Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

Fly fishing in Devon is not far off from the start now. Salmon starts on 1st March with trout fishing not far behind on the 15th. I always like to keep opening and closing days to myself to have a fish and mark the occassion by just being in the water casting at a few fish. Sometimes it might feel like you are going through the motions but after a long miserable winter I don’t care. I can’t wait and we are on the final leg of the countdown!

After writing this blog I plan to try and trim a few trees and start getting ready for the season. I was on the river yesterday with a great fishing club I belong to. As always there was a good turnout and a chance to catch up with, or meet, members you might not get to see through the season. It is also a good to re-aquaint yourself with the river and see a spot you might have struggled with during the previous season become just that bit more accessible after some careful pruning.

Saturday was a case of from the fire straight to the freezer. I’d left behind tailing permit (photos to follow) and 92 degree heat for snow and low lying rainbows. Not that I am complaining, I’d enjoyed both immensely and it was great to help a newcomer, Kevin, on the road to becoming a trout fisher. He had done plenty of sea fishing and wanted to try his hand with a fly rod. Once he had mastered the idea of a climbing backcast the world was his oyster and he was up and running.

We are lucky being located with a lake and river so that we could cover all aspects of approaches to both still and moving water but I have a sneaking suspicion that he’ll be heading to a river some time soon. The trout better watch out!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com                Fly fishing guide and instructor in Devon,UK

I don’t know if you are the same but, for me, getting ready for a fishing trip works in 2 stages. I like to know I have everything that I am going to need and then I get excited in the last few days before I go and then pack everything at the last minute and spend the trip to the airport worrying I haven’t got everything I need or perhaps, if I do, is it enough?

I am pretty sure I have everything and am generally pretty well prepared. I have decided I don’t need too many clothes which means I have more room for gear…just in case!

The really funny thing is flies. This is especially the case with bonefish. I have hundreds that I will be taking but all I actually use is 6 or so that sit in my shirt pocket along with some nippers and spare tippet but its a good feeling to have the others with you just in case , right?

I was told that a particular pattern is working really well on permit right now but you can’t buy it in the UK at all. I’ve looked and it isn’t available but you can bet I’d have had a dozen of them just to be on the safe side. I wonder if the fish know?

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com  Fly Fishing Lessons, Tuition and Fly Fishing Guide in Devon

A good friend lent me a book the other day that he thought might be of interest to me. It is called ” A fishing life is hard work” I don’t know if you have read it or not but is pretty quite eye opening. It is about a guy who worked in the fishing industry and fell out of love with fishing until he had one of those epiphany moments and things started to change.  I think it got bad as it was at the stage where he would drive over a bridge and not peer over…man, that’s bad!

I often worry I am going to lose the truck in the river when I drive over a bridge and try that tricky move of driving and watching the river. I have been know to stop on a bridge and get out for a quick look which, although tends to happen on quieter roads has made me unpopular with other road users. I think they just don’t get it or perhaps they have fallen out of love with fishing.

I am often asked if it is difficult turning your favourite pastime into a business and after a fair time now I can say no. If it is ever the case this changes then it is time to move on but how could you tire of seeing a stunning caddis hatch or watch one of your pupils make a cast that brings the big boy up for the fly?

If you are under the illusion that as a guide you go fishing every day or you are aching to grab the rod from your guest and make the cast then it could probably be the worst job in the world!

I met with Darren, Nick and Lance yesterday for a 1/2 day of  flycasting tuition. Nick and Darren are relatively new to fly fishing but had a really good grounding and along with Lance an insatiable thrist for knowledge. It is great when you have people so keen and they picked things up really quickly. This meant we could cover lots of topics and go into mechanics a little more deeply. I was amazed how controlled they were given the amount of rising fish there were on the lake!

They stayed on for a fish for the rest of the day and I hope the things we covered helped just a little bit. I found out it was Darrens birthday so a very happy one Darren, I hope you caught a big one!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com  Fly Fishing Tuition and Guide in Devon

It feels like we have broken the back of the closed season now and I hope it isn’t wishful thinking, or me being too previous, but it feels like the opening of the season isn’t too far off. I have some work to do on the river but once the weather settles I’ll be able to crack on and get everything ready.

The good thing about this weather, if there is one, is that I have pretty much replenished the fly boxes and rows of flies are ready for action. I can’t wait!

Everything is doom gloom and bad weather right now but the good thing is that our fly fishing school is still open! Deespite there being not too many fishing opportunities here right due to everything being frozen there is still room to work on the casting ready for the new season.

Andy came down on Saturday and wanted to work on his casting a bit. He has had an operation on his casting shoulder and has been working on casting with his non dominant arm. You know what? He has done a pretty good job so far and it is all coming together really well. We covered loads and he has lots to play with. I reckon he’ll be a demon with his right arm too (he’s a lefty).

Steve saw us  Christmas week and sent us a really nice mail.

Hi Pete,

Just a quickie to thank you for your time and tuition on Friday. (Bloody cold!!) But much appreciated….. and after a practice on Sunday, the double haul is almost there, the roll cast is mastered and change of line direction is a walk in the park (believe that and you will believe anything!!)

Cheers for now

Steve

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com  Fly Fishing Tuition and fly fishing guide in Devon

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.

www.devonschoolofflyfishing Fly Fishing Tuition and guiding in Devon

I was going to write this and suggest a list of things that would be cool to accomplish in 2010. There are certainly lots of things I really would like to do and to experience and will hopefully get the chance in some cases but is it always good to set yourself targets? I guess sometimes this is the case and can be rewarding to tick things off as they happen but I want to enjoy the ride and whatever is thrown at me. It can sometimes be the little things like that drag free drift to THAT trout that you would never have thought of listing but all the little things add up along with the big things too.

Sometimes it all comes together, a UK fish to remember….

I think that is why I like being a fly fishing guide. No two days are ever the same and all the fun and challenges that go with it are always different.

I think someone once said that “it’s an adventure” and I’m going to make sure I enjoy every moment I get on the water be it working, fishing alone or in the company of good friends.

Have a great festive period and I hope a fish filled 2010!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing  Fly Fishing tuition and guiding

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.

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com Fly Fishing Tuition and Guiding

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.

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com  Full time fly fishing tuition and guiding in Devon

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.

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com  Fly Fishing Tution and Guiding in Devon

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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