Late March, and the trout season is open!

A few dry days, and a decent spell of sunshine, have transformed our little world at Lifton. Storms Freya and Gareth, with floods of 9 and 8 feet respectively, are but a distant memory. March is always too early to really expect to catch very much, but who can resist a few casts in weather like this? An odd fish was rising on Beat 6A, with some Grannom and a few Large Dark Olives hatching. One can be forgiven for thinking that, having been left unmolested by anglers for the winter, the fish would be gullible, but in the clear and lowish water with bright sun and no leaves yet on the trees, they needed a light touch, as befits a truly wild creature. To rise anything at all was a magic experience.

A brook lamprey working the shallows on the Tamar. Then David fishing dry fly on the Thrushel, and Alex in action on the Wolf.

Minus 2 degrees C at Lyd Foot, 6.00 a.m. 

A nice grayling from the Tamar, on the deliciously simple and effective dry Deer Hair Emerger

Beat 6A on the Wolf, David concentrating on his fly.

A sea trout smolt from the Tamar. With any luck he will be back by the end of July as a school peal, having quadrupled his weight. Note the red adipose fin of the 'trutta', and the distinctive black edge to the tail.

Purple Toothwort along the Wolf. Very few of our guests ever see this spectacular flower, which has no stem or leaves, just flowers emerging direct from the root mass. It is parasitic on the roots of alder and willow, and is over and shrouded by faster-growing plants before the trout fishing really gets going.

A lovely view up the Thrushel below the Wolf junction on Beat 6A. A cold north wind belies the bright spring sunshine, but it was extremely pleasant to be back fishing again after the close season, and a weekend in London.

David and Alex on the Arundell Arms stand at the London Fly Fair. A very busy couple of days in the city.

Alex's Hardy Bougle reel, complete with silk line, on the butt of his Hardy CC de France cane rod, nicely framed by the blackthorn blossom.

Invasive Non-Native Species

The North American mink was brought to Britain in the mid-20th century to be farmed for its valuable fur. Equipment failure, accidents, and  smash-and-release raids by animal rights thugs soon found large numbers of these creatures loose in our countryside, and with no natural predators they bred and spread throughout the land. As a water bailiff in the late 1960's, part of my job was to trap and shoot mink, and to advise landowners how to operate the traps which were loaned from the Cornwall River Authority. The Ministry of Agriculture had conveniently passed the responsibility on to the CRA, as they soon found that they had neither the time nor resources. CRA reached the same conclusion, one of the bailiffs with whom I worked trapped 90 in 3 months, and simply gave up. It was not possible to go fishing without seeing a mink, they were absolutely everywhere, using the rivers as conduits, but ranging far and wide. My wife, as a schoolgirl, asked her father what was the pretty little blue thing down by the chickens, and their farm was a good half mile from the Tamar and on top of a hill.

Fast forward to 2019, we now have a thriving otter population (in the 60's they were bordering on extinction in Britain) and for certain this has affected the mink. However there are still a few about, and in areas yet to refill with otters they are still a problem. David Pilkington

This is a 'blue' mink, a colour much prized by the fur farmers, the normal colour being a very dark brown, often with a few white flecks on the upper chest. This chap appeared in front of me while waiting for a cormorant to do much the same on the Tamar last Saturday morning. I had to make a snap decision as to whether it was or not a small otter, but the non-tapering tail and swimming style gave him (it was a dog mink) away. The effect of 36 grams of 4-shot at very close range is apparent.