Hooked in to a fighter

Keen to cook on the bank, Leon Challis-Davies reels in a rainbow and whips up a barbecued fish special

- Leon Challis-Davies

There was no shotgun, nor a rifle, but instead a rod. This time of year is slow for shooting; a lot of quarry is out of season, so venison is high on many agendas, but I wanted to turn my hand to the fly. This doesn’t mean I stop eating the bounty of game in my freezer, but it’s an opportunity to look at other wild offerings. I admit I am no fly-fisherman, but I am a chef and I love cooking trout.

The early summer months see trout, scallops and crab all hit restaurant menus in full force, and seeing as the simple but stunning trout is classed as a game fish, I was keen to catch and cook on the bank. Peter Thurston and Callum McInerney-Riley invited me to Thornwood Fisheries in Epping, in the hope of achieving just that. Boasting a ‘catch, despatch and cook on the lakeside day’, how could I say no?

It was a pleasant change from early-morning stalks, and I enjoyed a leisurely afternoon drive with the sun shining. It was one of those brilliant June days that saw most of the UK basking, including the fish. The warm weather can be very stressful for trout, but Peter assured me of the lengths he has taken to make his fishery one of best. With lakes as deep as 18 to 21ft, trout are able to drop to deeper waters to avoid the heat.

On my drive, all I could think about were the colours I would see when I caught my first glimpse of a fish. Arriving late in the afternoon, I was soaking up the rays when I was told that the trout were feeding first thing in the morning and again a couple of hours before dusk. My arrival time was perfect; only thing to do was to get the barbecue lit and start fishing.

Casting out