Barrow Gurneys and Blagdon 29-30 Sept 01

We expected rain this weekend. On Saturday morning it did rain, but by 8am it stopped. Walter and I had planned to fish the Wye with a couple of other chaps, but they pulled out at the last minute, so we needed to find somewhere else to fish.

Barrow Gurney was the closest trout fishery, so we decided to give it a go. It does not look very promising at first, three concrete bowls close to a busy road, but it can be deceptive. It costs £10.50 a day for an eight fish limit and you can fish any of the three waters.

Walter wanted to try the brown trout only lake first, which is number 1 lake. Leading the way there, he took us to a 60 acre water in a very pretty setting, with hills above and a falling landscape far below.

Noticing a large outlet with water cascading out into the reservoir, we headed for it, knowing trout would head there too for the extra oxygen.

There was only one other angler, on a small promontory close to the road. It wasn't long before we spotted trout rising about 25 metres out. Because we were high up, we managed to get our flies out to them; otherwise we would have struggled.

Around 10.15am I had a hefty pull on the rod and saw a bar of silver around 1.35 kg (3lb) turn in the clear water. It was only on for about 5 seconds before throwing the hook. I was gutted, but also puzzled. I've never seen such a bright silver brownie.

Fifteen minutes later another trout took my Cats whisker fly so savagely the dropper knot snapped. It often happens that when you hook and lose a trout, it will leap out of the water. This was silvery too, but it also had a distinct pink tinge to it.

A couple of anglers were passing by and they confirmed what I suspected; we were on No 3 lake, a rainbow only lake.

Barrows No 3 lake

A few more anglers joined us on the area by the outlet, so we moved back towards the corner. Soon there were eight anglers crowded along a 40 metre stretch. I don't know why they don't take up carp angling. Once we got well clear of the disturbed water, it was possible to spot the trout in the gin clear water. Often we saw as many as three trout following the fly and turn away within a few inches.

Suddenly, I saw a trout making a determined effort to take the cats whisker and as soon as I saw the white of its mouth open and close on the fly I struck, only to see the fly shoot straight out of its mouth. I wanted to laugh and cry. I couldn't believe my lousy luck, but the look of total bewilderment on that trout's face almost made up for it.

Walter got so frustrated he moved off towards the promontory, chasing a small group of trout, which blatantly ignored everything he offered them.

I felt the water was so clear there was no point giving the trout time to inspect the flies, so switched to a bright orange fritz lure, and stripped and twitched it back at top speed. On the first cast it took a lovely 1kg (2 1/4 lb) fish, which gave a decent fight.

Barrows rainbow

I got many follows after that, but no more takes, so switched to a gold ribbed hares ear (GRHE) pattern, again fished very fast.

After several attempts, a good fish took it and gave one hell of a fight lasting just over 5 minutes. Three times I drew it to the net, only for it to flip itself over the fly and shoot straight back out into deeper water. I was very impressed by the condition of these fish. This one weighed 1.24kg (2 3/4lb). Apparently they have been undisturbed for much of the time due to the foot and mouth outbreak and have been feeding naturally on a good head of invertebrates.

I did see some much larger fish around the 2.7kg (6lb) mark, near the corner but they were very wary.

A few more fish tugged at my offerings, but none took hold. A couple of anglers then came over and warned me about the power lines behind me. I was so intent on spotting fish, I missed the sign. They were concerned, because my back cast was missing the lines by inches. I was very grateful as it was possibly a matter of time before I fried myself.

Fishing along the bank towards the promontory, I saw a trout with a white lure in its scissors. I cast beyond it and drew my fly before it. As soon as it saw my fly, it seemed to remember the fly in its jaws and shook its head vigorously to get rid of it.

I took that as a no thanks and moved on.

After fishing for a while with Walter on the promontory (the other angler had caught his limit and left) I worked my way back to where I caught before.

Advised by locals, I tried boobies, buzzers, dry flies and tiny size 18 pheasant-tail nymphs without seeing a single fish come to investigate. Not sure what I was doing wrong, because the same locals seemed to be catching on them.

It was a lovely day with blue skies and a stiff breeze. It was exciting seeing trout coming to the fly time and again and we would like to try it again.

Walter blanked this time, but returned alone the following week to No 1 lake and hooked nine fish, landing six. They were all rainbows too. It seems rainbows were stocked there as number 3 lake was shut during the F&M outbreak.

I think many methods will work here and the dry fly can be very rewarding in the clear water. Give them a try next time you are in or near Bristol.