Heading to Cornwall and have the rod in the car? It might be worth considering spending a few hours at Colliford Lake.
The phone call from Duncan went along the lines of: the crappier the conditions the better Colliford tends to fish.
It sounded like some unsettled weather was on its way so after a couple of trout from a nearby stream, Chris and I headed off down the A30 for an early afternoon meet with Colliford regular Duncan.
I had naively thought Duncan had to work in the morning but it turned out some heavy duty tungsten had arrived at his home that morning and he wanted to tie up some streamers to try on his local stream further down the line in Cornwall. They had worked and the first thing he showed when we met was the large trout he’d just caught.
Chris and Duncan had met before and so no introductions were needed. We all got back into still drying waders, rigged up rods and walked down to start fishing.
I really, really like Colliford. I don’t get there enough but if the rivers are unfishable you can be pretty sure it will be at the top or near the very top of places that I’ll look to feed my fly fishing addiction.
At over 900 acres and £8 for a day's fishing there is plenty of water to explore. The lake is designated brown trout only with a large head of wild fish that is complimented with a light stocking.
There are no boats and so covering the lake is all by foot. This is where you will quickly learn to walk and fish the water rather than staying rooted in one spot.
Parking in the main car park and taking a look at the vast expanse of water in front of you it is easy to feel you should be setting up with a shooting head and casting as far as you possibly can but you will be surprised and just how close in the fish can be. By wading out as far as you manage all you’ll succeed in doing is pushing them out. I’ll often fish there with just wellies and fish from the dry bank, often a fair way back if the fish are in close but we went for waders today as the ground at the time was still sodden in places.
I spoke to Duncan about the lake and how he likes to fish it. It was interesting listening to his approach with a floating line and some flies designed just for fishing the lake. The big clue where these sort of lakes are involved is black is the best colour. Duncan’s fly box was crammed full of variations on themes honed over years of trial and error fishing Colliford.
He fished two flies on a floating line and worked the bank quickly covering a lot of water in a short time. He varied his retrieve but slower speed was his most popular tactic. It worked and he lifted into a fish.
I rushed down to congratulate him and to take a photo. As it was the first fish of the afternoon I was tempted to leave it as I was enjoying the fishing too much.
At first Chris had fallen into the staying rooted to one spot trap, mainly because he had seen some fish rise but was soon seeing the value in staying mobile.
I like to fish slightly differently to Duncan. I am still haunted by some huge brown trout I have seen moving when I was fishing the lake late one evening. It led me to feel that these sort of fish would want something more sizeable than the traditional wets I historically liked to fish there so now I will often string my rod up with a slow sinking intermediate line. Fly wise, it is a black tadpole with a long tail and bead head. I work on the basis that the bigger fish I am hoping to target are more likely to want more of a mouthful than a small wet fly. It would be good if things were as simple as this and I know it isn’t but it makes me fish the water confidently anyway and it catches me fish.
I’ll cast out, let the line sink a little and retrieve the fly with short, sharp pulls. The takes are unmistakable and are often anything but a subtle pluck.
I cursed as I lifted into a fish that was only briefly attached. Looking down the bank Duncan’s rod was bent and I jogged down to see him land another fish.
Being the gentleman that he is he handed a fly over to Chris who was quickly casting it out and was soon hooked into a fish that came adrift.
The weather was getting crappier. The sky was now a dark, angry colour but the fish were still biting.
Chris hadn’t fished Colliford before but the grin said it all when I asked him if he liked the lake. He was falling, like many before him, under the spell of Colliford.
Time was running out but we kept making just one more cast and the brown trout gave us enough to keep fishing. The weather got more ominous still and as Duncan had predicted the fishing got better.
There is an upside to crappy weather.
Colliford comes under the varied fishing South West Lakes Trust operates. More details HERE
Pete Tyjas is a fly fishing guide and instructor based in Devon