Bellbrook Valley Trout Fishery

General information

The fishery consists of 6 lakes in a most picturesque setting in 40 acres of rolling Devonshire Heartland countryside. It is mostly in the Bellbrook Valley with the lakes being bordered by woodland and hilly meadows. Five of the lakes are stepped down through the valley with the water cascading from one lake to the next. The 6th lake is in the valley bottom where the Bellbrook Valley joins the Iron Mill Valley. The northern boundary of the fishery is the Iron Mill Stream, a tributary of the Exe with a good head of native browns and breeding rainbows. The fish farm adjoins Iron Mill Lake.

There is a wide range of trout fishing available; the six lakes are all spring and brook fed and the water is extremely fertile with the adjacent meadow and woodland ensuring a good supply of natural food – consequently there is excellent imitative fly-fishing. This also contributes to the superb quality and excellent tasting pink-fleshed trout.

We are a TroutMaster water and consequently you will find regular write ups about the fishing results in the Trout Fisherman magazine.

The lakes are stocked with Rainbow, Blue and Brown Trout. The fishery policy is to provide a wide range of fishing difficulty to suit everyone from the beginner to the more experienced. We do this by carefully managing the stocking levels in each of the 6 lakes. We operate a policy of “trickle-stocking” and this way avoid the “boom and bust” fishing that can occur otherwise.

Five of the lakes (Bodmin, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Sedgemoor and Ottmoor) are stocked with “Normal” fish which are up to 2½ lbs – but there are also a few surprises. The biggest lake - Ironmill - is reserved for the “Specimen” fish which are above 4lbs. Last year the average sizes were 2lb in the Normal lakes and 5½lbs in the Specimen lakes.