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Post by johnesmithson on Jul 7, 2022 21:54:24 GMT
It's all gone a bit quiet on the Forum, but here's my two penny's worth. Stayed at Prince Hall for a week mid-month with a group of old friends to celebrate a significant birthday. In addition to walking, carousing and cycling (I very nearly blew a gasket coming up out of Dartmeet) I managed to steal away for a few sessions on the West Dart and Blackbrook. Very hard going under cloudless skies with the rivers at low levels, but I managed to winkle out some small trout by 'fishing the water' in some faster riffles. My mood took a temporary turn for the worse when I managed to drop my phone somewhere in the river from what should have been a safe pocket. Never saw it again. Blind panic and general rage ensued, but thankfully I discovered later that everything was backed up on iCloud so the whole sorry incident cost me no more than the price of a new handset. At least I hadn't lost all of our precious holiday photos... Anyway, I realised that if I was going to catch anything decent it would mean an early start. One morning before breakfast I headed to a large pool with a nice fast run out where there were some decent fish showing regularly; a few olives were emerging, so on went a small Klinkhamer. I resisted the urge to wade and stayed out of the water, kneeling uncomfortably on the bankside stones. Instead of casting upstream I aimed at about 90 degrees, allowing nothing but the fly to pass through the run and followed it with the rod tip to reduce drag. Second time through the fly simply disappeared, as if I was seeing things. No rise form, no splash, but instead a rather urgent tug on the other end. The result was a cracking brownie of over 12 inches. A second fish followed a few casts later from the same spot but he weeded me and I had to wade over to the run to extricate him. Anything else in the vicinity must have scarpered because that was game over. I may have laboured this report a bit, but that is one of the very few times on the moor when I have fished to sighted trout and succeeded in fooling one of the bigger boys. Hope you're all having a good season, especially after the rivers were freshened up a bit last week. I didn't even bother going out for sea trout but I expect a few are turning up now. Cheers! Johnny
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Post by terry on Jul 8, 2022 8:43:24 GMT
Belated happy “significant” birthday Johnny and thanks for sharing. Pity about the phone. I have lost a fair bit of my worldly possessions on the Duchy over the years so I share your pain.
I’ve not fished as much as usual this year as the west / east dart and tribs have been very low. The recent rain come and went so to speak and there is none in the forecast but we live in hope.
Tight lines for the rest of the season.
Terry
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Post by johnesmithson on Jul 8, 2022 14:22:39 GMT
Thanks Terry, very nice to hear from you. I am heading to the furthest NW reaches of the kingdom later this month to have a go at some Hebridean lochs. Fortunately it hasn't stopped raining up there!
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Post by johnesmithson on Jul 9, 2022 11:14:43 GMT
Here's the first and better fish  |
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Post by halfstoned on Jul 9, 2022 16:48:59 GMT
Good fish for the Moor, a nice bit of angling there Johnny. Did you use the fishpass app for your ticket? I can't seem to buy tokens on it🤔
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Post by halfstoned on Jul 9, 2022 17:11:37 GMT
Well I've reinstalled the app and it now seems to work! Wonders will never cease!
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Post by terry on Jul 9, 2022 18:15:41 GMT
It seems I spend a lot of my time re installing bloody apps. Maybe need to update my phone for after all it is nearly 4 years OLD !!!!
Just wait till you try and submit a catch return. Let me know if you succeed😩
Johnny I am very jealous of your pending trip up north chasing silver. The temperature looks a lot more civilised up there next week as opposed to sunny Devon. Don’t tell my family I said that by the way.
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Post by johnesmithson on Jul 9, 2022 21:05:34 GMT
Credit to you Chris for showing us how to do it on small streams in your excellent videos. No FishPass app for me this year, I've gone old skool plastic Duchy season ticket which lives in my actual real-life wallet. Still incredible value considering that it cost me the same as a day on a minor chalkstream last month (caught one, spooked many). I will post a quick Hebridean report when I'm back at the end of the month Terry. Luckily for us there seems to be an enduring N/S split weather-wise. Quite the opposite up there last year when they had a disastrous (for fishing) prolonged dry summer.
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Post by halfstoned on Jul 10, 2022 7:54:39 GMT
Cheers Johnny, the lack of water has made it a tricky season hasn't it. I've been trying to introduce a friend to the delights of fishing on Dartmoor and he's become a bit disillusioned with the whole thing. Normally it's hooking the fast little fish that proves difficult for newbies but this season just getting a rise is hard work.
I copied your approach this morning and hit the Yeo at 6am, a few fish were rising when I arrived and I managed about half a dozen on dries but the rise pettered out about half seven. I hate to say it but I think I should have arrived earlier! Back home by 8.30 for bacon and eggs, so not a bad start to the day😀
Nice to see some posts on the forum for a change.
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Post by johnesmithson on Jul 11, 2022 12:19:00 GMT
The added bonus of an early morning start is that you use up less domestic credit points...
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Post by halfstoned on Jul 11, 2022 16:45:34 GMT
The added bonus of an early morning start is that you use up less domestic credit points... Yep, the oh wasn't even up when I returned 🙂 |
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Post by johnesmithson on Jul 11, 2022 20:51:18 GMT
Sounds like a win-win to me Chris!
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