Devon School of Fly Fishing Team blog

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!

Fly Fishing in Devon with the Devon School of Fly Fishing Fly Fishing tuition, guiding and fly fishing lessons

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!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com Fly Fishing in Devon Fly Fishing tuition, lessons and guiding in Devon

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.

Fly Fishing in Devon with The Devon School of Fly Fishing Fly Fishing School offering  tuition, guides and fly fishing lessons

It feels and looks like we are just about through the best of the mayfly hatch now. That having been said they are still trickling off and the great thing is that the fish are used to seeing a big fly on the water and even better still aren’t afraid to have a go at it too!

Most of the people I have had out recently have been happy to sacrifice numbers of fish for the chance of bringing a big one up from the depths but I have been trying my best to assess each pool as we approach it and hit it with the appropriate fly which in some cases has been a size 24 midge pattern. It is fun tying on a big fly and seeing it work but it is equally as rewarding showing my guests that just because it is a small fly it doesn’t mean that it won’t work.

I had met Wilfred and Anne-Ruth a few years back and they had managed to track me down to show how they had progressed as fly fishers. They live in Holland which might not be thought about as a fly fishing hot spot but there is a large and loyal bunch who will cast a fly at just about anything and these two guys are in that category.

They had booked a days guiding and we headed off to a small stream. Anne-Ruth was soon catching fish and I took Wilfred upstream to try his luck.

Low, slow water was working but you needed nerves of steel to not strike when you saw a fish come for the dry so after a few we headed up to some faster water where the fish would have less time to inspect the fly and would make a more positive take.

Anne-Ruth works up a pool

I dropped Anne-Ruth off and wanted to take Wilfred up at least 4 pools to try his luck. On the way up though I saw a few fish rising and as ever I find it too hard to leave them so despite a tricky climb into the pool we were in a great position to target the fish.

It looked to us as though the fish were taking ascending nymphs just subsurface so I quickly tied on a pheasant tailed nymph and we were in business.

Wilfred with a beautiful Taw brown

It was a great day and the guys did a great job, Wilfred ended the day with 2 13inch trout which was some achievement!

Fly Fishing in Devon with The Devon School of Fly Fishing Fly Fishing tuition and fly fishing guides

Fly fishing in Devon is not far off from the start now. Salmon starts on 1st March with trout fishing not far behind on the 15th. I always like to keep opening and closing days to myself to have a fish and mark the occassion by just being in the water casting at a few fish. Sometimes it might feel like you are going through the motions but after a long miserable winter I don’t care. I can’t wait and we are on the final leg of the countdown!

After writing this blog I plan to try and trim a few trees and start getting ready for the season. I was on the river yesterday with a great fishing club I belong to. As always there was a good turnout and a chance to catch up with, or meet, members you might not get to see through the season. It is also a good to re-aquaint yourself with the river and see a spot you might have struggled with during the previous season become just that bit more accessible after some careful pruning.

Saturday was a case of from the fire straight to the freezer. I’d left behind tailing permit (photos to follow) and 92 degree heat for snow and low lying rainbows. Not that I am complaining, I’d enjoyed both immensely and it was great to help a newcomer, Kevin, on the road to becoming a trout fisher. He had done plenty of sea fishing and wanted to try his hand with a fly rod. Once he had mastered the idea of a climbing backcast the world was his oyster and he was up and running.

We are lucky being located with a lake and river so that we could cover all aspects of approaches to both still and moving water but I have a sneaking suspicion that he’ll be heading to a river some time soon. The trout better watch out!

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com                Fly fishing guide and instructor in Devon,UK

It is that time of the year. I’m not a bah humbug sort of person and certainly get in the Christmas spirit but sometimes it takes just a little bit longer for me to get there.  I don’t get what all the fuss is about when it comes to Christmas shopping. As I see it you either do it in Feb which is a no no in my case as when it comes to December I will have forgotten where I had hidden them so as a result it is a last minute seat of the pants affair. I assume this is how all men shop as it leaves little time for dithering about what to buy as if you have done this properly then you have no time to go home and think about what you should have bought. As I see it Christmas shopping should take no more than 1 hour and should include a coffee stop of some sort.

I’m told I am a nightmare to buy for but as long as it is fly fishing related it will be a good choice. There are some really good DVD’s around this year and my fingers are crossed that they might feature. There is nothing better than sitting down with a mince pie  (told you I was getting in the spirit of things) and watching some fishing.

I have already treated myself to a little present and bought a new Hydros fly rod. It is a pretty sweet piece of kit and I am looking to try and catch a grayling or two with it soon.

I was talking to Alan today and we both admitted that we really like sorting out flies and getting them organised for the coming season or sometimes even just a fishing trip. After all of the unfishable weather we have had I can’t say how many flies I have tied but it is a lot. I have thought about and refined a few things and churned out the ever faithfuls. There is something for everyone in there and I hope the fish feel the same. This means the fly boxes are pretty well replenished already and are primed, ready for action. I am just about to commence on some bonefish patterns.

The weather has settled now but I was down casting where I work and the river was still carrying some colour but the height is dropping right out. A few pics of the “office” below.

Winter beard watch- We seem to have bonded and got used to living together. Not sure this will be a long term relationship though.

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I had hoped for an outside chance of some grayling fishing today. Alas the river is in the same state as last week but I am told that the weather might be calming down just a little bit from Thursday onwards.I met up with Andy on Saturday and we did some casting which was great fun. I can wait and the fish are going to keep.

  I popped out this morning to see how The Taw looked slightly higher up from where I work and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. The photo is from a stretch of water belonging to The Crediton Fly Fishing Club. I have been a member for years and this is one of my favourite places to fish. I didn’t get much of a chance to fish it last year but I have made a deal with myself that I will try and put it right next season. It is a great club and I guess this is down to the members who are a welcoming bunch with some pretty nifty fishers in their ranks too. It is probably a bit weird but I really enjoy the bank clearing sessions that they have before the season. It is a nice way to burn off some of the excesses of Christmas and to catch up and talk fishing.

I have probably mentioned it but my 17 year old daughter Charlie has a boyfriend. I have dreading this for a while and had planned how I was going to “interview” him. I have always felt that I would need a pipe for this. I don’t smoke but thought it would make me look a bit more menacing. I sort of planned how I would lean on an imaginary mantlepiece with my pipe and ask him his prospects but would only really need to know the answer to one simple question. “do you fish lad?”. I thought adding lad would also make me sound a little bit more frightening. There would have been a sharp intake of breath and a draw on the empty pipe if the answer was no but I am sure Charlie would have prepped him and said that if the answer was infact no that he had always wanted to learn. It turn out that she has known him for a number of years and so have we and it is the case he is a really good guy. I guess it saves me a trip to the tobacconist.

Lack of fishing has meant if I can’t do it then I am going to read about it. I have just finished The Earth is Enough which is a really sweet book and makes just enough of a pull on the sentimental heart strings.

Winter Beard Update- Used trimmers and feeling more comfortable. Toyed with amputation Sunday but will stick with it for the time being.

www.devonschoolofflyfishing.com  Fly Fishing Tution and Guiding in Devon

I know I am not supposed to moan, I’m not a moaner by nature and don’t subscribe to the “poor me” way of thinking but when is the weather going to let up? I thought there might be a break this morning and a chance to pop out and throw a few loops but once again it is throwing it down!

This time of year is a quieter one for guiding for me as many of the rivers of Devon are shut and The Taw doesn’t have any grayling. It means I have to travel further to both work and also to fish. I use this time to catch up with all the friends I have promised I would fish with when the fishing season is in full swing. The travelling doesn’t bother me , you’ve got to do what you can to get to the fish and I enjoy the drive and enjoy listening to music on the way.

I was talking to a pal about driving tunes yesterday and one of my favourites to get the trip going is The Foo Fighters “Times like these”  along with anything by The Specials. I’m fishing Monday (weather willing) and they will be blaring out of the truck at stupid o’clock in the morning.

I was planning to write something about what defines good fishing and being the time of year that it is I sort of expanded that and got thinking about what defines a good season. I suppose it is lots of things. A memorable fish, a big one that you had to get to which was rising in a back eddy, one that you had tied a specific fly for on nothing more than a hunch and, for some perhaps, it is all about numbers. The really funny thing about this is how we always seem to remember the one we had on briefly and lost. I can remember loads of those occassions not just from this season but from a long way back too.

One I’ll never forget is a trip The Dude (Ray) and I made to Wales. The wind was blowing a bit and Ray was sat sheltering on a bank and I tied on a March Brown and was going through the motions a bit. I turned to him and probably said something along the lines of we really needed to get some food. As we have matured the days of fishing, fishing and fishing have eased just a very small notch and we now stop for some food every once in a while. Anyway, I turned to Ray and my rod just bucked over, seriously bucked over. I struck, felt a pull and it was gone. I have no idea about what it was but I know it was a big one and it would have been good to see. Funnily enough a similar thing happened to Ray on the same trip and as I have said before he is Mister Chilled but that one got to him.

I went through a spell in NZ where fish were just busting me no matter what I tried. I hooked plenty but went a couple of days without landing one. On one of those days we were on a river. It had split into two 10ft wide forks so Ray and I took a branch each. I came across  a really good fish rising in 4ft of water and knew if I landed my fly in the right spot he was mine. I even went as far as playing the fight out in my mind before I made the cast. He was tight in one the banks (aren’t they all?!) and there was a lot of roots he could wrap me on. It had been a case of fishing slightly heavier tippet and hanging on when they took and trying to keep them out but this fish was bigger and probably smarter. I thought that I would give him hard side strain into his bank so that he would swim away from there. Well that was the plan. I made the cast, he took, I held my breath and then struck. He was on and my plan sort of worked. Applying big side strain to his bank did stop him from heading where I feared and he shot out headed upstream a short way and bust me off in a similar spot to where he had been holding.  One of those things I guess. The funny thing is that the next day I hooked and landed a fish that I had a long chase down stream through all sorts of obstacles and landed that turned out to be one of the biggest of the trip. This was one I was amazed that stayed on!

 I am hoping to fish on Monday and will tie a few extra flies just in case we do get out…..

The beard has settled down a bit now but I am not sure I am in it for the long term with facial hair.

Below is a pic of the stream in NZ where the magic nearly happened, unremarkable looking with remarkable fish.

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The weather has been relentless of late meaning fly casting tuition has had to take a back seat until things calm down. I haven’t even been able to throw a line myself and I have missed it.

I was hoping to see my good friend Glyn in Cumbria next week to have a fish of  The Eden for grayling. He is a guy I really look up to and is a real gent and fantastic instructor and guide. The plan was to pick up Karl on the way and have a fish and meet up but as everyone knows they have had it pretty bad up there and when I spoke to Glyn yesterday to check that everything was OK he came back with “yup, it’s a bit damp up here” ! Needless to say we have pushed things back til Jan. It has been a difficult time for the people up there and listening to the radio and reports of the devastation I have nothing but the utmost respect for the people and the way that they have dealt with things in what has been an extremely difficult time.

I went fishing last week with Howard. He has been rushed off of his feet of late and needed a bit of a breather and fishing was the prescription. The Dude was meeting us too and I’d picked up the usual barbie lunch. The rain had brought the river up a bit which was exactly what it had needed. The grayling have spread, making it a bit more interesting from a fishing perspective. Previously they had been bunched and it didn’t feel right just hitting fish after fish. It would often be the case that we’d have a few and leave them alone but more water put the odds a bit more in the grayling’s favour.

 I couldn’t resist the photo above as it is more than unusual for Howard his wear a cap like this

I’ve noticed that I can barely remember the amount of fish I have caught on a day, whether it is a small amount or a few and it is probably a function of my ever worsening memory but also that it doesn’t really matter. I am so uncompetetive it is unbelievable and take as much pleasure in my buddys catching as myself. It is probably why guiding is such a great job for me as I live the day through my guests and it doesn’t bother me I’m not holding the rod.

We had a small hatch around lunchtime and caught some fish on dries. We fished til dark despite it cooling down and had a great time. We were lucky it was the one break in the weather we had and I just fished in a t shirt and fleece.

I popped down to Exeter to see The Rise film festival and met with a bunch of pals for some excellent noodles beforehand and then to see the films.  I had been thinking about another trip and watching great big steelhead taking Green Drakes kind of makes you feel a bit restless again!

My daughter, Charlie, has just taken her driving test and passed first time I am so proud of her. Yesterday she was just walking around with one of those stupid grins on her face. It sort of reminds me of when I passed my AAPGAI!

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I have been busy tying flies for next season already. It has been a case of retying proved patterns or just tweaking a few just in the interest of research but also that the theory behind them might work. I tie flies that I want to be functional, catch fish and are something I am not going to worry about if they get lost in a tree. I so admire the work of the great fly tyers but it would break my heart to see one of their creations lost, whereas mine I don’t give a second thought to if they go. I always say to guests I am guiding that I would much prefer they lost a fly going for a tough cast rather than playing safe. We all know the big boy, or girl for that matter, will be in the hardest to reach spot!

I don’t think anything would get between Paul and his fishing and this was certainly the case when I met up with him the other day. I picked him up from his house and as we were on our way to the A303 we, as usual, swapped fishy stories and he happened to mention that he had taken a nasty fall during the trout season and his shoulder was playing him up a bit. I asked him if he were OK and he had fished Kennick a week before and it hadn’t been too bad.

We got to our venue, set up and headed down to the river where I realised I was standing the wrong side of Paul as he was casting left handed. Now, I know which hand Paul casts with as I had taught him as a beginner and I could only stand back in admiration and watch him cast his fly out to a spot we thought might hold a grayling.

It turned out that the shoulder was more sore than he had let on and so he had spent the last week teaching himself to cast left handed. You know what? It worked and really well at that. He was soon into the fish and I don’t think you would have known the fact that left hand wasn’t his dominant one.

Paul thinks about his fishing agreat deal and is like a sponge. After a couple of casts I asked him to lift his rod as the flies drifted over a likely spot. He was straight on to the plan and said ” Ahh, so you want me to induce them”  I can’t remember if it was the case or not but I think it did catch a fish on the first attempt. As soon as Paul had seen it happen he was on to it straight away as he picked off a pod of grayling.

We even had a surpise visitor…

All in all it was a great day and I have massive respect for Paul and I hope the shoulder is sorted soon!

Taw Salmon