Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

The low water we currently have has made the fishing a little more testing than usual, but it also makes my job even more enjoyable, as it means we get to fish more outside the box than normal.

Gary on days guided fishing

There have been times this week when I have been switching fly size from an 8 to a 24. There is a pool on one of the beats at the hotel that has just about everything for an angler. A nice lively tail, a slower belly with a nice bank where the fish can hide and a really nice riffle at the head. The belly has really been the interesting bit and the place where most of my fly changes have happened this week. The flow is slow and the fish have all the time in the world to make the choice if they want to take the artificial fly or not. It runs right up against a few root systems from trees and it breaks the flow a little where micro drag can be an issue. Just about every time I have been there a few fish have been rising and it has been great fun getting them to take.

Paul on one of our learn to fly fish days

I have also been checking water levels on the Taw before I go to work each day and since the trout season the most the river has risen is 1/4inch. I think the rain on Friday and Saturday night has brought the river up a similar amount but the fish have seemed to bite harder when there has been just a drop of rain. I have also started watching water temps a little more and the water has been sitting between 11 and 12 deg c. Sometimes though I think we might just think about things too deeply and we can get bogged or influenced a bit  by things we see and hear.

Rennie puts his switch rod through its paces

At the end of the day all the fish needs is food, oxygen and shelter and as long as the requirments are fulfilled they’ll be happy. Our job is to get the fly to them without them becoming alarmed and if we do, we’re in the game. It reminded me of last weekend when I was guiding Gavin and we fished a dry fly on a 5ft 13lb level leader. You know what? He cast the fly to them and they were happy to rise to it!

Tim lets one fly on a learn to fly fish day

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It feels as though we have entered a really busy period over the last few weeks with plenty of anglers out on the water with our team having a good time and catching a few fish.

Dan into one of our rainbows

The grannom hatch has been really good and we have taken advantage of it but now it feels and looks like that is over and medium and lighter olives are on the trout’s menu.

Elizabeth lets one fly!

Lottie covers a likely run

Mark releases a fiesty Taw brown

There are some big sea trout on the hotel waters and I’ll get down and have a go at them soon. I also took out my good friend and fellow instructor and guide Brett and his friend Simon. They were down for Simon’s brithday celebrations and wanted to see if they could connect with a bass or two. It felt like it might be a little early but they were game and although they didn’t catch big numbers Brett managed 3 fish which was a great start to my saltwater guiding this year!

Brett and a bass!

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Thursday was a turning point for the change from early season fishing to the fish getting into the spots where you would expect, and hope, them to be. We’ve had some pretty good hatches of large dark olives, medium olives and some nice march browns too just to spice things up a bit.

MFD works his magic

The low, clear water along with good hatches has meant the fish have had more than half an eye on what is going on at the surface, but as ever the good old pheasant tailed bead head does the business when fishing deeper.

Rob covers a riser

I thoroughly enjoyed our casting day yesterday. I think it is better to call it a casting and fishing techniques dayas we packed loads in to the morning covering casts for the rivers and methods of fishing; both more modern along with traditional. We had 4 of us instructing and Emma taking some pictures as there was a good turnout. We then headed in for a well earned carvery and a team fishing session afterwards. Although I am on the water most days I didn’t fish a great deal last year so I am going to do my best to see if I can do a bit more. It was nice landing a good 11 incher though!

John covers the far bank

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Sometimes it felt like it was never coming, but the season is upon us at last. I marked it with heading down to the hotel to meet up with a bunch of anglers looking to get the season started. Over coffee I sorted the beats and then everyone headed off in search of trout.

Nigel and some open day flies!

It had been a clear night and it was cool to start with, but as the day progressed fish were starting to be caught. There were a dozen anglers out on the water and it was nice to all meet up for lunch and then a post fish drink too. The really nice thing was that everyone caught fish and,, most importantly had a good time. Hatches weren’t heavy during the day as can often be the case this early on. We all saw a few large dark olives and some medium olives too.

Carol swings some spiders on a guided day

I have a casting demo coming up for a fishing club close to my heart. I have done it now for at least 6 years ( I think) but it is great to get people interested in casting and, of course, the important bit – the fishing. It has sort of evolved over this time and started as an out and out casting day with tips and advice but has sort of become a bit more than that. I try and cover fishing techniques and ways of getting the most out of our tackle, and also how to fish more effectively throughout the season. We are always trying to push things on to make it more interesting for those attending. I can’t wait as we have lots of things to show our guests!

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Emma and I were talking the other day ahead of one of the big rollover lottery days. It’s great having those sort of conversations about what you’d do if you had a huge windfall and how you’d spend it. Clearly, fish was on my agenda and I thought it would be nice to buy a beat here and there for me and my friends to enjoy. I thought it would be nice to also have somewhere abroad and I wasn’t too sure where it would be, but I now know!

It is Missoula in Montana. Of all the places I have been lucky enough to visit in my angling life this is the real deal as far as I am concerned. It has everything; good people, great rivers, a great feel and some damn fine coffee shops! One even had a fly shop attached which meant we could have breakfast, coffee and then do some shopping. It doesn’t get much better than that.

As ever, I was accompanied by Ray (The Dude) who is the best company I could wish for and has been present on all of the very best overseas fishing trips. He knows the town and the fishing, and a childhood friend John lives there and has his own drift boat.

The Dude, John, driftboat and lunch.....perfect!

The thing I loved about Missoula was the sheer variety of fishing that was on the doorstep but despite being Montana’s second biggest town with a population of 75,000 it never felt busy and a 10 minute drive out of town you were in fishing country. We ticked off some of the rivers I’d read about and then dreamt about, The Bitteroot, Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Rock Creek and started a bit further afield on the Big Hole which was a special day for so many reasons that I’ll be writing about in the very near future.

On the way back from the Big Hole we fished the Bitteroot for the first time and I think I can speak on behalf of the Dude when I say we were smitten. We happened to sniff out an excellent fly shop in Hamilton and got talking to Sean the owner who pointed us to some water at the edge of town. If I wasn’t on a fishing holiday I might have felt a little dubious about being sent to the town water but how spot on was Sean? Right on the money! First pool I fished was stuffed with fish and I managed browns, rainbows, cutts and whitefish on a NZ set up. Sean you are the man!

If you are ever in Montana drop by his store you won’t regret it. The nice thing was that he’d just dropped by to check out some things and had the day off. I was even more pleased to hear he was going fishing and we managed to bump into him again as his drift boat came to the parking ramp just as we were starting to hit a spinner fall.

There is loads more to tell you about, which I will in time, but it was great to meet John and to get a couple of days fishing with him and to see the Dude at the helm of the drift boat. Great work matey!

Although trout fishing has stopped here we have grayling and pike to get to work on and I need to dust down my permit flies. One of those would be a great way to finish 2010 and think we might have a few new surprises for you for 2011!

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It seems as though we are preparing ourselves for the summer blockbusters at the cinema. I am not a huge cinema goer myself but do go from time to time. The last visit was a few days ago and I was quite excited to see that they have done a remake of the A Team. For anyone my age A Team was required viewing whilst getting ready for a Saturday night on the town and although a little far fetched it was good, camp fun. I hope the new version does the same and hits all the right notes the orginal did.

Anyway, the reason for the title is in honour of Hannibal Brooks and his merry band of mercinaries. There are also times when something does just about go to plan. Last Monday was a great example. I was guiding regulars Ian and Phil who have been great supporters of our little fishing school and they were back for a few days of guided fly fishing.

Bass were on the list so with a late low tide we decided to split the day into a morning of river fishing and then to meet up late afternoon for the bass. As they rigged up I suggested that perhaps we went looking for some day time sea trout despite the fact that it was a cloudless bright, hot day.  They are both fine, accomplished anglers and I was keen to raise the bar for them and I guess myself.

We fished a few pools as a warm up where they picked up a few trout and then I took them to where I thought and hoped there might be some sea trout that were hunkered down for the day. I dropped Phil into a pool and talked him through it and took Ian upstream to a similar pool to try his hand. Having left Ian I headed down to Phil and saw a great big grinning face. He had picked up a sea trout, his first on a fly, and was over the moon. Ian wasn’t quite so lucky this time but has managed the feat on a few other occassions.

I met the guys later on and we headed for the coast. There had been a bit of wind but as we headed to our mark the wind just stopped for a few minutes and the bass started showing. It didn’t take them long to connect and Ian was on to his first fly caught bass.  The fishing started coming thick and fast but as the tide gathered momentum the bites eased off. It really was a great day of fishing and a few milestones achieved.  I guess Phil achieved some sort of Grand Slam which is do-able even when more traditional ways of getting one might have been easier but it was much more fun this way!

Phil has sent me some photos which I am having problems uploading so Phil if you are reading can you send them again please?!

I’ll post them when I get them but in the meantime I have popped a pic up of a painting that Charlie did for me for Father’s Day, it is one I really love and hope you do too.

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Our new little lake, despite being newly dug in Feb has settled down really nicely. The clarity has been great allowing those we have taken fishing to be able to see and observe the fish and the hatches of buzzers have been fantastic, we have even had caddis the last week or so. I have today off (Sunday) and despite just a touch of rain the grass has shot up and I thought it needed a bit of a trim. It didn’t take long and I’m really pleased with how it looks and how quickly everything has matured.

To be honest I thought it might take a fair bit longer but I am really thrilled with the results.  It has already become a place where newcomers have caught their first fish and it has been a great location for fly casting lessons too. I asked the guys with the diggers to cut the promontaries so they are ideal for roll casting and spey casting purposes and the guys dug the lake to 12 ft in depth so in these warm conditions the fish have somewhere comfortable to hide up until the sun is off of the water.

It has been another great little addition to our fly fishing school and being right on the doorstep of the hotel saves our guests having to head for a public fishery.

Emma and I had a quick look at the river and my hope was the rain we have had might bring the water up and a few salmon with it. I was messing about but Em said she thought she saw a fish come into the pool.  There was an angler staying and fishing the hotel waters who said he saw a salmon move which was, to put it politely, rather sizeable. If you bump into me ask me where it was and what size!

Peter was back again this season. He joined us in early March and despite some tough conditions he did a great job and it was nice to show him the river in a nicer light. It is a real pleasure to see his angling come on each time we meet and he was rewarded with a really nice trout, amongst all of the others, on one of the days we were out. Well done Peter!

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As fly fishermen I am pretty sure we all have a fish that we remember well that we can recall every moment of how it all played out. Often it will be the one that got away that sticks in the memory just as well and kind of haunts you for a while. I still know one that my good pal and fishing buddy Ray lost on the Wye several years ago and I think it still gets to him a bit despite being the most relaxed guy I know.

David and his first fly caught fish

Probably the ones we remember the most though are the landmark first fish and a big one. I have a great story to tell about Tom who works at the Hotel where the Fishing School is based. He is mad keen about fly fishing and has really got into it in a big way this year. It has been really nice to hear his tales of fishing trips to the river and to a still water fishery he likes to frequent over a coffee before I start work.

Alexander into a fish!

He came fishing a few nights ago when I was out looking for sea trout myself. It was nice to spend time on the water with him and to see what a nice little caster and fisherman he is. Sadly there wasn’t much going on and we called it a day but he was out the next night and when I turned up for work it was great to hear how he had got on.

Fishing the same beat we’d hit the night before he had seen a swirl and covered it with a large Hare’s Ear. The fish took without hesitation and he found himself attached to a large sea trout. After a long tussle and a broken net he had landed a sea trout that was weighed at 8 3/4lb. To top it all it was his first sea trout and one I doubt he will ever forget.

Paul into another fish!

It is a really nice story and it could easily end there but there is more. Emma and I were having dinner with some guests and Tom was serving dinner. After we had ordered he placed a folded piece of paper in front of me. I opened up and saw a picture of him holding a trout from a stillwater fishery of 21lb!

Talk about “on fire”! The guy is white hot at the moment and it is so nice to see him telling anglers at the hotel about both his fish. Tom, well done fella!

Despite the lack of water the fishing has been pretty good and we have had some amazing hatches of caddis from about 3.15 pm onwards.  The catch board at the hotel for trout is through 600 and we look to be on target to match last years totals and I have barely had the chance to add anything to the total myself but it is so nice being on the water with anglers and seeing them tempt our beautiful Taw trout.

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I love to head up on to Dartmoor and fish the many and varied small streams that are found up there. My preference is to head high and fish the smallest pieces of water I can find and to fish the small pockets that are formed between rocks as the stream takes a step down. It never ceases to amaze me that the smallest of these pockets are often home to a trout and sometimes one a little bigger than you might be expecting.

Looking downstream

The typical size of fish is in the 5 to 6 inch range but despite their size they know how to fight dirty and will give you a scrap way beyond their size.

Dartmoor brown trout

I was lucky enough to get up there recently with my good pal Toby. I had recently bought some tying gear from his Funky Fly Tying Range (www.funkyflytying.co.uk) and having tied up a few patterns thought it only right that we road tested them before I use them for my guests. There is nothing worse than lavishing time on a fly that you are convinced will work and then, when you tie it on when fishing, it fails to deliver. I think I have written in the blog before that I only have three criteria for my flies. Firstly, they are quick to tie, secondly they work and lastly that if they get hung up in a tree I don’t mourn their loss. I am sure part of this is still down to my “rustic” style of tying though!

Toby had not fished Dartmoor before and despite him being an excellent fisherman I wanted to take him to some of my favourite spots and then the plan was to just keep walking and see what we could find.

The day could not have been more perfect. Warm and overcast and not a hint of wind. It is often the case there is a firm downstream wind when I jump out of the truck but today could not have been more perfect. I’ll often use a 10ft 4wt rod to enable me to keep line off of the water and to almost dap my fly into a likely spot but it was just a fun day. With us not  being motivated by numbers of fish we thought it would be fun to fish lighter lines on short rods and see how we got on.

After a 1/2 hour walk I dropped Toby into a pool and stood back and watched. He expertly dropped his fly into the right spot and a fish liked his fly and Toby was off and running with his first Dartmoor trout. It is always great to be a part of a new landmark for a fisherman and although not a huge one in the grand scheme of things it was still cool to see it happen.

A Dartmoor first for Toby!

I watched for a bit longer and then thought I had better get fishing. I like fishing dry flies up there and had a size 20 klink tied in my scruffy style with loosely dubbed substitute grey seals fur. I don’t carry much by way of flies when I fish up there.  Small and black usually covers the bases.

I unstrung the 3 wt and stepped into a pool. I’d been on the river most days but it had been in a work capacity meaning I hadn’t held a rod to fish with in a little while. I know how fast these fish were and with Toby down stream of me I knew he’d let me know if my strike was a little slow!

I threw a cast into a slightly slower, deeper part of a pool and a fish was on the fly almost immediately. Thankfully my reflexes were up to the job and I was in. It was good to hear a cheer from Toby as he saw me bring the fish in. The great thing about fishing together on such small pools is that you can easily leapfrog each other as long as you stay well back from the pool your buddy is about to fish as these fish are as spooky as they get.

Toby heads up stream

It was really interesting seeing the different way we would both approach a pool. Toby likes to throw a slightly longer line whereas I’ll have a minimal amount out and quickly work a pool. We have spoken about this before and the really neat thing is that both methods work really well. I’m a huge believer that if it works, go for it! We talked about it some more when we had lunch and decided that it was about getting the fly into the right spot. If you did that  the take would be pretty much straight away, so as long as you are primed and set when the fly touches the water you are in business!

The lack of rain meant the water was low and even a well presented fly would be enough to send fish scattering for cover in the slower sections of pools. As the day progressed and there was more by way of hatches then the fish were more confident and our success improved.I concentrated on the slightly faster stretches and seams of pools where I thought the fish would have less time to analyse a fly.

Just a few nice little pools....

We headed for one of my most favourite spots, where the river drops more steeply and there was more pocket water to fish. Toby went to work and picked up a fish and I jumped upstream of him to a spot I liked the look of. It was not a big pool but had a nice deep section with the current running right up against some really big rocks. I flipped my fly in and it was taken straight away. I am not sure who was the more surprised but the the fish certainly reacted more quickly and headed up the pool and in to a crevice where we were parted. Toby had seen what had happened and we both knew it was a good fish but I am from the “better to have loved and lost” school than letting a lost fish get to me.

Toby gets ready for action!

I’m not sure how many fish we had but it didn’t really matter. We’d had a great time and made the long walk back to my truck. The great thing about Dartmoor is the sheer expanse of water to fish. We didn’t see another fisherman and managed to fish miles and miles of water.

It was one of those days you just want to eek the most out of so over a coffee at a service station we decided to hit the Taw for some more trout, have a bite to eat and then hit the river for the off chance of some sea trout. We threw in the towel at midnight and had covered plenty of miles and caught plenty of fish. Did we get lucky with the sea trout?That will keep for another story!

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It is good to be out on the water in just shirt sleeves again. There have been times where I had wished that I had picked up the heavier fleece rather than the lightweight one to go over my shirt before hitting the river but it feels like those days are behind me. It is great being on the river every day and seeing how things unfold. One of the key features of late have been the emergence of the mayfly.

It is fair to say that we in Devon don’t get the hatches that might be seen on some of the chalkstreams but the last few years there have been enough to get the fish interested in them. Seeing how this hatch develops and how the fish suddenly get locked on to them is really nice to watch and it has been great to tie on a Grey Wulff and throw it at an angry slashy rise and to get the fish to hit it is real fun.

We have had a few days like this and it was nice to have the legend that is Dave from Portland back for another day on the Taw. We were going to head into the moors but the mays were too good to miss. The day started slowly and just got better and better with Dave picking up a number of fish. As we were about to call it a day I noticed a rise that was right up tight to the bank and right underneath a bush. It looked like it was too hard a call but by watching we could see that the fish was picking up newly emerged mayfly duns in a back eddy. The great news about the back eddy was that it meant we could get upstream and make a downstream cast into what was still a tricky spot. I said to Dave to just to go for it and he did just that. All hell broke loose and we had a nice brown in the net!

Last one of the day!

Next day I was guiding Gavin for a couple of days. I was excited to tell him about the mayfly action and we decided to fish a may outright from the off. This worked pretty well and after lunch we headed to our new beat and saw a fish move. Gavin dropped the fly right into the spot and the fish took. I had my suspicions when the fish took off and they were confirmed when I netted a sea trout. It was Gavin’s first sea trout and certainly his first on a Grey Wulff!

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