I hadn't been fishing for a couple of weeks and was looking forward to a wreck fishing trip going out from Clovelly. As has been the case for much of the summer the weather looked good but the wind picked up to a force 4/5 touching 6 from the west so it was called off. There is no fun going to sea when you are uncomfortable and trying not to be seasick with eyes pinned on the horizon sharing ginger biscuits.
However, Reg and Colin (and his wife Marion) had visited for the purpose of fishing, so a few emergency calls were made and I managed to sort out a day on the syndicate water on the Exe courtesy of my friend Simon Cooper. We (including Graham - 2/3rds of the people who went to the Aswan dam Nile Perch fishing last year) arrived at lunchtime for a few hours fishing. The wind was blustery but we managed to bag a collection of skimmer, roach, dace and chub. I tried for one of the big bream without success and the honours were taken by Reg who had the largest collection of fish taken trotting. We returned home after getting some welcome fish and chips for tea.
The next day, we were sitting round the breakfast table and decided to go fishing again, but just for a few hours at Darracott Reservoir. The rudd were feeding and Colin and I were immediately catching them. Reg tried fishing on the bottom and had the largest bag of skimmers, I had a collection of roach, rudd and skimmer fishing by laying on to get my bait through the rudd, but nevertheless a collection of small fish.
The honours were taken by Colin who also had a lovely roach and rudd, both personal bests on luncheon meat, so it proved a fun day.
Later that day I had a message from another friend, Wayne, to say that his rod of the Torridge was free the following day and I just couldn't resist fishing for three days in succession. I went down at around 6.30 pm hoping for a sea trout, but nothing was showing and the river was very low and flowing slowly as I walked up the stretch, meeting a salmon angler at the top hut pool. He had fished the stretch before I arrived so I returned to the bottom pool for a short trout fishing session. Blinsham is a lovely stretch away from roads where life is a peaceful as it can ever be imagined so I just took my time, put on a dry fly and fished for trout.
I tried a large fly for a few casts trying to tempt a leviathan up from the depths as there wasn't any fly life showing. Then switched to a small parachute fly (those regular readers will know I choose these as I can see them) and immediately caught a small plump brown trout, typical of the wild Torridge fish.
I persevered and a few minutes later caught a really nice brownie, a good sized fish for the river. I was delighted to catch two fish in such excellent condition, and so plump.
As the light faded I had another good fish just a few inches from the far bank to make this a memorable short session. To me, this is what fishing is about, chilling out in a pleasant location watching the wildlife and catching and returning some pristine fish. I didn't catch any trees, lose any flies or even have a wind not which is miraculous for my fly fishing as I am not a great exponent of the art, I just enjoy it.
When I returned home, there was a fabulous sunset to the west over Lundy that I just had to photograph. What an end to a day, life doesn't get any better.
