Knowing of my hard time trying to extract trout from the syndicate trout river, life long friend Peter, invited me to fish with him on a guest ticket at his exclusive trout fishery,  Latimer Park, this week. The crystal clear river Chess was dammed in the 1750’s to power a mill owned by the Cavendish family, who built the original mansion at the top of the hill, but today all that remain are two lakes, the upper Great Water and Lower Water, both stocked with rainbows. Atop the hill is now the mock Tudor hall built in the 1800’s with views along the Latimer Valley sculptured in typical Capability Brown style.

Arriving after 10 am, the car park was almost full and Peter was apprehensive, that the fishing would not live up to my expectations, but the further we walked along the bank chatting to the regulars, the more optimistic he became. Despite the sun beating down from a cloudless sky, reports were positive and we crossed the upper weir to an empty bank, setting up between two trees.

On our side, the wind was blowing from left to right, ideal for a pair of righthanders and we were soon casting to the edge of surface weed, where we could see moving fish. Peter was first in, only to lose it seconds later, next cast it happened again. With my leader greased to within a foot of the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear, I watched a rainbow approach the nymph, it’s gill covers move, then it’s head move, as it sucked in the artificial. Before the line moved, I struck and felt the weight of a good rainbow, that charged off towards the upper weir. I’d forgotten how powerful these rainbows are in this shallow lake and used the palm of my hand to slow several runs that this first fish made.

Under club rules this 19 inch fish was killed, the 3 rd and last can also be taken, but fish mongering was not the aim today, although catching fish was. A longer cast meant watching the leader and a twitch of the line met the solid hit of a strike, with another rainbow boiling on the surface, before running off. Now Peter was into a good rainbow, keeping this one on the hook all the way to the net. My fish took longer to land, being a deep fish of at least 3 lb and 21 inches long.

After this one was returned, I reached for an iced drink in my bag, the sun was blazing down causing me to overheat and stripped down a T shirt, before continuing. It wasn’t long before the leader moved again and the rod was bent double countering run after run. Each time the net came out, the rainbow made off at warp speed in the opposite direction, but the barbless hook held, the Hares Ear firmly wedged in the scissors of it’s jaw.

Even deeper and 20 inches long, this rainbow never stopped giving it’s best, propelled by a full tail, speeding off like a torpedo, when returned. A surface scum had begun to drift down wind and the takes had dried up, so we picked up our baggage and moved further down the bank, where the lake widens out, giving more open water on our side. Line twitches indicated more takes, but we failed to hit most, a smaller rainbow being my last on the bank.

The shadow of my camera hands, shows how intense the sun was beating down and after this fourth rainbow was returned, we packed up, making the long walk back to the clubhouse. Pete had banked three fish and dropped several, giving plenty of sport in two hours of fishing, being pleased that I had enjoyed my day in this leafy part of England.