Thornwood Trout Lake, Essex

[uglystik]

I was hoping to fish Thornwood on Friday too, but in the end had to make do with a few hours late this afternoon. We got a short storm to liven things up & afterward I managed a couple of grown-on rainbows, one caught on a intermediate with a taddy -
which gave a particulalry feisty fight - and the other a floater with a diawl bach, both on a medium retrieve.

I saved a bit of time at home too and used the newly installed fish-gutting facility now at Thornwood. Even the wife was happy - I didn't need to make a mess in the kitchen!

 

[22lbbrown]

Thanks for your updates guys! Fairly consistent reports Paul was in for 3/4 of a day had 6 fish and John only a few hours at that, and had a couple of fish -just to say again rod average of 3.9 fish per rod for July/August with no one fishing all day at all -where else local can you do that??? also this July and August saw a lot of new anglers here and all went with fish if not went with fish returned fish, so was not all about local knowledge just doing the right thing at the right time! or taking a bit of advice on board.... and these last 2 reports no fresh stocked fish to up numbers so same average really, yesterday all others had between 4 and 6 fish up on lake 2 with most having a tiger or 3 ...bang on fry now, new stock coming this month anyway not that it really looks like it needs it but coming all the same, fresh 2.5-3lb rainbows for 2 and more blues and browns for 1 -my fish we growing on are about 15-16lbs at present and be here when all above 22lbs ...going up to feed them soon and make a video which will be on facebook and website for all to see - www.thornwoodsprings.com :thumbs:

 

[22lbbrown]

Daddies and lures big time now , as blue and brown section open for c&r again they have all put on weight since their spring stocking with a fair few blues i now seeing 2.5lbs plus which is good to see and must have been grazing all summer! as went in about 2lbs...lots of brownies showing now on both lakes also and plenty of grown on 3-4lb size rainbows from lake 2. This week our autumn stocking starts and first to arrive is more blues in the 2.5-3.5lb range for c&r on lake 1 plus more brownies from 1lb up....For lake 2 the new arrivals are all rainbows in 3-4lb range with more fish for elswhere coming next month .The big ones i growing on are now 17lbs so far and when all 22lb plus they come here so expect about february for them! pics to come soon when i next up there...more tigers and some sparctics for next year booked...all stuff to see on our facebook pages and instagram and our new website www.thornwoodsprings.com memberships now available..

 

[pauledwards]

Fished Thornwood with a friend yesterday (5th October). Caught 17 between us and lost several more. Mix of tigers, rainbows, blues and browns (we fished both lakes) plus a rudd! Eight of the rainbows were between 4 and 5lb and phenomenal fighters. All put back. Mainly caught on small fry lures. Back soon.

 

[22lbbrown]

After a continuous week of fry feeding to mainly humungous,zonka, snakes & minky in various colours with the natural skins and olives the best colours for biggest bags rainbows to 7lbs, browns to 5lb tigers and blues to 3lb+ the fish are on a frenzy! all into lots of fish today with 3 guys allready into double figure bags ,fish are fighting like on steroids witheveryone today all having 5lb+....but no lures today all about buzzers and the odd klink in black -get on down for some of the best choices and best fishing for miles! and a good chance of a personal best for sure as the doubles are moving lively! but be prepared with strong enough line 8lb+

 

[pauledwards]

I was one of those fishing today. Finished with 11, lost 2. If I discount the first hour when faffing with a snake and another hour eating and chatting, caught all of these in 4 hours on buzzers. Several of the fish stripped 30m+ of line off. I have fished Farmoor, Sportfish Reading and Tringford in the last few weeks, similar conditions, and Thornwood stands head-and-shoulders above them. Back soon.

 

[22lbbrown]

Yes thanks for those words Paul, you had another good day and thats what comes when you start to know a water well put the time in working it out on different days and times of year you get great results as seen! -after you left a 3lb 4oz rudd was also caught a new personal best for Darren!.All todays pictures going on facebook page tonight also please check the website www.thornwoodsprings.com for more updates and how much we looking forward till 6 of 22lb brown trout come here?? where else can you get all that:thumbs:

 

[uglystik]

I can vouch for the action going on at Thornwood Springs today. Last week wasn't bad either: I had a purple patch on a black lure when I caught 2 rainbows in 4 casts and a third in 4 more but, watching pauledwards from the other bank today, he was pulling them out almost one after the other at one point - and I could tell they were big fish from the time it took him to bring them in. Respect! :thumbs:

Myself, having had success last week on lures I stuck with lures again today, for a while and over the first couple or hours or so I lost 6 :doh: - one broken me off, 3 were lost just before the net and 2 were not on for long & further out. I did land another one but when I relented and joined the fun on buzzers, BANG! & I landed my biggest of the day. They were certainly testing the tackle today.

It slowed a bit were I was, so I moved to the far end and stripped my lure back a bit faster, which those Tigers find hard to resist and sure enough I had a real beauty of a tiger posing for the camera (check out Facebook). So at this point, it's not about catching numbers of fish for, for me, it's about going for the Thornwood Slam (again!): one Rainbow, Tiger, Blue and Brown.

I moved onto Lake 1 and was lucky to be straight into a good sized Blue :thumbs:- a number of which seem to be very blue indeed at present. So then, with about an hour left on my clock, the hunt was on for a Brown.

I hear a few Browns were caught on Lake 2 today - where most were fishing - but given comparatively large numbers of Browns are stocked in Lake 1 I opted to stay there, move around an try and hook me one of the little beauties with red spots that I know are there in good numbers.

...but fishing is fishing and (for me at least) I struggle to find the Browns, so it was not to be. I did get a follow at one point and something was on for a second, but that may have been one of those huge Rudd that crop up from time to time and not the buttery yellow flash of a Brown. So I've yet to do the Thornwood Slam. Another day, perhaps: I'll certainly not be giving in yet.

Once I do get the Slam, I'm thinking an even bigger challenge will be to get one of every different species from each of the the 3 lakes at Thornwood - a Brown, Tiger and Rainbow from 3, a Brown, Blue and Rainbow from 2 and a Brown and Rainbow from the Stalking Waters . I'll call that the Thornwood Grand Slam. It's good to have goals .. or dreams!!

So well done pauledwards & tight lines everyone else. (Especially at Thornwood Springs).

 

[pati]

Hi All,

Had the morning at Thornwood Saturday on a 4h C&R ticket. Lots of wind was making the fishing difficult with very limited visible activity. Managed to get 11 or 12 fishes by fishing the margins (you really need to have your fly within the first 50cm of the bank, do cast parallel to the bank or at a little angle and let the wind bring back the line close to the bank before starting the retrieve) with big sparkling streamers. 1 rainbow and 10-11 tigers. Tigers are now well distributed around the lake and some are clearly thriving as I caught a couple in the 40/45cm mark. Beautiful fishes with superb markings, big mouth and sharp teeth!!!! I also missed a couple of browns too, those picked up the streamer but immediately rolled over themselves in the weeds managing to get unhooked...

Three other fishermen in the morning including one who seemed to catch on a fairly constant basis on buzzer under indicator (he was fishing with the wind in his back towards the Center of the lake whereas I was fishing the margin "against" the wind). Whilst totally different both methods worked fairly equally. A pity there was so much wind but can't wait to go back!

 

[22lbbrown]

Thanks David from France for writing above a nice write up and words, interestingly all from different countries on that windy day,with fly fishermen from Spain,Poland , Lithuania and Irish republic all sharing great sport that day, I think also tells us about Uk flyfishermen who may only prefers a bright sunny day lol!! Big winds allways produce bigger fish on the day here with best landed a 7lber but again bigger lostHas been same all week fishing wise just not as windy! All species showing and some good browns being recorded

 

[pauledwards]

Fished Lake 2 again today (Tuesday 31st). Had the lake to myself which was just as well as covered all the lake in search of the fish. Caught 11 including two great rainbows (at the start and the end of the day) on variety of methods. Fish in the margins at the start, then moved deeper as wind picked up, then came to the top as a small buzzer hatch happened. Caught mainly on buzzer, but also a snail imitation and a lure. Lot of fish activity late on with the buzzer hatch but you know it is time to pack up when all you can see is bats swooping over the lake. Back soon.

 

[22lbbrown]

Yes well done Paul , the 2 guys next door on other lake had a few for the pot each , plus 3 browns in 1-4lb class and 2 blues around 4lb each all on daddies and goldhead mini black buzzers in margins , same today buzzers and daddies..

 

[rlangman]

Hi Everyone

I can't recommend Thornwood enough!

Peter is amazingly helpful and passionate about his site and the fish he stocks! Never shy of giving lots of advice and helping out if you need it.

The lakes have the most clear water I have come across at a still body of water. One lake is great for perfecting your accuracy and more technical casts for Blue, Brown and Rainbow. Whilst the other lake allows you to extend your distance casts but also has the unique aspect of being able to site cast to Tiger as well as large Rainbow and Brown trout.

The fish are all amazingly healthy and fight hard with brilliant markings. Use daddies, blue flash damsels and anything with a tail.

Wish I could afford to go more often!

 

[darren1615]

Great day at thornwood springs today with my nephew James despite a bitterly cold and strong northerly wind the trout where more than obliging James managed two cracking blues early on of around 3 1/2 pound fin perfect and both fought extremely hard lots of missed takes for both of us best I could do was to loose 2 we then moved up to lake 2 and my luck changed with a quick rainbow and tigers chasing a quick move around the lake and I took 3 tigers in 3 casts this was followed by a lovely 8lb rainbow for James a mixture of snakes fritz lures and zonkers done the trick on int lines 9 tigers and a bow for me James finished with 5,blues, tigers and bows awesome days fishing such a diverse and well managed fishery.

 

[22lbbrown]

Continuing on as good form only difference is fish are faster and more acrobatic, allways changing daily with some days no rainbows to be seen but on those day lots of blues browns and tigers get caught en mass then next day pure rainbows in tip top condition and good sizes -best of week 7lb rainbow blues and browns in 4-5lb class and some tigers reaching 3-4lb now , as ever the trick on those days when not rising is just finding the depth -some of us are better at it than others! Lake 2 after the frost was all deep down lines and fast moving snakes in white and red, wheras other lake bloodworms in margins,montannas and pitsford pea a good one for the blues and browns but catch/kill rainbow end buzzers & bloodworms best. Some great buzzer feeding still going on at right time and condition and still some good dryfly to be had ,regular updates on www.thornwoodsprings.com facebook thornwoodsprings instagram thornwoodsprings where you can see the latest fish which are due to start arriving soon at present when we weighed them all browns in15-19lbs range but the target is 22lbs !! some will come before christmas watch for pictures as to when i put first lot in then they come monthly in small batches!!

 

[uglystik]

Was lucky enough to be able to fish 'dawn 'til dusk' today (the shortest day), at Thornwood Springs. Not the best conditions: misty, still and with air pressure 'steady' (if you believe that makes any difference!) but Thornwood didn't let me down.
Nothing was showing on top until around 8.45 but with the mild weather, there was plenty of rising fish on lake 2 after lunch, if you could work out what they were on. Had myself one of those blue 'bruisers' from lake 1 - they really don't know when to stop fighting - as well as 5 rainbows, 4 from lake 2 but was unable to find the browns today. The water is well oxygenated and the fish are in very good fighting form; at least they are at Thornwood!

Thanks Peter for another great year's fishing.

Happy Christmas to you all and many tight lines for the New Year.

 

[22lbbrown]

Good fishing over holiday period but as ever different days different depths most days 3-4 feet then some days at 10 feet -lots of buzzer feeding still going on and static bloodworms a great bet if a cold night. After the full moon then all changed and intermediate or slow sink lines best with saturday rod average of 7 fish all to lures and snakes at high speed with all species of trout showing. Another week or so and then all lakes have a fish top up with more than 6 double figure browns coming, 50 lb rainbows plus 200 or so smaller ones. www.thornwoodsprings.com with Iain Barr here on 27th for a masterclass also -get in touch if want to book a spot.

 

[22lbbrown]

Fishing its socks off in this lovely weather, where only the bravest venture out for proper rewards :thumbs:sorts the men from the boys! All get proper results for proper fish for the guys who go out in all weathersPlease look out www.thornwoodsprings.com and facebook Thornwood Springs for latest updates and catches direct from the anglers....This week a fresh tank for catch and keep end, some MORE lovely double figure browns to join our many many more that reside here - where else stocks these fish around here?? see more 4-5lb and blues for stalking pools..All pictures of latest fish going up today get on down if fancy testing your wits for these fish! Toilets going in soon i hope for spring. 20lb+ browns still growing on and be coming in March .Tigers fattening up a treat but have wised up now and not so daft,acting more like browns now and chasing and thinking before going for fly. catch average before stocking was 4 fish per rod last month ,can only get better!

 

[pauledwards]

Another great day fishing at Thornwood yesterday (Tues 20 Feb 2018) in wet and windy conditions. Caught 9, lost 2, missed another 2 or 3. Average weight of 9 rainbows about 4lb, biggest close to 6. Lost large double brown - played for 5+ minutes then it took me into some bankside cover and used extra pressure to pull hook free. Very disappointed but then soon caught prettiest, toughest rainbow in a while at 5lb+ on a size 16 buzzer - very gratifying. Mix of lures and buzzers did the trick and moved between all 3 lakes and around the lakes. Back soon.

 

[pauledwards]

Thornwood fishing very well. Caught 12 yesterday (Tuesday 13th March), biggest 8lb+ rainbow from the stalking ponds. Moved between all 3 lakes which was necessary as fish feed very different in each, with Lake 1 much more difficult yesterday. However, another angler lost a double figure brown at the net in that lake. Lake 2 was a challenge as fish rising everywhere but difficult to get them to take. However, after numerous changes finally hit on right approach - ignore the rising fish and fish deeper - caught 6 in 90 minutes, all on tiny buzzers, but 3 to 6 foot deep. Best of those was 4lb+. I would highly recommend Thornwood (and the 3 lake ticket) if you want to mainly do C&R - I had a whole day's fishing and caught fish the same size but much better quality than Avington and Lechlade, both of which I fished last autumn. And I wasn't finished in 2 hours! Back soon.