Big Brown Trout in the sunshine

Big brown trout and glorious sunshine were the order of the day on Saturday’s Vale House Kitchen beginners fly fishing course, which I was hosting at the awesome Manningford Fishery.

If you have never fished at Manningford Fishery before, I urge you to take a trip, it’s a really well run fishery with good facilities and quality fish that are all grown at the onsite fish farm. Fishery manager Malcolm and his assistant Fen  will be on-hand  with a friendly welcome and up to date advice for the fishing.

Manningford trout fishery
The stunning Manningford Fishery

On this particular course, my wife Gilly decided to come  along and lend a hand with landing guests fish etc., although she is not a regular fly angler herself, she is always keen to wet a line herself and today was no different.

I had set her up first thing in the day with a Snowbee Classic 9′ #4/5 kit  , although this is an entry level kit from Snowbee, it’s a quality outfit, with the rod in particular a real little gem, it’s an easy to cast blank, a little forgiving with timing but powerful enough to tame decent fish.  With kit in hand, Gilly was soon wandering the banks in search of a fish or two.

I was giving a talk by the fishing lodge to the guests about flies and fly selection, when out of the corner of my eye I saw Gilly’s rod hooped over as another angler netted a fish for her.  To be honest, I thought she had a fish stuck in a snag and was struggling to land it until the fish was lifted clear of the water in the net. From a distance the fish looked to be a fair lump, and then up close it was obvious the fish was a new personal best brownie for her, it tipped the scales at 6lb 11oz and what a stunning fish it was!

brown trout
A stunning Manningford brown trout