A combination of events, mainly people taking holidays, meant that we had a very meagre turnout for our outing to this delightful fishery at Churt, Surrey. After the usual frustration of the M25, I arrived at 8.30 to find that a lot of work had been carried out since our last visit, with a newly built open fronted barn, housing two barbecues as well as a fireplace, to be used for outdoor entertaining. The old lodge had also been opened up on the first floor and fitted with large tables and chairs, ideal for corporate visits but sadly neither facility was necessary for the five of us who turned up on the day!
The weather was ideal, with a gentle ripple on the six lakes, a hazy sun which clouded over later and with fish cruising tantalisingly close to the surface, it seemed we should be in for a good day. However looks can be deceptive and we all found it rather difficult to entice fish to take our flies. Andrew Smith had the first excitement when his Thermos cap bounced three times and disappeared without trace into the lake but had the consolation of being the first of us to see real action when he landed a nice 2lb Rainbow. It was much later that a bailiff suggested using blood worm and after 20 minutes sorting out a terrible tangle and eventually discarding my leader, I managed to catch a super fish on the first cast using a bloodworm made from red rubber! When this happens you automatically think that you have the answer, but not another touch before lunch.
We were able to have a brief al fresco lunch with most of us eager to get back to the fishing as we only had half day tickets finishing at 2.00pm. We were joined by Les Bidewell who had set out with the intention to fish, only for his car to let him down and to return to borrow his wife’s car by which time it was too late to do anything other than enjoy the chat and the scenery, not only kingfishers but a couple of Spitfires flying overhead. Our regular guest, Ron Gorin fished through lunch to no avail, but had the excitement of seeing fish following his fly on each cast.
In the final half hour, I managed to get a second and saw Alan Badcock catch one, before leaving him to fish out the afternoon – a glutton for punishment obviously! Later, I learned his perseverance had paid off as he caught another two after we had all disappeared.
My thanks to everyone who attended, your commitment is really appreciated.
Next, it’s on to the River Test which might be even harder fishing!!
Report by George Fowler