I fished Blenheim's new trout fishery last weekend. It has only been open a few weeks so I did not know what to expect, WOW what a setting! It is discribed as a still water but it is actually a river with a lot of natural fly activity.
I started fishing the Bladon beat which was very active with trout rising to a black and white Mayfly hatch and I had fish on a olive goldhead and a black and white mayfly patern. The keeper came to say hello and suggested I try the Lince beat as it was more private. Once through the gates it was probably the most peacefull and picturesque river bank as you would find anywhere, with only short casts needed to reach the lilly beds where some fish were lurking.
I had a great day with plenty of fish to keep me happy and lovely scenery, I would expect it to get busy so give it a try before the rush as I think it is a cheap ticket to fish a river.
Tight Lines!!!!!

Yes I read about it in TF this month. Certainly looks a beautiful place to fish.

What are the tariffs jammy?

Jammy i think there is a thread already about Blenheim with pic's and all. Look on the thread search and you should find it. I've fished it and loved it the reviews seem to be positive as well. I hope this one keeps going as it gives us a bit more choice in Oxfordshire. Might see you there one day.

If you check out the web site blenheimpalace.com it will give you the fees for various tickets and all the information for access when you buy a ticket. I am used to fishing still water lakes but this is something totally different.

Im fishing Blenheim next Wednesday - really looking forward to it. Im a newcomer to the sport and have so far only fished lakes, so this looks to offer something a bit different.

I'll be making sure to take the flies you recomend Jammy - as a complete novice, any other basic advice to help me enjoy my day at Blenheim would be greatly appreciated.

I'll be sure to post my thoughts and findings next week....

link to the old thread about blenheim:

Blenheim Palace

regards,
matt.....

Blenheim Palace was such a beautiful venue to fish.Clearly a lot of time has been given to creating shelters and clearing vegetation.Snow and mist with the odd deer putting an appearance in made for a truly amazing backdrop. Well did we catch anything? Yes! Fishing the Palace Grounds beat, using a slow retrieve technique,I was soon into a large fish with the rod bent double and struggling to keep control. The fish streaked of across the water like a rocket. This was likely to be a personal best,something didnt feel right however and all was revealed when the beast finally surfaced! A pike had taken the small black and silver streamer and was well and truly angry! Great sport on a light set up with a 6lb leader! Eventually we landed the fish and estimated its weight at around 8-9lb. This begs the question how many pike are there in the trout fishery and more importantly how many trout are left? We didnt see any Trout activity at all for the rest of the day,two beats were closed Lince and the Gardens beat. A few trout carcasses were spotted in the snow and margins however. My overall view is that I am not confident that there are many trout left to find in such a large water.I wonder what the original stocking level was like,and how may fish have managed to escape or have been gobbled up by the pike,numerous herons (fat and finding flying difficult) and cormorants! It would be interesting to revisit Belnheim when the temperature rises to see whether there are any signs of surface feeding. In summary if you are looking to catch pike on the fly then probably a good venue in some of Englands finest scenery! Richard

out of interest what are the costs and is any catch and release on offer?.

£25 for 4 fish (keep first, then C&R next three), this is for a half day, 7am-2pm.

Oxfly - I fished Blenheim on Sunday morning and landed one fry feeding trout and lost two others. Saw the occasional bit of surface movement, but fish down near the bottom judging by leeches on my recent catches. I fished it at the end of December and had 5 trout from Rough Piece, from the bridge dozens of rainbows could be seen cruising around the clear water, a lot of 1.5-2 lbers but a few bigger fish amongst them. I didnt see many doing the same on Sunday. I've fished Blenheim a few times and other than the Lince in May/June it has never fished the same on any two different days. The returns book shows trout being caught in December and a few before the snow hit last week. I have seen the odd bream carcass in the reeds but never a trout, bound to happen though with comarants, otters and herons around the place. The headkeeper has been up front about stocking levels and frequency whenever I have asked so I accept the fish are in there, I wouldnt go back if I didnt think I could catch any trout but its a varied water and you have to find them. I have blanked a few times out there and blanking on a first visit is never good but not a reason to write a new fishery off. Blenheim could be a very good fishery, its early days still. Maybe the pike numbers need reduced and the there is water that is hard to access for anglers but the trout can hide up in. I hope it does do well as it offers something different to Farmoor, Barnes and Bushy.

Pic below is sundays fish (with his breakfast that he coughed up in the landing net)

And another earlier one...

Blenheim Palace, trout and 'Fisher Management'

Andy

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