Woodmill - Southampton

sewinfly

sewinfly

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Alwyn had 4 fish from there the other night with another 2 fish for the other guys.
Will be there July.

Sewinfly............................
 
silverflash

silverflash

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sewinfly said:
Alwyn had 4 fish from there the other night with another 2 fish for the other guys.
Will be there July.

Sewinfly............................
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Thanks Sewinfly - I'd be surprised if there weren't fish there by now!

Will report back on my day - a couple of weeks or so away. Hopefully not to be rained off like my last 2 outings there have been!!:p
 
A

Alwyn

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Hi Silverflash - there are fish in there but not in big numbers I would say. I only saw 2 fish move all night, but we caught. The water is running clear but high and fast. Some of the flows have altered from last year as the gravel has shifted slightly. There are 2 big snags by the main flow - trees that haven't been moved. Stepping off the point of the jetty is a bit hairy as the water is deeper and faster this year but once you're in, it's fine. The fish will no doubt start to run in numbers before long. A friend went last week and had a terrible night with his party blanking. He didn't wade off the jetty though which I feel was a mistake, although I understand why he was reluctant. He said that he saw no fish move all night, didn't get a pull and tried everything. I'm back on the 5th June.
 
sewinfly

sewinfly

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Alwyn said:
Hi Silverflash - there are fish in there but not in big numbers I would say. I only saw 2 fish move all night, but we caught. The water is running clear but high and fast. Some of the flows have altered from last year as the gravel has shifted slightly. There are 2 big snags by the main flow - trees that haven't been moved. Stepping off the point of the jetty is a bit hairy as the water is deeper and faster this year but once you're in, it's fine. The fish will no doubt start to run in numbers before long. A friend went last week and had a terrible night with his party blanking. He didn't wade off the jetty though which I feel was a mistake, although I understand why he was reluctant. He said that he saw no fish move all night, didn't get a pull and tried everything. I'm back on the 5th June.
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Will those snags be removed Alwyn ?

Sewinfly........................
 
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Alwyn

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Certainly in time for your visit Spencer - a group of us have offered to do it for Woodmill and it looks like they're up for it.
 
silverflash

silverflash

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Alwyn said:
Hi Silverflash - there are fish in there but not in big numbers I would say. I only saw 2 fish move all night, but we caught. The water is running clear but high and fast. Some of the flows have altered from last year as the gravel has shifted slightly. There are 2 big snags by the main flow - trees that haven't been moved. Stepping off the point of the jetty is a bit hairy as the water is deeper and faster this year but once you're in, it's fine. The fish will no doubt start to run in numbers before long. A friend went last week and had a terrible night with his party blanking. He didn't wade off the jetty though which I feel was a mistake, although I understand why he was reluctant. He said that he saw no fish move all night, didn't get a pull and tried everything. I'm back on the 5th June.
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Thanks for the info Alwyn. I'm there the night before you! Hopefully all will go well..... But every visit there is different!
 
silverflash

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Well, I've had my annual trip and all I can say is that it wasn't my most exciting trip ever, and I'm glad I haven't booked any more nights (as I have in the past) as I would ask for my deposits back!

What on earth is happening to the management of this pool? The water coming in through the sluice from the main river is running, in my opinion far too fast and its pretty well white water half way across the pool. The current is whizzing around both sides at a hell of a rate and really is ripping past the end of the jetty. There is no island visible at low tide and your line is constantly being ripped away from most of the hot spots, never allowing the necessary presentation of a fly at depth.

We fished faster intermediates all night - which resulted in 3 fish; one a small half pound sea trout covered in too many sea-lice and the other two fish were slivery Brownies - best described as stockies both around the 2-3lb mark that had chosen to go to sea (Slob trout? perhaps?)

No fish showed all night and I left with the feeling that it had been a slog, not unlike fishing a Russian or Scottish river early in the season when water levels are high and fast, and you have to do constant line control of your faster sinking lines! Certainly not like the 'gentle pool' of previous years!! (having said that, I didn't fish it last year, so perhaps its been like this for a couple of years now?)

The snags (trees/ branches of trees on either side of the main flow) are a disgrace; if you hook into one of the monsters that are known to reside in there, you will most certainly have a battle on your hands to stop them getting caught in one or other of these big snags. I have hooked up in the past and I know how well they use the whole of the pool to their advantage.

We pay a lot to fish this pool. Is it worth our while airing our views, or do they fall on deaf ears?

Alwyn - how was last night.....?
 
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Alwyn

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Hi Silverflash - we had a similar experience to you I'm afraid. 2 of us fished it and I had 1 schoolie early on, lost a fish in the 6-7lb class, missed a good take and that was it. My mate blanked. The flow is not great and it's difficult to fish how you want. The EA control the sluices and the management always say that they can't do anything about it. They are right except that I don't feel that they try to put any pressure on the EA. A couple of years ago when we had high water, my mate contacted the EA, found the guy responsible and at least was able to have a reasonable discussion with him. The EA guy said that he would be considerate towards the fishing issues wherever possible and seemed very genuine. I just don't think that Active Nation understand fishing and don't have the will to be proactive with the EA. The flow was similar early on last year and it got better and ultimately, the Itchen is high following the wet winter so the pool will be affected. I think it will drop in the coming weeks and my mate is going to call the EA and see if they will do anything about the sluices. Fundamentally I think that there aren't lots of fish in the pool just yet - we saw around 5 fish showing all night which is unusual, but they will no doubt start to run in the next few weeks. The snags are a disgrace and the management should've sorted them long ago. I'll be speaking to them next week to see if we can organise the working party that we offered so that they can be removed.
 
silverflash

silverflash

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Hi Alwyn,
I do understand that the main river is flowing high as a result of the recent wet winter but the gauge shows it to be at the bottom of 'typical range' so there's no real need for the sluices to be so wide now, surely? After a spell of heavy rain, it's fair enough to have them wider or the excess water would back up and flood the road and surrounding area!
It is early in the season, fair point - we simply need to fish the conditions in front of us. I'm sorry you lost a good fish- pretty gutting when there is so little other action going on! Where did you hook it?
 
F

fishpond

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Hi all

Has anyone raised the issue of the snags with Julie? Seems nuts that we get charged so much to fish and they don't bother to ensure you can fish the main run. I'm not due there for another month and happy to help out if the work party goes ahead and falls on a free weekend.

Richard
 
LES THE FLYFISHER

LES THE FLYFISHER

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I emailed Julie yesterday and her reply was
Hi Les

I have passed your email on to the Centre Manager and they will try and have a go and get it out over the next couple of days.

Best wishes

The more people that complain about it the better so get your emails off to her
Les
 
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fishpond

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Hi Les

Good idea - and have done so!

Tight lines (sea trout not wood!)

Richard


eleslieevans said:
I emailed Julie yesterday and her reply was
Hi Les

I have passed your email on to the Centre Manager and they will try and have a go and get it out over the next couple of days.

Best wishes

The more people that complain about it the better so get your emails off to her
Les
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awillatts@hotmail.com

awillatts@hotmail.com

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Well it seems to have worked :D


Dear All Fishermen

I have had a couple of emails from fishermen regarding parts of trees that are in the salmon pool.

Just to let you all know we do take on board any comments that are made and yesterday members of staff went into the pool and dragged out as much as they could, especially the big parts of trees that had fallen in.

If there are any further issues with fishing please do contact me either by email or by giving me a call.

Many thanks

Julie
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L

Lionel Tangled

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sewinfly said:
Looking forward to it.

Sewinfly.......................
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Fished last night. A tough evening with only 2 good fish caught and three others lost. A few things: There is still a large tackle eating snag in the pool to the left of the fishing hut. I will mention it to Julie Godwin. Fish were sparse at low tide but a few did appear to come in with the high spring tide. The water conditions are fine and as one would expect after the wettest winter for 100 years. Fishing was postponed on a lot of chalkstreams until June due to flooded banks. There isn't anything EA or Active Nation can really do to change this fact - sluice control will only do so much. The high water also makes it easier/more attractive for fish to leave the pool and travel upstream. Woodmill is really a low water pool and will fish better as the water drops and the season goes on - last year followed a pretty similar pattern.The Monks Brook is worth a few throws - lost a fish in there and the higher water in the main river is backing the Brook up and making velocity slower and easier to fish.
 
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fishpond

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Hi

Anyone been lately? - off next week and would be interested to hear which snags to avoid still and how it's fishing. As usual plenty of flies to tie - liked the look of the Lambton worm inT&S so will be tying some of those as well as the usual snakes and shady lady's

Richard
 
sewinfly

sewinfly

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fishpond said:
Hi

Anyone been lately? - off next week and would be interested to hear which snags to avoid still and how it's fishing. As usual plenty of flies to tie - liked the look of the Lambton worm inT&S so will be tying some of those as well as the usual snakes and shady lady's

Richard
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Let us know how you get on with the Lambton Worm Richard.

Sewinfly...............
 
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fishpond

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Hi sewinfly

Didn't end up tying any due to time - blue pearl snake and dark mackerel still work though ;) what was strange was catching fish in the really flat water at the top of the tide when it was like a mirror and the moon was out but not the falling water when we would usually catch but the flow changes mean a little reeducation is required!
Back in a couple of weeks

Tight lines

Richard





QUOTE=sewinfly;50181]Let us know how you get on with the Lambton Worm Richard.

Sewinfly...............[/QUOTE]
 
L

Lionel Tangled

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Hi Fishpond. we're fishing in a week's time. Did you have the fish on largish flies and sunk lines or smaller flies fished shallower? Last time we went it was slow, but takes came as you said - towards the top of the tide in flat water. The tackle eating snag is still there to the left of the hut - presume its a sunk tree judging by the odd branch that came back when I did manage to retrieve stuck flies.
 
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