Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

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

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Life is full of little twists and turns and sometimes a series of events all seem to drop into place perfectly into a perfectly formed, completed jigsaw.

Something like this has happened over the last few days to me. I was at the hotel talking to some early season salmon anglers who turned out to live just where my parents do. No big coincidence there but next day I was at the hotel ahead of pruning some of the banks when Nick the hotel owner showed me a copy of a book they had left behind for him to read. It turns out that one of them had “liberated” it from a hotel he was staying in while on a trip to San Francisco.

The book, called Where to Fish, is a 1953 edition and just inside is an advert for the hotel where we are based: the Fox and Hounds. It even says that it was possible to get a train from Waterloo Station in London direct to Eggesford. This probably doesn’t either sound much or mean a great deal either but Eggesford Station is now just a little provincial station where a 2 carriage train stops once an hour.

So this is a nice little start to things. Next though,yesterday Emma and I decided to take the train from Eggesford to Barnstaple instead of making the drive in. It is a great journey for the fly angler as the train follows the Taw all the way. I think it was a little embarrassing for Emma as I jumped from side to side of the carriage as the river turns and twists its way to the sea. It was great to see the water I work on from a different perspective and further down the river I even saw a couple of anglers out on the water.

We did a little wander around Barnstaple and decided to head back. We quickly darted into WH Smith as I like to keep up to date with the fishing magazines and as we walked out of the door I saw a little section of local books. The cover of one had a guy fishing on the cover so I called back Emma and popped back in.

I flipped open the cover and saw that it was a collection of essays regarding fishing trips a gentleman had made over his fishing career. The one that caught my eye was 20 odd pages about fishing the  Taw at the Fox and Hounds. At  over 200 pages and in hardback the £2.99 seemed pretty fair and made it even cheaper than all the magazines, so I bought it.

When we got home I sat down with a cup of tea and opened the book at the Fox and Hounds chapter. The next spooky bit was the the writer first visited the hotel in 1953, the same year as the book I picked up the other day.

I have to be honest and say when I bought the book I was guessing it was going to be one of those “it wasn’t like that in my day” sort of affairs, but it wasn’t. It probably won’t mean much to most people but I read the chapter intently as it describes the fishing down all of the beats. It was so nice reading about pools that I have come to know so well and see how the writer used to fish them. I even picked up a tip on how he used to fish one of them!

I don’t think I would have noticed this book unless it was placed right by the door as I hardly ever go in the book section at Smiths.

The writer, Peter Harvey, was born in 1921 but the book was published in 2006 so I have contacted the publisher to see if they can try and put me in touch with him (if he’s still alive as he’d be 90 now) as I would really love to talk to him about the times he used to fish on the water so my fingers are crossed that he gets my message. I’ll keep you posted.

The book has some other sections about his fishing experiences so I’ll have a read of those too. It probably won’t mean a lot to a lot of people but just in case it does here are the details.

So, there are just 11 days til the trout season starts…getting excited?

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One of the great things about fly fishing is the friends I have been lucky enough to make. There is nothing nicer than getting a call from a pal telling you the fishing is hot on their river or lake and would I like to join them to have a go? It is, of course, reciprocal and I get as much pleasure calling friends and saying they have to drop everything as the river is on fire.

We were lucky enough to venture up to Yorkshire this weekend to see some good friends and to take a look around and see the river they fish.

I know I have said it before but it still amazes me how small our country actually is. We set off at around 9am and were sitting in a cafe in York at 2ish having also made a stop for a cup of tea elsewhere.

On Saturday morning we got up and I mentioned to Emma that it looked a little foggy. After blinking a few times and taking a closer look ( I am a bit slow first thing) it turned out to be snow. We sort of knew it was coming and there was a nice scattering on the grass, but thankfully it wasn’t really cold enough to settle on the roads.

We’d come a long way and I really wanted to see the river I’d heard so much about and, as the roads were clear, we headed off.

It turned out it was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more. A beautiful setting, with water to match.We weren’t on a fishing day, I just wanted to see a place I had heard so much about. That having been said, I did have a cast of my new Access rod for 20 mins or so just to see and it worked perfectly.

I am pretty sure we’ll be back during the trout season, but in the meantime when we get the report of how well that river is fishing it will be nice to know that I’ll have a really good idea of exactly the spot being described. You know, the sort of thing about the riffle just below the path…

I had a great picture taken of me fishing in the snow, but just can’t seem to get it to load right  now…enjoy Charlies painting of a trout instead!

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I’ve just been complemented by Emma on how tidy I have kept the table next to where I sit. It doesn’t sound that interesting or noteworthy but in some small way it is. To the casual observer it looks like a pile of junk with fly boxes, nippers, books and loads of magazines piled up on it.

To me it is a place where I know that I need to head for when I’m looking for something. I know that my tide tables will be there and the article that I meant to get round to reading will be there. The needle knot contraption I use on new fly lines is there, along with a couple of camera cables that are always on hand to download the trophy shot. All this on a small table which measures 14″ x 16″!

I also managed to balance, actually topple is a better word, my morning cup of tea on it too. This is a real act of skill and needs to be seen. It certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted!

Of late I have tried my best to try and make it look a little more presentable and I think I am getting there. I plan to do the same with the back of my truck this year too. I am not going to go back and look but while I am writing this I have an awful feeling I promised the same last year. Well, I mean it this year…

Paul and grayling!

It was good to meet up with Paul again and see him catch a few grayling too on his most excellent Bannister rod. Paul is just the perfect gentleman and loves every second he is on the water! It’s always a pleasure to spend time with him.

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If you read our little blog you’ll know that I have been tying like a mad man and am really starting to build up a nice stock of flies. I really want to be in a position that, come opening day, everything is set for the coming season and we have plenty of flies to show the fish.

I have also been reviewing how I carry all my flies and over the last couple of years have gone back to a fly fishing vest. It has been more necessity than any thing else as I tend to carry flies for river trout, sea trout and salmon just so that all the bases are covered and I know when I pick it up I won’t have forgotten anything. Previous to this though, for guiding on the river, I used a lanyard which carried everything I needed. I think sometimes guests were a little embarrassed as they turned up with more flies and gear than the guide, but when they see the Mothership fly box that resides in the back of my truck they feel a little more comfortable!

This year though, I am going back to the light approach and have bought an Orvis sling pack. Please don’t get this confused with sling backs which Emma tells me are a popular style of ladies shoe. No, this just fits over the shoulder and carries all you need for a day on the water. I have to say I am really pleased with it and can’t wait to try it out. The vest will be for the migratory fish so I think I am pretty well prepared.

It was good to meet up with Dave From Portland last week and see him catch his very first grayling. It is great to be there at moments like these, although he did have to work for them as it was freezing cold and the fish were glued to the bottom, but big, pink bugs did the business as ever!

DFP brings in a grayling

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I’ve been tying a few flies over the last few days. I’ve been getting ready for the hatches as they happen throughout the year. I have tied some darker parachute flies in a few sizes to cover Large Dark Olives and March Browns. I have also tied a few patterns  to cover the first of our caddis hatches, the Grannom. I don’t know if they will work or not but it will be fun seeing if they do. I tied a few last year and they seemed to work OK and I have gone for a few variations on this theme. To me, the fish seem more interested in the emergent Grannom rather than the adult sitting on the water so I have tied some that will sit in or just below the surface film.

The new flies mean I have had to do one of my favourite things – tidying the fly boxes. As a guide I don’t actually carry loads of flies when I am working. I have a box that carries all the dries and then one that carries subsurface patterns from spiders to bead nymphs and just about everything inbetween. I then keep a sort of Mothership fly box in my truck that I can replenish supplies with should I need them. I plan on travelling a little lighter this year and have made a few purchases that I’ll write about a bit later.

Pete and his first trout

It has been good seeing guests this early in the year for casting sessions, including some newcomers too. I have been watching the temperatures pretty closely as there have been times when the lake has been frozen, but other times when the fish have been going mad on the small windows where a hatch takes place. I bought a new rod last week and wanted to try it out but when we got there the lake was frozen. Nightmare…..perhaps tomorrow……

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January can be a great time of year as lots of new things hit the tackle shops ready for the new season. There is nothing more exciting (well almost!) than heading down to the river or lake with a new purchase and put it to work on the fish. We were lucky enough to pop up to the Orvis HQ in November and caught a glimpse of what will be new for this season. I had to be restrained as there are a few new things I could be stocking up on!

Flies are a tough one though. Companies must constantly be trying to bring something new to the market which is a must-have pattern for the fly box; something that will work when nothing else ever has. Perhaps it isn’t as extreme as that and  is probably more that we are being offered an alternative and it is always fun trying the new flies.

This is the great thing about fly fishing. There are so many alternatives which we can explore when it comes to flies especially if we tie our own. Hands in the air if you always tie a perfect dozen which conform to the design of the first one? I can’t hold my hand up as I just have to tinker a bit. For me, winter time is  when I tie the ever faithful flies that serve me so well. It’s also a great time to tweak some, or think about fishing situations I faced and how to overcome some of them. Just getting the fly to sit or fish differently in the water might just make that subtle difference. I  love doing this and get a thrill when the new fly I was working on actually fools the fish!

January is also a time for resoloutions and Peter’s was to learn to fly fish. We were only too happy to help him on his way. Watching a newcomer make their first roll cast can tell you a lot about how they are thinking of using the rod and it became apparent that Peter had got it. As the weather had been miserable we had talked through safety and how the tackle works in the hotel over a few cups of tea. It is a great way to start the day.

Peter and his first trout!

Peter did just fine and caught a few fish taking one home for his tea. It was brilliant to see him get as much pleasure making a nice cast as he did from catching fish. Well done Peter!

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I have been doing some casting in the back garden of late and have got the tape measure back out to see how all is fairing.  It can be easy to assume that seeing the backing knot disapear out of the rod rings means that you have thrown all of the fly line plus 10ft of leader which many think equals 100 odd feet. Sadly this isn’t the case and it can be quite sobering to see that it usually ends in the 80ft area.

I’m not one for huge distances these days but having the tape measure allows me to check on my tracking. If you want to throw any sort of distance you want that rod to track as straight as possible. When you are carrying a lot if line and your tracking is out it is like having a brick tied to the end of the fly line and makes the task a lot harder than it needs to be. As a right hander, tracking problems can often highlight themselves when the line lands on the water and a right hander usually has the end of the fly line hooking to the left or has the line laying from where the rod has stopped across the body and continuing to move from right to left.

The tape measure gives you a good clear idea of how straight the rod is moving and I sometimes let me back cast drop on the grass behind me to see that it is nice and straight. You’ll see that your best casts always run parallel to the tape.

It is fun to do and, although it doesn’t lend itself to fishing conditions too well, the ability to hit 90 to 100ft casts consistently and with ease will make the real life fishing casts of 50 to 65ft all the more simpler.

The really cool thing is that Emma has been coming out and watching and then joining in with a few casts. It is a dream of mine that she comes fishing a bit more and things look more like that will happen. It is easy to try and force things a little too quickly so I have also been careful not to interfere too much but she was casting away and throwing some pretty mean loops. We had set a target which she met and then the next day she said she wanted to try and beat it again. I didn’t cast but stood down by the end of the measure to see how things were going and to shout some encouragement.

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The next thing I know I see the leader pass over my head and another PB was reached! All this has happened because she has started to double haul. Now my memory isn’t what it was but I don’t remember teaching her to haul! It turns out that she had watched me doing it and mimicked it. The great thing was that it was spot on and worked perfectly. I just let her get on with it and she was carrying a nice amount of line and hit a very creditable 72ft. Clearly I started saying that she would catch fish anywhere in the world with a cast like that but I managed to calm down a little and, like before, we’ll keep taking small steps. Great casting Em!

It was great to meet up with my good pal Jim Williams on his home waters. No wonder the grayling of the Coln have so much to fear. I love watching him fish a longer rod and light line, he is class in a glass!

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Although the river season has ended down in here in Devon we are still busy with fly fishing instruction and I was lucky enough to have a couple of days with David who was a novice starting on a fly fishing career.

Over coffee we discussed how the days would be structured and it is nice to explain how the tackle works in nice comfy chairs before hitting the water. That having been done on the lake it quickly became apparent that David was going to sail through everything. I really like this when it happens as it means we can play with the casts a little showing little tweeks that make David think, as an angler how best to get his fly out to the fish which, at the end of the day, is what it is all about.

We ended the first day with David having something for the chefs to cook for his dinner and with him having started to double haul in earnest and he was keen to try his hand after bass. We hit the estuary and it was beautiful weather with the sea like a mill pond and no wind; perfect for a newcomer. Sadly the fish weren’t showing, David hit the nail on on the head and said there was no better place to practice your casting.

David ties his first fly

After a few hours we headed back for lunch as he had also showed an interest in tying flies. I thought it would be a neat idea for him to tie his own fly and then we would try and catch a fish on it. I showed him how to tie a simple buzzer and he tied 3 of his own and then proceeded to catch fish on them. I showed him how to fish a static buzzer, slowly retrieved and then with a greased up leader. Again he came up with the goods and the fish of the midlands will have something to fear!

I know Davids father in Darwin will be reading and you should be proud.  David- “good on yer!”

Not long after tying the fly David is attached to a fish!

Ending the day we re-capped everything and then finished by nailing the double haul including shooting line into the hauls which was a great achievement. I really enjoyed the tie  and catch aspect and think I’ll be doing more of this with guests over the winter!

I’m still a little jet lagged, but am just back from a fishing trip with my good friend The Dude in Montana. Loads to tell in upcoming blogs so keep watching!

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I was off this week for my yearly fish on the Deveron. I have been going there for 5 years or so now and I really like it.

Running at about 60 miles in length it isn’t one of the big name rivers like the Spey, Tweed etc but it is only just below and has a very healthy run of salmon, sea trout and also some really nice brown trout too.

We fish at the very bottom of the river which means it is great fishing if the water is low as we get the fresh fish that will hold until the water levels rise again. If there is some rain the fish tend to head onwards and are usually picked up on the higher reaches of the beats we fish. When we arrived on the Sunday there had been plenty of rain and when we scanned the catch book everything was confirmed that the upper beats of the fishing were the place to be.

We were lucky to be on the higher beats and it was great to see plenty of fish showing. It didn’t take long for a good fishing buddy to see his line tighten and he lifted in to a fish. I did the netting duties and then had three really gentle takes in almost as many casts and then something a little bit more committed and I was attached to a Deveron salmon.  I offered the spot to my buddy and he had another good take.

Next day we were on the lower beats but I fished with Paul who has been a great supporter of our fly fishing school and was on his first ever salmon trip. He was casting beautifully and I stayed with him as I felt there was a chance that he would connect. He didn’t on his first trip down the pool but on the second all hell broke loose as his rod bucked as he was attached to a very angry salmon. He did everything by the book and after a spirited fight the fish was in the net. It was a great moment and even nicer for me as I have been with Paul when he has caught his first rainbow trout, wild brown trout, grayling, sea trout, bonefish and now salmon.

Paul and his first salmon

Next day, (Weds) the water had continued to drop and it felt like there was more chance of fish having to hold and make a bit more of an effort to navigate the pools. That meant that there was a chance of them stopping to have a breather and give us a shot at a few more. It worked really well for my buddy who landed two really nice fish and had some real fun stripping a really big fly across the tail of the pool. It was a sort of mutant Collie Dog fly but the salmon didn’t care and threw themselves at it.

The interesting thing was that I have worn a barometer watch for the last 5 years and it has been spot on when barometric pressure has been steady or rising and the corelation between this and taking fish. This time though we did catch them on a falling barometer which is a first.

Sadly the weather was against us and we got up on Thursday to torrential rain and a river that wasn’t going to fish. It was coming up at around six inches every twenty minutes and apparently ended up 13 feet above normal levels so we decided to head home. It is easy to cuss things and moan but that is just the way things go when you are fishing late in the season. Life is too short to get stressed about it and there will be other times and other trips…..

For the second year I fished a switch rod. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the Orvis Helios 11ft switch rod this time and paired up with a Skagit line it did everything I wanted it to and the 14 footer didn’t even get wet.

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