BRISTOL Water Fisheries report a much more settled week saw warm and sunny conditions at the start as a high pressure moved in from the south.

BRISTOL Water Fisheries report a much more settled week saw warm and sunny conditions at the start as a high pressure moved in from the south. Later in the week the sun was replaced by clouds and the wind turned from West to North East.

With the shorter days, the night-time temperatures have been falling often giving a distinct chilly feel after the sun sets. Algae is present in most of the lakes but mainly in small amounts. The exception is Chew where the water was quite coloured but this also seems to be clearing. Levels at Chew are falling quickly but all other lakes are holding steady. The surface water temperature is now around 16?C.

The fish are beginning to feed a little better at Chew Lake. Plenty of large buzzers often hatch during the daytime and good numbers of corixa have been seen in many of the shallower areas. At times there have been good numbers of fish close in to the North Shore, Walley Bank and Nunnery Point but all areas are a little unpredictable.

Boat fishermen have also had some sport off the Island, False Island and Picnic Area 2. With the water clarity improving there should be less need to fish the flashy flies though a holo Diawl Bach, Orange PTN or bright booby is still worth having on your leader.

In places there are still large weed beds especially at the Top End of the lake. This week saw the last major stocking take place at Chew with 2500 more fish being planted.

Derek Phillips took a 6.04 brown from Walley Bank which was this week's biggest fish from Chew.

Another good week for Blagdon from bank and boat although some bank areas have become a little harder possibly due to the pressure of fishing. The fish remain close to the shore in most places and boat anglers have to get close in to get the best sport but must remember to give the bank fishers at least 50 metres clearance. Although Green Lawn and Rainbow are still good, many boats are heading back to the favourites of Rugmoor, Pegs and Bells where fishing nymphs deep and slow always seems to find plenty of fish. Diawl Bachs in red or green is the favoured fly at present although PTH, Crunchers, HEN and Stick Fly are also well worth trying.

Two good rainbows reported this week, one falling to N James which went 7.00 and another of 6.02 which was taken by Bill Pugh. Both fell to nymphs fished from a boat.

At last reports of hatches and moving fish at the Barrows in the evenings. This year has seen disappointing evening rises but this weekend there was a good hatch at 3 and feeding fish willing to take small dries and nymphs. Water quality is good at all the tanks.

The good sport at Litton of the past couple of weeks continues with nine out of 14 rods reporting limit bags and returned fish. The bottom lake has been well used recently with the top lake seeming less popular, possibly because of its lower water level. Nymphs, min lures and bright gold heads best