Fishing Reports

For this Fishing Reports page to be effective, we really need details of your catches. Please send these to Mike Weaver, who also uses this information for his reports in Trout & Salmon (email weaver.mike@virgin.net or telephone 01837 840911) or to Roly Stuart-Jervis (email rolyindevon@btinternet.com or telephone 01647 432060).

THE 2010 SEASON

The 2010 salmon season opened on 1 February, but there are no reports of anyone wetting a line during February and it is unlikely that any salmon had reached the UTFA fishery during February. Fishing for trout opens on 15 March.

THE 2009 SEASON

2009 was a good season for brown trout and a fair season for sea trout but catches of salmon were very disappointing. The total catch of brown trout was 1,079 fish over 7 inches with the best brown caught by Darren Everitt. The sea trout total was 178 and Andy Waymouth caught the most fish, with 43, and the biggest sea trout at 5 lb 10 oz. Second biggest season's catch was 37 for Richard Jackson. Only 15 salmon were caught, compared with 92 in 2008. Ted Crumby had the biggest salmon of 33.5 inches and Tom Hill's fish of 32 inches was the best on a fly.

October

The two-week experimental extension to the salmon season ended on 14 October and no salmon were caught on UTFA waters, which remained low throughout the fortnight.

17 October. The UTFA held its annual day at Kennick and after a slow start the sport picked up and catches were a real inprovement on last year's event.

Ian Pinwell had the best bag of 5 rainbows for 9 lb 8 oz, with a best fish of

2 lb 9 oz. Richard Jackson came second with 4 fish for 7 lb 4 oz, and his rainbow of 2 lb 4 oz receives the best fish award (as Ian had taken the best bag award).

Other catches were Lesley Bryant - 4 fish for 7 lb; Darren Everett - 2 fish for

3 lb 13 oz; Andy Waymouth - 2 fish for 3 lb 12 oz; John Lund - 1 fish for 2 lb.

Ian and Richard each won a bottle of whisky and will receive their trophies at the AGM.

Ian Pinwill and Richard Jackson, the top scorers on the UTFA day at Kennick

September

Fishing was generally slow in September as the river dropped lower and lower, with no salmon reported and the few sea trout that were caught were mostly getting rather dark. The brown trout continued to rise well for the first two weeks but the action tailed away as the month drew to a close.

August

26 August. A salmon of 32 inches from Fingle for Ted Crumby.

17 August. Mike Weaver found the trout in a co-operative mood with a lively session producing eight fish to 12.5 inches between 1030 and 1200, all downstream from Fingle Bridge. Although there was no sign of hatching insects or rising fish, the trout were willing to come up for a small Klinkhamer.

10 August. A night-time outing for Paul Forshaw produced two sea trout -

19 inches (c 2 lb 8 ozs) from Fingle Pool and 12 inches (c 10 ozs) from Drogo Pool. Both took a tube fly utilising magpie wing and natural grey squirrel.

5 August. An early start produced a salmon of 32 inches (about 10 lb) for Bill Crumby while spinning with a black/copper Flying-C at the top of Drogo Pool. Bill has fished on several occasions recently without a sign of salmon, confirming the general lack of fresh fish in the river. A run of fresh grilse would be very welcome.

July

30 July. Peter Reid paid an early visit to Upperton, finding the river high but clear enough to fish. He caught a salmon of 9lb on a Rapala as well as two school sea trout - all released.

25 July. Visiting angler Martin Busk caught a sea trout in Drogo pool, measured 21'' which converts to approximately 3lb 4oz using a 1'' Dunkeld tube fly.

22 July. Ian Pinwill fished at Upperton Neck this evening and caught his first salmon of the season, a fish of about 4 lb 8 oz. It was not in great condition and released. Ian had two sea trout of 1 lb 8 oz and 1 lb 12 oz on the same visit and a 2 lb sea trout earlier in the month.

Also, another salmon for Peter Reid - a fish of about 9 lb on a Flying-C from Upperton.

A salmon of about 9 lb for Peter Reid on 22 July

18 July. A salmon of 33.5 inches for Ted Crumby at Upperton.

16 July. Spinning at Upperton produced a salmon of about 6 lb for Peter Reid; it had been in the river for some time and was released. Soon after he lost a bigger fish.

12 July. James Benzimra caught his first ever sea trout on a visitors permit,

5lb 5oz!

9 July. Two sea trout for Mark Hill from Upperton, 1lb 4oz and 1lb 8oz

June

27 June. Some excellent trout fishing for Neil Lloyd when fishing the Teign for the first time. He had purchased a day guided by Mike Weaver, one of the lots donated by the UTFA to the annual auction in aid of the Wild Trout Trust. Neil caught 16 fish over 7 inches, 11 of them between 10 and 13 inches. All of the fish took a small dry fly - a size 18 Parachute Adams.

19 June. Sea trout of 2 1/2 lb for Nick Evens and a fish of 2lb for Mark Hill from Upperton

14 June. Sea trout of 3lb for Richard Jackson and a fish of 1lb 12oz for Paul Eatough at Upperton

10 June. A salmon of 10 lb for Bill Crumby.

9 June. George Marshall caught a trout of 14.5 inches on a Hare's Ear Twinkle.

It proved to be one of the 2008 stocking, the third to be reported so far - the other two being caught by Mike Weaver and Pete Tyjas. Please make sure that you keep a record of any trout with the top of the adipose fin clipped, which indicates stocked fish from 2008.

1 and 8 June. Two productive trout fishing visits for Simon Jeffries when he fished below Fingle. On the first visit he caught 12 trout to 10 inches on Mayfly patterns. On the second visit, when evening fishing with Reg Wonnacott as the river cleared after rain, he had 13 to 12 inches. Reg also caught trout to 12 inches. Both were using March Browns as some large duns, probably large brook duns, were hatching.

May

31 May. Simon Harris caught his first ever sea trout at Drogo weir pool on a visitor permit,the first weighed 2lb 1oz and the second fish weighed a hefty 4lb 3oz! Not a bad start to a sea trout fishing career.

2009 England Rivers Qualifier. The South West heat to reach the National Finals for this prestigious event, which is sponsored by Snowbee UK Ltd, took place on the UTFA fishery on 30 May. 22 anglers from as far away as West Yorkshire and Derbyshire took part in the event and each fished for 3.5 hours. The anglers were not disappointed with the quality of fishing with 183 trout from 15cm to 33cm being caught. Each fish was measured and then returned carefully to the water.
The winner of the qualifier and the Snowbee Perpetual Trophy was UTFA member Andrew Gooding, who amassed over 1000 points for the 27 trout he caught.

29 May. First sea trout of the season for Robert Mason, a fish of 2 lb 8 oz on a Silver Stoat tube from Upperton.

24 May. David Pagett went to Upperton and caught his first sea trout for four years, a fish of 4lb 2oz.

20 May. A salmon of 30in for Derek Myhill from Upperton. It was caught on what Derek describes as a Hairy-C, a Flying-C which had lost its rubber tail and had it replaced with bucktail.

14 May. Excitement and then disappointment for Paul Brodey when he hooked a big sea trout of about 4lb on a Teign Ghost at Upperton. After a great fight the head was over the net when the treble caught in the mesh and it came adrift. Another angler shone his torch on the water and they watched as the fish quietly swam away.

13 and 15 May. On two cold (9 degrees) and dull days Mike Weaver found the trout in a surprisingly co-operative mood. On both visits he fished from 11am to 1.30pm, with the first session below Fingle producing nine trout from 7in to 12.5in and the second visit above Fingle producing 10 from 7.5in to 11.5in. Although he used a combination of a goldhead GRHE nymph on the point and a Klinkhamer on the dropper, most of the fish came to the dry fly. The biggest fish proved to be an over-wintered brown from the 2008 stocking, which was in surprisingly good condition.

8 May. Sea trout of 5lb 2oz and 4lb 4oz for Richard Jackson and a fish approximately 4lb for Graham Miles.

3 May. A cold night with a number of fishermen at Upperton. The only fish reported was a sea trout of 3lb for Lesley Bryant.

2 May. Ted Malleson fished at Upperton and had a sea-trout of 4lb. He commented on the superb condition of this year's run of early fish. On the same night Andy Waymouth caught two sea trout, both just under 3lb.

1 May. The first salmon of the season has been caught by Neil Osborne while fishing for sea trout in the moonlight. At 11pm he got into a good fish which proved to be a salmon of 28 inches.

April

29 April to 1 May. Kelvin Whitfield, a new trout member who lives in Essex, spent three days on the river fishing above and below Fingle Bridge, before moving up to Mill End. The first day only produced two small fish but a day later he had 13, of which seven were between 6in and 10in, followed by two more on the final day below Mill End. He was using a combination of weighted Pheasant Tail Nymph on the point and a sparse wet fly on the dropper. Sadly, Kelvin left a small (3in by 2in) black fly box containing over 100 flies somewhere on the river on the last session below Mill End. Please contact Kelvin (email: kelvino51@hotmail.com) if you should find the box.

24 April. Andy Waymouth started his season off well with a superb sea trout of 24in (5lb 10oz) .

22 April. Another sea trout has been caught by Richard Jackson, a fish of 55 cm (3lb 15oz) which still had several sea lice on it.

21 April. Matt Cooper went out for his first sea trout outing of 2009 and fished Upperton for the first time. He found plenty of fish showing and caught two sea trout of 20in (est 3lb) and 19 in (est 2lb 12oz). The larger fish was released.

17 April. First sea trout of the season for Richard Jackson at 43cm

(1lb 13oz). Caught just after it started to get dark.

16 April. The sea trout have arrived, not in great numbers but they are here. Richard Jackson connected with two but they quickly threw the hook; soft mouths this time of year but it's still encouraging that they have arrived in our stretch.

March

26 and 27 March. John Witts fished the UTFA waters for the first time and enjoyed some good trout fishing upstream from Fingle Bridge.The first day was wet and cold but he had two browns of 7 inches. The following day was still cold but a bit brighter and produced 8 browns to 10 inches; most were caught on beadhead GRHE but a couple took a parachute Pheasant Tail. There was even a very small hatch of large dark olives.

15 March. The 2009 brown trout season opened on Sunday 15 March and, as usual, Darren Everitt was there to greet the new season. He made a start at Fingle Bridge at 09.20 and then fished all the way up to Drogo Weir. His reward was five browns, the best a lovely fish of 13 inches. He also caught six bright silver salmon smolts around 6 inches and a long, thin and very dirty sea trout kelt that nevertheless gave him a good fight before it was released. All of the fish were caught on an Olive Pheasant Tail Nymph.

THE 2008 SEASON

The main feature of the 2008 season on the UTFA fishery was the almost continual high water, with the river rarely getting back to normal low levels. As a result, 2008 was good for the salmon angler, with more opportunities to fish than for many years. For the sea trout fishermen many nights were lost to high water, which also had an impact on trout fishing. The main details of the 2008 catches were as follows.

SALMON. 92 fish were reported (80 released), the best a salmon of 15 lb for Russell Scott-Lawson. John Malleson had the best salmon on fly – a fish of 11 lb 8 oz.

SEA TROUT . 119 fish were reported, the best a sea trout of 5 lb 7 oz for Richard Jackson. The best bag was four sea trout weighing a total of

10 lb 6 oz for Matt Cooper.

BROWN TROUT. 832 fish were reported, the best a brown trout of 15.5 in for Derek Myhill.

The October extension. 18 salmon were reported for the river as a whole, with 10 for LTFA members and 8 for UTFA members. Derek Myhill's 13 lb salmon from Upperton was the biggest and, although a few anglers persevered with the fly, all of the fish were caught on spinners.

THE 2007 SEASON

Catches of brown trout in 2007 were surprisingly good, in spite of many days being lost to the flood conditions in June and July. A total of 1,154 browns of 7 inches or above were caught, including plenty of large fish. The best brown of 20 inches was caught by Andrew Gooding in May, with several fish of 16 inches reported. Salmon fishing might have been better, considering the amount of rain, but 36 were caught, of which 30 were released. Richard Jewell had a salmon of 12 lb, and Ted and Bill Crumby were once again successful with the bigger salmon, with fish of 34 inches, 32 inches and 31 inches for Bill, and 11 lb and 10 lb for Ted. Ted Crumby had the only salmon in the October experimental extension. The sea trout fishing was very poor at a total of 62 fish, about a quarter of them being caught while salmon fishing. The biggest sea trout of 5 lb was caught by Richard Jackson.