Tavistock Fishery

[Eddie O'Neill]

Hi Folks,

Going down to Tavistock Fishery in Devon next week for a few days. Anyone been recently ?

Any tips ?
What's the Tout n Tipple Pub like?

Best Regards
Eddie
:guinness:

 

[trouty_le_trout]

Eddie, it's a lovely location but we felt it was quite expensive, £20 for a 3 fish ticket for 4 hours only seems a bit much. We went on a slow day and 2 out of 3 of us blanked and then were politely reminded our time was up. It was also extremely busy on the Sunday we went, nearly every peg on the 5 ponds were taken.

I managed 2 x 2lb rainbows that were of good quality though so all not lost. As I say, the location is great, fish seem good and the shop is also very good with free tea and coffee, just the cost really.

Not sure about the Trout and Tipple, went there a long time ago and it seemed nice and friendly, no gastro pub but comfortable and ok food.

By the way, I ended up using a bright green and black Montana fished very deep and retrieved slowly to get my two rainbows.

Hope that helps.

 

[BrownieBasher]

Tavi

I have fished there a good few times. It used to be that 2 lakes (Osprey and little osprey) had bigger fish in them, but now all the lakes have the same stock policy, and if the truth be told, ive seen far far fewer big fish in there since.

That said, it's a lovely place, and Abigail makes you feel extremely welcome the water's fairly clear, but with peat bottoms, the lakes can be tricky to spot deep fish. Smaller flies tend to work best, and i usually keep my efforts to the largest lake, Osprey, where the water's deepest. If I were you, i'd concentrate under the bush at the top end by the aerator. There's ALWAYS a very large fish that appears out of nowhere under that tree, or right down at the far end under the trees, where there is usually a very nice brown or two.

The other lakes are shallower, and IMO not as challenging as osprey, but there's plenty of water to explore, and Abigail usually takes a pasty order when you arrive. Get one, theyre the size of ironing board covers!

Cheers
Alex

 

[olseadog]

went a couple of weeks ago my friend had a couple of about 2 lb each and i had one just under 7lb i really like the place its a great spot. all were taken on damsel type nymph's and im told buzzers work well too.

 

[Eddie O'Neill]

Thanks for the info guys, look forward to the Pasty

Cheers
Eddie:guinness:

 

[MARAZION MIDGE]

I'm afraid that since Abi changed to the new stocking policy the fishery has gotten a bad name, which is a shame as it could be a premier one with all that its got there.
As to flies buzzers, damsels or a small 14 tadpole tied with black orvis crystal fritz.

 

[Eddie O'Neill]

Well, spent two days there with the following points of note.

1. Accomadation was great.
2. Abigail was a great host, made to feel very welcome.
3. Weather was way too hot. Should have used more sunscreen
4. Trout and Tipple pub, food good, beer great.

And now the fishing....

A lot of hard knocks all day, result = 2 X 2lb and 1 x 3.5 lb rainbows. All on Kingfisher lake using damsel nymphs. There are definatley bigger fish in the Osprey lake, I know because I lost three in there.

First day was busy, but no one had any more that one fish. Second day was very quiet, weather was way too hot.

All in a pleasant visit.

Cheers:guinness:
Eddie

 

[fastmover2]

Hi All

Quick update on Tavistock.

First off I have to say I am, in general, a huge fan of this fishery, it is a lovely layout and provides plenty of nice water to fish. The staff are all extremely pleasant and the facilities are very nice. Having said which I have to say that I have become increasingly disenchanted with fishing here.

As per my post in the English Stillwater section I had never previously blanked here, this is now not the case! I am not the only one saying this either. I would never give a fishery poor ratings purely on whether I catch or not on any given day, that is just the vagaries of fishing. In my experience "Tavy" is fishing very poorly now compared to in the past and has been for sometime.

The stocking policy has changed twice in the last 3 years, once for the better then for the worse. Firstly two of the lakes were designated specimen lakes and had some very nice fish in them, minimum stocking was 3lb plus but you always seemed to do better than this. I had one session in which I had six fish for 36lb. 6lb fish were almost run of the mill. The other lakes also fished extremely well with good average sizes, much better than the published stocking weight too. Seperate "specimen/all lake" and "non specimen only" lake tickets were available and the prices charged for this were, to my mind, reasonable and competitive.

Although the lakes were (are?) stocked with good sized browns I have only had one of 7lb.

The stocking policy then changed again to all lakes covered on the same ticket with same stocking policy in each. Minimum stocking was at 2lb with each lake having a few larger fish. I think this was possibly done due to price resistance on the previous"specimen" ticket. To start with all was well with good numbers of fish and plenty of better size. Over time however I noted a change. The average size dropped away and fish became much harder to come by. On several occasions I have failed to bag up. Other anglers have been seen struggling and plenty of people fail to catch anything.

Of course this could all be down to varying conditions but it just feels like the quantity of stock has dropped markedly. Additionally the fish are nowhere like as hard fighting as before.

At my last visit I was told that the 4 fish ticket is now £35 which is an increase of some 25%. No problem with price increases per se but a very steep rise. (Previous visit was a blank in nigh on perfect conditions btw) Anyway paid up and fished. Conditions were good, if a bit bright as late afternoon, not many fish rising or visible. Few people there had had nothing all afternoon. Decided due to brightness (with recent lack of success with normal flies and methods in mind too!) to fish deep with a booby. Fish first cast! 2lb stockie, hour later another 2lb fish to booby, now I have nothing against the concept of the deep booby but it is really not my thing. As it now was clouding over and the odd fish moving on top changed to my normal set up(s) and then spent further 3 hours various methods depths with not a touch. Two other guys had turned up in the meantime and had managed two fish between them (both 2lb ish stockies again) by the time I left.

Sad really, love "Tavy" but will be a good while before I return. At the new prices I expect something better in both numbers and size of fish. Nothing like value for money at the moment.

 

[Dpross2]

So has any one been lately ? Was thinking of having a look myself but not at those prices for a few 2lb stockies.