The 2023 Fluff Chuckers / Fly Fishing Fanatics introduction weekend has been a great success. Anglers from all over the south of England and Wales meeting up to try their hand at fly fishing for pike on the Somerset levels.
A frosty scene greeted the anglers on the day. The team started with a group session talking tackle, landing nets, unhooking mats and leader/ bite guards and then on to a quick health & Safety talk.
Everyone had the opportunity to ask lots of questions with hints and tips given. Helping Rodney over the weekend was Oliver Cullingford a Turrall team mate and pike on the levels expert.
The team was split the anglers into two groups with group A fishing with Rodney on the KSD drain and group B fishing with Oliver on the river Parrett on Saturday, changing the groups over on the Sunday.
The Saturday was absolutely freezing with temperatures around minus 4 all day making things extremely difficult with rod rings freezing and casting at times impossible until all the ice was removed, Oliver and Rodney did looked at each other and and utter those fateful words 'there won’t be much caught today', how wrong they were. Lots of Jack pike a good Chub and a good Perch coming to the nets on that day.
Both locations fished well with a few anglers achieving there first fly caught pike. So by the end of the first day all anglers still present, cold but smiling. Saturday evening saw a lot of the groups meeting up for a few drinks and a meal In Taunton, a chance to warm up and talk fishing, make new friends and tell some stories.
Sunday morning came and the ice was gone with the temperature having risen to a more tropical 8 degrees along with a little light rain. Phillip Hoskins had his first ever pike within a few cast and things looked good, but the rise in temperatures and pressure seemed to put the fish off. The day was a lot harder than the previous but once again seeing a Perch and a very good Chub coming off the river Parrett and a few jacks. The KSD only produced 2 jacks for the group and was a tougher fish.
However all in all everybody had a good weekend and hopefully learnt a few new tricks. Turrall supplied a two Cortland Pike lines, one for the largest fish caught over the weekend and also one for the most pike caught over the weekend. Turrall also provided goody bags for each participant complete with badges, stickers, flies and wire traces.
Congratulations go to Slawomir Pilecki winning the largest fish and Brian Parry for the most fish caught. Fluff Chuckers would like to thank all that attended and Turrall for kindly supplying goodie bags for everyone. Also Babs Craig of Predator Fly Fishing for supplying leaders, bite guard and clips for everyone. Oliver and myself also want to thank Andy Cattell and Jim Lockyer for lending a hand over the weekend. Also James Mason of Bridgewater Angling association for his help with the permits and Langport & District Angling association for permits on the River Parrett.
Well done to all and a huge congratulations to Rodney and Oliver for another successful Pike event.
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