End of season - How was yours?

ian1104 · Oct 19, 2020

October 17th marked the end of the Sea Trout season on my local river, the Seiont. This was my second full season of night fishing.

Some observations/lessons learnt/achievements for the season:

Managed my first fly-caught ST during daylight hours after a spate.
Tied my first tube flies, but still haven't caught on one ?
I managed my PB Sea Trout of just over 10lb, with my second PB also caught, around the 4lb mark;
Ended the season with 14 fish, compared to last season's 22 fish - smaller numbers but bigger fish?
Discovered a couple of new pools that I hadn't fished previously, one of which was the most productive for the season.
Caught my first sea trout on the surface lure.
Learnt that ST do not seem to like thunder/stormy weather on my local river - and neither do I ?;
Spotted a few Otters on the river - although they killed the fishing, were a pleasure to see;
Snapped a rod for the first (and hopefully last) time!!!!
Learnt the importance of carrying a spare torch in my bag;

So, let's hear about your season and any personal achievements, observations or lessons learnt!

phl · Oct 19, 2020

That's a great season, Ian. I think 14 fish is a pretty good result, and a 10lb fish is fantastic - beats my PB!
Mine has been a poor season, I'm afraid - a few nights on the Dysynni. on holiday in Wales, were unproductive, and otherwise I had few opportunities to fish.
I have done quite well sometimes with a surface lure, but not this year!

Paul

ian1104 · Oct 21, 2020

Not been the ideal season with lockdowns, social distancing, travel restrictions etc..... let's hope everything is back to normal sooner rather than later!

phl said:
That's a great season, Ian. I think 14 fish is a pretty good result, and a 10lb fish is fantastic - beats my PB!
Mine has been a poor season, I'm afraid - a few nights on the Dysynni. on holiday in Wales, were unproductive, and otherwise I had few opportunities to fish.
I have done quite well sometimes with a surface lure, but not this year!

Paul

Alwyn · Oct 21, 2020

I've had a decent season overall. In the Spring when we were under hard lockdown I feared that there would be no sea trout fishing this year and I was thoroughly depressed. It was fantastic to be able to eventually be able to fish and I squeezed in quite a few outings. My overall catch return numbers will be good but this is because I have had several nights on Testwood and Woodmill which are two venues that can be quite obliging in terms of numbers of fish. I had several short sessions on the Towy and I feel that I saw more fish than in recent years and although I saw quite a few big fish, I struggled to get many above 2lbs in the summer months. This was apparently a common issue. Low point of the season for me was fishing the Bridge Pool on the Avon where you trott for sea trout. Not only a poor result and plagued by paddle boarders and other rivercraft, but not a method I enjoyed and one to tick off for the future. High point was my 4 good sea trout on my final outing on the Towy for this year. All a bit coloured, but thrilling to catch nonetheless. I've also enjoyed this forum this year which - credit to Geoff - has been revitalised and informative. Hope we can keep it up through the long dark days of the closed season. Tight lines everyone!

haptonlad · Oct 21, 2020

My season for sea trout has been average TBH.
For the past 3 seasons now on the Ribble, the river has been really low before the main run of sea trout & when we’re in the peak of our season, the river just keeps on flooding. The sea trout just run without stopping in the pools I fish?
I’ve had 7 to up to 4lb & a few herling.
I’m still fishing for salmon until the end of October & I’m having a good season for them, equaling my pb for the season with 12 so far?
Hopefully I can bank another before the season ends?
I can’t complain if not, I’ve really enjoyed the season so far?

weatherman · Oct 23, 2020

Due to the nationwide confusion, restrictions & indifferent weather patterns, I sadly never wet a line or lure this season. I sincerely hope that as a fraternity of dedicated anglers, we can beat this pandemic & safely get back into our routine of some serious pursuits of our favoured quarry.

Richard · Oct 23, 2020

Same as Weatherman, first season I haven't wet a line. Shame as I had bought a migratory license in March and joined my usual two clubs in January. Look forward to 2021.

T7 · Oct 23, 2020

haptonlad said:
My season for sea trout has been average TBH.
For the past 3 seasons now on the Ribble, the river has been really low before the main run of sea trout & when we’re in the peak of our season, the river just keeps on flooding. The sea trout just run without stopping in the pools I fish?
I’ve had 7 to up to 4lb & a few herling.
I’m still fishing for salmon until the end of October & I’m having a good season for them, equaling my pb for the season with 12 so far?
Hopefully I can bank another before the season ends?
I can’t complain if not, I’ve really enjoyed the season so far?

That’s a great season by most measures but particularly on an English river

billy fish · Oct 24, 2020

We’re having a late run down here in Devon . I’ve had a few fresh school peal about the pound and a half size . This has been the best of late .

A week of the season to go but the weather will probably rule out any meaningful fishing.

elwyman · Oct 24, 2020

Well done Billy, I'm looking forward to next season already!
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sewinfly · Oct 28, 2020

Not a particularly great season for me on the Usk or Ogmore.
Mainly due to months of lockdown.
Ogmore had a couple of mullet, did not fish for sewin.

Had a nice trip with Alwyn to Testwood managed a few seatrout and the biggest about 3.5Ib from the Test.
No trips to Woodmill due to Wales being locked down and certainly missed the few trips that I book there.

As to the Usk when it was opened to the syndicate the spring and best part of the summer had gone.
Managed 10 salmon best being just over 13 pounds.Did lose about 6 or more.

Before the river was really opened to us the season was approaching the end.

Draconian measures brought in by NRW had a big effect to the fishing,Whether there will be a change to restrictions who knows for 2021.

Don't hold your breath.

All the best

Sewinfly. ............

elwyman · Oct 28, 2020

My season was probably about average in terms of sea trout numbers, but I probably put in more effort than usual because I was fishing a new beat on the lower Clwyd. The beat is only 5 minutes away, so it is certainly handy for regular night fishing jaunts!
I also fished higher up on the Elwy and had a couple of visits to the Dee, near Corwen.
I think the Clwyd has probably had a reasonable run of sea trout, but the salmon run seems to be in serious decline. From what I hear, the neighbouring Dee and Conwy have enjoyed good runs of salmon, but for some reason the salmon run on the Clwyd continues to decline......annual catches used to be around 200 but we are lucky to get 20 salmon nowadays.
I ended up with one salmon from the Elwy and around 30 sea trout. 3 nice ones around 4lb, the majority were smaller fish around 1lb to 1.5lb, which is typical for the Clwyd.

teififlies · Oct 29, 2020

Happy with my season all things considered what with covid, lockdown, high water temperatures and the river running green for about 3 weeks.
Small sewin up to 2lbs were plentyful but the larger sewin were noticable by there absence due to overfishing in low water during April and May.
On the salmon front a fair spring and summer run but once again no autumn run of silver, fresh sealiced fish into double figures the Teifi used to be famous for. But thats true of many rivers in the U.K.
I dont think the new N.R.W. regulations have affected my catches all that much. I've been fishing barbless for salmon about 5 years now, both fly and spinner. I fish doubles fly fishing, in line singles on Raps and large singles on spinners.
This is the 1st year I've fished barbless for sewin. To be honest at first I did find that I had more than a few drop off but they drop off with barbed hooks. As the season progressed my percentage of hook ups to landing ratio seemed to improve.

End of season - How was yours?

ian1104

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phl

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ian1104

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Alwyn

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haptonlad

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weatherman

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Richard

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T7

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billy fish

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elwyman

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sewinfly

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elwyman

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teififlies

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