THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESERVOIR FLY FISHING IN ENGLAND: FROM ATTRACTORS TO DECEIVERS

 

By Adrian V W Freer

 

Dr Bell’s pioneering work on stillwaters in the development of close-copy flies, and techniques for recovering them, is inextricably linked with the opening of the first reservoirs to trout fishing in England which occurred at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. He was undoubtedly the man for his time. To better understand the situation in which Dr Bell found himself, and how it led him down the path of devising his imitative patterns, it would be worthwhile to spend a little time to reflect on what was happening at the time.

 

Although anglers in Scotland and Ireland had been fishing the lochs and loughs for trout with an artificial fly for several generations (as far back as 1840 John Colquhoun listed the menus of fly dressings in his book The Moor and Loch detailing the wings, body and hackle of artificial flies in use at the time), the history of stillwater trout fishing in English reservoirs goes back little more than a century. The simple reason for that was because (apart from the Lake District which was somewhat isolated before the construction of the railways) England possessed few large stillwaters that contained trout. That all changed when the water supply reservoirs began to be built to meet the increasing demand for water from the big cities.

 

The earliest of these reservoirs to be stocked with trout were Thrybergh Reservoir close to Doncaster completed around 1880, Lake Vyrnwy, Powys in 1891, Ravensthorpe Reservoir in Northamptonshire in 1895 and Blagdon Lake in Somerset which was first opened as a trout fishery in 1904.

 

It was not surprising that in the early stages of the development of reservoir trout fishing the anglers of the time used artificial flies which were already in existence. These were mainly flies commonly employed on the Scottish lochs, together with a handful of flies intended for rivers, with the emphasis heavily placed upon loch flies. It was the logical thing to do; after all they were fishing for the same species of fish and to transfer these flies to the new waters appeared to make sense. There were few other fly patterns around in any case.

 

Generally speaking the flies employed would be what we describe as ‘fancy’ patterns which were for the most part based upon sea trout and salmon flies. They relied on tinsel bodies and bright colours to attract the fish and were retrieved quickly through the water. The intention was not to imitate any food item in particular. At the time the terms ‘Lake Fly’ and ‘Sea Trout Fly’ became to some degree interchangeable.

 

Looking at literature published around the time it would appear that the method employed was pretty formulaic. Tie on a set of fancy flies, preferably the ones that worked last week, cast them out and then pull them in. If that doesn’t work tie on a different set and do the same. That is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. Dr Bell changed all that.

 

At this time many of the reservoirs allowed spinning as well as fly fishing and looking at the fly patterns in use it is apparent that the division between artificial flies and spinners was very indistinct. Flies of the period ranged from those tied on a single hook, to those of tandem and three-hook construction, patterns incorporating beads, fly spinners, vanes, celluloid bodies and other embellishments, and out-and-out spoons and spinners adorned with strands of feather fibre. Some of the creations were pretty fearsome to behold.

 

Once reservoir fly fishing began to develop it was only a matter of time before thinking anglers began to question whether they were adopting the best approach. It was only natural that they started to design flies that were specifically tailored for the English reservoirs rather than carry on utilizing those intended for locations in other parts of the British Isles.

 

The progress of reservoir fly fishing during this time is very much shrouded in mystery because little in the way of written records exist, however we do know that in the 1920s and 1930s the legendary, but reclusive, Dr Howard Bell of Wrington, Somerset was probably one of the first to experiment at Blagdon with patterns which imitated the natural food of trout. It was undoubtedly a new departure.

 

Dr Bell was one of the earliest reservoir anglers who can be identified who examined the stomach contents of the fish he caught after he had read Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream by G E M Skues (Black, 1910) and he sought to apply Skues’ methods to reservoirs. Having examined what the trout were taking Bell attempted to design copies of what he found. What is less well documented, but is probably equally significant, is that he was the first to realize that by presenting his flies in the way which the trout would expect their natural food to behave – and that was by moving them very slowly indeed – he had discovered an infinitely more successful method of deceiving them. From Dr Bell, and the like-minded anglers who followed in his footsteps, the beginnings of what we today call ‘nymph fishing’ on reservoirs began to evolve.

 

Dr Bell left behind very few written accounts of his exploits apart from his fishing diaries, although a rare surviving article that he wrote for his own benefit has subsequently come to light and was reproduced as an in appendix in Reservoir Trout Flies by Adrian V W Freer (Crowood Press, 2010); as far as is known it was never published in his own lifetime. Nevertheless what we do have are examples of what he was attempting to achieve as a result of his fly patterns, some of which are still in use to this day. The fact that many these flies have endured for so many years is surely testimony to the validity of his innovations. These patterns include the Blagdon Buzzer Nymph (possibly the very first imitation of the Chironomid pupa), the Amber Nymph (a sedge pupa pattern) and the Grenadier. We know what the first two flies were intended to represent but have few clues about the Grenadier; only that it was, and still is, a very killing fly. It is interesting to note that Dr Bell’s patterns are all somewhat suggestive in design and he was possibly the first reservoir angler to conclude that impressionistic patterns can be far more successful than precise imitations.

 

There was little further progress in the way of further radical development in stillwater fly fishing in England between the wars, partly because there were few other waters holding trout available to anglers, but in the late 1930s things started to change with the construction of a multitude of new reservoirs including Eyebrook and Ladybower. After the Second World War waters such as Hollowell, Thornton and others were opened as trout fisheries and reservoir fly fishing became available to an ever-widening circle of devotees.

 

When Grafham Water first opened in 1966 it produced phenomenal catches that are still talked about today, as did Rutland Water when that opened in 1977. Reservoirs such as these provide what is arguably the finest fly fishing in Europe. The latter half of the twentieth century has seen numerous other reservoirs opened to trout fishing throughout the country including Pitsford, Carsington, Bewl, Draycote, Foremark and a host of others. Nowadays there are few anglers who do not have access to top quality, day-ticket fly fishing close to where they live.

 

With the opening of these new waters the explosion of reservoir trout fishing as a sport that can be enjoyed by both young and old, and by both sexes, has contributed towards angling being the largest participant sport practised in the British Isles by far. This is the legacy of Dr Howard Alexander Bell of Wrington.