South West vs North East

[Louper]

First post so go easy.

I normally fish the South Esk in Scotland but will be fishing at Wainsford in Cornwall next week, on the south Esk seatrout respond best to a long leader, floating line with or without a poly leader and a size 10 to 16 Stoat tail.

Any tips or advices, ie fly size, sinking/floater etc, any other differences i should be aware of before venturing to the deep south?

All the best

Louper

[Salarex]

I have heard that Wainsford is an absolutely cracking beat, Hoppy even mentioned to me once that he thought it was the best around which I am probably not supposed to mention out loud :>

Pretty sure there is a resident ghillie, so you should have all questions answered on arrival.

Looking forward to reading your in-depth report stretching to several pages in a fortnight......

[T7]

Assuming you are night fishing: Personally I'd shorten the leader and use a bigger fly on various density of lines - see what works!

Ive fished cornwall a bit but never Wainsford so might be best to email or ring them direct for 1st hand info...

[watermole]

First post so go easy.

I normally fish the South Esk in Scotland but will be fishing at Wainsford in Cornwall next week, on the south Esk seatrout respond best to a long leader, floating line with or without a poly leader and a size 10 to 16 Stoat tail.

Any tips or advices, ie fly size, sinking/floater etc, any other differences i should be aware of before venturing to the deep south?

All the best

Louper

Louper,

The River Fowey (pronounced "Foy", by the way, here in Kernow) will be poles apart from what you have been used to. In general, it is a much narrower river, but has a great variation in type of holding pool; some being very deep gullies, or deep pots, shelving up to broader flats, others are 'ideal' runs and glides; so be prepared to rapidly change tactics, leader length and fly type accordingly.

The best advice I can give you is, never have your leader an inch longer than it has to be-usually a bit less than the rod length-and never fish less than 8-10lbs. b.s. on the tip. Small river it may be, but some of the Fowey peal run well into double-figures-and they don't play by the rules, so expect one literally, anywhere, when night fishing. The bigger ones mostly hit hard, and the first you know about it, is when you get smashed up on the take.

Having said that, you can comfortably fish this water with a 9' rod, #6-7. A longer rod is a disadvantage in many places. As to lines; a WF sink tip or floater and a sinker will cover most eventualities. Your fly will not be fishing long enough to worry about niceties, so as soon as it hits the water, put in a mend and really concentrate.

As to flies, all the old favourites will catch at times, but bring a selection of different weight tubes, snakes and tandems. Colours; when in doubt, put on a slimly-dressed, black and silver combo, anything up to 2" long works.
If the water is very low and clear, a Stoats' tail is as good as any..

Tight lines...

watermole.

At the moment, the river is a bit on the low side, but there are fish there for the finding...and fresh ones are always arriving, so good luck!

[Louper]

Thanks for the help, sounds like a fun river

As to flies whilst I enjoy tying my own, snakes and the like are quite different from my usual and I am short on time, any tackle shops in the area you could recommend.

I will report on what i find.

By the way the South Esk is very low but a few fish are around, however they seam to have learnt the annoying trick of waving goodbye on the surface as soon as they are hooked!

All the best

Louper

[watermole]

Louper,
Give Rogers' Tackle Shop in the middle of Bodmin, a bell; there's very little goes on in, or comes out of the local waters that he doesn't know about!

I am a little to the east of there, but for up-to-the-minute help and advice, best to contact 'shocker' (often found on vBulletins' forum).

You are quite right, the Fowey is fun to fish-but can also be hard work!

Tight Lines..

Wm.

P.S. Bring some spinning/worming gear, just in case there is a spate...