11 Aug 2018

EAT SLEEP AND FISH FOR THE LAST TIME

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I have been sharing Eat Sleep Fish with readers of North Devon Angling News for the past couple of years as it has been an excellent read. Sadly this is the last edition but against modern trends the Editorial Team are launching an exciting new venture in the form of a hard copy magazine entitled Fly Culture that will follow a similar line to the Eat Sleep Fish on-line magazine. I wish the team well in this as I believe there is a place in the market for the hard copy that gives the reader a more traditional product. Whilst I spend many hours at a computer there is something more tangible and rewarding about sitting down and browsing through a  magazine with a cup of coffee or tea.

18 Jul 2018

Fly fishing for Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

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Great Torrington Army Cadets take on the trout

Fly fishing for Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

Captain Trevor Cook

ACF Instructor

Fly Fishing for D of E skills element ,,

20th February 2018 Saw the start of a new challenge for five young members of Great Torrington Army Cadet Force who decided to take on fly fishing for the skills element of their D of E Award scheme.

Prior to the course starting we arrange a Sunday morning visit to Monkokehampton Salmon Hatchery on the 4th February to learn about their work, kindly laid on by Charles Innis, who explained to the Cadets about the life cycle of the Salmon from egg to return, we looked at the setup and walked up river to see the weir, the Cadets found this visit very educational.

Over the past 5 months Cadets Sjt Daniel Lobb, L/Cpl Tyler Bolt, L/Cpl Jack Pledger L/Cpl Sam Newberry & Cdt Harvey Hodge have learnt and practiced all the skills needed to become proficient fly fishermen.

The course covered all elements such as types of rods, reels, lines leaders, knots, casting techniques and types of flies and how to fish them, which was then followed up by a day tying their own flies for them use on the two lake days.

The course also included two guest speakers, the first being Paul Carter, Environment Agency Water Bailiff who gave the Cadets an insight into his job role, Licensing and environment, the second was Allan Crawley Commons Conservators River Warden, Allan gave the Cadets an insight into his role and how they were working on better access for anglers along the commons riverbank. We also had a third speaker Keith Armishaw lined up from the fly fishing section of the Torrington Museum, unfortunately Keith was taken ill, the Cadets found Paul and Allan’s presentations really interesting. I’m sure Keith’s presentation would have been equally as good, we do hope Keith is on the road to recovery and wish him well for the future.

Months of hard work practising paid of on our two lake days, the first being at Simpson’s Valley Coarse & Trout Fishery nr Holsworthy on Saturday 26th May 2018

This was a good days fishing and despite it being hard work all five managed to catch a nice Rainbow Trout, the first fish of the day was caught by Col Ashley Fulford OBE, Chairman of the Army Cadet Force Association and Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Advisory Panel who joined us for the day being a keen fly fisherman himself.

The heaviest fish of the day was caught by L/Cpl Tyler Bolt, a nice Rainbow weighing in at 3 ½ pounds. Everyone went home excited having caught their first ever Trout, thanks to Paul Cozens & Andrew Moores for making this possible for us, we really appreciate it.

Our second lake day was held at Bratton Water Trout Fishery, Loxhore Cross, nr Barnstaple, This proved to be another cracking days fishing where after a slow start all five caught their second ever trout. The first fish of the day was caught by L/Cpl Sam Newberry and the largest was caught by L/Cpl Pledger. Thanks to Mike Williams for all his help setting this up and accommodating us on the day , really appreciated.

This Course is the third one we have run but this year we have built a lot more into it and it has gone so well these five Cadets have started buying their own kit and asking for more lake days in the future.

Great Torrington Army Cadets would like to express their sincere thanks to the following people for their help and support this year it really has been appreciated, thank you.

Charles Innis : visit to Salmon Hatchery

Paul Carter : EA Bailiff

Allan Crawley : Commons Conservators River Warden.

Paul Cozens & Andrew Moores : Simpsons Valley Coarse & Trout Fishery

Mike Williams : Bratton Water Trout Fishery

Keith Armashaw : Great Torrington Museum

Again many Thanks

Capt Trevor Cook ACF Instructor.   Lt Matt Sanders OC Great Torrington Detachment

Great Torrington Army Cadets started fly fishing for D of E two years ago, buying six starter kits directly from Airflo at a special price thanks Glenda Evans (Airflo) and funded by a grant from Great Torrington Town Council.
We now have enquiries from Cadets about the next course.
From this years five Sjt Lobb has now used fly fishing for his Bronze, Silver & Gold Awards
L/Cpl Pledger for his Bronze & Silver
L/Cpl Bolt, L/Cpl Newberry & Cdt Hodge for Bronze.

 

 

 

 

3 Jul 2018

Fly Culture – A brave new Venture from the ESF Team

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Pete Tyjas of the Devon School of Fly Fishing  is editor of the popular on-line Fly Fishing Magazine Eat Sleep Fish that I share each month via NDAN’s.  Pete is at the helm of a brave venture to launch a new hard copy Fly Fishing Magazine entitled Fly Culture. Below is an interview Pete has shared with the readers of NDAN’s. I wish Pete and his team all the best in this exciting new venture. In this age of on-line publishing it is refreshing to see a new angling publication in old style print that is in my view far more aesthetically pleasing. I feel that there will always be a place for a quality  product in a traditional format. I can remember my father telling me that vinyl would  soon be obsolete with the arrival of the CD. This has not proved entirely true as many young people have rediscovered  the joy of  slipping the vinyl from its artistic sleeve,, placing it on the turntable then lowering the needle to hear that crackle of anticipation before music blasts from the speakers. I have a book shelf full of angling books and as my eye drifts across the covers I relive a world of prose. Its not the same hidden in the files of my computer. I will accept that computer files do not gather dust nor do they emit that wonderful aroma you get as you browse a good old second hand bookshop.

Fly Culture – Should be available from September.

I’ve been a full time fishing guide for 15 years based in Devon and over the last six years I’ve also edited and run an online fishing magazine called Eat Sleep Fish So it’s fair to say fishing is your life then? I guess so, I spend most of my days on a river, either guiding or fishing myself and often think about it when I’m not there. It’s not that I’m obsessed or anything! There is just something that still blows my mind that we tie on a fly made from fur and feather that we think the trout might be eating, cast it out and in some cases, certainly not all of them, they take the thing. I never tire of it. How did Fly Culture come about? I’d been thinking for a long time about doing either a “best of” or a one-off hard copy version of Eat Sleep Fish for a few years now and couldn’t shake that feeling. Last November, I listened to a podcast where an independent magazine publisher spoke about how they set up. That was it, I wanted to do it. Has Eat Sleep Fish been a good training for you? Without a doubt, yes. I have learnt about deadlines, getting content, editing the content and doing my best to help contributors with their submissions. It’s been a steep learning curve but one I’ve really enjoyed. What is the best advice you think you have given a new contributor? Don’t assume the reader knows the river/lake/stream you are telling them about. Describe it so that they can visualise it themselves and ensure the piece has a beginning, middle and end. Is bringing a new magazine a smart idea in a declining market place? I think there might be room for us. I looked carefully at the independent magazine market rather than just fishing magazines and it seems in pretty good shape. With Fly Culture we want to bring a “why” rather than “how” title. This frees us up to cover a much wider spectrum of topics rather than covering well-trodden ground. Do you have a USP for Fly Culture that will make it stand out? I think we do. There will be more about that in coming weeks but as far as I know, it is pretty ground breaking. Is bringing a magazine financially viable? It might be. Our model is a pretty simple one really. We just want to put out a product that we believe in, we’d want to read ourselves, people connect with and hopefully buy. This project isn’t about bottom lines, as long as we can cover our printing costs we’ll be more than happy. Anything else is a bonus that we can use to keep improving FC. Will there be regular contributors? I think there will be some but I am really keen that we can help break new writers and photographers too. To me at least we can then keep away from a formulaic approach and make each issue fresh and interesting. Is conservation important to Fly Culture? Yes, really. From the paper and ink used to print Fly Culture, to the issues we want to cover in each edition. We’re really pleased to also have The Wild Trout Trust involved with a series of articles too. When will Fly Culture be available to buy? In the next few weeks you’ll be able to pre-order the magazine from the Fly Culture website. We plan to deliver in early September so it won’t be long. Are you getting a chance to fish with all of this going on? When I can. I’m finding myself spending more time casting a double handed rod for salmon these days, although trout will always have a very special place in my heart and there is nothing like having a small box of flies, a trout rod and a few rising fish!

28 Jun 2018

Peninsula Classic Report From Ben Smeeth

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Gooding wins Peninsula Classic for second year
running
Andrew Gooding has won the Peninsula Classic at Kennick for the second year running.
It was a really challenging days fishing at Kennick in hot, bright conditions. There were lots of fish showing all over the
lake throughout the day coming clean out of the water trying to catch damsels and dragon flies which were visible in huge
numbers. The majority of those were browns but there were some Rainbows and Blues in amongst them.
Despite all the surface activity, tempting a fish on a dry was really difficult.
The stocking from the dam last week meant some fish had stayed in the deeper, cooler water by the dam and this was
the most productive area during the day. Andrew caught his fish in the last hour of the day at 4pm and bagged his 8 fish
limit very quickly once he found the right method. A Di-3 line with a cats whisker retrieved roly-poly style proving the most popular for Andrew.
Andrew wins a season ticket for 2019 for a lake of his choice. Dave Perks who finished second won a £100 voucher for
Fly fishing Tackle of Crediton. Rob Gale finished third and won a £50 fly fishing tackle voucher and a day permit for Kennick. Darren Penfold won a boat ticket for Kennick and a £25 voucher for Fly Fishing Tackle and Barry Ware Senior won a £25 voucher for Fly Fishing Tackle.
1st: Andy Gooding 8 fish for 12lbs
2nd:Dave Perks 3 fish for 4lb 9oz
3rd: Rob Gale 3 fish for 4lbs 5oz
4th: Darren Penfold
2 fish for 2lb 15oz
5th: Barry Ware Snr 2 fish for 2lb 11oz
Best of the Best Qualifiers: Alan Brown 1lb 8oz and Ray Butler 1lb 6oz
Joint 6th: Nik Tompkins and Alan Brown1 fish for 1lb 8oz
Joint 8th: Mike Boston and Ray Butler 1 fish for 1lb 6oz
10th: Chris Bolt 1 fish for 1lb 4oz Total fish caught: 24 for 16 anglers
Rod average:
1.5
Congratulations to Andy Gooding and well done to everyone for taking part and sticking at it in very hot weather.
My thanks to Howard Thresher from Fly Fishing Tackle Crediton for sponsoring the competition and to Mark Baxendale,
Countryside and Angling warden at Kennick, for doing a cracking BBQ for everyone.
https://www.fly-fishing-tackle.co.uk/
Ben Smeeth
Headof Angling
Pictured from left are: Rob Gale, Andy Gooding, Dave Perks and Howard Thresher

27 Jun 2018

Catch a Mullet on a fly!

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Grey Mullet are a challenge especially so on the Fly. Jeff Pearce shares his success with the bonefish of Britain.

Like many I imagine, I have caught Mullet on a float rig with ground baited bread since a child, as well as a few on a baited spoon. More recently perhaps over the past 10 years or so I have started fly fishing for bass. Transferring my 40 years of fly fishing experience to bass was relatively straight forward as long as I found the right location, not too difficult as I have been lure & bait fishing for them from shore and boat all of my life.

So two seasons ago I decided having seen Mullet at every bass venue I fish that they should be a target, armed with every blog on the subject and suitably tied Mullet flies I set out catch them, how difficult can it be to catch a Mullet on a fly!
No cheating, no bread flies or ground baiting, just getting amongst them using flies to imitate shrimps, invertebrates & seaweed flies… The first season resulted in lots of small Bass to 3lb, they love small flies in the shallows too, but not even a sniff from the cruising
Grey ghosts, they are just there to frustrate the life out of me! Last year I managed a bit better a decent fish over 5Lb but I was actually Bass fishing on the beach with small flies in the surf, can’t take this as success, so the quest continued, more
research more walking the river and beaches. Find them on the feed and you’ll be in, so the story goes, not so easy, searched everywhere for genuinely feeding Mullet.

Anyway, perseverance has paid off, I think I have cracked it, resulting in my first Mullet this season genuinely taken while fishing for Mullet as they fed on the beach with the incoming tide.

I had been watching the tides, weather and wind for days, I needed a reasonably good low tide to springs, an offshore breeze and nice weather, bingo the last two weeks have been good on more than one day.
I set out very optimistic as always when I go fishing, on the way its which fly shall I try, how many in the team, what combinations etc. I arrive at the beach, its glorious, sun is high in the sky although its relatively early and what a bonus, the carpark attendant isn’t ready so free parking it is.

I set up and then head out on the long walk to the low tide mark, I’m a little early, another 30 mins to low tide and maybe an hour before things start to liven up as they begin to move in and feed with the tide. I see huge shoals of Mullet just playing in the shallows, although I know,
they don’t take a fly unless they are feeding Im going to try anyway, irresistible to see fish up to 6Lb plus cruising flashing and jumping in the shallows just off the surf. Obviously no interest, I knew really as I presented my patterns time & time again, then the small schoolie Bass move into the shallows, I hook 3 at once, causes a right mess and puts paid to the non feeding Mullet. Lets fix the leader and wait for the tide!
The tide starts to flow along the beach the Mullet now start to get their heads down, turning into the current and things start to look promising, a couple of small plucks which I miss, are these mullet takes or more small Bass I ask myself, then it happens, I feel a pluck and instinctively lift the rod, everything goes tight & before I know it I’m down to the backing and I know Ive hooked a Mullet. 15 minutes later, this lovely bar of Ghost silver is on the sand beside me, it took my Glass bead head Diawl Bach with a red tag, many have said this is a good Mullet fly, I’m now convinced too.

Just one on this occasion but the number of plucks & misses suggest I’ve cracked it, maybe I should quit while i’m ahead, as I’m sure every Mullet taken naturally on the fly will still be a challenge, but a huge thrill with unbelievable satisfaction!

18 Jun 2018

Wimbleball In top form

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(Above)One of the 5 fish caught by Ashley Scott who tempted the fish on the coch bonddu beetle pattern.

Sport has been excellent at Wimbleball with quality rainbows taking several anglers to the backing from both boat and shore.

                                               (Below) A none fish bag for  boat anglers Brandon and Mark Hayward.

13 Jun 2018

EXE VALLEY ON A WARM AND SULTRY SUMMER DAY

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I joined members of Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club at Exe Valley Fishery on Sunday June 10th and with a sunny day in prospect  I wondered how hard the fishing would be as blue skies and sunshine are not always an ideal recipe for good sport. It was great to arrive and meet up with Nick Hart who manages the fishery with his wife Sue. Nick and I always have plenty to discuss and it was a while since we had last met and there was plenty to catch up on especially with NIck now working away in a prestigious role with Farlow’s in London.

Exe Valley has introduced an enlightened day ticket strategy that incorporates catch and release with catch and kill offering a wide range of options at different prices. The club members elected to purchase a three fish ticket that entitled the angler to retain three trout and then continue fishing releasing the next three trout. Catch and release fishing is strictly barb-less hooks, rubber meshed nets and fish to be returned as soon as possible with minimal handling.

After chatting with Nick  almost half an hour of the competition had already passed by before I strolled out to the lake that looked stunning on this hazy summers day. Several members had already caught their three fish quota and were enjoying a chat and a drink from their flasks.

With trout rising freely all around I decided on using a light weight outfit presenting a small Cul de canard dry fly pattern on a 4lb tippet.

Casting to individual rising fish it was not long before I enjoyed the satisfaction of connection as a trout leisurely devoured the dry fly in that delightful moment of deception savored by trout anglers over many decades.

A few yards along the bank fellow club member Nigel Bird was also enjoying dry fly action practicing catch and release after completing his three fish quota.

Two more trout succumbed to my dry fly in quick succession and gave spirited tussles on the light tackle I was employing. Casting a dry fly to individual feeding fish was great fun and very rewarding fishing. The last of my three fish on catch and release proved to be my best trout of the day and I estimated it at just over three pounds a fish that made my reel sing as it tested my light weight outfit.

With my fishing over for the day it was time to take a stroll around the lake with my camera and capture a few images of this delightful fishery.

Vivid flag Iris brought a pleasing splash of yellow whilst brightly coloured damsel flies flitted amorously  amongst the lakeside reeds and lush plants.

By early afternoon all members had caught their allocation of three trout and it was time to weigh in. Winner by a very large margin was Dave Richards with a three fish bag of 18lb 4oz that included a fine brace of rainbows caught within his first few casts weighing 8lb 8oz and 7lb 8oz.

Runner up was Dave Mock with 8lb and third Colin Combe with 6lb 12oz.