First Cast ... Welcome to your February 2015 edion of ‘The Big Puddle’. This month without any fishing on the lake we concentrate on Fly Tying with features on the RWFF visit to the Brish Fly Fair Internaon- al, our Winter Fly Tying night and other RWFF winter presentaons. RWFF chairman (Welsh Expat) Chris Evans has wrien the first part of a fascinang and connuing series on the Diawl Bach nymph, commenng on its history, its variaons and an ambion to use only this deadly lile fly for the whole 2015 season…good luck Chris! We look forward to hearing how you get on. To honour John Seaton in his rerement year, we have an interesng feature on him and his fish- ing life. If you missed some of the winter evening events, we report on them all here, plus we’ve a few more arcles for your entertainment. RWFF will be having a significant presence at the Rutland Fly Fair, Burghley Country Fair, the Rut- land Show in addion to our own open day on March 14th so come along and join the fun. The Rutland Water Fly Fishers draw members from all over the country. Club members include anglers who have a passion for bank and boat angling, those who fish in local and internaonal compeons or those who just have a love for the sport. The Club runs a very pro-acve youth programme. RWFF are also the only fly fishing club in the East Midlands to have achieved Club- Mark accreditaon. To our members we say thanks for your connued support, come and join in with the friendly get- togethers and events we are holding throughout the year. The Monthly Sunday bank meets will be connuing to encourage youngsters into the sport. There will be prizes and cash pools to be won at the club compeons which we’ll be planning. There’s a chance to beat Graam Water Fly Fishing Associaon on their own reservoir this season and we’ll also be announcing some more events for 2015. It’s not too late to book your place at the club’s pre-season dinner in April (see details in this edion) to see who’s won the trophies and to enjoy a good meal with a jolly bunch of fishermen (aer a glass or two of Rutland Ale!) Membership of the RWWF club, at just £22 a year with 6 FREE ‘Big Puddles’, a packed FREE Winter programme and numerous FREE events, it’s definitely the best value on the water. We have a line of communicaon with Anglian Water and the other users of Rutland Water so get your friends, wives and fishing mates from near and far to join the club, even if they are only vising Rutland anglers, they can sll be ‘in the loop’ and get the latest news and views on the fishing at Rutland Water. The more members we get, the more influence we’ll have on your behalf to maintain the quality of this amazing fly fishery. We l have some excing developments and high ambions for the club but we need your connued support. Keep sending us your pictures, as good quality as possible please. It doesn’t have to be just big fish, happy fishermen or women with their catches is what we want. Plus send in your arcles, stories, ideas, comments and your fishing trip reports from other parts of the UK and worldwide. Let’s create an entertaining and informave magazine and a thriving effecve club. Kindly send anything of interest to the editor of or the club at [email protected]. Here’s a short video worth looking at on the controversy over the building of Rutland Water hps://vimeo.com/15089108. We hope that this edion gets you in the mood for the new 2015 season … Rob Waddington Editor. [email protected] 2 The Lake - Report from John Wadham Due to water quality problems in the source rivers Nene and Welland, pumping did not commence unl later in the year and by Christmas the water level was sll more than a metre down despite input from local streams off the land. However, since then, pumping must have been at a maximum as we are now – February 12th - full. Despite the huge influx of very coloured floodwater during pumping operaons the water is now nicely seled and beaufully clear. Hopefully, this will give the marginal ecology the opportunity to re-colonise. Luckily, this lioral zone has not been exposed to the icy elements for too long. At 4.5C the water temperature off the harbour wall this season is much lower than last year. As we know previous seasons, a cold start is no bad thing; as the water temperature in April can only go one way: and that is up! The disadvantage of starng with high early-season water temperature is that, given a cold snap in April - as in 1998 - the water temperature can fall and have a disastrous effect on the quality of the fishing. This season the whole of Whitwell Creek, parcularly the top end including the now aban- doned conservaon area, a very producve early-season fishing spot, will be available for fishing. John Wadham has been fishing Rutland since it opened and has a wealth of knowledge on our lake. A fountain of knowledge, he has wrien a number of excellent books on the subject, including RUTLAND WATER: BANK ANGLER'S GUIDE in conjuncon with the late Henry Lowe. Boat Fishing Report - Report from Rob Waddington The winter fry feeding frenzy didn’t live up to its earlier promise. In fact the fishing from boats was rather disappoinng throughout the extended winter fishing period. A fish or two was considered a good day. Some fish were seen rising sporadically in the North Arm open water feeding on corixa but aggressive fry feeders were notable by their absence. Indeed on certain days it seemed like there were no fish le in the water. The harbour wall was about the best chance but the coloured water in January hindered that also. The few boats which did go out were fishing for Zander and Pike and even the Zander seemed lethargic in the cold, foggy gloom. RWFF have suggested to Anglian Water the idea of holding a few fish back for the winter this year; Let’s see how it progresses in 2015. 3 The sight of a flolla of Kayaks loaded with numerous jigging rods greeted a few hardened winter bank fishers in Whitwell Creek last month. This was a one-off trial by the Predator Fishing Kayak Club. Apparently not many fish were caught. Would this be something to try for trout? It would certainly enable us to get nearer to our quarry. Let us have your views. Watch out also, for the invasion of ‘super strong men and women’ for the forthcoming Iron Man and Vetruvian Challenges around the lake :- Swimming, cycling and running the equivalent of many marathons. Perhaps we should sck to our fishing! By the me you read this later February edion, there will not be long to go before the Rutland Season begins on March 13th. Check out the website for news of any bank restricons this March. Stocking will commence in early March. So let’s look forward to a great season’s fishing on Rutland Water. Rob is a well known Rutland guide and qualified trout and spey casng coach and Orvis endorsed guide. Some members have expressed interest in fishing in Russia, the latest news is that places are geng booked quickly for next year, anyone seriously interested please contact Rob as soon as Members News RWFF members enjoyed a full and enjoyable winter programme this year. One of the benefits of joining our club are these excellent free evenings during the winter months. A chance to get out of the house and enjoy a pint or two with like-minded fishing fans, having fun and maybe learning some new tricks to help you during the season. Big Dave’s Trip to the 2015 Brish Fly Fair Internaonal “What a Great Day!” said the 33 adults and 16 youngsters who joined the luxury coach trip to the BFFI Fair in Staffordshire on the 8th February. ‘Big Dave’ Porter did a sterling job organising this event. The lucky trippers were treated to an amazing FREE raffle. Top prize was a fantasc new Hardy Greys GTEC 10’#7 rod which won by RWFF’s new member Karl Karmen. 4 There were 12 other prizes including a free day boat on Rutland Water, 3 boles of wine, choco- lates, a signed ‘Passion for Trout’ book, and a tackle box rod clamp and oak tool racks made per- sonally by Dave himself. The day was an unmigated success with members and friends alike com- menng on the pleasure of meeng new people and gaining many new ideas, and fly tying meth- ods and materials, and enjoying Dave’s very special raffle. Always looking for a bargain! … The RWFF team descend into Staffordshire at the BFFI. Send your funny capons to the editor. High- lights of the day included:- Marc Petjean tying his speciality CdC’s in ny sizes; Perfect for very wily trout also his innovave ‘gurgler’ fly, this would work well on Rutland. Swedish Mayfly wings which were virtually indestrucble, ed with synthec polythene. Veniards presented their brand new fly tying materials. Our group were amazed at the intricacies of tradi- onal ‘paired wing’ salmon flies. This is a true work of art. Some wonderful perch fry creaons featuring chain linked arculated bodies were shown with some large ‘Muskie’ flies from the Cana- dian North, again these would work on our Rutland Pike.