After being away for the past week I’ve been itching to get out and fish. I was hoping for a couple of hours on the river, however the recent rain made that not possible. So me and my dad ventured out to Stocks Reservoir near Slaidburn in Lancashire. It is the largest fly fishery in the north-west of England and is stocked with hard fighting Rainbow, Brown and Blue trout. At stocks you have the choice to fish from the boat or the bank. giving you the opportunity to explore 4 and a half miles of shore line. while boat fishing gives you 350 acres of open water to go at.

we arrived at about 09:45 and went to pay for our ticket and got given our boat number. the weather conditions were bright and sunny throughout the day, not perfect but we couldn’t do anything about that! so we got on with it and went to set up. I set my rod up with a floating line and 6ft of 6lb leader with a home tied hares ear nymph on the end. When we were both all set up we walked down to the jetty to head out.  After been told that the fish were in the shallower water we decided to start-up near the dam wall and drift down the side of the shore line. for the first hour or so we saw no fish topping or anyone catch any fish so we started up the engine and went back up to the dam wall to start our drift again, this time starting more central in the water. At about half past 12 the fish started to rise and were jumping out of the water. people were starting to catch fish, it was like they had just woken up and were ready for breakfast!

I had watched a fish rising for a while and decided to cast into the area it was feeding in, thinking I may have spooked it with a dreadful cast, seconds later my line tightened and I was into a good fish. It was putting up a good fight and leaping high out of the water. when I got it closer I saw  the fish was a lovely blue trout of around 2lb.

after that things quietened down for a while. the whole reservoir went calm however there were still fish topping all over the place. so at this point I decided to put a dry on. I chose a CDC shuttlecock buzzer. I had some interest from fish but none took it.

after around a hour we decided to have a ride down to the bottom end of the res and fish near Gull Island and The Willows. as the day went on there were more bank anglers coming and going, most doing well and catching plenty of fish. I tied on a red and black buzzer to see what would happen, after a few casts I came to the conclusion that nothing was going to happen so switched back to a hares ear. and instantly I was into a fish, a hard fighting, fully finned rainbow. he certainly gave me a fight, bombing back down every time he saw the net.

I looked at my dad, who was having a bad day, I suppose it didn’t help that I was teasing him that I was winning, and I bet that comes back to haunt me in the future!! but I suppose some days it just doesn’t happen. He does make me laugh though, saying “Hakes the name. Fishing’s the game”

We really enjoyed our day at Stocks and will defiantly be back in the near future for more fantastic fishing.

be sure to visit if you haven’t already!

Stocks Fly Fishery,
Catlow Rd,
Slaidburn,
Nr Clitheroe,
Lancs.,
BB7 3AQ

Phone: 01200 446602
Fax: 01200446602

Email: info@stocksreservoir.com