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!

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

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

Jo on a guided day

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

Nick hits the river for the first time

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

Simon lands one!

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

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

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

The maestro Brett in action!

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

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

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We’re now into the last month of the season and I have to say it is a time I really love. The weather might not always be with us but if we do get rain then there is a chance of a salmon taking a look at our fly. On that matter we had some rain at last but the Taw seemed to take it in its stride and came up a little and coloured a bit and by last Friday afternoon was back to normal. This meant the window for salmon was a small one but it sounds like the Exe had a lot more rain to bring both the levels and the fish up to anglers which is great news.

Chris working down a pool

I managed to get out for a quick fish and managed to have a salmon pluck at the nasty big fly I had cast at it and then took to the air to show me just what might have been. I went back and Charlie joined me in the afternoon and the river was a different place and a lot lower. I cast through the pool hoping the fish was still obliging and felt the line go tight and lifted into a fish. It wasn’t the salmon but a sea trout was just as welcome!

I lost a couple of trout days due to the weather but did some casting with Carolynne and Patrick who are off to Montana today and yesterday I was guiding Chris. He was keen to learn everything he possibly could about fishing streams and everything that goes with it. We even had a go at a likely looking salmon pool and despite hooking a nice trout we didn’t get lucky….this time!

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I was lucky enough to be on the water with Mike Weaver recently. For me, he is Mr Devon when it comes to fly fishing. He wrote the book that I just keep coming back to and it is the book that has inspired so many of my fishing adventures. It is a little hard to come by these days but if you ever get a chance to buy it don’t miss it as it is a great read!

The Pursuit of Wild Trout

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pursuit-Wild-Trout-Mike-Weaver/dp/1873674007/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282823359&sr=8-1

It seems that fishing is in two halves at the moment. Black gnats are the main item on the menu in the morning and caddis in the afternoon. We have had great fun on the river skating caddis at both trout and sea trout and I was on the water with Peter the other day where we saw a nice sea trout move. I really like to get the fly moving to provoke an aggressive response and we managed to get one but not the hook up. We stuck with the large G & H sedge and cast it upstream and worked it back with short sharp strips. It was great to see that we managed to get responses for even the smallest of fish and if you are on the water give the stripped fly a go. It might just bring something up!

Peter had fished stillwaters here and further afield he had searched for salmon in Alaska and Canada but was a newcomer to small stream fishing for trout. He soon picked up that you don’t need to throw a long line and was catching fish on both dries and nymphs.

Peter and a Taw trout

It was great to have Mike back down again this year. Although it was a whistlestop visit with the family he managed to get out on to the water. As time was short we managed to hit a few pools and catch some fish too. I am ashamed of some of the things we threw into the deeper pools and I hope you’ll keep it our secret Mike!

Mike having cast one of my nasty flies!

Ian and his wife Mandy wanted to learn how to fish a river and so we were happy to oblige! Ian was a former Pro Golfer and it came as little surprise how quickly he picked up casting a fly rod.

Ian ready to strike

Fly Fishing in Devon with the Devon School of Fly Fishing Fly Fishing Tuition, Guide and fly fishing lessons

It has been great to have Emma along on my last couple of sea trout forays. The last was on Thursday as I had got in from guiding Trefor and we had seen a really nice sea trout take to the air towards the end of the day. It was one of those fish that gets under your skin a bit and eating dinner I was still sort of thinking about it when Emma asked if I fancied popping out for a few hours. That clinched it and I knew exactly where we were heading!

Trefor ready to strike!

We sat by one of my favourite pools chatting whilst scanning the water as darkness fell. There wasn’t much going on despite it being a time when fish often show themselves on the Taw. We headed upstream a bit and I popped a few casts into another pool called Junction. It felt like I’d had a small pull but I wasn’t sure if it was from a trout or not.

Having fished it out we walked back down to my favourite pool and I popped a few casts out. There is a nice spot where a non fisher can watch everything happen and that is where Emma perched. I fished the pool and we saw a really good fish move and despite covering it I didn’t get a pull. Just as I was considering changing flies I heard a yell from Emma. I wasn’t sure what it was about but she’d seen one of the early meteors that the news said would be happening. It was almost perfect timing as the  clouds had lifted giving us a perfect view of the night sky.

I thought this is one of those chances not to miss, so with both of us laying on our backs watching what was just an amazing sight as we saw our first meteor shower. It was just one of those rare times where fish had to take a back seat but being next to the river with a rod strung up and ready I was well placed just in case anything did happen in my favourite pool!

Derrick on a 1/2 day casting course

The fish are still biting but the cooler temps have meant that early fishing has been not as productive. But as the sun climbs then it just switches on. The set up has generally been a small black klink early on and then caddis patterns as the afternoon gets under way. As we move into late afternoon and early evening time I have been switching to bigger stimulator patterms to try and tempt and early sea trout to slash at the fly!

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

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

Superfast and South Creek

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

RFH and fish!

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

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I had a call from Barry who was keen to take his team of Nina and Tony out to try fly fishing for the first time. I was only to happy to help and asked where he was coming from. It turned out they were from Chichester. He had a plane and had checked out that we were only a few minutes away from Eggesford Airfield so they could pop down do some fly fishing and also have a team lunch at the hotel.

They all picked fly casting and fly fishing up quickly and really got into it. It is unusual and great to see 3 people all pick it up so quickly. As they were a team we also had a bit of fun with who could cast the furthest and accuracy competitions. I seem to remember Nina won the distance but think it might have been Barry who was most accurate. It didn’t really matter as it was just for a bit of fun.

Tony, Nina and Barry

The weather on Friday was a little murky and Barry had been keeping an eye out on the low cloud (apparently not good news for flying but good for fishing!) but as we ended the gloom lifted a little and I gave them a lift back to the airfield as it was on the way home.

The plane...how cool?!

As we walked to where the planes were parked ( I hope that is the right phrase) I saw what looked like a vintage plane and I was even more excited when Barry told me it was his plane. Being a child of the 70′s I had grown up building Airfix models and can still remember a lot of the planes I had built and seeing a real one up close was pretty cool. It turned out it was a German training plane built by Focke-Wulf. This thing looked great and sounded even better as it took off taking the guys back to Sussex.

Heading for home!

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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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