Reservoir Masterclass

In this premiere episode of Reservoir Masterclass, Craig Barr visits Staffordshire’s Blithfield Reservoir in search of hard fighting spring Trout on the fly. Drawing from long career of competing and coaching for the England fly fishing teams, Craig demonstrates his concepts of matching the hatch, searching the water, the washing-line setup and effective loch-style drifting. When the weather takes a turn, he explores how to force aggressive reactions from the fish with lures like blobs when they go off the feed, leading to some incredible topwater action. This knowledge, paired with unique underwater footage gives vital insight to the habits and behaviours of reservoir Trout. This is a must watch for all serious fly anglers!

In this instalment of Reservoir Masterclass, Russ Owen introduces us to the award winning welsh water Llyn Clywedog for some heart-stopping dry fly action. As a world champion fly angler and lifelong Clywedog guide, Russ knows every bank and bay of this stunning reservoir like the back of his hand. Even on the hottest June day of the year, the famous Coch-y-Bonddu beetle hatch is in full swing and the surface of the water is alive with feeding Trout. Russ demonstrates how to maximise water coverage, reading the wind, predicting feeding habits and other philosophies that make his dry fly techniques so deadly. Fly fishing doesn't get much better than this!

In this episode of Reservoir Masterclass, Tom Bird bags up in difficult conditions fishing dry flies at Eyebrook reservoir for Rainbow Trout. As a competition angler, emerging guide and trained fishery manager, Tom's been fishing this beautiful Leicestershire water his whole career. Arriving to the lake on a mild and misty October morning would usually mean pulling lures for fry feeders, but the Trout are nowhere to be found. We follow Tom as he reveals his methodology for approaching a session, through fly selection, retrieving patterns and understanding of conditions. When a big pod of feeding Trout appear on the surface in a strange display of behaviour, we explore a unique opportunity to fish tiny midge flies in a late season hatch.

In this instalment of Reservoir Masterclass, world class competition angler John Horsey shares his secrets fly fishing for Rainbow Trout in difficult April conditions on his home water, Somerset's Chew valley. Since captaining the England fly fishing team to victory on the world stage, John has learnt the ins and outs of this exciting water as a resident guide. Chew has gained a reputation for quality Trout, abundant natural food sources and more recently record shaking Pike, but storms have battered the area in the days prior. We follow John's thought process as he searches for the fish. Confident in his use of nymphs and buzzers, he emphasises retrieve rates, water levels, temperature changes and a deadly method of striking on takes. We learn how to examine the food in the stomach of the fish and understand their feeding habits to our advantage. Working through tough conditions, John enjoys a very successful days fishing, including a surprise visit from one of the bigger residents on offer at Chew Valley...