It's been well over 30 years since I last regularly fished for trout and in that time, among the many changes that have taken place, there has been a huge growth in commercially stocked trout ponds/fisheries, which were quite rare back then.
However, I just can't seem to get my head around the idea of ever fishing one of these places! For me, the thought of fishing for what are relatively semi-tame or recently stocked trout just doesn't hold any appeal whatsoever.

I was always used to fishing for completely wild trout, very often in smaller rivers or the upper reaches of bigger rivers where there was never any re-stocking or rivers where trout were really difficult to catch and one had to really work for their catch and really match whatever the fish were feeding on to get any results whatsoever. Fishing for trout in fisheries or stocked ponds/lakes just would not hold enough challenge for me.

I did fish a couple of privately owned and stocked small trout lakes of friends in the past but, it was like shooting fish in a barrel! There are lots of stocked coarse fish ponds locally, but once again, I could never envisage ever fishing these, even if I enjoyed coarse fishing.

I'm certainly not being dismissive or patronising of those who do choose to fish in fisheries as they probably face the same problems as me with regard to finding good quality, local river fishing and perhaps I need re-educating and maybe I'm missing out on something good!

So c'mon, sell me the benefits of fishing these venues!

Tony

I'm not much for stillwaters either (even though I did work at one for a year) but what if you got a sudden urge to go fishing when the season is over? Enter the stillwater fishery

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Simple. If you dont like them dont fish them. Plain & simple.
Another point. Do rivers not have stocking policies!

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All that glitters, will catch anglers.

Of course club waters are usually re-stocked - however, I can remember fishing the River Wear and many other waters not long after re-stocking and it was a nightmare! The fish were literally giving themselves up and it often took many weeks or even months for the waters to settle back to normal.

Those days are well & truly gone. You can still find some true wild fishing in Scotland. But most places have to top up with farmed fish. I know most try to do this from wild stock. Most of the places i fish have a head of wild fish, so you get the best of both worlds.

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All that glitters, will catch anglers.

Well, going back all those years when I last regularly fished, after the trout/seatrout/salmon season ended we occasionally went coarse/pike fishing to satisfy those urges but, it was mostly a time of fly tying to replenish all those stocks of flies and tackle servicing, in preparation for the coming season.
I could get a littlke satisfaction in maybe the odd day's pike fishing these days but fisheries would certainly not satisfy my trout fishing urges

I don't think they are all gone but I agree large club waters do alot of re-stocking.

Some of the upper reaches of the Tees, Wear and Tyne are very often not re-stocked but, the downside is the smaller size of the natural wild trout!

It's not often that you get the specimens of the well stocked waters but I'd personally prefer to fish for and catch smaller wild brown trout than large baskets of fish including rainbows from re-stocked waters.

Most of my fishing was done in these kind of waters - it wasn't the size of the fish caught that gave satisfaction, it was the effort needed to catch them that fulfilled this!

For a lot of people stocked stillwaters may be the only option in their locality. Not everyone has the opportunity or availability of wild rivers & streams within their area !!

Regards,

Rudolf

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Illigitimi non Carborandum

I hear where you are conning from, and I also tend to avoid stockie puddles. Although they are few and far between in my country, due to the laws around the stocking of alien fish, and very strict permits in this regard, they do have a very significant role to play, and all their advantages are too numerous to mention in one post.
Perhaps the single biggest advantage, is the opportunity to introduce people to flyfishing, and provide a venue for people that might not be as fortunate as those who have wild rivers to access.
I personally don't really know too much about stocked rivers either, as all our trout rivers are wild, and we have a lot of them, but I would imagine that a stocked river would hold less appeal to me than a wild one.
I would never knock anyone who is attracted to the easy fishing of an over stocked puddle, but I simply wouldn't be able bring myself to enjoy fishishing there.

I do both stocked and wild. Reasons for fishing stocked:

1. You know the fish are there, so you can experiment with different techniques and if they don't work then you know it's your fault, not the absence of fish.

2. Chance of connecting with a big fish. Pulling out half pound wild browns is great, but sometimes I'd like the fight of a well mended 3lb rainbow.

3. Location - they are closer and I can get to them for an evening session after work in the summer without eating into my fishing time too much.

4. Community and facilities. Sometimes I want to have the whole loch to myself, but sometimes it's fun to have a coffee and a chat with other anglers on the bank or in the lodge.

But to think that small, stocked fisheries are more difficult than wild just isn't always true. The wild loch I fish has semi-starved wee brown trout under low fishing pressure - they will make a grab at just about anything that passes their nose. Last two times I was out: wild loch - got a dozen. Stocked loch: got one.

Neil