Walking up from the car park Andrew told me that they had quietly opened the lake so that the local anglers had somewhere to fish during the Foot and Mouth epidemic. Since then they had garnered a group of intensely loyal anglers who think very highly of the crystal clear water and the hard fighting fully finned fish which are purposely selected from their own stock ponds.

Stood by the hut having a natter, as you do whilst tackling up, my pal Tom Hill and I witnessed an incredible hatch of buzzer which must have attracted every Swift for miles around because the air was black with them. Tom said to me that he had seen this before at Milemead and spoke about how he had wasted hours fishing buzzer on a floating line catching only the occasional fish, but put the buzzers on a sink tip so that they fish a few feet down and you will find the fish. Sage advice because without the use of the Cortland Ghost tip line I think we would have struggled in the bright sunshine, at least till late in the evening when the shadows lengthened.

As you walk the bank on this lovely little fishery its is very noticeable how the banks are strimmed and the obvious fishing positions are edged and backfilled with chippings so that you are not fishing in a mudbath every time it rains. "Benches are being made and will be sited shortly" Andrew explained.

"We have a lot of retired people in this area who are not as nimble on their feet as they once were, so the benches will be a welcome addition for them. For next season there will also be a proper Lodge where tea and coffee can be made, a microwave to heat a pie or pasty and somewhere comfortable to sit out of the wind for the Coarse and Trout anglers".

My first pull of the day was a very soft half hearted affair as I fished a pair of buzzers around on a floating line. The surface wind was shifting the floater at a rate of knots taking the buzzers "round the bend" which is often a lethal method. But not today, they wanted the fly at a depth between three and five feet on the edge of the shallows and Tom’s sink tip was the way to go. He had four fish to my one before he took pity on me and said "have a cast or two with this new line!" I have always liked sink tip lines especially the ones made by the Canadian "Northern Fly Line Co" which unfortunately went out of business some years ago. They were the only manufacturer who ever made a sink tip which was easy to cast with, all of the others were utter dogs. This Cortland Ghost tip line is a good line, to the point where I am going to get a couple myself. New technology it might be, but they work very well and that’s what matters.

On the day a fifteen foot leader loaded with green and black buzzers cast out and allowed to sink for a count of ten, then retrieved with a slow to medium figure eight retrieve found the fish, and what lovely fish they were.

I had gone exploring along the bank, a couple of casts out of each casting stand looking for the fish and satisfying my curiosity at the same time.

It was easy to see that the water had shallowed up as I got to the top end, the advantage of the sink tip was not so great here as it was down in the main body of the lake. So using my floating line, I put a black tungsten bead buzzer on the point to pull the leader down and a size 14 green buzzer on the dropper. Dropping the flies on the edge of the slack water behind the small island I counted down for a count of five and started a slow figure eight retrieve. First off I thought I had picked up a strand of weed, so soft was the take, a faint tremble gave the lie to that, a pull with my line hand feeling for the weight of the fish soon provoked some movement as the fish cleared the water in the first of several high jumps. Three pounds of black backed silver fury slid over the rim of the landing net as Tom appeared on cue with his big net.

The Milemead fish are good fish, well finned and full of energy. What we didn’t see on the day were any browns or the char and brook trout which are also stocked into this interesting fishery. But with the onset of the cooler weather expect these fish to come out of their hidey holes looking for something to eat.

The far bank of the fishery is out of bounds due to the fact that pole strung power cables run along that bank, which is a little unfortunate, but does provide some undisturbed areas to which the fish can retreat, unless of course you are a talented caster with the wind up your tail.

Thoughts.

The fishery is interesting, stocked with good quality fish in an area on the Devon/Cornwall border which is far from the madding crowd.

The facilities are lacking at the moment which is why it only gets a two star rating, but looking at the standard of the infrastructure expect a good lodge with all the trimmings for next season.

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