Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

I can’t believe where this week has gone, it seems to have gone in a flash much like this year!

Sunday I was fishing with my good friend and fellow instructor at SFFS Gary Champion. He was up doing some stuff on a very exclusive beat of the Test and we had arranged a days fishing on the chalkstream I fish the day before. We hit the river like excited school boys and were soon into some fish. It was a really nice way to fish as we pretty much shared a rod and took it in turns to have a go at the trout and also a few grayling. There were still quite a few mayfly about but not enough to interest the fish. It amazes me that they get so locked on to a food item but then lose interest as the hatches lessen despite the food source still being available in plentiful numbers. I have been there in the past and seen the odd mayfly around in November!

We really covered some water and did a pretty good job. We managed lunch at 2.30 and then fished until 7.30 where Champo got out his stove, put it on the tailgate of my truck and cooked some venison steak rolls. This set us up really well for the evening and what an evening it was! About 8 we saw the start of what turned out to be the mother of all Blue Winged Olive hatches. Champo said he had never seen anything like it and compared it to a swarm of midges. It didn’t take long for the fish to zero in on the flies and the river came alive. I wish I had a photo but the fishing was just too good! The interesting thing was that Champo is an amazing fly tyer and had what looked like a perfect copy of a BWO. We saw a few refusals to it but nothing hit. As we were taking it in turns Champo offered me a chance to have a throw. I had a fly on that I have used a fair bit this year. It is basically a really roughed up klinkhammer and the name we gave it I can’t print but the name fits the way it looks! I cast my fly and it was hit straight off. I quickly had another and gave Champo one. We didn’t look back and lasted until 10.30 where we pretty much had to feel our way back to my truck. It was awesome!

Next day I was out with Graham and again the fishing was good but not quite as spectacular. He managed some really nice fish and although we had an alfresco Chinese on the riverbank the evening didn’t really come to anything. I think the evening before the sun had just broken through and kept the evening just that little bit warmer.

Wednesday I was doing some casting with Mary from Bristol. She pops over to Ireland for some fishing and is really into her Speycasting. She is the queen of the snap T! In the evening I met up with Alison and we went onto the Taw. I have to be honest and say the fishing sucked but the company more than made up for it. We had a real laugh and she is a real star. When we got there, there were a few sedge on the water but it never really got going. The breeze cooled things off just a bit too much. It did stop us finishing at 10 though…I don’t ever want to hear anyone say women aren’t as hard core as men when it comes to fly fishing!

Today I have been doing some casting with Paul. He is making his first bone fishing trip this year and wanted to throw some 8 and 9 wt rods. He had bought a 9wt from Howard and we strung it up. The thing just flew and we were trying various combinations of rods and lines. It was the best I have ever seen Paul cast and the bones better watch out! He was hitting some nice distance but in a controlled and smooth fashion. I really liked the way he was using drift to cushion the tip on his back cast and to lengthen his stroke. This was with him nursing a nasty cold and a bad back I hate to think how well he’ll do when he is feeling 100%.

On Friday Bob and I are guiding for salmon. Given the conditions and a bit of luck you never know! I love it when I get to work with Bob. I learn so much from him. He has been guiding and teaching here for 18 years and knows just about every spot and habit of the river and the fish in there. Its worth it just to watch him casting! 

I am out on Saturday with Greg to fishing who sounds like he is keen to learn as much as possible about stillwater fly fishing so I am really looking forward to it. I am going to head for somewhere he will learn lots and enjoy the scenery. I’ll get some pics and put them up on Monday.

We have had some nice comments from happy customers…

Bob, you gave me a top lesson a few weeks ago. The phrase “old dog, new tricks” was never far from my mind. However, having just returned from the Spey I’m delighted to tell you that I managed to get the line to sing out rather nicely. The score was 2 sea trout and 1 salmon (8 1/2 lbs) so I must have been doing something right- testament to your excellent tuition.

M Cooper

Pete, I’d just like to say what a magnificent day I had in the company of Mark. He obviously has the patience of a saint. I certainly gained so much in confidence that I am out every other night practicing the various casts on the lawn.

A fabulous day, good weather, good company and good fishing.

D Coeshall

The snap T queen in action!

As I think I mentioned the other day we have a busy week with fly fishing tuition and Mark and I were just putting some finishing touches to our lake yesterday. We cut a little of the banks and took some weed out. Its funny though as we were chatting away like a pair of old women about fishing. I happened to mention that I had my rod in the back of the truck and I hadn’t tried the new line I had for it. That was like red rag to a bull to Mark. We had worked hard for a couple of hours and he was itching for a cast. We quickly finished up and got the rod out of my truck. Just as we were setting up Bob pulled up. It must have been one of the priceless moments as it must have looked as if we had been there “playing” for ages instead of toiling!

Bob hopped out of his truck and walked over “is that the new line?” he asks “yup” “lets have a cast then” and off we went. It was supposed to be a quick throw before we went home but we ended up casting and catching a few fish too. I was amazed to see how well some of the browns are doing. There is a real healthy larder for them and it looks like they are taking advantage of it.

 Its still a bit over cast and we had some heavy showers last night but the weather isn’t as omminous as it has looked of late so fingers crossed. The Tamar is still nasty height wise but is starting to lose some of its colour. We could be game on next week for some migratory fishing. I spoke to Karl last night and he is itching to come down and catch a few.

I have tomorrow off and I am heading up to fish some chalk with Champo. The river we are fishing does tend to rise and get some colour but appears to be in good shape so we have decided to start with a dry fly only and see how it goes. I’m told there are some odd mays around so I have tied some up to see if I can drag a few up to have a look. I’m really looking forward to it and will post some photos if we are lucky. We plan to fish hard and late and we’ll have the ever popular tailgate chinese afterwards.

The rain continues and the rivers are still high. I’m writing this having just looked at the webcam of the Exe and it is lower than earlier today but still unfishable and not very safe. I think it would have been a little foolish to have taken Guy out today and it looks like there will be more early tomorrow. As ever we look for the upside and it gave Mark and I a chance to do some maintainance on our lake with some strimming and light weed cutting passing a pleasant few hours. We’ll do a little bit more as we have a busy week on there next week.

 Enzo is my best pal. He is my dog and has been a constant companion for the last 15 years. There was a time when he would come on nearly all of my fishing trips but being 15 the old batteries do tend to run out a little bit quicker than they used to. As the old saying goes “the mind is willing but the body isn’t able” He has been on the Teign with me recently and on the occassions I am in the office he comes along and helps me a little bit when I am teaching. He seems to know when I am about to go fishing and as soon as he sees me with a rod he’ll jumps up as if to say “where we going?” He’ll keep me company if I am casting in the garden and waits by the door for me to come home when I have been on the river as if he wants to know the fishing report! He is a good fishing dog as he never jumped in the water and didn’t try and land my fish for me just sat there chilling out and enjoying it all. Funnily enough he fits in with the relaxed lifestyle at the Scott Fly Fishing School where the vibe as ever is chilled!

People often ask if he is named after the famous Italian but it is infact after a Spanish guy I did some surfing with a long time ago. He always had his dog with him and said he was his best friend and funnily enough his name was Enzo. I kind of liked that and I am pleased it has turned out the same for me!

I’ve popped a link on here of some fishing I did on the Taw at the very end of May when the rivers were up (not as bad as now!) There were some Mays around and I had to use a big fly to bring them up and it proved to be a bit of a mouthful for some of the fish but it did OK. And before you say it I know I’m not Micheal Parkinson when it comes to the camera but who cares its about the fishing!!

 CLICK HERE

I have just cancelled the 2 days guided fly fishing with Guy T which is a shame as we had some pretty cool stuff planned. He is down for a week with his family and it sounds like they will be leaving a little earlier than planned!

I am hoping to do some fishing a little further up country on Sunday so I will be watching the weather closely.

In the meantime though I have uploaded a new video of my buddy Ray catching a really nice grayling from a few weeks back. The water was carrying some colour but we came across a nice grayling rising and being the gentleman I am I offered it to Ray. The truth is that I owe him some big fish as he let me cast to and catch a 3lb rainbow on the Colorado a few years back and so although I got the short term glory he has plenty of big fish credits for the future. As well as being a great fisherman he is one of the smartest people I know, what is it they say about it being a long term game?!

So the fish was there for the taking and Ray tied on a size 22 unweighted pheasant tail and greased it up so that it sat just subsurface. Ray is a big fan of fishing just below and I remembered when he had first picked up some emerger patterns from a fly shop in Basalt we visited one time in the states. We happened to be on the Frying Pan fishing pretty much side by side and the fishing was electric to say the least. Rays emerger was doing the business and I would hear “emerger” shouted to me as he hooked into another and I was fishing a parachute tups (you can take the boy out of Devon) and would shout “dry” back as I hooked into one. To be honest I think you could have tied on a fag butt and still caught it was that good but to anyone walking along the bank they would have been amused to see us.

So hopefully this will remind you we do get some good conditions and I look forward to seeing them. I must apologise for the “good fish” comments as those of you I have guided will know I get just as excited as the person holding the rod!

CLICK HERE for Rays grayling

I’m back from a couple of weeks in Tanzania. Now, I love my fishing holidays (I have a few booked for later in the year to offset the lack of fishing on this one!) but this was truely amazing.

Being just 6 feet away from a pride of lions is something I will never forget or seeing a pack of hyenas leaving for an evenings hunt was a magical sight. The tents we stayed in were not fenced off so it was not unusual to be awoken by a munching sound just outside . We would creep out of bed and see a huge eye of an elephant, hipo or giraffe just a few feet away from where we stood. The highlight for me was the walking drive where we saw plenty of animals but also the tracks  of animals and signs of a hunt. This was the only time our guide carried a gun and I assumed it was incase of an angry lion, leopard or hipo but it was in fact for water buffalo. Apparently they are the most unpredictable of anything you are likely to encounter. I have some photos and will pop them up shortly but some of the things we saw I will never forget.

So what does this have to do with fly fishing in Devon? I guess not a lot but I have to say how impressed I was with the guides and how they worked as a team. Although there were not many lodges near us when someone had spotted something they would pass on the information and I thought this was pretty neat. They also had a few tricks up their sleeves that made the day even more special and I have to admit I nicked a couple!

There was some beach holiday too and luckily I packed an 8wt and some clousers and spent some fun time catching jacks and small cuda. It was fun figuring out the fish and where they were and I was a little surprised to see that they didn’t want a frantic retrieve but a nice steady pull. Like everyone in Tanzania they seem to be pretty relaxed!

When I was writing yesterdays blog we had pretty good cloud cover and it wasn’t too cool. As the sun went down and we got ready to fish the clouds had lifted revealing the full moon and a nice little bit of mist to go with it. It didn’t bother us too much and we carried on despite the odds being against us.I only get to fish this stretch of the Taw on a Monday so we thought to hell with it and cracked on. It was a really fun evening and despite not catching any sea trout. Toby had a few nice browns but the most important thing was that we had a good time and had quite a few laughs as well. As ever it isn’t always about the fish but just being out there with buddies enjoying the experience.

We had some nice comments come in from happy clients yesterday which is always a nice start to the week.

Bob was a great guide. He’s an easy going guy and he taught me the rudiments of double handed casting very effectively.

Stuart

Pete-great day on the river you’re a top river guide.

Cheers

David

CLICK HERE to see Bob in action

CLICK HERE to see Pete in action

Bob was out yesterday with Mike who was brushing up his spey casting before going on a fishing trip!

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

I’m not trying to get all mushy or sentimental here but there are moments when you look back that are milestones or landmarks that somehow shape your life and help point you in the direction that your heart is telling you to go.

In this case it is books. Usually I am out on the water in some way but I do like to sit down and read a book. Hardly surprisingly they are usually fishing related. I do own a fair few fishing books but most are “about” fly fishing rather than “how to” fly fish. There is never substitution for being out there and learning!

The first is Trout Bum by John Gierach. The stories are fantastic and are not about how many caught but about enjoying the company of friends and life in general. I love the speed and pace of John’s life and especially reading about the trips and characters that he spends time on the water with. I have tried to apply a little of his philosophies to my life and they fit in pretty well. I have also been lucky to fish on quite a few of the rivers that he has fished including his home water the St Vrain in Lyons. Even luckier I have met and fished with some of his buddies from the books and although he was out of town when I was over I got a good feel of what the place was about. One of the highlights for me was having breakfast in Lyons where I have read he likes to eat. The waitress on hearing a strange accent got talking to Ray and I and we told her we were over for the fishing. She said had we met “John the fisherman”? We said we heard he was out of town but I kind of liked it as I am known as Pete the fisherman in my little village!

 The other book is the Pursuit of Wild Trout by Mike Weaver. I remember this book turning up from Coch Y Bondhu books and as ever it was beautifully packaged in brown paper. I devoured the book from cover to cover and I knew Devon was where I wanted to head due to the wealth of wild trout fishing that is available down here. I am not sure that I have ever admitted this to Emma but I did have maps out when we were house hunting looking for the best spot that would allow easy access to rivers from both of the Moors! I have also had the pleasure of fishing with Mike and was out with him on the Taw on Thursday and always enjoy watching the maestro in action.

I never tire of both of these books and have read both on many occassions and always pick up a new nugget that helps my fishing or just life in general.

Pic below of Mark and David who is a newcomer to fly fishing but will no doubt be doing a whole lot more in the future!

31/5

 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!