July 2019 Blog

Well, we got through that awful July day when the temperatures hit 100F and the fishing here has continued to be very popular with the anglers who use smaller flies being by far the most successful. The clear water and good light of high summer really helps the stalkers and some beautiful rainbows have been caught as well as some of the older browns which have been resident for many months. It’s almost like seeing an old friend when a happy angler brings one in to the scales.

Bits of rain of late have helped things so much, do you remember the terrible drought of last year and how everywhere was so brown and dried up?

Our stock continue to grow well and Stuart is really pleased with them. He carefully monitors the water temperatures and humidity such that some days the fish don’t get fed as the extra oxygen requirements of a full tummy would stress them too much. It’s a complex process ensuring there are always enough fish of the right size on site.

July is birthday month here at Dever and our Jamie turned 21 early in the month. One of his gifts was a clay shooting session at the nearby range and he has been out after his favourite carp. Often it’s now with the fly rod.

It was birthday time for Pete too as he hit 72 while on his annual trip to Alaska.

Sounds like the two groups he was leading had amazing fishing again and there were loads of bear viewing opportunities. Oddly enough the temperatures way up there were the same as in the UK, and that too was a record event.

The fishery has looked really good this summer and the long hours of mowing and strimming really do pay off. Regular weed cuts to both lakes keep things under control although growth rates in the heat have been staggering. 

One thing you may have noticed these past weeks is that we have a family of greylag geese. Quite where they nested we aren’t sure but there’s always something new with nature and as well as the geese this year we have had a lot of pleasure watching the grey wagtails catching damsel flies to feed their young. Right now there are large numbers of swallows with what looks like a very successful breeding season for them and we have also been treated to the aerial skills of swifts as they drink from the lake surface.

What’s to come? Well summer can’t be done yet and it’s a ways to go before the water cools but the big ones are being steadily trickled in to the lakes and there’s always a surprise or two to be had.

Cautiously optimistic for some of the trophy sized rainbows and while grading the various ponds it can often throws up a surprise. Like where did the little crucian carp come from and then what was the big double brown doing in a tank of rainbows.

It can only have somehow managed to jump the low wall between the ponds, maybe it just wanted some different company.
One thing that never ceases to amaze our anglers is to see the shoals of minnows living in the ponds with the fish and yet they are never eaten. Nature sure is a wonderful thing and forever challenging us all.

Dever Springs is a trout fishery, set in the beautiful Hampshire countryside between Andover and Winchester. For more information on our individual and corporate days, please email info@deverspings.co.uk or call 01264 720592