Wilderness Fly Fishing Weekend

Wilderness Fly Fishing Weekend 16th – 18th May 2014

A weekend of camping and fly fishing on some of Exmoor’s wild rivers surrounded by stunning scenery.

Join myself and rivers expert Lewis Hendrie, a member the England European Rivers fly fishing team and local guide, for a weekend of guided fly fishing on some truly wild rivers and streams.

This course is suitable for a river novice or a more experienced fly angler wishing to learn some more skills and techniques. There will be an element of walking over the weekend (around 30 minutes to one of the beats) so you will need to be reasonably fit, although the walking is usually overshadowed by the stunning surrounding scenery!

The weekend will start by meeting up at the camp site around 3.00pm on the Friday, set up camp and then a meal around the camp fire with plenty of fishy banter!

After breakfast on the second day we depart for the water where you will spend the day catching some truly beautiful wild brown trout whilst learning some new river skills. At the end of day it’s back to camp for some food and an evening around the camp fire.

Breakfast on Sunday will be followed by packing up camp before making our way to a different river and fishing until 3.00 pm. We will all meet up after the fishing for a quick debrief and to say our goodbyes.

Cost for the weekend will be £225.00 per person.

All camping fees, fishing permits, food and guiding fees are included in the cost. All you need to do is to bring a tent, sleeping bag and a chair to sit around the fire on! Any tackle you need can be supplied along with waders although please feel free to bring your own if you have any.

To reserve a place a deposit of £75 is required, or you may pay the full amount if you wish at the time of booking. Any balance must be paid by 14 days before the course date.

As this is a river course, it will be subject to cancellation due to weather conditions, so please bear this in mind, although a full refund will be given in this event.

Burton Springs Casting Clinic

Today saw me hosting a casting clinic at Burton Springs Fishery near Bridgwater in Somerset.

Arriving at the fishery I was met by blazing sunshine and angler lined banks with bending rods, what more could you wish for?

 

After setting up some kit, Adam the fishery manager greeted me with a most welcome cup of coffee. If you have never fished  at Burton Springs before I strongly urge you to, it’s a cracking fishery with trout and carp on offer to the fly angler with the most welcoming family you could ever wish to be running a fishery, who will do everything they can to make your day a truly enjoyable one. They will even deliver hot food to you on the bank while you are trying to fool some of the hard fighting fish stocked into the lake……. now that’s service!

It was a truly great day in the sun meeting friends old and new, casting some lines and having a chuckle and generally talking about all things fishy.

Time was spent tweaking overhead casts along with some single and double hauling and a spattering of speys, basking in the warm spring sunshine.

Thanks to all you guys who attended and hope to bump into on the bank in the future.

On returning home and firing up the computer it was great to be met with a such nice thank you email as well  ………

” Hi Neil, a cracking day, thanks mate. When Jon and I arrived this morning we couldn’t cast for toffees! It seemed that all you had taught me had disappeared.
After half an hour with you this morning it all seemed to come together. We spent the rest of the day casting various flies and lures all around the lake. We didn’t catch; but we had a great day. Thanks again, and see you in April. Regards, Ken”

Burton Springs Beginners Day

Saturday saw the arrival of the Burton Springs Beginners day near Bridgwater which I had set up some two months previously thinking that a June date would give us some good weather. It was an early start loading the car with all the equipment ready for the off and when I opened the front door I was met with some really heavy rain……..not what I had wanted to see.

We arrived at the fishery around 8.15 am and proceeded to set up for the days events but still in the pouring rain. Everyone started arriving around 9.30am and was greeted with tea and coffee and the day got started at 9.45 am.

I had hoped to run some of the course outside in the morning but this was just not possible due to the now monsoon type rain we getting!! Luckily Burton Springs has a lodge so we all packed into this for sessions on fly tying, entomology and knots and leaders.

Burton Springs Lodge….a haven from the bad weather!!

The weather broke just before lunch and I took everyone out onto the lake for a talk and demonstration on basic casting mechanics, 5 minutes into the demonstration the heavens opened again and we all made a dash back to the lodge for cover, it was short lived and we were all soon on the bank again to finish this session.

Getting to grips with the casting.

After lunch we were lucky as the weather seemed to get better and we were all able to get out and get into some casting before finishing up with some fishing with a few fish landed on the bank to end a great day.

One of the casting sessions.

The day was made all the better with the great people that had turned up, all of us had a good laugh and a chuckle throughout the day which helped considering the conditions we had to endure. Everyone went home with a smile on their face so I guess it was mission accomplished!!

The smile says it all!!

 

For everything they done to make the day a success, I would like to say a big thank you to fellow instructors Sally and Tony Pizii, Gilly for laying on all the great food for the day, taking the photos and not forgetting the home made cakes which went down well!! And finally to Adam and Dave down at Burton Springs Fishery for hosting the day and helping us make the day run smoothly.

Father & Son enjoying the fishing.

For those of you that attended the day, I would be grateful for any feedback that you can give me by filling out the message box at the bottom of this page and please feel free to copy any of the photos I have posted here.

Keep an eye out here for similar future events and come and join us on the bank.

Here are some photos of the day, please click on a thumbnail to enlarge the photo.