A Day at Bellbrook

I have recently had the pleasure of  re-educating a friend of mine in the gentle art of fly fishing.The friend in question is Aubrey. He and his wife have recently moved from Surrey to the Devon town of Crediton. While they were down here house hunting they stayed with us in Dousland. Aubrey was fascinated to hear my fishy tales and to learn that there is so much water to fish here in the county. 

The trouble was Aubrey hadn't picked up a rod since 1974. So before we could go fishing we had a couple of sessions casting practice on his lawn and we talked entomology. We then went fishing at Kennick, where Aubrey managed to hook a few and got teased by many 'plucking' takes, but until yesterday the poor chap hadn't actually got a fish on the bank.

Aubrey lives  near Bellbrook Fishery; a group of very pretty and quiet lakes at Oakford near Tiverton. This was a good opportunity for me to try a new water and, hopefully, find Aubrey a local fishery he could visit on future occasions with a degree of confidence. Bellbrook has six lakes altogether, one of which is a so-called specimen lake. They run down a lovely wooded valley and are joined together by a gently babbling brook which helps to keep the water moving and aerated. Most pools are clear to about 5 feet but are much deeper.

When we arrived just before eleven o'clock on a bright but cool July morning we were pleased to find we were the only people fishing . We opted for three fish tickets and decided to fish in adjoining lakes, within earshot and view of each other. I put a trusty Blue Damsel Nymph on the leader; seeing many 'naturals' around the waters edge, and on my second cast was in to a lively rainbow which turned out to be 2lbs 4ozs.

First fish of the day - 2lb 4oz

Aubrey was fishing the next pool up the valley. He had opted to fish a Green Montana Nymph. After my early fish things went quiet so we both changed flies. A few casts later we were both were into fish. I landed another good rainbow. Unfortunately Aubrey lost his fish after a three minute tussle.

The sky now took on a heavy grey hue and within a short time the heavens opened and we found ourselves as wet as the trout. A quick sandwich lunch was the order of the day. Duly fortified we decided to fish the large bottom lake where we could easily fish together. 

Fishing a Gold-head Daddy Long-Legs I hooked a trout that took out twenty-five yards of line was clearly a very fit trout indeed! It kept running hard and taking more line. After a couple of minutes the combined weight of the fish, the line and a several pounds of weed in which it had become entangled, proved too much for the knot tying my leader to the fly and off went a very lucky trout. A few casts later I was in again and had my third and final fish. 

A satisfying full bag to end the day

I gave Aubrey the Daddy Long-Legs and within half an hour he landed trout of 4lb 0oz and 3lbs 8ozs. So a very happy day all round.

Aubrey - damp but happy

Mark Clark

June Reflections

Ken looks satisfied - a limit bag on 6th June in bright conditions

Now we are in early July it is worth reflecting back on Burrator fishing in June. The month, it seemed to me, was one of transition where, at the beginning, the weather was still quite mixed; some days nice and warm and others still quite chilly especially once the sun went down. Fish were still mostly taken in the middle of the day so hanging on for a good evening rise was largely a waste of time. The above picture shows Ken Hindley, our former chairman and long standing member, looking pleased with a nice bag of rainbows taken on a bright afternoon. By the time of our club competition on 11th June the conditions were changing rapidly, as Mike Duckett reports below:

Club Competition - Wednesday 11th June
It was a fine warm day, perhaps too warm for wearing waders and not wading. A couple of times I had to get in to the water just to cool my lower regions down!

Pat - June competition winner with five fish for 7lb 3oz

Because of my personal circumstances I had to fish early and be home by 4.00pm. Tony Vallack and I arrived about 9.00am and found John Jeffrey already there and into a fish. I elected to fish from the roadside bank that runs from the smaller dam to the Longstone Manor. I fished the first hour with nothing to show so switched to a Montana Nymph on a floating line. As I was making that change Pat Power arrived and began fishing what is fast becoming known as Stockie Corner. All of a sudden I began to catch fish. I don't know if it was the change of fly that did it or the way Pat seems to attract fish to the area. Whatever the reason the change was almost instantaneous and I landed my five fish limit in the next hour. Pat was hooking them at the same rate, with John all the time shouting encouragement. His cries of 'Not another one Pat' could, I'm sure, be heard over at the dam. 

Mike's five

Tony, meanwhile, tried a number of spots on the Longstone Peninsula and located fish by tempting them with a Dawson's Olive Nymph. When I met up with him later he had found a number of fish out on the point, and, fishing his favourite intermediate line, landed another three fish in a very short time.

In  the end Pat Power won it with a total weight of 7lb 3oz.

Tony on The Point - a picture of concentration

Boat Fishing & Brown Trout
As the month went on, and the boat was returned from its brief sojourn to Fernworthy for use in the Commonwealth Fly Fishing Championships, it got progressively more use. Mike Duckett, Peter Macconnell, Pat Power, and a couple of new members have been getting afloat. Initially catches were quite good with the best rainbow falling to a size 14 Kate McClaren fished by Peter Macconnell. Though by the end of the month the weather and consequently the water had become so warm that fishing near the surface was unproductive. Mike Duckett, however, had a decent bag one evening by fishing the extra-fast sink line and a white Booby Nymph. The fish were in ten to fifteen feet of water and a bit further offshore than is typically the case.

Another feature of the boat fishing throughout June has been the pleasing increase in the number of brown trout caught. They tend only to be round half to three-quarters of a pound but are feisty little fighters and beautiful to look at.

3lb 10oz - from the boat

A typical Burrator Brownie

Chew on That!

Two Damsel Nymphs - What happened to the one on the left?

5.00am Thursday 26^th June saw me spring out of bed with boyish enthusiasm, as seven of us from the Burrator Fly Fishers prepared to head north up the M5 into the Mendip Hills to fish at Chew Valley Reservoir. 

Now, I’ve fished at Chew at least a dozen times before, mainly in competitions, and the quality of the fish, the water, the breakfast and the tackle shop in the Woodford Fishing Lodge are second to none. I just couldn’t wait to get there and for my friends and I to have a memorable day.

I picked up Kelvin Nikulin en-route to Peter Macconnell’s house, where we piled into his car and headed off to pick up Tony Vallack. By the time we’d got on the A38, I think they were already becoming bored with my tales of leaping fish, smashed leaders and full bass bags. On arrival at Chew we booked in, bought our tickets and consumed our breakfasts and met up with Linda James before heading down to our boats. By now I think my car partners were ready to push me in the reservoir just to shut me up and douse my enthusiasm !

Chew Reservoir is set in beautiful countryside. The weather overnight had changed from the hot, almost windless, early June summer we’ve had, to an overcast but bright day with a brisk’ish veering wind from the southwest. The warden in the Lodge said it had been 'challenging fishing' for a couple of weeks, but that the change should see an improvement, so to stick to the ‘Chew formula’ of teams of Buzzers, Hawthorns and Damsels on a long leader or an intermediate line.  

Linda had elected to fish from the bank but the other six; myself and Kelvin, Tony and Peter, and Tony Hooper and his brother all opted for the boats. So the six of us headed for the west bank of the reservoir. Linda made for the deep water of the north shore. 

After 45 minutes without so much as a tug, Kelvin and I headed for the back of the wind across the reservoir and we sat in a calm reeded area, verging the ripple, in the hope that this would be where the trout were now gorging themselves on the plentiful chironomids, hawthorn flies, and blue and green damsels that buzzed all around us.  

We had been drifting gently for a while when, as I went to lift my flies from the water, I thought I’d caught the bottom. I gave the rod a couple of yanks to free the leader and then began a 15 minutes tug-o-war with something very un-trout like in its behavior. We were towed in various directions for some time before a beautifully marked pike of five or six pounds poked its head above the water. Kelvin very kindly offered to net it, but as I pulled the fish in it took one look at him and headed for the bottom again. It did this several times more before we got the net under it. There, firmly embedded in the 'scissors' was my blue and green hothead damsel fly. Hook removed using a pair of neoprene gloves as protection and photos taken of only the second pike I’ve caught on a fly, I held my new pike PB in the water until it recovered and headed back to the depths.

A personal best pike - but not for long

Once I had got my breath back I checked the flies, leader and knots and cast back in. Now where were those trout ? 

Another twenty minutes saw us drifting on to an area known as the 'Sunken Island'. Half way through a short jerky retrieve my rod tip bent round and there was a reassuring knocking from the business end of the line. 'This feels more like a trout', I said to Kelvin, 'I think we’ve found them at last'. Suddenly the rod took on a frightening curve. Visions of a new Chew Reservoir Trout Record flashed before my eyes; articles in Trout & Salmon, free tackle form top manufacturers, oh the glory, where would it all end ! 

Once again we were being towed all over the place and a dark green 'submarine' appeared some way from the boat, until it disappeared in a tail-thrashing dive back into the depths. Kelvin laughed madly as my jaw dropped in amazement.. How was I going to get this fish in the net, let alone the boat? ? After some considerable tussling, grunting loudly, and complaining about how my arms were aching, the fish made a last break for freedom but finally was in the net. I heaved it aboard and the arms of the net bent beyond repair. Unfortunately we didn’t have any scales to weigh the fish but Kelvin and I agreed that this, my second pike, was twelve to fourteen pounds. Amazingly, it too had taken the hothead damsel fly, which was, once again securely in the 'scissors'. However, the bend of the hook was now almost straightened out; with one more run it would have been free. Now that’s fisherman’s luck !  Once the photos were taken by my boat partner, I unhooked the beautiful beast, held it to let it recover, and it slowly swam downwards.

Now that is a 'Personal Best'!

After that it was all an anti-climax. A move to another location saw me hook a Perch of about a pound and a half, but still no trout.

Still not a trout!

So, where were the twenty thousand trout hiding in this reservoir? With numerous moves by our three boats, and all the other boats we saw, we covered most points of the compass. With all our different lines from floaters to ultra fast sinkers, to say nothing of  many changes of fly, we were unable to find a single trout between between us. So at 4.45pm we headed back to the Lodge to find Peter and Tony already packed up a deeply fed up. It turned out that only three trout had been caught that day, and not by any of us.

However, I had the compensation of two very splendid pike to make  an otherwise uneventful day one I won’t forget for many years.

Mark Clark 

Taking the high road once again

A brace from Loch Craggie

On Saturday 7^th June Jon Perry and I set off for another week of brown trout fishing in the Scottish Highlands. Last year we went to Loch Watten in Caithness, the story of which can be found in the post Watten Long Way of July 2013. This time our base was to be Lairg in Sutherland, some 688 miles from Plymouth. We were off to fish Lochs Shin, Merkland, a’Ghriama, Craggie and Dola for their legendary wild brownies.

Setting off at 4.30am and picking up Jon in Exeter at 5.15am we drove turn and turn about the almost 700 miles; taking thirteen hours including stops for petrol, coffee and food. Our home for the week was the Cairnmuir Caravan Park half a mile outside the village of Lairg. It was cheap and very cheerful, and watched over by a kindly, if slightly eccentric lady and a somewhat growly but good natured Springer Spaniel. In  reality it was just  four caravans in the lady's garden. It proved to be an absolute bargain at £160 for the week and suited us perfectly.

Sunday and Monday were spent fishing two large and very dramatic lochs, which we had booked through the Overscaig House Hotel . Sunday was Loch a’Ghriama the smaller of the two but still very large by comparison with what we are used to down in Devon. There we caught 22 truly wild brownies between us; Jon as usual getting the lion’s share. On Monday it was the two and a half mile long Loch Merkland where 23 wild trout came to our boat. The pictures below will give some idea of the stamp of fish we caught and the grandeur of the scenery in which these two lochs are situated, though it is hard do them justice. Frankly one is lost for superlatives adequately to describe the scene.

On Tuesday we had a frustrating morning fishing a tiny part of the banks of Loch Shin itself. We concentrated our efforts around the point where the Fiag Burn enters the main loch but had only a couple of trout to show. In the evening we took a boat on Loch Craggie, a much more fertile loch set amongst forestry and a couple of miles down an unmetalled road. This loch, quite shallow with alternating areas of weed and rocky shoals, seemed very fertile. On this the first of our three visits to Craggie we took only four fish before we were driven off by unremitting and torrential rain. However the trout were big enough to lead us to think they were feeding well; mainly on sedges and mayfly.

On Wednesday we were due take a boat out on Loch Shin itself, but overnight on Tuesday the wind had really got up and at 9.00am there were ‘white horses’ large enough to put us off. ‘Sassenach Softies’ we may be, but we are not fools. In the end we were able to get a boat on Loch Dola, a much more sheltered and easy loch from which we were able to extract a further 20-odd trout; again not a stocked fish or a rainbow trout in sight.

On Thursday morning Jon bank fished Shin once again while I dossed about and did a bit of shopping. That evening, and all day Friday we fished Craggie again, from which we extracted another 40 or 50 trout including a personal best wild brownie for both Jon and myself.

Our rough estimate is that over the six days of pretty steady fishing Jon had well over 100 wild trout; best 2lb 6oz, and I had around 60; best 2lb 3oz. About a fifth of the fish we caught were taken on virtually static dry flies; mainly mayflies and sedges. The rest were taken pulling wet flies at a fairly brisk pace. The most successful wets were Kate McLaren, Kate McLaren Muddler, Rob Denson Style Cripplers, and various Dabblers and Bumbles. The dries were ‘ginked up’ Sedgehogs, Klinkhammers, and large Mayflies.

We killed and kept only five fish during the week.

Our trip back was another thirteen hour driving relay.

We have already begun to think about where we will go next year.

Here are some more pictures.

Loch a' Ghriama

Typical a' Ghriama fish goes back

The view across Loch Merkland

Jon bank fishing on Merkland

Merkland brownie in the boat

Loch Dola

Jon's best from Craggie - 2lb 6oz

Peter's best 2lb 3oz

Teatime on Loch Craggie

Home for the week

Peter Macconnell

An Away Day at Drift Reservoir, Penzance

We are on our annual family holiday at Porthcurno near Land's End.  There is not a lot of trout fishing this far west and most of the reservoirs have been stocked with coarse fish. Not far away though is Drift Reservoir which is stocked with rainbows and has a head of wild brown trout.  A few years ago Arctic Char were stocked but no one has landed one yet.

I have not fished there previously so read the info provided on the fishery web site - http://www.driftflyfishing.co.uk/ - and went there a couple of days ago.  As it turned out the weather was much more beach than flyfishing!  Glassy calm at times, no cloud cover and hot.

I bought my 3 fish ticket from the self service desk in the boathouse and walked up the west shore.  A little way out were two anglers float-tubing around the aerators.  While I was setting up one of them was into a fish - a good sign, I thought.  My first go-to fly was the Burrator favourite a Daiwl Bach.  I used a floating line with a flouro leader to sink the fly down a little way but after an hour had seen nothing rise and had no interest.

One of the float-tubers paddled over to introduce himself as David Williams the fishery bailiff.  He gave me a few pointers and said he was using the 'washing line' method and had taken several rainbows and browns that morning.  The washing line is two nymphs mounted on a long leader kept just under the surface by a large floating fly on the point.  In this case a virtually unsinkable booby.

I prefer a single fly but following David's advice I did what he suggested.  Tangles are commonplace using three flies especially with a big air-resistant booby on the end.  I did persevere but all to no avail.  While the float-tubers appeared to be have good sport out in the middle of the lake, I finished the day with a blank.  I stayed on into evening in the hope that there may have been a rise but saw nothing moving.  Perhaps an early start may have been more successful or fishing into darkness.

Next time perhaps.....

Lots of Canada Geese & a few Greylags

Fishing the West shore

Two float tubers.  The bailiff David Williams is on the right

Looking up the reservoir from the South

Looking back towards the dam

Another trout for the float tubers near one of the aerators

A Little More From The BFF Competition on 17 May

I met Peter at Longstone to buy my permit.  There was a good attendance from the BFF members and most if not all were fishing around Longstone.  I had not fished the west shore, where the boat is moored, for a long time and after a chat I headed over there parking at the boat slip.

The area recently cleared by Kit and his team did mean that I had no worries about my backcast catching a branch.  The gentle south or southeast breeze put a ripple on the surface although the sun was bright for most of the day. The water level was still high and only a foot or so below the sill on the dam.

I hooked five trout but landed just two. Both were stockies which went 1lb 4oz each.  Hardly any trout were rising but I did try a few casts with my favourite dry fly - an alder.  Nothing doing so it was a change to sub-surface nymphs.  The Daiwl Bach took the first fish soon after and I persevered with it for most of the day.  A slow retrieve on a floating line gave me at least two dozen tugs which I failed to convert to a fish.  I wondered if small brownies were responsible.  Several times the line was jerked back through the rings and I could not believe that they were'nt hooked! 

I packed up around 7pm and only saw one other angler over on the west bank - not a BFF member - who had a rainbow first cast the other side of a clump of willow from where I was fishing. 

Two stockies of 1lb 4oz each

The water was about a foot below the sill

Another brew looking across towards Longstone

The volcano effect!

The boat slip

Burrator Club Competition Saturday 17th May - A lovely day for it.

John Jeffrey wading and fishing in bright sunshine

The weather on Saturday 17th May was more suitable for a day at the beach than one of fly fishing but, nevertheless, nine members turned out and for the most part caught some nice trout. John Jeffrey was the first member on the bank followed shortly by Peter Macconnell. They found the sun already bright, the sky blue, hardly a cloud in sight, and not a breath of wind. This was the state of affairs for the first three hours or so and, unsurprisingly, no fish were caught. Around late morning the wind got up from the south -east and a ripple appeared on the water, as can be seen by the above picture of John fishing on the Longstone Peninsula. This seemed to make the trout a little bolder and soon fish were showing on the top and rods were bending. Senior member Ken Hindley was the first to net a fish, followed by Terry Denley, Peter Macconnell and Mike Duckett.

Nine members turned out for all or part of the day. From the information I have the catches were as follows:
Ken Hindley with four fish for 7lb 0oz.
Pat Power with three fish for 5lb 1oz.
Peter Macconnell with two fish for 4lb 10oz.
Terry Denley with two fish for 3lb 6oz.
Tony Hooper with two fish for 2lb 8oz
Mike Duckett with two fish for 2lb 6oz.
John Jeffrey with one fish for 1lb 7oz.

Here are a few more pictures:

Mike wading deep

Mike's fish