Marks Blog

I’ve just looked of the window and its another glorious day down here in Devon. It’s warm and still, and were just starting to have the first appearance of cloud for the first time this week. Perfect fishing weather. I reckon the fish will be going nuts! Popping at emergers and feeding to their heats content. So why am I stuck in doors looking at a computer screen instead of wading along a cool river? Simple!! I’ve got no fuel left in the car. I suppose it’s the same throughout the rest of the country. I was supposed to have gone sea-trouting last night and its my day off from guiding today, so I was looking forward to a trip up onto the moors for a spot of wild brown trout fishing with Pete.

Typical- when you’ve managed to save enough money to fill the car up with over priced petrol, the country has run dry. Did I fall asleep in England, and wake up in the outer reaches of Mongolia? It’s like living in Russia. People queuing for the last drops from the forecourt. It’s the same when its snows. If there is an inch of snowfall, the country comes to a stand still. We can’t seem to handle problems very well in this country.

I suppose I should be thankful. It won’t hurt to spend the day at home. Maybe go and buy some proper food instead of eating chocolate biscuits all the time. Apart from that, I’ve got a bit of gear maintenance I could be getting on with. I’ve got to repair my waders, replace a few worn out lines, tie some new flies, and try and sort out the jumble of rods that are stacked against my living room wall. I’d rather be out fishing though! Maybe I’ll leave it and have a walk across the park and go for a cast instead. The shopping can wait as well. Good idea, I’ll grab a pack of biscuits and go throw a few loops for the day. “Well when I’ve finished this blog anyway”.

Things have been manic since my last blog. After returning from the Tweed Fair we have been snowed under with work. The school is running at full capacity, which is good and with the up and coming shows to prepare for we are working seven days a week. The Yak Shack is as busy as ever, and we have just opened a new shop at Silblyback Lake nr Liskeard in Cornwall. Talk about running our selves ragged.

The new shop is full of all sorts of fly-tackle. We have stocked it with Scott rods, SA and Snowbee reels, fly lines, Patagonia clothing and waders, plus a massive selection of the small items of tackle and flies needed for a days fishing.

Soon I’m heading back up North to do a show at Blithfield reservoir in Staffordshire. For those who have never heard of Blithfield, it’s the home of BIG fish! Ever fancied hooking into a monster Pike on the fly? Blithfield is the place. Pike up to 40lb are nothing of a surprise. I’ve known people catch as many as three thirties in a day. Hopefully I will wet a line at the end of the day. Then were off to the CLA. Another awesome show. It will be good to meet up with the AAPGAI lads again.

We’ve decided to camp this year. I hope Pete and Bob will be putting on a BBQ at night when the show has ended. This is when things begin to start for us.

Joining us on site will be Jim Fearn, Lee Cummings, T-Bone, Karl, Illtyd, Tim Smith and Dave Pilks. All of which are awesome casters. So no doubt it will be another loop-crazy event. Casting away until the small hours of the morning. I just hope the weather will be more kind to us this year and the show goes ahead. For anyone that is interested, Illtyd will be hosting a Sea-trout course here in Devon, on 16^th and 17^th August. Probably one the most successful sea-trout anglers of his time, it will be a weekend not to miss. Places are filling up fast, so if you fancy becoming the next Hugh Falkus, drop us a line for details.

After the CLA, we are heading over to Amsterdam to take part in the World tackle fair. It hosts the largest indoor casting pool in Europe. No doubt Pete and Bob will be playing around when the bosses aren’t looking! I think they lied to me and told me my role back at base is very important…… They just know that I’d keep going missing all weekend and they’d get sick of shuffling me back to the stand like a naughty schoolboy.

For those of you wishing to try something different, the W&S team and The Scott Fly Fishing School have just expanded the range and have opened up the new “Yak-Shack”. We have just spent the last few days tirelessly putting the finishing touches to the shop situated at Roadford Lake, just off the A30 in Devon. Roadford Lake is a large water of 700 acres, which caters for both Watersports and Fly fishing.

The theme of the Yak-Shack is a place where we can combine the two elements together and make it possible to bring fly-fishing from kayaks into the mainstream. Not only that, if you’re just into kayaking, sailing, windsurfing, or just enjoy playing around on the water we have something for everyone.

It’s quite a unique place, where 100 yards from our door you can go and tryout something new. Whether you fancy a days guided fly-fishing either by kayak, boat, or walking the banks; or need to buy a new wetsuit, buoyancy aid, or spray-top we have it all. For the angler we have a good range of flies particular to Roadford and carry a range of fly-lines, tippet, chest-packs, polarised sunglasses and many other fishing accessories. If we fail to have it in stock at “The Shack”, our main shop is only 5 minutes away from Roadford.

For the watersports enthusiast we have a massive range of wet/dry suits, buoyancy aids, spray-tops, boots, gloves, helmets, paddles and jackets. Our range of kayaks isn’t bad either. Everything from small white-water boats, sit on tops, sit-ins, traditional canoes and ocean kayaks. If you’re the adventurous type we have just taken stock of a range of top-end tents, sleeping bags, stoves, GPS’s and other expedition equipment.

So if you’re in the neighbourhood and you fancy seeing what were all about, just call in. We can help with advice regarding fishing, kayaking, windsurfing and sailing. If you need any help learning, we would love to help. All of our fly-fishing instructors/guides are AAPGAI instructors from “The Scott Fly Fishing School” and our kayaking instructors are BCU level 4 qualified. (For lessons please book in advance).

At last the 15^th of March- open day for brownies. Our original intention was to hit the rivers and have a do for wild fish. But due to the bad weather that all of the country had been experiencing, our rivers were shot so we decided to try for some over-wintered fish on one of our local lakes in the SW. Pete had decided that it would be good to tackle Colliford Lake. A nice water of around 900 acres, bang on the moors. We thought if that the weather started to pick up a bit, a least we would still get wet! Im sure Ive have been wet since last March, when I moved down here from up north. Move down south everybody kept telling me. The weathers always sunny and warm. Yeah right!

Always eager as ever, Pete turned up early. I was still cleaning my teeth as he knocked on the door. I should of known to be ready half an hour before the arranged time. When it’s brown trout fishing, Im sure Pete is awake half the night with excitement. Tossing and turning and most probably wearing his waders in bed. I hobbled outside with rod in one hand and trying to put my boots on with the other. We climbed into the truck and set off down the A30, arriving at Colliford by 10am. We sat in the truck eating sweets and having a natter, waiting for the weather to ease. By the time it had settled to a steady gale and driving rain, we quickly got set up and made our way down the waterside.

There wasn’t going to be anything fancy involved in the fishing. It would have been nice to try for them with light rods and dry flies, but we opted for a team of tadpoles and an intermediate line. We chose to start with the wind blowing into our bank, expecting the fish to move in, on the wind. We began to cast and fish along the huge expanse of water in front of us. Within minutes- nothing! Apart from the driving rain blowing into my hood and running down my neck. Pete asked why I thought nobody else was fishing on open day? Err I don’t know I thought. Maybe it had something to do with the weather!

By the time my boots were squelching and my back was sodden, we decided to move around to the far side point where it would be more sheltered. We found a nice sheltered bay where we expected to find a few fish. It was good to be fishing in comfortable conditions whilst watching the Whitehorse’s roll across the lake. It wasn’t long before Pete was into the first fish of the day. A real stunner. It looked more like a sea trout. Pete was lucky to hook into a few more fish, but unfortunately they didn’t stick. I went through the same problem. I starting having takes but kept pulling out of the fish. Oh well, at least we knew they were there.

We soon got to grips with them and started to bank a few. We both had some nice fish up to about 2lbs. It turned into one of those times, whenever you cast your fly into the water you either expected a take or better still a fish. Well for Pete anyway! He was doing the business. Even the fish had moved into the sheltered area and we enjoyed picking them off, as the milled around looking for food. By lunch we had landed about 15 between us from this small area. So deciding to get out of the weather and grab a sandwich we waddled our way back to the truck. I was gutted. No brew and we had eaten all the sweets. Pete had been kind enough to supply lunch again.

After a quick bite to eat, we decided to grab the bull by the horns and stand and fish in the teeth of the storm. Squinting through our rain covered glasses we could pick out a few wind-lanes and the odd fish moving down them. It needed a good cast of around 80 feet to reach some of them. But I suppose this is why we tend to cast most days, to make sure we are ready for these eventualities. Or are we are just casting nerds? Again we were into a few more fish. I think Pete had four takes in four casts. I had a couple more fish in the process.

By mid afternoon things started to slow down a bit, so we decided to call it a day. We had managed a respectable amount of fish and had to make the drive back over the moors. How would I sum up the opening day of the season? Cold, wet, windy, foggy, but most of all AWSOME!

I have just returned home covered in mud and blood after an enjoyable day with good friend and local angler Toby Merigan. We’ve just spent the day on the Somerset levels in search of a few pike. It was originally planned that Pete was going to join us, but due to the tight deadline of the printing of our new W&S catalogue, he was busy working away in an office somewhere for twenty-four hours straight with Bob. Ah, the joys of being a boss!

I met up with Toby after the short drive up the M5. He was going to take me on one of the drains that criss-cross the levels. In years gone by, local anglers have caught some good-sized pike from the area. But talking to them today, they say that the numbers of big pike getting caught are fewer and fewer. Never the less, they do hold a lot of pike. So after a short period of settled weather, I was well up for a days fishing.

Typically when we turned up the weather had deteriorated and it was dull, drizzling and windy. But that tends to be pike fishing. I looked across the barren landscape through the grim weather and thought of those lazy summer evenings fishing for rising brownies. I pulled up my hood, grabbed my gear and then thought, here we go! This is the type of fishing that fires me up. It was also an excuse to try out my new toy. I had just got my hands on new a Scott X2S rod and had been dying to try it out.

When we got down to the drain, the level was up and quite coloured. Toby decided to opt for big n bright. I’m sure it would have worked, but due to the wind it was quite a chore to cast, so he down sized to a 6/0. Pink was his choice and a colour that had been doing well in recent visits. I opted for black! Why don’t I listen? I was still busy casting away with the new rod, whilst Toby was bent into his third fish. All to the same fly. Not big fish, but all very nice on a grim February day.

About an hour later, after watching Toby have his fill of fish I changed over to a fluro-pink bunny, and with a slow figure of eight I was soon battling with a Somerset drain monster. Pink was certainly doing the job. I got the fish to the top and slipped it into the landing net. The total weight was about 4lb. Including the net! We spent the morning fishing and walking along the drain, casting into likely looking holding areas. One thing that was apparent was how the pike wanted the flies to be positioned. Casting 45° across the drain certainly seemed to be more productive than when cast straight across the drain. I quickly had a few takes and Toby had a couple more fish.

As we walked along the muddy banks towards the reeds, we soon noticed silver fishing spraying out of the water. For any pike angler this usually gets the heart racing. As we neared I asked Toby for one of the flies that he had been using. He did- but it cost me half a bag of Revels. I tied it onto the trace and I cast it alongside the disturbed bait-fish. Within the second twitch of the fly, I was in. I looked around and spotted that Toby was also into another fish. He was doing well.

By lunch we had managed a total of 10 fish. I’d managed to contribute the least and smallest fish so far. Oh well, the day was still young. We walked back along the drain keeping our eyes open for any movement and we had a few more casts until we reached the van. Did Toby have another fish? I can’t remember now. I know I didn’t. I was more concerned that I had eaten all my food whilst fishing. So Toby was good enough to share his sandwiches with me.

After lunch I was fired up. We decided to cross over to the other side of the drain. The wind had been blowing off the wrong shoulder all morning, so it was nice to get into a bit of easier casting. And it wasn’t long before we were both into a few fish again. This time I managed a few in quick succession. Id fished this stretch a couple of years ago, whilst I was thinking about moving down to the West Country. We did well then. If I remember right we had quite a few pike throughout the day. So I was looking forward to the walk along it.

Toby said he hadn’t done very well along it before, so it was nice to see him striking into a fish. Whilst unhooking the fish we noticed that there were a few silverfish still its mouth. Maybe it’s me. But I find it quite fascinating to see what the pike have been feeding on. I remember unhooking a large pike once and finding a pair of duckling’s feet sticking out of its throat. I changed over to a mirror flash bait pattern that Id tied and straight away I was into another small jack.

By then end of the day we had managed to catch 24 pike between us. Toby had a good day. He managed to catch 15 of them. I was glad to have managed to get a few fish on the new rod and it was another water that I had started to learn. It can be hard moving to a new area and learning all the new waters after fishing your home waters for most of your life. But it’s certainly enjoyable. Thanks to Toby for the good day. And thanks for the pink materials you donated to me. Ill get cracking at tying some of those flies and be prepared for next time.