Autumn rains, Autumn leaves

The past two months have seen exceptional rainfall over the Westcountry, with spates occurring consistently every few days. The water was often hopeless for trout fishing, while night sea trouting was pretty well killed off completely before July had even ended. A huge spate in early August saw the Lyd peak at just over 1.8 meters, while another in early September put the Tamar up to 1.76 meters. Trout and sea trout fishing is just about to close down, while we have another fortnight left for the salmon. With 14 fish on our catch charts so far, plus two more from Endsleigh, we have already exceeded last year's rather poor catch of only 13 salmon, while the sea trout total is likely to be just a few fish less than last year (137).

The view down the Tamar at Lyd Foot pool in the first week of August. The monster Lyd spate was proportionally much higher than the Tamar, and has produced a massive bank of gravel and stones right across the pool, running diagonally from the Devon to the Cornish bank, and clearly visible in this photo. The normal tail of the pool can be seen several yards downstream in the distance. It has not stopped salmon from lying near the head of the pool in the Tamar run, which produced fish of 7 and 12 pounds a few days after this shot was taken.

An 18 inch Lyd sea trout. Just a few casts previously David had a take from a salmon which he had just seen show, when this peal took it behaved more like a salmon and until almost in the net David believed he was playing a small grilse.

In early September John Rigby and party came for a couple of nights sea trout fishing, but had to contend with daytime instead due to high and coloured water. It was not a bad call, with John's fish above being well eclipsed by one of four and a half pounds for Steve Lidgate, unfortunately we do not have a picture. This is likely to be our biggest sea trout for this year.

Eliza Pettit with her first salmon, taken on a Beginner's Salmon Course last weekend. The fish was a 22 inch fresh grilse, from Lower Tunnel pool on beat 7B, which took a small Park Shrimp tube fly. The hook and fly came out as soon as the fish was netted, and can be seen in the net. The fish never left the water, and swam away strongly. Eliza's father, James, had an eight-pounder from Tunnel pool only half an hour later.

David Pilkington, hooking a leaf about every third cast, in Silver Doctor pool on the Lyd. As a highly experienced fly fisher who took his first salmon 50 years ago, and with an intimate knowledge of the Arundell Arms water, David spectacularly failed to catch any of the three different salmon which showed in the pool a few minutes after this shot was taken. He is currently seeking advice on technique from Eliza.