Tuesday 31 December 2013

Christmas Competition and Meal sees out 2013

2013 has been an interesting, but at times difficult, year for the Burrator Fly Fishers. On the positive side we have boat fishing on Burrator for the first time in ten years and, for the most part, the fishing, from both bank and boat, has been good, especially for the regulars who put in weekly or even more frequent visits to the water. The general stamp of fish has been better than for some time and the odd specimen or two has been netted. On the downside the midsummer was fairly hopeless due to extreme low water conditions and high water temperatures, and we had the usual interruptions from inconsiderate dog walkers, but the saddest aspect was the death of  one of our longest serving members, Geoff Riley, who passed away in October.

Fishing got back to something like normal as September moved into October but the month extension of the season through November was largely a waste of time. As the year ended we met for our Christmas Competition at Bake Lakes on Saturday 7th December and followed this with our Christmas Meal at the Jack Rabbit on the evening of the 9th.

Saturday at Bake

Linda with her 'Minders'

Tony Vallack, Mike Duckett, Peter Macconnell, Linda James, Pat Power, John Jeffrey, Tony McCoy, and Peter Phillips turned out on what was a cold but bright day. Pat Power was the overall winner with two fish for exactly four pounds (each angler's first two fish counted for the competition). There were plenty of fish about but they proved hard to tempt as will be seen by the list of weights:

Pat Power - two fish for 4.00
Peter Macconnell - two fish for 3.10
Mike Duckett - one fish for 2.04
Linda James - one fish for 2.00
Tony Vallack - one fish for 1.12

'...a picture of concentration...' Peter plays a fish

Monday Evening at the Jack Rabbit

'Lucky' Tom Turner - with yet another armful of prizes
For the second year running we had our pre Christmas Meal & Awards Ceremony at the Jack Rabbit Pub. Again there was a fairly decent turnout and a good time was had by all. Bottles of Grant's whisky went to Pat Power for winning the Christmas Competition, Mark Clark for Best Fish of the Year, and Tom Turner for winning the Grand Raffle. Peter Phillips the winner of the annual Three Fly Competition received one of Tony Vallack's much coveted Wooden Fish Plaques. We look forward now to the AGM in January and to another season that will begin on 15th March 2014. Compliments of the Season to you all.

'Best Fish of the Year' - 7lb 4oz caught from Newhouse by Mark Clark



Monday 14 October 2013

Geoff Riley 1936 - 2013



It is with great sadness we report that Geoff Riley passed away on Friday 4th October 2013. Geoff had been suffering from cancer and just the week before had been admitted to St. Luke's Hospice where his final days and hours could be made as comfortable as possible.

Geoff had been a long-standing member of the Burrator Fly Fishers and loved his fishing at the reservoir. He had also been a very active member and did a lot for the club in his role as Secretary, a position he held for more than ten years. He was much appreciated, greatly liked, and will be sorely missed.

Geoff's son Steve, in an email to the Chairman, said 'Dad loved his fishing and had many happy memories of Burrator. He also enjoyed seeing Roy & Terry just a couple of days ago.' (Roy Kane and ex member Terry Buttle had been to visit Geoff at St. Luke's).

Geoff's funeral is at 12 noon on Wednesday 16th October, at Weston Mill Crematorium. All members and ex members who knew him, have been invited by Geoff's wife, Joy, to attend if they wish. Flowers will be from family only so anyone wanting to make a donation in lieu should do so by giving something to St. Luke's Hospice who do marvellous work. The club will make an appropriate donation.

Geoff's son, Steve, has also suggested that the family would like to give to the club a trophy of some kind, possibly a cup or a shield, in memory of his father. We have indicated that we would be honoured to accept.



A limit bag for Pat wins the September Competition

See below for details

On Thursday 26th September, with Burrator water levels still quite low, a small group of members and one or two non-members, gathered along the south bank of the Longstone Peninsula. It was a pleasant day and fish were seen moving at the surface throughout.

Pat won the competition with a limit bag of five fish for a combined weight of  7lb 4oz. Peter Macconnell was second with three fish for 4lbs exactly. Peter Phillips was third with two fish for 2lb 8oz. These were in fact Peter P's first fish from Burrator so he was pleased enough to have 'broken his duck', as the saying goes. With an average weight of only 1lb 6oz it was obvious that all these rainbows were fairly recently stocked fish. Though they seemed in good condition and fought well for their size.

Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the day was the fact that all the fish were taken on floating flies or flies fished just in the surface film. Pat caught his  on a floating sedge pattern and Peter M on a black CDC Hopper

The winning fly - Pat's Dry Sedge
 
CDC Hopper
 
Finally - If you were wondering about the first picture in this posting, it has nothing to do with the competition. It is something my wife brought home from Morrison's the other day. Burrator Ice Cream. Not the stuff that 'Mr. Jolly' sells, most days, from his van by the dam, but perfectly nice with a bit of apple pie all the same. - Peter

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Things are 'Looking Up' in time for our late September Competition

Following on from my somewhat 'gloomy' post on 12th September I can now report that things are 'Looking Up' as they say. Pat Power, myself, and one or two others have both fish and better fishing conditions to report despite the continuing low water levels.
 
A September Brace
 
Whether a noticeable drop in air temperature, cooling the surface of the lake, has made a difference is not certain, but it is noticeable how fish are being caught once again, from the upper layer of water, on floating lines and even dry flies. The picture above shows two rainbows landed by me on Monday 16th September. One took a size 14 Cruncher and the other a size 12 black Snatcher within a foot of the surface. Pat reports having very good day on Thursday 12th September when fish were taking his Sedge Fly imitations with enthusiasm. 
 
The Snatcher & The Cruncher

Initially fish were mostly being caught early on in the day, from around 7 - 9 am, but this week they have also been active during the middle of the day. 
 
Over the summer the fishing from the boat has been more or less impossible. The constantly falling water levels have often left the vessel high and dry. However, bank fishing has had its small compensations, not the least of which has been the opportunity to use my newly purchased Kelly Kettle. After many years of 'stewed' tea and less than fresh coffee which has spent several hours in a Thermos flask, I now have the opportunity to brew a lovely refreshing cup of tea on the bankside using only a few twigs, of which there is no shortage at Burrator or Fernworthy. Here are a couple of pictures.
 
Nicely fired up
 
Almost 'Teatime'

Hopefully Burrator will be fishing even better by the time our late September competition comes around. Just to remind you all it is on Thursday 26th September from 10.00am.


Our October competition is also at Burrator and is on Thursday 24th October from 10.00am.

Thursday 12 September 2013

When will this difficult summer end?

Since our last posting events at Burrator have taken a very different turn. We have suffered with a lack of catchable fish and a remarkable lack of water. The picture below was taken in early August, and if you compare it with the picture at the top of this site (taken in May 2013 from the boat), you can see how much the level had fallen in just over two months. Since that time it has fallen still further and the pictures below  show the water level in the second week in September.


Burrator in August


Burrator in  early September 1


Burrator in early September 2

Alongside these drastic falls in water level had come the very warm and bright weather leading to very high water temperatures. So, despite SWLT continuing to stock the water on a regular basis the number of fish caught had fallen to very low numbers. Kit Hancock, the Countryside Warden for Burrator, reported that Kennick and Siblyback were in similar condition with, during a week in August, only one fish reported caught from Kennick and none from Burrator. Fishing was more or less at a standstill. During the last week of August the Siblyback Warden reported nine angler visits leading to a mere six fish being caught. Our own Tony McCoy had a day there on 5th September when, despite taking out a boat, had no fish and no takes. Let's hope things improve soon.


Wednesday 10 July 2013

South-West Lakes Trust Fishing Report for June 2013

The report below is from Chris Hall at SWLT and is reprinted here courtesy of the Kennick Fly Fishers' website from where I took it. The picture is of the 4lb 5oz fish mentioned in the Burrator section of the report - Peter Macconnell



General
The warmer weather in June at last resulted in more insect hatches, and much more evidence of surface feeding fish, although regular rises tended to be fairly short and sweet. Brown trout were generally looking up to feed, and could be attracted to a dry fly even when not steadily rising.

Water temperatures are still down a few degrees on the seasonal average, and with the relatively dry month, water levels have now started to fall at most waters.

Fishing
Kennick – Anglers continued to enjoy excellent sport during June, with more fish rising, and floating lines with dry patterns becoming more and more successful. Fish are now much more spread about the fishery, with boat anglers enjoying particular success in Forest Bay and Clampitts Bay, and bank anglers catching well all over. Popular dry patterns included Daddies, Black Gnats and Beetles, with Hawthorns catching well toward the end of the month. Small sub-surface nymph patterns have been the most successful (particularly Buzzers, Diawl Bachs, Hare’s Ears, and Pheasant Tails) as well as the ever successful Damsel Nymphs. Lures have taken the odd deeper fish (Nomads, Boobies, and Cats Whiskers), but generally floating lines have proved to be the order of the day. The best fish caught in June was a 6lb 1oz rainbow, caught by John Hern (from Exeter), using an Orange Fritz from the bank during the Peninsula Classic competition at the beginning of the month. A 5lb 6oz rainbow was caught by Mr. McCormack (from Exmouth) as part of a full bag, using a Black Spider, and Mr. Davies (from Kingsbridge) caught a bag of ten fish on catch and release, which included rainbows of 5lb, 4lb, and 3lb 8oz.
 
Siblyback -  continued to fish well in June, with anglers continuing to average over 3 fish per rod. Two Meadows and Small Marsh carried on fishing well throughout the month, both from bank and boat, with bank anglers also catching fish from the North Bank and Stocky Bay. Subsurface nymph patterns (Damsels, Montanas, Diawl Bach and Buzzer) caught the most fish, although as the month progressed more and more fish looked to the surface for food, and a variety of dry patterns (including Hoppers, Bibios, Daddies, Beetles, Black and Peacocks, and sedge patterns) started to catch fish. The best fish of the month was a 4lb 5oz rainbow caught by Mr. T.Hunt using a Diawl Bach.

Wimbleball – The fishing became a bit more challenging in June, with the fish spreading themselves around the lake, and many migrating to the Upton Arm area (mainly accessible and fishable only by boat). Ruggs and Bessoms continued to prove popular with bank anglers, and as the month progressed Black Buzzers proved more and more popular, with the mornings producing the best fishing. Fish are feeding on snails, and so a lot of fish are still down fairly deep. The best fish of the month was an impressive 5lb 13oz rainbow caught by Rob Gale (from Ashburton) while fishing from a boat. Stuart Gooding (from Barnstaple), while attending a beginners’ course at Wimbleball, hooked and landed his first ever trout – a 5lb 12oz rainbow. The fish was hooked less than 12 feet from the bank, while hanging the fly (one of instructor John Dawson’s own patterns – the ‘Gale’) at the end of the retrieve. Peter Kempton (from Exeter) enjoyed a superb day’s boat fishing, catching a full bag of fish that included rainbows of 5lb 2oz and 4lb 10oz.

Stithians – Rod averages are now hovering between 2 and 3 fish per rod, and with the slow start to the season, there are now plenty of fish in the lake. Mornings and evenings are the best times to fish, and bank fishing continues to be the most popular, although toward the end of the month boat fishing produced some good sport. Yellowort and Chapel Bays, Goonlaze Point, and Pub Bay are all fishing well, with fish taking a variety of patterns, from Yellow Lures and Orange Fritz patterns, to Damsel Nymphs and Montanas, and Hoppers and Sedges from the surface. As the conditions continue to warm, prospects are good for top-of-the-water sport, particularly in the evenings.

Fernworthy – small black patterns still continue to be the most successful flies (Montana Nymphs and small black Cats Whiskers); there are now a few Coch-y-bondhu beetles around and Fernworthy’s browns are starting to feed eagerly from the surface. Black Gnats, Ethafoam Beetles, and Hawthorn patterns are starting to catch well, and producing some exiting dry fly sport, particularly from the bank between the permit hut and the dam.
 

Burrator – the fish are now starting to look up for food, and are rising to large dark patterns (such as Sedges, Daddies, and Hoppers), although the majority of fish were caught on sub-surface nymphs (Diawl Bachs, Damsels, and Buzzers accounting for most). The South Bank and Longstone Peninsula proved to be the most productive areas. Peter MacConnell (from Plymouth) caught a 4lb 5oz rainbow (as part of a full bag), fishing from a boat using a Golden Olive Bumble. There is now a Wheelyboat and a rowing boat available at Burrator to provide boat fishing. These are available via the Burrator Fly Fishers Association, and must be booked in advance (see website for details).  


Colliford – the warmer weather means that the brownies are looking to the surface to feed, with Brown and Black Hoppers, Hawthorns and Bibios, as well as pulled traditional wet patterns catching rising fish. Klinkhammers are catching fish feeding on emergers. It pays to fish the margins as well as the deeper water, stealthily keeping on the move to cover as much bank as possible.  


Roadford – the fishing here just got better and better as the month progressed, particularly from the boats. Although there have not been many spectacular rises, the fish have been feeding eagerly, with leeches and tadpole patterns proving to be particularly successful, and a lot of good sized fish accumulating around the ‘boils’. Andy Birkett (from Plymouth) caught browns of 6lb, 4½lb, and several fish between 2 and 3½lb. Bernie Maher (from Derby) caught a 5lb 6oz brown from the bank. Local angler, Wes Ower (from Broadwoodwidger) had three successful trips out with different boat partners, catching some quality fish on each session from the ‘boils’ using leach and tadpole patterns: with Mike Parkyn (from Cornwall),21 fish up to 4½lb; with Graham Angel, 14 fish to 4lb; and 16 fish up to 4½lb on the third session.  Wes Ower has also been instrumental in establishing a local South West branch of the Fly Dresser’s Guild based at Rooadford, and meeting on the first Tuesday of every month.

 

 

Thursday 4 July 2013

'Watten long way'

By way of a change from the local fishing Jon Perry and Peter Macconnell drove 750 miles each way on a trip to Caithness in the far north-east of Scotland for the week 22nd - 29th June. The fishing was exclusively for wild brown trout for which the region is famous. It was an interesting and challenging experience and, what with the journey to and back, travelling between lochs and the towns of Wick and Thurso, we covered 1893 miles in the week. Was it worth it? Read on:
 
A brace of Loch Watten brownies
Jon and Peter based themselves in a caravan by Loch Watten which is one of the more famous trout lochs of the area but which, on its day, can be either very productive or very dour indeed. For our week Watten was mostly in a dour mood and we only managed to extract six trout from three visits. Though very lovely looking and tasting trout they were.

Peter's best Watten trout
 
Plenty of room for two anglers and their kit
 
Home for the week 

Watten at sunset

Heading out to fish 

In addition to Loch Watten, which is nearly three miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, we also fished the delightful Loch Toftingall and the windswept St. John's Loch by boat, and Loch Calder from the bank. All these and half a dozen others are within reasonable driving distance of Loch Watten and Central Caravan's site which was our base. Each of these Lochs had a different character, Toftingall was secluded in the middle of a forest, down a long unmetalled track at the end of which was a boathouse and three rowing boats. It's unique quality, from our point of view, was the massive and seemingly constant hatch of mayflies.  Loch Calder was, by comparison, a vast and windswept place with a population of seemingly smaller but easy rising trout. Here are some more pictures:
 
Mayfly at Toftingall
 
Typical free rising Calder trout
Toftingall Trout

One of the minor highlights of the week was Jon's Ghillie Kettle (a variation of the Kelly Kettle) which meant that at appropriate points in each fishing day we could put ashore and within minutes have the most refreshing cup of freshly brewed tea. It kept us going in the more dour and frustrating moments!
 
Teatime at Toftingall
 
Jon working wonders with a few twigs
 
In the end Jon caught around thirty trout and Peter ten. Mostly they were from Lochs Calder and Toftingall. We had only three each from Loch Watten. So was it worth it? Well personally speaking I can hardly wait to go again, but Jon may have a more sceptical view - Peter Macconnell

Sunday 16 June 2013

Saturday 15 June 2013

The competition at Burrator on Saturday 15th June was cancelled because of the poor weather forecast. I had already bought my day ticket online so fished anyway.

At Longstone Point I met a member of BFF who had two rainbows and as the wind, a force 5-7,  was straight into the bay below the house I went around to the right.    I had one trout, my first ever Burrator rainbow, on a black & orange Montana.


Later I went back to have a look at the bay on the windward side meeting Pat Power on the way.  Pat had taken five rainbows on a black buzzer on the north side of the point.  The wind was certainly blasting into the corner and I used a heavier sinking line along with casting left-handed to get out into the waves.


I had two rainbows followed by several pulls and tugs before I realised that the hook had broken at the bend.  Probably snagged on the rocky shore behind me.  I finished around 7pm with five rainbows - the best two at 1lb 12oz. - Tony Hooper

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Burrator re-visited

I have not fished Burrator for about 30 years since I lived at Walkhampton.  It was very breezy from the North West which gave a little shelter along some of the western shore.  I chatted with Pat Power before I started to fish and then moved along the lake where I had one brownie on a buzzer.  Although windy, the sun was out and I was reminded that Burrator is among the most scenic of Dartmoor's man-made lakes. I also recalled that the record brown trout many years ago was around 14lb and my brother, Chris, landed one of 4.5lb.

 
Later, I drove around to Longstone where in the corner below the old manor house it was positively balmy.  I had a few pulls on buzzers but landed no more trout - a bit out of touch!  Two other anglers nearby had five rainbows between them.  They went off to try the Sheepstor dam but were soon back saying they could hardly stand up there let alone cast a fly - Tony Hooper

Tuesday 11 June 2013

New Kit

    A burrator rainbow on the new rod
As a complete novice to Fly Fishing I thought I would share some thoughts about rods tested. Not having the best technique I found the Hardy Demon very 'user friendly'  and able to cast a Hopper on floating line  at distance amongst the fish - Mark Sinclair

Burrator Brown


First Burrator Brown for me taken on a red Diawl Bach in very windy conditions - Mark Sinclair

Saturday 1 June 2013

Another Burrator Four Pounder

'A picture of concentration'

On Friday 31st May Pat Power and Peter Macconnell took the boat out at Burrator. What with the high winds and all it was one of the few times in the last couple of weeks that it has been possible to get out in any degree of comfort. However, Friday was a pleasant sunny day with just enough cloud cover and just enough ripple on the water to offer the promise of decent fishing, and that's how it started out.

Both Pat and Peter had a couple of rainbows quite quickly, but then things started to become more difficult and, having initially been able to take fish high in the water, fishing became very dour indeed once the sun brightened and the morning turned into afternoon. Pat worked out what was going on, switching to fish a Red Cormorant fly, a pattern of his own design and tying, on a medium sinking line, he reconnected with the fish. To say the fish were jumping on his fly would be to exaggerate only slightly, but he certainly had found the killing method. We were in comparatively shallow water, an estimated 5-15 feet, and the fish were taking well below the surface. In the end Pat got just reward for his effort in the form of a 4lb 1oz rainbow as part of a limit bag and several other fish released unharmed.

4lb 1oz rainbow for Pat
The Red Cormorant - Deceptively simple but very effective on a sinking line
 

A Visit to Roadford

Jon Perry with a nice Roadford brownie

Strictly speaking, this blog is supposed to be about fly fishing at Burrator. However, this week, Thursday 30th May to be precise, Jon & Peter decided to have a bit of a change and to take a boat out at Roadford. For any of you who don't know it, compared to Burrator, Roadford, near Broadwoodwidger, off the A30 part way between Okehampton and Bodmin, is a massive water; more than 700 acres in fact. This being the case SWLT have taken the very sensible step of providing boats with petrol outboard engines, and it was one of these we rented for the day.

The outboard engine (a very nice and new looking 4HP Mariner Four Stroke) allowed us to search the lake with some degree of efficiency and safety. When, at one stage, it got a bit windy and quite choppy were able to make our way to a safe sheltered area with ease; one pull of the starter rope, the engine fired immediately to life, and off we went. Basically we worked our way across to the eastern side of the lake and found a couple of bays that we could fish by drifting diagonally into the bank, motoring out,  and then drifting in again, so that we were able to proceed in a zig-zag fashion, fishing over the front 'loch style' as they say.

Peter Macconnell with his best fish of the day

In the end we had fifteen brown trout, with the best going about two and a half pounds. Several were over a pound and there were some smaller ones of half a pound or less. The thing is though, these are not stocked fish in the normal sense in which we think about trout stocking of reservoirs. There is a naturally occuring head of brownies in the water and these are supplemented, from time to time, with fingerlings from the hatchery. So there are no takeable sized fish introduced. In our brief visit we noticed that this seemed to produce a much more natural stock pattern in terms of sizes. There is not that artificially large proportion of bigger fish that ones sees at rainbow trout fisheries. On the day we chose to release all the fish we caught, but it is permissable for each angler to take up to four fish, over ten inches.

Jon doing a bit of impromptu 'fish snuggling'.
The fly patterns that seemed to work were sedge imitations; Sedgehog, Green Peter, etc., fished more or less at the surface, on a pulled retrieve.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Golden Olive Bumble



This is my first time on this blog so I thought I would upload a picture of of a fly. My version of a golden olive bumble - Jon Perry

Better fish from the boat

Mike Duckett fishing on the drift
So far the use of the Burrator boat has been less frequent than we hoped. This is largely due to the difficult weather conditions on many days when winds from the north-west have blown consistently over twenty mph with gusts between thirty-five, and forty-five mph, according to the Met Office. Certainly there have been 'White Horses' on the lake with some regularity. Of the eleven outings so far booked, five have had to be cancelled because of these winds.

Having written the above we can report that when anglers have been able to get out fish are being caught with regularity and a number of limit bags have been taken. This last weekend saw the best fish from the boat so far; a four pounder caught by Peter Macconnell  as part of a limit bag.

4lb 5oz to the Golden Olive Bumble

The killing fly

Peter plays the fish
 
Jon Perry on his way to a limit bag



May Competition at Burrator

Pat, Tony and Peter fish on as dusk comes in
Our second Burrator competition of the season took place on Wednesday 15th May. Seven members, Ken Hindley, Roy Kane, Pat Power, Tony Vallack, John Jeffries, Peter Macconnell, and Mike Duckett turned up to fish, and two others, Geoff Riley and new member Mark Clark came along to watch and chat (thanks to Mark for two of the pictures in this posting).

It was not a bumper day and early on the fishing was quite slow. In the end the competition was won by Peter with three fish for 4lb 2oz. Roy was second with two fish for 2lb 12oz. Pat and Mike had a fish each. One would think that the middle of May would provide us with some pleasantly warm weather, a fair bit of surface action, and even a few of the dreaded biting midges. In reality it was a coldish breezy day although the wind did drop at bit in the late afternoon. At the moment we seem stuck in a north-westerly airflow that has a bit of a chill to it and, though it makes for easy casting from the Longstone Peninsula bank, does not seem to encourage much in the way of fly hatches and showing fish. Having said that Peter's three fish came on a 'ginked' up Red Arse Green Peter fly just twitched along the surface until it sunk and then bobbed up again. Here is a picture of the fly.

The Red Arse Green Peter

Time to get the net

Monday 29 April 2013

A Double Limit from the boat at Burrator - Now Open for Bookings

Jon looking pleased to have netted the first Burrator boat caught trout for more than ten years
At last we have the boats up and running on Burrator!
 
On friday 19th April Mike Duckett, Jon Perry, and Peter Macconnell were given their induction as Fishing Volunteers at Burrator by Neil Reeves of SWLT. This meant that we were now ready for members and guests to go boat fishing. In  fact the boat has already been out three times. Following the induction Jon and Peter took the Bonwitco rowing boat out for a couple of hours using Peter's electric outbord motor, with three rainbows to show for their efforts. Last Thursday Pat Power and Peter went out and suffered much frustration and virtually no action on a very difficult day where several bank anglers were also struggling to catch. Then on Sunday 28th Jon and Peter went out again and both had their limit of rainbows plus one brownie in a short day's fishing between 10.30am and 3.30pm. Once we got the measure of where the majority of the fish seemed to be; over surprisingly deep water, we were able to contact fish on virtually every drift, and some very exciting sport was had.

So boat fishing at Burrator is now open for bookings. Just to remind everyone the procedure is that you contact Peter Macconnell by phone on 01752-560538 or mobile phone 07738-378227 or email psmacconnell@gmail.com and say which day you would like to go. (You can phone any time of day up to 9.30pm). The charge is £15.00 per day for two anglers (three may be in the boat but only two can fish). If it is your first time either Peter, Jon, or Mike will meet you at Burrator show you where everything is and get you started. Once you have been a time or two this will not be necessary.

For anyone who hasn't fished Burrator by boat; and that would be the majority of us, I really recommend the experience. Though it is still early in the season the fishing has been quite good on two out of three occasions and, as the weather warms and the fly life really gets going, there should be some stunning fishing ahead.

If anyone would like to fish from the boat, and doesn't have a readily available partner, please contact Peter Macconnell who will arrange to pair you up.

The two boats available are firstly a fifteen foot Bonwitco double skinned rowing boat (exactly the same as those at Kennick and Siblyback) which is very stable and safe to fish from and, secondly, a Wheelie Boat specially fitted out to accomodate anglers with a significant disability (though not necessarily in a wheelchair).

On the safety front there are good quality bouyancy aids (lifejackets) available to be worn in the boats. These are of the inflatable type so do not in the least interfere with comfort and efficiency when fishing.

Ready with the net