[Music]
We're heading out to the fish cages on the south side of Bewl Water.
H2O from here quenches the thirsts of thousands of homeowners, but no longer their gardens,
in the South East.
Well - sorry to all you gardeners but thank goodness for that.
This is the perfect habitat for trout, lots of trout, and this morning we are going to
be adding some more.
It’s triple stock, we add about 1000 fish a week into the lake, which maintains a good
level of fish ability if you like, not too easy, not too hard.
Robin and Mark are just getting the boat ready.
We have a tank on the boat, we fill the tank up with water and then we transfer the fish
into the tank and distribute them all round the lake.
The anglers close to the nets aren't daft.
They know there are a few decent whoppers who stay close to home, mopping up the scraps
dropping through the water column.
There are fish that are resident here and it does attract quite a few fisherman to this
area because there is a good chance of catching a bigger fish around here, because they are
still getting the high protein feed and if they live under here for a few years they
can attain double figure weights, 10lb plus.
So it’s a good place to try and catch one of the bigger fish in Bewl.
A few 8-10 pounders show their colours as James throws some food out of bounds.
Not all fish are quite big enough for the big wide world.
The sub two-pounders are thrown back for another day.
Two varieties of trout are available to fishermen here - blue trout and rainbow - so what's
the difference?
Their muscle density is apparently more compact and it does make them a stronger fighting
fish and they are a good looking fish as well.
They both are, yes, certainly the fishermen like them they fight very well, um it’s
a stockier fish, you can tell, you can see, broad across the back, slightly more so than
the rainbow, but just nice to have the variety of the two fish really, plus brown trout as
well.
I think they have been out of the water long enough so I’ll put them back.
Time to start putting some of these fish in open water - but you don't just plonk them
anywhere..
Big waters like this will buy the fish in and they’ll be delivered by lorry and have
one or two access points and they will dump 2000 fish in one particular spot and yes,
you do get a feeding frenzy, because the fishermen will know these hot spots and they will see
the fish being delivered.
Quite often they will stay in that environment till they have got used to their surroundings
so they will be easy pickings for a while, but the benefit of doing it this way is, you
give everyone an equal opportunity, you spread the fish around, where they go after that
is anyone’s guess, but by doing it like this gives the lake good even stocking.
With 1,000 fish being added today - and with this sort of inside information I should be
on to a winner as I head off with my rod and my little box of dreams.
Reservoir fishing, not a very precise science, according to most anglers and here they are
recommending something black with a bit of green in it, so here we are a variety of black
and green flies and I am going to start with a thing that looks a bit like an acid house
Alexandra.
The water and the weather is warm but the fish are not coming to the boat.
The best local anglers are going to the fish.
I have to stay, I’m taking this personally, the bulge in his throat, I hope you choke.
Invented just a few decades ago, modern reservoir fishing is at the height of its popularity.
And it is easy to see why.
Hundreds of thousands of people enjoy the price the accessibility and the sport that's
on offer.
Bewl Water had its 34th season last year and it was a record, they caught more trout last
year than ever before.
Certainly last year we had a very good season with the variety of fish, I think the word
spread and people came back regularly.
When the reservoirs were first conceived it was all about providing water for the cities
Walthamstow for London, Chew Valley for Bristol, the leisure side of it came later, the duck
shooting the dinghies, the fly fishing.
Many people said the fly fishing wouldn’t work, why would you want to leave the chalk
streams they argued.
Well the chalk streams affectively priced themselves out of this market, but the great
thing was that the water boards, the lakes trusts, all adopted fly fishing and made it
fabulous.
What’s not to like about this place, it’s perfect leisure, right side of the brain activity.
God does not count against you time spent fishing.