fish and one brood

Bristol Water Company had organised an Open Day and the club of which I am secretary, the Bristol Reservoirs Fly Fishers Association, arranged some activities for the day. We decided to run a casting competition and give “would be” anglers the chance to have a go at casting a fly.Committee men Chris Cavill, Dev Stickley and Barry Hooper all helped in setting up and running our part of the show, whilst John Wellman came along with our newly produced fleeces and caps. The club agreed at the last two committee meetings to update our image somewhat and thus we now have a much smarter range of gear!The weather was not ideal and, although over one thousand people passed through, there were in fact few takers for the casting competition. Dev gave a few starters some advice on casting, in between the showers, whilst Barry helped a couple of his sea angling friends. Much better supported was the fly tying demonstration that the local Fly Dressers Guild ran. Maybe this was because it was an indoor activity situated close to the bar, but the general public showed plenty of interest. Archie Matthews and Bob Gardner tied flies all day long and, when we eventually packed up, Archie in particular had a strange looking line of “pink-and-yellow” things that he has christened the “Stinkie Pinkie”.Highlight of the day was undoubtedly the hawk flying display given by a local expert. First he flew a Kestrel, a bird that is so common, yet one that I have never before seen used in a display! Then a Harris Hawk was flown. This is an amazing creature with quite the longest legs I have ever noticed on a bird of prey. Its legs made it look almost happy to be on the ground! However, the best display was by the Lanner Falcon, which is pretty similar to our Peregrine. This bird flew with such grace and power that it is not hard to see why a falconer enjoys his work so much!Kim Lucas, the joint manager of the fishery along with Bob Handford, had a large oxygenated tank out on the field which contained about a dozen stock-fish and one brood-fish. Most people spent a good few minutes around this exhibit. Kim pointed out that one particular trout showed aggressive tendencies and would not leave the other fish alone. Even the brood-fish, which weighed about eight pounds as compared to the smaller two pound aggressor, was not spared. Things became so nasty that Kim had to net that fish out and put it into the lake!Dr. Roger Stenner had a display of the invertebrate sampling that he has been doing on the nearby river Tone, whilst Chris Klee and Ken Burrell showed the conservation measures that the waterworks employ. Things must be going pretty well as otter spraints have been found in the past year around various points of the waterworks’ area. The sailing club displayed some of their yachts and a variety of other groups were in evidence. All those to whom I spoke enjoyed the day and it looks like the exercise will be repeated next year. Our club will have to rethink the casting competition, but hopefully will be able to promote the fishing on the lake.What of the fishing this week? Well the weather has been cooler and, when it hasn’t been too windy as on Wednesday in particular, the fishing has been reasonable. The stocking levels continue to go up as more fish are “poured” in whist few get pulled out. So all of the locals are expecting a real “bonanza” pretty soon. I may well be writing about that in the near future. Next Friday I am at the Game Fair being held in Shuttleworth, Bedfordshire. I shall be giving casting lessons on behalf of the Salmon and Trout Association. If any readers of my articles on this website wish to come along and have a chat with me at the Fair, please do.Tight lines,

Martin Cottis