Arundell Arms Fly Collections Now Available!

Our fly tiers have been incredibly busy of late... top-quality, deadly selection packs of flies, tied to our instructors' specifications are now available. Click the link below to order or for more information:

ARUNDELL ARMS FLY COLLECTIONS

It all started with a cream tea

The salmon fishing has been superb for this early in the season, and Alex Prentice successfully landed the tenth of the year yesterday...

"My darling wife has been rather poorly so I thought bringing her to the Arundell  Arms for a cream tea.

So, sat there with scone in hand, I said I wish I could go fishing and to my delight she said off you go then!!!

To cut a long story short I fished all the way down beat 7a losing hope of breaking my salmon virginity and then I reached lydfoot pool and thought how am I going to fish this as it just looked like a mass of swirling currents coming from all sides. I cast into the bottom of what I presume is the Lyd and let the fly swing through the pool and started to line up for the next cast and hooked into a stone, this was no stone I had ever encountered before!! As far as I'm aware, stones don't take off down stream shaking their heads and then summersault in the air!!!! Thirty minutes later and my first salmon was on the bank, I didn't really want to get it out of the water but being on my own I had to get some photographic proof....

Thank you Arundell Arms, I'm no longer a Salmon virgin! Make your own minds up about the weight but I guess ten pounds, it broke my net!"

Alex Prentice

Arundell Arms Macnab Report, June 18th.

Catch a brown trout, sea trout and bass on a fly in one day. It was always going to be a tough challenge, and yesterday, overnight rain had ruined our chances of night fishing for the sea trout. Thankfully the wind, swell and tides were spot on for the bass. Guests Martin Plummeridge and Geoff Gaskell were joined by hotel instructors David and Tim and regular rod Alexander Jones to take up the challenge. Pictures tell the story better, but in short the bass fishing was electric with well over 50 fish landed and while the sea trout avoided us, a couple of small brownies were landed and Geoff finished his day in style, by landing his first salmon on the Lyd. As I type, Martin continues his quest for a daytime sea trout on the Lyd!

Heading out in anticipation of the flooding tide...

Perfect conditions for estuary bass fishing.

Geoff into a small yet lively school bass.

Stillwater nymphs work for bass too!

Martin hooks a schoolie under his rod tip.

Another for Geoff in just a foot or so of water.

North Devon's answer to tropical fly fishing?!

Martin with a typical estuary school bass.

The perfect silver predator.

David Pilkington sends a long cast out with his 5wt rod.

We lost count of the numbers of fish!

Back to the Lyd and Geoff cradles his first ever salmon; 8 1/2lb on a GH Black Tadpole.

Searching for a sea trout. 

Night fishing was off but the day finished with a warm evening on the Lyd.

Recent Photographs

The view from beat 3, River Lyd.

David Bolton fishes beat 3.

Nymphing for trout at Hartley Weir, River Lyd.

The beech tree at Beech Tree Pool, beat 2, River Lyd.

Mayfly spinner, River Tamar.

A lovely 11-incher for Christopher Clarke; beat 9b, River Tamar.

Carey Foot, River Tamar.

A bright little rainbow for Aiden De Cadenet, Tinhay Lake.

David Pilkington's monster 8lb brown trout from Tinhay Lake.

A happy instructor with his stunning brownie; caught on a size 12 Black Buzzer.

It's easy to see how these big brown trout will eat the small rainbows!

Three musketeers wait for darkness above Hartley Weir.

The run below PT's Pool, River Tamar.

Latest Update

With very localised, thundery showers, the rivers are looking a little murky today. It's impossible to tell what will happen with the forecast predicting more of the same over the next few days. Until the rain came, trout fishing yesterday was superb with anglers on the Lyd enjoying terrific dry fly sport. The Ottery currently remains clear, as does the Wolf, and this extra water bodes very well for continued good salmon fishing on the Tamar once the water clears. To keep an eye on conditions, don't forget to check out the webcams on the Lyd and Tamar, updated every 10 seconds (click on the links on the right hand side of this page).

Flaming June!

After some excellent trout fishing over the last couple of weeks, the migratory fish are now coming to the fore. The brownies gave superb sport while rivers were low, but a five-foot flood last Friday rather spoiled dry fly fishing. On Saturday, as the spate fell away Nick Sargeant had our second sea trout of the season, a very fresh fish of around a pound, released in Silver Doctor pool on the Lyd. David Morel fished a  large fly for salmon in Quarry pool on the Tamar, without success, his wife Jo followed him down and in ten minutes was playing a spanking fresh 9-pounder, carefully released after photos.
Today Mike Haines also put a large fly through Quarry pool, rewarded with another superb fresh fish, this one 31 1/2 inches, a conservative 12 pounds. Fish were sprinting over the gauging weir on beat 9a on Saturday, with more rain forecast they will just keep coming.