The reason I ask is that a largish (300 acres-ish) stocked stillwater trout fishery near me is being forced to cease stocking with rainbow trout and must become a ‘browns only’ fishery in 2014. There is some natural recruitment of browns in the stream-fed lake, but plans are for a managed fishery with frequent stocking of farmed browns. It seems that even stocking with triploid rainbows won’t be permitted. Now I would dearly like this new stocking formula to succeed, but knowing what I do about brown trout, I’m very sceptical. They are certainly not as obliging surface feeders as rainbows, and have a habit of disappearing for weeks during the dog days of Summer. Being the size that it is, there is plenty of acreage and depth into which these fish can disappear. The fishery also contains a lot of pike, that have grown fat over the years on rainbow trout. And of course, slow-growing browns are much more expensive to buy and stock than rainbows

I struggle to think of any fishery managed along these lines that has succeeded, but I may be wrong. I recall Carsington in Derbyshire starting off as a browns-only water, but converting to a mixed brown and rainbow fishery, the better to ensure consistent sport and the business that it generates. Is anyone on here aware of a commercially successful 300 acre stocked brownies-only stillwater trout fishery in the UK?

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cumbriafishingfestival.co.uk

Waskerley Reservoir in Co. Durham in stocked only with browns and is quite successful

thanks noel. will go look.

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cumbriafishingfestival.co.uk

would letting it stock itself be an option? there are plenty of lochs that sustain themselves naturally but it would take time to catch up maybe.

More pc gone nuts - people will vote with their feet and it will go over to jet skiing I expect.

It does seem like an own goal really. EA can force a fishery to only stock browns, but they can't force anglers to then carry on fishing it, so they may as well stop pretending and just acknowledge they are forcing its closure. You'd think that might then raise unfairness and compensation issues? Carsington is primarily rainbows now btw. The same debate kicked off a little back in respect of Watendlath Tarn as I recall, don't know where that ended up, but presumably EA backed off as its still open and still stocking rainbows.

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Says its stocked with rainbows here Waskerley Reservoir @ go-fish.co.uk and on another website I've visted.

But some of you have started getting the picture about what's behind this issue (I never mentioned the EA, BTW). Here's a suggestion; if modern thinking - ie. 'let's try and revert to an ecology similar to that at the end of the Ice Age because it's more natural' then there would be no trout in places like New Zealand and what a tragedy that would be!

I say let's create the ecosystems and the wildlife profile that we humans want for our purposes. So called 'indigenous wildlife' should have no prior claim on anything, and amenity should trump romantic notions of what might have been 'natural' ten thousand years ago. Rant over!

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cumbriafishingfestival.co.uk

Carron was brown trout only until a few years ago but stocks rainbows now. I would welcome brown only waters but I guess its not commercially feasible due to the cost of stocking.

My club water is brown only but it doesn't have to make money.

they were all brown trout waters once that stocked themselves, problem is, after years of catch 2lb+ rainbows would going back to natural fish size be bearable? i dont mean stocking browns, they can reproduce all by themselves for free.

Do a bit of web research on Loch leven, Scotland, now browns only, after two decades of rainbow stocking, quantity and size of brownies being caught now is impressive.
Fishery was losing money with 40 odd boats and rainbow stocking, now is wiping its face with no stocking and 14 boats!!
Granted it is ten times the size you are asking about, but is worth looking at history.
Another one to look at is Cobbinshaw reservoir, west lothian, was brown only and private members club for years and years, went the way of rainbow stocking, a decade or so ago, and membership declined!!
regards
bert