Welcome to Issue 20 | Eat, Sleep, Fish

The lack of water across much of the UK until just recently goes without saying but the fish have still been biting if you have timed your fishing just right. I can’t recall seeing so many caddis on the water and when out looking for signs of sea trout during the evening I have seen a river that appeared almost devoid of fish during the day look the complete opposite with trout rising just about everywhere.

The big problem some rivers in the UK are facing is Himalayan Balsam - a hugely prolific, invasive plant that is really getting a hold on my home water, the Taw.

I do my best to pull up as much as possible when I am working and try and encourage as many people as I can to try and pull 20 plants up. My hope is that if everyone does the same then we might just get a bit of a hold on it. I hear of some great schemes where anglers get together and pull some balsam and really get it under control and recently heard Westcountry Rivers Trust has just started working on an initiative for some of the river systems here.

This makes me realise how much anglers care about the environment they fish and, more importantly, the environment their quarry lives in too. It seems as though we are the guys who roll up our sleeves and make things happen when something goes wrong or gets out of control. I think there are some lessons others might heed from what anglers are doing.

This video by Paul Gaskell is worth a look as it concerns balsam and its effects on fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VijmRm-qd4Y

You'll see we have some more film footage this month and this is something that we are aiming to have more of in future issues.

We really enjoyed putting together and reading this issue . I hope you like it too.

Good fishing

Pete Tyjas

Devon School of Fly Fishing