.
Iain
Total salmon catch figures to 31st March 2010 875 landed 590 returned 285 retained
Palm Springs Salmon fishery in situated in Rutland only 2 hours drive for most English anglers. Fly fishing only with strong single handed rod, 15lb leader and large landing net. Day tickets cost £120, gift vouchers, and whole fishery can be booked by phoning Carol on 01780 411427 or 0786 069 0594. Fishing information Ben on 0775 948 1255, lot of pictures and information on website www.palmspringssalmon.co.uk.
April was most important for the fishery because on the 21st John Heley landed a salmon of 34lb 4oz which is the only salmon over 30lb caught in the whole year, three other salmon in the low 20s were landed too. Spring brought the anglers out in force, 55 anglers banked 213 salmon of which 132 were put back. Average 3.9
May was another excellent month, 65 fisherman attended with their fly rods catching 237 salmon average 3.6 with a good sprinkling of large fish. On the 11th George Best had a cracking 26lb 4 oz and the next day Oliver Hill had one 4oz bigger, the only one he caught! Largest of the month was a 27 pounder on the 23rd, to the rod of Dominic Warren and 4 others landed between 20 and 25lb. Pictures of most of these large salmon can be found on this website.
June was a month of two halves. Fishing was good until the hot weather arrived so from the 16th onwards there were more blanks than in the whole of the rest of the season. Even so, 90 salmon landed by 63 anglers gave a 1.4 average still not bad compared with some reports by visiting anglers who had tried to catch a wild salmon from the rivers.
So at the official end of the season a grand total of 1317 salmon were landed, of which 801 were returned and 516 were taken home by 388 fly fishermen at an average of 3.4 salmon landed per day ticket.
Once again we have tried some experimental fishing over the summer with mixed success. Arthur Sykes landed a 27 pounder in late July but I haven’t kept any detailed records on the catch rates. I’ll have to have a think on how we can proceed. Ben
Updated 08/07.10 Archived 12/01/10
June 20 2009 Something interesting seems to happen a lot at the moment. Below is a picture of our anglers today and as you can see, on the left is our youngest fisher to date, Tom Hradecka 12, from the Czech Republic. He had an exeat from boarding school near Oxford so his dad brought him along. Don't be fooled, Tom is a very experienced angler, he can cast a good line and play a fish like an expert. He showed the men up with a 10lb salmon on his second cast! lost 2 and landed another in the afternoon. Fishing with Tom were a party from John Lewis/Waitrose angling club, this picture taken at lunchtime. Everyone caught salmon, 9 were landed for the day. From left Tom. Steve, Neil,Graham and Mick.
June 17 2009 An interesting day, notable because all four anglers caught their first salmon. Atlantic salmon that is, as Graham Amy from E. Sussex had caught Pacific salmon before. In fact Graham, (with fishing companion Tom Pierce) is actually spending a couple of days with us instead of his usual trip to Alaska! We may be able to get near the fishing but I give up on the scenery! Joining them was Mike Stroud and Ken Smith. Mike is based locally but Ken hails from Co. Cork Ireland where he is chef at the Water Rock Golf Course. (People do travel a long way to fish here, yesterday we had a father and son team from Aberdeen.) In spite of rain in the afternoon everybody scored, 11 salmon were caught up to 13 3/4 pounds in weight. From left Tom, Graham, Ken and Mike.
June 10 2009 Up from the city of London came Lee Bartlett who booked the fishery for himself and 5 of his colleagues. After a slow start the fishing picked up well, Lee himself banked the first 2 salmon and after a special lunch laid on by Carol, 8 fish were bagged in total.. You can see from their faces that they had a good day!
June02 2009 The first anglers of June were Paul Harrison from Manchester, Arthur Sykes,Skegness and John Eaton from Horncastle. Arthur and John had fished earlier in the year with Mike Smith (as a party) when John blanked, but this time Mike was in Benidorm on holiday. We couldn't work out why as it was a beautiful hot day and there's no salmon to be caught on the Costa Blanca. By mid morning John broke his duck with a 14 1/2 pounder which made the mistake of jumping right out of the water and onto the bank (something that's been happening recently, maybe because the visibility is lower in the water, Ben). Paul lost a nice fish after a spectacular fight but landed an 8 pounder later on. The fishing came on strong in the afternoon Arthur led the way with seven and John ended up with four. The salmon were very active in spite of the strong sunshine and surface temperature of 18 degrees, which bodes well for the fishing into the summer. There is plenty of oxygen in the water so the salmon are fighting harder than ever, at the end of the day Arthur was complaining of an aching arm! Here they are from left Paul, John and Arthur. 
Arthur and friends have booked the first Tuesday of every month and have joined our growing list of regulars, a sure sign the fishing at Palm Springs Salmon is very much worth coming back for.
May 09 2009 Apologies for lack of updates (I have good reasons!) but I'm back on song now. The fishing is more challenging now after the large catches of the winter with the average salmon banked per angler down to 2, but very rewarding all the same. I just have to tell you about a salmon landed by Ian Vickers from Middlesborough fishing here while his mates were on Rutland Water. Fishing away, Ian had a couple of knocks followed by a gentle take and he was into a fish. That was the start of an amazing fight, we didn't see the fish for about 20 minutes in spite of steady hard pressure, Ian is a builder by trade and certainly no wimp. The salmon just swam wherever it wanted to go, you read these stories about monster salmon but I knew there was nothing over 20lb in the lake so what was going on? After half an hour, in which we followed it from one end of the lake to the other, the reason became clear the fly had caught on it's adipose fin! After a Titanic struggle we got the fish in and on the bank, a huge relief and quite an emotional experience after such a long fight. It weighed only 11lb and doesn't count in the records but will be remembered for a long time.
April 03 2009 Here is a nice picture of Colin Stevens and his grandson Oliver with a typical Palm Springs Salmon
March 25 2009 Five anglers fished Palm Springs Salmon and enjoyed an almost perfect day's fishing. I greeted Dave Brooke and father-in law from Chemlsford first and they had 6 for the day, biggest 14 1/2 pounds. However, it is Chris Bywater and father and son John Downing Jr & Sr, who I really want to report on. They had travelled all the way from Edenbridge in Kent and arrived a little late not surprising given the 2 1/2 hour drive. Chris caught the first salmon, 6lb, and John Jr, four to 14lb and John Sr, three to 13lb. What was remarkable was that John Sr caught 2 salmon sitting down! being 87 years old he was unsteady on his feet so we made him a bench on one of the stages and he fished merrily all afternoon. So the moral of this story is you are never to old or incapacitated to catch a salmon here! Below from left is John Sr, John and Chris (also in his eighties!)
23/03/09 On Monday we had Lorenzo Serrano to fish Palm Springs. Lorenzo is a veteran of the Moy river in Ireland, the most productive river in Europe for numbers of salmon, he told me. What he didn't know was that Palm Springs Salmon fishery is one of the most productive places to catch a salmon anywhere on earth! Lorenzo is a very astute fisherman who seemed to know exactly where the fish and his fly were in the water column and he was rewarded with 18 salmon landed for the day, the second highest on record here.
Friday the 13th Ummmmm..... That's a day to test one's fishing luck. (Not a good for our desktop it contracted a virus that day and needs the doctor, so I'm doing this on Carol's laptop.) Undetered, we greeted John Bedford and Alex Brown to test their luck and we would see if our salmon fishing can be influencd by the darker side of superstition. Apart from an early pull to Alex, nothing happened for the first 2 hours and I was beginning to wonder if that might be the case. However I had not reckoned on the magical appearance of the 'Bedford Bomber'! John put on a very heavy gold headed black fly and soon landed a perfect 6 3/4 pounder. From then on a relaxed day's fishing produced 3 fish each, all to the Bomber which, apart from an 8 pounder, all weighed between 12 and 15lb. Two are shown below, John left and Alex, right.
A regular visitor to Palm Springs Salmon is Michelin Star Chef, Aaron Patterson from Hambleton Hall, one of Britain's finest country house hotels. Aaron has taken the phrase ' fresh local produce' to it's natural conclusion by catching the salmon for his restaurant himself! The salmon are out of the lake and into his smoker within a couple of hours, and as fish are the fresher the better, you can't get fresher than that. I also suspect that Aaron's visits are not just in the interestsof culinary excellence, the superb fighting qualities of the salmon have something to do with it too.
02.01.09 Guests: John and Dan Bouckley, Al Murton and Chris Skuse. 
Four anglers arrived on the 2nd of January to kick off the fishery for 2009, comprising Chris Skuse, from Leamington Spa and a group of 3, Dan, his Dad John and an old college friend Al. Al lives in Scotland so already within 2 months of opening we have had a visitor from each country in the British Isles.
John was new to fly fishing so I lent him a rod and gave him some pointers to get him going. Fish were caught early on but a bright day made the going a bit harder than normal. We stopped for lunch. Carol served hot soup and ham rolls and we all enjoyed a good conversation about family trees (and salmon of course). By 3pm everybody had bagged fish except John who in spite of patiently casting all day was looking like the first angler to blank at Palm Springs. Miraculously John had a fish on his very last cast and after a nervous few minutes had his salmon on the bank. Chris ended with 4 salmon, Al 7, Dan 4 and John 1. Quite a day to start the year!
30.12.08 Guests : Mark Corps and Andrew Stanistreet. 
Mention must be made of a visit by Mark Corps and his friend Andrew. Mark was our first visitor from Ireland and has an interesting job promoting angling over there. I could tell he was a very experienced fisherman by the impressive ease with which he could cast a fly right across the lake and although he arrived an hour late, he still ended up with 14 fish. Andrew had good sport landing 9 salmon for the day.
27.12.08 Guest: Tony Blackwell . 
Just when I thought Gordon Robertson's laid back way of catching 17 fish in a day was the way to go, along comes Tony Blackwell from Loughborough who turns the whole thing on it's head. Tony is a bit of a tarpon and bonefish expert having been non-stop for 15 years running (until this year when he got married instead! ) but his roots as one of the countries top match fishermen are still there just below the surface. A self-confessed fishmonger he just loved catching fish and he came to the right place to indulge his passion. To cut a long story short Tony caught a stupendous 20 salmon under ideal conditions, a new fishery record. As soon as I unhooked and returned a fish for him his fly was straight out for the next one. Maybe a bit over the top one might think, but on reflection everyone fishes in their own way to their own ends and so long as the rules are observed, and they walk away happy, there's no harm in that.
19.12.08 Guest: Gordon Robertson
On Friday 19th December we were honoured to welcome Gordon Robertson CGC our first visitor from Wales although he is Scottish by birth. Gordon caught the stupendous total of 17 salmon but what was even more remarkable was the way he did it. Fishing a cats whisker fairly deep with a varied retrieve it wasn't long before Gordon was into a fish. Once he had banked it instead of getting his fly back into the water we had 5 minutes chat, a walk round the lake or a hot cup of tea, so with the fish not too startled, it wasn't long before the next salmon was on the end of Gordons line. On the drive home I reflected that Gordon was very relaxed about his day's fishing, which in a way made it more productive 
The weather was good too, with an overcast breezy day warming up the water after Decembers early cold spell.
P.S. In spite of the coldest spell of December weather for 30 years we were only iced up for 2 days... Ben
8.12.08, Guest: Simon Conroy
On This Monday we welcomed Simon Conroy for a day's fishing. Simon was the first angler to stay at the hotel as the journey from Preston and back would have meant a very long day
The weather and fishing turned out to be ideal, a cloudy day with a breeze making a nice ripple on the water. In spite of some deep frosts there was no ice to be seen owing to the good flow of warm spring water. Simon was keen to catch a salmon after several blanks on the river Eden. Simon's day followed a pattern which seems to be very familiar. The first half hour produced 4 fish and had us thinking is this too easy? but after a cup of tea at 11 it went quiet and nothing happened until just before lunch when two came in quick succession. 
After lunch Simon kept the first he caught a beautiful small fish just to make sure he had one to take home. However the next salmon was much bigger, just short of 10lb speeding down half the length of the lake during the fight. Simon had to keep this to show the folks back home. 
After two more late fish Simon had a tally of 10 for the day. He was very pleased and planned to come back before Christmas.
Bens own fishing experience
Here are some pictures of a salmon I caught for Stapleford Park, a local country hotel. We have had much interest from local restuarants as the salmon make good eating too. This salmon gave an amazing tussle taking me down to the backing with searing runs that made the line really sing.
It's fasinating to watch the line rise and rise in the water ending with a spectacular jump right out of the water
Unfortunately my photography is not so good as to catch these leaping salmon on camera (Carol) but this was close!
This was a brutal physical fight that really had my arm aching. I will say this was an exceptional fish. Others I have caught havn't been so spectacular or strong, but if you do get a jumper it is an unforgetable experience. Come and try for yourself!
09.11.08
We had the pleasure of welcoming Mr Richard Neville for a day's fishing on Sunday 9th November. Richard has the distinction of not being our first customer but of holding ticket No 1 as he was the first person to make a booking. He arrived on a bright but windy day with his wife Linda, who took advantage of the Hotel facilities to disappear for a well earned breakfast as she had driven.
There had been some rain the day before and with a ripple on the water it looked good for a day's salmon fishing. With Ben as ghillie Richard had a poor start with his line breaking on the first 3 takes. This was due to a poor leader which although rated at 10lb seemed to be shearing on the fish's sharp teeth, so Richard cut it shorter to 12lb+ and had no more problems.
From then on it really was good sport with a steady landing of fish on a variety of medium trout lures. It was decided to release fish in case one came along badly hooked which duly happened about half way through the morning. Richard kept that one and stopped at 1.15pm for lunch.
Carol arrived and a pleasant hour was spent by all putting the world to rights in the pavilion. Richard put in another hour of rod bending action before calling it a day on salmon number 11, I think his arm was aching enough!
P.S. Richard tried a blob fly fished well down which resulted in a salmon being deeply hooked. It was released ok but this type of fly may have to be banned if it causes too many mortalities....Ben
.
OPEN DAY
Ed, George and Nick arrived at 9 O'clock on a very cold Saturday morning.
The three men landed 12 salmon between them.
The weather was freezing and they fished a long morning session. Five came out early on then it went quiet when a cold breeze set in. The rest came out steadily towards the later part of the session. The fish didn't seem interested in salmon flies but fell to trout lures with black, green and white in them.
This is George landing a salmon
and George again giving Ed a helping hand
Gently gently
landed safely on the bank
Ed, with Ben and George lending a helpng hand
Fishing over, back to the pavilion for lunch
George with an 8lb salmon. Ed with a 4lb ,Nick with a 7lb and Ben holding another or George's fish.
After the excitement we all had lunch in the pavilion and talked fish of course! The general opinion was a good days fishing and they had thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
STOCKING THE LAKE
The initial stocking of the lake has now been completed and the fish weigh between 4-12lbs
This is the start of their journey
Ben is netting them from the tank into the van
Once in the van they are delivered safely to the lake and then quickly transferred We thought we would dress Ben differently this time in case you think we keep putting the same pictures on
These fish are beautiful specimens
Into the lake quickly and away they go
When all the fish have been put into the lake Ben walks round to check all is OK
All is well and we leave them to settle in
These are the photos from our original home page
August 18th 2009.No real news to report. Some test fishing has been done over the summer but the few salmon still in the lake have refused to be caught. The water is crystal clear at the moment and although the fish will follow a fly, they will not actually take. Back at the rearing unit things are going well. Here is a picture of me with a 29 pounder, the shape of things to come this season!
June 9th 2009 Last weekend marked the 65th anniversary of the D-day landings and to my astonishment Walter Smith arrived in a Signals Corp vehicle of WW2 vintage. It rained most of the day which is not good for the fishing here, but as soon as it stopped, fish were on the bank. Here is Walter and his friend Alison Pullen with her first salmon and the aforemetioned vehicle.
May 25th Here are some pictures of salmon stocked into the lake last week, averaging 13lb. 
They complete the May stocking programme 
for the summer and catches should peak during June
so come along and see if you can tempt one!
April 8th Here are pictures of our first lady anglers, but there is bad news for you men out there. Gill Baker with the first salmon.
The ladies have the same hypnotic effect over the salmon here as they do on the rivers. Terry Austin caught a 16 pounder on the same day. 
It was proven again on May 8th when Claudia Stokes from Herts caught salmon on her 'girlie fly', (pink of course!) that the ladies can easily out fish the men. I don't think it's anything to do with pheromones, my theory is that they have more patience than we do, but I'm scatching my head because that can't be true either! Ben
March 20 2009 Friday Today we were honoured to receive a visit from Steve Cullen and colleagues from the Total Fly Fisher magazine. I will let you read about it in detail in the June edition but I must add a few points of my own and it goes without saying that a good time was had by all. Steve brought along Tim and Simon to provide some fisherman shots for Pat the cameraman. Everybody caught fish including Pat who finally put his camera down after one of Carol's gourmet lunches and swapped his usual coarse fish pole for a proper fly-fishing rod. Simon actually brought a 15ft double-handed salmon rod and chest waders which were definitely out of place here, but he caught salmon nevertheless. Here is Steve into a good fish with me ready with the landing net.(Orange hat, great camoflage!)
At the end of the day we had an interesting session experimenting with some outrageous flies, with Steve demonstrating his undoubted skills. Catch it all in the Total Fly Fisher! Ben
4/3/09 Double Record
Larger salmon are being caught at Palm Springs Salmon now with the fishery record falling twice in 3 days. John Harrison from Glasgow caught an 18 pounder on a size 12 Cormorant with a sink tip line.
Then 2 days later Steve Usher from Stratford-on-Avon had one half a pound heavier on a size 8 Minkie fished deep on an intermediate line. Steve's companion, Paul Wood from Stourbridge kept up the excitement with a 16 1/2 pounder out of the 12 salmon they landed that day.
One angling day was lost to the February snow with the average catch per angler down to 5 salmon banked. Black lures did better towards the end of the month, with most fish caught on a fly which followed the contours of the lake profile. The higher temperatures now mean the salmon are getting more active and can be seen breaking the surface, dolphin style. Opening times and prices are changing on March 20, please check elsewhere on this website for more details. Ben
1st Newsletter January 2009 Sorry this is a bit late I have had trouble with the website
We opened on the 1st November 2008 and have had a steady stream of fishermen through the gates, coming from as far as Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Everybody has enjoyed good fishing and been full of praise for the conditions of the salmon and their fighting qualities. The lake is being restocked and rested over the next 2 weeks. The restocking with an average weight of 12lb is being taken from the tank that has produced the 19lb salmon pictured above. We rear the salmon ourselves in our restocking unit and are soon to receive the next batch of eggs. 10,000 of them to be reared and graded until only the best 2,000 remain to grow on. We are now in the third year of our rearing cycle and have salmon at all stages and sizes eating their heads off and growing at an alarming rate.
Average weight so far 8lb Average catch per fisherman 9
Largest salmon caught 13lb by Andrew Atanistreet on 30.12.08
Most salmon landed was a remarkable 20 by Tony Blackwell on 27.122.08 next was Gordon Robertson with 16 and then Mark Corps from Ireland with 14
The salmon are fishing well and are being caught on a variety of flies with no firm favourite yet.
Weather Lowest temperature -8
It has been a very cold winter with temperatures below freezing a lot of the time. Only once was there ice over part of the lake and Ben still managed to catch a salmon that day. One guest on 20.01.09 caught 14 salmon. These salmon are beautiful bars of silver.
We have had some very variable weather at Palm Springs. Windy days, rainy days, snow and even temperatures below freezing. the lake has fished well in all conditions with fish always being caught.
Updated 30/01/09
Here is a picture of a fish which came out of the rearing unit during the very cold weather. It was frozen by the time I got round to weighing it! and to my surprise it tipped the scales at 19 pounds.
It came from the next batch of salmon for stocking the lake so we may get our first 20 pounder sooner than we thought. Looks like salmon will be on the home menu for a bit, and the neighbours, and the friends, and the relatives..........
and this AK47 for close up work.Notice my crazed Taleban expression when I get a trusty assault rifle in my hands, look out! Joking aside I have banned anglers for taking extra fish. They only gain a bit of meat and I have plenty of spare salmon, but they have given up the chance of a fish of a lifetime and ruined their reputation to boot. This was the first salmon to have it's length measured, coming in at 41 inches long. It will be on in the New Year and I'll post the exact times etc. as soon as I get them. It took a shrimp pattern with a savage take on an intermediate line. Unlike most big salmon (which give a deep dogged fight) it lept out of the water 4 times which must have been quite a sight, he even broke his rod on the landing net when it was finally banked! I couldn't have wished this fish on anyone more diserving; John had only caught one 6lb salmon on his last 3 visits here but I suppose thats fishing for you. 07/12/10 I've been meaning to add that John caught this fish all on his own, as the only angler at the lake at the time he had to net it onto the bank as well as play it. Imagine how he felt doing that! I hadn't fished for at least a year so it is good to feel a heavy rod bent right over and remind myself what a supremely powerful fish a salmon is. Here is another nice picture of Peter Gathercole with one of his salmon. his biggest coming in at 'only' 29.5 !I hope you have all bought your copy of Trout Fisherman and read the article by now!
26th November
The visit has happened at last! Russell, Robbie and Peter from Trout Fisherman visited us, you can read all about it in the December issue of Trout magazine out 4th Dec
Here are a few pictures from the day and I think I can say a thoroughly enjoyable time was had by all. I can't relate too much as they have an exclusive but I think the following will be OK, read all about it in the exclusive article in the Trout Fisherman magazine
Off they go salmon fishing
Soon one is hooked
Reeling it in
My favourite photo of the
cover shot being taken
The days catch, they kept
one each
Happy group at the end of
the day
Rob, Russel,Ben,
Carol and Peter
are turning up regularly in spite of the hot weather (which has broken today) and it's hard to keep up with them. On the 21st of May John Coleman-Wood from Hanworth Middx came and caught a fine 24 [pounder. Even the Korean War and a triple heart bypass couldn't stop this 83 year old from casting a fly at Palm Springs Salmon fishery. He was with his son Gary, below. there have been a few sunburnt anglers but the catched have only slowed a little in the bright sunshine. The water visibility has been only 2ft but the salmon seem to be unaffected and fight very well. Earlier in the week an angler who wishes to remain unidentified landed a 27 pounder so I got a picture of just the fish for a change, yes that is a large set of scales! Mark Jones from Chirk took home one of 23 1/2 pounds on the 24th. I've started to single out the 25+ pounders as the 20-25s are getting quite common!
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Off they go salmon fishing |
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Soon one is hooked |
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Reeling it in |
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My favourite photo of the cover shot being taken |
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The days catch, they kept one each |
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Happy group at the end of the day Rob, Russel,Ben, Carol and Peter |
there have been a few sunburnt anglers but the catched have only slowed a little in the bright sunshine. The water visibility has been only 2ft but the salmon seem to be unaffected and fight very well. Earlier in the week an angler who wishes to remain unidentified landed a 27 pounder so I got a picture of just the fish for a change, yes that is a large set of scales! Mark Jones from Chirk took home one of 23 1/2 pounds on the 24th. I've started to single out the 25+ pounders as the 20-25s are getting quite common!They were part of a party from Croxley Green fly fishers club and they had a brilliant day, landing an average of 5 salmon each. More recently on the 20th of May, David West from Weybridge in Surrey took home a 23 1/2 pound salmon.From the left, Walter Smith, whose 2 guests caught 3. John Vincent, the in form fisherman on the day had 8 including this 22 pounder. Steve Lambert, 6, Dave Warren 2,and on his first visit, Chris Moses from Sleaford landed 6 salmon.and today Mike Palmer lost count of how many he had caught! He reckoned about 20, biggest 8lb, but he needed to be sure to get a place in the record books. He was accompanied by his wife Rebecca who had bought him a day ticket gift voucher for Christmas (he made a good catch there!) . He cashed that in on the 2nd of January when he caught 3 salmon, which is more like average for here. Here he is by the water which is clearing well after the snow and rain, visibilty must be 15-20 feet now.Peter is on the left with a 22pounder and John is holding a 25lb salmon. It's getting dark at closing time now as you can see but the last hour is very productive at present. Today (24th) regulars John Eaton and Arthur Sykes landed 21 and 22 pounders, salmon of this size are becoming caught regularly and any visiting angler has a good probability of catching a very memorable salmon. of Phil Earl's opening day 24 pounder. On the 20th of October the whole fishery was booked by Mr Cobley and his party from Ross-on-Wye. They are regular fishers of the Wye itself and found Palm Springs an excellent antidote to a slow season on their home beats. !2 salmon were landed including a 20 and 24 pounder. Here they are with their catch taken home to fill their freezers.Three days before George Barlow came for a birthday treat with 3 friends. They landed 12 fish with Steve Alvy on the left with another 24 pounder.Finally on the 26th the fishery record was broken twice in a couple of hours. First by regular Lorenzo Serrano with a 25lb 8oz fishThen Alan Moore from Clacton-on-sea landed a 26 pounder.These large salmon are giving an amazing account of themselves, jumping clear of the water and taking all the line off the reel. Yes that's the fly line AND all the backing as well! just look at the size of it's tail! This one weighed just under 30 pounds, note the Yucca flower to my left, Yes, that is John below with a 24 pounder and he stole he friend Bill's record too! On the left is their pal George Cheetham who missed their first trip but wasn't going to miss out this time!. I wonder what John's salmon weight average is after this. on a day when 7 anglers landed 11 salmon. Good to see all visiting anglers at the fly fishing show. There were 3 other anglers in Iain's party, catching 32 salmon, a record fishery catch in one day. Mind you Iain caught 1 salmon twice (something that happened before with one of my salmon at Hazlecopse, Sussex) but I suppose they all count. From right Nigel Tranter,caught 7, Gary brewster,8, Iain, 14, and Nigel's son Daniel ,3, with a 14 pounder.From the right. John Eaton caught the first salmon and the biggest at 23lb, landed 4. Peter Fletcher also landed 4 including a 20 pounder (released as he had no room in his freezer!). Arthur Sykes had a very slow morning but came in with a late charge landed 4 including a 22lb salmon. Phil Earl looked good early on but couldn't keep it up with a tally of 3, and finally on the left is our winner for the day, Mark Stroud. You can see him above holding a 20 pounder part of a 6 fish haul. 21 salmon, four 20+lb in a day, these are good anglers and if they don't watch out they'll be banned for catching too many!The 30th of December was remarkable as three anglers all caught their first salmon within 10 ninutes of the start. In this photo with Carol are Harvey Mobbs, Trevor Richardson and Simon McGovern This picture taken on boxing day shows some ice on the lake but no fishing days lost yet.Ben Mike Phil John and ArthurPhil Earl caught a 24lb salmon on opening day pictured here with Arthur Sykes helping to weigh it. A regular visitor to Palm Springs Salmon is Michelin Star Chef, Aaron Patterson from Hambleton Hall, one of Britain's finest country house hotels. Aaron has taken the phrase ' fresh local produce' to it's natural conclusion by catching the salmon for his restaurant himself! The salmon are out of the lake and into his smoker within a couple of hours, and as fish are the fresher the better, you can't get fresher than that. I also suspect that Aaron's visits are not just in the interestsof culinary excellence, the superb fighting qualities of the salmon have something to do with it too.
Four anglers arrived on the 2nd of January to kick off the fishery for 2009, comprising Chris Skuse, from Leamington Spa and a group of 3, Dan, his Dad John and an old college friend Al. Al lives in Scotland so already within 2 months of opening we have had a visitor from each country in the British Isles. Mention must be made of a visit by Mark Corps and his friend Andrew. Mark was our first visitor from Ireland and has an interesting job promoting angling over there. I could tell he was a very experienced fisherman by the impressive ease with which he could cast a fly right across the lake and although he arrived an hour late, he still ended up with 14 fish. Andrew had good sport landing 9 salmon for the day. Just when I thought Gordon Robertson's laid back way of catching 17 fish in a day was the way to go, along comes Tony Blackwell from Loughborough who turns the whole thing on it's head. Tony is a bit of a tarpon and bonefish expert having been non-stop for 15 years running (until this year when he got married instead! ) but his roots as one of the countries top match fishermen are still there just below the surface. A self-confessed fishmonger he just loved catching fish and he came to the right place to indulge his passion. To cut a long story short Tony caught a stupendous 20 salmon under ideal conditions, a new fishery record. As soon as I unhooked and returned a fish for him his fly was straight out for the next one. Maybe a bit over the top one might think, but on reflection everyone fishes in their own way to their own ends and so long as the rules are observed, and they walk away happy, there's no harm in that. On Friday 19th December we were honoured to welcome Gordon Robertson CGC our first visitor from Wales although he is Scottish by birth. Gordon caught the stupendous total of 17 salmon but what was even more remarkable was the way he did it. Fishing a cats whisker fairly deep with a varied retrieve it wasn't long before Gordon was into a fish. Once he had banked it instead of getting his fly back into the water we had 5 minutes chat, a walk round the lake or a hot cup of tea, so with the fish not too startled, it wasn't long before the next salmon was on the end of Gordons line. On the drive home I reflected that Gordon was very relaxed about his day's fishing, which in a way made it more productive The weather was good too, with an overcast breezy day warming up the water after Decembers early cold spell. The weather and fishing turned out to be ideal, a cloudy day with a breeze making a nice ripple on the water. In spite of some deep frosts there was no ice to be seen owing to the good flow of warm spring water. Simon was keen to catch a salmon after several blanks on the river Eden. Simon's day followed a pattern which seems to be very familiar. The first half hour produced 4 fish and had us thinking is this too easy? but after a cup of tea at 11 it went quiet and nothing happened until just before lunch when two came in quick succession. After lunch Simon kept the first he caught a beautiful small fish just to make sure he had one to take home. However the next salmon was much bigger, just short of 10lb speeding down half the length of the lake during the fight. Simon had to keep this to show the folks back home. After two more late fish Simon had a tally of 10 for the day. He was very pleased and planned to come back before Christmas.There had been some rain the day before and with a ripple on the water it looked good for a day's salmon fishing. With Ben as ghillie Richard had a poor start with his line breaking on the first 3 takes. This was due to a poor leader which although rated at 10lb seemed to be shearing on the fish's sharp teeth, so Richard cut it shorter to 12lb+ and had no more problems.From then on it really was good sport with a steady landing of fish on a variety of medium trout lures. It was decided to release fish in case one came along badly hooked which duly happened about half way through the morning. Richard kept that one and stopped at 1.15pm for lunch.Carol arrived and a pleasant hour was spent by all putting the world to rights in the pavilion. Richard put in another hour of rod bending action before calling it a day on salmon number 11, I think his arm was aching enough!P.S. Richard tried a blob fly fished well down which resulted in a salmon being deeply hooked. It was released ok but this type of fly may have to be banned if it causes too many mortalities....BenEd, George and Nick arrived at 9 O'clock on a very cold Saturday morning.This is George landing a salmonand George again giving Ed a helping hand Gently gentlylanded safely on the bankEd, with Ben and George lending a helpng hand Fishing over, back to the pavilion for lunchGeorge with an 8lb salmon. Ed with a 4lb ,Nick with a 7lb and Ben holding another or George's fish.This is the start of their journey Ben is netting them from the tank into the van Into the lake quickly and away they go They complete the May stocking programme for the summer and catches should peak during June so come along and see if you can tempt one! The ladies have the same hypnotic effect over the salmon here as they do on the rivers. Terry Austin caught a 16 pounder on the same day. It was proven again on May 8th when Claudia Stokes from Herts caught salmon on her 'girlie fly', (pink of course!) that the ladies can easily out fish the men. I don't think it's anything to do with pheromones, my theory is that they have more patience than we do, but I'm scatching my head because that can't be true either! Ben| |
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Plus some others for you to look at
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| Ben with a couple of big ones | Like Father like daughter |
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| From this | To this |