Records:- Rainbow 22lbs 12oz, Brown 16lb 12oz, Blue 12lbs 6oz

Darren Booth with a monster Stocks rainbow of 20lbs 8oz

                                    Jack Gregson with his 21lb Rainbow

Sunday 21 February 2010

I would just like to personally apologise to all those anglers who travelled to Stocks on Saturday only to find the reservoir frozen and almost unfishable. We were ice free when we locked up on Friday night and were taken by surprise on Saturday morning to see the reservoir completely covered. This has never happened before in February and can only happen when extremely cold temperatures are twinned with a flat calm.
There was a small area just north of the jetty, room for the few anglers that decided to give it go despite the conditions. The boats were no go as the ice was over 1cm thick and would have made short work of the props and shear pins. The vast majority of the visiting fishermen, after staying for a coffee and quick chat, couldn't see any possibility of the ice clearing so took to road and headed home. Our early attempts to break up the ice in the safety boat proved futile as the ice quickly reformed. However, at lunchtime when the sun was at it's highest, a stiff southerly breeze picked up and we noticed the ice had started to recede slightly along the East bank. I decided to give the safety boat a second shot. We could never a have predicted that it would be so successful within a couple of hours the whole main basin to gull island, the Alders to Halstead's Hike and Hollins Bay to Bell Point were free of ice. The few anglers that had remained took advantage and enjoyed some good sport into the evening. I know that this must be frustrating to those who had gone home.
On Sunday the reservoir was frozen once again, apart from The Jetty area to Bell Point and by the evening this had extended along Ben's Beach to Grange Point. Once again only a few anglers braved the snowy conditions and were rewarded with good sport.
There are still 4000 stocked rainbows in the reservoir, 99% of which are yet to see a fly and when the conditions improve the fishing is going to be great. Just when that will be is anybody's guess. I certainly wouldn't like to predict the conditions for tomorrow never mind the week ahead. We will update the website first thing every morning and throughout the day to try and prevent any further wasted journeys and to let you know when everything is looking perfect and of course you can always call the lodge on 01200 446602.
Tight Lines Ben

The new season starts on February 20th 2010

Only nine days until we open on Sat 20th!
Click the link below or visit our reports page at www.stocksreservoir.com to see a short video of our trout farm and the trout for Stocks this season. They are awesome!
Tight Lines Ben

STOCKS RESERVOIR 2010
The new season is almost upon us and with it comes some of the best sport of the year. The early season on Stocks can be spectacular as the trout are eager to feed and fight extremely hard in the oxygen rich water. The rainbows are in awesome condition they are fully finned, beautifully silver and built like torpedoes. We will spread 4000 of them around the water so many areas will fish well from the first day on February 20th. New for 2010 is our online tackle shop: www.stocksfishingtackle.co.uk where you will find everything you need for the new season and beyond.
You can follow all the preseason news with tips and tactics on the reports page of our website: www.stocksreservoir.com
Likely methods are weighted lures twitched back on floating lines or during clement conditions static diawl backs or buzzers. Just make sure you keep hold of your rod!.
PRIZES FOR OPEN DAY
To get the season off to a flying start 10 prize tagged trout will be released into the reservoir. Once caught they must be taken and brought to the lodge in order to claim the bounty.
BANK HOUSE FLY FISHERY
Spring is a great time to visit Bank House, its a beautiful water and holds some cracking trout. Buzzers or fry patterns fished tight to the islands should score well. Tight Lines. Ben Dobson

Click here to see the video

Stocks Reservoir

Saturday 27th February

Report Author: Pete
Best Catch: 15 fish by Scott Nellins
Heaviest Bag: 5 fish for 19lb by Paul Gaskell
Best Rainbow: 10lb 8oz by Ian Strachan
Best Brownie: N/A
Bank Rod Av: 2.28 fish per angler
Boat Rod Av: 5.68 fish per angler
Sport: What a difference a week makes! Today was a lovely sunny day with a slight breeze. All 25 boats were on the water with some top anglers amongst them. England international Scott Nellins had a bumper day taking 15 fish the top catch of the day. Scott found cormorants fished on a sinking line his best method. Also on the boats stocks regulars Peter Andrews and Stuart McCaughey had 28 fish to the boat they found the northern shallows to be most productive but also had fish from Newclose Bay and Hollins Bay. They used Di3 dinking lines with a black and gold Humungus in the morning but found Boobies fished better in the afternoon great angling boys. From the bank Black and green lures and cats whiskers worked well with Paul Gaskel l taking the heaviest bag of the day with 5 trout for 19lb with two trout weighing 7lb 8oz and 5lb 8oz respectively good angling Paul. Also on the bank Paul Miller had 7 fish from Hartleys again the Di3 with Boobies was the top method. The First double of the season went to Scottish angler Ian Strachan with a stonking rainbow of 10lb 8oz. The fish was caught in the two trees area. We were also glad to see stocks friend Hywel Morgan on the water today and we hope he has another cracking days fishing tomorrow. One late result Greys G-Tec anglers Darren Booth and Karl Nixon had the best days Boat result with 31 fish between them, they found the area at the back of willow island the hot spot with Black and green lures once again doing the damage. See you in the lodge Pete

Date: Friday 26th February
Report Author: Matthew
Best Catch: 14 fish for Michael Drake and Andy Boylon
Heaviest Bag: Michael Drake 5 fish for 12lb
Best Rainbow: 8lb estimate Andy Boylon
Best Brownie: N/a
Bank Rod Av: 3.00
Boat Rod Av: 5.75
Sport: The big thaw has taken effect and the fish are coming round to these milder conditions. Andy Boylon and Duggy Ingles had a blinder with 26 fish to the boat including a specimen Rainbow from the top of Gull Island. Both guy’s fished black and green and green and white all day in many guises, one thing’s for sure though the fish seemed to want things nice and slow. They found a Di 3 at the most was deep enough with most coming on a slow intermediate.
Steve Hilton and Dave O’gradey had a good day too with 12 to their boat. They spotted a clear spot of water along the dam and had some cracking sport all afternoon. Once again black and green did the trick!
Bill Orrell is continuing his good form from last year with 11 fish all in a short afternoon visit. Bill fished a single sparsely tied black and silver double down in the newly thawed Hollin’s Bay, good angling Bill.
Top rod honours today however goes to Michael Drake who fished from Bell Point round to Hollin’s landing an impressive 14 fish with many 3lb + rainbows.
Hopefully the weather will remain kind this weekend and the sport will go from strength to strength.
Ps I even saw some buzzers hatching today!
Spring is in the air (a little optimism can’t hurt can it??)
Tight lines Matthew Date:
Thursday 25th February.

Report Author:
Paul.

Best Catch:
9 fish each for Sir Bob Cooper and Lee Cowking.

Heaviest Bag:
3 fish weighing 8lb for Steve Kerr.

Best Rainbow:
7lb for Len Ryding.

Best Brownie:
n/a.

Bank Rod Av:
3.43 fish per angler.

Boat Rod Av:
4.28 fish per angler.

Sport: Today the ice was melting well. Although there were parts of frozen water the vast majority of the reservoir is now clear and with a reasonable wind blowing and slightly higher temperatures than we have seen of late the situation can only improve. There were some good catches made today with the majority of the fish caught being close to the shoreline. Regular bank angler Ray Entwistle landed 4 fine rainbows, one of which had a red tag on it, Ray is now the owner of a new scierra rod and very pleased he is too. Well done Ray. Len Ryding landed 6 rainbows including a super 7lb specimen that was taken on a lure from the two trees area near the jetty. Other bank anglers were also in amongst the trout with all areas from Hollins bay right round to Bell Point and beyond being productive with various lures mainly on sinking lines being best. On the boats those anglers that put their flies close to the bank or near to ice caught well, once again to lures on sinking lines, indeed the two best catches fell to boat anglers Sir Bob Cooper and Lee Cowking who both utilised the sinking line-lure combo to good effect landing 9 trout each from Hollins bay. See you on the water Paul.

Happy New Year from all at Stocks Reservoir,
Preparations for our opening day on February 20th are well under way. The fish for start of the season are looking awesome: full sharp fins, really silver and built like torpedoes….Can’t wait!
Just thought you would like to see the monthly stats for last season before this one gets under way (See table below).
Also here are some of the Stocks regular’s best achievements over the year gone by, they’re pretty impressive.

1.    Paul Davison: Paul is a Stocks regular and good friend to the fishery. He has maintained his place on the England team with another cracking season and it has come as no surprise to us that he has been asked to captain England in the 2010 Autumn International. Paul is famed for his dry fly expertise and his results over the past couple of seasons have shown him to be one of England’s very best fly fishermen. Paul fishes for the Ospreys and early in the season they tragically lost their well loved captain Davy Hodgson. They honoured him in the way he would have chosen by becoming the 2009 Lexus Champions. Well done guys.
2.    Darren Booth: Darren is another Stocks regular and he has represented us for many years along side his Stocks Greys G-Tec team mates. He has been extremely consistent in the competition circuit for several seasons and has gained the respect of many anglers up and down the country, not just for his fishing ability but also for being a nice guy. The latest of Darren’s successes started when he caught a 21lb 8oz rainbow from Stocks, this was his ticket to the Trout Masters fish off. He won our local final and represented us in the Grand final on Grafham Water. As the only angler to catch from both bank and boat and with the most fish Darren was crowned the 2009 Trout Masters Champion.
3.    Ian Gaskell: I am glad to say that over the past few seasons I have had the pleasure of fishing along side Ian in the Stocks Bowlander Falcons. But it was in the Lexus European Individual that Ian really set the world on fire. The final was held on Chew Valley last autumn and the fishing was very tricky. Against a top class field Ian used a Stocks pattern the black widow on an SSi to be one of just three angler to catch five trout. Ian’s bag included some cracking grown on Chew trout and he beat the other two on weight to become The 2009 European Individual Champion. He won a Lexus RX450 car for a year and to top it all one of the rainbows in his bag was the biggest of the match so he also won a weeks fishing holiday to Norway with John Horsey. That’s what you call winning in style!
4.    Bob Cooper: Bob is another member of the Stocks Falcons and last season he showed us why we nick named him Sir Bob and that at 70 years of age he is still a force to be reckoned with. His season got off to a great start when he fished his way to top individual in the spring disabled international match on Brenig. He then won a gold medal in Scotland as part of the successful England disabled team. To finish the season off nicely he once again found himself at the top of the pile as he re-qualified for the 2010 team…..Good angling.
5.    Bill Orrell: Bill is a Stocks season ticket holder that doesn’t fish the on the competition circuit but perhaps he should. He is at home on both the river and large still waters, but Bill’s specialty is seeking out those specimen trout and he’s very good at it. Last year Bill caught seven Stocks doubles and many more over 5lbs but amazingly amongst his catch was the season’s biggest rainbow and the season’s biggest brown. He fished in the doubles club fish off at the end of the season and won it with; yes you’ve guessed it, a big fish. This earned Bill a free season ticket for 2010. He also won £100 and The Duncan Hesketh Trophy for catching the biggest brown. But his story doesn’t end here. Historically this is the third time he’s won the doubles club fish off, the second time he’s won the Duncan Hesketh Trophy and in total he’s caught 37 double figure trout over six seasons! Bill’s favoured hunting ground is between Granger Point and Davy Jones, where he moves between all the spots that have produced for him in the past. His favoured method is a floating a 15ft leader and a home tied black tadpole variant he’s named the Cyril.
6.    Chris Guthrie and the Stocks G-Tec Team: Nick Halstead, Darren Booth, John Calvert, Steve Welsh , Mike Laycock and Carl Nixon. The Stocks G-Tec team has been sponsored by Stocks for many years and they have become great friends. This year they came 7th in the Lexus International Team final and the end of the year they won the Rio 4s. Chris Guthrie was in great form, in the Lexus International final on Rutland he showed brilliant skill with small dries to take the top Individual spot, something he had almost achieved earlier in the year whilst fishing in the English final on Chew. Impressively he was top individual in the Rio 4’s as well!
7.    The Stocks Harriers: Steve Bland, James Vann, Bob Fitzpatrick, Phil Burgess, Paul Kitchen, Andy Taylor and Steve Lind. The Stocks Harriers became the first Bowlander team to reach an International final when they qualified in the Anglian on Rutland Water. To prove it wasn’t a fluke they did again a few weeks later in the Lexus on Chew. It was brilliant team effort with some great catches right round. Bob Fitzpatrick also did very well in the individual matches picking up three new titles.
8.    The Stocks Barracudas: Peter Scholes, Richard Hood, John Hood, Steve Ainsworth, Paul Bannister & Charlie Mitchell. The Barracudas became the second Bowlander team to qualify for an international final. Well done guys I am sure there are more to come.

It is great to see the Stocks regulars achieving such heights. The Stocks Bowlanders are going from strength to strength and more and more teams are pushing for places in the international finals. It is only a matter of time before we take our first title!

Monthly stats for 2009

Date:    Saturday 14th November
Report Author:    Matthew
Best Catch:    7 fish for Rick Nuttall
Heaviest Bag:    5 fish for 8lb 8oz Rick Nuttall
Best Rainbow:    Rick Nuttall 4lb Returned
Best Brownie:    Several at 2lb +
Rod Av:    1.4 fish per angler

Sport:  Despite a pretty nasty weather warning of which not much materialised, the fishing has been pretty good! Rick managed 7 trout and with each fish bringing a £15.00 share of the pot he managed to haul £105.00. Rick fished from Bell point with a floating line and a damsel lure, a fly that can really do the trick this time of year.
Both Ian Gaskell and Pete Kirk managed 2 fish, with pretty much the rest of the field managing a fish each.
Regular Lee Cowking correctly guessed the total number caught and received a £60.00 tackle voucher.
Over all a cracking little competition fished in Great Spirit.
A better weather forecast this week ahead should see some good sport for the last couple of weeks of the season.
Tight lines Matthew.

Stocks n Shares and Doubles Club Fish Off

The Stocks n Shares fishing competition.

This Saturday (14th of November) Stocks Reservoir is holding a fishing competition with a difference called Stocks n Shares.
The idea is that everybody puts £20 into a pot and then every fish you catch throughout the day will earn you one share of the pot. Also for each entrant we will donate a £5 tackle shop voucher that will be won by the angler who most closely predicts the total amount of trout that will be caught in the match.
With this format the harder the fishing the more each fish will earn you. For example 20 anglers entered it would give a pot of £400 if they only caught 4 trout between them each fish would be worth £100. However if they caught 80 trout each fish would be worth just £5 and you would need 20 of them to win £100. In both scenarios someone would also win a £100 tackle voucher.
It will be fished to fishery rules and you may fish from either the bank or boat. Boats may anchor up and will cost just £10 (£5/ angler) to hire for the day. You must take the first five rainbow trout you catch after which you must debarb and carry on fishing catch n release.
This is the last open competition of the 2009 season it should great fun and it is a good chance to have a final fling on Stocks before we close on November 30th. The competition will run from 9:30am to 4pm. If you would like to enter you can do so by e-mail or by calling stocks on 01200 446602.

WIN A SEASON TICKET FOR NEXT YEAR.
If you have caught a double figure fish this season on Stocks Reservoir then you can enter the doubles club fish off which will be held on Sunday November 29th. Amongst other things you can win a season ticket for the 2010 season! There is no entry fee you just need to purchase a full day ticket from the lodge and weigh in by 4pm. Please call the fishery on 01200 446602 or email us to register your place.

Tight Lines Ben

Pictured right

The Stocks Falcons

c

Bruce Tait 13lb 1oz rainbow

The Stocks Falcons taking top spot honours!

Results Lexus Team Day One (PDF)

Results Lexus Individual Day Two (PDF)

Results for Lexus Individual Day One (PDF)

Lexus winners day one

Paul Kithens brownie

Malcolm Browns Brownie

                    Anthony Thompson 14lb Rainbow

Len Riding with his 12lb 10oz Rainbow

Jock Woods Pictured Left and William Edmond right.

Gary Jackson 14lbs 12oz Rainbow

Ray Mercer 12lbs Rainbow.

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Eric Glaister from Carlisle with a NEW FISHERY RECORD 22lbs 12oz

Ron Powell 13lbs 8oz     Stuart Mason 14lbs

From the left; Burt Fallows 15lb, Glyn Kieghley's 14lb5oz, Leonard Riding's 11lb12oz