Another trip to Curleys...

After a rather busy start to the year I have not been able to get out fishing for about three or four weeks so was glad to be able to escape for the day.  Arranged to meet up with our Dad for a spot of fishing at Curleys Fishery.

The weather here had been a bit blustery the last few days but today was forcast to be much better, or so we thought!  A constant (and rather chilly) wind of what seemed to be around 20mph had us stuck to the pontoons for the majority of the day but this didn't mean that we could not be successful!

Dad arrived at the fishery first and managed to get this nice Blue in first.  What a nice head start that was! (photo taken from Curleys Blogg)

It went to a Flexi-Cat on a floating line, fished quite shallow on the first pontoon near the road.

This did leave me with some catching up to do, and it wasn't long before I was into my first fish!  I was fishing with my first home tied fly and it was quite satisfying to catch on something home made.  Although this was also a little but more frustrating than usual to lose said fly shortly afterwards after a clumsy cast into a nearby tree!

 

Things then went quiet for a while then Dad got into this super little fish.  Again going to a Flexi - Cat but this time fished on an Intermediate line, a little deeper than we were reaching with floating line.

This spurred me on to make the switch, which paid off ;

Again going to a Flexi-Cat, this fish was taken very close to the bank but imediately went on a run towards the middle of the lake.  As I brought him closer I had to really fight hard to keep him from slipping under the pontoon.

 

 All in all another great day was had, in spite of the wind.  The totals were three for Dad and four fish for me, which is quite a happy result.  Unfortunately it may be another few weeks before I get to go again, thanks to a busy schedule.  Fingers crossed I might squeeze another trip in somewhere soon!

Start the year as you mean to go on....

Waking up with a very limited hangover on New Years Day left me with enough energy to scrape in a 4 hour ticket up at Curleys Fishery in Horwich.  After one or two recent trips here this place really has been fishing well, and with the nice Blue's that have been put in it is worth the trip.

Unfortunately the weather was not on our side for the day, which had the fish showing very little signs of feeding.  I managed this nice sized bow towards the end of the day, just as the daylight was fading.  It went to a weighted Nymph fished under a bung, not everyones favourite method of fishing but works for me as a last resort.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, it was very dark and my hands were very cold!

The day after New Years day was a little different.  Robert, my second cousin had dropped in on his way back south after his christmas leave from the forces.  Being a keen flyfisher we decided on a trip up to Barsfold with Dad and his new gear.

This turned out to be a rather windy but productive day, considering the conditions.  Robert managed to bag three fish and lost and absolute monster!  We always exagerate the one that got away but I can vouch that looking at the head and body on it as it rose, it was easily an 8 - 10lb fish!

Robert with one of his fish, posted here so his dad back home will believe us!

I hit my two fish limit early on, this fish being the bigger of the two at about 3 1/2lb.  Shortly afterwards managed one more but then the fishing seemed to die off until later on in the afternoon.

Again right before we were ready to pack things up for the day I managed to hook into one last fish.

All fish caught today put up a great fight, something which always makes me want to keep coming back to Barnsfold, no matter what the weather is doing.