Bank Fly Fishing For Reservoir Trout - A New Dawn - Part Two. Continuing on from the first initial piece Bank Fly Fishing For Reservoir Trout - A New Dawn - Part One here is the second part in the Bank Fly Fishing For Reservoir Trout - A New Dawn series of posts.

Enforcement Of The Local Bye Laws

The scores of dogs that are walked around Pitsford daily by the non angling public are rarely kept on a leash in plain contravention of the bye laws that are posted all around the reservoir. They disturb the nesting birds every spring. Cock their leg and pee over anglers tackle. Many are unable to resist swimming into the lake chasing wildfowl such as swans and geese. And for at least one unfortunate angler during the 2011 season had one bite through a brand new fly line costing over £35:00. This was after the animal ran amok over a spare rod left on the bank side with his other tackle. The dogs owner was simply unable to control her animal.

If a polite reminder from Anglian Water does not curb the number of uncontrollable dogs like the infamous Fenton of Richmond Park Deer Herding incident is insufficient perhaps a recourse to the draconian enforcement of the bye laws and hence prosecutions might need to be considered.

A number of successful prosecutions that could raise £500:00 a time would more than cover the training if provided to bailifs and wardens entrusted to pursue this sensible enforcement action. Literally thousands of pounds could be raised before the public get the message to abide by this simple well justified bye law and keep their mutt under control and on a leash.

1. Safer and better control of the public visitors dogs when bank side.

Excessive Summer Weed

Some summers it hardly shows, some like the last few seasons has seen colossal weed growth around the banks at Pitsford, Grafham and Rutland. For most of the summer months starting from as early as June through to November the available bank spots that are fishable can be extremely limited due to a combination of this incredibly heavy weed growth and the vagaries of wind speed and direction.

Unlike at Eyebrook where there is a weed cutter and effort made to remove the summers weed growth and keep the bank anglers happy there seems to be a general hands off policy in managing this explosive and clogging weed growth by Anglian Water. So yet another great opportunity is presented for generating potential revenue.

By providing a weed clearing rake based upon that which is used by coarse anglers for sale at all the Anglian Water tackle shops and encouraging anglers to cut the weed themselves by hand pulling a rake through. Once again a win - win situation for anglers and Anglian Water as the complaints about the weed could be nullified by offering anglers the means to cut it themselves. Another unique sale item guaranteed to bring in revenue.

A portable weed cutting rake kit based upon these component parts all available from any Garden Centre would fit the requirement:

1. A rake or weed cutting head
2. A connecting shackle
3. A short length of light chain
4. A 15 metre length of rot proof rope
5. A canvas carry all type bag
6. A pair of gloves

Extend Car Access To Day Ticket Holders

Car access via the track that encircles Pitsfords "Big Half" is currently only available to season ticket holders who give a small deposit for the key. One of the biggest complaints I heard from the several anglers that visited Pitsford during the period when Draycote was closed was that they had long walks to endure when there was a track available providing easy access.

The proposal is to capture all relevant details from the day ticket holder such as his full address and other similar details and then be able to offer the key at a slightly higher deposit price to the season ticket holders. A smart thing to do would be to put this captured information into a database for future marketing related mail shots. Providing easier access to all anglers would be a huge encouragement to visiting the reservoir.

1. Extend access to the track to day ticket anglers via a slightly increased deposit cost for the key.

Friendly Bank Matches

The excellent Troutmasters Competition would be an excellent avenue for further promoting bank fishing at Pitsford. By having a regular monthly Anglian Water sponsored bank based competition throughout the season to fishery rules on say the third or fourth Sunday of every month with a small prize for the biggest catch and biggest fish caught it would become a focus for all anglers to participate and meet up.

This could be another attractor to the reservoir as the biggest fish caught could be a candidate for automatic submission to the Troutmasters competition, which by extension would give even more publicity to Pitsford via Trout Fisherman magazine. It could also become a forum for flagging up any issues the reservoir may be having at an early stage by those who see the changes first, namely the anglers on the bank side.

This could be extended to having a prize or trophy for the biggest fish caught from all of these monthly competitions.

1. Have regular weekend based monthly bank side friendly competitions throughout the season.

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