Hello everybody,

Although I have just joined the forum, I would like to ask for some information.

I have just recently moved to west yorkshire from Ireland. I joined Bradford angling club who have a nice stretch on the River Aire and Wharfe, very good value and easy to join. Very impressed, actually. I like my lough/resevor ishing as well. I came across the resevoirs near Otley (fewston, swinston etc) and they seem worth a visit and good value. Can anybody tell me more about these lakes? Are they fishing well and what flies/tactics work?

Thanks,

Murrough

Hello Murrough and welcome to the Forum

Getting straight to the point I fished Fewston yesterday evening, terrible, not a rise in sight and nothing hatching.

Having said that Fewston and Swinsty resovoirs are excellent fisheries and very good value for money the quality of the fishing is second to none in Yorkshire. Both these waters are about 150 acres each in extent, there is no boat fishing. Access is really easy, parking is free, the wardens are very helpful. All styles of fishing dry, buzzer, wet and lures will catch fish. Plenty of fish and they run to double figures. Pick up the paper the Telegraph and Argus on a Friday and you can get a report on how they are fishing. Fishing will be better next month I think. Yorkshire water stock on a regular basis so always plenty of fish. Catch limit is 4 fish then C&R after that.

Down sides, not many really. Eastern europeans spin fishing without a permit can be a bit irritating and the water releases which is let in the for the canoists can put the fish off, well thats what folks say anyway. You can get the telephone number from the wardens office, call the answer phone to find out the dates when these events are occuring, usually this is at weekends once or twice a month.

Thats about it - give it a go - £18.30 for a day ticket and £13.20 for an evening ticket (after 4pm)

Hi murrough

These lakes are Yorkshire Water reservoirs. They are stocked with rainbows but there are a few browns in there. You get day tickets from a coin machine in the car park between the two reservoirs, £18.30 per day, £13 after 4pm with a four fish limit and IMHO are well worth a visit. Fishing is best before 10am and after 2pm, or it seems so to me anyway. It is bank fishing only, no boats. Rod average is I think 4 per day but frankly you should normally get more than that. Because they are big lakes you should find plenty of bank space, especially as water is low at the moment, more so if you are prepared to walk further from the car park than most. They can be windy so casting can be hard work. Be aware this is a popular daytripper spot as well so get the odd dog in the water next to you but dont worry if you do, it doesnt really impact on the fishing overmuch (I hooked one once but don't tell the owners!). There are no monsters but plenty in the 2-5lb range. I like to fish top of the water with emerger patterns, or with a nymph suspended under a dry. The most popular "fly" is probably the Dawson's Olive lure which almost never fails (famous last words!) but otherwise I'm not aware of any particular tactics.

Finally there is a third reservoir, Thruscross, which is even more exposed, quite wild and windy, which is not stocked but has a good head of wild browns - C&R only - under the same ticket. You can fish all three on the same day ticket.

Hope this helps and tightlines.

Thank you very much Pritts Apprentice and Treetrouter - this is really helpful. The fishing sound great -what I was looking for and good value. I can't wait to visit them. The wild brown trout lake is very appealing also. All in all, great news. I never knew about the Telegraph and Argus fishing reports.

The Dawson's olive is not a pattern I am overly familar with, although I am sure I came across it some time ago in a fishing magazine - so will tie a few up for my first visit.

Thank you again for your help.

Murrough

My mate fished fewston on sat and had a realy good morning caught 6 at 2oclock the water came up a foot and he didnt touch a thing after that.I fished it sunday got 1 and lost 2 all day talked to other anglers they had blanked so dont go after a water relese.

Ive been twice in the last two weeks and the fishing is very slow all day and evening

If you believe the returns, a lot of fish are caught on "buzzers".

I would also go along with the Dawsons Olive but with a goldhead.

Being new to the area, if you want to know more about still water fisheries available in Yorkshire try this website www.yorkshireflyfishing.
The guy also has a good blog site (just add blog behind the above) with some very good pictures on it.
Some of his stories are quite amusing - if not a little crude in parts !

TJ

These waters don't have much natural fly life in them, although they do have decent Mayfly which used to start around this time of year but if they started early this year like a lot of other places, they may have finished now. The fish generally are always looking up for food, terrestrials etc and flies like buzzers, hares ear and hoppers used to score well along with the already mentioned lures (I used to fish both waters on a weekly basis but have not been up for a few years). I can remember that most areas on Swinsty produced fish, especially the banks either side of both dam wallls. I must mae the effort to get back up there at least once this year.

Cheers

Mat

__________________
P.B's on fly
Rainbow-13lb Arnfield,Brown-8lb 2oz Rutland,Golden Rainbow-3lb Bellflask, Blue-5lb 11oz Stocks

I have only fished there once and that was approx 4 weeks ago.

I fishied both the top and bottom lake, not sure which one is which.

In the top one didnt get anything, it was very slow and saw no fish, then fished the bottom of the two lakes for the evening and I caught one small brownie and I lost count of the Perch I caught they drove me mad whilst my mate was pulling out Rainbows 30 yards to my left, he had 6 I think but he did put 3 back the ones he took tased superb tho. He caught on a small hopper on the dropper with skinny damsel on he point, I caught the Brownie on a tine black nymph and the Perch ate everything