Rockbourne - Bank Holiday Monday.
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Rockbourne - Bank Holiday Monday.
Finally got to visit Rockbourne on Monday with my Dad and wow - what a lovely place, good fishing and a great day.
Thanks first to Arron for the advice - well received and well useful!
We spent the first hour just wandering around the five lakes, spotting fish and admiring the scenery and quality of the fishery...five lovely lakes with varying degrees of clarity but cruising fish visible in all.
Having only purchased two fish tickets (and flicking stalking bugs at a couple of cruising trout that rushed towards them) we decided that stalking was the order of the day to try and pick out the bigger fish. The average fish in there is between 3 and 4lb and as a double isn't much longer it is soooo difficult to gauge size - especially when combined with alkaline water that makes fish seem smaller the deeper they are.
In the first hour of fishing I managed to avoid hooking at least 10 fish between 3 and 5lb by snatching the fly away from them once I could judge their size. I also managed to 'lose' two by letting the line go slack - unfortunately my skill and pride took a knock when, whilst concentrating on avoiding a small fish, a huge swirl and flash followed by a light pull and massive boil resulted in my neatly avoiding hooking a rainbow that was close to double figures....owwww...
Changing lakes again I had another wander round looking for clear water and light angles that would let the polaroids do their work.
The top lake (Spring I think) was the clearest and I went slowly round it a couple of times looking for bigger fish - didn't see any so stopped and sat down for minute on one of the benches they have all round the lakes overlooking the water - great for a rest and fish watching. As I stood up after a couple of minutes and looked back in the direction I had come from, I noticed a torpedo in the shallows about five feet out. Shaking, I unclipped the fly and prepared to cast only to watch it unhurriedly cruise out into the deeper water before I'd even had a chance to frighten it - a huge brownie probably closer to 15 than 10lb and I hadn't even cast at it...
I then spent half an hour recovering on the lovely stretch of river there and successfully scared loads of small brownies and a couple of good size rainbows. Realising my small stream tactics aren't what they used to be, and thinking I needed a fish to take home, I moved to the bottom lake (Long Acre) which was the least clear and tried fishing blind for a while - despite many swirls and couple of takes failed to hook anything so went back to the stalking.
On the next lake up I saw, for the second time, a golden trout cruising that, on talking to the fishery owner Peter had been hooked and lost a couple of times and was over six pounds - an hour spent fruitlessly stalking it was great fun and the numbers of fish that appeared from nowhere to try and take my carefully placed fly a few feet in front of the cruising goldie was amazing - it looks like you can see every inch of the water so where these fish were coming from was beyond me.
By this time my Dad had a lovely four pounder that I was convinced was a lot bigger by the way it fought and the time it took him to land, so to even the score I had another go on Long Acre and swiftly caught a 3lb 14 that took ages to land - a lovely conditioned full finned fish that didn't like the look of the net and every time it came near set off on a reel screeching run - great fun.
Having got level, I returned to the clear water of Spring Lake to try and find that huge brown - didn't see it again but spent some time after a large rainbow that was feeding in the reeds - it's tail was out of the water at points as it burrowed in amongst the roots but whatever it was feeding on wasn't what I was carefully dropping in it's path. Eventually, as time was running out and Dad had had his second I had another go at fishing blind and soon caught another near four pounder - perfect fish again that was real fun to play and land.
So, all in all, a brilliant day out, good to see big fish though unfortunately not to catch them, in a lovely well kept fishery.
Usually we go out to a small stillwater once a year and after last years Avington disappointment it was great to 'discover' a fishery that was fun, not over-priced and with enough variety to make time disappear. We will return.
Thanks first to Arron for the advice - well received and well useful!
We spent the first hour just wandering around the five lakes, spotting fish and admiring the scenery and quality of the fishery...five lovely lakes with varying degrees of clarity but cruising fish visible in all.
Having only purchased two fish tickets (and flicking stalking bugs at a couple of cruising trout that rushed towards them) we decided that stalking was the order of the day to try and pick out the bigger fish. The average fish in there is between 3 and 4lb and as a double isn't much longer it is soooo difficult to gauge size - especially when combined with alkaline water that makes fish seem smaller the deeper they are.
In the first hour of fishing I managed to avoid hooking at least 10 fish between 3 and 5lb by snatching the fly away from them once I could judge their size. I also managed to 'lose' two by letting the line go slack - unfortunately my skill and pride took a knock when, whilst concentrating on avoiding a small fish, a huge swirl and flash followed by a light pull and massive boil resulted in my neatly avoiding hooking a rainbow that was close to double figures....owwww...
Changing lakes again I had another wander round looking for clear water and light angles that would let the polaroids do their work.
The top lake (Spring I think) was the clearest and I went slowly round it a couple of times looking for bigger fish - didn't see any so stopped and sat down for minute on one of the benches they have all round the lakes overlooking the water - great for a rest and fish watching. As I stood up after a couple of minutes and looked back in the direction I had come from, I noticed a torpedo in the shallows about five feet out. Shaking, I unclipped the fly and prepared to cast only to watch it unhurriedly cruise out into the deeper water before I'd even had a chance to frighten it - a huge brownie probably closer to 15 than 10lb and I hadn't even cast at it...
I then spent half an hour recovering on the lovely stretch of river there and successfully scared loads of small brownies and a couple of good size rainbows. Realising my small stream tactics aren't what they used to be, and thinking I needed a fish to take home, I moved to the bottom lake (Long Acre) which was the least clear and tried fishing blind for a while - despite many swirls and couple of takes failed to hook anything so went back to the stalking.
On the next lake up I saw, for the second time, a golden trout cruising that, on talking to the fishery owner Peter had been hooked and lost a couple of times and was over six pounds - an hour spent fruitlessly stalking it was great fun and the numbers of fish that appeared from nowhere to try and take my carefully placed fly a few feet in front of the cruising goldie was amazing - it looks like you can see every inch of the water so where these fish were coming from was beyond me.
By this time my Dad had a lovely four pounder that I was convinced was a lot bigger by the way it fought and the time it took him to land, so to even the score I had another go on Long Acre and swiftly caught a 3lb 14 that took ages to land - a lovely conditioned full finned fish that didn't like the look of the net and every time it came near set off on a reel screeching run - great fun.
Having got level, I returned to the clear water of Spring Lake to try and find that huge brown - didn't see it again but spent some time after a large rainbow that was feeding in the reeds - it's tail was out of the water at points as it burrowed in amongst the roots but whatever it was feeding on wasn't what I was carefully dropping in it's path. Eventually, as time was running out and Dad had had his second I had another go at fishing blind and soon caught another near four pounder - perfect fish again that was real fun to play and land.
So, all in all, a brilliant day out, good to see big fish though unfortunately not to catch them, in a lovely well kept fishery.
Usually we go out to a small stillwater once a year and after last years Avington disappointment it was great to 'discover' a fishery that was fun, not over-priced and with enough variety to make time disappear. We will return.
GMacP- Number of posts : 1759
Registration date : 2008-10-12
Age : 57
Location : Bere
Re: Rockbourne - Bank Holiday Monday.
Just had a look at their website after reading your report. Certainly looks like a lovely spot to spend a day. If only I liked freshwater fish.
Weaver- Admin
- Number of posts : 12468
Registration date : 2008-08-03
Age : 56
Location : Newton Abbot
Re: Rockbourne - Bank Holiday Monday.
The privous owners let it run down,so I went to flowers lakes.I shall return to Rockbourne after my Hols.There Smoked Trout isvery tasty.
bryanct- Number of posts : 41
Registration date : 2013-09-14
Re: Rockbourne - Bank Holiday Monday.
Yeah the previous owners were well let's say clueless and didn't listen to the fishery manager whereas now they are more hands on and know what needs to be done
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