Bank House: March 1st to March 16th

DATE                                        March 1st to March 16th
NOTABLE BAGS                  Norman Chapman completed the Bank House McNab (caught all three types of trout) and his four fish weighed 14lbs 4oz.
BEST RAINBOW                  10lbs to Mr B Kay from Blackpool and 9lbs 12oz to Colin Gibbons from Thornton
BEST BROWN                         4lbs 8oz to Norman Chapman from Liverpool
BEST BLUE                              3lbs 8oz Peter Hall from Lancaster
ROD AVERAGE                     4.8 Fish per angler
SPORT:                                  Before I talk about this period, there are a couple of catches from February that deserve to be reported. Ken Whiteside has earned a reputation for catching large specimen trout from both Stocks and Bank House and this day was no exception. Ken was fishing a bloodworm through The Swim along the far side of the lake when hooked into a really big fish. The rainbow that was finally netted tipped the scales to 19lbs and is still the biggest trout to be caught this year. You will be glad to know that Ken returned it and it is still at large, lurking somewhere amongst the islands. There were also two large browns caught in late February one weighed 12lbs 8oz and was tempted to Norman Chapman’s black buzzer and the other was a brownie of 12lbs and fell to a Dawson’s Olive fished by Mr A Leaver. The fishing in February was generally quite tricky and March is so far proving to be a lot more productive.  The water has warmed by a few crucial degrees, just enough to make a big difference to the trout. They are actively feeding now searching out buzzers, sticklebacks and other aquatic life. The rod average reflects this increase in activity and should be a sign of things to come. Phil Davies had a fantastic days sport. He switched between lures and buzzers and worked his way around the whole lake, a tactic that often pays at Bank House. Phil caught a mixture of rainbows and browns and his final tally was an unbelievable 24 trout. However he wasn’t the only one on fire. A few days ago Colin Gibbons matched him fish for fish. Colin also kept on the move and his best method was a damsel fished back on a slow sinking line.  On Sunday we held our Trout Master Fish Off. It was a closely fought contest and went right down to the wire, there was only one trout separating Ron Ritchie and Paul Danes. At the final whistle it was Ron Ritchie that crossed the line in first place (See picture below). Ron fished and mixture of white fritz tadpoles and buzzers to catch his bag and as the 2011 Bank House Champion he will represent us in the Nation final at Grafham Water. We wish him the very best of luck. Tight Lines Ben

Left: 3rd place Norman Chapman. Centre: 1st place Ron Ritchie. Right: 2nd place Paul Daines