Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

I thought this week was going to be a slightly quieter one than of late. I sort of put it down to family holidays that meant aspiring trout bums have had to pop the rods away for a week or two and do some non fishing related stuff. Well, this is what I thought but it has turned out not to be the case and we have been hitting some great caddis hatches and getting guests into a fish or two.

Lyndsey had popped down with her Dad who is an excellent fisherman for a few days fishing and asked if I were able to help with some casting and fishing tips. Lyndsey was an excellent learner and I gave her a few secret tips that had her giving her dad a run for his money on the catching stakes. He has taken some photos which I hope to pop up shortly.

Lewis had only had a brief session of casting two years ago and wanted to try again so we spent some time on the casting lake where we covered the essential casts needed for fishing the river and then went down to the river and discussed watercraft and how to read a river. We put all of this into action and it all happened pretty quickly and effectively. There is nothing nicer than seeing someone catch their first fish and even better when it is one of our wild brown trout from the River Taw!

Bob was celebrating a major birthday and despite fishing the reservoirs of the Midlands he was keen to catch a bass. We were happy to oblige and I still smile when Bob and I spotted bass busting and ran like a couple of children so that he could cover them with a clouser. Pic below shows he did a great job and I quickly snapped the fish before he carefully released his first bass. I’m pleased to say it was the first of many!

I’ve just changed my wading boots as the last pair managed to last just over a season which I am pretty pleased with. I do abuse my gear a bit but at the end of each day I throw my stuff into the back of the truck so that I know I have it ready for the next day. This does mean it doesn’t get much of a chance to dry out. The new boots come with studs built in where as the old ones I had to screw in. Towards the end of their life the old boots wouldn’t hold studs which meant I was doing some pretty impressive down hill sking on the wet banks of the river. I am still proud to announce I haven’t fallen in yet but now that I’ve said this I have a bad feeling coming!

Do you ever have one of those dreams where you have turned up for work and forgotten to put on any clothes? I had the equivalent yesterday but for real when I turned up to guide Chris. Chris was a little early and so we chatted for a few minutes and I then went to put my waders and fishing vest on. My fishing vest sits on the back of my driving seat in the truck so that it is always ready for action. I grabbed it off of the seat and immediately noticed that the fly box that is pinned to the front of the vest was missing. It only looks a small box but I have just checked and it carries 175 flies. This had all of my Scruffy Klinks and a few other of my favourite patterns. I’ve also been tying a lot of quill bodied flies in both dry and nymph form and have been having a bit of luck with them too. Anyway, the box was heaving. I know this as I had tied some Copper Johns the other day and struggled fitting them in. So it was full and was no longer in the vicinity. I got this sort of light headed feeling as I was about to hit the river with a guest and my favourite flies were no where to be seen. I ripped out the back seats of my truck but it wasn’t there. Thankfully I had another very small reserve box and as luck would have it I had one scruffy klink sitting in the corner. We were starting to fish where there were a lot of trees and bushes so I kept him in reserve and as luck would have it when I made the change a little later the best fish of the day took it (12 inches)

I wasn’t so upset at losing them but it was all the hours of tying I had put in that was a shame. The other weird thing was that I had something similar happen before with exactly the same model of box although it was attached to a lanyard at the time and in a different way. The even weirder thing was that I lost that one just 30 yards from where I lost the first one. I have to admit that I had never planned to use one again but my wife Emma and daughter Charlie had bought me this box for my birthday so I was determined to use it. I had securely fastened it but clearly not well enough! Emma came with me down to the river this morning to have a look and as she has found a rod tip Id lost before so I had high hopes that she would be the person to find it. Sadly it wasn’t to be but I was still left without flies and I have, as ever, a busy guiding schedule.

Thankfully I made a call to Simon at Turralls who happen to be just up the road. They don’t sell direct but a fly fishing guide on his hands and knees was enough to allow me to pop in and pick some up. My only worry now is that the fish are going to have to get used to such high quality flies after seeing my stuff!

About 15 dozen flies!

Many thanks Simon, I owe you a large one!

I’ve just had a couple of days with Richard. I think he should be called the trout slayer. He is relatively new to river fly fishing but you wouldn’t have known it. He was soon throwing micro loops under branches and into tight, unwelcoming snags and having lightening reactions meant that he wasn’t going to miss a fish!

All of his skills aside he has an insatiable appetite for knowledge and was firing questions left, right and centre which I had great pleasure in answering. What was really cool was how he was putting everything into practice and the impact it was having on his success rate. We hit a real purple patch where he just could do no wrong and the fish kept coming. Modesty prevents me for saying how many he had but it was a lot and I know the fish of Devon and Hampshire where he lives have something to fear.

I think this is why I love my job so much. It might be a newcomer who suddenly realises the fundamentals of casting and watches their line fly out to the other side of the lake or guiding on a river and my client makes a tricky cast into a back eddy, throws in a bit of slack and the big trout takes the fly. It is moments like these that are both memorable for me but more importantly for my client so that they have walked away having had a good day on the water but also have learnt something that will make the next time they are out on their own just a little bit more easier and enjoyable!

Here’s to you Richard, well done fella!

It has been great to introduce some ladies to fly fishing recently. They are always graceful, elegant casters. I recieved a couple of messages recently:

Hi Pete,

Thanks again, I feel confident that I shall not be a fishing disaster in Scotland in May next bankholiday. I will email you if I catch something!

Hattie.

Hi Pete. 
You have been such a great teacher and I will try to live up to your expectations. Thanks for being so patient on the river today it was a great experience.
Best wishes,
Carolynne

A good friend has a stretch of water that he has asked if I would like to fish with him. He has very kindly asked me for about 3 years and with the workload it has been a little tricky. I got close last year but this year when he asked I had one clear day and jumbled  tuition around so that I could spend two days.

I have promised to not give any details away and I will remain good to my word, all I will say is that I was not fly fishing in Devon!

I got there late on Wednesday night as I had been guiding Paul on the river and talked with my host for a bit and then went to bed. I don’t know if you are the same but the prospect of fishing a new water leaves me little time to sleep and I was awake at 5.30am and ready to go. I poked my head out of the window and saw that it was raining. Not heavy but it looked pretty set and looked like it was going to be a permanent fixture for the day. Needless to say my host wasn’t up and had been there for almost a week and had settled in to that nice relaxed camp routine and the last thing he’d want is an excited newcomer dragging him out to go fishing!

I decided to get my gear ready and had a brand new Scott S4 to try. It is an 8 1/2 ft 4wt and putting my obvious bias to Scott aside I have to say that I have a new best buddy. The rod has even knocked my beloved G2’s into second place…it is a really, really nice fishing rod.

After some toast and coffee we headed down to the bottom of the river. My host graciously had left this section so that I was hitting it fresh. After a quick limber up I made the first few casts. As there were some slightly deeper pockets I wanted to cover both bases and so had a scruffy klink with a flashback pheasant tail nymph tied to the bend of the hook NZ style. We quickly saw a rise to my right and my first cast was a little short. I had feared that I had spooked the fish but cast again. This time I was on the money and a fish rose to my dry. I could feel this was a good fish and seeing it run upstream and against the current told me this was the case. I eventually got it under control and my host netted a fish. This was a monster. My new rod comes with markers on it for 12inches and 20 inches.I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the 20 inch marker until then. The fish was just a couple of millimeters below it…I couldn’t believe it!

My host had to pop into town so left me alone to fish. I worked up the next pool and saw a fish move. I covered him a couple of times but nothing. Third cast and the dry dipped. I struck and couldn’t believe it as it felt as though it was another hefty fish. I netted the brown trout and remember saying out loud “This is unbelievable”  This time it was an 18 incher!

I had to sit down for a bit and reflect, I had beaten my best ever UK wild trout and got close to it with my next fish.

The river also has some grayling too and I picked up a nine incher. I carried on and the rain had got a little heavier. As a whole we had been working the tails of pools and slower, slacker areas. I worked my way up a pool and the head reminded me of an area I have had a lot of success with when guiding on the Taw. I threw a couple of casts in and nothing. I thought I’d make one more and I was glad I did. The dry dipped again and another fish was on. In the words of John Wilson it was a clonker. I caught sight of the fish and knew it was another biggie. My host was watching and came up the pool and netted the fish. I measured it and it was even bigger than my first at 20 1/2 inches!

After releasing the fish and high fiving my host he headed down to the pool he was fishing, I threw in the hole again but thought that would be it. First cast the dry dipped again and I was in again and it was another nice fish! My host couldn’t believe it and neither could I. This one was 14 inches but again screamed right upstream when hooked. It really reminded me of both New Zealand fishing and New Zealand Fish. I was also really lucky to get a 16 incher and the amazing thing is that these are all wild fish, nothing stocked and we didn’t luck them when salmon fish, we were trout fishing.

I only fished for a few hours the second day but I netted a 14 inch grayling for my host and I hooked a couple of small ones just to prove they were there. It was just one of those days when the fishing gods smiled on me and one I won’t forget in a hurry but it was great fishing with good friends in a stunning setting.

I have promised not to mention where I was and I will remain good to my word, I’ll just call it mystery river X for now.

Well, we have had some rain, the river is up a bit and a 6 1/2 lb salmon has come out just down stream from us. It feels like fly fishing in Devon is getting even more exciting!

I was guiding on Sunday and the Taw was the most alive I have seen so far this season. The grannom hatches are easing right back now but they have been replaced with gnats, caddis, olives and I even saw a lone mayfly who was just a little bit early. Up until Sunday the fishing had been in bursts of activity but it really felt that the bugs have felt all is good and are ready to rumble.

I am hoping that the rise in water will also bring some sea trout up to us as well.

We have been flat out introducing newcomers to fly fishing and also showing regular fishers the River Taw and also a few early season surprises too!

 Here is Mike with his first wild brown trout, he is a delightful caster and lands the fly just perfectly. We were really pleased with his casting and fishing and more improtantly so did the fish!

Graham, was a newcomer to fly fishing and spent the day with us after recieving a gift voucher from his son. We showed him how to fly cast and then we did some fly fishing for the rainbows in our lake. The fish weren’t obliging at first but a damsel fly came up with the goods.

 Nick was really keen to try and catch a bass. We first worked on fly casting and how to double haul. We then headed off to see if we could find a bass or two. Some might say we were a tad too early but we always believe that if your fly is in the water you are in with a chance. Nick proved the point perfectly!

It’s been a bit like the Caribbean of late where we just get a short burst of rain and the weather picks up a bit afterwards. This has meant that the rivers are pretty low right now. This doesn’t seem to have hurt the trout fishing a great deal and the numbers of trout caught on the hotel’s waters are already 1/3 of the total of what they were last year. So if the quality of the fishing continues we should be in for a big year. We’ve had trout to 14 inches and plenty in the 10 to 12 inch range.

I heard of a 6lb salmon coming out just a few miles downstream and so they are not far off now. This is where some rain would come in handy and bring them to us!

We have had plenty of happy fishermen and women who have left some nice comments of late and have enjoyed what we are trying to do with our fly fishing school.

Hi Pete,

Thanks for the lesson on Sunday.

Trout was lovely for dinner. They cooked it really well.

Hope to be able to come out again and get some time on the river.

Cheers,

Kate

Hi Pete –

Thanks very much for a good day’s fishing; I greatly enjoyed it, and I
certainly will be back.

Cheers

Philip

Hello Pete

Many thanks for the coaching yesterday – I feel I learnt lots of useful things and am greatly looking forward to getting to the water to try things out again.

With best wishes

George