A new split season for Sutton Bingham Reservoir

After successful trials, we're launching a split season to offer more diverse fishing experiences all year long.

Sutton Bingham has historically been a trout fishery, and one of the best in the south/southwest of England. With changes in the weather and the water warming earlier each year, it has been difficult to maintain a high-quality trout fishery throughout the traditional season.

Following trials in 2023 and 2024, we have come to the decision to start a split season to provide a wider range of fishing experiences throughout the season.

From February to June each year, the fishery will continue to provide trout fishing on the fly. We have maintained our quality stocking for this period, including larger rainbow trout as well as a splash of blues and sparticus to keep the fishing fun and varied while the water temperatures allow. Because of the shorter season, we now provide a reduced 50 fish season ticket for regular anglers.

Between June and September, anglers will be able to fish for carp on the fly, an exciting hybrid between traditional fly fishing and coarse fishing. A carp on the fly ticket still provides a two trout bag limit, so anglers can fish for either species with an increased chance of landing a great catch. In June, carp on the fly fishing can take place either by boat or bank but is limited to boat fishing only, from July to September.

From July to December, we will be formally moving to a coarse fishing model. This will allow anglers to fish using bait to target the carp, roach, rudd, gudgeon and chub found in the reservoir. These coarse fish are plentiful in numbers, with some anglers having caught over 100 fish in a day, including roach up to 2lbs in size.

The reservoir has a good head of pristine carp ranging from 3lbs to just over 20lbs, and includes common, mirror, fully scaled mirror and glass carp.  Many of these species have yet to be fished at other commercial fisheries, so this is a unique opportunity to catch what look and feel like wild fish at Sutton Bingham Reservoir.

We hope that this split season will appeal to both existing fly fishers and coarse anglers alike, bringing our fishing community closer together and encouraging people to try different disciplines and fish our water throughout the year.

Please see a few points from our Rangers below.

• Fish with a method feeder to target the carp and larger rudd and roach.
• Fish with carp rods to target the larger carp.
• All methods would use ground bait as an attractor and to hold fish in a swim.
• The use of barbless hooks is a bonus, ensuring that the damage to the fish is minimal (or none at all).
• We require the use of barbless hooks, unhooking mats and antiseptic for hook holes when fishing for carp and coarse fish, so that the fish are cared for properly.
• We do not allow keepnets, other than with prior agreement from the Rangers during an organised match. This will only be permitted in the cooler months to minimise stress on the fish and when the reservoir is full to enable the entire net to be in the water. Carp shall not be kept in keep nets.
• We care about our fish and want it to be a fishery that remains so for years to come.