Last week a trip to the River Tamar in Cornwall had to be abandoned because of a bridge closure. A very long detour on a bright spring day, along beautiful country lanes, was no substitute for fishing. A dry, sunny, fishing day had been cancelled. Moreover, during a river walk, I had lost the key to the Defender’s battery isolator and had to bodge a connection with a nut and bolt scavenged from a bracket in the cab. On the way home, in the rain, the wipers stopped working. I bought a new key and fixed the wipers. I wanted to fish the pool on the Tavy where, on the last cast of the 2023 season ..read more

The river was at a good level after weeks of spates. The sun was shining but heavy rain was forecast for the afternoon. An early start was required. I left the cottage at 9:00am, that’s early enough. The wood, deep in the Walkham valley, hadn’t been visited for months. There were no footprints or paw prints and the brambles grew across the path. The trees were festooned with bright green lichen and the buds on the hazel trees were only just breaking. I could see the main river from the path, the lack of foliage gave me a long view across the valley to the far side where the fir trees had been ..read more

I visited the lakes a few days ago on a special mission. To help my grandson catch his first trout on a fly. It was a beautiful spring day, no jacket required. Success, he caught two. Mission accomplished. Sunday. Sunny, the week before Easter. Not the best time to open my season but the river level was good and heavy rain was forecast all day Monday. The rivers would be out of action for several days. I had a new rod and it seemed fitting to use it on opening day. My favourite Beat on the River Plym was an obvious choice. The Beat is a mixture of pools and riffles which would give me a chance ..read more

I found myself in the Grosvenor Hotel, Stockbridge, with time to kill. The art deco bar beckoned but there were trout to watch and tackle shops to explore. Along the high street a small trout held station above a road bridge, ready to drift back into cover if unsettled. In a side stream beside the pavement, a much larger fish waited on a patch of pale gravel for bread or pellets. I had neither and it eventually slid upstream to rest alongside the pillar of a bridge. The late afternoon January sky threatened rain and it was chilly. Time to seek refuge in a tackle shop.   Five years earlier I h ..read more

It had been dry and very cold for a few days, the Tamar at Greystone Bridge had dropped to 0.41m and the grayling would be hungry. I left the cottage at lunchtime and had to scrape the ice off the car. The bright blue cloudless sky and still air made it feel like Spring. Halfway there I realised that I had left my waders in the garage. Not a problem, I don’t like wading. The water level, speed and colour were all perfect. I walked to the first croy, decided that the icy ‘Ladder of Death’ looked a bit too risky and walked further upstream to the other holding pool. I stood in shallow water, fa ..read more

  Its early January, the rain is running down the garden path, filling the gutters on its way to the river. A series of eight named Autumn storms have left Dartmoor saturated and the rivers on the western edge of the moor are in constant spate. The River Walkham thunders through the village, under the old bridge, sweeping away woody debris, moving stones and washing the bedrock clean. Every day I cross the bridge and pause, looking for signs of fish in the glides each side of the cutwaters. The water is a couple of feet above its normal level and running clear. The salmon have had plenty of o ..read more

Memorable images from my 2023 season. It was a good year. The rivers were full and I caught a few trout. River Plym I fished on thirty occasions from March to the end of September, split evenly between Sussex and Devon. February Water Nymphs February in Devon was very dry, only 2mm of rain fell. The high moor dried quickly. The rivers and brooks were full but the water levels were dropping. We needed a lot of rain in March. River Cad in March At the end of March it rained. A lot. Little Springs The start of the season in Sussex was cold. River Plym, Bickleigh April was cold and wet, the ..read more

My favourite nymph, my car park fly. Tied on size 12 and 14 hooks, it accounted for most of my 2023 trout. Of course it did, I seldom used another nymph pattern. The Hares Ear history is not well documented. It appears to have started life as a dry fly with a hares fur tail and body, a rib of flat gold tinsel and a starling wing. Halford is said to have dressed the pattern as a winged dry fly. In 1832 David Hemming of Redditch first tied and named the Gold Ribbed Hares Ear. The 1973 edition of John Veniards ‘Fly Dressers Guide’ lists a hair wing version using grey bucktail. There is also a wet ..read more

Saturday 30 September, the last day of the Devon trout season. I had returned to Devon after chasing big trout in Sussex. I wanted to fish on the last day of the Devon season, irrespective of conditions. Storm Agnes, the UK’s first big autumn storm, fizzled out mid-week and left the river levels up slightly. The morning was bright and breezy so I waited until early afternoon. The sky became overcast and rain was forecast for the evening. Conditions were perfect. I chose Bob Southwell’s “The Blagdon”, my much abused Hardy Marquis and an old Rio Creek WF4. I would celebrate the end of the season ..read more

Saturday, 23 September, 7:50am, the autumn equinox. Not that I was awake at that time. The transatlantic remnants of hurricane Nigel had dumped rain across the country and the river was unfishable. The lakes at Little Bognor were the obvious destination. The steep sides of the valley and the mature trees would channel the warm southwest wind up the lake and the low sun would set the autumn colours alight. I chose to drive towards Fittleworth via Bedham and pause briefly by the entrance to Brinkwells, the home of the artist Rex Vicat Cole whose studio was rented by Sir Edward Elgar in 1918. I a ..read more