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Fly Fishing on the River Torridge

The Fox & Hounds Team
September 16, 2024

Chasing late season Sea Trout & Salmon

At the end of a somewhat fraught Friday the 13th, I had a great WhatsApp message from our guide, Anthony Willmington over on the Torridge.

In total his guests had around 25 opportunities at sea trout with 7 landed, together with some lovely brown trout and a missed salmon. Recent rains have given the Torridge a 75cm rise in levels followed by another 20cm a few days later. With levels falling again, the river has been clearing and the fishing has been incredible, so when Anthony suggested that Tom and I head over, we jumped at the opportunity!

Our Torridge beats comprise 2 miles owned by Anthony and Amanda Willmington, about 25 minutes from the hotel. With a beautiful (and rare) sunny day afternoon Tom and I headed over with high hopes of a good chance at a sea trout. It’s the first chance we’ve had to fish the Torridge, which is significantly bigger than the Taw, and the condition of the river is great.

We got on the river by around 3:30 and Anthony set us up on a couple of runs while he fished above us. We brought our heavier gear fishing 7 & 8wt single handed rods with sink tip and intermediate lines and tandem flies for salmon and sea trout. Anthony used a Spey rod with 40’ shooting head which was better suited for the size of the river.

Both of us had several good pulls, but ultimately only managed to land a dozen little brownies between us – “little brownies” on the Torridge are what we’d call decent fish on the Taw beats, mainly between 9 and 13”. They’re feisty fish but not as much fun on an 8 wt as they would be on a 3 or 4!

Anthony showed us how it was done, landing 4 sea trout and a couple of good brown trout up to about 2 and a half pounds, as we fished into the evening.

Despite not getting into the bigger fish, we had a really wonderful day fishing this beautiful river. It’s a lot different to fish than our beats on the River Taw and a great opportunity for guests to experience something feels a bit bigger, with more opportunities for bigger fish.

As it stands, the Tom/Matt competition for a sea trout (or salmon!) continues (although Matt still leads in the total fish caught this year – just for the record 😉) .

If you’d like to get some fishing in before the end of the season, on 30 September, our Fishing Break package is still available, and fishing tickets for both rivers can be added to any stay.