Ed 10 TCAOTFC Prequels update

As mentioned in Prequel D, now that fishing is out of Covid-19 lockdown (let’s hope permanently), there’s little point in slavishly posting more TCAOTFC Ps because we can fish again, obviating the need for a fishing read. Here, then, is a synopsis of the eight outstanding Ps, albeit lacking a lot of detail, due to minimalist log entries!


 E. A trip to Chalk Springs, attended by the Admiral, Professor, Turner, Sailor, Dell-boy, Rodney, Lumberjack, Jackdaw, Moneypenny, and Whytee. Mid-spring, last night’s temperature was down to 3 C., but expected to rise to 10, with strong winds and showers blowing from the north-west. Most of the gang pulled into Fontwell’s Little Chef for breakfast, before the short hop to the fishery. Always a good way to start a day’s fishing. We rigged-up and dispersed about the four ‘lakes’. Moneypenny caught from the off, taking five Rainbows from the same swim o South, all before the fishing became challenging. Squalls, even hailstones and the choppy surface, made spotting fish in the famous stalking water virtually impossible. We all had to prospect for takes. Eventually, the Professor and I filled our respective three fish tickets, some of the others had two fish or just singles. A tough trip.


 F. Next up was Manningford amid cool winds and heavy showers. The geezer extracting our dough said it had been quiet Friday and Saturday “So there’s plenty in there”. He wasn’t wrong: we had all caught our limits before noon. That’s the Professor, Admiral, Inspector, Lumberjack and Whytee, maybe A N Other. This fishery has a C&R beat you can try once you’ve got your limit; the Admiral, Lumberjack and the Inspector were already fishing there by the time I arrived. There were sporadic rises throughout the beat.

I was itching to ‘christen’ an 8’6” four weight, purchased especially for dry fly work, oh, and a new line too. Some olives were fluttering up into the rain, but the guys said only little black dries seemed to be eliciting any risers, but after we all managed one trout the rise just petered out and we headed for the lodge to get out of the increasingly heavy rain.


 G. Church Paddock was a venue new to me, a fresh challenge to be relished. Warmer days at last, although we hoped the sunshine wouldn’t be too detrimental to our fishing, but we could see plenty of trout moving through clearings in the luxuriant weed, the water crystal clear, some of the trout real clonkers! There were four Fluff Boys present, but my log doesn’t tell me which ones. I started with a black Diawl Bach with an orange hot-head, and it brought a five-pound and then a two-and-a-quarter pound Rainbow. On a three ticket, I decided to have a go for one of the biggies. I moved to immediately beneath the lodge’s decking, where I had to roll cast, which affected my casting range. A cracking fish appeared from time to time but I couldn’t quite reach it, then a different fish accelerated in and engulfed the green wire, flash-back, stalking nymph After an epic struggle of over five minutes, my anxiety increased proportionately to the amount of weed catching on my line. At one point I had to ask big Eddie, watching from the decking right behind me, to clear weed that was jamming my rod’s tip ring. The relief when I hauled fish and weed over the rim of my landing net was palpable! The Rainbow had the figure of a Carp; it was the same length as the five-pounder but way deeper, pulling the scales down to nine-and-a-half pounds, in fact, it qualified me for Troutmasters for the month of May. What a great first visit!


 H. Early summer, seven FBs drove into Chiphall Lake Fishery’s car park. Once again, a venue new to me back then. My record isn’t clear who else attended other than Turner, the Admiral, and Rodney. The day was set to heat up quickly, but there were still plenty of fish visible and on the fin, so I fished hard, trying to get my four before the hot sun put them off. Two hours later I had my four in the bag, and was having the craic with the Boys to pass the remainder of the morning. The Admiral decided to try a dry for one of the risers along the car park bank. I proffered a foam bodied daddy, saying “This brings ‘em up at John O’Gaunt”. He missed the first riser, then hooked the second, all within eight minutes of knotting it on, thus completing his brace. Rodney was knotting it on as I drove through the gate into the lane.


 I. Back to John O’Gaunt. Sparse info in the log, except that recent temperatures had been hitting 30 degrees, there had been no rain for weeks. I knew it would get harder as the water warmed, but I shelled out for a four-fish because I wanted to give a thorough testing to my new Sonik SKLite #4 weight 10’ with matching SKR Click reel, and even a Sonik line.

 I’m happy to relate the outfit worked very well on the ever-clear Simms, taking four fish on different flies, no one pattern seeming to work consistently. Quite a few trout were visible, lying doggo, right down in the springs in the ‘lake’s’ bed. That put me in mind to try a weighted shrimp pattern, or similar, dropped down into the springs, if I ever witnessed this behaviour again. It was turning out to be very hard going for the rest of the FB crew, but I had absolutely no complaints!


 J. The Fluff Club’s boys and girls were supposed to try salt water fly fishing today, but the tides were all wrong so we had to deviate from our schedule, returning to Chiphall at short notice. It seems not everyone reads their emails though, so only the Professor, Admiral, Dell-boy, Jackdaw and moi turned to. There was scum and dislodged and floating weed around but still plenty of clear patches where you could sight fish. At first it seemed the fish were just being difficult, but in fact we all had our limits before lunchtime. I caught on a Limit Damsel, a Fry Cormorant, and an olive Cormorant. The Admiral was still to catch, so I gave him the Fry Cormorant before I left and believe he went on to catch his brace with it. Jackdaw typically did not move far from the first peg, close to the lodge, looking at ease in a plastic chair with a couple of cigars, eventually getting his brace as well.


 K. Our next venue was another new to me: Five Oaks. I only had three hours available, having to attend a suit fitting for my eldest son’s nuptials in just six days’ time. Another hot and sunny day. The owner had agreed to a £25 Catch & Release tariff. I netted one, missed a take, and dropped two others just seconds into the fight, using damsel patterns; the Professor caught two on a dark nymph pattern with an orange hotspot. Scaramanga was there, but not fishing, he’s friends with the owner. He told us that in the last fortnight someone caught an eight-and-a-half-pound Chub, but nobody knows where it came from or when it had got into the lake. Shades of that big Grass Carp which can suddenly appear in Chiphall.


 L. Here is the fourth venue I hadn’t fished before a FC visit: Haywards Farm (aka Sportfish). Just three of us took the trouble: the Professor, Admiral, and Whytee. I can’t relate how the other two got on, with the main body over eleven acres we didn’t really see much of each other around the perimeter. Apparently, this hot summer has been tough on the stock, and it has not fished well. Indeed, it was common to see fish jumping, trying to rid themselves of lice in the warm water. I managed to get a three pounds-something Rainbow on a Cat’s Whisker, followed by a long, thin trout, covered in lice, which wolfed a Yellow Dancer. Hard going, I was glad to drive away, all windows open.


That brings the Prequels for 2014-2015 to a close. Then the Episodes commenced …