Having watched and read the thread I wonder if there is a different opinion or thoughts on people who fish stocked waters and people who fish the wild lakes loughs lochs Llyns.
I've been stood in North Wales with my father in llyn Dilyn and have seen not a rise for the day but knowing that fish are there.. That is definelty a place you don't go expecting to cast.. But whe walking to it watching buzzards float on warm. Winds peregrines hunting the cliffs eating wild raspberries that was what that day was about we hoped to catch but dis not expect it..
I've never fished a sticked water and wonder so the people here expect to catch or as me hope..
Thanks all..
Gary
A good few years ago there was a discussion in the EA as to what is a truly wild fishery and how many there are. The consensus was very few. Our Victorian forebears were great ones for "improving" waters and there were many landlocked lakes, lochs, llyns or loughs that had some poor bunch of local peasants trudging up there with a couple of milk churns full of trout fry strapped to a pony at the behest of some local "sportsman" who might have given them as much as 5 shillings for their efforts - 25p in todays money.
Amuses me sometimes when someone writes "its never been stocked," and I mentally add "since the first time." You can guarantee our Victorian fly fisherman didn't keep any records. The upside of this is, of course, that some of those waters have often gone on to produce trout that are genetically distinct and are perfectly adapted to their local environment. A case of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
So, it is very likely that you have fished a stocked water, It's just that it happened a long time ago.
Many consider that stocked rainbow fisheries are very much the poor relations. Not proper fly fishing which is a load of tosh. Trout, whether brown or rainbow, are biologically programmed to do 3 things - eat, swim and bonk and in general they do all three quite well. They have the equipment to enable them to do the first, and there is also equipment that helps them to evade danger. They aren't quite as good at that as the majority of any individual's cohort snuffs it before they can do the third, and quite a few peg out after getting their fins over.
Recently stocked fish of both species can be very easy to catch, but they soon wise up and refuse that glittery dogsbollox that whips past their noses. As I know from a lot of experience, "wild" trout and especially those that seldom see an angler can also be very easy fish to catch.
One thing is sure, a grown on rainbow in a reservoir will knot the spots off a brown trout of similar size in the fighting stakes. The rainbow is all fireworks whereas the brown slugs it out down deep. I enjoy catching them both and am looking forward to the beginning of April when I can get to Farmoor and swing a team of buzzers.