Dear all,
After Thames Water stopped Farmoor Flyfishing Club using the Farmoor 1 
reservoir (they will reopen it next year as a catch-and-release water, 
allegedly with no trout under 3 lb) the Club reverted to Darlow - a very 
pleasant ex-gravel pit water. The recent floods however have devastated the 
area and the lake was closed to fishing until late August. When I went out 
at the beginning of September I was horrified to see many trout swimming 
around aimlessly just under the surface (dorsal and tail fins showing), many 
dead trout and a large dead carp. I did not even try to fish. I am told that 
it is most likely to be Argulus - a parasite - and that there is little that 
can be done to treat it. So I reckon that is probably the end of fishing at 
Darlow this season.
The compensation is that Thames Water is offering concessionary tickets for 
Farmoor 2. I visited last Saturday and was pleased (and surprised) to come 
away with 5 fish - 1.5 - 2.5 lbs, one on a deep buzzer, one on a fry 
imitation and three on a baby daddy long-legs (many others missed - I think 
I strike too quickly). All fish caught on Farmoor 2 have to be killed - the 
compensation is that these fish have deep pink flesh and a lovely flavour. 
We cooked one last night - in foil (160 deg C for 25 min) with the zest from 
an orange, the juice from the orange, some salt and pepper. The juice was 
reduced at the end and a little Grand Marnier added - delicious.

Tight lines

Gordon

"Gordon MacPherson"  wrote in message 
news:fc87sf$rvs$1@frank-exchange-of-views.oucs.ox.ac.uk...
> Dear all,
> After Thames Water stopped Farmoor Flyfishing Club using the Farmoor 1 
> reservoir (they will reopen it next year as a catch-and-release water, 
> allegedly with no trout under 3 lb) the Club reverted to Darlow - a very 
> pleasant ex-gravel pit water. The recent floods however have devastated 
> the area and the lake was closed to fishing until late August. When I went 
> out at the beginning of September I was horrified to see many trout 
> swimming around aimlessly just under the surface (dorsal and tail fins 
> showing), many dead trout and a large dead carp. I did not even try to 
> fish. I am told that it is most likely to be Argulus - a parasite - and 
> that there is little that can be done to treat it. So I reckon that is 
> probably the end of fishing at Darlow this season.
> The compensation is that Thames Water is offering concessionary tickets 
> for Farmoor 2. I visited last Saturday and was pleased (and surprised) to 
> come away with 5 fish - 1.5 - 2.5 lbs, one on a deep buzzer, one on a fry 
> imitation and three on a baby daddy long-legs (many others missed - I 
> think I strike too quickly). All fish caught on Farmoor 2 have to be 
> killed - the compensation is that these fish have deep pink flesh and a 
> lovely flavour. We cooked one last night - in foil (160 deg C for 25 min) 
> with the zest from an orange, the juice from the orange, some salt and 
> pepper. The juice was reduced at the end and a little Grand Marnier 
> added - delicious.
>
> Tight lines
>
> Gordon
>

I managed to find time to go to Farmoor 2 for a day's fishing about 4 weeks 
ago. First time I'd been this season. I too asked about the future of 
Farmoor 1 and was told a similar story and the possibility of perhaps 
allowing soft plastic lure fishing as well. I must say, not something I 
would personally like to see for trout fishing on Farmoor 1.

As for the concessionary ticket, I had forgotten this was part of the 
negotiated deal with Thames Water with them taking the water back and so for 
this season, each FFF member gets a limited number of discounted tickets.

As for Darlow, that is seriously bad news. All the gravel pits are close to 
each other and all linked for drainage purposes, so it certainly doesn't 
look good for all of the coarse fisheries there as well. Indeed, when the 
flooding occurred, all the lakes effectively became one massive lake with 
only the road in between, and that was underwater for a while! Even the 
River Windrush changed course and ended up flowing through the lakes for 
best part of a week or more!

Andy Lawson