Ice hole fishing for Trout!

When the water temperature drops below 40 degrees most coarse fish stop feeding. Rather than struggle away on the rivers I like to dust down the fly rod and have a relaxing days fishing for rainbow trout.

I like the fact that you can visit a new stillwater trout fishery with every expectation of catching a few fish on your maiden visit. My stillwater trouting falls into two camps, either fishing big fish waters that offer a chance of a double figure trout, or catch and release waters where I can enjoy a days fishing without  having to stop once the agreed bag limit is reached.

I decided to visit Withern Mill in Lincolnshire, a five lake complex which has the added bonus of half of mile of river holding grayling. I purchased a two fish ticket which enabled me to catch and release once my limit had been reached.

I arrived to find a hard frost and a dusting of snow.  Three of the five lakes were frozen solid and there was a small clear patch on the other two lakes around the inlet pipes. On lake two the ice hole was about twenty yards by ten and perhaps half that on lake five.

The morning was spent trying to catch a grayling on an upstream nymph. Every few casts I had to clear the ice from the rings of my little brook rod. Every time the line stopped I struck, three sticks, loads of weed and a foul hooked stickleback resulted!

After a warming cuppa in the "refreshments shed" I set up my heavier outfit with an intermediate line, tying a white nomad on the end of a twelve foot leader. First cast into lake two, the line tightened and I was into a fish of around two pounds. A couple of casts later I was into a second fish, which came off!

After another warming break in the "refreshments shed" I returned and again first cast everything went solid, I lifted into a powerful fish that went screaming off to my left under the ice. Eventually I managed to net the rainbow which went exactly 7lb on the fishery scales.

Over the next couple of hours I had some more fish in the two pound class before the pull of the river became to strong. I spent the last hour trying in vain for a grayling. The water did have a tinge of colour and maybe that was the reason for my lack of success.

I heard a high pitched peep which was swiftly followed by that sapphire blue flash as a kingfisher flew upstream past me, what a nice ending to the day. With the temperature falling fast I decided to set off for home so that I would be back on the A16 before it was dark. I suspect the ice will claim the rest of the lakes surface overnight and the fish will be left in peace for the next few days.

An American Brook Trout in Wales

Back in the 1970s the American brook trout (more correctly brook char) was stocked into a number of fisheries ,including that big trout mecca Avington. Now only two trout farmers produce this fish, and they are only found in a handful of waters across Britain.

My quest took me to Chirk in the county of Wrexham in North Wales. It was Chirk Trout Farm that first imported the brook trout from America, and they are still reared here and stocked into Chirk fishery.

The fishery consists of two clearwater lakes in a scenic welsh valley, stocked with browns, rainbows including golden and blue trout, brook and tiger trout (a hybrid between the brown and brook trout).

I was lucky enough to have the fishery to myself until lunchtime and trout of all varieties could be seen in the clear water. After an unsuccessful hour fishing buzzers and bloodworm imitations I changed over to an intermediate line and my favourite fly, the nomad.

After a couple of small rainbows including a blue (a colour variant) I watched as a brook trout chased and finally grabbed my black nomad. Although only three quarters of a pound in weight it was really quite striking in appearance, the green flanks covered in yellow and red spots, the fins edged with orange and white, and the underside a pale orange.

During the remainder of the day I caught twenty-four trout, all bar two were returned. Most of the fish were around a pound with a handful of larger fish including a beautifully proportioned rainbow of around four pounds.

I could easily have caught thirty, or even forty trout, as I missed loads of takes including a couple of brookies and a particularly strikingly marked tiger. By moving regularly and ringing the changes with both the retrieve and the colour of nomad the takes kept on coming. Only once did I get a follow from a golden trout which unfortunately veered off at the last moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed my day at Chirk and the fishery has a laid back club like feel to it. Although the majority of the fish are small, they are pristine slim fish with huge tails and so fight like demons. The fly life is good and there was a hatch of grannom, however my fly box was replete of dry sedges and I couldn't persuade them to take my alternative selections. Fish were also grubbing on the bottom in the margins, possibly for shrimp.

I had a long conversation with the fishery owner who advised that brook trout were particularly suitable for stocking in acid waters. Although they have grown them to around six pounds in the past, the larger fish become very dark in colour and prone to fungal infections so they only stock brook trout to around a pound and a half.

A Personal Best Brown Trout

This year the Environment agency have abolished the closed season for brown trout in fully enclosed stillwaters. This is a change I fully support for the following reasons:

• Wild brown trout in stillwaters spawn in feeder streams and thus retaining the closed season in stillwaters that are not fully enclosed protects this valuable resource.
• Most stillwaters nowadays are artificially stocked with triploid trout (this is achieved by heat treating the eggs). Triploid fish look, swim, jump, and taste like normal fish, except for one important difference; they never develop normal eggs or sperm and are unable to reproduce (i.e. they are sterile and never lose condition).
• The closed season for rainbow trout on stillwaters was removed some years ago and retaining one for brown trout was inconsistent.

Tim Small owner of Lechlade Trout Fishery has stocked a number of large brown trout this winter.I arrived to find Lechlade thankfully free of ice. With visibility poor I had little chance of stalking a brown trout so I decided to fish deep with lures that might be seen to imitate fish fry. After a couple of hours I was still fishless despite rods bending all around me. A brief spell with a "blinged out" terry's tadpole saw me land a six pound rainbow.

Walking round the lake I noticed that one lucky angler had caught a brace of large browns from under a tree by the island. When the spot became vacant I dropped in and spent the whole afternoon in this area resting the water regularly. I had two fish in quick succession on a white nomad; a rainbow trout of about seven pounds and a new personal best brown trout of 8lb 11oz.

Next cast a double figure brown followed the fly in and I saw the white of it's mouth open as I 'hung' the fly prior to recasting. Unfortunately it changed it's mind and despite changing flies regularly I could only provoke follows. With half an hour to go until dusk I finally had a solid take, unfortunately it was just an average rainbow which completed my limit.

Will we see large numbers of specimen brown trout being stocked into our trout fisheries as a result of this legislation? I suspect not as rainbows grow fast and are much easier, quicker and therefore cheaper to produce. Tim Small is an exception, he breeds his own fish and is keen to provide the trout angler with the chance to catch big browns through the winter.

Postscript: I returned to Lechlade the following Sunday and the browns were noticeable by their absence. I hard to work hard on a difficult day for my limit of four stockie rainbows. On Lechlade even the stockies are around six pounds!

Small Water Trouting in the Cotswolds

Finally the thaw has set in, too late in the week to make any of the local stillwaters fishable so my planned piking session had to be postponed. A river rising with snow melt and laden with salt is just not worth fishing. A couple of telephone calls later and I had my venue, Lechlade trout fishery in the Cotswolds which was ice free over 50% of its surface area.

I arrived at Lechlade ready for when the gates opened at 8am. I have always found the first couple of hours on small stillwaters to be especially productive. I expected that the trout would be fairly deep and set up with an intermediate line with a 15 foot fluorocarbon leader with a 6lb tippet. In the first couple of hours I had three good takes on a white nomad fished with a slow figure of eight retrieve, landing two rainbow trout including a double.
 
My trout sessions are relaxed affairs and I like to take regular breaks from the fishing. It always amuses me to watch other anglers flailing away for hour upon hour in the same spot. If you are not catching, move and if you can't move, have regular breaks. It is surprising how fish move into undisturbed water.

I tried various other tactics for a couple of hours without success before reverting back to the white nomad on an intermediate. A move to a vacant area by the ferry, where I had spotted a few fish moving, added another double figure rainbow trout to the bag. Like the first it tipped the scales at 10lb 2oz. Don't you just love the sound of the drag screaming as a fighting fit rainbow heads for the middle of the lake?

I had earlier tempted a follow from a big brown trout but ran out of water. I suspect this may have been the fish I later caught from the next spot along the bank. What a session! Three big rainbows including a brace of doubles and a new personal best brown trout at 7lb 3oz. After a late lunch I enjoyed a leisurely drive home across the Cotswolds, taking in the glorious scenery and villages.