Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

Fathers Day was a really nice treat as Charlie cooked a most excellent full english for me for breakfast and then a barbie to finish the day. I also managed to sneak on to the Taw for a couple of hours and although the fishing wasn’t exactly hot it was good to be there.

Mondays are always a busy day for catching up and as I am away to warmer climes in a few days I was making sure that Mark was OK with keeping the cogs of the school oiled whilst I am away. Those of you that have had tuition know he is an excellent instructor but computers are another thing altogether. I have written fail safe notes so fingers crossed!

We have been doing a Monday night sea trout session and he was hoping to join Toby and I but his car is low on fuel and believe it or not there is no fuel in Okehmapton. You can guess how pleased he was! So it is just Toby and I tonight.

Bob was out teaching this afternoon so I manned the office and do not tell him I nabbed one of our SewinCaster lines and will give it a go tonight. They seem to have been a runaway success and popular with sea trouters and now things are warming up, bass anglers too. It is perfect for turning over heavier flies and our partner Illtyd Griffiths has spent a lot of time making sure every little detail is right. He even went as far as checking the figure of eight-ability of it. It seems to be the must have line at the mo according to our retailers which is great news but perhaps not for the sea trout!

I, at last, have a pic from Bob from his salmon weekend where one of the guys had a rather nice salmon…

Also to see smooth Bob in action with his new favourite rod CLICK HERE

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 I popped down to the Taw and had a look today. The water was up and coloured and had some speed to it. I am lucky the river is only a few minutes drive away and although it wouldn’t have mattered too much I really wanted to have a quick hour of fishing. To make it more special I had Charlie, my daughter, with me. She is 16 and fly fishing for her isn’t in the top ten of cool things despite her old man trying to make her think otherwise! I wasn’t going to miss this chance to spend some time on the water with her and she offered to bring the video camera and take a few shots.

I rigged up with a mayhammer and a flash back pheasant tail tied 3ft off of the dry fly. As the water was coloured (we only had 1ft of visibilty) I used a bigger dry than normal in the hopes it might drag a fish up to take a look. It became apparent that you had to work tight in to the bank in any pockets of slack water as it was moving far too fast in the main lanes. 2 quick takes to the dry (which I missed) and then a landed fish had me taking the nymph off. A small trickle of mayflies helped my cause and we did see the odd splashy rise to them. The dry was doing a great job and although probably a tiny bit too big for some of the fish it was what they wanted. We didn’t stay on the river for long as it rained again but it was great to fish at a challenging time and was rewarding to catch fish off of the top when the books might have suggested some heavy gear might be a better bet. I guess thats why I’ll never be a competitive fisherman as it is all about having fun!

Anyway, rather than reading about it have a look at it as it happened by clicking here

I was laying in bed and heard the rain start at about 5.30 this morning. I am writing this at 6.30pm and it has just stopped. I had my truck loaded and had planned to stay on the river after work and do some fly fishing as there are plenty of salmon and sea trout around. Sometimes it doesn’t always play out the way you hope and I had to make the call to Richard at 8am from the office and call off our day on the river. I am starting to feel sorry for Richard as it looks like the weather gods have decided that he isn’t going to catch a trout from the river on a dry fly just yet! We are re-planning and I am sure it is only a matter of time. This meant I was at work already and had plenty to catch up on so it wasn’t so bad but I’d rather have been on the river!

Mark was also teaching on the lake and was with 13 year old James. I had my video camera with me and so I popped down to see how they were getting on and to take a few pics. I have spent plenty of time teaching with Mark but it was a real pleasure to watch him in action and watching the video makes me proud to be part of such a great team. He was fantastic with James and was constantly passing on information and tips to him and I know James is hooked now!

Mark, James and Cethin, his grandfather, were due to have lunch down at the lake but the rain brought them up so Bob, Jax and myself joined them. It was good to all sit down and talk fishing!

Anyway, enough of me talking about it take a look at how well James did and when he caught his first fish. In between using the camcorder I kept it under my jacket which meant it steamed up when I took it out just as James hooked his first fish….sorry James!!  Click here to see James catch a few 

Bob,Jax,Mark,Cethin and James all tuck into lunch at SFFS HQ!

It is always really nice to see someone go off at the end of the day having learnt loads but having had a good time and be it an existing fisherman (or woman) who now has something that will now help get a few extra fish on the bank or a newcomer to fly fishing who has left enthused and ready to embark on a new pastime. We keep in touch with everybody and it is cool to hear how things have gone and if some of the things we have shown people are working…

Below is a message from Colin, who along with David, wanted to learn how to tackle their stretch of the Otter with a bit more confidence. I am so pleased it looks like it is working. Well done Colin!!

Hi Pete, thank you for the most enlightening morning for David and myself. Lots of people often have the skills, but few have a natural ability and  enthusiasm to teach their subject in an easy to understand way. You have  that ability along with an easy-going manner that puts people at ease  enabling them to learn and progress. Both David and I learnt and understood so much that we now both feel cap   able of casting in most circumstances. I still can't Double Haul but I have  to say that I haven't needed it on the Otter yet ! David says that it really was a morning well spent and I agree  wholeheartedly with him. So once again thanks for all you taught us and the manner with which you  did it, you have enhanced our ability, enjoyment and experience whilst  fishing. Kind regards Colin

If you haven’t seen this already it is a day Mark and I spent on the Dart, it is worth a view just for watching me doing an impression of a jaquzzi! click here 

Mark has put a new blog up and as ever is an interesting and amusing read!

Despite heavy rain the Devon County Show was really good fun and a worthwhile visit. It was great to meet up with friends old and new and have a bit of a cast as well as talk fishing of course!

Sunday was great fun as I met up with Luke Westaway after we had to cancel a fly fishing lesson previously due to snow! Being only 10 I was amazed at how quickly he picked up fly casting and how much knowledge he already has of our sport. He did himself proud and caught 3 fish and took one of them home for his tea. His father, Simon, is a very keen fisherman too and I think it will only be a matter of time before Luke is joing him on plenty more of his fishing trips. Really, really well done Luke we all look forward to hearing of your future fishing exploits!

I noticed we have 2 carp in our trout lake and with things warming up that they are moving around near the surface. I have set myself the challenge of staking one with a proper dry fly and will keep you in touch with how it goes…

I’m off today and as the weather has been bright (although still windy) and I’ve used it to tie a few flies for my own use this season. I’m one for small stuff and don’t usually go bigger than a size 16 and enjoy tying and then fishing 20’s. Most of last season I fished with just a black klinkhammer and it worked pretty well for me and although I like the Partridge Klinkhammer Extreme hooks I find them a little large even in size 20. I was in Crediton recently and managed to bum a cup of coffee from Howard and we got talking hooks. He happened to have a new lot in from Varivas and on closer inspection I found their 2200 range. These look as they they are perfect for klinks and I took a pack of #20’s to tie a few up. They certainly look the part and don’t appear brittle despite being so fine. I will put them to the test once the weather settles.

 On that front it doesn’t look like the rivers will be in their best state on Saturday (opening day of the river fly fishing season) and there are more showers forcast. It looks like we’ll give Colliford a go and despite being very open the wind looks like a friendly 12mph compared to what we have right now!

A few flies from earlier below, the larger ones have a larger post as I tend to use them for NZ style fishing and the wee ones are on the new hooks. I describe my flies as “rustic” but they are functional and pretty quick to tie!

Testing, one two, one two…the paint is still drying but we are excited to be broadcasting to the world, having opened the shutters of the Scott Fly Fishing School blog. My biggest fear is that readers will discover my legendary poor punctuation more than anything else but we hope to keep you up to date with what we are up to, fishing reports and a few tips thrown in for free!

We’ll have some input from Bob, Mark and Gary but also a few special guests too who have promised to impart a few words of wisdom. If you have visited us at the School expect to see yourself up here just to prove you did catch something in case no one believed you!

It looks as though 2008 is going to be a busy year out on the water; we are looking forward to bringing newcomers to the world of fly fishing. It is also good to see some old friends dropping by too.

We plan on stocking our new private trout lake at the end of Feb and so I have to apologise to those that have popped down already that there was a reason the fish weren’t biting…only kidding!  Those who have been down already have been fine tuning ready for the season and just brushing down a few cobwebs.

I am dying to try our new stretch of the Tamar. It is a private beat and the owner told me that he hooked a 3lb grayling whilst sea trouting. Now, I’m a guide and would never be prone to exaggeration, so 3lb could be 2lb in the real world but that is still a special fish. I managed to get down there at the back of the season to have a cast for salmon with Bob and it is an awesome place. I know where the big fella lives so if you ask me nicely…

It is pretty miserable right now so I have popped a photo of the Tamar beat to cheer you up and don’t forget to give me a shout if you are interested in some chalkstream grayling fishing or feel free to pop in for a coffee. It seems like Scott Fly School HQ has become a hang out for fishermen so we thought it only right to pop a couple of sofas in so that we can all sit down and talk fishing!

So, that’s the official opening “may God bless this blog and all who sail in her”.

Pete