Thinking back just a matter of 5 months at end of the saltwater fly fishing season. The bass are returning to deeper water for feeding and procreation, people’s thoughts change to pike and over wintered trout. The cold weather is starting to turn the winter mornings are creeping in on us. Then i sit there in Plymouth airport waiting for a plan to arrive, the next thing i know the snow starts falling again and i have an hours drive to newquay airport to connect at Gatwick. Finally I’m in the air saying goodbye to the coldwater of southern England for the last time for 6 months. Creeping through the clouds, my thoughts start to turn to what lays ahead. Landing at Gatwick airport a connection to Heathrow. That’s it the bright lights of London beckon again too many for a Devonian born and bred like me.  The next morning I’m sat in Heathrow it’s -5c and I’m thinking bloody hell this is cold. Once aboard the plan no turning back now I'm headed to north eastern Canada for 6 months, Labrador to be precise.

We sit there on the run way for 3 hours waiting to get the plan de iced, finally we are airborne so out pop the fly fishing magazines that i have brought from home for the journey. Watching all of the in flight films they have available. Boredom has set in. Suddenly i see the light shinning from Toronto my next whistle stop tour. Once through there customs and having bags located I’m ready to stay over night well 3 hours before my next flight into Halifax. Off we go again this time it’s only a short 2 hour hop across the country and the straits. Off of that one and then onto the net plane almost immediately, bound for my final destination Happy valley Goose bay. Arriving at just after lunch local time with major jet lag and no sleep, tired and hungry we are collected my partner’s mother. Settling in through the afternoon, and getting use to being surrounded by stuffed animals, yard spaces you could fit an apartment complex into and traffic jams or so they think that consists of three cars passing them before they can turn out of a junction.

The first evening, i meet her younger Brother; first thing i get is “ever been on a skidoo?” To which i reply “what the hell is that when it’s at home?”

Read More...

In this article, Mike shares his tips and tactics on how to increase your catch rate when Salt Water Fly Fishing the most wily of creatures, the Mullet.

Packed with information and guidance on preferable SWFF gear, times, locations and techniques, its a great post for those starting out in the world of SWFFing and for experiences SWFFers alike.

Read More...

During this season, I was fortunate to get a set of Rio Max 2 shooting heads sent over from the states. They retail at $35 each. I also got the Rio Slick shooting running lines in both floating and intermediate versions. All in all, I managed to bag it all for £130 (including postage) - what a bargain.

The heads themselves are available in a selection of head weights. I ordered a full set in 10wt. This means that I could fish either the 8wt deep blue or the bloke xl 9wt rods with the same lines dependant on conditions. Densities available are as follows:- Float intermediate type 3 type 6 type 8

Now that we have the heads, I set them up on a floating and intermediate shooting lines as well as an Amnesia 20lb mono (for testing only.) Each head is 30ft long which is much the same as my previous cortland precision shooting heads. These are infact the same heads used in the Rio Outbound Intergrated Shooting Head series. At first glance, they look look similar to cortlands heads though they do have welded loops on both the front and back of the heads. This is a bone of contention for anglers, some of whom choose to cut these off and replace with braided loops. Though, after 4 months of abuse, the lines appear the same as when Ibought them.

I started off with a small bit of casting practice in the local field a double haul and off they go with brilliant accuracy. Flight time is exceptional. With the welded loops you have next to no problem with hanging on the cast or drag issues. Then off to work on the sight fishing aspect, this has been an issue with home made shooting heads in the past, dumping on the end of the cast, though after a bit of practice any experienced fly caster should be able to thumb the line to slow down the fall and present as direclt as a DT (double taper 4wt line).

So off to find some shallow water mullet. Radford it will be, so, with waders on and stalking through the water, I spot a pair of fish in the 6lb bracket lazing under some trees. This is where fly casting holds it's own ground - I side cast with a floating line and head the flies slowly drift down onto the water 4ft infront of then and I start the figure of eight retrieve. No reaction, but thankfully they weren't spooked. Recast but closer bloody hell if I didn't almost land on the fished nose and it didnt budge. Suddenly, all hell breaks lose it grabs a small pheasant tail nymph, on the point fly and take off. Stripping just under 90 metres of lines in 19 seconds, I remember counting thinking it wasnt going to stop. Finally, fish under control and landed after 10 minutes being pulled here and there. Fish released then distance casting, and ending up giving an inpromptu demonstration to a fellow fly angler on the casting of shooting heads. I pack up.

Ok, so out of Radford it is then, off to the other side where I remembered casting to showing fish with basshound recently. They were having nothing of it - 'cast 60 yards and dead drift it, bang fish on again then I have a bloody long walk round to get down to the fish landed and returned again. Right, the heads are brilliant, now to test the sinking heads. Night fall is required for this one. Over the gates it is again under the pier light, Bass all around, pollock are every where. Type 6 head on the 8wt and type 8 on the 9wt. Wang it out there and wait 10 second drop then a fast retieve. I hadn't retieved more than 3 metres of line when everything locked up and a fish went mental on me. A Pollock had grabbed it on the way by and wasnt giving up easily. Landed deep hooked so dispatch was required that went in the pan the following night.

So, I continued testing in the rain, wind, sleet, hail, you name it...I even left the heads outside all night walked on them and the re strung and cast again. These lines are truely unbelivable, they cast like a dream on an shooting line. With the amnesia on, they shoot for the stars though shooting this stuff is like cheese wire on your hands. Ok, off to the trout fishery it is for a final test. Get up to tavistock, I grab a coffee and my mate turns up there. Down under the trees, back casting is nigh on immpossible due to trees and obstruction. On goes the type 3 head double haul, bloody hell, I have cleared the lake and stuck in a tree!! Never managed that on normal lines before. Snap. New leader and fly. Bagged my limit of 6 fish within 3 hours on a hard fishing day. Not much else came out, they were hiding under the shrubbery the far side of the lake. Distance was imperative here.

All in all, I have to take my hat off to Rio here, they have done a fantastic job with these max 2 heads. Infact, they are only lines I will take with me to Canada for a thorough testing through my time there. In short, If you want shooting heads, buy rio max 2 with slick shooting shooting line, it's fantstic.

I managed to get out again last night to have a fish with Mike and Mike at North Corner, Devonport. We all pitched up about 6pm to a rather busy pontoon (probably about 4 other anglers already there) to fish the first part of the ebb and fished through till dark, so around 9:00 pm.

From what I could gather from the lads already down there, the fishing had been pretty slow all afternoon (at that point no-one had managed to catch anything) so I began with a scratch around tight to the pontoon in an attempt to find a few Pollack or wrasse or whatever. Baitwise, the options were limited since I only brought down a handful of ragworm left over from my previous session at Season Point the day before accompanied by a couple of mackerel I had knocking about in the freezer.

Starting off with a ball weight rig and a short flowing trace, I baited up with tiny sections of ragworm on a size 6 hook. Almost immediately, I started getting loads of tiny knocks from what felt like small bait robbing minispecies, so I scaled the hook size down a touch more in an attempt to try and pick up whatever it was that was rattling the rod tip. At least there was something down there, I thought.

Read More...

With things slowly getting back to normal here, yesterday I managed to get in the first session in over a fortnight. By god it was good to get back out again – 2 weeks without fishing is 2 weeks too long!

After seeing Curt’s post in the fishing buddies section of the forum, myself and Adam (who’d just joined the site that very same day) jumped on board and partook in the session down at Seasons Point (a nice little mark on the western side of the entrance to the Yealm estuary.)

By the time Curt and I arrived at the mark, Adam was down there and had already managed to winkle out a Bass on frozen sand eel. A promising start, I thought!

Read More...

How many times has someone said " Christ, Mullet are nigh on uncatchable".

Well, iIremember when I started mulleting in earnest -yes, I will contest they will not just jump on a hook and swin towards you nicely. Though, with a little forthought and preperation, they are indeed catchable and my oh my will they give a full account of themselves. 

There are articles dotted around online from authors such as Mike Ladle and Leaon Roskilly. These are indeed a valueable resource for anyone venturing into mullet fishing for the first time.

Read More...

Despite my lack of reports recently, the shore fishing sessions have still been going ahead and what a month July has turned out to be!

It's been all about the Bass - in fact, I can’t ever remember another month when the Bass fishing has been so good.

Read More...

Living in Plymouth i have so many places that i could fish and so many types i really am spoilt for choice. Over the years i have been through bottom sea fishing float fishing, spinning, plugging, carp fishing, match fishing, fly fishing, so on and on.
Though there is no fish that fights like a mullet pound for pound they will out run anything in the british coast line. Ok so we are going mulleting where should i go?
Well to give you a rough idea i could pick a place from no less than 11 different marks dependant on the state of the tide.

Though the easiest for people that are starting out or just looking for a bit of sport the plym is brilliant. The fish are in the 3lb to 4lb class. I have spotted a couple in the 5lb class though they are a rare occurence. though if you are only a moderate mulleter then a 2lb fish on light gear is a worthy opponent by anybodys standards.

Ok so off to the plym we go, where and when are the first questions to ask. Where park in sainsburys car park and take the path under the bypass and then either walk around the main road or wade through the water if low water.
And then wait the fish will arrive around 2 hours before high water and then they will sit there for half an hour. from then they will move up the river to the wear at the top and stop again the trick is to follow the fish up the river.

Read More...