Fly fishing at Pennine Fishery

I love my trips up to Pennine Fishery near Rochdale. I come over all giddy about the prospect of hooking huge rainbows. If you are a "purist" or wild trout fisherman then look away! Pennine is all about trying to catch huge rainbows on the fly. By huge I mean over 20lb. There are currently fish in there pushing 30lb and the minimum size for stocking is about 3 lbs.

Despite the rain at the weekend I had a good day landing about 7 fish and probably loosing about as many. I hooked a big fish on my second cast of the day but lost it near the bank after trying to bully it to the net! Best method of the day was dry fly or mini muddler however the biggies tend to lurk lower down and I spent much of the day on sinking line trying to tempt a monster out of the depths.

I love fishing the small brooks and stream for wild brownies on light tackle but equally I love the pure unadulterated fun of fishing for these monster rainbows. Every time you hook in to a fish it makes you smile and make a noise that goes something like "ooopphh" as you feel the fish making it's first run. I finished the day with 2 Rainbows and a Brown weighing in at 10lbs

The fish taste good too, I just had a fillet with Parsley Sauce and some Jersey Royals - delicious.

Useful Links: Pennine Fishery