It may be several years now since the banks of our lovely 500-acre Ladybower reservoir were not on
ly densely lined with anglers on opening day mornings but many of those anglers had sat out all night waiting for dawn and the chance of a favourite spot by the waterside.
But weather permitting when this big trout water opens for fishing earlier than ever before on Monday, March 3, there will no doubt be quite a lot of anglers fishing in the morning with the favoured hot-spots lined with anglers and rods bending regularly.
Raspberry Bay, the Old Fishery Office bank, Mill Brook Bay and Ladybower Bay should produce good sport if previous opening days are anything to go by, and those anglers who have managed to book a boat will do well too.
This assumes that we get on the water at all of course, for this venue high in the Pennines has a climate all of its own.
We could be snowed off, or find the surface iced over.
As it happens most recent opening days have enjoyed reasonable weather with worse conditions following later on, but manager Allan Purnell at least has the advantage over other reservoirs in that he rears all his stock trout on site and can release a great many fish into the reservoir in the days before opening day.
This also accounts for the fact that sometimes some (but by no means all) of the stocked trout have tail fins and pectorals that are less than perfect.
This is largely due to the need to rear so many fish in a limited area of trout farm ponds and cages.
Remember though that this also accounts for the fact that Ladybower is the cheapest of all the big trout reservoirs to buy either day or season permits for.
And many of the keen regulars will tell you that these trout tend to taste better then those from some other venues, and to fight harder than those other waters do.
And the fact that so many people live within a reasonable distance of the reservoir is a great benefit in these days when long journeys by car can be something of a nightmare.
Get among the rainbow trout and the lovely brook trout then, and remember that until the beginning of the month of May the limit bag per angler per day is four fish rising to six fish later in the year.
No catch and release is allowed here so sizeable fish should be killed.
John Neville
