Portents of Spring

The winter so far has been extremely wet - you may have noticed! Rivers have been in flood for weeks and the ground is super-saturated. The Christams Eve flood peaked at a staggering 19 feet 4 inches down at Endsleigh, and was well into the teens of feet up here at Lifton. A walk along the Tamar  last week revealed hints of the damage which will need to be addressed before we start fishing, with three wooden ladders completely gone from just one beat. Those familiar with Coffin Pool at the junction of beats 7B and 8A may recall a mass of fallen trees lodged firmly in the pool tail for the last two years - well, they are gone!
One has only moved some 50 yards, and is now in Little Coffin pool, fortunately very close to the bank and out of the way. Another has come to rest a further 200 yards down, in Chain Bridge pool, and again not in a place which will affect fishing. The other went a good quarter-mile and is in the shallows above Tunnel pool. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Signs of approaching Spring are everywhere, this year's growth of Dog's Mercury is actually in flower, and the hazel catkins, normally tightly compacted, are fully extended into the 'lamb's tails' which we normally expect in March. In spite of early morning ice today, and miserable cold rain, a blackbird is singing his heart out in the hotel garden, and wood pigeons are getting amorous in the ash trees.
The accompanying photo shows the level of Tinhay Lake, hopefully it will subside by the time we resume fishing properly.

Here's to 2014 - a new season beckons

A happy new year to one and all. After a season of desperately low water conditions, we were hoping for a drop of rain in 2014 and it appears to have come a few months early... We often get a large winter flood on the Tamar system, but since a rise of nearly 14 feet on Christmas Eve, it's barely dropped back. At the time of writing, nearly all of the rivers are once again just about in the fields. Needless to say, grayling fishing is on hold for the time being.
Prior to Christmas, we walked the tributaries to look for signs of spawning salmon. Although a little later than usually expected, we were very pleased to witness several pairs of fish and many redds throughout the Lyd, Wolf and Thrushel. This came as a small sigh of relief as relatively few salmon seemed present in the river during the season. All being well, the offspring of these fish will be taking our flies on the Tamar and Lyd in 2017 and 2018!
Here's to a fish-filled 2014 season. Our course dates and fishing availability have all been updated on the main hotel website, so please CLICK HERE for more information.

High-summer trout fishing on the Tamar

The Lady obliges

After almost a month of endless 4-foot spates, a few dry days have at last allowed the rivers to drop to a low enough level to allow grayling fishing. Last Saturday four rods ventured out on to a still high but clear River Lyd, and caught a total of 9 grayling, the best a cracker of almost 2 pounds. They also managed a plethora of brownies and salmon parr, and two sea trout. All the fish were taken on nymphs, some fished the Czech nymph style, others used a single nymph with an indicator. Heavy tungsten-beaded nymphs were needed to get down quickly in the high flows. Some showers are forecast for a day or two, and then it looks like an anticyclone is going to settle over Europe, to give cold but dry conditions which should be ideal for tempting a few more 'Ladies' from the streams.

Arundell Arms River Maps - Now Available!

Local artist David Measey has been hard at work over the last few months and has produced this lovely map of our rivers and fishing beats. High-quality prints are available at only £29.00 each. Please call us on 01566 784666 if you would like to order one.

2013 Season Totals

The very hot dry summer impacted severely on salmon catches during 2013, and the very low water levels made trout and sea trout fishing fairly tough at times.Salmon; 14, of which 13 were released. Only one fish was taken on spinner, the rest being on fly. Best fish 14lbs, for Charlotte Jones, on a small Black Bear Green Butt tube, in Quarry pool on the Tamar on the last day of the season, October 14^th.Most salmon were taken in the final 3 weeks of the season, when we had at least some water in the rivers. We also had one fish from our rod on the Lower Tamar, and two by our rods at Endsleigh.Sea Trout; 138, of which 102 were released. Best fish 8 lbs, for David Pilkington, on a Black Tadpole from the tail of Quarry Pool, on falling spate water on 28^th May. Considering the drought, sea trout ran quite well, with reasonable catches for rods night fishing from mid-June right through July and August. Surface lures in particular caught a lot of fish, with the beats on the river Lyd, as usual producing the best fishing.Brown Trout; 1,820, virtually all released. Best fish 14 inches, for Ian Hardman on a Parachute Adams from Home beat on the Lyd on May 26th. Several other very good fish were taken, including fish of 13 inches for Phil Davies on the Thrushel and another the same size for Mike Walton from the Ottery. Trout fishing was excellent during late May and June, before the water levels really dropped away, and also perked up in September as things cooled down slightly.Grayling; 58, all released, best fish 1 ½ pounds for John Fawcett, on a nymph from the Ottery in May. Several other good grayling were taken, including fish of 15 inches for Luke Bannister from the Lyd in October.
Since the salmon fishing closed in mid-October we have had deluges of rain, putting the rivers into full spate and making grayling fishing an impossibility. Salmon and sea trout have had more than enough water on which to run, and I am looking forward to watching them spawning, when it will be possible to get a better picture of what the true numbers of fish were really like this season.

David Pilkington

Season's End

October 14th saw all rivers settling and clearing, the Lyd very much so, the Tamar still with some colour from the last spate, but definitely fishable. Salmon remained elusive, although David Pilkington struck it lucky with two fish from the Lyd during the afternoon, a well coloured cock fish of 28 1/2 inches from Silver Doctor pool, and a small hen grilse from King Pool. Both took a size 12 double hook fly, appropriately named the Autumn Gold.
Pride of place for the 2013 season has to go to young Charlotte Jones, whose boyfriend James Abbatt had taken his first ever salmon the previous evening. Charlotte caught a splendid hen fish of around 14 pounds, with less than an hour of daylight left before the season closed. The fish came from the neck of Quarry Pool on the Tamar, which had been fished by all and sundry throughout the day.
Some very serious rain has fallen in the past week or so, giving the biggest spates since February. Yesterday at Hartley weir on beat 3, plenty of sea trout and brownies were running on the falling flood water, along with some salmon. One salmon made it straight over the full height of the weir, the best part of 5 feet - having made a couple of abortive attempts, this fish hit the laminar flow on the shoulder of the weir square on, and shot off upstream like a slipped greyhound.
It remains very warm, insects where everywhere, stoneflies still making egg-laying flights over the water, hornets busy in a hole in an alder, midges and even butterflies around. The fish passing over the weir will be spawning soon, the brownies and sea trout within a matter of weeks, the salmon soon after. The year moves on.

Below is a series of photos of Charlotte Jones, assisted by brother Alexander, landing the largest Arundell Arms salmon of the season...