April Report

Rivers were relatively low during April, with one brief spate on the 8th and another near the end of the month, both of which put a lot of colour into the water. The steady flows and often warm days were perfect for trout fishing for most of the time, giving a monthly total of over 300 trout, along with 10 grayling. The best trout was a fish of 12 inches for Rob Gibson on Beat 6A, in the Wolf/Thrushel junction pool, and the best grayling was a one-pounder for Alice Martin from the Tamar on Beat 9A.

There has been an excellent showing of both salmon and sea trout smolts on the Tamar system, most of which seem to have taken advantage of the dirty water at the end of April to reach the sea. CEFAS have had a good result at the smolt trap on the Endsleigh water, fin-clipping and micro tagging over 5,000 salmon smolts. Over 50 smolts were from last year’s fry reared at Endsleigh hatchery, these fish have smolted after only one year, and were in excellent condition.

Salmon fishing has been fairly quiet, with only a few fish so far taken on the lower beats. Unusually for springers these were quite small fish, only around 6 pounds in weight. A few early sea trout are already in the river, and have been seen jumping on the hotel water in Lyd Foot pool. One was taken on our Endsleigh beat during April, and a smattering of sea trout came from other beats on the lower river. Both sea trout and salmon should now be well spread throughout the whole river system, and night sea trouting will be improving all through June.

Fly hatches were encouraging, with the black gnats just starting in earnest at the end of April, along with olives and some iron blue duns. Mayflies and yellow May duns will be around for June, offering some first-class sport with the wild brownies.

Beaver At Large!

You may have heard in the press of an escapee beaver in the Tamar valley.
Well how about this - spotted yesterday on the lower river!

April Sea Trout!

With rumours of a few early sea trout showing on the Tamar, David Pilkington took a couple of hours to 'prospect' beat 4 at Endsleigh!
The result? David's earliest ever Tamar sea trout - a sparkling fish of 16in (approximately 1 1/2 lb) that David safely returned to the river.
The fish took a goldhead Wooly Bugger, fished in the tail of Leighgate Pool on an intermediate line.





As if one fish wasn't enough... this greedy brown trout hitched a ride on the dropper!

March Report

The odd salmon is now nosing into fresh water, along with some good-sized early sea trout. May should see the start of serious salmon fishing, with a chance of a fish well into the middle beats around Lifton.

Trout fishing started well, with Bob Wellard taking 3 wild brownies on opening day from beat 4 on the Thrushel, the best at 12 inches. A total of 37 trout and 8 grayling have come from the Arundell Arms beats during March, the best grayling a very respectable one-pounder by Matthew Knight from beat 9A on the main Tamar.

Fly hatches are starting to pick up, after a rather slow time with water temperatures quite low. Grannom have been more numerous than the large olives, and the month of May sees a real burst from black gnats, more olives, yellow may duns and of course the mayfly itself.

Trout season starts with a cracker!

Local angler and instructor, Bob Wellard, was the first angler out after trout on a glorious spring day on March 16th. Bob fished beat four on the Thrushel, and while fishing was not at all easy with few flies hatching and low water temperatures, he managed a beauty of 11-12in. In his own words...

Many thanks for a super afternoon on the Thrushel – I had a very relaxing time and managed to catch three trout – Best 11-12”
Used my 8ft 4” #4wt Scott G2, StreamCaster Line.
Fish caught on Klinkhammer & Gold Head GRHE Nymph.
Best wishes for a successful 2009 season.

Bob

Opening Day 2009

March 1st saw the opening day of the Tamar salmon fishing season. A small gathering took place on the banks of Quarry Pool, and hotel instructors David Pilkington, Tim Smith and Roy Buckingham were joined by a gang of local fly fishers to toast in the new season...


The day was a great excuse to enjoy a glass of bubbly on the riverbank!


A traditional Tamar salmon fly, the Yellow Torrish, was specially tied for the first cast of 2009 by David Pilkington.


The first cast.


Lunchtime saw (very!) spicey soup followed by a proper westcountry feast of pasties and saffron cake.

As expected, no spring salmon were encountered. A few fish were spotted crashing about in Lydfoot, but these were almost certainly kelts. Salmon fishing on the Arundell Arms water will start in earnest in late April and, in the meantime, the lower Tamar beats will be much more likely to produce a tide-bright silver springer.
A fantastic day was nevertheless had by all... here's to making it a yearly event!