Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

I was due to do some guiding on a chalkstream with Paul. Paul is a regular client of ours and is one of the keenest fly fishermen I know! I thought it would be really cool for him to experience a chalkstream mayfly hatch. Although we get them here in Devon they aren’t of the sort of magnitude that they get a bit further up country. Paul is also a keen fly tyer too and was wanting to know what sort of patterns he should tie up. I talked him through a few and said tie them on size 10 and 8’s as they have them big up there!

So I packed the truck the night before having seen the weather forecast and it looked like the bad rain (the day was set for Tuesday) was going the skirt round the edge of where we were fishing. Next morning I set off and all was dry when I left. On the A303 I got a call from Toby who had got up really early to fly fish for some bass in Dorset. He’d had some but also had some persistent rain. Two minutes after putting the phone down I hit the rain. It wasn’t looking good. As ever I was a little early so grabbed a coffee and waited for Paul where we had arranged to meet. I walked down and had a look at the river, it had come up a bit and was carrying a little colour but was fishable. Paul wasn’t far behind and we set off starting on one of the carriers where he had an out of season grayling and we quickly moved on. I went for shallower stretches so that we were in with a chance. Paul picked up the odd fish but the rain did relent. We decided on a pub lunch to dry off and plan our next move.

The mayfly on this particular beat are still towards the top so we headed there and walked down to the bottom and got in. The rain had just about stopped but it was still overcast and temps upped a notch. Perfect! Perfect is one of the words I could use but what unfolded was truly magical. It was as if the planets had aligned and everything fell into place. We witnessed an epic hatch of mays that had fish slamming into the danicas as they tried to leave the water. Paul had a fantastic time and landed plenty of fish including a nice 15incher! (no stocked fish here, only wild!) and I was jumping up and down next to him with excitement. It ended up one of those perfect days and when we left the water it was after 8 o’clock!

I didn’t have the video for the hatch as it was deeper water and there was still plenty of rain about but I did take it later and there are a few fish that you can see caught by clicking here. As you’ll see the light wasn’t so good as it got later but hopefully will give you an idea!

Sometimes, I think part of the attraction of fly fishing is the equipment that you can buy; especially the gadgets. I list fly boxes in here and although not strictly a gadget I can spend many happy hours sorting through a fly box.

I sort my fly boxes between stillwater and river and within the stillwater box I keep them divided between barbed and debarbed and then subsections such as buzzers, lures etc. You can happily spend an hour or two sorting and arranging and priming them ready for service.

It is funny though as there must be some sort of comfort factor in knowing all the little slots are filled just in case you are caught short when fishing but when sorting out I do thin out a few patterns that I have either tied and don’t like the look of or just have never used them. This will leave me room to tie up a few extra flies and allow me to fill any gaps in the slots!

The flies I “relegate” live on a pile on my fly tying table perhaps waiting for the chance to be selected again. This does happen from time to time but they only last a season to be replaced again by the next cast offs.

Once the job is done it is satisfying to see the arranged flies in groups all lined up and ready for action. If I am teaching the next time out it doesn’t usually take long before the usual state of chaos is restored. Come to think of it most of the flies I use are stuck on my fly patch for most of the season so do I really need to sort the boxes?!

 No fly fishing lessons tomorrow for Mark and I so we are off and we are going fishing. I was going to go and fish with Ray but he has to shoot off a little early and part of the fun is staying as late as possible and enjoy the last few moments of the day before the long drive home so it is going to be down here somewhere. We’ll decide where to go tomorrow morning and let the day unfold as it happens.

Sounds like the mayflies are a little later than normal this year on the chalkstreams but Toby called last night and said there were a few about on a river down here before he went sea trouting. I haven’t heard from him today so not sure how he got on but he promised me a call if he connected with something.

Well that has been a busy week but not busy enough that Mark and I managed to sneak off for a quick afternoons fishing on Tuesday. There is a great atmosphere down here at the moment helped even more by the fly fishing waifs and strays (meant endearingly guys!) who have popped in for a cuppa and a hob nob this week. Although it has been a manically busy we love that it is becoming a hang out for fishermen where we can have a breather and swap fishing stories with friends.  Paul popped in yesterday and I love our chats. He is so enthusiastic about fishing all the oppurtunities it can bring. He is now a river convert and is also relishing the challenges of the bigger waters and putting them into practice with great effect. It is great seeing anglers make a new step on the angling ladder and I suspect Paul has a few more that he wants reach!

Double handers are the new black if this week is anything to go by. I have been taking rather a lot of bookings for double handed tuition and so Bob has a busy spell coming up! This has left me holding the fort and Mark taking a chunk of the single handed stuff and thankfully despite the wind our lake is in a sheltered position so that casting is always possible.

We were really excited to see that Devon Life published an article about a day they spent with us. The really cool thing was that they got what we were all about and really enjoyed our approach to life and fishing. It is the current April edition and hopefully you will find it interesting reading. I have scanned a copy and will try to post up but due to my lack of computer skills it might take some time but if you can’t wait mail me and I’ll send a copy!

Above is a pic of Mark from earlier in the week with George…note Marks fancy footwork!!

I don’t know if you are the same but when the weather has been iffy you sort of sit there and think shall I or shan’t I go, decide not to and then pace around for a bit and think sod it I’ll give it a go. There is no worse a feeling than getting to the river and seeing it worse than you thought but  also no better feeling when you peer over the bridge and it looks much better than you expected. It is often days like that when I fish out of my skin and have one of those real special days.

I am lucky that I have a brook a few minutes away from me that is us that is a really good indicator of the state of the main river and my beloved river Taw is just 5 minutes drive away. I find this the fastest clearing of the nearby rivers so I always head here if the weather has been unsettled. If I am guiding and the weather has been poor I often will drive down for a look the day before just to give me an idea of how things will look.I know everyone doesn’t have a nearby river so if you are heading down here for some fishing and you’re a little unsure of how the rivers are then take a look at this link as it will give you a little clue. It is a webcam on the Exe that gives you clarity and height shots.Enjoy!

I was lucky enough to have Friday off and go fishing with Ray and my good friend Paul from Cumbria. Paul had got up at 4am to drive down and meet us and bounced out of the car some 5 1/2 hours later where we had arranged to meet ready to hit the ground running. Paul is one of the most talented fishermen I have had the pleasure to meet and probably one of the most modest guys I know.

The river was slightly lower from where Stuart had left it the week before and I hoped he’d left a few fish for us too! I hoped that there might be the chance of a little hatch of Large Dark Olives (LDO) and with it a possibilty of throwing a dry at some rising grayling. I took Paul down to the river but although clearer and lower there was a pretty lively flow to things and any hopes of a New Zealand rig were put back and it was down to the heavy pink stuff. I stayed with Paul for a bit to see him in action and to be there when he caught his first fish. It was pretty cool when he did and to see how excited he was. That is the great thing about fishing, there is always something new to experience!

It looked like where the water had been so high that the shoals of grayling had spread a little and instead of picking 4 or 5 fish out of a hole that it was the odd one or two. Thing started to hot up around 4 o’clock time and even a few fish rose but not enough to cut off the ever faithful pink bug!

 I am taking someone up there next week and reckon if things stay as they are we could be in for a really good day.

I am hoping Mark will write about the magazine article he did with our latest member of the team, Jaqui as it sounds like they had a ball.

I had a call from our fishing buddy Toby who says the pike are biting at the moment despite high water and a call from our friend Lewis who is back from NZ and sounds like he has some fishing stories! He is popping in this week and I am going to see if he would like to write something for us as it sounded an awesome trip. 

The courses have proved popular already, especially the salmon and sea trout. Bob has secured another river beat for us that is rough and ready but stunning. We fished it last year and will prove testing for even the most experienced fishermen. I guess we are lucky to have so much fishing on our doorstep!

It is a busy week this week and I hope the weather holds!

Pete