It’s been a glorious start to April and the Easter break has found the fishery busy with many anglers out for the season’s first fish. Although there has been alot of sunshine the lakes have fished well and the fish are extremely lively – plenty of clear cold water and an abundance of natural food marking Bellbrook as one of the best places for traditional imitative fly fishing.

Regular visitor Nigel Croft from Sidmouth enjoyed a good day catching 3 fish for 9-8 including a 4lb rainbow from the Specimen lake. His preferred method was a floating line with a 12’ leader and a small gold headed hairs ear fished at approximately 6’.

Father and son Malcolm and Leon Tye from Exeter had a half day on the normals and both caught their limit with Leon just pipping Malcolm with 3 fish for 8-15 versus 7-0. They also used a floating line but their preferred fly was a green Montana.

Amber Cherry Eames and her partner Will from Taunton took advantage of the half day fishing experience offer which includes tuition. They enjoyed a casting session on the grass before graduating to the lakes where they both were into fish within just a few casts. Unfortunately Amber’s fish got off but Will landed two Rainbows for 4-8. They were using a floating line and a gold head black spider.

Joe Mcloughlin from Tiverton visited with his friend Jack and had a good day – both took the Rover Classic which enables them to fish both the specimen and normal lakes. They managed 4 fish for 11-3 and mainly caught on a green nymph fished at about 4’.

This weekend also saw the 2nd heat of the Bellbrook Cup where anglers compete for a chance of winning the £1000 cash prize. 16 anglers took part with the best result of the day going to Robbie Maunder who managed to catch his limit of 6 fish for 18-0. There were then two anglers on five fish – Alan Jukes of Taunton with a weight of 13-2 and Rob Sparry of Bath with a weight of 16-6. In this competition fish mean points and the best scores after three heats will determine who goes through to the final in November. For more details of the competition, photos of the heat and a table of results so far go to www.bellbrookfishery.co.uk/competition.

Any questions about the fishery please call Chris on 01398 351292.