I have been out on a few trips recently that I’ve written about and I was getting some gear rigged up for my next days fishing. This time of year I really enjoy fishing nymphs and where I am fishing the water is low and clear and it lends itself really well to french nymphing. I was getting the leader on my reel and felt a tugging at the end. Despite fighting the urge to strike I saw that one of our cats was having some fun with the long leader as I got it rigged up. What I didn’t realise was how much fun she had and had bitten rather a lot of it and it was one of those sickening moments when you can see the marks on the leader and when you give it a gentle tug it parts. Sadly there were quite a few of these and I had to bin it. She has this butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth looks and so I couldn’t get angry plus she had been well trained with my chop stick and string casting routine which meant she had gotten pretty good at catching the line when I tried to curve it around her.

The Leader Muncher

The other thing I like to do is tie flies when it means I can’t go fishing. It is one of those things that I have to be in the mood for and I’ll sit and tie a bunch of flies or I have been thinking about the season just gone and have thought ” I wonder if I tie it like this it might work better ” Today has been one of those days and I have had a few “brainwaves” I have come up with a few ideas that I’ll try soon for a quicker sinking nymph (not just extra weight), a new sort of mayfly emerger and a fly that I think is a whole lot better for using as part of a duo or trio set up. It is easy to tie and I have just tweaked the early prototypes I used last week. I find it more fun to try and tie something to fit the purpose rather than hearalding the latest fly from a fly company as the latest and greatest. It is also good to show the people you are guiding why you are tying on the fly and why you have tied it rather than just tying on a parachute adams ( great fly though) and hoping for the best.

It is a nice feeling when sometimes the flies you have thought about during the winter layoff actually work in a real life situation. Not always the case though and I have had what I thought were perfect for the role flies hidden away in the crevices of my fly box!

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Last year we got snowed out but this year it was mild and after some excellent turkey and pumpkin pie we headed out on Sunday to go to a Christmas fair at a nice place that was an old monestary with a mill which meant there had to be a river nearby.

Dude and Al with a NZ fish

The girls headed off to learn how to make a few Christmas decorations and Dude and I headed off to a hall area where they were serving coffee. We sat talking and noticed that the hall started to fill and they had wheeled out a piano. It turned out that there was going to be a few carols being sung. We thought it might be nice to hear but we both slightly panicked when they started handing out song sheets. This didn’t look good. There is no way I would inflict my singing voice on anyone. I remember when I was at school and the music teacher thought I was singing out of tune on purpose. Since then I do my best Cheryl Cole impression and move my lips to the music.

Just to make things worse though the words were in Danish. The lady at the front started to show everyone the warming up excersises before launching into the first song with great enthusiasm. The assembled crowd were loving it as Dude and I just looked at each other. I have never heard Dude sing but knowing he is now fluent in Danish made me think his vocal talents were similar to mine as I didn’t hear a note come from his lips either.

Now, I pride myself on my manners and I wouldn’t dream of walking out after one song as it would have been rude but how long are you supposed to wait? 40 minutes later I saw the leading lady walk behind the piano to grab something and thought that was our window to escape. We made our exit.

Checking on the girls, they were still doing their decorations so I suggested to Dude that we head outside to look at the stream. It was pretty small and clear but I saw a large splash. The light wasn’t great and I had no sunglasses to see what it was. As the sun was in our faces we headed to the other bank through a mass of trees so we might get a better look. We couldn’t see anything but walking upstream a bit Ray saw one big sea trout then another. I’d missed them but was dying to get my first glimpse of a Danish fish. To do this I did something I haven’t done in a while and that was climb a tree. Some of the magic was still there and I managed to get up high enough to give me a better view of the river and I saw a few fish. They were big.

We walked further upstream. By now my shoes and jeans were caked in mud but we saw a guy standing in the water by a small footbridge. We saw a few more people and some were holding nets. We then saw what was going on.

It turns out they had been electro fishing the river for sea trout and then milking them for eggs. They fertilise them and bring them on in their own little hatchery. It was a great little operation and we got to see some real big sea trout up close. The guys belong to a fishing club which, when we got back to Dude’s, we looked up. The great thing is that the club is based right by where Dude lives so I am hopeful he will have some guys to go fishing with.

Just back from some grayling fishing and yesterday was the first day it felt cold. There were just the slightest hint of a small hatch every time the wind dropped and Toby and I even had a few fish take a look at the dry.

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I also remember when Ray (The Dude) and I were sorting out our trip to NZ and we got all hot and bothered about not having the right drab coloured lines that are mostly required down there. It is funny how these things permeate down and we suddenly find that these are the only things that will work, although I did speak to a guide down there before we went who told me he fished a bright orange line that he reckoned had no impact on his catches. It is that sort of thinking I always like. The long shot stuff that you just can’t help but want to prove wrong. Not to ram home a point or anything but just to see if it will work for your own satisfaction. This isn’t the best example though as Dude and I went for the drab lines just in case but if we go back I’ll give it a go with an orange line.

Jo in action

An example of a case nearer to home is Roadford. Roadford is a 700 odd acre lake that is brown trout only. It opened some time in the ’80s and is a place I used to love to fish. Somehow, some perch got in there and they did rather well. Now, it is seen as a bit of a shadow of its former self and whenever Roadford is mentioned in fishing circles the word perch will be in the same sentence or not far behind. As a result of the perch the fishermen are not fishing there like they used to. To me this is a a real shame as it is such a great place and the trout are still there but not so many fishermen. I was told that it had been fishing well of late so I hope it gets the benefit of the doubt next year. To me though this is another case of how things are percieved and so it is taken as how it is.

Anyway, back to bright stuff. My new orange fishing jacket ( a drab orange of course) was packed in the truck as I had been invited to fish the Exe with my friend Jo. It has been a long standing invite but work had meant I hadn’t had the chance but the water was low and clear and the sun was shining. Coming back to Roadford for a second Jo told me he had gone up there to catch some perch as he likes to eat them but he couldn’t stop catching bloody trout!

I had set up with a 10ft 3wt and my new favourite 8ft 4″ 2wt. It turned out that I left the long rod back by the truck as we ended up fishing dries to rising fish for a large part of the day. Jo had mentioned that the grayling could be tricky and he was right. A lot of them would try and drown the dry as it came past them. I thought I would be clever and downsize the fly but the same thing was happening and when I went even smaller they ignored it completely. It is these sorts of things I really enjoy trying to work out and a size 18 sparkle dun with a long trailing shuck was the right fly. We shared a rod and took it in turns catching a few fish. Towards the end of the day Jo took me to one of his favourite pools where there were some good fish rising. I covered one and missed it and then hooked what felt like a hefty fish. It came off. Funnily enough we both said the same word at the same time.

I don’t get to fish the Exe much these days. It is a great river and one I hope to get to fish again soon.

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It seems like it to me. Not that I am sitting here doing a retrospective of the year just yet. On that front though I have already handed out my award for new bit of tackle of the year award and that goes to my Helios 8ft 4″ 2wt. It is just such a good bit of gear. I have been fishing 1 and 2 wt rods for many years but I haven’t got my hands on one that I would use just like a 3 or 4wt. It rammed the fact home to me the other day when fishing with Ray (The Dude) when I was casting a good sized nymph into a deep pot that had two 2.5mm tungsten beads on without a problem at all. I keep saying the thing feels like a 4wt and I treat it like one but it just comes back for more!

Anyway, shameless plugs aside it has been a really interesting time on the water. The fishing has been interesting and challenging at the same time. I guess I am a sucker for punishment but it is really, really good fun working out what these fish want and where they want it. The hatches, at the moment, are more trickles and can switch on and off pretty quickly which means I have been dragging people off one stretch to another to gain the best of the fishing. It is one of the advantages of having plenty of water to show people, and it really does help.

I have also noticed the fish have not been hitting the fly with the same sort of vigour as they did. I’m sorry but I don’t subscribe to the “they have seen a load of flies” theory it is just how it has gone recently. I know anglers like to blame themselves when they miss a strike or think they have pulled out of a fish. Sometimes the fish just miss it or just don’t fully commit. I think it has been the latter over the past couple of weeks, but more settled, slightly warmer weather might just change things a bit.

John has one on a caddis!

I had a cancellation the other day that was booked in Jan. I think this is one of the first signs of how tough things are out there that we have seen and it hurt us a bit from a lost revenue perspective but I guess when the guy first booked he hadn’t figured how bad it might get. I wasn’t told this but it I am reading between the lines. I know, we should take a deposit. Well, it is the first time it has happened and we like to run a more relaxed business and I know when people want to go fishing they always turn up.

The upside is that I get to go fishing and that is not a bad consolation. I know where I am going to head and am looking forward to it.

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He had flown into Heathrow so we thought it only right that we started with a day on the chalkstream and so we headed to a venue that we have spent so many happy times fishing. I went up early as we were going to fish the next day and stayed in the most excellent Grayling House B & B. Grayling House is owned by Rick and his wife Lorraine. I remember the first time I stayed there and Rick answered the door in a Simms fishing shirt and I knew I was in the right place. The rooms and breakfast are also stunning.

Rick pops one back

As The Dude wasn’t due ’til later I asked Rick if he fancied a fish for a few hours, which he leapt at. We strolled up the river casting to rising fish and caught a few nice ones. As well as running an fantastic B & B, Rick is an excellent fisherman, fly tyer and great company on the river too. If you are in the Salsibury area look them up, it is worth it!

The Dude had arrived and had sniffed us out on the river and as it was dark we thought it best to head to the pub for dinner and a few drinks.

Another one for Dude

End of day grayling

Next morning the sun was out and the fish were rising. Dude was in to fish straight away and I watched him pick up trout and grayling. I got into the river and followed him upstream, thankful that he’d left me a few fish to catch. There was one run I was watching him fish and it looked to me like it was almost a fish a cast!

As with every proper fishing trip we ate some junk for lunch then had a tailgate dinner which for Ray was a Chinese and for me one of the best fish and chips I think I have ever had. It looked as though things were getting cooler and quieter at 7pm but the bugs and the fish got a second wind and we fished on late before heading down the A303.

For the Devon leg of the trip I wanted to show Dude some places he hadn’t fished before, so on the first day we headed to the river that shan’t be named. It was cloudy with some light rain when we left home but when we got there the cloud stayed but it warmed. Perfect. I hung back and watched Dude get off of the mark and then went up and found some water to fish. Dude told me he had been reading the latest Gierach offering and he had mentioned that when fishing with a buddy he would leave 3 large stones in an obvious place where he had got in so that his fishing buddy knew where to get out. We tried it and it works really well. The day was perfect and we fished long and hard and just had a packet of chocolate biscuits for lunch.

A fish from the nameless river

under the tree Dude!

A fish for me from the nameless river

Planning for the last day was easy. We had always planned a trip up to Dartmoor but other trips had got in the way, so this was to be the destination. Weather was ideal and the first stream we headed to had some great pocket water that I know the Dude likes to fish. After a sausage roll (we’d had a barbie the previous evening so there were a couple left over) we fished Cherry Brook. I love Cherry Brook. Although small it is easy to think that there are only small fish in there but I have seen some real hogs that have come after smaller fish that my guests have hooked. I even let out an expletive when I saw this and spent the rest of the day apologising!

Picking a pocket

It is also easy to think that you need to fish tiny flies on Dartmoor. While this is often the case, the monster 14 1/2 incher we had the other week was on a size 14 and Dude fished a 16 on the first stream we fished but we did go down to a 20 for Cherry. The fish don’t read the books!

Dartmoor trout

We walked, talked and fished. It was such a good day with rising fish and we headed back for an ice cream and last look at the river. Where we stopped there were people, dogs and just about everything else and the fish were still rising just beside them I guess they just get used to it all. The hardest part would have been trying to make a cast with all the tourists about.

Cherry Brook trout

So that is the trip. It was great, as ever, to fish with Dude I miss him so much now that he lives abroad but we are already planning another trip. His daughter Mia is showing an interest in fishing and Mia if you are reading I hope you’ll join us one day!

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The two Alans out for a days guided fishing

That having been said, the fishing has been pretty good. We’re through what has been a really memorable mayfly season and are now enjoying some great caddis and blue winged olive hatches. It has been great to tie on a dry and enjoy seeing the fish like what we cast to them.

Bob lets one fly

I have not tied on the ever faithful klink as much as I usually do and am giving other patterns more use. It will probably come as little surprise that they are little different from the usual offerings and my guests on the river have seen that, as ever, we like to look at things from a slightly different angle!

Gary knows its a good fish!

The rain over the weekend has brought the river up and given it just about a couple of inches of visibility, but I have a feeling it is going to drop pretty quickly again but my fingers are crossed it has been enough to bring a few more migratory fish up to us.

Steve and a fish caught on something a little different!

I thoroughly enjoyed giving a talk to the Worcester Fly Dressers Guild the other Saturday about fly fishing in Devon although I was a little nervous of handing over some of the flies I use for them to look at!

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We have had plenty of fish in the 10 to 12 inch range and more than a few that have hit 13 inches only to be beaten again by a great 16 and a halfer that was caught last Friday. The sea trout have been starting to show and when guiding Richard from Hampshire for a couple of days it was great to see a pool switch on for a few moments and to watch a sea trout rise to the dry and then, just a few casts later, watch Richard’s rod get almost yanked out of his hand by a fish that we thought must have been a good sea trout. It just goes to show you don’t always have to fish at night, or when the river is coloured to catch them.

RFH works his magic

Richard is turning into quite the river angler now, putting exqusite casts into the hard-to-reach places and getting rewarded with some nice fish. I was also out with Russell and his friends – James, Charlie and Kelvin who were making the shift from stillwaters to rivers on a 2 day fishing course.

It was great fun and the guys all did really, really well. All of them caught some nice fish and a special mention has to go to Charlie for catching the season’s best fish of sixteen and a half inches!

The end of the day....

It’s always great when we have Dave from Portland join us, which he did on Friday, weaving his usual magic and troubling somereally nice fish, followed by Mike on Saturday who wanted to learn how to fish a river. I suspect the fish on the Tone will have something to fear now.

The deep concentration of Mike the river angler!

It was great to meet up with Clare, Fiona and Bev who wanted to learn to fish and, as ever, the ladies showed us guys how to make fly casting look easy!

Fiona, Clare and Bev hit the river

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Caroline has always wanted to try fly fishing and had 2 days with us bought for her by her husband Terry. Despite never holding a fly rod before she was throwing some really nice loops in no time and had a rainbow in the freezer at the hotel to take home with her. Next day she was on the river and made the step with ease, catching a few nice Taw brown trout. Caroline re-strings violin and cello bows for a living and was intrigued to see if the skills she employs on a day to day basis would be of use in fly tying. They would be and after showing her how to tie a couple of flies we tried them out on the river and the fish thought they were pretty good too. Really well done Caroline!

Caroline plays a Taw brown on.

I had Paul down for a Spey Casting session and showing him a few casts that he can put into good effect on the Wye in the next few weeks should have the salmon a bit worried. I think he did fall in love with my switch rod though and I had to prise it out of his hands at the end of the day!

Nick had tried some still water fishing and wanted, with his Dad Rod, to learn how to tackle moving water. We covered the casts and tactics and took them down to where they put what they learnt to practice.

Nick ready to strike!

Geraldine had tackled river fishing a bit before but wanted to get all of the bases fully covered so that she can set out on even more fly fishing adventures.

Looks like a big fish Geraldine

We spent the weekend covering everything needed to maximise success and enjoyment and how well it all slottted into place. Her timing was perfect as the trout are really starting to lock on to the mayfly and were really taking them confidently. She caught some really nice fish and also had our first sea trout of the season on a French Partridge.

It was a big one!

We did the same last year and had sea trout on dry flies. I have tomorrow off  (Tuesday) and haven’t cast at fish for almost 3 weeks so am itching to get going…sea trout on dries will certainly be on the agenda!

Lastly a special mention has to go to Mark. I guided him a few weekends ago and know how much he loves the Taw. I was amazed to see him in the Hotel car park as Paul and I stopped for lunch. Apparently he had got the 9am train from Paddington and then took a train to Eggesford where he had booked in to fish for 4 hours and was then getting the train home again….Dude, you are a hard core fly fisher and worthy of the Trout Bum label!

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The really nice thing is the amount of people who like to come back and spend time with us. I think it is probably because we have so much water to show them that there isn’t always enough time to see it all on the first visit!

The timing of this post has been perfect as I have had a spell of returning guests who have wanted to get to grips with the trout of the Taw.

It was great to see Neil again after he joined us for a group course last year. He fished really well and with great skill to make sure he maximised his chances of success. It was great to see him back on the water!

Neil back on the Taw again

I guided Gordon last year and he was back to do battle with the trout of the Taw again. It was such a pleasure to see him get his fly in the hardest of spots and get the reward he deserved for it. I think the new Orvis rod helped, but that would sound biased coming from me!

Gordon with a brownie

I was with Gavin for two days. Gavin has been a great supporter of our little fishing school and I always enjoy guiding him. He is at the top of his game and fished just about the best I have seen him fish. We had a great time and I love that Gavin likes to fish a bit outside the box and always loves to be a part of my wild eyed plans. Last time it was sea trout on dries but this time we thought it would be fun to try and catch a fish on a mayfly on 1st Mayand after catching a few the day before we thought it was worth a try. He almost did it but the nice trout came adrift at the last moment…what are we going to do in June?!!

Gavin plays a fish

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The Taw

The river, although low, was looking good and I knew that grannom had been coming off just around lunchtime so I knew I was on the water at the right time.

Perfect timing!

I rigged up some bamboo and headed down stream to a favourite pool. It is really nice when you get there and the fish are just starting to rise.

A vintage Bannister rod

Judging by the rises they were at the early stage of the hatch and were taking the emerging pupa. I tied on one of my easy-tie balloon caddis and a really simple grannom pupa. I stuffed the first take but managed to get a few more out of the pool.

A Taw trout

I fished for a few hours and caught a few and had what was just about the perfect birthday!

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