Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

March 1st marks the start of salmon fishing on the river Taw. I plan to have a couple of casts and to also prune a few branches as well. Mo gave me a hand last week on one of my favourite trout beats and we were really pleased with the progress. There were a few branches that had more than their fair share of flies in them and so the path to a likely looking spot is now a little clearer. I am one who believes in making it a little easier but not too easy!

I met with Andy on Saturday for some fly casting tuition. We covered plenty and he was throwing a really, really nice line by the time we had finished. As he is a reservoir angler he was looking to add a few yards to his cast which he was doing with ease. The fish better watch out!

The weather has started fine here this morning and my hope is that we have some settled weather, it has been a long winter and I can’t wait to be out on the river again.

I got a nice message from Kevin who I had taught last week…he was slammed by a fish first cast he made with a fly on and I am not sure who was more surprised!

Kevin

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Well, fishing has had to take a back seat again after all the snow. I was due to go Tuesday and glad I didn’t as getting home would have been a bit hairy.

As a result I have been casting and playing with a few things. It is great to go out and throw a few loops and can be good fun to do so with a buddy too. The only downside of this is that all the good intentions tend to go out of the window and the tape measure comes out and and bit of good banter as you take it in turns to see what you are made of!

The tape measure can be sobering for the first-time distance caster as throwing a full line and a 10ft leader doesn’t actually equate to 100ft. It is quite a long way from it. I don’t tend to do this much of late as I find the body doesn’t enjoy it as much as it used to and lets face it there are few, if any, situations you are going to want to see the backing flying out of the tip ring.

I always thought this would be the case when it came to bonefishing but I have been amazed over the last few years how short a distance a bone can be caught. If anything I’d say a well presented 40 to 50ft cast will always put you in with a shout.

Up against the tape- photo by Lee Cummings

This is where the practice comes in, not just for winter trips somewhere exotic but getting you ready for the new season whatever you like chasing with a fly rod.

For me 15 to 20 minutes of good casts pays better dividends than going out for 2 hours and trying too hard to get it right. When I practice I’ll tilt my casting plane over to the side and have a look at my timing and loop control both hauled and unhauled. By throwing everything over to the side it becomes much more visual and allows you to see everything that is going on. I’ll then make a basic overhead cast in the normal casting plane. It is the foundations of all overhead casts and is easily overlooked. It is then I’ll play with a few Roll Casts and Speys. There are now loads of Spey Casts to play with but I’ll work on the ones that are most practical for fishing situations we encounter on the streams in Devon and the ones I teach most. I’ll then add a few mends, hooks and curves and see how it looks and see how it feels from there. If there has been something that has niggled then I’ll go back and give it a bit of work.

At our fly fishing school I’ll teach repetition (with plenty of breaks) as this helps to encourage muscle memory and when my student tries it out for the first time alone their body says “Hey, I remember this”

At the end of the day though the fish decide whether it was a good cast or not and this is what it is all about. It is nice to throw a nice loop in the field but throw in a rising fish in a tricky spot and try telling me that isn’t more exciting.

I’m not advocating to go out for everyday in the months before the seasons start. Life is just too short, but try it now again and you might be surprised the difference it makes and it is really, really good fun!

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I wanted to sneak a fish in before the new year to sort of see out 2009 and to try out, or do I mean christen, a new rod?

The weather was against us, turning cold and wet and the splashes of water on the truck as I headed off to meet a buddy told me there been a fair bit of rain overnight. I never have a doubt in my mind though, if I’m going fishing, I’m going fishing no matter what.

I really enjoy the company on the way up there, it is a couple of hours but I always enjoy chewing the fat and talking fishing. It sort of stops me from having the loud music and my appalling singing that accompanies it. It is lucky I am not self conscious as it probably looks a little strange to other drivers seeing me singing and drumming on the steering wheel although I suspect a fair few of them probably do the same.

We had a unanimous vote not to pull over for a bacon sandwich and coffee in favour of fishing. The thought had crossed my mind as traffic was light and we had made good time.

When we got there we peered over the bridge and the water was a bit lower from the last visit but still pushing. Looked like it was still a case for the heavy stuff.

We fished hard and long and there were times when I couldn’t feel a thing in my hands but didn’t care. As long as I could cast and tie a fly on I was happy!

Darkness came and we left wet and cold but contented and we had a few too.

A very happy new year to everyone and the very best of fishing in 2010 to everyone.

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There is that funny feeling you get when you get a report of the river you are about to fish that says “it’s sort of fishable”  The next question is “what do you mean by sort of fishable?” the answer was along the lines that the the clarity was good but the height was bad. Not so bad that the river was over the banks but bad that most would probably give it a miss. I’m not one of those who won’t and nor are my fishing buddies.

When you picture a chalkstream you see an image picture of crystal clear water and a nice even flow with a rising fish every now and again to make it perfect.

When I got there this wasn’t exactly the case. After all the rain we have had there were still flooded fields and the springs had been filled to the maximum and were pumping water back out into the river as quick as they could. The river was up and really pushing. That having been said it was a day’s fishing and nothing was going to get in the way.

Four of us had arranged to fish and special guest was Jim. Jim lives and guides on The Coln in Wiltshire and I wanted to show him the bit of chalkstream I fish.  We jumped in and water that is usually shin deep that was now thigh deep. I hung with Jim for a bit and watched the maestro in action but decided, with some prompting, to grab my rod and have a go myself.  I worked the slacker margins with a couple of heavy bugs and managed to pick up a grayling as The Dude joined me in the river. He’d spotted a slack line the other side of the river and manfully waded across to try his luck. The water got too deep and strong for us to continue so I jumped out and Ray did some pretty cool climbing up a dead tree his side.

Lunch and a chance to warm up!

The fishing was pretty tough but we all did ourselves justice. I had a spell where I thought I was going to get into a sensible pod of fish but after a couple in as many casts and one off and then one landed that was it. The rest of the day I picked up odd one and twos but that was about it and think that was the story for everyone.

 I was hoping for a few more for Jim as he has been slamming them on The Coln this year and I really wanted to show him fishing  as good. The light was starting to go and we ‘d decided to end the day in the pub but Jim and I headed in search of just one more. Needless to say he came up trumps.

A bright pink bug in size 8 worked best for me and I think Toby too but Jim fished a more subtle pheasant tail in a 14 and I would have guessed The Dude did the same. It sort of reminded me of a time I was fishing there once and there was a nice lunchtime hatch and the guy I was fishing with and I had a long debate about whether to fish a 16 or 18 Para Adams  to the rising grayling. We bumped into another fisherman at the end of the day and told him how we found the fish didn’t want the 16 but hit the 18 happily. We asked him if he had found the same but he said the big shrimp pattern he’d used had worked just fine.

Darkness but time for just one more!

I’d tried a different brand of burger for lunch and although tasty I thought the meat to roll ratio was just slightly the wrong way round but they were pretty good. All in all it was good fishing, great food and excellent company.

Winter Beard Watch- Gave it a trim on Sunday and took a bit too much off although it is still hanging in there.

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It is that time of the year. I’m not a bah humbug sort of person and certainly get in the Christmas spirit but sometimes it takes just a little bit longer for me to get there.  I don’t get what all the fuss is about when it comes to Christmas shopping. As I see it you either do it in Feb which is a no no in my case as when it comes to December I will have forgotten where I had hidden them so as a result it is a last minute seat of the pants affair. I assume this is how all men shop as it leaves little time for dithering about what to buy as if you have done this properly then you have no time to go home and think about what you should have bought. As I see it Christmas shopping should take no more than 1 hour and should include a coffee stop of some sort.

I’m told I am a nightmare to buy for but as long as it is fly fishing related it will be a good choice. There are some really good DVD’s around this year and my fingers are crossed that they might feature. There is nothing better than sitting down with a mince pie  (told you I was getting in the spirit of things) and watching some fishing.

I have already treated myself to a little present and bought a new Hydros fly rod. It is a pretty sweet piece of kit and I am looking to try and catch a grayling or two with it soon.

I was talking to Alan today and we both admitted that we really like sorting out flies and getting them organised for the coming season or sometimes even just a fishing trip. After all of the unfishable weather we have had I can’t say how many flies I have tied but it is a lot. I have thought about and refined a few things and churned out the ever faithfuls. There is something for everyone in there and I hope the fish feel the same. This means the fly boxes are pretty well replenished already and are primed, ready for action. I am just about to commence on some bonefish patterns.

The weather has settled now but I was down casting where I work and the river was still carrying some colour but the height is dropping right out. A few pics of the “office” below.

Winter beard watch- We seem to have bonded and got used to living together. Not sure this will be a long term relationship though.

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I had hoped for an outside chance of some grayling fishing today. Alas the river is in the same state as last week but I am told that the weather might be calming down just a little bit from Thursday onwards.I met up with Andy on Saturday and we did some casting which was great fun. I can wait and the fish are going to keep.

  I popped out this morning to see how The Taw looked slightly higher up from where I work and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The photo is from a stretch of water belonging to The Crediton Fly Fishing Club. I have been a member for years and this is one of my favourite places to fish. I didn’t get much of a chance to fish it last year but I have made a deal with myself that I will try and put it right next season. It is a great club and I guess this is down to the members who are a welcoming bunch with some pretty nifty fishers in their ranks too. It is probably a bit weird but I really enjoy the bank clearing sessions that they have before the season. It is a nice way to burn off some of the excesses of Christmas and to catch up and talk fishing.

I have probably mentioned it but my 17 year old daughter Charlie has a boyfriend. I have dreading this for a while and had planned how I was going to “interview” him. I have always felt that I would need a pipe for this. I don’t smoke but thought it would make me look a bit more menacing. I sort of planned how I would lean on an imaginary mantlepiece with my pipe and ask him his prospects but would only really need to know the answer to one simple question. “do you fish lad?”. I thought adding lad would also make me sound a little bit more frightening. There would have been a sharp intake of breath and a draw on the empty pipe if the answer was no but I am sure Charlie would have prepped him and said that if the answer was infact no that he had always wanted to learn. It turn out that she has known him for a number of years and so have we and it is the case he is a really good guy. I guess it saves me a trip to the tobacconist.

Lack of fishing has meant if I can’t do it then I am going to read about it. I have just finished The Earth is Enough which is a really sweet book and makes just enough of a pull on the sentimental heart strings.

Winter Beard Update- Used trimmers and feeling more comfortable. Toyed with amputation Sunday but will stick with it for the time being.

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I know I am not supposed to moan, I’m not a moaner by nature and don’t subscribe to the “poor me” way of thinking but when is the weather going to let up? I thought there might be a break this morning and a chance to pop out and throw a few loops but once again it is throwing it down!

This time of year is a quieter one for guiding for me as many of the rivers of Devon are shut and The Taw doesn’t have any grayling. It means I have to travel further to both work and also to fish. I use this time to catch up with all the friends I have promised I would fish with when the fishing season is in full swing. The travelling doesn’t bother me , you’ve got to do what you can to get to the fish and I enjoy the drive and enjoy listening to music on the way.

I was talking to a pal about driving tunes yesterday and one of my favourites to get the trip going is The Foo Fighters “Times like these”  along with anything by The Specials. I’m fishing Monday (weather willing) and they will be blaring out of the truck at stupid o’clock in the morning.

I was planning to write something about what defines good fishing and being the time of year that it is I sort of expanded that and got thinking about what defines a good season. I suppose it is lots of things. A memorable fish, a big one that you had to get to which was rising in a back eddy, one that you had tied a specific fly for on nothing more than a hunch and, for some perhaps, it is all about numbers. The really funny thing about this is how we always seem to remember the one we had on briefly and lost. I can remember loads of those occassions not just from this season but from a long way back too.

One I’ll never forget is a trip The Dude (Ray) and I made to Wales. The wind was blowing a bit and Ray was sat sheltering on a bank and I tied on a March Brown and was going through the motions a bit. I turned to him and probably said something along the lines of we really needed to get some food. As we have matured the days of fishing, fishing and fishing have eased just a very small notch and we now stop for some food every once in a while. Anyway, I turned to Ray and my rod just bucked over, seriously bucked over. I struck, felt a pull and it was gone. I have no idea about what it was but I know it was a big one and it would have been good to see. Funnily enough a similar thing happened to Ray on the same trip and as I have said before he is Mister Chilled but that one got to him.

I went through a spell in NZ where fish were just busting me no matter what I tried. I hooked plenty but went a couple of days without landing one. On one of those days we were on a river. It had split into two 10ft wide forks so Ray and I took a branch each. I came across  a really good fish rising in 4ft of water and knew if I landed my fly in the right spot he was mine. I even went as far as playing the fight out in my mind before I made the cast. He was tight in one the banks (aren’t they all?!) and there was a lot of roots he could wrap me on. It had been a case of fishing slightly heavier tippet and hanging on when they took and trying to keep them out but this fish was bigger and probably smarter. I thought that I would give him hard side strain into his bank so that he would swim away from there. Well that was the plan. I made the cast, he took, I held my breath and then struck. He was on and my plan sort of worked. Applying big side strain to his bank did stop him from heading where I feared and he shot out headed upstream a short way and bust me off in a similar spot to where he had been holding.  One of those things I guess. The funny thing is that the next day I hooked and landed a fish that I had a long chase down stream through all sorts of obstacles and landed that turned out to be one of the biggest of the trip. This was one I was amazed that stayed on!

 I am hoping to fish on Monday and will tie a few extra flies just in case we do get out…..

The beard has settled down a bit now but I am not sure I am in it for the long term with facial hair.

Below is a pic of the stream in NZ where the magic nearly happened, unremarkable looking with remarkable fish.

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The weather has been relentless of late meaning fly casting tuition has had to take a back seat until things calm down. I haven’t even been able to throw a line myself and I have missed it.

I was hoping to see my good friend Glyn in Cumbria next week to have a fish of  The Eden for grayling. He is a guy I really look up to and is a real gent and fantastic instructor and guide. The plan was to pick up Karl on the way and have a fish and meet up but as everyone knows they have had it pretty bad up there and when I spoke to Glyn yesterday to check that everything was OK he came back with “yup, it’s a bit damp up here” ! Needless to say we have pushed things back til Jan. It has been a difficult time for the people up there and listening to the radio and reports of the devastation I have nothing but the utmost respect for the people and the way that they have dealt with things in what has been an extremely difficult time.

I went fishing last week with Howard. He has been rushed off of his feet of late and needed a bit of a breather and fishing was the prescription. The Dude was meeting us too and I’d picked up the usual barbie lunch. The rain had brought the river up a bit which was exactly what it had needed. The grayling have spread, making it a bit more interesting from a fishing perspective. Previously they had been bunched and it didn’t feel right just hitting fish after fish. It would often be the case that we’d have a few and leave them alone but more water put the odds a bit more in the grayling’s favour.

 I couldn’t resist the photo above as it is more than unusual for Howard his wear a cap like this

I’ve noticed that I can barely remember the amount of fish I have caught on a day, whether it is a small amount or a few and it is probably a function of my ever worsening memory but also that it doesn’t really matter. I am so uncompetetive it is unbelievable and take as much pleasure in my buddys catching as myself. It is probably why guiding is such a great job for me as I live the day through my guests and it doesn’t bother me I’m not holding the rod.

We had a small hatch around lunchtime and caught some fish on dries. We fished til dark despite it cooling down and had a great time. We were lucky it was the one break in the weather we had and I just fished in a t shirt and fleece.

I popped down to Exeter to see The Rise film festival and met with a bunch of pals for some excellent noodles beforehand and then to see the films.  I had been thinking about another trip and watching great big steelhead taking Green Drakes kind of makes you feel a bit restless again!

My daughter, Charlie, has just taken her driving test and passed first time I am so proud of her. Yesterday she was just walking around with one of those stupid grins on her face. It sort of reminds me of when I passed my AAPGAI!

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I quite like surprises, the nice kind that is. We had one about a month or so ago when my fishing buddy Ray (The Dude) and his long time girlfriend Christina came to stay. Ray and I tried bassing but we both knew in our heart of hearts that the howling wind we had at home was going to be amplified when we got to the coast. It was indeed the case and we made a few casts, pulled a few flies but decided 60mph winds were just a bit much.

I had told Ray about the excellent steak sandwiches that The Hotel had made me during the season were something he should try along with a cup of their coffee. Steak sandwiches weren’t strictly on the menu it was a peri peri version (also excellent) that you would find but poking my head in the kitchen and asking head chef Al nicely has often worked. It did and we both enjoyed them. The chips were pretty good too and it is nice to see that they are not the oven variety.

So we enjoyed those and headed back where the guys told us that they were getting married in a couple of weeks time and wondered if we would be the witnesses. We were so pleased and also touched and there were a couple of thoughts that immediately leapt into my mind. Firstly it would mean that I would need to dress up and I don’t really do smart these days and those last remnants of my smart wardrobe would be more fitting for a Dynasty/ Miami Vice themed party but secondly and more importantly we needed to celebrate this momentous occassion with some fishing. We quickly arranged a date and before we knew we were meeting to wet a line.

As ever I was early and was already fishing when Ray pulled up. “Fish biting?”  The answer was a resounding yes. We were fishing on a chalkstream and the lack of water meant the fish were bunched. A buddy and I had hit one pod and thought it best that we left them after taking what felt just about the right side of being greedy.

The fishing continued on a similar vein throughout the day and a light hatch at lunch gave me a chance to throw on some 24’s that I had tied up that even caught a few fish. We had decided to fish for as long as possible so it meant that we had barbecued burgers for lunch and a tailgate chinese for dinner. I called the Chinese through and picked it up. I have passed any sort of worry of people seeing me wander down a high street in waders ( a favourite pastime of Ray and I) and this was no exception as I couldn’t get parked anywhere near the Take Away. I was really impressed though when I walked into a supermarket and asked for some paper plates and the girl serving pointed me to where they might be without even blinking. We don’t usually go for plates but I though as there were 3 of us and it were a special occassion that we should at least try and do things properly. I think part of this is that I am still shamed by Champo who pulled out a stove and cooked vension steaks at exactly the same spot when we fished a year ago. I’ll always remember that for the food but also as we fished the biggest BWO hatch either of us had ever seen.

We had the chinese lined up on the tailgate of my pickup and it was a vaguely civilised free for all. We talked about the day and fishing in general. The light was going and any warmth had gone. The guys thought about quitting but it was 2 days before Ray got married and I thought it might be cool for him to catch one last fish as a single man. It was a nice landmark. I even bought some new clothes for the wedding.

I was up in Bristol a week or so ago for my fix of sushi. We popped into the Asda ( it might even be called WalMart). It is worth a visit for the price of the petrol but also that you have to go through a drive through to pay. We don’t have one of these in Devon and I still haven’t figured out if it is good idea or not, or what the thinking behind it is but it is amusing to use anyway and I wonder if it is a little touch of America.

The reason I mention this is that when we were in the store I looked at the magazine section there which was pretty extensive and had just about base covered.This included fishing but there wasn’t any fly fishing mags there. Now I know we don’t have many but I thought there might be a chance of one but sadly not. Fly fishing is the centre of my world and a lot of my friends but I guess it just doesn’t register in the minds of Asda. I have been keeping an eye out recently to see if this is the case in other shops too and thankfully there are the odd one poking out but not the “full house” of all 4. I’m hoping that a lot of them are ordered on subsciption and that is the reason. I haven’t paid much attention to this sort of thing in the past and guess it has always been the way but it did strike a chord with me. I wonder what circulation numbers are like these days?…My hope is that they are on the up….

Hopefully fishing with pals on Tues…I’ve been tying like a madman!

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I recently thought of a good question to ask a buddy when heading off on a fishing trip or having a coffee by the river which was sort of along the lines of where would you fish if you were allowed to go one more time. On giving an answer myself I thought about this and then changed the rules a bit so that I could fish once more on my beloved Taw and then one other place world wide.

This is one of those questions that you probably need to fire the answer from the gut as the more you think about it the more variables come in. Should it be somewhere I have fished or should it be somewhere I would like to fish? Would it be fresh or salt water? There are some places I have fished in the salt and would like to go back to and there are some I would like to visit and fly fish for bonefish, tarpon and perhaps, if I am lucky, a permit. So does this mean we should have a fresh and salt water section?

I think probably not and if pressed I would opt for freshwater as first choice but if I had a saltwater section it would be one right out from left field. Tobago. It will never rank up there with the great destinations but I don’t mind too much. I liked it for what it was and it wasn’t trying to be something it wasn’t. The guide knew what he was doing (he was excellent) and he knew his stuff. The fishing wasn’t pressured and there were plenty of fish. Within a few hundred yards I was fishing a small flat for bones and permit and then hopped into the boat for 2 minutes and we were casting to tarpon. If I only had 1 day this would be ideal as there is a 5 minute trip to the flats and all the fishing I would need for that one last day and I wouldn’t need to waste valuable time travelling…looks like I have spent too much time thinking this through!

So, I have decided my last day will be casting flies to brown trout. There are so many places in the UK I would love to revist like the Wye, Usk, Irfon or the Derbyshire Wye. I haven’t even scratched the chalkstreams but I know the Wylye would come top for me in that category without any serious competition. Then there was a “secret river” I fished in April where I caught 5 fish from 14 to 20 1/2 inches. That is certainly a contender!

Looking further afield I love Colorado and just about every stream I have fished there. Favourites are probably The Frying Pan and The South Platte but The St Vrain just edges it for me. It was a special stream with some of the most beautiful trout I have and will probably ever catch.

It looks like I am coming to the conclusion that the last place I fish will be somewhere I have been before. It might sound boring but what if I choose somewhere that when I get there I don’t like it?

New Zealand has to feature too and casting dry flies at huge rising trout is something I will never forget and a magical day The Dude and I had on The Mataura where we caught our fill of trout and then some more.  I also liked the small streams and just loved the idea that we would drive along a road and see a river come into view and if it looked nice we’d park up and have a cast.

It probably sounds like these are dream destinations but most of these trips are put together by my good friend Ray (The Dude) and we have a simple brief. Maximum fishing time, minimum cost.  He excelled himself on our NZ trip.

Looks like I have wondered off topic a bit but when writing the last paragraph I have come to a final conclusion.  I don’t think I would want to fish anywhere but The Taw for my last day. I love it.

I think I mentioned Gierach the other day and apologies if I did but he talks about fishing anyone’s St Vrain (his home water) and say that when he fishes somewhere new he compares it to The St Vrain. I know what he means and always make a comparison to The Taw in many ways wherever I am fishing. So I guess I’d fish anyone’s Taw.

Taw Salmon