2007 FISHING SEASON AT EDWINSFORD

2007 was the year of the water. After a very dry and warm April from mid May we seldom had to wait for long for decent water. This got us off to a much earlier start for salmon with the

With very little water April was slower than usualbut we did have a number of dirty spates in May which produced a salmon on 25th and 28th May - the earliest since we bought the estate at the end of the 1997 season. Things were then quiet until 21st June when Derek Kilgour did well to catch 5 sewin to 5lbs after a 3" rise. There was another flurry of activity in the first full fishing week of July when Derek (again) and Jonathan Heron caught 13 sewin to 4lbs.

Jason Coetzee did well to catch 3 towards the end of July in "costa" conditions plus the excitement of having a fly rod broken (we assume by a salmon) which was witnessed by his wife. Martin Kilpatrick, whose father was a regular visitor 20 years ago also added to the score.

Then there was then almost no rain until 18th August when the weather became quite unsettled and we started catching againSeptember which produced quite a few fish, mostly in daytime with Charles Stone, Christain de Wolfe, Derek Kilgour, Alan Church and Jonathan Heron all being successful. Small Bloody Butchers did the business in clearer water with large tubes and Mepps in coloured water. days of 9, 4 and 3 indicated a much better stock of fresher fish in our beats.

6 fish including 3 salmon were caught on 2nd September - Jonathan was trying a new seatrout rod which was broken by a 5lb grilse which he managed to land by hand lining it in - why do these rods break? The remainder of September was very dry with the rains returning at the end of the month when Liz Colin Musslewhite took advantage of better conditions accounting for several fish as did Derek Kilgour and Christain de Wolfe including a 4lb sewin and 12lb salmon.

We then had decent water but no tenants for the last fortnight of the season allowing Jonathan Heron to land a further 5 sewin to 4 lbs and 14 salmon to 12 lbs being caught by Derek Kilgour, Mike Timmis (owner of Wyesham on the Wye) and Jonathan Heron.

It was a real shame that the water came so late as the fishing was excellent once the conditions improved.

We have had massive floods during November which have continued the improvements to our "new" pools which were built in 2000, some now 8ft deep where the river had barely covered the gravel. It was satisfying that 3 salmon came from pools constructed on our new water in 2006, they can only improve over the winter.

Please ring me (01558 685848) if you have a spare minute and want to chat through the fishing in more detail - I am a passionate fisherman myself and try to run the fishery as I would like to find a fishery as a visiting angler. I like to think that we give everyone a good introduction to the river, on arrival anglers are given:

• a 2 hour "river tour" to point out best tactics
• advice on flies and tackle
• a map of the river
• detailed notes describing tactics, best lies etc - click on "FISHERY NOTES"

We give everyone lots of space and variety of fishing. Single anglers may have to share two 3/4 mile beats with one other angler but normally larger groups will be given its own 2 beats per day - one more suited to fly fishing and the other more shaded beat to provide more of a chance during the day. A 6 rod party will have exclusive use of the river apart from Derek Kilgour who usualyy only fishes the bottom beat closest to his house.

The Bothy is ideally placed in the middle of the fishery just 3 minutes from the river, for those not wishing to self cater there are good b&b's in the nearest village.

 

Jonathan Heron

6/12/06