Floundering around on the River Teign

The River Teign is a blast from my past. It used to be known for its record breaking flounders and I spent many an hour standing on its shores hoping for a big one. I haven’t fished this venue since I was a teenager and then never from a kayak. The last time I fished it was next to Coombe Cellars on a freezing February stood up to my knees in mud hoping against hope for a flounder. These days in similar conditions I’d be sat in Coombe Cellars with a pint watching the idiot fishing out of the window.

Today was a different story. I only had a couple of hours to spare so was looking for an easy launch and they don’t get much easier than the end of an alleyway in Shaldon Village. To start with there was a lot of fog so I just tied off to a buoy and dropped down some worms. I soon remembered another problem with fishing here – the vast numbers of bait robbing crabs. They were all over the bait within seconds of it hitting bottom. I needed to have a moving bait to try and avoid them. Luckily the fog soon cleared and I paddled downstream to Coombe Cellars intending to drift slowly back to Shaldon with the outgoing tide.

Nothing much was happening except for catching the odd mussel and crab. Just as I was giving up hope I had a bite on the left hand rod and the first flounder was soon on board. No record breaker but a welcome catch all the same.

This was immediately followed by a smaller one to the right hand rod. I made a mental note of this mark as it was obviously a fish holding area so I will return in winter when the big ones are around. The rest of the drift was uneventful and all too soon my time was up. An easy couple of hours on the water and the target fish caught.. happy days.

Now for the three hour drive home.