The Club is a private one, founded in 1877, of approximately sixty-four members and six Town Rod subscribers. The Club's waters consist of about 7 miles of wild brown trout & grayling fishing in the main River Frome, River Cerne and River Piddle, together with attendant carriers and side streams. The waters extend both above and below the town of Dorchester and the Club employs a part-time keeper.
If you have any news or a fishing trip report please email to admin@grhe.co.uk
Latest Post
Joseph Tallents – ‘Joe’ – 1938 – 2016
Sadly today we said goodbye to Joe, who died on the 15th September. He was a Member of the Club since 1988 and in 2010 he was made an Honorary Member for his long service with the Club
For those who didn’t know Joe, he was the guy that travelled around the river on a moped with his rod strapped to the back! In 2003 he also designed our brilliant logo of a brown trout leaping through a crown of water (reference to the Dutchy Water).
Away from fishing he was an engineer, photographer, artist, gardener, Husband, Dad & Grandfather. I for one will miss Joe’s dry sense of humour and his wish for ever bigger fish!!
Cuckoo Pound – Upper Water
We are pleased to say that the Club has received some funding for a project on the “Upper Water” from Gasgoyne bridge downstream to the Cuckoo pound fence, this project is to include some crown raising and tree clearing to reduce some of the shading, installation of several “LWD” flow deflectors and some hinging of trees into the channel as cover and fry refuge, and the renewal of the fence.
This great project is subject to lots of match funding in terms of volunteer time from club members, I also hope to have some volunteers from the DWT and Kingston Mauward College.
This is a partnership project between the Environment Agency, Wessex Water, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Dorchester Fishing Club and Casterbridge Fisheries.
Anyone who fancies getting hands on for a day or two can meet us at Gasgoyne Bridge, Monday the 10th October at 9.00am, please bring waders, gloves and some good weather..
Regards
John Aplin
River keeper
Himalayan Balsam bashing day Dorchester
What amazing work a team of willing & happy volunteers can achieve in a day. It was unfortunate that I was the only representative from the fishing fraternity, the others were regular Wildlife Trust volunteers.
I think it is about time all local fishing organisations, fishermen, riparian owners, fishing clubs/syndicates and the Dorset Wildlife Trust all get together to draw up a battle plan for this persistent pest!!
The Monnow Rivers Association have all but eradicated balsam from their catchment area and I know they would be only too happy to share their success stories – come on lets roll up our shirts up and tackle the Himalayan Balsam once and for all!! (rolling up shirts when balsam pulling isn’t recommended because of all the stinging nettles – as I found out today!!)
One club in Worcestershire stipulates that members should pull 50 balsam plants each fishing visit – might be worth a go on the Club water next year???
Lower Water
Wessex Water will be repairing a manhole cover between 4th July & 30th July, it is situated in what was the cricket bat willow field. We are not sure what disruption this will cause, hopefully none, but it may colour the water for a time..
Louds Mill
A big thank you to the EA for their excellent fencing work below Louds Mill, protecting valuable chalk stream habitat.
This area has in the past been subject to fairly heavy cattle poaching causing damage both in stream and on the banks, now the eco system as a whole can work in relative peace.
John Aplin (River Keeper)
Lost
Either on the upper Wrackle or around the second bend up from the Willow pool on the main river, a pair of prescription sunglasses. REWARD IF FOUND.
Please ring Colin Anderson on 07771361483 or email colinanderson4@icloud.com
Evening Fishing
Here is a video taken by Ben that shows the magic of evening fishing during a mayfly spinner fall (in slow-mo!) – the air is thick with mayfly, he had a great evening catching some stunning wild fish..
Mayfly
The Mayfly are hatching and the fish are rising, even today the river was brown after yesterdays rain, but fish were still able to spot hatching mayfly and were feeding well..!
A fishing report from Hoot:-
After setting off yesterday (Friday 20th) for just my second trip to the Frome this season and facing quite a chilly, breezy day I didn’t hold out much hope, especially as the water is still carrying quite a bit of colour due to an algal bloom. I was pleasantly surprised however when arriving at the river to see a steady hatch of mayfly coming off with the odd fish rising here and there. After a few missed takes and a catch up with John A and Robin, I managed to land a couple of reasonable fish and continued up-river encountering rising fish around every bend with a good mix of stockies and wild fish coming to the net.
Mayfly continued hatching into the evening and apart from my favourite Mohican pattern, White Wulff and French Partridge flies were also successful except for one fish that refused everything besides an emerger. Into late evening and fish were still rising despite a complete lack of spent gnat on the water. I soon realised that a hatch of sedge had started so managed to finish off the evening with a couple more fish on deer hair and CDC sedge patterns. All in all a very enjoyable day with well over a dozen fish landed (and several lost including a 2-3 pounder which threw the hook) with the best fish just over 2 lbs; even the rain managed to hold off until I arrived back at the car! The weather is pretty atrocious today (Saturday) but hopefully the days will improve along with the clarity of the water and I’m looking forward to some more mayfly fishing over the next couple of weeks.
Kind regards,
Hoot
The Honorary Secretary also had a red letter during the rain yesterday and landing this wonderful 16″ trout..
Not Quite 1st April…!
Your Honorary Secretary Richard Miller, Riverkeeper John Aplin and myself (+ John Thorpe) have just returned from an epic fishing holiday in New Zealand. We did fish on the 1st April on the River Makarora where the Wilkin River flows in, it was cold and wet. But not as wet as in Dorset and we hear that the Frome was over the banks for the first part of April. We all caught fish, strong rainbows in an amazing river & landscape. (hear more about our trip at the Dorset Chalkstream Club this autumn)
After hearing that there were grannom hatching, I ventured out today for my first visit to fish the Club’s water since my return. The weather wasn’t perfect, strong & cold downstream wind, plus sleet showers! Even so there was a small hatch of grannom and a few small trout rose to them. But the hatch was over so quickly I failed to make the most of it and when another sleet shower came over, it was time to head home!
There are signs that the Frome is warming up and spring is starting to appear, hopefully it won’t be long before some decent trout show themselves!!
Last Gasp Trip
We did manage a last gasp trip for grayling at the end of February. There was a chill east wind but the river was not too high and relatively clear.
We wanted to try a new spot after the opening of the upper water so tested a few likely pools at Whitfield Hatches. It was all very quiet until suddenly when I thought I’d hooked a branch in the current it wasn’t a branch at all but a decent grayling, heading downstream very rapidly. It was in fine form, jumping 4 times before I could finally get it to the net. At 45cm it was a good 2lbs, so an excellent fish to close the old season. The fly was a small pheasant tail, very often the killer pattern when the water is clear. Now it’s time to get back to the fly tying bench for some early season patterns for use in a couple of months’ time; I expect the small ptn to be just as effective then.
Doug
Cormorant Watch
Angling’s representative body, the Angling Trust, has launched a new web site for anglers to record sightings of cormorants, goosanders and mergansers throughout the UK: www.cormorantwatch.org The new site is easy to use and will gather vital data to help persuade government of the need for action to protect fisheries. Friends
