Chatton and Thrunton fisheries get ready to host the final of The Big One competition

Now it's getting colder the fish seem to be attracted by bigger lure flies. Picture: Bob Smith

This weekend sees the final of The Big One competition at Thrunton Long Crag and Chatton Fishery, writes Bob Smith.

The first leg of the final will be fished at Thrunton on Saturday. Competitors will fish Long Crag Lake while Coe Crag will be open to the public as usual. The finalists will then fish the second leg of the final at Chatton on Sunday. The combined scores over the two days will determine the winners.

The first prize over the two days is £3,000 and I understand that cash prizes will be awarded down to 10th place.

The second heat of the Eddie Brown Winter Series was fished at Chatton last weekend. Twenty-four rods caught a rod average of six trout. The heat winner was Glenn Appleby, who returned 14 fish.

As winter approaches the trout seem to be targeting bigger lure flies, although my small Buzzer and Nymph patterns are still catching. I even caught a lovely blue trout on a Daddyhog, which is quite a big dry fly, a cross between a Daddy Longlegs and a Sedgehog.

A friend recommended the fly so I gave it a try, and on the third cast, the bluey came up and took it. I replaced it with other dries and caught with F Fly and Griffiths Gnat.

With all the rain over the last week, the local rivers have been running very high and heavily coloured. The English salmon season ended on Tuesday. Where has that season gone, time seems to be moving faster.

Now the clocks have changed too, the still waters are closing earlier. Please check their websites for clarification.