2/9/10 - Kim Holloway took a guest fishing earlier in the week and had an approx 12lb cock salmon, which can be seen being released in the photograph. It came to a flying C. His guest lost a grilse and caught a seatrout of 3lbs.
Kim Holloway releasing his 12lb salmon.
Andy Myall also reports two fresh grilse over the last week or so of approximately five and five and a half pounds. Both on spinner.
25/8/10 - Another Grilse of about 5lb for Derek Lockett on Sunday from mid river (fish released). David Pakes also reports catching an 8lb hen fish from the CC's water and a smaller fish on the previous day.
21/8/10 - Mark owen reports catching a 6lb grilse on a middle stretch of the river. Mark used a small Ally's in low water to tempt the fish , which was released unharmed.
A visiting angler, Billy Dixon from Gloucestershire used a black and blue Waddingtons to take a couple of Sea Trout, the largest of which was 17", in an evening session on the Church Commissioners water earlier this month. He also hooked and lost a fish of about 2lbs. He reports some larger fish showing but unco-operative.
Jon Compson has been active again, catching eight Sea Trout (six released) between half and four pounds. Unfortunately Jon does not mention what fly he used that evening, otherwise I would be tying some up now!
2/8/10 - Since the long dry spell ended a couple of weeks ago there have been reports of several salmon caught including a fresh fish of about 12lb landed by Kim Holloway in coloured water and another very fresh cock fish of 32" by Derek Lockett.
After a period earlier in the season when Sea Trout were affected by fungal infection and therefore very reluctant to take, things appear to be back to normal with fish in a good range of sizes present. School peal are particularly numerous.
Jon Compson had a good night recently when he caught five Sea Trout as well as hooking and loosing about five more. Jon retained his bag limit of two fish and returned the others safely to the water.
A pair of Sea Trout of 3lb and 2lb caught by Jon Compson recently.
11/9/09 - Reasonable levels of Sea Trout have been caught over the previous month, most of them being small school fish. A run of grilse has finally materialised with one member having caught fish numbering in the teens over the last two weeks.
19/7/09 - Sea Trout catches have remained, as they were in April, sparse. It is not that numbers of fish entering the river have been small. On the contrary, it seems they have arrived in good numbers but for some reason they have been reluctant to take a fly. There also seem to have been reasonable numbers of school fish coming in over the last month but for some reason there have been few reported caught.
With improved water levels, the last couple of weeks have seen a few grilse captured with Derek Myhill having had four that we have heard of, including two on one day. More recently, Nigel Gipson had a hen of about 8lbs a couple of days ago at Kilbury with the river stained and rising. This coloured fish was released. Nigel also reports a sea trout of 3.5lbs from the same pool on the same day and that he observed several fish running.
12/4/09 - Sea trout catches have been somewhat sparse recently but Derek Lockett has bucked the trend with the capture of his first fish of the season weighing in at 4lbs 11oz. The fish came from the Church Commissioners water a couple of days ago.
Also on the CCs water Derek Myhill managed to tempt a salmon of about 9.5 lbs, followed by another of about 10lbs on fly from TWP yesterday.
29/4/09 - Your humble editor begs to report the capture yesterday of his first ever Salmon, fulfilling his ambition to get the first one on fly. A springer too! It came to a size 6 orange Ally's shrimp (thanks Mr. Gowans) fished on the Church Commissioner's water and weighed about 8.5 lbs. "I think we're going to need a bigger net."
Springer
25/4/09 -
Why we go fishing. A near matched pair of Dart spring long-tailed sealiced beauties taken by a member and breaking a run of sparse early seasons. The upper fish is 3lb 3oz, the lower 2lb 12oz
7/4/09 - One or two sea trout have been caught at TWP. There are a few fish moving but it is not thought that there is a good head of fish yet.
15/10/08 - Possibly the last fish of the season has been caught by Andy Myall. It was estimated at about 5lbs. As you may be able to see from the photograph Andy has replaced the treble hook on his flying C with a single, which has been de-barbed. This is a condition of the season extension and in any case good practice to facilitate catch and release without undue damage to the fish.
Last fish of 2008?
Although this fish looks as though it has been in for a while, Andy also reports sighting a couple of fresh grilse on his outing, which shows that there are still fresh fish running at this time of year.
13/10/09 - Just received from Nick Taylor this picture of a coloured but handsome looking cock salmon he caught on the 6th Oct on the Church Commissioners water. Nick says the fish, which was in excellent condition, weighed about 13lbs and came to a shrimp pattern. He revived quite quickly and swam away strongly.
1/10/08 - Andy Myall had a quick fishing session before joining the habitat work party on Saturday morning. He hooked two grilse on spinner and landed one of them, a fairly coloured fish of about 4.5 lbs. The fish was returned.
Andy's fish 27/9/08
Also at the weekend, Darren Sinton hooked and lost a salmon of about 8lb on the Church Commissioners' water. Then on the following day he was a little more successful, landing and releasing a fish of 31.5 ins (approx 12.5lb) at Fogdens.
26/9/08 - When the wind's in the east.... Not a problem for Kim Holloway, who caught this 12lb (31in.) salmon near Staverton on his lunch break yesterday. The fish straightened the hook of the flying 'c' it took. Kim says that he spotted another salmon in the very low water conditions and also that he had several peal follow the spinner - an encouraging sign with school peal having been somewhat thin on the ground during the previous couple of seasons.
Another salmon for Kim
23/9/08 - Andy Myall had a 5lb grilse on Sunday from below Buckfast. The fish fell to a spinner and was sea-fresh although un-liced.
16/9/08 - Apologies for the delay in posting the following as Web Site Central has been closed for a week or so for the entire staff to take a break.
Luke Chester-Master reports two fresh and sea-liced grilse caught, one on the 7th of this month in the Buckfast area and one on the 10th a little further down-river. Luke tempted them both on a size 10 cascade, fished on a sink tip line. Both fish were estimated at between 7 and 8lbs and both were released.
Congratulations go to Rob Bromige, who caught his first Dart salmon on the 11th Sept. near Buckfastleigh. The somewhat coloured but very solid hen fish was caught on a 'c' and subsequently released. On the evening of the next day Rob went on to catch a second, fresher grilse of about 4lb, again on a 'c', from a nearby pool. This fish was also released. Not content with the one fish on that evening Rob went on to hook another, which he released at long range.
1/9/08 - Salmon continue to be caught on the river with, among others, John Sherry being successful on fly and Kim Holloway reporting a hen of 5lbs caught and released and another fish missed.
26/8/08 - Andy Myall reports another salmon, a cock fish of about 6lbs, caught on Sunday morning.
19/8/08 - There are reports of more grilse being caught over the past week. Dave Grove had a fish on one of the higher beats. Nick Taylor had three on the Church Commissioners water all on fly. John Sherry had a fish of 7lb also on one of the higher beats. Derek Mayhill has had two or three recently as well.
13/8/08 - A fairly fresh grilse of 9 1/2 lbs came to Andy Myall's spinner on Sunday. He also lost a smaller one. Kim Holloway scored again on Monday, on the Church Commissioners water, with a small grilse of 3lbs., again on a back and yellow 'c', which also tempted a couple of fish to follow.
All of the fish reported at the weekend were released.
12/8/07 - There are reports of a few grilse being caught at the weekend. Kim Holloway had two cock fish on Saturday, one of 6lbs and one of 10lbs. Both were tempted with a black and yellow flying 'c' on Fogden's water.
Kim's two fish
Darren Sinton also reports catching an approximately 6lb cock on one of the higher beats. Darren says the fish was feisty and very fresh and came to a spinner. I believe there have been other fish caught at the weekend as well.
5/8/08 - Last week, Mark Evans, the chap from Gwent AS who is organising the fly swap between our two organisations (see news page), visited the area and fished the Dart on Tuesday, Wednesday and some of Thursday until he was rained off. Mark had a very successful time fishing for brown trout using both dry fly and nymph as the situation dictated. On the Wednesday he had approximately 50 fish up to about 2lbs. In addition to the brown trout, fair number of the fish he caught were salmon smolts, which is a very encouraging sign.
23/7/08 - There are a few salmon about. Robin Thorn had two at the weekend and there are reports of others but no further details I'm afraid.
14/7/08 - Now the river is clearing and falling in level there are reports of Sea Trout being caught up river once more.
11/7/08 - David Pakes reports catching a salmon of 6lbs on Monday this week, with the river very high. Having released the fish, he hooked and lost a rather larger fish on the very next cast.
10/7/08 - Andy Myall reports catching a salmon of 9.5 lbs on the evening of the 8th on spinner. The fish recovered quickly and was released.
8/7/08 - The amount of water we have had lately has produced a run of salmon and a number have been caught, mainly on spinner I believe. Unfortunately I have no details so any specific reports would be welcome.
9/6/08 - Derek had a salmon of 8 1/2lbs on the Church Commissioners water on Saturday. So far, this is the only Salmon I have had reported. Anyone else? Sea Trout catches to date appear to be fairly sparse with conditions not having helped much so far.
16/4/08 - Ted Malleson has kindly sent in this photograph of the first Sea Trout of the season, which he caught on 1/4/08 in TWP. They weighed 1.5 and 2.5 lbs. The next evening Ted took another Sea Trout of 3.5 lbs.
5/3/08 - The illustrious Darren Sinton has been at it again and caught what would appear to be the first fish of the season (2nd March). The well-mended hen kelt of about four pounds took a Devon Minnow on the Church Commissioners water and of course the fish was subsequently released. This puts our C&R ratio at 100% for the season so far!
Darren assures us that the fish was out of the water for only a matter of seconds for the photo (below) and kicked away strongly afterwards.
Darren's kelt
4/10/07 - There have been a few salmon caught over the previous week or so. Nigel Gipson managed a couple of fish in the Buckfastleigh area. Darren Sinton had a good weekend, putting his commando tactics to good use. On Friday he hooked a good-sized coloured fish which conveniently released itself just as it came to hand. On the following day he captured and released a grilse, again somewhat coloured.
"...and here's one Darren caught earlier."
David Grove had a Salmon on Monday, the first day of the season extension. I believe there have been other fish caught over this period but I have no details.
23/9/07 - There have been no catches reported here since early July simply because none have been sent in. Although things have been rather quiet it seems there has been the odd fish caught over the past few weeks but I haven't been told anything specific. However, I now have a e-mail from Darren Sinton, who frequently fishes on a day ticket. Darren tells me that last weekend he caught a grilse and a more coloured cock fish of about 6 and 9 lbs respectively on the Church Commissioner's water. The full story (and discussion) is here
9/7/07 -
Andy Myall decided on a quick pre-work outing on Friday and was rewarded with this fine fresh Salmon, which he subsequently released. It took a 'Flying C' on the Fogden's stretch and weighed 12.5 lbs, including sea-lice.
3/7/07 - Kim Holloway scores again! This time with his PB salmon caught yesterday near Buckfastleigh. This time Kim used a Flying C to capture the 36" (approx 18lb) fish on a quick after-work outing. Not a fresh fish, says Kim, but it put up a tremendous fight and gave him some exercise chasing it up and down the river. It was eventually released and swam off OK.
2/7/07 - Another good salmon was caught yesterday (Sunday) by Andy Myall. With the river about three feet up, Andy fished a 2" Black Dart tube on the Church Commissioners' water to lure a fish of approximately 35" (15lb?), which took 25 minutes to land in the strong flow. The fish recovered within about a minute and swam away strongly when released.
20/6/07 - There has been some activity on the river during the past weekend in the high peat-stained water. Robin Thorn has reported two grilse caught in the Buckfastleigh area. Robin used a 'flying C' to capture a fresh run fish of 5lb on the Saturday and another of about 8 1/2 on Sunday. Another angler fished with a companion and reports two daytime sea trout and several brownies between them. A visiting angler is reported as having caught three more sea trout during the day on Saturday and another on Sunday. With the river having cleared somewhat, your humble editor ventured out on Tuesday morning hoping to bump into a grilse but ended up with a 3lb sea trout, caught late morning on a size 10 Cascade.
4/6/07 - Nigel Gipson reports catching a cock salmon of about 20lbs in the weir pool last week. Apparently he was trying to catch a daytime sea trout in coloured water when the salmon took his 2" Blue, Teal and Silver tube.
Two more good sea trout, one of 4lb 2oz and another of 5lb 8oz, caught on an up-river beat.
24/5/07 -
(sic)
Kim Holloway has reported catching another salmon, on the same fly as his previous fish. This one weighed in at about 10lb and was unhooked in the water and released.
22/5/07 - A rather belated report of another fine sea trout of 10.5lb , which fell to Luke Chester-Master on one of our higher beats. The fish was caught at 6.15 am on the 12th of May. The water was peaty and the level had just begun to rise towards last week's spate, hence the daylight capture. (Apologies to those who read the earlier inaccurate report.)
20/5/07 -
Kim Holloway bent into the lovely fresh salmon he bumped into at the weekend. The fish, which fell to a size 10 Cascade, weighed approximately 8lb and was returned safely to the water.
8/5/07 - Fishing in the weir pool continues to be patchy at times (that's sea trout fishing isn't it?) but there have been good nights recently and at least one very good night. On the night in question, one angler went home early. One caught his bag limit of two in short order and went home to catch up on some sleep. Then the fun started. One of our more modest members caught a magnificent sea trout of eleven pounds, his personal best. A fish of nine pounds followed. These were both returned to the water. He then rounded off with a three-pounder for the pot. However, even these efforts were eclipsed by Ed Richards' amazing fish. This sea trout was so big that Phil had to net it for him as Ed's net was not big enough. Even so, it overhung Phil's 26" net by a foot. According to Ally Gowans' length/weight chart for salmonids http://www.letsflyfish.com/weight.htm that puts it at over 20lbs! The estimate of its weight is under review but as far as we know this is the biggest sea trout recorded caught on rod and line in the Dart. In a huge feat of self-control and with a mental picture of Behemoth in a glass case on his study wall, Ed returned the fish to the water in order to continue its journey. Let's hope it makes it to Dartmoor and spawns many other potential record fish. Many congratulations Ed!
Robin Thorn reports catching a very fine fish of 12lb which fell to a size 12 Mallard, Blue and Silver. Never say we don't tell you how to catch 'em!
In the meantime sea trout have been seen negotiating the weir in fair numbers so the prospects for fishing up river are good with some catches having been reported.
16/4/07 - The sea trout have started to move at last and with the recent warm evenings and favourable tides there has been no shortage of members, guests and visitors keen to intercept them at Totnes weir pool. Results so far have been mixed, with some anglers being fortunate during the last week. Judging by the odd stifled cry heard to drift across the pool there have been near-misses too.
There are also unconfirmed reports of fish being seen up-river as well so it seems opportunity may not be restricted only to the weir pool.
5/2/07 - There have been reports of salmon being caught by at least one member during the first couple of days of the season. Apparently these were not fresh fish but well-mended kelts.
