June 2019 Blog

Coming to the end of June here and what a blessing it’s been to have some rain at last. Conditions really have been ideal for quite some time and the fishing has been excellent. Last month (May) was when we hoped to see lots of mayfly but, in common with some other areas, it didn’t really happen. We saw the first flies here on May 4th and there was then a steady trickle come later afternoons and the river beat probably saw the best of it. It’s a nice stretch and can be fished for free providing you have a fish left on your lake ticket. It’s strictly upstream casting only and all fish caught must be released.

The lakes have been weed cut regularly and it’s staggering as to just how much has to be removed.

Water clarity varies and we have had good visibility in Spring lake with Willow being perfect one day and then a slight bloom the next but with both lakes it’s been small, dark flies fished none too deep which have done best. Stalkers using the fast sink patterns close to the edges are picking out some big fish and we are currently into the high doubles with rainbows, and expecting the first 20 soon! 

Stuart finally couldn’t resist stocking a few of his beautiful Sparctics and the best taken so far is 10lb 12ozs. The first ever double figure Sparctic! 

This interesting hybrid is proving to be quite a success and we have some beauties growing on for the future. We buy them in from Torre Fish Farm in Somerset who in turn, rear the fish from imported, fertilised eggs.

A lot of work goes into producing the fish which go into the lakes and you might think that the simple act of the twice daily feeding is a chore but nothing could be farther from the truth. We are always looking to see how the fish react to the food. For example:- a muggy, humid day will usually mean they don’t want so much first thing so maybe instead of a bucket a pond will just get a ½ feed or nothing at all if it’s also very warm . Come early afternoon and a bit of sunshine and they will be ready for a whole bucket again.

If the fish are ‘off the feed’ it can be as simple as a change in atmospheric pressure – just as it happens when you are fishing- but it can also mean a lack of through flow in the pond, low oxygen levels, illness or the presence of a predator. Any of these signs is where experience counts and some action may be necessary. 

In the same way we can usually tell if an individual fish is ‘off colour’ or sickening and it’s a fact that deaths, in among the many thousands of fish on site, is just inevitable. It really hurts when a special fish fails to get to the stocking stage but that’s just one of the risks of fish farming.

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