Quite a big and fishey-looking lake.
I've been involved in fisheries management for over forty years, having left Cornwall as a young lad in search of adventure. During that time, I've worked professionally in Canada, Europe, and throughout Australia and our Pacific Island neighbours. In that time, I've met a lot of people, a surprising number of whom originated from the south-west of England. One particular chap, Mike, is just finishing a post in Tuvalu (you'll need a map), a nine-island country that’s part of the Commonwealth, with a population of less than 10,000 people. It's a fair old hike to get there, but I recommend it. It does have an airport, and you can fly there on Fiji Airways.
During my current extended visit back to Cornwall, Mike and I, who lives in Penzance and is currently on holiday, have decided to catch up for a fish. The last time we did that was 7 years ago – out of a boat on Lake Eucumbene in May. He caught a cracking brown (which I recall made it into a blog) and damn near froze to death for his troubles.
Anyway, the plan is for us to fish Stithians Reservoir, a well-known South West Lakes Trust water. I’ve not done that well there on previous trips back to the UK. However, it's pretty much halfway between our two homes, so convenience got it over the line for our fish. Last Friday, I was nearby, so I thought a bit of ‘pre-search’ was in order.
There's a certain English feel to the main entrance area.
I got to the lake around 6pm, carrying my evening catch-and-release ticket which cost about $40. (I can't believe I'm getting used to this robbery!) A light south-easterly pushed along the bank where I parked near the cafe and water sports centre. All was quiet, other than a few rowing teams grunting their way up and down the lake some distance offshore. I could see two flyfishers further along the lake and made a mental note to go along and say hello after a few warm-up casts. There were several small fish rising along the shore wherever there was some calm water, but I presumed these to be coarse fish, probably dace, which are a bit of a nuisance on Stithians. I started with a size 12 black buzzer and a Diawl Bach, which I imagine to be a stick caddis. I covered enough fish on the edge of the ripple zone to be encouraging and had two weak hits. Again, those dace came to mind.
Along the bank, I saw one of my two fellow flyfishers land his second fish and decided to hail him and find out what he was using. "Beetle," he replied, "And my mate has got one on it too". On went a foam beetle, and again more interest, but no connections. I moved past these two, and along the bank, bashed through some scrub to a gap in the trees, and tried harder. Same, same. "Here," came a voice, "Try one of these, tied it myself." Whereby I was presented with a size 8 scruffy nymph with a black foam backing. The local beetle pattern. This time the rises to the fly were more substantial, but still no cigar. These were definitely not dace!
Looking for rises.
I thought it was time to rethink and relocate. My feeling was that the fish were there, but were just tentative, so I had to do something to encourage a committed take. So, I moved back to where there was a stronger ripple and on went the tungsten-beaded blingy Woolly Bugger. Four fish from 6 casts! Then it was all quiet, and the swallows started swooping, signalling a proper chironomid hatch. The rest of the evening’s fishing was on buzzers.
All in all, I would describe it as an excellent research trip. I even caught a beautiful dace, all of 200 grams, which managed to avoid being photographed. Almost a bronze goldfish.
The session with Mike is next Tuesday, the forecast is excellent, and I’m feeling much better about our Stithians choice than I was before this visit.
Stithians is halfway between the north and south coast of Cornwall, about 15 km south-west of Truro. A great venue for an easy access spot of reservoir fishing, with good facilities for the family. https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/stithians-lake
