I love it when I am right!!!

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Do you remember when I talked about the rain really livening up the rivers? I talked about the freshwater encouraging the seatrout and salmon to running the rivers and streams and also switching on the resident brown trout? Well its all true - I have the proof!

I have been fishing the rivers and streams of North Devon hard since Friday when we had a day of steady rain and the river rose and coloured up. When the conditions are like this it is time to move away from your traditional trout tactics, I like to fish larger streamers on sink tips and full sinkers. The techniques is a lot like the spinning and lure fishing that I learnt on the small welsh rivers when I was a kid - be daring, get the lure in all of the likely nooks, crannies, pots and runs, under the trees and amongst the snags, as you work down the river. It is a real test of your casting skills and great, great fun and can turn up sea trout as well as the odd salmon.

Fishing the streamer in big water. Casting can be a bit of an adventure.

It is really pleasing to report a good run of sea trout ('Peal' in Devonian) making the most of the conditions. They are really good fun, nipping, swirling and occasionally actually taking your streamer. The fish, fresh run from the sea, are a good looking fish, fight really well and if your that way inclined - eat beautifully. There are also some salmon running our rivers at the moment, I had a very brief encounter with one early (very early) yesterday morning. It really is great to share a river with these fish, they have to overcome so much just to get here and whilst the numbers are nothing compared to fifty even twenty years ago, I can't help but feel optimistic for their future.

A nice peal on the streamer.

Whilst I am on the subject of being right, do you remember I mentioned my theory that the larger resident brown trout are best targeted with large flies fished at night or in a spate? On these rain fed rivers the feeding is relatively sparse in comparison to the chalkstreams of the South or the limestone rivers to the North. Our streams hold a large number of small trout, 6-10inches, to get significantly larger than that a trout has to do something different. They have to eat a more substantial diet, I firmly believe that we have carnivorous brown trout here, we don't see them much as they hunt at night or in spate conditions. As much as I love fishing the dry fly, nymph and wet fly I have vowed to spend more time fishing bigger flies at these times as I am absolutely convinced these sort out the better trout. I have had some success over the last couple of days.

A 14ins brown trout on a 2ins streamer in big water.

Thanks for reading.

Derrick

Its all about the timing.

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At last some rain. At last some fresh water in the streams and rivers of the Westcountry. At last some reports of salmon and seatrout pushing upstream. And where was I for this first bit of freshwater this season? After all of my waiting, cloud watching and rain dancing? The Mediterranean...

The messages from my friends and family as we basked in 30 degree heat under cloudless skies were all about how lucky we were to get away from the gales and rain. Lucky? I wasn't so sure. Even before we were through customs I was on the phone, what are the river levels? What is the weather forecast? The very next morning sees me on a favourite river to find the spate fining down nicely. The river feels so different from when I fished it last just 10 days ago. It is really hard to describe, it just feels more alive. There is more noise, more motion and less silt and algae.

It isn't just the seatrout and salmon that seem to rejoice in these conditions, suddenly the resident trout seem to be on the fin. Lots of fish that we catch on these streams are small - somewhere in the region of 4-6ins with the occasional larger ones. I have a theory that on these streams the larger fish get large from feeding on bigger food items and from avoiding the predators. If you look into the catch records on rainfed streams and rivers I reckon you will see that a considerable number of larger than average brown trout are caught accidentally - perhaps when fishing larger flies during a spate for sea trout and salmon or when fishing at night for seatrout with big lures. Of course there are exceptions but I reckon these fish are most active after dark and in times of spate when the risk of predation is less.

That is how I saw it today with a number of fish above what I would consider to be the average size taken on dries and nymphs. It is good to be home again, now lets have some more rain.

Getting these fish to the camera singlehanded can prove difficult. Notice the blooded ring finger, this fish escaped my hand at the first attempt unfortunately the trailing nymph was buried up to the bend in my finger. Times like this I am glad I fish barbless.

Dads

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It is Father's day on Sunday. There, that is the public service element of Adventure Fly Fishing UK, a reminder for you to buy the card or to book the table at the local carvery, we are so much more than a fly fishing instruction and guiding service...!

I have never been very good at remembering Father's Day, I tend to recoil at the commercialisation of something that should be said far more often than once a year - thank you. The main thing I have to thank my Dad for is getting me interested in fish and fishing.

My Dad has always been a keen fisherman, when fatherhood struck in the form of my brother and I it threatened to seriously curtail his sport. In order to continue he took us with him. Some of my earliest memories are being on the riverbank with my Dad, watching as he fished for sewin (that’s the welsh word for sea-trout) with spinners or worm. I remember my Dad cutting me a hazel stick and teaching me to catch eels when the river was in raging spate by trotting earthworms into the slack water in and around tree roots. I soon progressed onto a real fishing rod and remember catching my first trout, again on worm, I struck the bite so hard that the fish left the water like a polaris missile and flew over my head, becoming detached from the hook mid air. I remember excitedly telling my Dad that I was sure it was a trout because I saw something silver streaking passed. It was some time later that we tracked that fish down in the hedge behind. To me it was the most beautiful fish; it had the biggest, reddest spots I have seen on a trout, ever.

It must have been hard work for my Dad, just getting me to the river bank couldn’t have been easy, I remember riding the bus, sitting amongst the shoppers and commuters trying not to accidentally hit anybody with my fishing rod, whilst trying to check on the well being of my tub full of earthworms (again) without anybody noticing. I remember countless journeys to the river and the estuary on the back of Dad’s bicycle including a close encounter with an angry wasp’s nest on one particular journey. And then once he got me there it couldn’t have been easy to educate, enthuse and entertain an 8 year old whilst trying to winkle a sewin, a tricky character at the best of times, out of the overgrown, snag infested river.

No, it certainly couldn’t have been easy, but my Dad managed it and by doing so he gave me the key to an amazing sport that in turn has given me so much. This is why I am so excited about establishing Aff-UK, this opportunity to help people discover flyfishing for the first time or to open up new areas of the sport that have so far been closed to them, like my Dad did for me (but without the bike rides, bus journeys and piggy backs). So Dad if you read this blog - thank you.

Having said that, my Dad reading this blog would more than likely be a first for him, one which would probably require the assistance of my 12 year old nephew to log on for him. I think I may have inherited my distrust of technology from him as well…

Me with my Dad learning his 'unique' hat wearing style.

The Five Ps

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Have you heard of the 5 Ps? Preparation prevents P**s Poor Performance? I have heard this banded about in all sorts of different environments, the sports field, the office and on the riverbank. Whilst I largely agree with this there are times when all of the preparation in the world will not give you the results you need or deserve. These last couple of days are a perfect example. The fishing has been strangely tough.

In terms of preparation it was done, we had the right flies, the tactics proven, the venues sorted and yet nothing. Sure the fish were there, we saw stacks, mullet feeding hard, bass streaming passed our feet on the front of the tide and yet nothing more than a few tweaks and one small bass. At these times as a guide I can trail out the clichéd excuses for the lack of fish, too windy, too bright, water too clear / too murky etc but at times like this there is only one thing for it - Perseverance. I don't mean continuing to flog the water regardless, I mean knuckling down to a long period of concentration, working the changes and ensuring that the fly stays in the water for the maximum amount of time.

This is something I learnt as a competition angler. The best competition anglers, and I have been lucky to fish with some very good ones, know all about this. Sure they have all of the Ps sorted, the preparation that goes into an international fly fishing competition would have to be seen to be believed, but when the fishing starts it is all about maximising your chances. That means perseverance, maximising fishing time and generally working damn hard.

When things aren't going well Perseverance is what it is all about. This is what we did this week, perseverance and a little bit of adaptation, when the original plan quite simply isn't working, work hard and adapt. When people are willing to do this the rewards can be awesome.

Luke with a personal best.

Adventure fly fishing - defined.

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Somebody asked me recently 'what is Adventure Fly Fishing?' I think at the time I waffled around a bit and kind of half answered him but it certainly got me thinking. That is until last week. Last week was a bit of a busman's holiday which I think captured exactly what I have in mind when I talk about adventure fly fishing.

First of all, the location, it has to be wild.

How's this location?

This is Snowdonia in Wales, not the bit with steam trains, mountain top cafes and inappropriately dressed tourists, this is the part that most people don't know exists (or for that matter know how to pronounce). Here you can expect to see nobody, sheep (of course), red kites and amazing scenery.

Secondly there has to be some water

Like this.

The whole area was criss-crossed with tiny mountain streams, crystal clear, cold, fast flowing and full of beautiful, wild brown trout.

Thirdly, the fishing has to be testing and interesting.

Fish under the rod tip in crystal clear water.

Finally although not strictly a necessity sometimes a little bit of adversity can be added to the mix. The whole week was plagued with gale force winds - again. That is a gale force wind at sea level. So a lake at 750m above sea level provided the perfect venue for a little bit of adversity.

Cameras don't always tell the truth, this lake was being blasted by a howling wind. In case that wasn't enough the rod in use here is my stream 8ft 2 weight - nice.

So Adventure Fly Fishing - Amazing locations, water preferably wild, testing fishing and the occasional twist. Simple really.

Always Learning.

www.adventureflyfishinguk.co.uk

The thing with fishing is that you can never, ever be completely on top of your game. There is always some cast that you haven't quite mastered, some tactic that you are not quite satisfied with or some species that you have never quite got to grips with. I will be honest with you there are loads of things I want to learn. If anybody says they have nothing left to learn about this subject they are either lying or not looking hard enough.

One of the things that has been bothering me for a while is lure fishing. From time to time I have people ask me if in addition to saltwater fly fishing I offer lure fishing in the salt. Now I have the marks sorted, I can find the fish, which is sometimes the hardest part of fishing in the sea and sure I have done plenty of lure fishing for bass with plugs, spoons and the like but I don't mind admitting that my approach is not particularly sophisticated. My tactics generally revolve around casting and retrieving various items of metalwork, covering the water methodically, whilst not unsuccessful it can become quite mechanical. I have felt for some time that there has to be a better way.

And so some time ago I began researching what else is out there. Wherever I looked the same phrases and names kept popping up HRF, LRF, and JBG. My research ultimately took me to Keith White and Jersey Bass Guides website (www.jerseybassguides.com). Photographs of big bass and wrasse caught over the roughest ground on light, sensitive tackle. Interesting...

And so this last weekend saw me on Jersey to meet up with Keith White for an intensive introduction to HRF - Heavy Rock Fishing. Firstly I must say what a beautiful place to visit, I elected to take the ferry from Weymouth and cycle the Island as a way to get a feel for the place and I certainly didn't regret it, the place is stunning. The coast is a mix of golden sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs and in the southeast an amazing jumble of rocky outcrops and crags, all surrounded by crystal clear water. The cycling is relatively easy with quite roads and tracks and not too many hills.

The two days fishing were a bit of a revelation to be honest with you. The conditions were extremely tough with high winds and a lot of swell but Keith worked extremely hard to overcome the conditions and meet my aims which were very much all about learning as much about these tactics as possible. Despite the weather we caught fish on light tackle, close in and more importantly I left the island with a whole host of new tactics and theories which I am just dying to try out here in North Devon. It was a real pleasure to learn from somebody who is obviously an expert in this form of fishing but also is extremely enthusiastic about passing on the knowledge and helping people to learn that there is another way to catch these fish without resorting to heavy gear. I couldn't recommend more highly Keith's website and his guiding services. I will certainly be heading out there again to fish with Keith and his brother Kevin.

I will of course keep you posted on how I get on with these tactics here, I am off now to the tackle shop to look at a new HRF rod!

Derrick

Fancy trying something different?

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So when are these easterlies finally going to give up? Hot, bright, windy days can make for tough fishing, whether it is drying out rivers or windswept coasts the challenge for a fishing guide is to be able to put their finger on exciting fishing whatever the weather. Here in Devon we are blessed with a plethora of different fishing opportunities and can invariably track down some sport most days. But to find it you must first look and when I am not teaching or guiding I spend a great deal of time searching out new opportunities. And I have found a great one!

Remember that beautiful private lake on the edge of Exmoor I told you about? The one that we use for teaching on? The one stocked with hard fighting rainbow trout? Well we have another one right next to it! This one is small, about an acre I reckon, but beautifully positioned in a woodland clearing and full of cracking carp.

I had the opportunity to spend a few hours there the other evening and had a whale of a time! Sighting big carp cruising under the surface can certainly get the pulse racing. It's not easy though, I found you had to deliver the fly accurately, quickly and often at range to stand any hope of getting a response. I found it even harder to get a hook hold, I was watching the fly disappear into the mouth but when I set the hook - nothing. These fish haven't seen too many fishermen and certainly no fly fishers but they were really skittish. One fluffed chance would result in a huge boil as the fish bolts and every fish in the vicinity ghosts away. It took a little bit of time to realise that I wasn't actually puling the hook out of the mouth of the fish but actually out of the hole in the water that the carp's big old mouth makes as it sucks in the offering. So waiting even longer was the required fix - easier said than done...

But when you get it right, HOLD ON!

These fish gave the best scrap I have had for some time, I was taken to the backing on a couple of occasions, one fish even made it to the refuge under the roots on the opposite bank. My best fish was somewhere around 12lbs in weight, I saw bigger - much bigger.

Not everybody's idea of pretty, but I like them.

A fantastic bit of 'alternative' fly fishing. Adventure Fly Fishing UK offers guided carp fishing on this private lake, why not give it a try? This can be booked as a whole day, half day or incorporated in a day's fly fishing for other species. Just drop me a line to discuss options.

Derrick