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.

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!

So open day comes and we have rain, mist and a rather sharp wind. What do you do when it is like this? It’s easy to knock it all on the head but its opening day and we have to mark it in some way. Mark and I decide on Colliford. If you haven’t fished Colliford it is well worth a look. Just off of the A30 it is a 911 acre brown trout fishery on Bodmin Moor. There are no boats so you need to pack light and be prepared to travel. No need for heavy gear, a 9ft 6wt will be fine and for most of the season a floating line is perfect.

We turn up and can’t make out the lake from the car park which isn’t a good sign. We sit in the truck, talk and finish off the road trip munchies we had bought and plan our strategy. So did it work? Well, have a read of Marks blog that will tell all. No mater what though, its always worth a try even when most sane people are probably inside thinking about fishing rather than doing it!

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