Planning the day I even put in a couple of visits to Raygill to find where the fish were and what patterns they were accepting. On the first visit I landed a cock rainbow of about eleven pounds and half a dozen of his smaller brothers and sisters. On the second visit, the rainbows were not too obliging but I had a succession of frenzied ‘brownies’ that were chasing anything as soon as it hit the water. The portents for our day out were looking good. Raygill is reasonably sheltered and, an added attraction for Graham, the complex contains two coarse lakes with a very good head of fish including pike to thirty pounds. We arranged to meet at the Little Chef on the A59 at Clayton-le-Dale, a few miles east of the M6 and, there at the appointed time was Graham complete with camera, hoping for some good photos for the web site and a trout to take home for the pot. The day’s fishing at Raygill It was an awful day with the rain coming down in ‘stair rods’. As we arrived at Raygill, however, the rain ceased and the clouds rolled away to leave intermittent sunshine but with an increasingly cold northwesterly wind that soon had the waves whipped up on the lakes. We paid a quick call to Bernard, the fishery manager, in the lodge and he was guardedly optimistic about our prospects; the morning rods had done quite well. Incidentally, my thanks to Bernard for his kind welcome and allowing us the run of the fishery for our photographs.
We had little success, I’m afraid to report. Graham, casting as if he had been doing it all his life, experienced an early ‘tug’ but the fish did not take the fly and, despite quite a bit of activity, the trout were neither hungry, inquisitive nor aggressive. We eventually moved from the far side of the Quarry Lake, to the lodge end of the water and, by now, the wind had increased and the ripple was quite severe. We both had a little interest from the trout occasionally and, frustratingly, the one solid take I had ended with the dropper fly, a black buzzer, being ripped from the tippet. Whenever the sun came out, Graham stopped for a few minutes and took some photographs for the website. Eventually, it was me who had to tell Graham to stop fishing or he would be driving back down the M6 in the rush hour darkness. Fishless or not, I do believe Graham developed quite a taste for fly fishing and has expressed a strong interest not only in returning to Raygill but also in a visit to one of the other waters in the area sometime next year. Conclusions Raygill Fisheries Raygill Fisheries is situated just outside the village of Lothersdale in West Yorkshire. It’s only a few miles from Colne in Lancashire and near Skipton in Yorkshire. There are sign posts on all the roads leading in to Lothersdale making it quite easy to find. It’s a pretty fishery with good views and there is always plenty of space during the week around all the lakes; weekends can get a little busier. There are two coarse lakes with good quality carp, perch, roach and pike. Access and car parking is excellent and the lodge is new, warm and welcoming. The trout fishing is usually very good with many ‘doubles’, both brown and rainbow in each of the two lakes. You can certainly see these monsters in the Quarry Lake for the water is very clear and I would recommend fluorocarbon tippets. The top lake has more colour and I use the ever faithful Maxima mono when fishing here. Recent reports would suggest that the top lake has been fishing exceptionally well for the past three or four months. The fishing is £ 2.00 per hour and you can fish ‘Catch and Release’. If you wish to take a rainbow trout for the pan you pay £ 1.75 per pound weight. It comes expensive if you decide to kill a big fish but there are plenty of rainbows in the 2-3lb range and they make delicious eating. Contact: Tight Lines! Eddie Caldwell |
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