Essebeare, Little Dart

[Theo]

Hi again all -

Catch report as promised from this lovely little WRT water where I spent my Bank Holiday Sunday...

Total 7 trout to about 11 inches: I spent quite a lot of the day just walking and looking (there's a lot of looking to be done!) and really only went for the rising fish, all of which took either a Greenwells spider of my own concoction or a tiny Griffiths Gnat.

Having taken the fly, every one of them went spectacularly airborne, and I lost a couple more when the barbless hook simply came flying out! Not a problem: once I've risen a fish and hooked it, I always think the job's done...

What *was* noticeable was how the spring is far less advanced in Devon even than in Somerset - I'd say at least 3 - 4 weeks behind this year?

(Oh, and I did find a little, shiny new spinner with about 20 yards of heavy nylon stuck in a tree right at the top of the beat, and reported it to the fishery owner when he came past with his dogs. It's now on my wall of shame - spinners retrieved from "fly-only" fisheries the world over )

One to come back to, I think, and well worth 2x WRT angling tokens!

Theo

[BarleBlanker]

It's a lovely little peice of water isn't it. I've not been there for... well far too long actually. Yet another river on my list of places to go back too!


Andy

If your wall of shame ever gets full and any of it needs a good home

[rubble]

Spent a lovely morning here today. After surviving an hours worth of midge attack at dawn (must pack repellent from now on) I managed about 7 or 8 nice brownies. One to 11" which I just had on the bbq for dinner. Lostaf few more.

One on a nymph, some on a Hawthorne, some on a para adams, some on an iron blue dun. A few pools had regularly rising fish, some oncers and some jumping. It wasn't frantic by any means but enough to keep the interest going for nearly 6 hours.

Some inconsiderate dog walker again threw his dog in the pools above me despite walking right past me on the way up. They seem to he following me of late. Thankfully the top part of the beat loses the footpath.

Very low and clear (well, clear as this trib gets), could do with a flush through soon.

Lots of fly life today, saw a lot of what looked like daddylonglegs, but not sure.as.I thought they were an autumn fly. The trout I ate had been eating lots of caddis, still cased.

[Pete Tyjas]

Nice report Rubble.

I was on the river Little Dart Sat with someone down by the junction with the main river. For the amount of water fished and the fish he caught it outfished the main river.

Do you have any pics?

Pete

[paul]

If you mean that little run at the bottom of the Little Dart where you cast in at an earth bank, where you have managed to get even I to connect with a few (or in my reckoning many- 5or 6) fish, then I'm not surprised it outfished the main river!

[Pete Tyjas]

Paul, that'll be the one, I had some one raise a sodding big sea trout to a mayfly last year. Not sure who was the more surprised!