Hi all
Well the day finally arrived and I was woken by my alarm @5am, not that I slept much anyway. Packed the car and on the road for 6 for a leisurely drive down to Hampshire.
After a few toilet stops and a bite to eat I drove through the Dever gates at about 12.15.

Went to the lodge to buy my ticket and enquired about fishing the small stream. I was told it wasn’t included in the ticket prices any more, and if I wanted to fish it, it was a further £25 (ouch). I politely I declined the offer and off I went to set up.
I was ready to fish for about 12.45 and decided to have a cast on the bigger of the two lakes which I must say was quite murky and was no good for spotting fish.
First cast and yes you guessed it fish on, it gave a good scrap and when finally dispatched and weighed it hit the scales at just under 6lb.

I felt if I had carried on fishing blind I would have bagged up within the hour, so decided to have a wander .Had a look along the stream which was crystal clear but I didn’t think it was worth £25 extra. Had a look at the owners growing on ponds and was absolutely amazed and the size and condition of some of those trout, Rainbows, Blues and a couple of Goldie’s into high double figures.

Came to the second and slightly smaller lake which I was pleased was crystal clear and you could see the bottom all over the lake.
I had a walk around the lake to see if I could spot any doubles and to kill some time, all the double eluded me or there weren’t any there.
Seen a decent fish in the middle of the lake so tied on a size 12 green chomper that I was advised to try, and after a couple of **** casts managed to land the fly about two foot in front of the trout’s nose. It sank quickly (lead weighted) when it got level with the fish it slowly swam towards it took the fly and turned away I was amazed that I never felt the tug or the line move and realised how many fish I must be missing when you can’t see the take. I struck and the Rainbow was hooked, after another good scrap it was netted and weighed and nudged the scales @ 7lb

So two more to go and it was only 2.30pm.
Still couldn’t find any doubles, not for the want of trying mind.
It was great been able to stalk the fish and been able to cast to the fish you wanted. Sometimes I would be casting to a decent fish and another smaller rainbow ( if you can call 5lb small ) would dart out from nowhere and attack you fly. I found if you resisted the temptation to strike and just left the fly the trout would spit it out
My next two fish were both caught on a damsel and again both were stalked. Caught the last one at 5.30 and by then I was knackered.
Off to the lodge to fill in the catch return, the only thing I was disappointed with was the gutting room was closed and when I enquired with the owner was told it was because people used to leave it in a mess. I did point out that when I booked the day a couple of weeks ago I was told I would be able to fillet my fish and they would supply freezer facilities. He did take my trout and put them in the freezer (whole). I am sure I read somewhere that it trout were frozen without been gutted they would turn bad. True or false this played on my mind and I never went back for them
Still had a fantastic time and really enjoyed been able to stalk all the rainbows I caught





Thanks for looking and if I haven’t bored you all to death I will be posting a report of my next days fishing at Avington shortly

Many thanks must go to Alex, Neil and especially Paul ( all off this site )who gave me endless tips and advice.

Thanks Gaz

Very good report Gaz, I must say I am looking forward to fishing there on Saturday, in the fishing for heroes heat. I fished there a couple of months ago on probably my worst days fishing ever, however it was absoultely red hot and only a few people were catching. Now to read your Avington thread.....

Never fished at Dever, but thats a good size average. Trout and Salmon can be frozen whole, but it can stain the gut cavity black if not frozen fast. When i was working on a fishery we used to smoke trout and salmon for customers and it used to amaize me how many wouldnt gut there fish bring them in whole, must say its not for me though

Mmmmmm! Good report Gaz, didn't know about the change on the river!

But... no........... you know I'm biased, good job you had a second day!

And another thing, their sign (in your first image), it's always bugged me! Not the "finest fly fishing" bit, but it should be UK (with a capital K!).

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Nice repot Gaz

Enjoyed reading it and its always a pleasure looking at good photos..

Dayne

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'' if at first you don't succeed........then skydiving is not for you....

yeah top report a pitty about the extra charge as its included in the price at avington.

Feel there being greedy with this extra charge at £70 plus this should really be included in the price.

Good report and photo's Gary. I'm looking forward to the follow on from Avington. Glad you had a good couple of days.
Paul

I am off to Dever tomorrow,so will let you know how i get on, to be honest i wanted to go back to Avington and have another crack at a double but alas they have a corperate day there. I only have tomorrow and then the 19th at Tavistock, then the rods will be hung up for the winter, my busiest time of work and the ferrets and my whippet take priority over the winter months.

Hi Paul
you can see my Avington report here Trip to Avington

Had a trip to Dever yesterday as avington had a corperate day. I must say i was a little disapointed overall. Not knocking the venue but i must of hit it on a bad day all around.

The first lake was cloady as we all know but that didnt bother me as i knew the second was crystal clear. I arrived at 7.30 and so did many others, so we had a chat, turned out most of us had tried to get onto Avington LOL. The office didnt open till 8.05 and the welcome was ok but on one word answers so i left to go fishing. Walked around the first lake and just didnt fancy fishing it at all, so on to the second, after about 8 laps i couldnt find a thing above six pounds at all. Most of the anglers walked around and then set up camp on the large lake with chairs LOL. I carried on walking around and really couldnt spot a thing. I found one dead double and several dead fish about 10 or so in the end thats how hard i was looking. So started to fish for the bigger stockies and found that if you didnt catch them within 3 casts it was better to move on, So thats what i did, and caught 3 in no time on the smallest greenwells nymph i had. 2 other anglers had 1 each and most asked me what i was using so i told em, but what surprised me the most was they camped in the same spot for hours catching nowt. I went off for a cuppa and a talk to the anglers on the large lake and most hadnt had a thing and a few had a stocky each. One guy had struck it casting blind and had a 13lber, i wished em well and went to watch the stocking, quality fish, good tails but all the same weight 5-6lb. I went to the office had a cup of tea and then back down on the small lake for another good hour of looking but nowt showed up , so i said sod it and had another stocky after 3 casts and went home.
I must say it wasnt the lack of big fish that put me off, the fish i caught all between 5 -6 lb faught like demonds and had perfect tails. The weed didnt put me off either, the first pond was merky but i knew that, what did put me off was the gutting shed was closed and the area outside needed cleaning, the amount of dead fish around aint a good advert and to be honest the place had no atmosphere and the owners didnt want to talk, so i will be passing this place next year to go to Avington everytime, more money yes, but far more enjoyable miles more variation on fish size and plenty more room to fish