Monthly Archives: February 2011

East Sussex

17 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by in East Sussex

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This is a story about fraternity and enthusiasm.

East Sussex is much like its West(ern) cousin, and unlike its northern neighbour, Kent. Streams are coarse fishing delights, but the character and weediness of downland chalk is absent, and the rivers are short and subject to tidal influence. Sea trout run in some and in the upper reaches of a few there are browns, but they are as few as the reaches they exist in.

Where to start?

The WTT and the STA sites offered no hope. On some other search, I discovered that the National Trust occupies watery space, some of which contain flowing water and trout, too. And in East Sussex, the Dudwell flows through a property called Bateman’s, a Jacobean mansion, once the home of Rudyard Kipling, and run by the NT, and the Burwash Fishing Club has the water either side of its boundaries. (It can also be found on the Go-Fish website).

A note to Secretary, Jonathan Deeley revealed :

“The Dudwell is a small river running over clay and contained between high banks. A lot of it is wooded and there are very few places where it is possible to back-cast, therefore the fly-fisher has to rely on roll-casts and ‘catapult-casts’. There is a mayfly hatch, and other various ‘up-wings’, hawthorns, gnats etc, but for the most part the trout are taken on nymphs.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As it is a small club, membership opportunities are few, and day tickets are not offered…but I am on the waiting list! So good news.

Other connections were made. To Lewes AC., and I found Mike Richardson of Southdown AC, and asked him for the name of his counterpart at Isfield & District AC., whose waters seemed more likely for my task. His counterpart’s (another Mike’s) response was helpful and indicated where there are trout in the Uck.

But it was a note back to Mike (R), in thanks for his introduction, which yielded the following –

Hi Tony,

You should try the River Cuckmere above Horsebridge (near Hailsham)

Get in touch again next spring & I’ll try to point you in the right direction.

Best regards & tight lines,

Mike

So now you know where I am…three streams where by the sound of it, with steeply sided banks and a fast overgrowth of vegetation, an early season visit is a must, plus the prospect of a variety of upwings coming off….who knows?

Thank you to all the East Sussex enthusiasts who have shared, willingly, their knowledge and offered thoughts and time to help me. The Uck, the Cuckmere, the Dudwell…we will see!

Watch this space…literally!

KENT

02 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by in Kent

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Living in Kent for twenty years, I eagerly sought out trout in a county which has its share of chalk streams, but the county waters are shallow and under protected and predated both by bird life and poaching. There are trout in the Darent(h) and the Cray, and further out of London, the Eden and Teise, but perhaps the most prolific (and attractive) river is the Stour.

In the nineties, I fished and caught trout in both the Teise and the Stour.

Teise

The river is mostly swift flowing over gravel, with streamy sections alternating with deeper pools. Good summer flows are maintained by water discharged from Bewl reservoir. I was a member of The Teise Anglers & Owners Association for a few seasons and it controls approximately eight miles of the river, deep in the heart of the beautiful Kentish countryside, between Goudhurst, Marden and Collier Street . A typical small stream where careful casting is a must, to the patient it yields a few fish, and I found mainly the stocked browns, and the odd rainbow, and nearly always on nymphs.

Great Stour

The Stour meanders through farmland between Ashford and Canterbury, the most fishy waters seemingly upstream of the A2 trunk road. Midway is the very lovely Chilham Mill,

sitting on a stretch of water owned by South East Water, which includes a beat a few miles downstream at Thannington.

When I first fished the river here, it was a day ticket water run by Mid Kent Fisheries. Wadeable, and gently flowing through the Mill grounds it contains surprisingly large fish which gorge themselves on shrimp and a healthy diet of flylife, and offering good dry fly fishing from the A28 road bridge to the pool below the narrow bridge on the alternative stream bypassing but adjacent to the Mill. I stood happily catching brownies from there one evening, but derived as much enjoyment watching the small school of perch swimming around my legs! And, there is plentiful birdlife for distraction during dog days…..it is a very pretty and calming place.

At about the Millenium, it converted to a Members’ Syndicated water, and I was lucky enough to be invited to fish the Thannington stretch by Richard Wise, a member there, as well as a fellow member, with me, of Trossley Fly Fishers (Chaired by Fellow Master, Mike Stemp!) near home.

Last year, SEW announced that following a strategic review of assets, it was to sell Mid Kent Fisheries (which includes carp lakes) and the Chilham Mill site.

On January 18th this year (2011) the Company announced the sale to a management buyout led by Chris Logsdon, who has run the fishery successfully for twenty years…..good news, indeed.