Trout FishingWe extend a warm welcome to all trout anglers. The range of fishing we offer ensures excellent sport for all abilities. Our still water fisheries are among the best in the west and vary in size from around 50 to over 900 acres! Our fisheries are picturesque and atmospheric lakes, including countless secluded bays, weedy shores and tree line margins to explore. We boast rainbows, browns and a large number of blues of the highest quality. Traditional fly fishing is the rule at our stocked fisheries, although other methods can be used at our free wilderness trout waters. Young People and Newcomers We are working hard to encourage young people and newcomers to take up the sport. Under 18 fish for free with a paying adult and part of their bag limit. Throughout the season, we host open days and events where we offer free fly fishing tuition for all. Boat Fishing Boats are available at most of our waters which provide an alternative to bank angling. These must be pre-booked, either by calling 01566 771930 (8.30am - 5.00pm 7 days a week) or online by scrolling to the bottom of your chosen lake page. You will need to sign a disclaimer before you can take a boat out. Once a year you will need to complete a boat induction – please watch the induction video here. Access for All Most of the waters benefit from facilities designed for disabled or wheelchair anglers, either by platforms or Wheelyboats. These boats must be booked at least 48 hours in advance. Clubs A number of the fisheries have associated local clubs. These are a great way to meet fellow anglers, as well as participating in competitions and social events. We run several competitions during the season - more details of each of these are available on our competitions page. Environment Agency Rod Licence Anglers on all our waters must have a valid Environment Agency rod licence which are available from post offices or via the Environment Agency. The only exception may be when attending a bona fide course or a coaching session with a qualified coach – please check beforehand. South West Lakes Trust South West Lakes Trust is the managing charity of SW Lakes Trust Fishing. The charity is a member of The Angling Trust. In 2014, the South West Lakes Trust fisheries hosted the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships; Scotland took gold and England won silver. Reporting an Incident: South West Lakes Trust manages a portfolio of nearly 50 lakes and other natural resources so it is not always possible for our wardens to be on the scene when issues occur. The very remote and rural nature of our estate, the thing that makes them so special, also means that modern mobile communications don’t always cover the areas we would like them to. This makes getting an immediate response to ongoing incidents very challenging. Please use this form to report any incidents of poaching, illegal fishing or any other form of antisocial behaviour to the management team so that we are able to take appropriate action. Complete Form Waters Prices Competitions and Events News and Results Catch Returns About us Contact News and Results SW Lakes Weekly Trout Fisheries Round Up - W/E 18th July DAY AND SEASON PERMITS Permit rooms are closed until further notice. Please purchase your day and season permits here or call one of our team on 01566 771930. Reminders & Requests Please send me any photosof your catches, lakes or any nature or wildlife pictures that we could utilise for press articles or social media posting. It would also be great to have some clear and close up photos of some of the flies used, and would be very keen to see flies tied at home as well, so if you have any photos to hand please send them to- [email protected] Please complete Catch Returns online, this will enable us to gain a clearer picture of our lakes and stock levels which of course in turn will help us to continue to improve our Anglers experience. Any Roadford Brown Troutwith adipose removed as part of the project study please record and send any photo/details of these Brown Trout caught. Bag, Catch & Release limits: Rainbow Trout- Bag Limit is 5 fish. Catch & Release limit is 10 fish per day – we would kindly ask that all anglers purchase a further ticket if they would like to continue fishing. Brown Limit– Bag Limit is 4 fish. Catch & Release is unlimited (if you’re lucky enough to catch good numbers of our Brownies then we feel it’s well deserved!) BOATS We currently have four boats available at Kennick, three at Roadford and one at Stithians. The two boats for Siblyback will be available soon. To book a boat for the fisheries please click here. News and Highlights from the week: A quiet week in terms of both angling and fish activity due to the hot weather and high water temperatures, but still some enjoyable fishing to be had. Highlights include a new season record for Roadford and a rod average of 3.36 at Kennick. Please keep the catch reports coming in, we really do appreciate the depth of information they offer and it’s a great help to us. Thanks also for the great photos and videos we’ve received so far. Kennick Rod Average: 3.36 A myriad of different flies, lines and tactics used this week resulting in some great bags and a rod average of 3.36. Boat fishing still proving successful with the fish favouring deeper water due to the temperatures, with David H and Dick Y catching 20 rainbows between them of 1-2lbs on a sinking line fished deep near Clampitts from a drifting boat, and also Marc C and Pete J, with 10 up to 2lb 4oz and most takes reported at around 6-8ft down. Some great bank fishing too including Kevin M with 3 rainbows caught using varying fly lines and methods, switching between an intermediate line with blue flash damsel and washing line set up on floating line. Also Ian S with 4 rainbows, and Miles T with 5. Small flies seemed to be working better, with Jeff F noting that the trout wouldn’t look at anything larger than a size 16 and catching one 2lb 8oz rainbow and a 12oz brown. Roger P caught his 5 rainbows (2.4-3lb) from a boat on a fast sink line, hard on the bottom with a slow retrieve, and John S had similar success with 5 2lb rainbows using the same tactics. A lot of you will recognise Millie, who has accompanied Mike Herring on his trips to Kennick for 13 years. Sadly, Millie had to be put to sleep on Sunday 11th July. She was quite the character and will be greatly missed by Mike and Hilary, as well as staff and fellow anglers at Kennick. ‘I was teased by lots of anglers, because they always heard Millie whenever I hooked a fish. She thought it was all wonderful. She always loved seeing Mark and Kit and never forgot Sam. Chris Hall (when he was Ranger at Kennick) said we should take her in the boat with us, rather than leave her in the car. She only fell in once, when she was young, getting carried away with wanting to be involved with a fish that one of us hooked in Kennick Bay. It was quite a splash and there was a shout from a walker passing nearby on the road, 'that was a big one!’. View the full Catch Report here Check out the Kennick fishing map here The Kennick fishing guide is here Siblyback Rod Average: 1.69 Notable catches this week include Matt C with 5 rainbows ranging from 2-3lb on an orange FAB and a red crisp packet buzzer, caught on a floating line with washing line set up before switching to an intermediate line on the same set up. Matt B caught 4 rainbows and one brown from his float tube, whilst Leighton C caught 3 rainbows from 1lb 5oz - 2lb on a beetle and black buzzer with a slow retrieve but lost 5 more. Very few insect hatches and activity reported last week with David S commenting that even the swallows gave up! David caught one 1lb 9oz rainbow on a blob stripped across the surface at Stockie bay. View the full Catch Report here Read our guide to fishing at Siblyback here Check out our Siblyback fishing map here Burrator Rod Average: 1.00 Unfortunately very little to go on this week due to only 2 anglers submitting their catch returns despite 18 day permits being purchased. Thank you to Rob S who caught a 1.5lb rainbow on a black damsel on Sunday and 2 more on Wednesday, and Mark M who unfortunately had nil catches on his baby doll and Peter Ross flies. Even nil returns help us form a picture of how the lakes are fishing so do keep sending them in as they are much appreciated! View the full Catch Report here Read our guide to fishing at Burrator here Check out our Burrator fishing map here Stithians Rod Average: 1.61 Mornings seem to be working best currently, before the temperatures rise and the fish retreat to cooler waters. Notable catches this week include Gregory L B with 4 rainbows and 1 brown on a handtied fly and Harvey D with 2 rainbows caught from a float tube on a floating line 20 yards out. Also John H with 5 rainbows around the 1lb mark on a damsel and black beetle and Lee E with 3 rainbows. Less Rudd about this week but still a few for those targeting them; David P caught 5, Nigel B got 2 amongst 2 rainbows and a brown trout, Graeme C got 2 and and Barry J got 1 along with 1 rainbow at 1lb 4oz. John H landed one 1lb 80z rainbow and a carp of around 20lb: ‘Bright morning with gentle breeze. An abundance of butterflies and dragonflies on the walk from the dam. Started with chaffer beetle on point and Pym on dropper. Floating wf7 line. 8lb floro down to 6. Shoals of Rudd topping about 15m out with a few trout rising farther out. First fish at 08:30 then all went quiet as conditions warmed up. Switched to Diawl Bach and lure and bang, hard take and down to the backing. This happened twice before the fish fired and came in. A mint condition common carp. Weather got warmer and all quiet for the rest of the morning. Finished at 13:00.’ Photo: John Hedges View the full Catch Report here Read our guide to fishing at Stithians here Check out our Stithians fishing map here Fernworthy Rod Average: 1.67 Again, Very little surface activity reported due to the hot weather and high water temperatures. Clive G had the largest catch this week with 4 'absolutely beautiful' wild brown trout on a dry sedge. Stuart D caught 1 30cm brownie on a black gnat, while Steven H caught 2 at 7-9 inches, again on dry flies. View the full Catch Report here Read our guide to fishing at Fernworthy here Check out our Fernworthy fishing map here Colliford Rod Average: 0.71 Photo: Zoe Thomson A quiet week compared to last week at Colliford. Chris T made the most of Wednesday evening before the really hot, sunny weather hit and caught 3 brown trout at 25-32cm on a static dry fly: ‘A bright sunny evening with northerly breeze. Not ideal but with the forecast being hot and sunny for the weekend I decided to give it a go now. Headed straight to Menaridan point where the wind was offshore and a nice ripple 15 yards out to aim a dry sedge at. It didn’t take long before a 10 brownie was in the net which was a great start as I wasn’t really expecting much action until sunset. Moving further down the bank, another fell to the same static dry fly tactic before a 3rd slipped the hook. On the way back to the carpark I stopped to chat to a couple enjoying the sunset who told me they had seen fish rising over towards the causeway. With 10 to 15mins of light left I had to give it a try. There were fish rising but not to my fly! On about the 10th last cast I finally hooked and after a good scrap, landed a better fish of about a pound which took the fly on the retrieve.’ Robert R caught a 2lb carp, Paul M caught a 12oz brownie on a foam beetle and Stephen B got 3 8-10oz browns on small bibios during the heavy rain showers of Sunday evening. Photo: Zoe Thomson View the full Catch Report here Read our guide to fishing at Colliford here Check out our Colliford fishing map here Roadford Rod Average: 2.33 Roadford fishing a bit better than of late with boat and bank fishing producing equal results for both trout anglers and those targeting perch. Paul T takes over the season record for largest fish with a brown trout weighing in at just over 6lb, caught on a sinking line fished deep from a boat 30-50ft from North Wortha bank. Paul also managed 7 more trout and a total of 20 perch up to 2lb. Photos below. View the full Catch Report here Read our guide to fishing at Roadford here Check out our Roadford fishing map here Wildlife Round-up: Curlew showing and calling at Fernworthy, damsels and dragonflies of various species including Common Darter at Kennick and Siblyback (just in time for British Dragonfly Week!), around 100 Canada Geese reported on the North Shore at Siblyback along with a loan mallard and several wagtails, and various butterflies and dragonflies at Stithians. There are still plenty of spaces left for qualifying for the Best of the Best Competition: The qualifiers have a maximum of 12 people per heat with the top 6 qualifying for the £2000 final at Kennick on 17th October. Places still available for the dates below - To book in please call our office on 01566 771930. Don’t delay! Burrator – 18 September (New date) Kennick – 25 September (New date) Kennick – 2 October All the information and rules can be found here: https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/best-of-the-best The full list of qualifiers will be posted on our Best of the Best page on our website (link above). Hope to catch up on one of our waters in the very near future. Tight lines! Dil Manage Cookie Preferences