Trout: they're for skint students too!

What’s the first thing that pops into your head when the words ‘fly fishing’ are mentioned? Perhaps a stuffy old gentleman dressed in his proper tweeds, stretches of river costing hundreds if not thousands to fish and a simultaneously bland and peculiar world of oddly named ‘flies’- variations of thread and feather wrapped around a hook. Admittedly, not the most appealing image. 

Truthfully this had been my impression through my years of fishing up through my youth, up until a couple of years ago. Curiosity led me to research fly fishing outfits to target carp, but had always seemed too expensive and great a hurdle to even consider plunging towards.

However, spurred on by my father taking up fly fishing for trout in the summer of 2015 I was not to be out done, and received tuition at a small water trout fishery early in 2016 and purchased a relatively inexpensive predator fly set up. The intention was to pursue carp and saltwater species on the fly, an exciting new approach to the salt and a breath of fresh air in the often-stale world of modern carp fishing- where the latest technologies and fads are often valued above genuine watercraft.

Fly fishing for carp is anything but the stale world that one might see in purists of both sports, this fine individual gave me a 45 minute fight, requiring wet wading to pull it away from cover on the near bank, after taking a dry sedge fly. 

In truth trout were the last species in my mind when it came to fly fishing. Not that I had anything against salmonids as a group, but rather the prohibitive cost of fishing for them. Disposable income doesn’t come easily as a full-time student, and to throw £30 (or perhaps even more) at a single day of fishing on a stocked water would come at the cost of many weeks of recreation. Further, a wealth of species can be found residing in the sea minutes from my University in Cornwall absolutely free of charge, and double figure hard fighting carp accessible for as little as £5 when away from university.

Small Pollock taken on Oz's bass clouser, no day ticket needed for this species. 

The change, or even what one might call an obsession, in my opinion with trout came from an introduction by a day with Nick Hart shared with my father on the river Exe. The fishing relied heavily upon reading subtle cues of watercraft to induce a take from crafty and wild fish, well adapted for their environment and feeding upon natural food sources in picturesque lotic systems as they have for thousands of years. Glorious fishing!

The smile says it all, cracking fishing!

Even better is that such fishing when operated under a conservation minded system of catch and release can be one of the most inexpensive forms of fly fishing. Far away from the world of Hardy or Orvis fly rods costing nearly as much as the typical student car, an appropriate rod can be purchased for as little as £30. They might not be the most elegant pieces of kit, but for the money I certainly can’t fault the Shakespeare sigma supra, using the 7’ 3# model personally. This suits the environment of small streams and brooks very nicely, which can easily be found in many areas with free fishing rights with permission of a landowner. All you need is an OS map and a little time for research. Even better though is the West country angling passport, which controls a number of beats through the South west region with tickets for a day’s fishing typically costing as little as £3-6. This can take some of the guess work out of the equation if you are new to trying to find these wonderful fish.

Cheap and basic but it certainly does the job to get out there!

At this point a little disclaimer seems necessary. I am certainly not an expect wild trout fisherman, being far below the competence in this sport than most that would consider themselves wild trout fisherman. However, I have found this excellent sport and hope to encourage others to access this. If you are looking to try out this kind of fishing then I could do far worse than to recommend booking a day on the river with a guide and instructor. A couple of days with Nick Hart over the past couple of years has taught me far more than I could have hoped by my own guess work, and certainly pays off in better angling in the future.

Top: Salmon parr taken on New Zealand dropper tactics, taking the sinking nymph suspended below a floating indicator fly.

Bottom: Brown trout taken on a dry. One of the valuable lessons learned during the day was improving technique as to miss less bites on the dry, with this one coming after an embarrassing number of missed takes. 

This summer I had the good fortune of staying for a week with friends and family in Exmoor National Park, and access to a near unfished section of stream named Dane’s brook. Even with the short rod, casting was in most places impossible and at best technical. Nor were any of the trout I encountered large in anyone’s imagination. Nonetheless, reading the water to identify the natural lies of the trout, creeping up on these spooky fish and presenting small dries upstream in anticipation of a plucky take was extremely satisfying during the odd hour-long sessions there.

Fingerling trout taken from Danes brook. This one was found hanging out in a deeper sheltered pool on a crease with the fast flowing water to the right. Casting required crouching low out of sight and using the drag of the stream to load the rod backwards, flicking the line over the rocks in front with just the leader on the water.

The largest individual taken on the day, released to

spawn over winter.

Who knows, it might be even bigger next season.

Closer to home, I’ve been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks now but have otherwise been occupied by the running of events for fresher students, work and getting back into my education for the year- woe to the juggling life of a wilfully irresponsible student wishing to fish! My fishing log sits empty for the last 2 weeks, consequently I was itching to get out with the end of brown trout season just days away. Therefore, I plans were made to cycle down from the university campus just 10 minutes away to a spot that I had scouted earlier in the year. A seasonal Cornish storm the day before pinched at my confidence, this spot is near to a busy road and was no doubt to be flowing faster and carrying solid particulates- making things a little more challenging for my preferred approach of dries. All the same I persevered, fled campus for a couple of hours with nothing but a pocket of essentials, my rod and reel and a pair of sandals for wet wading.

I was delightfully rewarded with a fine set of 5 beautifully spotted wild browns, all with buttery yellow bellies and a dry in their mouth. The largest of these measured a slightly better size of 9 inches, and gave a good account of itself, running and leaping multiple times before giving in.

The season might now be up for the next few winter months but I don’t mind too much. I’ve a thesis on wild trout population in Dartmoor, a book on Salmo ecology and conservation and Mike Weaver’s ‘The pursuit of Wild trout’ to consume ahead of my next foray. Besides, many other species are worthy of a crack in the meantime.

Always blown away by the beauty of wild brownies, my favourite thing about these Cornish fish was the vivid red and white streaks on their fins. 

Above: This little individual took the least likely of flies- a large size 10 deer hair sedge intended as an indicator for the nymph below.

Gorgeous, unmanaged trout water. Get exploring!