TOM VS MATT SERIES
Fly Fishing Devon Rivers
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TOM VS MATT SERIES
Fly Fishing Devon Rivers
Background
Tom has been at The Fox & Hounds for more than 20 years while Matt and his wife Helen, purchased the hotel three short years ago. Both Tom & Matt are enthusiastic anglers and neither are shy of a bit of friendly competition. So of course last year we couldn’t help but notice our catch returns were very similar, despite quite different styles of fishing. This inevitably turned into an informal competition and a close fought battle right through the season (which Matt won, just saying 
). So this year we decided to formalise things with a few rules, and to document our progress, our different styles, fly choices, etc.
While neither of us are expert anglers by any means, we do spend hundreds of hours each year on the River Taw and other Devon rivers, and thought that sharing some of what we do, and what we’ve learned, might be of interest and help to newer anglers and to guests coming to fish with us for the first time. The hotel does have excellent fishing guides and using a guide will ensure you get the very best from your experience.
It’s worth mentioning, in case it’s not completely obvious, but this just a bit of light hearted silliness. Neither of us actually cares how many fish we catch and just getting out on the water for a few hours is always the reward. The competition is just a fun vehicle for documenting our activities, remembering to take photos and and creating a record of what we’ve been up to. We hope you enjoy it!
Fishing Series
Every month during the 2025 season, we’ll each select what we think will be the 5 best flies for the upcoming month. We’ll talk about why we chose them, how they relate to the food sources we’re seeing on the river, and review how our flies from the previous month performed and any other flies that did well.
We’ll also pick a topic such as the gear we use, our individual setups, a favourite stretch of water and how we fish it, and little tips & tricks we’ve picked up fishing local waters. Over the course of the year, this should build into series of articles forming a handy little resource and a bit of a diary we can look back on in future years.
Competition Rules
The rules are simple. Each month we’ll each choose 5 flies to fish with. We can fish with other flies, but only fish caught with our chosen flies will count towards the competition results. Every month we’ll choose new flies (two can be carried over from the previous month), rinse & repeat.
A unique fly includes the pattern, colour, size and weight, so an olive dyed variant is different from a natural; a 14 is different from a 16 and bead head is different from an unweighted. Other rules I just make up depending on how much I’m losing by.
The Competitors
Thomas butt
Tom is the General Manager at The Fox & Hounds, where he started working more than 20 years ago. He grew up locally, learning to fish the rivers and streams in the area and has fished a large number of the local waters for brownies, sea trout and salmon.
Tom favours dry flies and upstream casting. Even when fishing nymphs or other wet flies, it will often be under a dry fly, in a klink and dink style.
Tom’s flies come from a variety of sources, including the local tiers and our local fly fishing shop, but so far he hasn’t caught the tying bug.
Matthew Lane
Matthew and his wife, Helen, purchased the Fox & Hounds a few years ago, largely (for Matt), because of the fishing. He grew up in the Rocky Mountains fishing the rivers and lakes of British Columbia, He came to fly fishing in his 20’s learning at Rutland and fishing the Leicestershire reservoirs, later moving to the Vancouver area to be closer to the salmon.
Small river fly fishing is new to him and he prefers fishing nymphs or wet flies down stream, but will change to dries during the summer, if only to keep up with Tom. He ties his own flies, which is very useful if Tom finds a fly that performs particularly well!
Series Articles
Our growing list of month by month predictions of the best flies for fishing the River Taw and similar rivers in Devon. We need to take a bit of time away from fishing to write the other articles we planned, but we’ll get there eventually!
Not technically part of the series, but a comprehensive look at our fishing in March
Tom & Matt’s fly selections for April and a review which flies performed best for us in March
A quick review of our April fly selection performance and our new selection for May fly fishing flies
Review of a record breaking May and the flies responsible, with new and updated flies for June
Review of the best flies for our rivers in June and our selections for July
Our predictions for the best flies to fish on the River Taw in August and a review of our choices from July
The final round of fly selections for this as this year’s competition enters the final month.
Competition results and a review of the best flies of the year.
Related Posts
River Taw, Devon – May Fishing Report
Fly fishing report for May 2026 at The Fox & Hounds, Devon
