Wentwood Reservoir Revisited. Fly Fishing in South Wales

Ever since my first visit to Wentwood Reservoir in April, I have been keen to return. So, this week I found myself standing on the flooded banks of this popular trout fishery. I had intended to bank fish, but due to the extra water, I hired a boat. The local anglers had informed me the fish were staying deep, I could see no signs of trout on the surface either and so I set up with a 7#, D5 sinking line and a pair of UV cormorant flies. Rowing across to the far bank, I started a drift just off the bank. This first attempt produced a perch of about a pound. My second drift, a little further out, quickly resulted in a lighting fast take and a good five minutes later I was netting a fighting fit, very silvery coloured rainbow trout of 2lb 8oz. I fished on through the pouring rain and caught plenty more decent perch but the trout were not at all interested. Towards the end of the day trout did start to rise, but despite trying to tempt one or two on a dry fly, I went home having caught just the one rainbow. A little disappointing, but the perch were good sport even if they weren't my intended target species. More information about Wentwood Reservoir can be found at www.wentwoodflyfishing.com or www.wyeuskfoundation.org


My Wentwood rainbow



I caught over a dozen of these feisty perch