Trout 3 Ways

I was guiding Bob Harding today who has been a customer of the shop for some while now. For Christmas he received a gift voucher to spend a day with me learning how to river fish. A lifelong angler Bob has been into the still waters for a long while and his practiced casting technique confirmed this. But we can all learn something new, so while waiting for the river to warm up and a hatch to get going we spent a while chucking a line back and forth on the lake with a Greys Streamflex 8'0" #4. A few overheads, rolls and sides later and it was away to Bend Pool, a favoured spot of mine on the truly awesome river Exe. To have such a fantastic river on our doorstep is a privilege and although I have guided many of its beats hundreds of times over the years I never tire of it.


Stringing up a tapered leader the East wind we have been experiencing over the last few weeks was still with us but a little less ill tempered. Our first method was dry fly, consisting of a parachute Olive knotted to just 2lb leader. Carefully Bob made his way upstream, getting to grips with the unusual process of retrieving line in time with the flowing river, rather than having to animate the flies stillwater style. As is often the case he missed the first take which was typically lightening fast! But soon afterwards we landed a palm sized Brown followed by this 10 inch "specimen", that snaffled one of my home tied Klinkhammers without hesitation. We fish this fly so often; so often with results.

River days are a great deal of fun and to be honest in many circumstances a dry fly fished upstream will catch a lot of fish, but while out for the day I like to show people as many techniques as possible, so having fished the morning out we headed back to the river with a 10'0" #5 Hardy Marksman outfit to fish short lined nymphs and dries in fast water. This is becoming a favoured technique of mine and when its working (which is most of the time!) the results are devastating. We took 3 fish in the morning, within 5 minutes of starting the afternoon session Bob caught 1 fine Brown in the 10 inch bracket that took the dry, followed by 3 escapee Rainbows (all taken back to the lake!!!) on a Black Birds Nest Nymph. Before we left the pool Bob also added a Grayling plus some more Trout to his score.

Finally we took off upstream to complete the day with a New Zealand Dropper, but alas the sport was over as a cold wind kicked up and the fish went of the feed. Heading back to the shop Bob was champing at the bit to buy some gear and get out on the rivers, after all this was his first ever day on flowing water and at 68 years old he has some catching up to do! Making use of our "try before you buy facility" we played with a variety of rods before finally settling on the Hardy Demon, a product that is impressing me daily and one of our top selling rods of all time.

The short lining game has really bitten me; it is such an amazing way to present flies with a drag free drift. So much so, Henry Gilbey and I took off for Badgworthy yesterday, a river that I reported on recently. We got a long way up, but still not as far as I want to go and so very soon I will be heading up to find the source and some of the leviathans that I believe inhabit these head waters. It is always cool working with the stunning fish that these moorland stream provide a home to. Check out Henrys pictures here, isn't that one of the most beautiful Browns you have ever seen? Palm sized it may be, but size has nothing to do with a day on these heavenly moorland streams. Go for the solitude, adventure and challenge. Where else can you get such a buzz for a fiver?


Just to confirm how deadly short-lining is I had another note from Tim Watson this morning titled "Shortlining conquers Dartmoor".

"Just a quick note to thankyou for the advice about fishing on the upper West Dart.

You may not remember, but you suggested we try fishing on the West Dart above Two Bridges. Despite a cold East wind, we both caught well using short lining up through the pot holes. The river is small this high up, but it still holds a decent head of fish in the 8-10" size."

Fly Fishing for Pike

I was on my day off yesterday and had arranged with my mate Wayne Thomas to hit Chew and the Pike, after seeing specimens like this and this recently, I had to get in on the action. Sadly Henry Gilbey was not with us due to "politics". I hate the word and it should have no place in fishing. In my book if you want to catch Trout on indicators, use them! If you don't ... don't! Blobs, Boobies, Weight Forward Lines even "who came up with nymph fishing for the very first time?", it's all been debated. And then we have those who at the mere thought of casting a fly at anything but a Salmon break into a long ramble about "tradition and all that". Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course but not when it's to the detriment of progress. So ... quite why we were "silenced" when we attempted to capture a days Fly Fishing for Pike on camera I will never know, but we were and so that left it up to Wayne and I to do battle. Fortunately we took digital cameras!




I am pleased to report that battle we did using the ever consistent Big Black Pike Fly which I hope to have online soon. This marabou and crystal hair concoction catches toothy critters on every venue I have fished and Chew is no exception. However, a few hours in all the action my Pike Fly had seen was a couple of very small jacks. In fact Wayne's fish seen here could have swallowed them without even noticing. So I had some catching up to do after photographing this beautiful specimen.

I wonder if the fish I "lost" was bigger. Using a product that has never failed me, American Fishing wire in 20lb test, I was dumbfounded when a hit resulted in the trace arriving back, bitten in half and minus my fly! Scaling up to 30lb Tyger wire I then spent a less than confident hour pulling back and watching this silver trace product glinting at me from beneath the clear water. Off that came and on went a bit of braid which I treated with leader sink to reduce glare. It caught a couple of jacks, but still I was not so sure. Wayne was still catching using a much darker trace. Pike are far more clued up than many would give them credit for.




In these circumstances I like to start from scratch so I went back to the American Fishing wire but swapped my Black Fly for a Big White Bunny Bug. A fly that Henry used in his series Fishing on the Edge to take a near 20lb specimen. Constructed from Bunny fur, the pattern absorbs some water and takes a bit of casting; especially on a Tarpon Intermediate with a warm water coating! I had bust my 10 weight intermediate on a previous outing and a new one had arrived at the shop while I was fishing, never mind, next time! Anyway soon I was into the rhythm and feeling confident, another jack had fallen foul of the rig in double quick time. A few casts later it all went solid and this time it was my turn to boat one of the crocodiles that this venue has become famous for. Not my biggest Pike on Fly by far but very pleasing non the less. During the day Wayne and I chatted about the prolific nature of this fishery. There were several other boats out on the lake, all of whom took doubles using fly gear; quite amazing fishing.

The rest of the day we chased down Pike all over but no more big ones turned up although several more jacks to 8lb were not to be sniffed at! Finally the Trout gear was put together for the last hour and Wayne got his first ever Chew Rainbows on a Buzzer while I persevered in the hope of a fish to the dry fly which I took finally on the last cast of the day. It was 11.15pm by the time I walked in, tired, but happy. This has been one of the most amazing years so far for getting back out on the rivers and lakes I love so much on my own time in the company of fellow fishing nuts!

Talking of which I will be joined by Bass crazy Henry Gilbey tomorrow who will be heading with me to a moorland river for some all out Trout action. Lets hope that this time the paparazzi are welcome ....

Fish n Chips

I got together with my mate Mike a few nights back for a session on the Sea Trout. This is as close as we came ... a fish and chip supper! The moon was out (never good) right until we packed up in the wee small hours when the clouds finally rolled in. No sign of any fish that night, not even a pull although Mike did have a mini heart attack when he trod on a fish while we waded a pool after fishing it!



Who knows perhaps John Wilkinson who poses here with a nice Exe Valley Fishery Trout taken on a Buzzer during his fly fishing course will be out there after Sea Trout himself in the next few years. As I always say to my guests, once they have grasped the casting there are many and varied opportunities to explore. Fly Fishing for Trout on stillwaters is awesome and I love it but variety is what really keeps me going. As my next post confirms ...