How things have changed! The staff were extremely polite, helpful and knowledgable. The other anglers were friendly and down to earth. And the fishing was really good. I can now recommend it heartily to anyone who fancies a day's C&R bank reservoir fishing at a pretty reasonable £20.
As it's catch & release, there are no flies allowed longer than 35mm and a maximum hook size of 10. Barbs have to be crushed and all fish are released in the water with minimal handling. For those who think that trout don't return well, all I can say is go there and see for yourself - the fish we caught couldn't have been in better condition, they were absolutely stunning. I've become very disillusioned by the usual stocked rainbow scene, but this was a breath of fresh air. There are 170 acres for them to swim around in, so it's not like they have nowhere to hide.
Farmoor has a reputation as a good buzzer water, and fish were rising all day long to take them just under the surface. Steve and I caught four trout each, all of them on small red buzzers fished under a sight indicator, drifted across the breeze. Despite the size of the place, the fish came in very close, and even though Steve forgot his longer rod, he was still able to catch fishing close in with his #4 outfit. In fact, it may have offered some advantages - I used my 10ft #8 outfit and lost no less than 5 trout which all got off after just a few seconds, possibly because the rod is quite stiff.
The trout weren't just in superb condition, they were also big! Well, compared to what I'm used to, anyway. We both caught fish of well over 4lb (unweighed, of course), which was a PB for me, and they just didn't give up. Even the smaller ones of 2-3lb were ballistic! There was no bullying them, and even though they gave it everything, they all shot off when released.
Although contrete bowls aren't the most attractive places, the surrounding countryside and lots of boats and bird life made it really quite pretty. And the blazing red sunset behind the Thames was a real sight.
Better anglers could have caught a lot more, but we had a great time. It certainly makes a difference to creeping about my little streams for spooky wild brownies! Speaking of which, that's what I'll be doing later this evening...
I thought I should redress the balance of my previous negative review - Farmoor has changed beyond recognition, and I'm sure we'll be going back for another go soon
