First Cast ... Welcome to your packed Summer edion of the Big Puddle. So far we have experienced a bumper season with great shing and quality trout. Rutland’s brown trout are truly world class and already we’ve witnessed some awesome catches. A number of big overwintered rainbows are also turning up, proving that they are sll in the lake despite their apparent absence last Autumn. As your editor puts this edion together we have been through some extreme weather condions; chilly winds and rain but mostly baking hot hu- mid days when the intense heat and sun made shing di(cult. )owever, given a decent ripple and some cloud cover, the trout have been taking a delicately pre- sents dry *y with enthusiasm. The beginnings of ,pin fry’ feeding is apparent and despite compara- vely small hatches of bu--ers, they’ve somemes been producing arm wrenching pulls to a slowly shed imitaon. Some of the recently stocked rainbows are ghng beyond their weight, they are silver and t, and giving a superb account of themselves. .et’s hope the mid-Summer months give the same excellent sport. RW// members are conscious of the high average age of *y shers and the RW// club is doing sterling work to encourage young anglers into the sport. 0ur Sunday bank meets are more popular than ever and with the producve bank shing over the past few months many new comers have caught their rst trout and become ,hooked’1 2n this edion we highlight the emergence of a new breed of *y sher 3oining the old guard. Twen- ty somethings o4en brought up in urban environments are *ocking to the rivers and lakes to en3oy *y shing. These guys and girls are the much needed next generaon of *y anglers; cool, trendy, skilful and enthusiasc, see the arcle further in this Big Puddle. Remember to use the members only interacve RW// /acebook page to communicate your own reports and ps on shing Rutland Water as it happens.. RW// /ishing News at www.facebook.com6groups67278364104681776?fref=ts Rutland Water /ly /ishers is a lively, friendly club with a full Winter programme of events and many social gatherings and compeons throughout the season, we welcome anyone to 3oin, from total beginners to dyed in the wool ol’ mers1 .et’s encourage more *y shers to 3oin the club. Anrol your shing buddies and visitors, even people who only visit Rutland occasionally can bene t from membership, and more members means the club can grow stronger and have more posive in*uence on our shery.. see hBpC66www.rwD.org.uk6Eembership.htm Random Casts …. Fish of a lifeme, first me! As a Rutland coach and guide oDering *y shing adventures to the public, your editor o4en ena- bles total beginners to catch their rst sh on the *y. 0ccasionally when the shing is red hot these enthusiasc novices may catch a truly exceponal sh or a big haul. Smiles, congratulaons and celebraons all round make it a fun me for all, but it occurs to me that many of us have spent years on the puddle and we know that she doesn’t give her delights easily. 2s it more pleasurable to catch that sh of a lifeme a4er years of trying, hoping, and ancipaon? Are we taking some pleasure from someone who comes and catches a sh of his or her life rst 2 me out? Do they think that this is how *y shing is all the me; you learn to cast and you catch sh, simple. 2t makes my 3ob a pleasure when they are indeed successful and 2 hope that they appreciate that beginners luck can happen but as we all know, .ady Rutland can 3ust as easily turn her charms the other way and frustrate even the experienced. 0n di(cult days those of us who take out our guests do get despondent, downhearted. We feel we’ve failed somehow, but all we can do is our very best and hope for the shing gods to smile on us. 04en they do, but somemes those pesky trout hold all the aces. Behind the scenes are the tough days, the me spent reconnoitring the water, the tangles, the broken rods, the splashy casts guaranteed the spook even the hungriest of trout. And that’s 3ust the guides11 )a haG. But seriously, anyone who has taken out a newcomer on Rutland Water with the speci c intenon of geHng them a sh has a tough 3ob. 0K when the wind blows, the rudder is an easy and fun opon; the bung or back dri4ing can also save a tough day for a beginner. But somemes condions state or the guest insists that they 3ust have to cast themselves and if 3 the sh are being picky, Rutland can, as we know, be an unforgiving water. We have to be paent and supporve using all our methods and experience coaching to enable them to achieve their ob3ecve. So try not to scoD when a beginner comes back to the 3eBy with a couple of sh when you’ve bagged up with 3 pounders, it’s all relave. /or them it’s a success. Somemes a beginner’s cast goes wrong! Also, when you read the shing reports or you see the pictures in this newsleBer you may be forgiven for thinking the lake is full of huge sh eager to take a *y. 2t only takes a half decent cast and you’ll get a whopper. Visitors’ expectaons can be high. Well, we all know that it takes either experience, knowledge, skill or luck, or more likely all of these and even then, those pesky trout seem to make their own minds up whether to take your *y or not. And that’s the aBracon of *y shing, if we caught that sh of a lifeme easily or ,bagged up’ on every visit, we’d get bored. 4 We relish the challenge, and o4en we must go through the tough mes so that when or if that red leBer day comes, we can bene t from the glorious rewards which come from adversity, hard work and hardship. All the best for Summer and good luck to all RW// members. Nice to See Eembers Lohn .ee and Peter De Kramer featured on the cover of Trout and Salmon Eaga-ine’s tackle supplement this SpringG A great picture which epitomises the superb dry *y sport we are having this Lune. /ame at last guys1 2 18 another #Big Trout Season’ Pictures speak a thousand words so 3ust have a look at some of these magni cent catches made in 2018. Toff Crowther with one of his many big fish Simon Guthrie proudly presents his son Elliot’s 8lb plus brown trout 5 Mraham )eywood Ntop le4O with his rst double gure brown trout. Al 0wen Ntop rightO with his superb 11and a half pound brown trout. What a sh11 A novice sherman Nabove le4O with his rst brown trout1 2ain Barr’s Nabove rightO second double gure trout from Rutland, safely released, well done 2ain1 Some good quality rainbows have been showing up as Rob Nle4O shows here. Young Elliot )uthrie has had a great season Alliot reports - red leBer morning in old hall. on a very cold day managed a 7 lb brown , 2 5 lb rainbows , 4lb brown and a further 4 lb rainbow as well as another half a do-en stockies. All the big sh were on a small )umi and a compeon black hackled lure . As the sun warmed things up a good bu--er hatch came on and i got the last three stockies on a *oater and quill bu--ers. 6 No photos as all the sh were returned and i was on my own in the boat . Lust a beauful morning as a long awaited spring arrived. Earch and April gave great shing from the banks. Notable hotspots were 0ld )all /lats and Barnsdale Creek which seemed to hold sh constantly. Your president Er. Lohn Wadham and commiBee men Eick Connor and Lake Waterman helped your editor Rob on a busy introducon course and had ama-ing results for these total beginners . 2f only every day were like this, then we’d have new *y shers 3oining eve- ry me1 New .ady /ly shers get in on the act in Earch and April. 2nter- esng catch from your editor on the same cast1 7 8 Another NboBom le4O happy rst mer. A number of pike, roach, bream and perch have been tak- en on the *y lately, here’s Ron 0ldroyd Ntop rightO with a mint condioned ,stripey’. 7 THE L,-( - /ishery and Bank Report from Lohn Wadham .ater Level 0 The very cold weather experienced in Earch was followed by the weBest April in six years with some 70 mm of rainfall recorded in the catchment. This has averted what could have been a serious drought following a relavely dry winter. The result is that Anglian Water have been able to pump from the source rivers Nene and Welland and have been able to maintain a full lake. )owever, during the hoBest Eay since records were kept in 1710, the water temperature rocket- ed and spring arrived in a few days. The level has since fallen slightly and is at present 7 inches below top level. /ollowing this very warm weather the water temperature in the margins has now risen to 17R C. Bank Fishing 0 Apart from odd short periods, the shing has been consistently good throughout the period.