Devon's Premier Fly Fishing Venue

Fishing Newsletter - April/May

Two very good months, fantastic sport, deep water and no weed.

The lake is fully open as I write this report with all areas accessible, although we still have on going estate management. The lake now has significantly more water volume than before and the fish are feeding throughout the lake, there are hot spots everywhere making fishing that much more interesting.

Notable catches include a lot of cracking brown trout between 5lb & 12lb and rainbows up to 13lb. Average weights for rainbows continue to be just under the 3lb mark. The effective flies have been buzzers, diawl bachs,daddies and various gold heads.

Just to remind you our next competition is Sunday June 30th, there are still a few places left so please let us know asap.

The Spring competition was a great success, with some very nice trout taken throughout the day. Fishing started at 9.00am and finished at 4.00pm, anglers enjoyed a tasty BBQ lunch followed by a lie down and a sleep – only kidding. The results were as follows:

Water quality in the lake is superb and has settled very well since the de-silting operation. The clarity is exceptional and has ment anglers having to use much finer leaders. Weed control is working very well, the lake is WEED FREE.

We will be holding a Snowbee open day, date to be announced. You will be able try the latest tackle at Blakewell and talk with the Snowbee representatives.

Our tackle shop is becoming very popular with many fly fisherman across North Devon and we are particularly proud of our large fly selection.

We now have a nice selection of refreshments for the hungry fisher, so even if your not fishing you can ‘eat well at Blakewell’
Evening fishing has now come into its own, with many of our customers arriving to fish after 6.00pm. If you wish to fish the evening rise please call at the house next to the car park or the cottage on the bank.

Propects for June and July look good, but we are probably seasonally a month behind and some of the hatches we would expect, notably may fly and hawthorne have yet to appear.

Anglers wishing to fish early in the morning before official opening are welcome, if you could let the fishery know in advance that would fine. See you all soon.

Tight lines
Richard