Fishing is about so much more than catching and Matt Boydell looks back at some of his highlights on the river
So hopefully as you sit reading this you’ll already have hit the water and felt the first tug of a new season's trout, but as I write it’s still a tantalising 10 days away, flies are ready, lines cleaned, waders checked… so it’s a waiting game.
As the excitement builds I find myself more and more thinking and planning the upcoming season, whilst at the same time thinking back on last season’s highlights.
Well, the thoughts for this season follow a similar vein to previous ones…. Catch more rising fish with a first time cast, find a way to spend more time on the water, get on the road and explore more rivers away from home. Then there is the excitement of new waters close to home- a new club on the river Otter, new beats in a Dorset syndicate and invites from friends to favourite spots of theirs and lastly, well I’ll come to that later…
But what of last season?
I had many memorable days, but it isn’t just the fishing that my mind wanders back to and perhaps these would be best described as five more reasons to go fishing-
The undoubted highlight of my season-
Mid-summer had a fantastic day with our very own Pete Tyjas, where we spent a morning fishing a stunning little river he has access to, a spot of lunch back at the Fox and Hounds and then the afternoon back on Pete’s home waters on the Taw. As we only covered perhaps a quarter of the morning's beat Pete kindly made the offer I was welcome to come back and fish the rest of it.
So a couple of weeks later back I went and had a fantastic day picking up loads of beautiful, perfectly formed wild trout. But it got so much better…. standing midway up a pool absentmindedly tying on a fly I was slowly dragged back to a conscious state by a high pitched whistling. I glanced up just as two otters dropped out from a root ball and onto the edge of the river. Keeping as statuesque as I possibly could and with them seemingly unaware of my presence they entered and then porpoised through the pool for four or five minutes. One popped up no more than 6’ away from my legs with a small trout hanging out its mouth and then they lazily swam 30 yards downstream and slowly out of sight. Without a doubt the most memorable otter viewing I have ever had.
Nearly tied in First Place-
Stood in the tail of a pool on a Frome carrier waiting for rising fish a grass snake slipped out the reeds a few metres to my left and then slowly swam across the pool, passing my thighs by no more than an arm’s length and then disappeared into the vegetation… my first ever spotting of a grass snake when in the water.
So the next two although certainly not unusual, I’d expect to see them frequently throughout the season, always make me sit down and take a break-
Undoubtedly the bird I most associate with Devon’s rivers- the dipper. Over the course of a season I must spend a couple of hours just chilling out watching dippers bobbing about, cocking their tails and if I’m really lucky scooting through the water.
It would be impossible not to include the most spectacular and eye catching of our river birds… the mesmerising kingfisher. I consider myself really lucky as it’s a rare days fishing on Devon’s rivers where I don’t have at least one kingfisher whiz past in an electric blur of blue.
Lastly (you may have to substitute your own here) and a vice I regularly give up so may not experience this season…. on a day fishing there is nothing says relax more to me than smoking a cigarette enjoying the peace and beauty of my surroundings and day-dreaming to the restful sounds of the river.
I’d like to say the quality of my photographs mirrors the skill of my fishing, alas both are sadly lacking so thank you to Devon Wildlife Trust (http://www.devonwildlifetrust.org/) for giving me permission to reproduce the above images and allowing me to so succinctly demonstrate why a day on a river is about so much more than just the fishing.
….and I haven’t forgotten, my last aim for this coming season that I mentioned earlier- again it’s not about the fishing, but you may possibly have heard of my new club's water? No doubt controversially to some in the fly fishing community, but I hope by the season's end to hear the unmistakeable sound of a beaver tail splash as he lets me know I’m on his manor… fishing and wildlife the perfect day for me!
Matt Boydell- Boisker
All pictures are the property of Chris Root