Newbridge Spring Newsletter – April 2023The season opened with a flourish but after two days of catching many well repaired kelts we agreed a cessation to give these precious fish a chance to get away to sea. The river has been in spate for nearly six weeks since and any fresh arrivals are well upriver by now. It is good for the fish to get up to safety but not so good if you’re hoping to catch one on the club water. The rain should back off now and the beat would be expected to fish well for a while.
Our working parties have been busy creating a new shelter and it is now ready for use. We do intend to tidy up the muddy floor but hopefully we have a place to sit, eat, chat and enjoy company as the river slides by. There was a lot of history attached to the old club hut and maybe now we can create new history of our own! We intend to have a club meeting there later in the year to celebrate the revival of such an asset and will post it when the time comes. Meanwhile work continues and the next step is to create a crossing for the stream and to strim a route up through the woods to give access to the dump car park. This will save having to go back out to the lane to access lower sections of the beat.
Member Nick Mcmurtrie has graciously been helping with refurbishment of the club cups and we now have more to offer at the AGM. We have a refurbished Mullet cup and a Bass cup to offer as well as the salmon and sea trout cups so sea fish, any method, are welcome on your catch return this year. We also are looking at the course cups ‘ found’ and trying to identify them for use. We now have a “junior best fish” cup too and would encourage any one with a young angler in the family, or knows of a keen youngster ,to engage with the club as they are our future and would be more than welcome.
I’ve had an Email from P.C. Lucy Robinson who is a local police officer, wild life trained and involved in stopping rural crime including poaching and antisocial behaviour. She has supported us in various issues in the past and has asked that we call in untoward activity on the river. It’s really good to have such support locally. Also continue to report to the E.A. incident line when you feel it’s appropriate, Particularly regarding poaching and pollution. Please reference the club if you do. They don’t always respond but it is all logged and the more we call it in the more chance of action. We have been told the E.A. are recruiting more Bailiffs which is good news
Hopefully the summer newsletter will have interim catch reports so we wish you a good season.
Tight lines
Don Hearn
A short session at Wistlandpound brought reward in the shape of a fin perfect brown trout. A bitter cold Easterly wind was blowing down the lake as I enjoyed a short morning session. The sunshine occasionally broke through a grey sky illuminating the lush green growth of early spring. Sand martins swooped low over the water and I thought of the epic journey they had just made from Africa. What a chill welcome they were getting as our spring stutters towards the warmth of late spring and summer.
I did my normal routine walk around the reservoir casting into familiar spots that had proved successful over the years. I chose to use three flies, a black lure on the point with a black pennel and black spider on two droppers. There were no fish rising and very little sign of insect life. After numerous casts I changed the point fly for a beaded PTN and adopted a very slow retrieve.
After a further searching the line momentarily tightened giving that encouraging injection of hope. A few casts later the line zipped properly tight and the rod absorbed the plunges of a hard fighting brown. I admired its spotted flanks and delighted in its return to the cold spring waters.
Bruce Elston and his friend enjoyed a great day on Anglers Paradise’s Catch and release trout lake.
Stafford Moor fishery has recently been voted one of the best carp fishing venues in the UK coming sixth in Angling Times recent poll
Dan Gunn and his friend Adrian fished on the double swim 1 up on lodge lake they banked 7 fish up to 26lb. The guys were using Krill 20mm boilies glugged & Mainline Hybrid wafters.
( Below) Scott Allan who fished from swim 2 on lodge lake and had 11 fish out up to 27lb , all fish were caught on Mainline cell boilies.
Some stunning match weights at Stafford Moor where Lee Werrett won the latest match with 288lb 10oz. Runner up was Ben Evendon with 201lb 2oz and third Pete Horton with 179lb 2oz.
Andrew Burt Chairman of the National Mullet Club is urging anglers who have benefited from the netting ban in estuaries across the South West to express their thoughts regarding the significant benefits in extending the current bylaw that has undoubtedly protected stocks that are valuable to the recreational angling community who largely practice catch and release.
Below is an explanation of the current situation with information that can be drwn upon when drafting a letter or email.
Devon & Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (D&SIFCA) Netting Permit Bylaw Review, Benefits and Implications
The D&S IFCA netting bylaw, D&S IFCA MCRS and Bylaws (see page 20 for netting), came into effect on the 1st March 2018. After 5 years it is now up for review and the process will start shortly.
D&S IFCA introduced this bylaw to protect salmonids, bass, grey mullet and other species that use these inshore areas for migration, as nurseries or for refuge. In doing so D&S IFCA recognised the importance of protecting these areas from commercial fishing and the benefits to recreational fishing and local communities. It is worth noting that many of these areas now fully protected are BNAs (Bass Nursery Areas) and are ecologically sensitive.
The bylaw as it stands only allows for seine netting for sandeels. This offers complete protection of all other species using the estuaries and harbours.
The Environment Agency pushed for a complete ban due to the poor ecological status of salmonids particularly Atlantic Salmon. The financial benefit to local communities of thriving salmon and sea trout is huge, not only getting local rods out fishing again but attracting anglers from other parts of the country to return.
The harbours and estuaries are home to all three native UK grey mullet species, particularly thick and thin lipped. These two species use these areas throughout the juvenile stages and then adulthood. It can take a thick lip mullet 10 – 12 years to reach maturity before they can breed for the first time. Often aggregating in large shoals and demonstrating a high site fidelity (often returning to the same places) they are particularly vulnerable to overfishing. During winter months they are known to aggregate in particularly large shoals prior to spawning; this makes them extremely vulnerable to commercial exploitation at the time when they are most in need of protection.
As previously mentioned, many of the areas protected are already BNAs, however this does not protect bass from unscrupulous commercial fishing or mortality when caught in nets set for other species and outside of months when bass nursery regulations apply, see link for current regulations,D&S IFCA Bass Nursery Areas and Regulations . Like grey mullet species they are spiky and easily caught in gill nets of any mesh fished tight or slack.
These inshore areas are important not only for the fish but for recreational angling as they offer good access as few anglers have boats and fishing from the open coast is often not possible or safe. Thriving inshore fisheries are of huge benefit recreationally and financially to local communities where anglers can fish for species such as grey mullet, flounder and gilthead bream that are of low importance to commercial fishing as well as bass. Further up the rivers anglers and communities benefit from increased salmonid stocks.
It should be noted that much of the recreational fishing is catch and release, it is estimated that over 95% of grey mullet caught recreationally are returned alive (who would want to eat a fish that has spent 10 – 20 years eating detritus including raw sewage anyway?). Some species more commonly retained such as bass (bass may not be retained if caught from a
boat), impact is extremely low and recreational anglers are severely restricted as to how many bass may be retained.
To sum up, the bylaw has little impact upon commercial fishing but huge positive impacts upon the fish living inshore, the communities and the financial value generated for Devon and Somerset. We firmly believe that there has been a positive impact upon the quantity and size of species since the bylaw was instigated as well as an increase in range of some species such as gilthead bream. During previous consultation landing data from the commercial sector highlighted the low commercial importance of these areas. The protection of these nursery and refuge areas, social and economic benefits to recreational angling, coastal communities as well as those further inland surely highlight that this bylaw should not be changed to weaken it. If you fish in the D&S IFCA region, please take a few minutes to contact D&S IFCA using the details below about the positive impacts and future potential the bylaw offers.
More Info
https://www.devonandsevernifca.gov.uk
D&S IFCA Home
ADDRESS: Brixham Laboratory, Freshwater Quarry,
Brixham, Devon,
TQ5 8BA
D&S IFCA Region
GET IN TOUCH
EMAIL: [email protected] PHONE: 01803 854648
OUT OF HOURS: 07740 175479
Back on the River Torridge and the River seems to be at the same level as last week after spells of heavy rain the river has been up and down. The colour is good but it’s still just a little higher than ideal.
I follow the normal ritual drifting the fly across the river hoping a springer will be resting up and ready to take my fly. After several weeks of good water there are undoubtedly salmon throughout the river but they are likely to be well spread out and I feel they will be more likely to intercept our flies when the river drops a little more and they begin to settle into those longstanding resting places.
After fishing most of the beat I take a short break. Setting the rod down I enjoy a packet of crisps and a satsuma. A high pitched familiar piercing cry caught my attention followed by a streak of electric blue as kingfisher streaked past. A movement caught my eye on the muddy bank and a leech was looping towards me in what could almost be a sinister lust for blood.
I had been watching these amazing creatures on Countryfile a few days ago. They are bred in leech farms for use in the NHS.
I fished back down through the beat casting into familiar lies. As I approached the last pool my confidence grew and as I drifted the fly across the hotspot I expected a take. Strangely it didn’t materialise as in the past that feeling has brought success. Next time?
Shortly after writing the above I recieved a report of 9lb salmon caught at Okement Foot by Alistair Blundell.
Combe Martin SAC Spring Rover competition was won by Martin Hunton who caught a fine specimen blonde ray scaling 17lb 5oz. The fish was the best of several ray caught by members fishing out of Minehead aboard Steve Webbers boat Osprey.
Runner up in the clubs competition was Ollie Passmore with a fine bull huss scaling 9lb 10oz.
The members who fished on the boat caught several ray, including thornbacks and blondes. A few smoothound and plenty of dogfish were also boated.
( Below) 1st Stephen Found Small-eyed Ray 9lb 3oz 102.083%
(Below) 2nd Andrew Clements Smalleyed Ray 8lb 9 1/4oz 95.312%
Many thanks to Richard Wilson for sharing his monthly writing on North Devon Angling News. A fascinating topic this month that I can relate to as I have book shelves crammed with books many of which extol the virtues of various flies. Whilst watching a fishing program on TV a few nights ago the experienced ghillie on the river Spey was asked what fly to tie on? ” She replied “The one you believe in”. Whist this was aimed at salmon a complex fish that undoubtedly has unorthodox tendencies there is much truth in this statement for confidence in the fly is perhaps the fly’s greatest attribute.
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Fly fishing is a battle of wits, pitting wily angler against crafty fish. It’s an undisputed fishing fact that it takes a canny fisherman or woman to catch a canny fish.
We know this to be true because clever fisherfolk write books and articles in which their sophistication and guile always win the day. For the rest of us, there are no bragging rights in dumb failure so we scour magazines and the internet hoping for enlightenment.
This quest for wisdom comes down to just one all-important question. It’s the one we ask of every angler we meet on the bank, and it’s the first thing we say to anyone who’s just caught a trout (or salmon, or steelhead): ‘What’s the fly?’ Not ‘how long is that rod’, ‘nice waistcoat’ or ‘that’s a cool net’. Nor do we ask about spiritual incantations or performance-enhancing drugs. Just the fly.
So when it really matters, the summation of centuries of piscatorial knowledge can be distilled to this: ‘What’s the fly?’ There’s nothing wrong with the question, but the answer has caused endless human misery.
Look around you. Magazines promote fancy patterns and bloggers tie sensational flies made with just the hair of their dog. The omnipresent Mega-Weba-Store offers click-bait flies distinguished only by their pornographic names (fish are suckers for sexual innuendo).
This fly-choice conundrum lies at the heart of fly-fishing’s collective neurosis: If we make a bad decision and fish the wrong fly, we will go home empty-handed on a day when everyone else is catching fish on alternate casts. This is the worst humiliation a fly fisherman or woman can suffer.
And there’s no excuse for getting it wrong. Thanks to smartphones we can consult the wisdom of the Interweb 24/7, and even midstream if we are so minded (I’m not). Assuming we have a serviceable rod, line and reel then all we need to do is ‘Match the Hatch’. Who’d argue with that? It’s all about the fly, isn’t it? Yet this smug little slogan, probably coined by a sharp suit on Madison Avenue, opens the door to a world of pain.
The promise is clear: If you, dear reader, can truly Match the Hatch (MTH) no wily trout will ever outwit you again. The river will be your servant and you will be invited to fish the finest beats. People will point you out wherever the great and the good of flyfishing gather.
Becoming an MTH-maestro takes decades of hard graft. Does anybody ever know it all? Of course not. When, eventually, you are confidently armed with enough MTH knowledge you head for the river, observe a major ephemerellid die-in and reach for your spent-wing spinners. Sadly you’ve brought the wrong fly box, so you tie on a Patagonian Gordo Alberto Black & Green Barbless Groucho Bonkster (size 10), and catch the first fish you cast to. And the second. So much for matching the hatch.
The father of all fishing wisdom, Ed Zern, nailed the Match the Hatch myth back in 1945: “Every once in a while, a fly fisherman catches a trout on a trout fly and he thinks this proves something. It doesn’t. Trout eat mayflies, burnt matches, small pieces of inner-tube, each other, caddis worms, Dewey buttons, crickets, lima beans, Colorado spinners and almost anything else they can get in their fool mouths. It’s probable they think the trout fly is some feathers tied to a hook. Hell, they’re not blind. They just want to see how it tastes.”
Well said Ed. I especially like the implicit dumbness in “see how it tastes.”
I don’t know whether Ed had an epiphany moment or if he laboured hard, testing his evolving theory on fish and fly and fag-end combinations. I like to think that as a prolific and creative writer he snatched it from the heavens under pressure from an imminent deadline.
My enlightenment was not a life-changing bolt of inspiration. It seeped in as part of a long, slow, teenage slouch through life, enhanced by 7-days a week access to a wild trout stream. I could cast well enough, name maybe a dozen flies and had little interest in entomology. And I should ‘fess up to a slovenly intellect.
I was also a teenager with no Mega-Weba-Store on a smartphone to seduce me with centrefolds of shiny tackle (Deadly on Trout Streams!! Buy 5, get 1 free!!). In fact, I don’t remember buying any fly-fishing tackle. It was all hand-me-downs from old people, or acquired from my father, or mongrel flies I tied for myself. In my worldview only grown-ups did entomology – why would anyone do Latin outside school?
Most importantly, whatever it was that I was doing, it worked. I was catching fish, and enough of them to get noticed locally. Hardly fame, but enough to induce a quiet confidence in an otherwise wobbly teenage life.
Hindsight and self-delusion are the two elemental forces of fishing so, like most humans, I needed a theory to rationalise my modest achievement. It was clear to me that fly choice was only cursorily related to catching fish, making entomology dead on the water, just like Latin. Although given the maxim that you can’t catch a fish without a line in the river, it seemed prudent to put on a fly on the end. After that fly size mattered somewhat, but not much else. So that left presentation, which was all about casting – and that suited my slouchy narrative very well.
There was, I decided, a commanding skill to be drawn from reading water and wind and then subduing them with my split cane wand. The summit of achievement was landing a fly with delicacy and precision just above the nose of a chosen trout. At the time I didn’t talk about this because I thought any grown-up with half a brain would have seen my approach for the slacking I knew it to be. Only later in life have I come to think there was truth in my stoner logic. And these days I’m rather less fantastical about my much better handling carbon rods.
Most of my fly tying focused on making flies that sort-of resembled proper grown-up flies, but within the limits of materials scavenged at home. I can only claim one original creation and its purpose was to extend fishing time into near darkness without missing closing time in the pub. It was big, fluffy and white and could be seen under the far bank as the last of the grey bled slowly out of the dying day. It caught fish – occasionally big fish – thereby delivering further evidence that whatever it was that flies did, it wasn’t preordained by the pseudo-science of MTH. And it kept me on the bank into that magical time when the light fades and all is hushed, except the bats.
So, fast forward to today. How did we end up in a world dominated by a rigid fly orthodoxy so closely matched to the stock offerings of multinational tackle companies? A world where the vast majority of artificial flies only ever catch humans swimming in an internet awash with fly-porn. Ask yourself how many flies you own and how many fish you caught last year.
What was once a slow-moving evolutionary struggle between fish and homo sapiens has become a turbo-charged arms race fuelled by merchants and influencers keen to sell stuff. And while humanity has made an intense intellectual and financial commitment to the fight, the fish are less bothered. Indeed, the fish seem to be just as relaxed about it as they ever have been. The canny angler tries to think like a trout and second-guess his enemy, but no trout has ever repaid the compliment. I can’t say whether this makes trout clever or not (OK, it doesn’t), it’s just that fish don’t waste as much time on us as we do on them. They have better things to do.
Nature ensures that dumb fish are as widely distributed as their smarter brethren, and probably in much greater numbers – just like fishermen, you might say. And yet, for reasons I can’t fathom, smart fishermen never waste their time catching dumb fish. At least not in print. Perhaps it’s too easy? Or maybe clever fish make better copy?
Dumb fish, it seems, are only caught by dumb anglers relying on dumb luck. Hmm. It works pretty well for me ….
So, after a lifetime on the bank, here’s what I know: Dry flies come in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. They have wings, mostly. They are barbless. How well they float depends on their mood.
That’s it.
