Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

The drop in temperature has meant I have been adding some weight to the nymphs I’ve been fishing. I’ll fish nymphs in a combination of ways and enjoy them all. I was out the other day there was still a tinge of colour in the water so I went for a double bead head and it worked really well. It seems there are a variety of thoughts of the colour of the bead you tie on and the colour used. Orange is my favourite bead colour at the moment and I like using it in the conditions I have just described but have also started to snip off copper/gold beads in favour of orange for faster water working on the basis there is a bit more to catch the trout’s/grayling’s eye. As ever, mine are tied to fit the simple requirements – quick to tie, doesn’t matter if they get lost and they catch fish!

I published #2 of Eat, Sleep, Fish today. I think it looks pretty good and have been bowled over by the help I’ve received and the sheer numbers that have read it. We have all been amazed and really pleased. We’re not trying to be clever or smart, just share our love of fly fishing with other anglers.

A special thanks to Jim for your skills and enthusiasm.

I hope you enjoy it!       Eat, Sleep, Fish

Fly Fishing Devon with the Devon School of Fly fishing -  Fly Fishing Tuition, Guiding and Fly Fishing Lessons in Devon

I was due to pop out with Toby for a few Westcountry grayling and was heading over to meet him when the phone went. It turned out that  his car had been broken into and some gear stolen. He was understandably pretty upset and had some stuff to sort out as a result of it.

I always try and look for the best in people but I can’t for the life of me understand what motivates people to feel they are entitled to take other people’s property. They were probably opportunist thieves and possibly had little idea of what they had taken. I know a couple of the rods that were taken had sentimental value and I am sure people who steal don’t think about things like this, or even care. I think that if these sorts of people are caught they should be made to confront their victims just to see what effect their actions have had. It is easy to steal something when you can’t see the rightful owner but how would they feel when they have to look their victims in the eye?

I was half way to the river and didn’t think I’d be of any help to Toby so I went on ahead. It was the first time I had fished this river without him and it felt a little strange.

The weather was a bit murky and the river had a very slight tinge of colour to it but it was perfectly fishable. I rigged up and tied on a dry and nymph duo style and cracked on. I had a couple of small fish nudge the dry pretty quickly but things went quiet for a bit. I worked my way up the river, focussing on the slacker areas of water and the slightly slower flows. The water wasn’t clear enough to stalk the fish so I worked on instinct and the fish started to come.

I picked up fish as I worked my way upstream. I didn’t knock the cover off of the ball or anything but picked up fish here and there. I spoke to Toby to see how things were going and he had found some of his gear down an alleyway so there was even some good news. He even talked about popping along if he could make his old waders waterproof in time.

It was past lunch and I fished up to where I normally get out but thought I’d try for one more and head back, working on the basis that if Toby did turn up it would be a shorter walk for him. I managed to get caught up in a tree in a really overgrown bit so hopped out and got in further upstream. There was a nice gentle curve in the river and I cast my fly upstream.

The dry dipped and I set the hook. I thought I had hooked a big out of season trout that first headed upstream and then down. There wasn’t much I could do with the fish but managed to keep it out of a couple of nasty snags and netted a beautiful grayling. I managed a couple of pics and slipped the fish back.

The weather was on the turn and any fish I caught after this one wouldn’t have done it justice so I snipped my flies off and headed home. I only wish Toby was there to have seen the fish.

Fly Fishing in Devon Fly Fishing School – Fly Fishing Lessons, Guiding and Fly Fishing Tuition

I hit the river last week looking to catch a few grayling. The weather in Devon hadn’t been great but there was a break forecast in the rain and so I hit the A303. the thing I forgot to mention was that there was a bit of wind due instead.

Wind doesn’t bother me too much, despite fishing a 2wt rod and I had decided to fish a beat that was a little sheltered anyway. You might think it a wise move (perhaps not) but it did turn out to make things just a little more interesting as the wind was doing one of the many jobs it does. One of those at this time of the year is clearing the trees of their leaves.

The lovely flow lines that bring the grayling food and oxygen were also carrying the leaves off. To be honest, it was a little bit of a pain as both my dry and nymph did a pretty good job of clearing the river of leaves. Most of the leaves come off with a brisk false cast but others try and hang around a bit longer and can make an interesting mess of your leader!

I decided to fish the edge of the flow lines and the fish had similar ideas and it appeared they were staying clear of the debris too. I found a spot that was just above a deeper pot that I could see a few grayling in and had some great fun casting a double tungsten beaded nymph just in front of them and then gently lifting the rod when it was in front of them. I’d fish a few casts with one nymph then change it for another mixing the bead colours too. I fished a gold bead and had a couple and orange one and had a couple more and then a fly with a couple of pink beads on and had four fish. With the pink bead the fish didn’t even need the induced move and just hit it. I even had a couple of chub too that I can’t seem to remember catching on this river in all the years I’ve fished there.

After lunch I rigged up a French Leader and fished a couple of small nymphs. It worked well and I had a good number of fish and had on briefly a real hog that came off. It was good fun though and nice to be back up there again.

Fly Fishing in Devon with The Devon School of Fly Fishing Fly Fishing School – Fly Fishing Lessons, Tuition and Fly Fishing Guiding

I’m probably being a little previous (at least I hope so)  that the river has had a more autumnal feel to it this week. Fishing has felt a little tougher, although it has been a pretty good season so everything is relative I guess. The starts have that cooler temperatures to them and it has meant it has taken a bit of time for fish to start looking at flies and 4pm has been a good time to get into some good caddis hatches.

I sort of feel a bit guilty hearalding the end of summer and a shift into autumn, especially as it is mid August so I hope I am well and truly wrong and that we get a nice Indian summer to end off the season.

Maggie at one with the Taw

It feels like Exmoor is still getting the lion’s share of rain when it falls, which is good for those fishing the tributaries and those below the Mole junction of the Taw but, like I said earlier, the season has been a good one to us further up the line and one that I hope continues.

I have been tying flies a bit more of late and after a day on the river I give a bit of thought to what has gone on and how I can tie something that might be of use when I am working. During the season tying is more of a necessity than a hobby, so that I have enough of the right flies just in case a few go astray. I do it because I need to and I don’t have a problem with it but I like to get them done and ready rather than lavishing great love on them. That having been said I have really been enjoying it of late and have come up with a few easy to tie patterns that like the description says are easy to tie and catch a few fish. Foam has been one of the main materials and I have a balloon caddis that takes a few minutes to tie and floats like a cork and an emerger pattern that sits right in the film of the water and the fish love it. I’ll post some up at some stage.

Fly Fishing in Devon Fly Fishing Lessons, Tuition and Guiding in Devon

I can’t remember how many times I have said to myself, Emma and have probably written here too that I intended to do more fishing this year. It hasn’t played out that way but it makes those days when I have a rod in my hand even more special.

It is also great when you get to fish with people that are great company and superb fishermen. Jim Williams ticks both of those boxes for me in a big way. I speak to Jim a fair bit as I think we share the same views about life, business and fly fishing. Namely, that they should all be fun, not complicated, shrouded in mystery and not to be  taken too seriously.

Jim had fished one of the beats here a few years back but I was keen for him to catch a few fish on the Taw and then to head up to Dartmoor the next day. We met at the hotel, had some coffee and hit the river.

It is interesting to watch and learn how other people fish the water you know so well and it was great to see Jim catching fish from the off. As we both had a few days off it wasn’t about catching huge numbers but about sharing the fishing together and enjoying the whole thing. We decided to just fish some dries and see what happened. It worked just fine!

We headed back to mine where Emma had prepared a curry which we wolfed down and then we popped out to have a look for some sea trout. We dropped by the hotel to pick up Daran who I had been guiding for a few days to see if he wanted to tag along. He did and we hit the water. Daran had a good pull off of a fish and I sat back and watched the guys fish. We were all a bit tired so headed back pretty early for a nightcap at the hotel where we ended up talking fishing for a good long time.

Next day I took Jim up to Dartmoor and to a few of my favorite stretches. Once again, within minutes he was in to fish and the pattern pretty much continued. I think we only fished about 3 patterns the whole 2 days but the highlight was watching Jim pick the pocket water of a stretch I like to head to. It was great seeing him enjoy it so much. I have a feeling he’ll be back!

We both like fishing light lines and were both fishing 2wts for the couple of days. I have a new 2wt that I am over the moon with and I think it will be my main rod from now on. Jim is a huge fan of 10ft rods and fishes them almost exclusively. I think he was one of the small handful of people who were first to do so, whereas now they are a common site for me on the river. He really thinks about tackle and what he is trying to achieve with it and puts it to such good effect in both his fishing and teaching.

Jim, it was a real pleasure buddy and I can’t wait to hit the Coln with you. To read Jim’s report and much better photos on our trip click HERE.

Fly Fishing in Devon Fly Fishing Tuition, Guiding and Fly Fishing Lessons in Devon

It is always nice to get to fish or guide on a new water. I was down on the south side of the Moor to meet up with David who has over 1 1/2 miles of some really nice water and wanted to see how we would approach and fish it for migratory fish. It was a really nice piece of water with a mixture of deep, shaded, slow pools that looked the ideal spot for sea trout and some classic salmon pools too. David covered it and fished it really well. It was one of those bits of water that, despite the water being low, you are always in with a chance.

David fished his stretch of water!

Yesterday I hit a new piece of chalkstream. Small, overgrown, low, clear and intimate. The sort of water where you have to spot the fish and creep up on them. We fished light with a one weight and worked hard on the stealth stuff. You know what? It worked pretty well. Despite the fish up there not having fully woken up we looked for the shallower water where fish were lying and offered them a CDC emerger. The only downside of this simple, but hugely deadly fly is that once they have had a fish you need to nip them off and tie on another. I had at least three of them being rotated on my fly patch during the day.

The grannom have really been flooding off of the Taw and the fish have been on them. We have a new section of water for our fishing school which is about 1 1/2 miles long. It is lower down the Taw and has some nice salmon pools and spots for sea trout along with brown trout. I have walked it a few times now and reckon it is longer than that as the river twists and turns but there is a great amount of water for our guests to fish, be it migratory or non migratory fishing they are after. This is along with all the great water that the hotel has so I reckon we have nearly 8 miles of private water to show anglers now.

I was guiding further down the Taw with Richard the other day. He has a cottage right by the river and wanted to learn how to fish the water for salmon. I was happy to help and showed him the pools and how best to approach them and how to fish them under differing water levels. It was one of the first bright, sunny days but we had a good go and it was nice walking back to Richard’s cottage for a pizza and sit in the garden before hitting the river again. Things weren’t to be but I’d mentioned that on the bright days it is worth heading down early to the river. I had done this a bit last year and it is really nice being there as the sun comes up. Anyway, Richard did just this and I had a call early the next day saying that he had landed his first salmon. He thinks it was a really well mended kelt but it is a great start to the second day of his salmon fishing career. My advice to him when I left him was to listen to everything anyone tells him about salmon fishing but don’t be afraid to do something from the left field. That is what he did and it turned out well for him. Well done Richard!

Richard swings a cascade

Fly Fishing Devon Fly Fishing Lessons, Guiding and fly fishing tuition in Devon

I love road trips of any kind and I took a few days off of work and Emma, Charlie and myself decided to head up country on a bit of a tour. There was no plan as such and we didn’t have hotels booked we just thought we’d drive and see where we ended up. All I knew was that I was guiding Gordon in 3 days time and needed to be back to meet him.

As the trip took on a life of its own we managed to head up to Stratford Upon Avon and did some culuture stuff. We even saw a Shakespeare play which was excellent. It was a first for me and I was amazed at the humour and how apt much of it is for today. It is funny that as people things don’t change as much as perhaps we think.

Jo on a guided day

We found a place on the M6 and stayed overnight and hit the Lake District. It was a real whistlestop tour but we managed to see plenty of the lakes and at about 5ish decided we’d crack on up to Edinburgh.  We did it in good time and I couldn’t believe we managed to get a room at 7.30pm on a saturday night that was right in the middle of town. We had dinner, went to the room and then hit the town early the next day to see the sights. We walked a fair bit and left at 4ish having looked at the map we thought it might be fun having driven up the west side of the country to head down the east side via the A1 and aim for Yorkshire somewhere. We got to Whitby at 6.30 to witness a superb sunset hitting the remains of the abbey. Being a Bram Stoker fan it was great to see what looked to inspire a lot of his great story.

Nick hits the river for the first time

Next stop was Scarborough where we managed to find a hotel and have something to eat. After an excellent full fry up we were ready to hit York which is a great town with lots of interesting stuff. The last bit was the only planned part of the journey where I had a flight back to Exeter but the girls were staying on a day. We also managed to have a quick look at Harrogate on the way to the airport.

Simon lands one!

It really was a superb trip and although I know this isn’t fishing related it dawned on me what a small country this is and how easy it is to get around (when the roads are behaving) and how easy it is to hop in the car and fish a new venue. In the U.S they think nothing of driving 2 or 3 hours for some fishing. Just think where that would take you here? We found cheap but excellent places to stay and there are some places in the Lake District that I would love to throw a few flies in to!

It was great to have my good friend Brett O’Connor down to stay. He is a great instructor, excellent fisherman and fine company. I was already working but we met up for dinner at the hotel and stayed up late chewing the fat about life and fly fishing. He went off to fish a small stream I know and met myself and my guest for the day, Charles, for lunch. It worked out well as some other guests had seen some salmon move on one of the hotel’s beats.

Charles had taken to fly fishing like a duck to water and so we thought we would hit the river and go over the casting while we watched the maestro Brett in action. We saw a fish move but despite Brett covering it with everything it didn’t take. It was great for Charles to see Brett in action and just watching a great fisherman is inspiring but also good to learn from.

The maestro Brett in action!

If you are based in London and want one of the best instructors and guides around you won’t get better than Brett!

Emma has been a constant companion when I have slotted some salmon fishing in and I said she was going to be lucky. I know she didn’t feel it was the case but it was good to see the line swing and go tight as I got into a small grilse on Thursday. Thanks Em!!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com   Fly Fishing in Devon Fly Fishing Tuition, Guiding and lessons

We still haven’t had any real rain to speak of but the fish have still been biting and the best of the fishing has been towards the late afternoon when we have had great caddis hatches at 3.30pm or so. It has been good to see fish devouring caddis pupae as they try and make a dash for the surface of the water. I was guiding Henry, John and Mark last Thursday and it looked like the omens were good  but the wind got up and we experienced micro hatches when ever the wind stopped. I was with Henry when this happened and we saw three really nice fish come on the feed for just a very short time. This was time enough for Henry to land a nice 11incher!

I have really been trying hard with CDC flies of late. There is little doubt of their fish catching abilities and I like that they fit in with the simple-to-tie family of flies. The downside of their effectiveness is that one fish is enough to put them out of action for a bit so I have had 3 lined up on the fly patch and make a quick change after a fly has weaved its magic on a fish. At the moment a green dubbed body on a Varivas 2200BL hook has been the winning combo for me.

Superfast and South Creek

I met up with Richard (RFH) last week and we had a day fishing. He is on a wating list of a club I belong to and I thought it would be nice for him to have a fish there and also he has been asking me about one of Luke Bannister’s excellent superfast bamboo rods. I am lucky enough to have a couple of his rods and even luckier to have No2 in the production line of the Superfast series. When I spoke to Richard I said I’d bring my rod along which he could fish and I would fish my treasured South Creek rod. We decided it should be a bamboo and dry fly day.

RFH and fish!

The fish were obliging and we caught plenty. RFH provided a most excellent bbq and the pork and apple burgers were outstanding!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com Fly Fishing in Devon Fly Fishing tuition,lessons and guiding- The Devon School of Fly Fishing

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

There is nothing more rewarding that sitting down and dressing a few flies. Being a full time fly fishing guide the winter is a good time to do this. During the downtime I have been getting plenty ready for next season and I’ve been busy restocking the fly boxes with home tied flies.

The ever-present flies are there but I have tweeked a few things and am going to try some new patterns just to see if they work. It is nymphs that I have been tying most. I had been thinking that the usual and most consistent patterns have been bead head pheasant tailed nymphs and copper Johns. This is probably because I have great confidence in them and that they actually work really well. I am sure confidence is a large part of it but when I show my guests the underside of rocks these look like the stone clingers and the free swimmers too so we are also matching the bugs effectively.

I’ve also paid a lot more attention to caddis and have played with some hydropsyche and rhyacophila patterns that I have added to the flies I already use.  I try and tie them as generically (is that a word?) as possible so that they suggest not just a single food source but perhaps a little wider range and put the odds in my favour a little bit more. I try and knock out either a half dozen or dozen flies and my brief is simple. Tie them as close as you can to perfect but don’t lavish too much love on them. I would hate to slave over one fly for hours and then a stray cast lands the fly on the far bank of a juicy run without it ever getting wet. As an aside I always say to my guests that it is much better to lose a fly going for that far bank rather than throwing it in the tree behind you. One of the first lessons I try to instill in my guests is to have a quick look behind you before you make the cast. Sounds obvious but on our small streams in Devon it will pay dividends and save you a whole bunch of flies.

I have, along with a lot of help from Emma, tidied the wreckage that is my fly tying area and it is looking almost respectable. I have a radio up there and listen to Radio 5 so that I can keep up with news and sport. I find that working in fly fishing means that it is always on your mind but not everyone wants to always talk fishing ( I do).

It has felt like the weather has lifted a little here. It has been nowhere as bad as Cumbria but we have had wind and rain for what feels like 2 1/2 weeks solid and we have had our first frost of the year today. I will be out casting  and will try some of the new caddis patterns out on some grayling on Thursday. They might even work!

Winter Beard Watch- Day 6- Is this itching going to stop soon?

www.devonschoolofflyfishing – Fly fishing guiding and tuition