Summer fishing this year was a bit of a non event. Way too hot, way too early meant the fishing had tailed off by mid June at my club lake. I managed to pull out a few fish each visit but it was very hard going. By August most of the fish had been lost to the heat. September was still hot, the water still warm but my the end of the moth it had cooled enough for a new stocking. Autumn fishing had finally started. But it still wasn’t easy.
Almost every visit to the lake saw fish out in the middle with nothing coming close in, even early in the morning. At the end of September we had more hot weather and algae covered the lake for a week or so. By October it felt like we were still in early September – fishing in t-shirts with Sedges hatching! The fish were still in the middle of the lake chasing fry, a behaviour that we saw at exactly this time last year. Not sure why they congregated so far out, maybe weed beds in a certain position where holding all the fry, but there they were, completely out of reach. Thankfully the club has a few boats but they’re not easy to get out of the huge containers and drag down to the water. They’re even harder to drag back out again up a steep bank especially when the water levels are down 4/5 feet like they are now. Once out in the middle of the lake in the boat it felt like a different place. Fish everywhere taking whatever you put in front of them, great sport! Unfortunately, the club boat is small and old and a little unsteady sometimes. While leaning over the side to catch a buoy I very nearly capsized and ended up in the water. Very scary. And no, I wasn’t wearing a life jacket. Very silly but now remedied.
The next few weeks saw the boat stay in the shed and a few more trusting mornings with the fish far out. Instead of relying on the boat and until I could get a life jacket sorted I decided to try a new line. The Airflo 40+ looked like the perfect thing to help get out a bit further and hopefully pick up a few more fish without having to take the boat out overtime. I’ve used it a few times now and its definitely helped. It does have its faults though which you can read about in a full review coming soon.
After a few weeks of picking off fish as they came closer in things started to change. We had a cold spell with frost for a few days in November and this seems to have changed the fishes behaviour. They’re now spread out more and not cruising around in one big shoal and are closer in. My last season last week wasn’t a great day – 5 in total, lots missed and wriggling off, some far out on the 40+ line and some very close in. Hopefully now that summer feels a long time ago and the water has cooled down fully we can get on with some proper Autumn fly fishing now.
And for those interested here are my catch returns from the start of the summer taken from our new catch return app – ReturnsBox.
Date
|
Weather
|
Wind
|
Depth
|
Fish
|
Qty
|
Colour
|
Flies Used
|
When
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
17/11/2017 | Bright sun Light wind |
North Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 5 | Black Orange Pink |
FAB Black nymph |
Morning |
09/11/2017 | Cloudy Light wind |
Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 3 | White Pink Yellow |
FAB Fry |
Morning |
02/11/2017 | Cloudy with sunny patches Light wind |
Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 3 | Black Green |
Cormorant | Morning |
26/10/2017 | Cloudy Light wind |
South Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 3 | Orange Pink |
Blob | Morning |
20/10/2017 | Cloudy Strong wind |
South Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 2 | Black Green |
Cormorant | Morning |
12/10/2017 | Cloudy with sunny patches Light wind |
South Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 6 | Red Black |
Fry Cormorant Wickhams Fancy |
Morning |
04/10/2017 | Cloudy Strong wind |
North Westerly | – | – | 0 | White | Fry | Afternoon |
27/09/2017 | Bright sun Light wind |
Easterly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 1 | Red | Cormorant | Morning |
20/09/2017 | Cloudy with sunny patches Light wind |
Southerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 2 | Orange Yellow |
FAB | Morning |
14/09/2017 | Cloudy with sunny patches | North Westerly | 2-4 ft down | Rainbow trout | 1 | White | Fry | Evening |
11/07/2017 | Cloudy Light wind |
South Westerly | 2-4 ft down | Rainbow trout | 2 | Orange Brown |
FAB Sedge |
Morning |
23/06/2017 | Cloudy with sunny patches Strong wind |
South Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 3 | Orange | Blob | Evening |
08/06/2017 | Cloudy with sunny patches | South Westerly | Just below surface | Rainbow trout | 2 | Black Olive |
Black Gnat F Fly |
Evening |
15/06/2017 | Bright sun Strong wind |
South Westerly | Surface | Rainbow trout | 1 | Brown | Parachute | – |
Your observations about the Millan lake echo mine Paul. I am now approaching the end of my third season there. It provides the best value fly fishing for miles, but is badly affected by the summer weather. The comments about the boats are also valid. I am usually there on Sunday afternoons, but no-one else is! I don’t fancy going out in a boat if I am the only one there – it would be nice to go after the larger fish out in the middle, but not worth the risk of an accident, or worse, drowning and no possibility of anyone raising the alarm.
There are extensive weed beds out in the middle, much more than seems apparent from the bank and when out on a boat I have always had lots of interest to dries and nymphs. I would like to have my own boat there but I would like to have a more modern boat that was more stable. The Bic Sportyaks look like a good boat suitable for somewhere like Millan.
Look forward to meeting you one day at Millan.
David Fisher