Caroline's October Report

This month I will start the report for once, if you’ll forgive me, with the news!

The men have arrived this morning (18th September) to begin the construction of our fourth lake here at Brick Farm! A truly historic moment, I’m sure you will agree. For those of you who have not yet seen the aerial plan we have displayed in the Lodge, the site of this new water is to be down in the dip of the valley below Stag Lake and will sit on a more East-Westerly orientation, thus allowing many more sheltered options on a windy day in the spring or winter, or even a British summer! It is to be larger in size than Brick Lake and will have a wildlife island in the middle. With contoured banks for interest, it will have swims to suit the left or right handed angler! It will be dug to a good depth right round and be filled from the overflowing spring water coming into Well Lake at the top of the fishery, so will remain clear and cold! There will be a track down to it to enable stocking and we intend to provide another railed, double-width platform for those needing wheelchair access. In time there will be mulched, woodchip paths and hardstand fishing swims and a “bus shelter” style hut for shelter from the sudden, unexpected squalls that sometime catch anglers out without a coat and a composting-style toilet for folk caught out in that particular department! If all goes well we expect to be opening it for fishing by this time next year and no doubt will have “a bit of a do” to launch it to our anglers. We will keep you posted!

Following the recent rainfall all the lakes are now almost full and the temperatures have dropped to a level for the fish to begin to become active and hungry for some excellent autumn sport. Anglers report hard fighting fish and aggressive takes now and we have recently been able to re stock some beautiful large blues, rainbows and browns for your entertainment. We will continue to stock all lakes weekly.

Now that the wonderful autumn months are upon us why not introduce a friend, partner or youngster, (we recommend for the children no younger than the age of 12) to this absorbing, fascinating sport-hobby-way of life? This is the perfect time to enjoy the late sunshine and enjoy the cooling fresh air in our very special piece of the countryside. We can offer tuition and rod/tackle hire and to help you take your first steps to experience this exciting new past-time. If you are a group of angling friends or belong to an angling club why not come for a day’s fly fishing and book a lunch. We can tailor a day to suit all requirements in regard to fishing tickets and menu and in fact this is a good chance to remind all of you that Christmas is fast approaching and we will be offering a festive version to suit all tastes!

We offer vouchers for gifts as Christmas presents and these can be purchased for the one you love from the comfort of your armchair via the phone. Just call us at the Lodge on 01323 832615. These vouchers are a popular present for angling partners or friends.

A date for your diaries… our Christmas competition this year will be held on Thursday 28th December. We will run this friendly and fun day along the usual lines with a charity raffle and simple but delicious lunch. This is always a popular day following the festivities of the Christmas period and a good day for blowing away the cobwebs. We will be happy to take any names now for an idea of numbers, just call the Lodge.

We have had some nice fish landed lately, caught on a number of fly patterns but still leaning towards the more natural, small imitations. Having said that… by the time this is issued the little devils will be taking all sorts of everything I suspect, as they start to instinctively feed up for the winter! As I mentioned, this is a fantastic time of year so why not treat yourself to a six fish ticket and come for a whole day!

Over and out now for a period of frantic fishing fun - a time of bonfires and blackberries, log fires and hot chocolate. Beef stews and sloe gin!! I can feel a new selection of flies in the making!

Happy autumn everyone! Caroline and Annie