Burrator Boat Thursday 14th July 2016

Most of the shore anglers are members of the BFFA

Fishing the northern, shallower end of Burrator

The anglers only area at Longstone

Peter & I lunched at Longstone

Peter with one of several brownies

Ashore for an afternoon brew

The water level was quite low

Peter & I took the boat out at Burrator on a day of sunshine with only a gentle breeze.  Several other BFFA members were fishing at Longstone and we also met an ex-colleague of Peter's when we went ashore for lunch.

The water level was low and fishing at the top end we had to be careful not to run onto the odd big boulder or stony bank just under the surface.  We saw very little surface activity all day but did boat four rainbows and one blue as well as several beautifully marked brown trout.

Pollack on the Fly - Mike & Tony's trip to Ireland

Our accommodation for the week - Elmville B & B

On Friday 1st July We (Tony Vallack and Mike Duckett) set off for Ireland by ferry from South Wales to Rosslaire. We have been to Southern Ireland several times before and visited Co. Wexford, Co. Waterford,  Co.Cork, Co. Kerry and Co. Galway in our time. This time we were going earlier in the year than is usual for us. We have mostly gone in the Autumn before. Our plan was to base ourselves in Cobh, Co. Cork, a very attractive and fishing friendly town inside the massive Cork Harbour, which is supposedly one of the best sea fishing spots on the whole of the southern Irish coast.

In advance of our visit we had contacted a local fishing guide, Richie Ryan, who takes anglers fishing for bass and pollack from his boat. So we booked with him and he recommended that we base ourselves at Elmville B & B which overlooks the harbour and is only a few hundred yards from where is boat is moored. Richie, a retired Irish Navy Commander, advertises himself as the first licenced saltwater fly fishing guide in Ireland and the local expert on fly fishing for bass. However, in our case, he turned out to be much more of a pollack expert. For some reason the bass were particularly hard to come by during the week we were there, but we had a real bonanza on the pollack.

Mike with one of the week's  rare bass

Mostly we fished in 20-30 feet of water using fast sinking lines and very slow retrieves. The killing fly was on of our guides' own design, 'Richie's Raider'. We caught dozens of pollack and a few bass and got taken into the kelp and broken up a time or two. We kept the odd fish for the landlady, Olive O'Brien, at the B & B, but mainly we returned them. Here are a couple more pictures.

A typical fly caught pollack

Another one for Tony

Bass again for Mike

We were disappointed not to get more bass but had a very good time anyway and may well be back again next year.

All the best and tight lines...Tony & Mike

Return to the Highlands - Part 2

Peter asked me to post a summary of what happen at Corriekinloch after he left us on Sunday. The main features of the second week were that we started to catch a few, consistently larger fish from the bank of Loch Shin, mostly by fishing a little deeper than we had been doing and using some less traditional flies such as bead headed lures. Interestingly most fish still took the dropper which for me was usually a Golden Olive Bumble but it seemed as if the weighted lure made a difference in presentation that attracted bigger fish.

Lovely looking Fish from the tiny stream outside the house

Fish of about 1lb 4oz from Loch Shin

Phil experiencing tough going

We also hiked to a much more distant hill loch. This was tough going, taking us some two hours to cover about five miles to get there. The picture on the right gives an idea of the terrain. The Loch is called Loch Bealach a Mhadaidh. We decided to go there on a tip from some anglers who called at the house, they were heading into the hills themselves and advised us of this as a good option. It was a wonderful place, directly under a hill called Conival west of Ben More. We watched a Golden Eagle mob an Osprey and chase it off. We all caught trout and I had a red letter day with eight between 10 and 12oz and innumerable smaller fish. Almost all the fish I caught were on Sedgehoges which for me was probably the most productive fly of the whole trip. These were often taken within seconds of landing in the heavy chop produced by the strong Easterly wind. We were all exhausted when we got back, but it was a great day. Other than that we continued to fish hard everyday until late into the evening, we explored some areas of Loch Shin which were new to me, the loch is vast and has miles of fishing which rarely if ever sees a bank angler. We had a tough, windy but very enjoyable day on Loch Merkland with Phil and Kev taking good fish and lots of small ones. Loch Craggie remained poor and the River became very difficult to fish because a strong and cold downstream wind, though Kev had some success using a French Leader set up and heavy nymphs.

                                    Loch Bealach a Mhadaidh

Overall we had a great couple of weeks, caught loads of fish, though nothing huge, got eaten alive by midges and had a great time. For those who have never tried it I recommend highland fishing. The fish may not be the biggest but the places you can catch them will make your heart sing.

BFFA Competition & BBQ at Burrator on Saturday 25th June 2016

Eight members of the club arrived at Longstone to fish the June competition.  The weather forecasters were giving a few showers with a cool north westerly breeze and some sunshine.  I took the water temperature which was about 16C.  The air temperature was a little less and had dropped farther by the evening.


We all fished around Longstone and as usual the wind was from the right along the south facing shore making right-handed casting tricky on that side.  Bob fished near the point and used a floating line with two buzzers.  He allowed the line to drift across in front of him in the breeze slowly taking the buzzers along.  He successfully netted two brownies for 2lb 5oz - both returned - and five rainbows for 5lb.


The rest of us were less successful: Myself - nil, Linda - nil, Terry - nil, Peter - 1 rainbow for 1lb 5oz, TonyV - 1 blue for 1lb 13oz, Pat - 1 blue for 1lb 1oz and I don't know what Ken landed.


After the weigh-in at 3pm we assembled near the Longstone Manor for a BBQ.  We were joined by Jenny & Ziggy the spaniel,  Gill & Honey the retriever and Sue who brought some of the food.


The dropping air temperature and northerly breeze was quite a bit colder than the water in the reservoir which is never good for trout fishing. (Except for Bob, of course!)


Two of Tesco's finest picnic bbq trays were lit and within an hour we were enjoying the first of the burgers & sausages.  The two dogs were extremely well behaved and despite the lovely smells wafting their way they managed to ignore it completely.  We were joined for a while by Neil who is the Countryside & Angling Manager for Devon based at the Burrator Discovery Centre.  We sat in Peter's gazebo for tea and coffee with some of Linda & Gill's excellent cake.  A great way to end a day at Burrator.

Bob had two brownies on the same cast - Pat helps to release them

Peter's rod bends into a rainbow

....which he safely nets

The BBQ at Longstone

Peter brought his gazebo

The Kelley Kettles boiling the water for a brew of tea and coffee



We try out the gazebo.  Ziggy on the left with Jenny & Honey with Peter & Gill



Longstone

Looking towards the Sheepstor Dam

Away Day to Bellbrook Trout Fishery, Tiverton Thursday 16th June 2016

Five members visited Bellbrook a fishery near Tiverton to sample the fishing in the six lakes.
www.bellbrookfishery.co.uk  There are a wide range of tickets available that started at £20 for catch & release to a 6 fish limit at £55.  One of the six lakes - Ironmill - is a specimen lake stocked with rainbows, blues & browns from 4lb up to very large fish that includes doubles.  The other five lakes are stocked with 2lb plus trout.

I was staying with Sue in our caravan for a few days near Tiverton.  It wasn't far to Bellbrook from the caravan site on the Grand Western Canal for the 10am start.  I arrived as TonyV was cooking the bacon baps (perfect timing & excellent, thank you Tony!).  Tony, Pat, Bob & Kelvin had travelled up from Plymouth. The fishery owner, Chris Atwell, arrived as we were buying our permits.

The fishery is based on two small valleys with the specimen lake in one valley and the other five in the next valley.  All of us headed down to the specimen lake where the fishing is from wooden platforms around the lake. At times we could see the trout in the fairly clear water and on several occasions I watched fish come up to my damsel nymph fly only to turn away at the last.  At lunchtime I walked back up to the fishing hut and then up the other valley to try another lake with Kelvin and Tony.   It was sunny and warm so we had left our waterproofs at the cars.  Needless to say, we hadn't been fishing on Exmoor Lake long before a very black cloud headed our way accompanied by a very heavy shower of rain.

I changed to a dry black daddy long legs alternating to a black gnat from time to time.  I had one rainbow on the dry daddy which later went 2lb 12oz.  At 3pm we met at the hut for the weigh-in.
Pat had taken one rainbow on the specimen lake and at 5lb was the winning fish. Bob had one for 3lb 13oz, and I had the one of 2lb 12oz.  Kelvin & I decided to fish on after the others had headed back to Plymouth and we went up to Sedgemoor Lake where Kelvin had a rainbow of 3lb on a floating black beetle.  I persevered with the dry fly but was quite unable to connect with all the swirls and pulls from apparently interested trout.


Kelvin & I packed up around 6.30.

A view of the rearing ponds and Ironmill - the specimen lake

The specimen lake

TonyH at the specimen lake

A very heavy shower at Exmoor Lake



All quiet again at Exmoor Lake

TonyV fishing Sedgemoor Lake

Pat with his rainbow of 5lb

The fishing party - left to right TonyH, TonyV, Pat, Bob & Kelvin

Looking up Sedgemoor Lake

Kelvin casting a black beetle on Sedgemoor

and about to land a 3lb-er

Return to the Highlands - Part I

For the last three years fellow BFFA member Jon Perry and myself have made a trip north to fish for wild brown trout in the Scottish Highlands. In 2013 we went to Caithness, mainly to fish the famous Loch Watten. Our posting on here from June of that year, 'Watten Long Way to Go', tells the story. Then for the last two years we have based ourselves in the Lairg/Loch Shin area of Sutherland, about seventy miles north of Inverness. Both those trips are recorded in blog posts on this site. This year we went to the Loch Shin area again but with four key differences:

• We moved up-market in accommodation, from a fairly grubby caravan, to a rather splendid estate cottage.
• There were four of us as we were joined by Phil and Kevin Stuckey who are Jon's lifelong fishing pals. Very good anglers both, but fairly new to fly fishing.
• We fished rivers as well as lochs.
• I didn't end up in intensive care in hospital at Inverness. See last year's report  'Scotland 2015 - A trip with a difference' posted on 7th July.

The House and the Estate

Jon found the accommodation once we had decided that there would be four of us and that we would go for up to two weeks. I only stayed eight days, I didn't want to push my luck after last year, but Jon Phil and Kev stayed the whole of the fortnight; hence this being Part I. Jon will post about the second week in Part II. What Jon found was a four bedroomed house in beautiful scenery with both loch and river fishing included, set in a private highland estate. This proved to be fabulous value for money with absolutely heart-lifting surroundings and exciting fishing, though by no means specimen hunting.

The House

The white dot in the middle is the house

Boat fishing the lochs

This, previously our daily fishing when up north, played a much smaller role in our adventures. This was partly because, on the main loch we chose to book boats, Loch Craggie, the fishing was not up to the standard of  previous years. Loch Beannach, which Jon and I had fished only once before, proved to be a much better bet and and more enjoyable day out for four of us.

Sunset on Loch Craggie

Loch fishing from the bank 

Jon, Kev & Phil - about the set off for Loch na Stoine Luime

Kev fishing the hill loch - Snow on Ben More in the background

Access to the banks of Lochs Merkland and Loch  Ghriama were available free from the estate from whom we rented the house. Additionally numerous hill lochs could be reached by a mixture of off-road driving and walking into the hills. I only went to one, Loch na Stoine Luime, which was a tolerable walk, though over quite difficult ground in places. From these waters we took scores and scores of fish over the week I was there; all truly wild and those we kept were really delicious.

Tackling up by the roadside

Three for tea

Fishing the river

This, from my point of view at least, proved to be the highlight of the stay. Again this was fishing that came with the house. There were wild brown trout from an ounce or two up to a pound and a few a bit more than that. On at least two days I estimate that I caught more than fifty fish, frankly I lost count. The other three all caught at least as many as me and probably more.

A brace from the river - on Elk Hair Sedge dry fly

The River

Laying a ghost

Given that last year I had become quite unwell and ended my trip in the NHS Highland Air Ambulance on the way to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, I was able to return, enjoy myself immensely, drink a bit (not too much) eat fabulous food thanks to Jon's and Kev's efforts in the kitchen, and fish as intensively as I have done for many years.

To quote Paul Whitehouse

Friday the 13th - A Day on Burrator in the Boat

I booked the boat through Richard a few days ago.  The forecast for Friday 13th May was favourable but with possible thundery showers during the day.  Sue came with me but wasn't fishing.  We arrived at the new boat pontoon around 10am.  There was a stiff breeze from the northeast and threatening clouds headed our way.  I fitted the electric outboard and we set off to fish the bay between the Sheepstor dam and Longstone Point.  The rain wasn't long in coming and it was on with the waterproofs.  There were a few other anglers on Longstone and one shouted out that he had seen some trout rising along the shore.  I alternated between a dry fly and a lure fished deep.  I saw very little surface activity all day. 


Around midday the rain stopped, the wind died away and it became quite warm.  The first brew with the Kelly Kettle was on the south shore between the two dams. While we were there I saw the Evenden's from Milemead Fish Farm delivering a load of trout over at Longstone.  Richard later told me that there were about 180 trout that included around 50% blues.


I motored up towards the north and much shallower end of the reservoir.  I had nothing show any interest in my dry fly - a biggish black gnat - but hooked and lost three brownies or rainbows on the white Cat's Whisker or a black Nomad.  Later, I netted and returned two lovely brownies on a small Cat's Whisker with a sinking line just off the shore below the Burrator Discovery Centre.  I saw a few trout landed by anglers  fishing the shore at Longstone.   In the afternoon there were eight of them lining the shore but they had all gone when I went in.


In the evening I had some casts close to the shore between the two dams.  The Cat's Whisker on an intermediate sinking line was snatched by a slim but feisty blue trout that was an ounce over 2lb.


Richard has done some great work with the pontoon and boats.  Currently with the water level still quite well up it is not necessary to use the running mooring.  When I passed Richard in the Wheelyboat I noted that he was sitting in one of those 'director's' chairs that has a handy lift up table attached.  I guess the Wheelyboat would not be easily rowable but with an electric outboard it is a very stable platform.  Don't forget the chairs, though!

Ashore for lunch and the first brew

The Kelly Kettle in action again

Milemead delivering more trout at Longstone



Glassy calm but nothing rising



Ashore for another tea break opposite Longstone

2lb 1oz blue trout on a Cat's Whisker

Richard was out in the evening on the Wheelyboat