The latest from Nick Hart at Exe Valley. These cold calm winter days are great for the winter fly fisher!
Always good to see new faces on the lake and today Andrew, John, Simon & Roger took the trip from Cheddar on a cold January morning. I got the boat out for a bit of ice breaking and the guys nailed some fish. Rogers were camera shy but the 4 of them landed 19 fish with John taking the best bag of 5 at 19lb 8oz with Andrew on 5 for 17lb. All sorts of tactics used including lures and nymphs with sink tips & floaters. Thanks for visiting guys and hope to see you again.
Blakewell Fisheries first competition for the year will be Sunday the 29th January 2017. This is sure to be a popular event with every chance of a big double figure rainbow like the ones pictured below caught during the Christmas Competition.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Clubs winter challenge match at Blakewell fishery saw twelve members competing . All members caught their four fish limit by early afternoon with those who bagged early enjoying socializing with fellow members. Winner of the event was David Eldred with four for 10lb 1oz. Matt Kingdon was runner up with 9lb 10oz and Colin Combe third with 9lb 3oz. David Richards landed the biggest fish a quality brown of 3lb 5oz. Biggest rainbow weighed 3lb 3oz to Colin Combe.
Dave Richards -3lb 5oz brown troutMatt Kingdon in action!
Whilst it is still winter and we may get an icy blast or two before the spring arrives it was hard to believe that spring was not starting to arrive as we walked to the water. Green shoots of blackthorn on the hedge and daffodils emerging from the soil. The sound of a song thrush drifted through the mild air. I chatted with fishery owner Richard Nickel about the forthcoming salmon and sea trout season. It will soon be upon us once again daffodil lined river banks, summer migrants swooping over the water and with luck that tightening of the line as a salmon seizes the fly!
With mild conditions it was never going to be a challenging day and most anglers caught easily. I caught my bag using a bead headed black and green tadpole, a varied retrieve proved effective. After completing my bag I took a stroll around the lake chatting with fellow club members. I was also shown a few fascinating behind the scenes projects including a project to restock freshwater pearl mussels into the Torridge. We were also shown future generations of stock fish. A 2lb rainbow takes around 15 months to rear and a 10lb fish 3 years.
Merry Christmas from Exe Valley Fishery. Escape the house and enjoy some festive fly fishing on Tuesday 27th December 2016
During the time of year when inboxes overflow with never ending marketing and BUY NOW buttons I don’t want to add to the pile so will keep this brief and hope that there may be something of interest!
I would like to wish all the people who have supported the fishery and fly fishing school for so many years a very Merry Christmas, thank you for visiting. If you need to escape into the fresh air next week, we will only be closed on Christmas Day & Boxing Day, reopening on Tuesday 27th Dec 2016.
Christmas opening times…
Blakewell fisheries, including the lake will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, all other days we will be open for business as usual… Merry Christmas to all.
That’s tea sorted; Andy Facey heads for home after a successful day at Blakewell.
Its a busy time at Blakewell as families descend to select their Christmas trees and perhaps chose a tasty goodie from the popular farm shop.
The still-Water trout angler combines a few hours casting for hard fighting trout with taking home fresh trout for tea. Andy Facey above landed six trout to 4lb 8oz in a bag totaling 16lb.
A well marked brown trout of 2lb 8oz for Trevor Whyborn tempted on a green and black gold head montana.
I joined South Molton Angling Club members at the Coach and Horses Inn at South Molton where local Fly Tier Matt Kingdon gave a demonstration of his skills in creating flies and lures to tempt the wisest of trout. Matt used all the latest materials to whip together fur and feather in an impressive display of skill chatting as he tied about the factors that make a good fly, First rule is of course that the fly should be tied on a quality hook! Each fly is tied using features that create triggers to entice the trout, to do this the fly should appear natural in the water. To this I would add that the fly should appeal to the angler for with confidence in the fly comes success.
Local angling guide Bryan Martin also joined in tying a stoats tail salmon fly that I intend to put to good use next season!
Stoats Tail -Variant
In addition to vast range of materials used in tying the flies Matt also gave useful tips such as the use of Hard as nails available from Boot’s and Super drug for varnishing the heads of the flies.
Blakewell Fishery continues its fine winter form for rainbow trout with Michael Featherstone travelling from Axeminster to land a fine brace weighing 10lb 4oz and 9lb 4oz.
Wistlandpound Fly Fishing Club members enjoyed a brown trout bonanza at Bratton Water Trout Fishery where they assembled for their Christmas Competition. All but one of the members who took part successfully completed a four fish bag limit with the trout averaging over three pounds in weight. The first hour of the competition saw the trout on a feeding frenzy with most members catching their days allocation within this golden hour.
The brown trout within the fishery are stunning looking fish each one carrying a distinctive pattern of dark and crimson spots upon their flanks of gold, bronze and buttermilk. Each fish is so much more distinctive than the rainbow trout and in my view deserves a far grander title than brown trout.
Members used a wide range of patterns to tempt their fish with damsel nymphs and small gold-head nymphs all successful.
Winner of the competition was Roger Bray who caught stunning browns of 5lb 4oz, 5lb, 4lb and 3lb 12oz for a total of 18lb.
Runner up in the competition was Matt KIngdon with a four fish bag of 14lb 4oz that included the days biggest trout scaling 6lb 4oz.
Full results
1st Roger Bray 18lb 2nd Matt Kingdon 14lb 4oz 3rd David Eldred 13lb 4oz 4th Wayne Thomas 12lb 5th -Colin Combe 11lb 4oz
6th – Nigel Bird 11lb 7th Andre Muxworthy 10lb 4oz
The event was fished in calm conditions with glimpses of winter sunshine. This intimate lake is nestled within a peaceful valley providing an ideal location for a winters day of trout fishing, After catching their bags of trout members retired to the fishing hut to chat of future plans for the coming year as they drained their flasks of hot tea and coffee.
My own twelve pound bag of stunning trout( Above) would delight from any fishery throughout the country. The lake is certainly well worth a visit over the Christmas period if you fancy tangling with some hard fighting trout; an ideal time to test out those fishing related Christmas gifts.
Blakewell Fishery has produced some superb trout over the past few days with clear water and cooler temperatures fishing has been very rewarding. Kevin Keast travelled from Plymouth and was rewarded with a fine rainbow of 11lb 13oz.
John Harris also enjoyed great sport landing a brace of brown trout each weighing 3lb 8oz.
