By Thomas Finney
Narborough Trout & Coarse lakes is located in Norfolk just a few miles from the centre of the town of Kings Lynn. The complex comprises of 5 lakes all fed by crystal clear chalk stream water from the River Nar. There are three mixed coarse and carp lakes available for coarse anglers and two trout lakes for the fly angler.
The first trout lake is Willow lake and this is run as a put and take water with several ticket options allowing you to take your catch home with you as well as limited catch and release.
The second trout lake is Meadow lake and this is a dedicated catch and release water and is home to some very large and very wise fish averaging over 6 lb, this is the lake that I had come to Narborough to fish. Unusually for the UK this lake is stocked with diploid rather than triploid fish which means that these fish live a long time and carry on growing, they are also some of the most stunning looking still water trout that you are likely to find featuring striking colourations, full tails and hook jaws on the males. Despite being a small lake, catch and release is very successful here and the annual mortality rate on released fish is very low, this is no doubt thanks to the cold crystal-clear water of the River Nar feeding into the lake. I was informed that some of the fish in the lake are over 8 years old and stocking is only done in small batches when a top up is needed, therefore these are extremely wise fish and a very worthy target.
I payed a visit to the fishery on the 30th of March, the travel restrictions had just been eased slightly and I couldn’t wait to cast a line. It was also the hottest day of the year with temperatures reaching 23 degrees, bright sunshine and not much breeze, I knew it was going to be challenging fishing in those conditions but it was great to be out.
I set up a 9 foot 6 inch Wychwood RS2 fly rod and paired this with a Truefly SLA MK2 reel loaded with a Rocket Floater. Due to the extremely clear water conditions and the fact that the weed growth was minimal, I rigged us a leader of 5 lb Wychwood Ghost Mode fluorocarbon and I tied on a small black stalking bug and went for a walk around the lake. In the bright conditions stalking fish proved a challenge and while I was able to spot several fish, they were very spooky and even with the fish that did not spook, it was hard to judge when they had the fly in their mouth.
I got half way around the lake, short casting my fly in front of any fish that I spotted and letting it sink to the bottom, in an ideal situation you are looking out for a white flash as the fish opens its mouth and engulfs the fly, the bright conditions made detecting this very difficult. After having a few fish completely ignore the fly and a few have a look, I spotted a group of 3 fish cruising together, I plopped the fly in front of them and two of the fish broke out from the group and raced towards it, one of them engulfing it and wrenching the line tight, fish on. The fish fought very hard making several strong runs, the light leader was well cushioned by the rod blank allowing me to apply a lot of pressure and after a few minutes I slid the net under a stunning rainbow trout. I soon discovered that this was a male fish with an impressive hooked jaw and striking spots and coloration, I also noticed another fly in its mouth, a klink hammer which encouraged me to give the dries ago, I didn’t weigh the fish but I estimated it to be well over 7 lbs, a quick photo and the fish was released back into the icy cold water.
After this I decided to try a dry fly and I tied on a size 14 black hopper and tried this in a few swims and despite one missed offer while I was distracted by a fish swimming under my rod tip, action proved very slow. I worked my way around the lake and walked past the area where the river feeds into the lake and spotted 4 rainbows cruising near the surface now more than a rod length out, I hid myself behind a bush and flicked my fly out in front of them, the rainbows cruised right under the fly but showed no interest what so ever, I was considering changing back to the stalking bug when I noticed a large brown trout rising slowly off the bottom, eyes locked on my fly. I held my breath as the huge fish continued to rise, super slowly and cautiously towards my fly and clearly in no rush, I was fully expecting the fish to refuse the fly at the last moment but to my amazement, the fishes nose broke the surface, it opened its mouth displaying a massive hooked jaw and it delicately sipped in the dry fly, I struck and all hell broke loose.
The fish set off on several powerful runs taking me into the backing no fewer than 4 times, after a few minutes of applying steady pressure I appeared to be gaining control and I had the fish close to the net and I could see it was a huge fish, easily weighing into double figures. The fish then started thrashing on the surface, shaking its head violently and snapping and biting with its huge jaws, the fish managed to bite through the leader and was gone just like that…
For a few minutes I sat and sulked before willing myself to tie another hopper on, I moved into the next swim and noticed the rainbows I had just spotted prior to hooking the brown had moved here probably disturbed by the fight, amazingly this disturbance seemed to have switch them on and my fly had only just landed on the water when all 4 of them raced towards the fly, the smallest fish of the group getting there first and engulfing the fly in a splashy take, a hard fight ensured and after a few minutes I netted another fine rainbow probably in the region of 7 – 8 lb.
I released the fish and noticed another good rainbow cruising the surface, I covered this fish several times with the fish showing a bit of interest on some casts and completely ignoring the fly on others, eventually it very cautiously sipped the fly down and gave a great account of itself. This fish was slightly bigger than the previous two, probably weighing somewhere in the region of 9 lb.
After releasing this fish the action dried up, I set up a couple rods and tried nymphs under the indicator and on the washing line but without any success. Pulling lures, fishing dry flies and walking around the lake also proved fruitless despite many fish that could now be seen. Apart from a couple accidentally foul hooked fish I did not get any bites for a few hours. Given the conditions this was completely expected but it was great to observe some lovely fish cruising about.
After a few hours I found myself walking around the lake stalking again, I spotted a fish in a shallow shaded corner of the lake and made several casts at it, I had done this with multiple fish before without any interest but on what must have been the fourth or fifth attempt at this fish it suddenly charged towards the fly and engulfed it, sometimes you just have to annoy the fish into striking and no matter how hard the fishing gets, fish can always be caught. This stunning rainbow around the 9 lb mark was my final fish of the day and a perfect way to end it.
I would certainly recommend a visit to Narborough if you get the chance to, while these are challenging fish to catch at times, they are certainly worth the effort put. This was my second visit to Narborough, my first visit had been last December in totally different conditions that had seen me land several fish on a variety of methods to 11 lb 4 oz.
Picture - 11 lb 4oz cock fish from December 2020.
Be sure to give this place a visit.
Fishery information:
Website - https://narfish.co.uk/
Phone - 01760 338005
