River Lyn, N. Devon, Watersmeet & Glenthorne

Looking forwards to our family holiday in North Devon at the start of August and planning where I might be able to sneak off to for a bit of fishing. Came across a reference to Watersmeet - Can anyone recommend it? Feedback? What's it like to fish? Chances of sea trout given the right conditions? Spinner or fly? Nighttime fishing allowed?
Thanks in anticipation...

Bucket and spade and rods are ready to pack!

Hi

It is a very interesting river - falling 1600 feet or so in the 8 miles from source to sea - very, very steep.

The watersmeet fishery is owned by the EA and I think day tickets are about £13. Unfortunately, I think all fishing is restericted to one hour after sunset. In any case, it is difficult to fly fish - I think most locals only fish in a spate (worm/spinner). You can't really get a fly on any of the few pools that there are. It is unlike anything you will have fished before.

There is one pool, the first one off the tide, called Peal Pool (therein lies the clue) that could be large enough to get a fly on - if I was going to fly fish that would be the one pool I would target but other than that - take your worming/spinning gear and pray for rain and I think you would be more likely to connect with a Salmon than a Sea Trout - during wet years it can be a very prolific Salmon river.

If it's Sea Trout your after and you want to fly fish at night -be prepared to head a bit further afield to the Mole/Bray/Taw.

Flipper,

The Lyn is a fast flowing Exmoor spate river. The East and West Lyn rivers join at Watersmeet and flow down a steep and rocky gorge intp the Bristol Channel at Lynmouth. The river is really rocky,; full of hige boulders and is really only worth fishing for migratory fish during a falling spate; when the fishing can be spectacular for Summer Salmon and grilse - if you know what you are doing. On the Lower river the pools are small, you atre fishing pockets of water for quickly moving fish. Most locals fish the worm or spinner. Fish a copper Mepps 3 or 4 or a black and gold flying C and be prepared tp lose a few. If you hooks a fish standby for fireworks. They will often head downstream and following them can be a game in itself. Over the last three or four years the Rapala has earnt itself a real following - fish it with some weight up trace on a long leader (4ft). The last two seasons has seen some walloping summer salmon, often up in the teens of pounds, so be prepared. You can purchase day tickets at the Tourist Info Office in Lynton. If the river is running at summer level then give the trout fishing a go, it can be really good.

Good luck

Tawpug

Wow!! That sounds like interesting fishing. I like it when things are a little bit different and challenging!

Now the dilemma is whether or not to hope for rain - best weather for the fishing - or sunshine for the family holiday.

Sounds like best advice is to put the spinning rod in.

Many thanks for the advice.

flipper, when are you there? We are in Woolacombe the first week of the school summer holidays so if it's the same time and you fancy meeting up for a night or two at the sea trout let me know. I'm completely clueless, but do have some contact sthat reckon they can tell me where to try.

We will be in Woolacombe in Aug. so unfortunately it doesn't coincide. Thanks for the offer of joining up, I would have liked to have done so, it is always good to put faces to names on this site.
Do let me know how you get on though if you give it a go as I am getting really excited the more I find out about this river. (But don't worry if instead you get wrapped up in building sandcastles and don't get out to the river, I understand, family holidays are rightfully like that)
Re-read Falkus's chapter on the upstream worm and it sounds a perfect candidate. Start digging!!!

It is possible to catch Sea trout at night on the Lyn, but as has already been posted your choice of pools is limited.

The best Sea trout pool IMHO is attached to 'Myrtleberry' the house at the right hand bend of the river before Watersmeet. Unfortunately I believe this is only available if you have rented the attached accommodation.

Ten years ago when we took the apartment there for a week, I knew I was in for a good week when I found a mini waddington teal, blue and silver embedded in the carpet and the dinning room window looked straight down into the pool filled with ST and the odd salmon.

Caught my first ever peal there, a bluey silver pounder, fishing off the veranda with my 3 week old daughter in a sling on my chest...

River Lyn

River Lyn

Just to wrap things up now that I am back from my holiday I did indeed have a go at watersmeet and everything I was told above about the river is trueIt is a fantastic place and I have decided it must get an annual visit from me at least A few notes below for the benefit of anyone searching the threads in future.

Because it was a family holiday we did indeed spend most of our time doing seaside things, but in order to avoid the worst of the traffic on the motorway last saturday, my cunning plan was to spend the day at Watersmeet, the family could walk down to Lynmouth whilst I fished, then we met up after 1700hrs (I would have loved to stay later - next time certainly) then drive across exmoor and join the M5 at Bridgewater and get home at 2200hrs.

The fishing is fantastic value. I was there 4 days after heavy rain, which must have helped a lot and by then it was bright and sunny again. The mountaineering aspect of the river is certainly the case - travel light as possible. On reflection I think the ideal footwear for the day would have been my studded felted boots for grip, but just get wet legs above this.

All I caught were small brown trout mainly I suspect due to my clumsiness; the fact that it was all new water to me and I didn't know the best pools; and the fact that my worms were past their best having been kept for a week whilst we were away (Aide Memoir: must start another thread on this because cool damp newspaper didn't seem to keep them for up to a year as Falkus suggests it could)

Whilst fishing one pool I met a couple of regulars. I stood back and one of the chaps quickly whipped out a small peal, so they were there. He'd also had a salmon out further down earlier.

Final tip: don't rely on satnav around here. Look at your map and go the longer way round!

Thanks to all who gave me the advice

Great post flipper - Nice one mate

It really is a great little river but as mentioned before you do need the right conditions. I can't stress enough that you need to take care especially in wet weather, as access to some pools is downright dangerous.
Be prepared for a lot of walking as the only parking is either down in Lynmouth, 2 spaces reserved for fisherman on the Rockford road (close to Vellacotts pool) or up in Brendon.
One bonus is the National Trust cafe at Watersmeet. I forgot my packed lunch on my last visit and it saved the day. The other thing to note is that you won't get any mobile reception (which isn't a bad thing!!).