Hark ye Anglers! On this broodily overcast Easter Friday, I did head to Syon Park fishery to test out the new kit! Syon Park is the home of the Duke of Northumberland. It is but 30 min from London Waterloo station (Oyster card works - take Twickenham train to Syon Lane). The homestead looks like this:
Verily, the lake is picturesque! - asides from the planes flying overhead you wouldn't know you were in Zone 4!
In two hours I had indeed bagged three fish - the biggest being 2 3/4lb.
The day membership is 11 of your English pounds, and four "fish tickets" are 34 more... not cheap, but for the location...
A selection of the flies tested is shown below: damsels, cruncher, buzzer, cormorant...
All said and done, I did in fact catch all three fish on the same fly. To find out which, you should come to the next club night and ask! Interestingly the size 16 damsel (bottom left) was very popular with the fish - I had 5 takes in 10 minutes - but, alas, the fish would not stay on. A shortcoming of a small hook? It occurs to me also that the bead may further restrict the bite of the hook...
Quel horror!! - I did lose a couple of hooks!! The line broke both times at the tippet-fly knot. It is but anecdotal evidence of course, but this ceased to happen once I switched to using the infamous Palomar Knot, and ensuring that I lubricated the knot thoroughly before tightening (saliva, if you must ask).
Stomach report: small black bugs. God knows what they are:
The result - three fish pies, two fish in the freezer (frozen in a bag of water) - read on!
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