Huge fish from W Dart

[johnesmithson]

I took two pals up the W Dart above Prince Hall yesterday. Parched landscape after such a cold dry month, breezy from SE and very little fly life. It felt like we were just going through the motions, and not a single fish moved until we reached a weedy corner pool slightly below the Blackbrook junction. My friend Myles spotted a fin, and cast his GRHE nymph just upstream of the fish. The fly was taken immediately and all hell broke loose. After a tense few minutes he landed a brownie which we estimated at a conservative 21 inches (using the rod handle as a guide) and in very good condition for the time of year. Big dark eyes, sharp teeth and thick shoulders suggested that he was something of a carnivore, but not a typical ugly cannibal. According to the conversion charts he would have weighed in the region of 3lb. A fish of a lifetime! Hopefully pictures will load as soon as Photobucket starts to behave, but couldn't resist letting you moorland enthusiasts know what might be lying in wait around the next corner... Tight lines

Johnny

[terry]

Hi Johnny,
I am in awe what a fantastic fish. I know that pool very well in fact I was up there last week. I have fished the west dart for more years than I care to remember and I have never seen a fish like that. Gives me strength to carry on after several blank days this year.
Well done.
Terry

[Pete Tyjas]

Amazing fish!

I was upstream of you guys and it was really quiet on the West Dart higher up.

[pusser]

Is the section around the Prince Hall hotel a waders required beat or can it be fished from the bank?

[boisker]

You could fish much of it from the bank, but like most of the Dart to get the best out of it you need waders. There are so many complicated currents with the the tumbling nature of the river that you really need to be able to move around in the river to be able to present a dry or nymph from the ideal spot.

[pusser]

Cheers Boisker, i'm planning on spending an afternoon up there in the next few weeks on the way home from work

[boisker]

If you don't mind getting wet a bit, wading up to your knees would open up quite a bit of water and allow you to change banks

[pusser]

Ill just wear my waders and wade upstream

[johnesmithson]

I would definitely take a wading staff too: the river bottom is a tricky mixture of rocks, holes and very slippy bits. I almost went for a swim yesterday on the East Dart, lost nothing but my dignity and some cheap sunglasses!