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Post by billyfish on Aug 24, 2017 9:28:33 GMT
My favourite fly club beat. The lower section fishes best as I think the upper more open section is more likely to be predated by the Black Death. There were lots of fish in the Tipton area 6/8 weeks past. I took two guests out last week and struggled to find them a few fish. That very morning,before they arrived, I saw two cormorants fishing the pool below the bridge. Makes me mad and stops me from going as often as I would like. We do everything to look after the fish only to provide more food for these creatures. In a way they can't be blamed for this as it's due to falling fish stocks at sea. But then again they are part responsible for that as well. I remember the time when there was a bounty paid , so much a beak ,on cormorants. They weren't wiped out ,just thinned out . Rant over ,I'm off fishing.
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Post by boisker on Aug 24, 2017 11:13:32 GMT
At the risk of upsetting you further Colin I spotted one yesterday... I was at the head of the pool at the start of the beat and he flew in behind me right at the start of the pool... I encouraged him to leave Funny, I hadn't fished the beat much, called in two weeks ago on the way home from work... I had to fly up the beat so spooked most fish from the bank, but had a better idea where they were yesterday I'll have to pay it more attention, still haven't made it right to the top. I want to get back to Salston as well, but waiting for the school hols to finish, I went for a walk about 6 weeks ago down there... no rod and have a couple of spots to head back to where I picked out some very decent fish...
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Post by boisker on Aug 24, 2017 16:56:52 GMT
Popped over again this afternoon... a few fish were rising but very intermittantly and moving locations... I think I must have caught the very end of a midge hatch, there were still plenty of little spinners floating gently down the river but nothing in the air. I couldn't get a rise, even after going down to size 22 and 6' of 6x, they were being very selective. A small sedge hatch started and as I didn't have long left I gave a size 14 a go with the plan of working fairly quickly up the river and getting home. Only fish of the day slammed the sedge after about 5 mins of tying it on, turned out to be 1.5lb brown which went airborne 5 or 6 times... in perfect condition, fat, beautifully marked... absolutely fin perfect. It was also the first time I'd attached my McLeans weight net to my best in ages... handy Diasppointingly it was only as the fish was recovering in the net and I went to get my camera out my top pocket.... still on the dining table from uploading yesterday's photo's!
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Post by boisker on Aug 26, 2017 22:23:00 GMT
A couple of hours in tough conditions today, this evening would have been perfect but I could only pop out after lunch when the skies were blue and clear. First blank in ages, but my own fault... I could have covered more water and perhaps fished the duo or nymphed the faster runs.. But I was focussed on a couple of rising fish, both of them large.. First one I went through pretty much every fly but I couldn't fool him. He was moving around a pool and very occasionally rising to what I assume we're very small midge, I must have intermittantly cast for about 40 mins at which point he slowly glided off under some tree roots. Not spooked, he was very relaxed... snooze time in the afternoon sun. I can accept that. The second was different, it's still irritating me 7 hrs later. A really nice fish, the same size as the one the other day, possibly the same one... he was about 30' further up the river in a lovely little run under the trees. Again I pretty much went through the fly box and he would occasionally lazily rise up the water column have a look and then drop back down. In between he was occasionally taking flies off the surface. Having tried my smallest midge patterns, I had tried other tempting morsels... sedge, various emergers, Adams all in varying sizes...nada. In the end I went back to my initial offering of a griffths but trimmed it down a bit... he came up and bulged twice just next to the fly but wouldn't take it... they can be annoyingly or joyously fussy in low water day time conditions... I usually think the latter. So I trimmed it right back to the point there were just a few very short hackles left, enough to give a very light footprint in the water. First pass with this butchered fly and he drifted part way up the water column, hung in the water for a second and just when I thought he would drop back down he absolutely charged the fly and smashed it... ........ and I lifted way to hard, way to early!!!! Agh... so ,so, so frustrated with myself.... the best part of an hour working out a way to induce a take... and I stuffed it up. Maybe tomorrow I'll take some solace in cracking the code on a very fussy fish, but for now I'll keep sulking I went home after that
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Post by billyfish on Aug 27, 2017 7:13:37 GMT
Great account of what fishing for trout is all about. At least you know where he is and enjoy the expectation of trying for him again and possibly hook up. Colin.
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Post by boisker on Aug 28, 2017 20:12:54 GMT
I picked one up this eve that I spooked a couple of days ago Colin Possibly not the same fish but the exact same back-eddy..... Lovely evening out on the river, only there for an hour and a half, 6.30-8pm.... it was looking in fine fettle... midge and sedges knocking about, although not in any great numbers. It felt all evening as though a proper rise could start, but I only found 3 rising fish... first one took me quite a while to wade up to as it was right at the top of the first glide, by the time I was in sensible casting distance and tied on a fly he'd disappeared and didn't rise again. The next riser was more obliging, happily munching a size 17 sedge- The next one was slightly more fussy, wouldn't take a sedge... I didn't think he would as he was obviously picking midge from the surface but I was trying to avoid tying on a size 20 fly in the low light under the trees.... getting old sucks! So he happily took a size 20 griffiths- By this point I couldn't see enough to carry on... I'd picked up the wrong polaroids in the car and left my lowlight glasses behind... So a nice trundle back to the car as the sun set...
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Post by boisker on Aug 29, 2017 21:49:58 GMT
Quick one on the way home tonight... I'm lovin having joined the Ottery club... I have to cross the river twice a day getting to and from work. Only stopped for 30 mins or so, few casts... one fish, back to the car and home
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Post by billyfish on Aug 30, 2017 7:50:00 GMT
Good reports . Glad to see you enjoying the fishing on what is a beautiful river. I wish it was easier to deal with the cormorant problems. Reduce their numbers and it would be an even nicer river to fish. Colin
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Post by yeoman on Aug 30, 2017 17:24:53 GMT
Good reports . Glad to see you enjoying the fishing on what is a beautiful river. I wish it was easier to deal with the cormorant problems. Reduce their numbers and it would be an even nicer river to fish. Colin .17 HMR, Colin?🙄
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Post by boisker on Sept 4, 2017 23:15:08 GMT
I had a fine tussel with a fish at the end of last week..... Windy and cooler, not many moving and just a few odds and sods flies drifting about. Picked up a couple of nice browns, 12-13" on a griffiths. I was just about to mooch up the river a bit further when I noticed what appeared as though it could be a larger fish very occasionally and delicately rising, tucked right under the trees. I covered it twice with a griffiths and it showed no interest. It was possibly taking nymphs just under the surface. Anyhow when I opened my fly box for some reason I put on a sedge... first cast with the sedge was the best of the three casts I made, I'd managed by some serious luck to scoot it about 3' back under the trees that were hanging no more than 12" off the water. It smashed the fly immediately and was obviously a far better fish than anything I'd picked up all season. It spent a few minutes alternating between boring hard upstream in a manner that makes you just pray and hold on and then cruising about, still with a fair amount of force but manageable. It eventually chilled out even more, came up close to me and circled back behind my legs.... I knew it was too early but as it 'sauntered' past my legs I tried to scoop it with my net.. it was large... Properly large Well over twice the size of anything I'd caught that day... so noticeably over 24" Definitely not a brown trout But it didn't fancy the net and want nuclear on me Charged downstream 40' plus Now I should have followed it quickly, in the calm of a quiet evening at home that's fairly obvious... but it meant heading back through water that was only an inch or so below the top of my waders... So I put side strain on to turn it... With.... as I pointed out to myself repeatedly for the next 30 mins.... 6X tippet on!!!' You've no doubt guessed the end of the tale A 'bit gutted'.... I don't do any serious sea trout fishing.... and this would definitely have been my biggest wild fish. The only positive is.... it's all a learning curve, I won't be making that mistake again... I'd rather get it in the net even if it does mean my waders have 10 inches of water in the legs
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Post by boisker on Sept 7, 2017 17:18:44 GMT
There's nothing like getting out on the river as regularly as possible to try and ensure you catch the 'perfect' moment... I also think that this season more than any other I've slowed down, covered far less water and as a result l'm spotting the very infrequent risers more often... tonight was a great reason as to why it works... I stopped off at the Otter, waited until I was in the water to decide what fly... hung about just below a short and shallow little pool- I've spooked a fish twice in the same pool, but most times he hasn't been there. So, made a cigi.. smoked it and was just tying on a Griffiths when there was a subtle little rise 2/3 up the pool... a good 10 mins just loitering before he showed himself... Covered him and nothing, but second cast and.... Fat little fella.... mooched up the river a bit and then pretty much repeated the process at the head of a pool where there are often fish rising... nothing for 10 mins then a flurry of activity and at least three fish rising... ended up picking up five out a few square metres of river, just to the right of the willow branches- Missed one a bit further up... well technically I bumped him, I got distracted and had glanced up the river just as he rose... and then to finish off another little cracker, tucked up under the trees in a shallow little run... A good call calling in on the way home, only on the water for an hour, but I caught it just right
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Post by halfstoned on Sept 7, 2017 17:41:53 GMT
Cracking fish there boisker, nicely done. I do wonder if I rush through the beat sometimes and then complain that there was nothing rising. On the moor its often about distance covered rather than settling down to fish one or two pools methodically. So when I get on a lowland stream its hard to break the habit!
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Post by boisker on Sept 7, 2017 18:38:33 GMT
It's a realisation that's taken me a 'while'... I've always fished very slow over on the Frome, but obviously you are trying to spot fish so much more. Like you, I fished up on the Moor a lot the first few years I fished, lots of pocket water encourages you to fish quickly and the Axe doesn't seem to lend itself to moving slow... there aren't enough fish! I think fishing the Monnow and Otter has really helped developed that side of my fishing... They both have beats I fish with long smooth glides, that make you slow down, otherwise you just send a sea swell charging ahead of you.... and funnily enough they take so long to work your way up I suddenly noticed it gave a chance to spot fish that at my normal speed I would have walked over and spooked. That's the great thing about this fly fishing lark... there's always something new to learn and develop
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Post by boisker on Apr 24, 2018 18:47:12 GMT
A quick hour over lunch on the Otter today, cloudy and gusty wind seemed to keep the fly life down. But picked up first fish of the season on the Otter... a double hook up on the duo... smallish brown to the dry and a slightly larger one to the nymph... the one to the nymph slipped the hook whilst I was netting the one to the dry. Nothing else really moving though...
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1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
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Post by 1stteamsunbed on May 5, 2018 12:27:08 GMT
Popped down to Budleigh to try out a new line , lots of fish rising , put on a black gnat and had three sea trout smolts . They must be on their way out to sea. Kept moving , they were everywhere. Moved on , tried to spot bigger fish(Brown trout). Can't be doing with this! You want them when they come back. I gave up and went back to the car. . Anyway , drink ,cigarette ,business on the phone and an hour later. Never say die , got to have one last go, got to get something that will take line off the reel, just one last cast before I go home . Baddabing Sorry about the poor quality photo , doesn't do the fish justice, at all, spirited bugger 1.75lb, took me all over the place in the gloom.(9.10pm) The season is finally underway. Let there be peace throughout the land.
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Post by boisker on May 24, 2018 6:09:47 GMT
Back on the Otter Tuesday eve 6-8 pm... first time I have been down this season where it was absolutely buzzing with fly life, the air was full of them..... and more importantly fish were rising. Had caught about 10-12 but all small, so far I have struggled to find the same stamp of fish as last season in the Otter... but then just as I was about to go home I quickly covered a lovely little run tight against the bank and caught my best two fish of the season for the Otter... peas in a pod... 12-13”. Hopefully some of the bigger fish that were around last season are just about to put in an apprearance
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1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
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Post by 1stteamsunbed on May 25, 2018 8:23:14 GMT
Lot of Mayfly comming off. The larger fish I've had , about the pound mark have all had blue dye marks on the belly. 8.30pm till dark seems to be the bewitching hour. Tried to tye my own Mayfly , I sure they're laughing at them as they sail on downstream.
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Post by tackle tart on May 26, 2018 18:46:04 GMT
Lot of Mayfly comming off. The larger fish I've had , about the pound mark have all had blue dye marks on the belly. 8.30pm till dark seems to be the bewitching hour. Tried to tye my own Mayfly , I sure they're laughing at them as they sail on downstream. Purely out of curiosity, were you by any chance fishing on the 'Free Mile' section between Clamour Bridge and White Bridge ? Not being mischievous here but simply interested if many of the blue spot marked fish that were stocked about a month ago between Newton Popp and Otterton have already worked their way that far downstream ? We know that we lose a lot if heavy rain follows soon after stocking but I thought it had been pretty dry since then (although I've been away so just relying on what I've heard). Every 12" fish lost to downstream migration or cormorants/otters is a waste of £4.65 to the clubs involved...........I wish we'd cease the stocking and starve out the predators but its not my decision to make:( Enjoy the bonanza while it lasts !
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1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
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Post by 1stteamsunbed on Jun 13, 2018 20:50:35 GMT
Yes, the 'Free mile'. Not had any blue belly marked fish for a couple of weeks though. I fish there at least once a week, now the Deer Park have stopped doing evening tickets.
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1stteamsunbed
Alevin
May the weather be fair and the trout keep biting.
Posts: 62
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Post by 1stteamsunbed on Jun 13, 2018 21:06:17 GMT
I understand your concerns, if I catch any more I’ll photograph them and post here , no worries.
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