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.

Postcard from the Riverbank

It seems that summer is here already and the Tamar Valley is looking simply stunning. We still have availability for June - without question the best month for wild trout fishing at The Arundell Arms. Later in the month should see the sea trout arrive and we're hopeful of a good run this year thanks to the high water of April. To whet the appetite - some pictures from the last couple of days...

The view from Quarry Pool upstream on the Tamar.

Butterflies and buttercups on the banks of the Tamar.

Beyond Blue Charm Pool, River Lyd.

The lower Tamar above Gunnislake.

A cast for a spring salmon on the Duchess Pool, River Tamar.

Trout fishing hotting up

Sport with wild brown trout has leapt into top gear with a spell of warmer weather and excellent water levels. The first few mayflies are now emerging, along with swarms of black gnat, plus lots of olives and a few sedges. 143 trout were released last week, along with 11 grayling, and we only had a few rods out each day.
The salmon keep coming, our fourth fish of the season was released at Lyd Foot by Dominic Jevons, a cracking fresh ten-pounder which took a Stoat's tail tube fly. Three other fish have been lost. Sea trout are pushing up the Tamar, some nice ones taken down at Endsleigh, and all heading up the river to the Arundell Arms.

First salmon 2012

A quick post to announce the first salmon of the season at the Arundell Arms. Caught yesterday by regular rod, David Chapman. In his own words....
"8.10pm, salmon approx. 7lb? (couldn’t get the flipping scale net to work, its seized up, obviously don’t make enough use of it), 1 ¼” copper tube carrot-coloured fly on fast sink tip line. She went like hell in all that water but finally managed a bundled landing. Fish went back very strongly, angler needed lie down. Happy days. Dave"

We currently have superb salmon fishing conditions. The fish will be few and far between at this time of year, but what quality fish...