Well, it’s all over for this year and we had a lot of fun over the course of the season. It was a great end to the season with some rain to top up levels at the start of the month, and some beautiful days to finish up. You can read all about the overall fishing in our September Fishing Report.
The competition itself, while intended as a bit of silliness, did have the effect of sharpening our thinking when it came to fly choices and tactics. For myself, I spent a lot more time overall fishing upstream on dries and Tom was kind enough to give me some great pointers that I’ll take forward to next season and beyond. It also made us look at the river more closely, the delicate ecosystem, and appreciate the changes a small rise or fall can make to a pool and how we fish it.
A new found interest in entomology has opened a whole new world, and finding a species of mayfly or stonefly we hadn’t previously recorded, carries as much excitement as hooking into a sea trout (well, almost).
We’ll definitely continue with fishing reports and fly recommendations next season, but our friendly rivalry will need to take more of a back seat. Tom is hoping to get out and explore a lot more rivers in Devon, while Matt will be focussed on trying to record and document the species of fish-edible invertebrates on the River Taw.
Scores on the Doors
It has to be said that Tom was typically submitting returns in the mid-teens, but he only managed to get out eight days in the month – and several of those were focussed on picking up a salmon. He was rewarded on the last day with a good few minutes of play with a large fish, but it broke him off eventually. Given he was on 16lb tippet, it must have been a nice fish and possibly the 30″+ salmon we’d previously seen on Chenson.
Meanwhile Matt was getting out for a couple of hours a day for all but six days of the month. Fortunately , there was no Fish per Hour clause in the competition and his more meagre returns soon began to add up. He was also a bit more conventional in his fly selection for the month and as things turned out, the majority of fish were taken either on the sedge or black nymph, neither or which were in Tom’s choices for September.
As a result, Tom was only able to add 26 of his 51 fish to his competition score for a grand total of 314. Thanks to Sedge/Black Nymph performance, Matt was able to add 75 fish to his competition score from 87 fish caught, for a competition grand total of 359.
I’ve got a sneaking feeling that the “letting your boss win” strategy may have crept in towards the end. While I’m under no illusion as to which of us is the better angler, despite the scores, I’m pretty confident I can now beat Tom in the “counting mayfly foot segments” category. A competition for another year, perhaps.
One Fly to Rule Them all
There’s no doubt that last year, the black nymph accounted for more fish than any other fly on our beats of the River Taw. This year it been less clear cut. It wasn’t really until we reached the end of June that the black nymph started producing, but from that point on, it was the most consistent fly, often out-producing all others.
The Elk Hair Caddis was an unexpected contender for top fly. From the start of the season through to the end of June, we’d caught only one or two fish on sedge patterns despite there being an abundance of caddis flies on the water. Throughout July however it was responsible for nearly 80% of the fish caught, working well with a black nymph suspended below it. It dropped off significantly in August but was back in strength for September.
Mayfly dry patterns produced a good number of fish, most notably in May and June. Tom added some serious numbers to his score in May with his Mega-May fly, but no single pattern/colour continued to work throughout the year, and it was a case of matching colour and size to the hatches of the time.
Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear and Pheasant Tail Nymph patterns had their days in the sun as did Stimulators and Spiders to a lesser extent. But given it’s overall success and the fact that it accounted for half the sea trout caught, we’d both have to agree that the simple black nymph was this year’s fly box MVP.
Looking Ahead to the 2026 Season
We’ve had a lot of fun with the competition, but next year we’re planning something a bit more collaborative. Not only will this help to heal any residual spiritual wounds that might exist, it prevents Tom from having any chance to come back and claim the crown!
In addition to the monthly fishing reports, we’ll work together and with our guides to suggest a fly box for each month ahead. If you’re fishing with us, or on other rivers in Devon, it should provide a solid base of flies to bring to give a good starting point for a successful outing.
We’ll also bring you updates on Tom’s progress as he explores the rivers of Devon and try to put together a proper compendium of the prevalent species of invertebrates each month and suggested flies to match. Oh, and we’ll also try to get some of those articles about favourite pools and fishing setups we promised! If you missed any of our fly selections for each month of 2025, you can find them easily over on the Tom vs Matt page.
We hope to see you next season and wish you luck out there, wherever you are fishing!
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River Taw, Devon – May Fishing Report
Fly fishing report for May 2026 at The Fox & Hounds, Devon
