Rainbow Trout Stocking Policy

The Hastings Fly Fishers Club Limited stocks Powdermill Reservoir with very hard fighting rainbow trout at regular intervals throughout the year.

At peak season, weekly stocking takes place in order to ensure that we maintain a stock approaching 3,000 fish, compared with less than 1,500 fish in previous years.

Fish Sizes and Record Catches

The trout are stocked at a minimum weight of one and a half pounds with a healthy proportion of larger fish of up to Nine pounds in weight and a smaller proportion of double figure fish. The largest rainbow, a fish of 17lb 8oz was caught in 2006 by a visiting angler using a mayfly on a floating line while fishing from a boat.

The newly stocked fish acclimatise rapidly and seem to stay high in the water with some spectacular displays of acrobatics when hooked. The new fish soon disperse around the reservoir giving both bank and boat anglers access to fish and anglers using imitative patterns prove particularly successful.

Native Brown Trout

Powdermill holds native brown trout with beautifully marked specimens caught fairly frequently. The brown trout seem to prefer to feed on the bottom but can be caught at any depth. Native brown trout of over 10 lb have been caught.

All Brown Trout must be released.