Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog » Orvis Endorsed fly fishing guide

Fly Fishing Guide

petesblog — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:28:44 +0000

I was lucky enough to be on the water with Mike Weaver recently. For me, he is Mr Devon when it comes to fly fishing. He wrote the book that I just keep coming back to and it is the book that has inspired so many of my fishing adventures. It is a little hard to come by these days but if you ever get a chance to buy it don’t miss it as it is a great read!

The Pursuit of Wild Trout

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Wild-Trout-Mike-Weaver/dp/1873674007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282823359&sr=8-1

It seems that fishing is in two halves at the moment. Black gnats are the main item on the menu in the morning and caddis in the afternoon. We have had great fun on the river skating caddis at both trout and sea trout and I was on the water with Peter the other day where we saw a nice sea trout move. I really like to get the fly moving to provoke an aggressive response and we managed to get one but not the hook up. We stuck with the large G & H sedge and cast it upstream and worked it back with short sharp strips. It was great to see that we managed to get responses for even the smallest of fish and if you are on the water give the stripped fly a go. It might just bring something up!

Peter had fished stillwaters here and further afield he had searched for salmon in Alaska and Canada but was a newcomer to small stream fishing for trout. He soon picked up that you don’t need to throw a long line and was catching fish on both dries and nymphs.

Peter and a Taw trout

It was great to have Mike back down again this year. Although it was a whistlestop visit with the family he managed to get out on to the water. As time was short we managed to hit a few pools and catch some fish too. I am ashamed of some of the things we threw into the deeper pools and I hope you’ll keep it our secret Mike!

Mike having cast one of my nasty flies!

Ian and his wife Mandy wanted to learn how to fish a river and so we were happy to oblige! Ian was a former Pro Golfer and it came as little surprise how quickly he picked up casting a fly rod.

Ian ready to strike

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The names are changed to protect the innocent!

petesblog — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 14:16:26 +0000

I was guiding Richard the troutslayer a few days this week. As ever it has been a pleasure to watch him come on huge leaps and bounds from when I first met him last year. For me a lot of the deal of river fishing is being able to effectively read the water and then being able to get your fly to the spot you think is your best shot as efficiently as possible. This is second nature to Richard now and it is a real pleasure to be on the water with him. He, as ever, got amongst some nice fish and we thought at one stage that he was attached to his first sea trout which sadly came adrift but we didn’t really get a look but it is one of those moments when you both think he might be attached to something special by looking at how the tip of the rod behaves when you first strike.

RFH and a nice Taw brown

As an aside, I often mention Richard as the troutslayer but I think we are changing the name as he fears that some might feel he may actually be slaying the trout and not putting them back. He loves them as much as me and each one is carefully returned to fight another day and so from this day on he will be known as Richard From Hampshire or RFH as Emma calls him.

A blowy day on Dartmoor with Mike

I had a day up on Dartmoor with Mike. Mike was down in March to try river fishing for the first time and loved every second of it. He likes to fish bamboo and it was good to christen his rod back then but this time we went for a slightly longer rod to make fishing the pools a little easier and to keep as much line as possible off of the water. Once more he did a great job in testing conditions and as ever the ride over there was great fun as Mike has a great view on life and a wit to match his fishing!

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Devon fly fishing guide…

petesblog — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:45:22 +0000

It has been good to be out on the river in warmer weather. The fish are starting to bite a bit more and a few are even taking an interest in the dry. The hatches that have been backed up are starting to get going and I think I have seen more March Browns than last year already. The first few Grannom are also starting to trickle off which should also help liven things up a little.

I am sneaking off to Wales for a couple of days with Ray (The Dude) to try our luck. It is a birthday present for me and part of Rays” leaving the UK tour”. The plan is to head off early, meet up and have a big breakfast somewhere and fish straight through. I have a feeling this will be the pattern for our trip but that’s fine by me! I have tied up a few “left field” flies that have had a bit of success here but I want to see what the Welsh trout make of them.

Mark had his first time on our rivers in Devon and took to it really, really well. It is always nice to get an email from a convert to our fishing ranks!

Mark into his first Devon trout!

Hi Pete,

I wanted to thank you for an absolutely fantastic days guiding on Friday. I had a great time and learnt so much!

The following couple of day’s fishing allowed me to put what I had learnt into practice (with success!!) and made our stay in Devon a truly memorable one.

Many thanks to Emma too, for suggesting we stay at the Fox & Hounds. What a great little hotel and lovely food!

Take care

Mark

P.S. We’ll be back again soon!! (maybe for a spot of sea trout fishing!)

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com Fly fishing guide, tuition and lessons in Devon

Trout Fishing in Devon

petesblog — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:38:13 +0000

The season is up and running and fish are being caught. I would love to say that we have had the most perfect of conditions but I think you would know this hasn’t exactly been the case. That having been said it has been great to be out on the river Taw guiding again after what has seemed a really long winter. My guests have had to work for the fish but it has been great showing them different methods and techniques some of which are a little outside of the box but that’s what I love about it . The fish don’t read the books or listen to the experts.

It has been great to see fishermen at the hotel again now the season has started and it has been great to be in the bar hearing fishy chatter!

This time of year I am hoping for some good hatches of Large Dark Olives but it looks and feels that due to the cold winter things have been pushed back a little. As ever, lunchtime has been a hot time to be casting a fly but we have been catching fish as late as 4.30 so even if it is cool stick at it.

The daffodils are also a bit late which backs up the delayed start story but I spoke to a good friend in Cumbria who was saying that Thursday felt as though things were more spring like up there and the fish agreed too.

Mikes first time on a river

Alan has a fish for his birthday!

Rob swings one of my nasty flies!

Peter is back on beat 2 chasing trout

Simon works slack water as the river starts to rise

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com - Fly Fishing in Devon-Tuition and guiding on the river Taw

Fly Fishing in Devon!

petesblog — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:28:53 +0000

Fly Fishing in Devon is starting to get going. Cooler temps in both air and water has meant things have sometimes been a little slower than normal to get going but if you work at it there are fish to be caught!

Ian has been a great supporter of our fly fishing school and was down just a few days after the season started to try his luck. We covered some water and I showed him a few spots he had fished before plus a few new ones. First day (weds) was a little slow to get going but he managed to connect with a few fish but the next day, Thursday, has been the pick of the days we have had so far this season and we even had a few look at the dry which was great to see.

First fish from our new water

Large Dark Olive hatches have been pretty light so far but my hope is that more settled weather will see an improvement and more fish starting to look upward.

As is always the case this time of year, lunchtime is a good time to be on the water but so far a lot of fish have been caught between 4pm and 4.30pm so it is worth hanging on just in case!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com – Fly Fishing in Devon- Fly Fishing Guide, Tuition and fly fishing lessons

Devon Fly Fishing 2010

petesblog — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:51:27 +0000

The salmon season kicked off yesterday with pretty good water and high hopes of some good fishing. News is already filtering through of a fresh fish being taken at the very bottom of the river and with a big tide I can’t wait to hear how things will play out.

I still have some light bank maintainance to sort out and loaded the truck with various loppers and a bow saw and headed off to the river. There is a section that is really pretty and popular with anglers and I was keen to make sure that there was going to be nothing stopping a fly getting to a good lie.

I popped on my waders, unloaded the truck and headed down to the river. It looked really, really good and I am afraid that I made an executive decision. I had a rod in the truck and thought it would be right that I had a cast and a quick go at the pool before commencing the pruning.

I got into the flow a bit too much and decided to have a crack at another 3 pools just for good measure. Having felt I did a good job I popped the rod down and got back to work. Wouldn’t you?!

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Fly fishing, warm weather and getting ready

petesblog — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:40:31 +0000

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?

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