I joined members of Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club at Bratton Water Fly Fishery on February 11th and enjoyed excellent sport with the venues hard fighting brown trout. it was a day of sunshine and hail showers with the occasional rainbow decorating the sky. The day started slowly for me three trout coming unstuck in the first hour. Paul Grisley fishing a few yards away showed the way and landed what was to be the biggest fish a of the day a stunning brown trout of 5lb 1oz in a total bag of 11lb 4oz.
The water at Bratton is generally crystal clear but heavy rain the previous day had coloured the water so it was likely that the normal small imitative flies would not work well. For this reason I persevered with black bodied lures with long marabou tails that fluttered enticingly in the water. After a couple of moves around the lake I eventually found fish in the the top corner of the lake and converted several takes into a four fish bag in half an hour of exciting fishing.
After bagging up I enjoyed hot coffee from my flask and chatted to fellow club members who were also enjoying some great sport with Bratton’s brown trout.
All in all an enjoyable few hours at this picturesque fishery that is sheltered from most winds. Fishery Owner Mike Williams told told me that improvement work is planned on the access road over the coming weeks.
