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Arriving at Ravensthorpe at around 9am I wondered if I'd made a mistake, the car park was empty, I couldn't see
any boats out and the whole place gave the impression of being entirely deserted ... excellent!
A four fish ticket
purchased, tales of what an excellent day had been had yesterday, and I was keen to launch the tube and get going. Conditions
seemed ideal, albeit water the water temperature was noticeably 'cool', gentle breeze and buzzers coming off,
so it was with eager anticipation that I set off across the main body of the reservoir towards the island, fishing as I went
with my intermediate. A couple of 'pulls' on the way seemed to confirm my expectations of a bumper day and with fish
sipping down the hatching buzzers in the flat water around the island the switch was made to the floating line with two buzzers
and a skinny spider on the dropper.
By 1pm frustration was beginning to get the better of me ... three fish lost
in three casts, a few more tentative pulls and that was it! Time to return to the bank for something to eat and a cup of coffee
and the opportunity to thaw out my feet.
The afternoon brought with it noticeably warmer temperatures, the sun
came out and fish continued to rise. I dropped down in fly size to 12s and 14s and quickly landed my first fish. Thereafter,
fish came regularly but steadfastly refused to stay on. Over the course of the afternoon I hooked and 'lost' a further
10 fish ... one of which I saw rise, cast, it took immediately and dashed off for the horizon taking me well into my backing
before 'releasing' itself. I called it a day with three fish in the bag when a cool breeze sprang up at around 5.30pm
and the fish seemed to take exception to the cooler air temperature and put their heads down.
But what a lovely
afternoon and evening fishing. Ravensthorpe is a lovely venue and the first midlands reservoir that I fished when moving from
Cornwall as a student in 1972. They make float tubers very welcome, launching is easy and the reservoir is much more sheltered
than many others.
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