I have been guiding Neil and his son Harry ( aged 12 ) for a fair few years now, making there way down from Yorkshire for there summer holidays here in North Devon…

We always find some fish though not always the largest, but a fish is a fish and each year there excitment grows with the buzz of catching some silver bars, especially when conditions allow and we are topwater fishing, its the visual hit that gets the adrenaline pumping.

Its so refreshing seeing a young lad like Harry so into his fishing, he kept asking me if there were any big fish that we might catch and sure enough in the space of one session had broken his p.b twice !!, landing the best fish of the day off the top on the tackle house vulture, way to go Harry !!…

So it was smiles all round with plenty of good quality fish caught and needless to say we are looking forward to seeing each other next year….

Trevor Smith and Andy ( Nobby Clarke ) are a couple of my regular clients who each year come down to chase some silver bars and let there hair down in some of the finest North Devon public bars and usually a friday night curry !!. Needless to say i look forward to there company each year !,and its always sad to see them go.

Both Trev and Nobby had plenty of fish off the top, but the better fish came from bouncing soft plastics in the flow, Andys fish came to a black fiish minnow, whilst Trev did well on the fiish crazy sandeel. The best moment comming with a double hook up, double trouble !!…

The water is 17 degrees and rising so if you fancy a guided session, please get in touch, i have plenty of availability through September….

As ever all the fish were returned, catch and release all the way….

I had the pleasure of guiding Rory Batho and his freind Gordon last monday and here is Rory with a cracker he had off the top on a xorous frosty, the smile says it all !!

We all had plenty of fish but Rorys was the pick off the bunch, unfortunately Gordon lost another good fish but at the end of the day it was two happy anglers and one happy guide !!

Released to fight another day….

Its funny how one tide to the next can vary so much, last week was a good example. Checking the tides and conditions i headed out friday morning full of confidence, everything looked good but i blanked !. Convinced it was worth another go i headed back for a short evening session and im glad i did !, fish were topping everywhere hitting shoals of sandeels and it wasnt long before i was playing my first fish off the top on the tackle house vulture.

So to cut it short i managed 15 plus fish all in the 2/3/4 lb range, kid in a sweet shop comes to mind !, a few photos were taken due to the intensity of the action, after all the memory i believe is stronger than the image.

Needless to say i was back out the following morning eager for the first hit off the top and in another golden spell i managed another 15 plus fish of a similar size, the following morning( rude not too !!) i managed one fish, the wind had changed and the water had coloured. So it just shows you how the fish can switch on and off with so many variables thrown in, when its on you need to get stuck in to get the results, the next tide may reveal things have changed……