CAMASUNARY BLUES Modern slants for wild trout

Mt
PL ess
FOR THE
PROGRESSIVE
Patel GAME ANGLER &
BINOCULARS FLY TYER
— flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

LOCH OF THE
SOLDIER PALMER
Where wet-fly still rules
the waves

SHOULD
| ly
SHOULD GO?—_“Zy |

What makes ON
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For when all else fails » vroso il

 FlyFishing ~

SFlyTying
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yy OFFFTMag
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(12 issues):
UK 41; Europe 53; he complex life-history of the sea trout ‘hard work’, but it can be highly rewarding. That’s
Rest of the World 62. has always fascinated anglers. The late why I always get excited about fishing on
Peter Lapsley always used to tell me that Perthshire’s Loch Rannoch (page 40), where a de-
Subscription Hotline and Enquiries all wild trout were sea trout; brown trout cent trout might interrupt the retrieve at any time
Tel. +44 (0)1887 829868
Fax. +44 (0)1887 829856 were simply the ones that decided not to go to sea, with a nerve-jangling, electrifying jolt to flies
email: subs.ffft@btinternet.com and Andy Ferguson’s in-depth study of these enig- which, tied in the traditional mould, are highly sat-
matic fish confirms that, but he then scopes out what isfying to produce at the vice, too.
ISSN: 0959-8383
actually makes them decide to stay... or go (page 16). There’s some excitement on our reservoirs this
Distribution When it comes to catching sea trout from the sea year, too, with some fantastic fishing being reported,
Seymour Distribution Ltd. itself, then there’s nothing more satisfying, exciting and Gavin Friel has divulged some secrets and tricks
or fascinating than this branch of our sport. Histo- to Charles Jardine in order to make your day from
Printing ry tells us that Camasunary Bay, in the remote south Northamptonshire’s Pitsford Water on page 22.
Warners (Midlands) plc
of Skye, was one such place where big sea trout once For those salmon anglers looking to present a
roamed in hordes (before the salmon farms) and Al- good fly that’s a little bit different, yet they strug-
lan Liddie (page 34) tells us that one special fly, first gle with tying bottle tubes and coneheads, just fol-
written about in a German prisoner of war camp, still low Sandy Howie’s instructions for the Yellow Pot-
has something special to add to wild fishing. bellied Pig (page 46) which involves a bottle tube,
For all the latest fishing
Wet fly fishing is a simplistic form of our art, but a conehead, and a devastating combination of sil-
news, and blogs
it is a pleasant, rhythmical and exciting way to fish ver and yellow which has now become a fly to tie
ail ier ee
through the course a day; compared to most of our on to ‘save your day’.
flytying.co.uk
disciplines and skills, fishing wet fly is not exactly Mark Bowler, Editor
Rolling River Publications Ltd takes every care in
compiling the contents of this magazine but
accepts no responsibility for effects rising
therefrom. The opinions and views expressed are

Shree things this month

not necessarily those of the Editor. Reproduction of
any part of this publication without prior permission
is strictly prohibited. ta do
PAGE 34 PAGE 46 PAGE 50
GET THE CAMASUNARY SAVE YOUR DAY JUST HEAD STRAIGHT UP
KILLER BLUES With this salmon FROM MAIN STREET
Rolling River Publications Ltd, Modernise a wild trout favourite bottle-tube Hike to Snowdonia's jewels
Locus Centre, The Square, Aberfeldy,
Perthshire, PH15 2DD, United Kingdom.
Tel. +44 (0)1887 829868
Fax +44 (0)1887 829856

——
Published in Scotland.
Printed in England.
Made in Britain.

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 3

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6 SHOT OF THE MONTH 12 NEWS CAST 72 TACKLE BAG 71 QUIZ

Flash photography. Llynfi wiped out by
‘
Magnus Angus takes a Win Bushnell waterproof
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Swap shop; Loch trout at risk’ Lune challenged; some waterproof binocu- answer six questions to
nodules; Cold feet! and
... Contentious Itchen lars, whilst Mark Bowler be in with a chance.
more. salad-washing plant drives, fishes and ties on 80 SALMON SCHOOL
closes... and more. flies with just one pair of Book your place to fish
Wet flies for a loch-style 64 PRIDE OF AUTUMN polarised spectacles. for salmon on the River
classic water. Gordon Mackie plays hide 76 ON THE BENCH Annan this October.
and seek at peak grayling Magnus Angus reviews a 83 BONEFISHING
time. feather-folding block, a SCHOOL
82 LAST CAST palette of dubbing colours, Join Mark Bowler in
Your favourite fish? a sight-board and scissors, November at the
By Peter Holtet. and takes an in-depth look Bahamas 2020
at using oval tinsel. Bonefishing School.

4 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 —anes YOUR FISHING
aes
ae

Tie an old saltwater sea

trout fly with a modern twist

An impressive selection of game

and coarse varieties for 30 a year.

16 SHOULD | STAY
OR SHOULD GO? |

Andy Ferguson investi-

gates why some brown
trout go to sea while other
individuals remain in the
FLY TYING streams where they were
born or migrate instead to
34 GET THE CAMASUNARY version of the Pot-bellied the mainstem of the river,
KILLER BLUES Pig, which can be used any to the estuary, or to a lake.
Allan Liddle has added a day of the season, but 50 SNOWDONIA'S JEWELS
modern twist to an old salt- particularly in coloured Ceri Thomas heads into
water sea trout pattern water. the hills to fish the Lake of
with great success. 62 MUCH IN the Mountain, Cold Water,
46 BOTTLE OF LITTLE Black Bridge and the Steep
THE GOOD STUFF Neil Patterson says tying Step.
Sandy Howie introduces us small flies shouldn't be a 65 ANGLING CLUB
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TECHNIQUES

22 A FISHERY 40 LOCH OF THE

OF TWO HALVES SOLDIER PALMER
Charles Jardine takes us Mark Bowler describes a
ona secret guided tour of fabulous large loch on
Northamptonshire's fa- which to fish wet fly.
mous Pitsford Water. 56 BACK
30 ANGLER’S MANTRA TO BASICS
Once in position to cast to Colin Macleod guides
a fish, it’s important that two mullet fly fishing
the fly is the correct one. newcomers, detailing the
Here, Dave Southall gives skills required throughout
10 patterns to exploit most a full tide cycle on the
situations. sand-flats. |

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk |
October 2020 5
|
 UATOUL

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Flash photography.
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Email: markb.ffft@btinternet.com. Please include your name and postal address with all correspondence

The writer of the Letter of the

COLD FEET!

theTenth
Month will receive a Seaguar
For many years now I have
struggled getting waders to fit me.
I’m 6 foot 3 inches tall, I have a
Litter of spool of their choice from
Fordham & Wakefield.

56-inch chest and a little bit of a

beer belly (not too big, I hasten to
add, but evident nonetheless).
Swap shop
Unfortunately, my feet are only a I was interested to read in the organised some time before any «
This, in turn, allowed
size 10 UK. Apparently, if you are August issue of the Virtual Club pandemic, so costs were reduced participants to tie up more of
of the above dimensions - and ’'m by Foeke Visser from the by delivery to participants at each the pattern with a sample to
sure I’m not alone — the industry Netherlands about his club’s monthly meeting. The two extra hand;
deems it that you must also have actions during the coronavirus flies submitted were put into a + It also enabled
you to see other
feet like Coco the Clown, so you pandemic. Our local branch of monthly raffle for the benefit of tyer’s efforts, and compare to
end up with four inches of excess the Fly Dresser’s Guild the whole club membership. your own!
neoprene flapping at your feet, organised a similar ‘Fly Swap’ Over the seasons, we had had
which has to be folded back and several years ago, when the three such swaps, including It made for an enjoyable
wriggled and squeezed into the members were asked to patterns of Sedges, Chironomids tying session, in terms of
wading boot, only to un-wriggle participate in a tying swap. The and Mayflies. reproducing patterns accurately
itself and give you aching feet as idea was to tie up a number (say It was beneficial on several and consistently. The sessions
the day proceeds. I cannot buy twelve) of a specific pattern in an counts: were also something to look
boot-foot waders to fit me for love insect group, for instance, forward to, receiving a variety of
nor money. If I buy them to fit my sedges. *
Participants could learn of patterns to fish with. One such
feet, they won’t fit my chest. If I Ideally, ten participants were different patterns that were pattern that I refer to as a ‘CdC
buy them to fit my chest, I am required and each of those ten slightly different to normal; Sedge’ is still a fly that I tie
assumed to have size 19 feet? My tied their choice of the pattern *
Participants could try other regularly and still use today.
short friend has similar problems. and this was given to an patterns (without resorting to
My only option is to buy neoprene invigilator. So, every participant buying, if available) to John Sawtell,
stocking-foot waders and there received one version each of a determine what would be Byfleet,
are only a few makes out there specific pattern. This was suitable for their own fishing; Surrey.
that accommodate the body and
feet sizes to afford some degree of
comfort. be bought, so why can’t we have the life back into the South or fishing. When I was a child, the
My main misgiving about something decent on our feet in Yorkshire rivers. Whilst I’m only thing you caught from the
neoprene stocking feet is that you the meantime? Then there’s the heaping praise on that Don was typhoid, so no-one went
must pull the stocking foot to cost factor. I’ve had 400 waders organisation, I would like to also near it. It is now a clean, living
remove the waders; this stretches and 55 waders... both equally as thank the hundreds, if not river, and long may it be so. But
and tears the neoprene join, and poor and unreliable. The question thousands of volunteers who have the work is still not done, and
then they leak ultimately. My I want to put out to the turned out in all weathers to help more needs to happen.
latest pair lasted only three weeks manufacturers of waders is quite to achieve this. These volunteers It is used bya lot of fly fishers,
before I had yet another day’s simply this: is this the best you were made up of people of all as it is a prolific grayling and trout
fishing ruined by cold, wet feet!. can do? kinds of disciplines: canoeists, fishery. It is also free in a lot of
A few years ago, Snowbee Yours soggily, fishers, both game and coarse, places, but not all. Most of the
brought out a polymer stocking Steve Smith (aka Coco the Clown). naturalists, walkers and just the Don in the city centre and
foot on their breathable waders. normal Joe (and lady equivalent) upstream to Station road,
They were the most comfortable DON DELIGHT AND who just like getting mucky now Oughtibridge is free fishing. I
waders I’ve ever owned, and the DILEMMA and again. We certainly got mentioned earlier that salmon
foot took the punishment of In the August 2020 issue, a news mucky, with the extraction of have been caught in the Don and
tugging the waders off. In fact, the piece concerning the revival of tyres, cutting and trimming of the Rother, and word has got
rest of the waders fell apart Sheffield’s salmon was included, trees, litter removal and, on round the forums and some
around the foot. They were the explaining how the removal of the occasions, live ammunition, and fishers are talking about fishing
answer to my dreams... until weirs has benefited the migratory once a murder victim cut up ina for them. The question I would
Snowbee had a rush of slurry to fish and other fish that travels black plastic bag was discovered. like to ask of the panel is this:
the head and decided not to make upstream for the purpose of Otters are in the river once Should we as fishers, or to coin a
them any more. Why? spawning and feeding. again, salmon have been seen and phrase “guardians of local rivers
This is a multi-million pound The team at the Don caught, usually by the angler who and streams” be actively targeting
industry. The breathable material Catchment Rivers Trust have is trotting down a stick-float. these fish? Or, as I believe, the
that waders are made from done a sterling job with their People are using the river for fishing for salmon on the old
degrades relatively quickly, so forward thinking, enthusiasm and recreation, whether it be walking, industrial rivers should be
new waders are always going to commitment in helping to bring canoeing, observing the wild life curtailed. Until, at least it is a>

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 9

| |
 Teign Angling and
Conservation Association
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10 October 2020
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www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 YOUR SAY

<€ proved that the returning fish then develop into mature adult
have successfully spawned? tapeworms, which shed eggs with
J] WBlewitt, the faeces. There is also another
Sheffield. intermediate host involved -
freshwater crustaceans - which
LOCH TROUT NODULES need to be eaten by the fish. Various
Would you be most kind and ask fish can be an intermediate host of
one of your experts to cast their the infectious plerocercoid or last
eye over the photos, please? I have larval stage.
found that more and more loch Food Standards Scotland (FFS)
trout are having these nodules on advise not to eatfish that is visibly
and inside their intestine, on contaminated by this parasite, as it
occasions some have them could present a risk if notfrozen or
attached to their ribs. What are cooked in the ways described in EU
they, and is it safe to eat these guidance.
trout? This parasite is captured by the
Ihave not found these in river requirements of Food Law Reg
trout. 853/2004, in which the advice
J Marshall, regarding cooking (60°C core
via email. temperaturefor at least one minute)
and freezing (-18°C for one day)
A spokesperson for Marine Science would apply to mitigating the risk
Scotland said it believed them to be ofparasites in any wild caughtfish,
larval Diphyllobothrium, which however, FSS would again stress
develops into a tapeworm, however, These common parasites are also being a host for this stage of the their advice, which is not to eatfish
ethanol-fixed specimens would be known as broad tapeworms and tapeworm. If eaten by a suitable that is visibly contaminated. -
required to confirm identification. have a complex life-cycle, the fish bird or mammalfinal host they can Editor.

LOCALISED
THUNDERSTORMS AND
MISSING FISH
Strange weather this year, with
alot of thunderstorms but
highly localised, and in many
Best Bley of
obvious what’s happening with
the
happily fishing away without
again only lasting for a few fish
thenitwas back to missing
again.
This became fairly frequent
and not only on the one visit,
but over several visits to the
cases, very heavy rainfall the ominous, big black clouds on even donning ajacket. river; and it wasn’tjust me
resulting in some fresh ‘flushes’ the horizon. Something else whichis alittle either, as other fishermen
of water in our north east rivers, But againit can stillbe very eyebrow-raising is arecent around were reporting the
whichis always welcome. localised; last week, was only
| tendency forfeeding fish to same thing.
Thing is, the localised nature of about four miles below ‘miss’ ortry to ‘sink’ your dry. Sol’mstill not convinced it
the town
these has seen me on several of Huntly and, despite being Now, just put this down tome,
|
wasn'tjust downto me, but
occasions fishing surrounded by rain-clouds and some drag, or the pattern not again it could be the coloured
a beat in
sunny weather that suddenly the odd rumble of thunder in the being quite right, etc -acommon water, or even perhaps the way
begins to colour up withrising distance, barely saw any rain.
|
occurrence which we face allthe the fish were feeding? Were
water. It's great, as it generally Meanwhile, the river was time. they ‘over-stimulated' in the
switches the fish onto the take, colouring and rising pretty quickly But then thoughtit was possibly
|
changing conditions and
but unexpected if you're lashing sol knew it was certainly pouring down to water colouring up and progressing from steady
onthe Factor down upstream of me. What the sight-line of fish to target was feeding into amore rushed and
50 in mid-20
|

degree temperatures with little didn't appreciate, or know, was notas clear. Thing is, that what ‘excited’ feeding style causing
in the way of cloud cover that this was happening a mere was common was (is) the fact them to rush atthe fly?
overhead. four miles above me and the that you were taken confidently Maybe, but it’s another little bit
OK, you soon become streets of Huntly were awash, and cleanly with the first two or ofthe mystery and fun that
‘accustomed’ to this and the with drainage systems struggling three fish, then missing them — or keeps us guessing and
tocope (or not, insome cases) when watching more closely, fish learning...
surprise value is removed,
with the ferocity were missing you. Achange toa —
Allan Liddle
especially given the fact you and amount of
startto monitor rainfall they were experiencing. lower-riding, half-sunk style of fly ..Read Allan's full blog, and
the forecast
Downstream of the storm! was and ‘Bingo’ instant hook-ups, but others on the website.
upstream of you and often it’s

WWW.FLYFISHING-AND-FLYTYING.CO.UK/BLOG

Together
Seaauar
E We Are
Strong
www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 11
| |
 es Gat
OUR ESSENTIAL
ROUND-UP FROM
THE WORLD OF
FLY FISHING AND
FLY TYING

Got a story? E-mail the news desk at: rollingriver@mac.com or telephone: 01887 829868. For news as it happens visit www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

Llynfi wiped out by

pollution
“TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DEAD FISH” IN PROLIFIC WELSH GRAYLING AND TROUT RIVER
he Llynfi, a prolific trout Gwent Angling society said: “Af-
and grayling river, ter the pollution four years ago,
which also is an impor- we estimated that it would take
tant salmon tributary of the Wye, ten years for the river to recover.
has been wiped out by a pollu- By the time that process now
tion incident. Reports of dead starts all over again, it will have
fish floating down a grey-brown taken 14 years”.
river along with an overpower- Geoff Hardy, solicitor for Fish
ing chemical smell along the Legal stated: “After painstaking
river above Pontithel Bridge was work and huge sacrifices Gwent
first reported on Friday, July 31 Angling Society had just finished
and triggered an investigation putting the river on the road to
by NRW, which took samples recovery after the last terrible
from the river over that week- event, only to be yet again con-
end, by which time thousands of fronted with shoals of fish liter-
fish, including grayling, brown ally having the life sucked out
trout, bullheads, eels and min- of them. We hope that Natural
nows, were reported to have Resources Wales carry out a full
been killed. The Llynfi is a high- investigation notwithstanding
profile game-fishing river in any Covid-19 restrictions they
Wales, and the incident is the are working under, and once the
latest in a litany of similar inci- Dead Llynfi grayling and trout up to 11/ pounds taken from around Pipton perpetrator is confirmed they
dents occurring across Wales in Bridge and downstream. will face proper justice.”
recent years. The WUF Fishing Passport
The Afon Llynfi emerges Dave Collins, vice chairman put on the road to recovery after Talgart beat on the Llynfi (be-
from Llangorse Lake on the edge of Gwent Angling Society (GAS) a devastating pollution incident tween the Llangorse Lake and
of the Brecon Beacons and joins said: “There are probably tens in 2016, when yet another wave the junction with the Llynfi du-
the river Wye at Glasbury. of thousands of dead fish... of (unidentified) pollution saw las) is above the pollution, along
The incident wiped out of the Nearly every fish in this section the obliteration of fish and river with the WUF Llynfi Dulas
Fishing Passport stretch, and the has perished, from tiniest bull- life for at least five kilometres. beats, upstream above Bronllys
Gwent Angling Society water be- head to trout, grayling, perch, Mark Roberts, Secretary of Bridge.
low it to the confluence with the eels, brook lampreys and juve-
river Wye, which together nile salmon”.
equates to about five kilometres The recent incident provoked
of river. One other fishery af- the S&TC to call upon NRW to
fected is above Pontithel Bridge,
which is let as part of the WUF
Passport, the Pontithel Beat.
The river was also a strong-
hold for the endangered white-
bring the full weight of the law
to bear upon the perpetrators of
this environmental vandalism.
Fish Legal is currently advising
GAS in respect of the pollution
Walkers — OF TROWELL
Since 1971
clawed crayfish, which are also
reported to have perished. Low
incident.
The cause of the latest inci-
@) 0115
river flows have contributed to dent has not yet been confirmed 930 1816
the problem, as the pollution by Natural Resources Wales Stockists of:
was less diluted and stayed which continues to investigate
Hardy; Simms; Rio; Vision; Greys;
within the lower Llynfi for the incident. Wychwood; Seagaur; Fulling Mill; Abel; Royal Wulff, Sage.
longer, killing the invertebrates The tragedy occurred literally Full range of fly tying equipment and materials.
such as caddis and Mayfly larvae the day after the last touches 9-13 Nottingham Road, Trowell, Nottingham, NG9 3PA Tel: 0115 930 1816 E: sales@walkersoftrowell.com

(the Llynfi Mayfly hatch was one were carried out to a remedia- www.walkersoftrowell.com
of the best in Wales). tion project that saw the river

12 |
October 2020 |
www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 Total C&R for ‘at risk’
Lune challenged
CLUBS RALLY AGAINST EA OVER MANDATORY CATCH-AND-RELEASE ON ‘INDEX RIVER’

A
by the
public consultation on
the River Lune salmon
stock has been launched
Environment Agency. The
EA has formally classified the river
should be based not on numbers
of salmon spawning, but on the
estimated female spawning eggs
deposited. He says, “with the
transition of many river salmon
as being ‘At Risk’ and proposes a runs to a higher proportion of
new local byelaw for mandatory x. larger, multi sea-winter fish (of
catch and release of all salmon Yoo which approximately 70% are
Py
»
. =
_o
caught on the Lune for the next 10 . o estimated to be females) with an
years in order to protect the stock average fecundity of 7,000 eggs,
and help it recover. we are seeing much smaller
The Environment Agency in spawning-run sizes in terms of
Lancashire now estimates the numbers, but which are produc-
stock of Lune salmon as being ing the equivalent number of
below the minimum desirable ‘ eggs compared to much greater
population level, and this has ~
numbers of smaller one sea-win-
triggered the call for the bye- - ter fish, which have fecundity
law. Environment Agency offi-
cer, David Spilsby said: ““Stock
ents Yas,
averages more like 4,300 eggs.
“Once again, the EA are not
levels are of significant concern hydro-scheme on the weir where The EA have altered and properly informing the angler
and face increasing challenges. the counter is situated, and a se- changed age/weight table esti- and clubs of the real and dy-
It is essential therefore that we ries of counter equipment and mates of one sea-winter/ multi namic changes that are taking
all do more to maximise the electrical outages. “The techni- sea-winter stocks without expla- place in interpreting the status of
number of fish reaching their cal case justification therefore nation; stocks”, concludes Mr Ashwin,
spawning grounds to protect does not include any counter es- * NWATECC are rejecting “The EA are continually stress-
these fish and the next genera- timates in the last five years!”, the EA’s use of a 1.1 multiplying ing there are declining numbers
tion that they produce.” concludes Mr Ashwin. factor it uses to account for un- of salmon, and making a con-
The Lune is one of the four He says that there are major der-reported rod-catch estimates certed effort to “inform” anglers
nationally important Index issues based on the accuracy of from rod angler’s declares re- to achieve their own goal of im-
Rivers, which are used to gauge reported stocks, which form the turns in 2019, because more re- posing 100% catch-and-re-
salmon runs across all the rivers basis of Lune & Wyre Fisheries liable independent fisheries re- lease with little regard for justi-
in England and Wales, due to the Association and NWATFCC’s turns actually show this should fying their actions using reliable
fact that they have fish-counters challenge that the river is not ‘At be a factor of 1.68. stock estimates”.
on their systems. However, the Risk’: Mike Ashwin says that the David Spilsby said: “Our
EA’s estimates are challenged by *
Validity of rod-exploitation number of anglers fishing the guidance directs us to reduce the
Mike Ashwin, chairman of North rates used in the last five years Lune has reduced by 50% in ten exploitation of ‘At Risk’ salmon
West Angling Trust Fisheries where rod-catch estimates are years, and this reduction in rod- stocks down to zero as quickly as
Consultative Council (NWAT- used, because the counter is out effort is currently the subject of possible and we have a shared
FCC), who says that the Lune of action. In those years, the sig- a national review to improve responsibility to protect these
has only produced one complete nificant drop in angler rod-ef- stock assessment accuracy. iconic fish”.
year’s run estimate in the last five fort needs to be factored into the More importantly, he adds, The consultation concludes
years, due to construction of a EA’s estimate; stock estimates and assessments on September 10.

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| |
13
 Contentious Itchen salad-washing
plant closes
DECISION “CAUTIOUSLY” WELCOMED BY ENVIRONMENTALISTS OVER PESTICIDE THREAT
akkavor, the Alresford resources for the EA’s monitor-

B salad-washing com-
pany, which was at the
centre of a long-running row
ing programme. S&TC’s inverte-
brate sampling and analysis had
clearly indicated a strong signal
over pesticide discharge and its for chemical damage, which sub-
affect on insect populations fur- sequently forced the EA to con-
ther downstream on both the duct its own detailed investiga-
Arle and the upper Itchen, into tion. That EA investigation
which it flows, has decided to revealed Bakkavér was in fact
Shutterstock/ Julian Gazzard

close the plant. discharging a cocktail of poten-

The S&TC’s campaign against tially dangerous pesticides, in-
the company began over two cluding the neonicotinoid, ac-
years ago, when the pesticides etamiprid. In response to these
which washed off the salad findings, the EA requested
leaves, which came in from all Bakkavoér find a means of re-
over the world, were damaging moving pesticides from its dis-
the river’s insect populations and The chemicals washed from the salad-plant and Itchen’s pristine clear charge and to accept revisions
represented “an imminent waters had been a source of conflict for years. to its discharge permit.
threat”. In February this year, Dr Janina Gray, Head of Sci-
the plant announced that, fol- liver real world, meaningful im- which has received heightened ence & Policy for Salmon &
lowing a notification under the provements for the ecology of attention. The Group strives to Trout Conservation, added: “The
Environmental Liability Direc- this important chalkstream. But meet its environmental commit- situation at Bakkavor Alresford
tive to the EA, it was using an it must be implemented without ments and has improved many Salads makes it obvious that the
ozone treatment instead of wash- delay and operate full-time.” processes over the years”. way the EA manages and regu-
ing which appeared to remove Nick Measham, Deputy CEO However, the S&TC wel- lates its permitting process is not
problem pesticides washed off for Salmon & Trout Conserva- comed the decision “cautiously”. protecting the environment. The
the imported salad leaves, but tion said: “It is untenable that It warned that there remained EA must now ensure nationally
also removed toxic chemicals rapid action will not now be long-standing structural issues that any permit with the poten-
that had leached into the taken to bring an end to this with the Environment Agency’s tial to discharge pesticides into
groundwater over previous episode”. In late August, Bakka- current discharge permitting rivers is reviewed.”
years. vor decided to close the plant, regime, which it said “raises Further investigations by
At that time the S&TC said, stating “the decision to close the considerable doubts about its S&TC indicate that there
“Bakkavor deserves credit for de- Alresford site has no connection ability to deliver genuine envi- could be hundreds of other sites
veloping what appears to be a to Bakkavor’s ongoing work ronmental protection”. Impor- with similar issues across Eng-
powerful solution that will de- with the Environment Agency, tantly, it noted a severe lack of land.

from trawling was causing

SAFETY declines in diversity and size
of commercial fish species.
Cutting drownings The petition for Judicial
105 people drowned in Ireland Review was brought about
last year, which brings the with the assistance of Fish
long-term average to ten wading or fishing from boat, SCOTLAND Legal. SCFF’ s Alistair Sinclair
drownings per month in the shore or bank said: “Unfortunately, the deci-
country. As a result, Inland Check the weather forecast Trawling challenge sion to refuse the Inner Sound
Fisheries Ireland (IFl) is and tide-tables before going A judicial challenge has been Pilot follows a predictable pat-
reminding anglers that, while fishing granted over the Scottish Gov- tern whereby the Scottish
wearing a life-jacket on a boat *
Take time to observe ernment's refusal of a fisheries Government appear to allow
is the law in Ireland, it is now weather, water and tide pilot, which was proposed to powerful mobile fishery inter-
advising anglers to wear one conditions while fishing test the environmental and ests a veto on any change
when on or near water, and Fish with a partner/buddy or economic benefits of allowing that might threaten their free-
are asked to follow further let someone know where ‘trawl free’ areas on the sea- dom to trawl in the inshore.
simple safety tips when going you're going bed. The proposal, which would The Scottish Government
fishing: Take a fully charged mobile have been based around the need to remember that they
phone in a_ waterproof Inner Sound of Skye was put should be managing our fish-
*
Follow advice on warning case/bag forward by the Scottish Creel eries in the public interest and
signs, permits and notices Wear appropriate clothing Fisherman’s Association on the not just for the mobile sec-
*
Don't take any risks when and footwear premise that the disturbance tor.”

14 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 Beavers all clear to stay in the Otter
ANGLERS’ DISMAYAS COLONY SANCTIONED FOR EAST DEVON RIVER

A
fter a five-year introduc- shown that species such as min-
tory trial, the govern- nows increase, but bullheads de-
ment has sanctioned crease in the presence of beavers.
that a colony of beavers, which Bullheads are a designated
currently comprises 15 families, species for this Special Area of
can remain on Devon’s river Ot- Conservation (SAC), and again,
ter, despite an ongoing fisheries this potential loss was not ad-
survey. The beavers originally ar- dressed by the original report.
rived on the river illegally, but Fisheries bodies are also con-
were allowed to stay, pending a cerned that salmonids will strug-
report, conducted by the Univer- gle to negotiate beaver dams.
sity of Exeter, on their impact on Devon Wildlife Trust’s Mark
the river and the species that de- Elliott has led the charity’s
pend on it. The Angling Trust, beaver work since its beginnings
Game and Wildlife Conservation in 2010. He said: “Our rivers and
Trust, Salmon and Trout Conser- As in Scotland, the information with regards to the affect of beaver activity wetlands really need beavers, and
vation, the Atlantic Salmon Trust, on migratory fish in the report was sadly lacking. this is brilliant news. Those of us
and the South West Rivers Asso- involved with the trial have seen
ciation considered the breadth of main. Mark Owen, Head of The fisheries bodies are con- just how critical beavers are for
this report to be too narrow and Freshwater at the Angling Trust, cerned that beavers take 15-30 restoring more naturally func-
flawed on a number of aspects, so said: “We are disappointed the years to reach terminal popula- tioning rivers, which will be so
they wrote to the Secretary of Minister has not waited for our tion size in a specific area like important during the ecological
State about their concerns, and report before making this deci- the Otter and thus the overall im- and climate emergency that we
commissioned an independent sion. We don’t understand the pact is unlikely to been seen for now face”.
assessment of the impact of rush and are saddened that the some time yet. “This rush to ap- Mark Owen told FF&FT,
beaver, and the European beaver Minister has decided to favour prove the status of illegally re- “Salmon are in a perilous state,
in particular, on fish. Fisheries an introduced species over leased beavers into an environ- on the verge of extinction and,
bodies have serious concerns species already present and in ment that has evolved over whereas beavers are doing well
around the impact the release of desperate need of more protec- centuries of their absence, seems throughout their range, salmon
beavers could have on protected tion.” to ignore that caution and the are doing badly”.
migratory fish species, such as Dylan Roberts, Head of Fish- need for a full understanding of Prof Richard Brazier, from the
salmon and sea trout. Salmon, eries for the Game and Wildlife their impact”, said an Angling University of Exeter, said, “The
once common on rivers like the Conservation Trust, added: “I'm Trust press release. benefits of beavers far outweigh
Otter, have all but disappeared; deeply disappointed that Defra Mark Owen, told FFESFT that any costs associated with their
some sea trout still remain. has made a decision based on a no fisheries scientist was en- management.”
However, before this inde- very weak evidence base. To say gaged in the initial report, and The licence details for the Ot-
pendent fishery-impact report that the River Otter Beaver Trial that a lot of the literature may ter’s beavers have not yet been
had been published, Rebecca considered the impacts on mi- indicate fish biomass increases published, so what happens to
Pow, the Environment Minister, gratory salmonids in any serious due to beaver presence, because any beavers that spread out from
announced on August 6 that way is disingenuous to say the of the dams and ponds they cre- the Otter catchment is not yet
beavers on the River Otter can re- least.” ate. However, studies have determined.

Wet and warm affects spawning

WELSH JUVENILE SALMON NUMBERS DOWN IN WARMER WINTERS AND WETTER SPRINGS

R flooding in the spring of 2016,

esearch which may ex- with a particular focus on 2016. lations might be sensitive to ex-
plain the crash in juve- Focusing on salmon and trout potentially causing ‘egg wash- treme weather events that are
nile salmon numbers from eggs hatched that spring, out’ whereby eggs are washed forecast to become more fre-
during the record warm, wet the study, due to be published in out of the spawning redds, into quent and intense under future
winter of 2016 has been pub- Freshwater Biology, found that unsuitable habitat where they climate change scenarios”.
lished. A new study commis- juvenile salmon — and to a lesser are likely to die. These wash-outs Peter Gough, NRW’s
sioned by Natural Resources extent, trout — numbers were are more severe in steep rivers Principal Fisheries Advisor
Wales (NRW) and carried out lower following warm winters susceptible to flooding, as is added: “By commissioning work
by the Game & Wildlife Conser- and wet springs and that the common across Wales. such as this we can make in-
vation Trust (GWCT) analysed 2016 salmon crash coincided Dr Stephen Gregory, a re- formed decisions to help reverse
data collected on the Clwyd, with extreme winter and spring searcher with the GWCT, said: their decline and protect these
Conwy, Dee, Teifi, Tywi, Usk weather conditions. Many of the “These findings suggest that al- iconic species for future genera-
and Wye between 2001 and 2017 rivers studied also suffered ready weakened salmon popu- tions.”

www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020

| |
15
 Should I stay OT
should I g0
ANDY FERGUSON investigates why some brown trout go to sea
while other individuals remain in the streams where they were born
or migrate instead to the mainstem of the river, to the estuary, or to a lake
he simple answer to the migration is now numerically the
question “What is a sea
trout?” is that it is a
most common life-history, and
these lake-feeding trout are miz>
‘
migratory brown trout that consequently the most important
spends time feeding in the sea for anglers. Stream-resident and
fry egg
before returning to freshwater for migratory trout can all arise from
further feeding, overwintering, or the same population and
spawning. Generally, trout
spawning takes place within
individuals can change their
migratory behaviour during their
——~—
small tributary streams. As lifetime. Thus, in some
illustrated in the life-cycle populations sea trout regularly parr
diagram, while some brown trout move between the sea and
may spend all their lives within freshwater and former sea trout Decision 1
a few hundred metres of where may adopt a freshwater life-
they were born (stream-resi- history. Previous recognition of Migrate or stay?
dent), most brown trout are sea trout as a different species, or
Energy (fat store) genes determine
&

migratory. In addition to op- other management unit, from

tional migration to the sea, mi- freshwater brown trout is no
low condition high condition
grations can also occur to the longer tenable. That is, both sea |

downstream mainstem of a riv- trout and freshwater trout must threshold

er, to brackish estuaries and la- be managed together, contrary to
goons, or to a lake. current legislative arrangements.
\
They are all smolts Why are they silver? migrate to better feeding
It is now recognised that all Silvering of the body is often
migrations share many genetic regarded as a characteristic of sea Decision 2
and physiological features in trout. However, silvering is
common and thus all juvenile camouflage for life in mid-water Migrate where?
migrants can be referred to as resulting in the trout not standing Genes mainly determine -
smolts, not just those migrating to out against the surface when
sea. Except for the south of viewed from below, and it is not in
selected by success of ancestors
England, there was no freshwater any way specific to life in the sea. at different destinations
connection between Britain and Similar silvering is seen in mid-
Ireland and mainland Europe at water feeding trout in lakes, and
the end of the last Ice Age, some their smolts, leading in some cases
12,000 years ago, and colonisation to erroneous reports of sea trout
had to be by sea. Thus, native being present. In some lakes both
brown trout populations here, silvery plankton-feeding trout and
irrespective of current life- more typical brown trout
history, are mainly descended colorations of bottom-feeding
from sea trout. In order to manage trout are present, as well as often
sea trout correctly, we need to silvery fish-eating ferox. Trout fos
understand why some of these feeding in shallow brackish
original sea trout populations waters don’t require silvery
have become purely freshwater camouflage and may have a sandy
trout. coloration to match the
In regions such as Ireland and background, such as the classic
Scotland, where there are many ‘yellow-bellies’ of Loch of sea trout
thousands of lakes, river—lake Stenness, in Orkney.

16 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 COMMENT « SEA TROUT

onward movement to the open requires physiological adjustment. actively expelled. Many estuaries,
Whatis a slob trout? sea, some never move beyond the In freshwater, a trout’s body fluids lagoons and enclosed seas are
Alternatively, coloration may not estuary. Brown trout that feed in are more concentrated compared brackish water. At around 1%
be recognisably different from shallow estuaries are frequently to the surrounding water and it is salinity, a trout’s body fluids are
trout remaining in the river. Trout referred to as bull trout or slob faced with the uptake of water by the same concentration as the
feeding in deeper brackish water trout, the latter name derived osmosis and the loss of salts by surrounding water, and water and
become silvery as for true sea from the Irish term for mudflats diffusion. To counteract this, salt regulation are not required,
trout and distinguishing the two that are typical of many such copious urine is produced, and with a consequent saving in
is again difficult on coloration estuaries. salts are actively taken up by energy. Thus, the divide is not
alone. The difficulty of identifying special cells in the gills. The between freshwater and sea
estuary feeding trout results in the reverse is the case in fuil strength water, but between below and
importance of estuary feeding
Saltwater adjustment sea water where the body fluids above 1% salt concentration.
being underestimated in many Migration from freshwater (less are less concentrated, with water Indeed, much of so-called ‘seas’
rivers. Although many trout use than 0.05% salt) to full-strength being swallowed to counteract such as the Baltic and Caspian are
estuaries as staging posts for sea water (more than 3% salt) loss and excess salts gained are less than 1% salinity and are

Artwork by Robin Ade.

stream-resident trout
spawning in

mainstem river trout

smolts lake trout - bottom feeding

lake trout - midwater feeding

lake trout - ferox

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 17

| |
COMMENT « SEA TROUT

<+« effectively freshwater, as least especially at sea. Parasites and there is a strong tendency to taken, the next consideration is
as far as the trout’s physiology is diseases are also more prevalent follow the parental life-history, where to migrate to, that is, the
concerned, in the sea. Thus, the risk of death especially the maternal one. destination of migration. This
increases with migration, Overall, around 50% of the decision is mainly under genetic
especially to the sea. Migration is variability in migration versus control , ie, what did their parents
Why migrate? therefore a “trade off” between stream-residency is due to genes, do? However, some individuals
The advantage of migration, better feeding on the one hand, with the rest resulting from can’t be readily categorised as to
irrespective of destination, is that and increased energy expenditure environmental factors. This is their life-history type and spend
more food becomes available and risks of mortality on the other. why, as already noted, the part of their life in a river, or ina
allowing greater growth. For The best feeding destination migration decision is flexible, and lake, and part in the estuary or at
females, this means that many for a migratory trout varies widely migratory trout can give rise to sea, with regular movements
more eggs can be produced among river systems, depending stream-resident ones purely as a between these habitats. As with
allowing a greater contribution to on local conditions. In some river result of changes in whether to migrate or not,
the next generation. For males, the systems feeding may be better at environmental conditions individuals can’t directly
advantage is less since enough sea than in freshwater, but in experienced by the juveniles, determine the best place to
sperm can be produced at small others the opposite is the case. irrespective of parental life history. migrate to in their river system.
size, although larger males are Thus, where a lake with good Again, they rely on the experience
more able to gain and defend feeding is present, sea trout are of their ancestors as encoded in
mates. This explains why more sea often absent even though there Decision to migrate their genes through natural
trout and freshwater migrants are may be no barriers to movement One of the principal selection. Thus, if ancestors that,
female and, in some rivers, almost to and from the sea. River—lake environmental factors involved in say, migrated to a lake were the
all females are migratory and migration also reduces the the decision to migrate or not is most successful, they will have left
almost all males stream-resident. likelihood of being predated or feeding quantity and quality. This the most offspring, and the genes
Stream-resident trout rarely parasitised compared to at sea. decision occurs a year or more responsible for river—lake
exceed 0.5 kg in mass, However, On the other hand, in river before external signs of becoming migration will predominate in
by migration to better feeding a systems in low-nutrient regions a sea trout are visible in the form that population. In the case of
much larger size is achievable. such as peatland in western of smolt transformation, the trout populations above a
Brackish water has provided Scotland and western Ireland for preparation stage for migration. If waterfall or dam impassable to
the largest brown trout specimens example, sea trout are frequently an individual’s nutritional status, upstream migration, since
with, for example, trout in the present irrespective of the especially the amount of energy migrants are lost from the
Caspian Sea having previously existence of lakes. Where there are stored as fat, is below a genetically population, natural selection
been recorded up to 57 kg, no lakes in a nutrient-rich determined threshold level the results in the removal of the genes
although the size has reduced in catchment, then feeding in the individual “decides” to migrate to responsible for migration, with
recent decades, Baltic ‘sea trout’ mainstem of the river may be the find better feeding. If above the the population becoming purely
can reach 18 kg. A trout of 13.6 kg best cost-benefit strategy. Estuary energy status threshold, it stream-resident.
was taken in the Loch of Stenness, feeding can also be better than remains in the stream and
the largest brackish lagoon in going to sea and may reduce the becomes sexually mature. Thus,
Britain, which still regularly risk from predators and parasites. the higher the threshold level the Humans v migration
produces specimen trout. In more likely it is than an individual We now have a_ greater
Britain, the record rod-caught sea will migrate, as it will be more understanding of the genetic and
trout is one of 12.85 kg caught in The migration gene difficult to reach the condition environmental influences that
the Solent in 1992. The British Trout only migrate where the required for residency. Female determine what produces a sea
record river-lake migratory trout benefits from doing so outweigh trout have higher thresholds than trout and other brown trout
is a ferox of 14.4 kg taken from the costs in terms of eventual males resulting in females being migrants, although there are still
Loch Awe in 2002. The relatively survival and reproduction. Since more likely to be migratory. many gaps on the genetic side. We
low abundance of prey fish, such an individual has no way of Different populations also can also know many of the human
as Arctic charr, in lakes in Britain assessing these directly its have distinct thresholds resulting impacts that result in the
and Ireland means that only a decision is informed by its genes, in varying propensities for reduction of migration, especially
small proportion of individuals which have been shaped by the migration. Experiments on both to sea, and these will be covered in
can adopt to piscivory — feeding experiences of its ancestors, sea trout and river-lake migrants the next article. Only with full
on fish — compared to the greater together with current have shown that low food knowledge of all factors involved
abundance of prey fish at sea. environmental conditions and its availability increases the can we hope to protect and restore
However, in some Scandinavian own nutritional status. If the proportion of migrants, more so sea and freshwater brown trout
lakes, where fish prey is more ancestors that migrated were for females than males. Where the migrant runs, especially in the
abundant, almost all lake-feeding more successful and left more number of young trout and face of growing threats to our
trout are piscivorous and the offspring than those that salmon is greater, that is, where rivers and seas by an ever-
average size exceeds 4 kg. remained stream-resident, then there is more competition for increasing human population.
the genes responsible for food, then more trout individuals
migration will have increased in migrate. Offspring of sea trout
Migration “trade off” that population. In other words, reared under standard hatchery Andy Ferguson was Professor of
While there are benefits to the migration genes have been conditions often become Biology at Queen’s University
migration, there are also costs. subjected to positive natural residents, simply because they are Belfast. He has studied salmon
Considerable energy is expended selection. too well fed! Since larger smolts and trout, especially genetics, for
in making the journey to the The proportion of individuals are more successful at migration 50 years. Retired to Galloway, he
feeding destination and back that migrates varies among this can occur at different ages tries to make scientific studies
again to the original tributary populations as well as between depending on when an individual accessible to a wide audience and
stream for spawning, especially if sexes, Sea trout and other migrant reaches its optimal size. fishes for trout when possible.
there are obstacles in the way. In parents can give rise to young that
general, more predators are become stream-resident, and vice « In his next article, Prof
present in the downstream parts versa and both forms have been Where to? Ferguson investigates: where
of river systems, in lakes, and shown to interbreed. However, Once the decision to migrate is have all the sea trout gone?

18 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
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www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020

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 ee

his year’s topsy-turvy world has After our fabulous day afloat last year, was
I makes are equally adaptable. There will be
given us periods of heat, determined to go back and repeat the exercise local quirks, of course, but in the main what
showers, cool, warm and as I this year — but with a bank fishing bias. I was works for one will, invariably, work for others.
type swathes of rain drench the all set for a visit, and then... the weather The ‘dealbreaker’ for the more general
parched ground of only a few produced a summer meltdown. fisher reading this is Gavin’s fly... now that is
days ago. So, with plans more or less in tatters Nevertheless, Gavin and I have conspired something that I urge that you look to create
and increasingly distressing reports of reduced to piece together a fly-fisher’s map of this iconic and try and a water near you. I suspect it will
oxygen levels on waterways due to heat and water, which we both hope will give you an find a home on the shores of Irish loughs,
thunderstorms creating coarse fish amazing insight into the possibilities that a where gillaroo are present.
“kills”... what to do? water such as Pitsford offers.
It became abundantly clear to me last year I am aware that this might be a little Fishing “The Pond”
that all our waters have ‘unsung heroes’ — myopic, and have limited value to those who
people who knowa place intimately, and build do not fish this water, but the styles and the Gavin has fished Pitsford for nearly 30 years
up a knowledge that is not only encyclopaedic, areas are, in my opinion, highly mobile and can and living so close by, he can snatch short
but insightful, quirky and often anything but find empathy with the water that you fish. For fishing sessions when work and family
mainstream, Gavin Friel, in my eyes, is the very instance, the point of a bay at Pitsford is as commitments permit. Over these many years
embodiment of all that — and more. relevant on, say, Blagdon — and the choices one has come to respect both the water and the

22 October 2020
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www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 array of characters that fished there
-
especially the likes of Hector Woolnough and
Arthur Cove, but also the current anglers.
All fishers, he maintains, have their
approaches, flies and favoured methods, and
as Gavin has fished many waters, he has
surmised they are all different and have their
own challenges — and one must be mentally
and tactically nimble to meet those challenges
But Pitsford is home — a friendly reservoir
to fish, run by a great team, and with a large,
well-stocked pantry for the trout, and a vast
array of bays and features. What is there not to
like! And Gavin has found that each angling
day, week or month is never the same: one
September does not always fish the same as the
previous September. So when evaluating how
to approach and fish, it is far wiser not to go on
times of year, but to think more in “cycles and
recipes of conditions and dynamics.”

The ingredients for these recipes — and this is

not an exhaustive list — are:
« Water
clarity
« Water
temperature
« Air temperature
Wind direction and rain over the past few
days
«
Stocking events and locations
«
Availability of food ...what’s on the menu?
« Time available to fish
« Weather conditions
« Boat or bank

Gavin’s investment
Gavin tends to ignore weed growth (providing
he can actually fish in and around it), wind
direction on the day (unless it’s for safety
reasons), last week’s catch reports, condition
of the fish, and all the other subjective items,
such as the weather for the outing (safety and
clothing excepted) ...that can change, says
Gavin!
Put simply, Gavin wants good water clarity,
with a comfortable temperature for the fish,
and an air temperature that is positive. An
understanding of where the wind has been
blowing helps him select where to fish. He also
wants to be aware of any rain influx which may
knowledge of the Northamptonshire water. have cooled or warmed the water, plus an
understanding of where recent fish may have
been introduced (he avoids these areas! ).Then
he considers what is likely to be on the trout’s
menu, the likely weather conditions on the day,
and an understanding of the time he has
CHARLES JARDINE takes us on a secret guided tour available, and whether he’s fishing off the bank
or in a boat.
of Northamptonshire’s famous Pitsford Water “Finally, I need to consider how much effort
I am prepared to invest in order to catch the
trout,” he concludes. »

re 4
tr
www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 23
| |
in association with

The Small Half

To be honest, this is only a fraction of the main reservoir containing the current fishing lodge, with certain areas out of bounds and it
is rather sensitive to the state of its incoming streams and prone to colouring up. There is an island that becomes evident with low
water, the stocking boats used to be moored there. This is the area that you see when, in more normal times, you purchase your ticket.

1 Sunken Road
The bay to the left of the boat jetty (facing away
from the lodge) and the old sunken road.
This landmark(!) is still visible due to absent weed
growth, and the corner has a gravel bank that drops
away to deeper water, a great spot for early and
late season fishing early or late in the day. The
weed can play havoc, so it is essential
to keep the flies up — high — in the
water. find best conditions are
|

when the wind is blowing into the bay,

~-and

Hare's Ears
will often tempt a trout.

(leat Koad

2 Jetty reed beds

The bank to the right of the boat
jetty can also produce fish near
the reed beds, again fishing in
and around weed is challenging,
so keep the flies up in the water.

— j

3 Causeway to Tunnel
Working up the causeway to the tunnel can only be executed ina
boat, the fishing can be good when damsels are about, my preference
Information is to hold around 50 metres off the Causeway and then use Damsel
patterns; the Pitsford Pea is also a firm candidate for this style of
Pitsford Water, Brixworth, fishing.
Northampton NN6 9SR.
Run by Anglian Water.
Season:
February 29 to January 31

Permits:
8-fish day permit 29; -
Sporting permit (one fish limit - barbless only — 23;
4-fish day permit 25; -
Senior citizen — 6-fish limit 25; - ‘
.
Summer sunset — one fish plus C&R (available from 6pm) —
12;
Day boat 27;
—
- -
.

Half-day boat (before or after 2pm) — 21.

To book: 01604 781350.

24 October 2020
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 TECHNIQUES « RESERVOIRS

5 Open water
Drifting in open water with both nymphs and lures 4,
can provide some surprising results on the day.

4 Bay and Maytree

The bay to the far side of the tunnel and Maytree bank
-
is shallow, weedy and silty perfect for Buzzer activity
~ and once the weed starts to die back, specimen fish
are often attracted to this bank. had browns of 12Ib
|

20z and 7lb 90z, as well as five rainbows of between 3

and 5lb here in one afternoon (which is pretty
;
-
amazing! CJ). prefer to drift off the bank
|

towards the lodge than onto the bank here: Diawl Bach,
Hare’s Ears and Fry patterns — Minkies, Appetisers,
all can produce great results.
There are numerous other hot-spots, the point (4)
opposite the lodge bank responds well to anchoring on
the point or drifting across it can provide spectacular
fishing as can fishing up to the submerged Island.
When fishing the Small Half, clear water
conditions drive success.

Three notes for bank fishers

When fishing from the bank, a few things can
make a huge difference to your prospects: it's
always the little things that make the difference.

*
Never start wading without first fishing close in.
Try a few casts a good 30ft back from the bank,
allow the fly line to lie on the bank. Early morning,
a lot of larger fish are literally in the margins —
food is there and also, as summer edges into
autumn, this can be a devastating tactic for fry
feeders.

*
Try and fish across a point, rather than the
same tram-lines straight off a point. Moving
either side of the point and fishing partly across it
-
at angles, can be and often is — very effective.

+ Fish
fewer flies on your leader ~ and especially,
use a stronger leader in weed. In weed, one
approach| use is to have a Booby body (with the
hook-bend cut off) on the point and a single
Nymph about six feet above it. cast the Booby |

onto the top of weed to act as an anchor and

hang the Nymph in clear water, or above the
weed,
(I bet you lot didn't think of that one! A similar
3a Tunnel trick which Arthur Cove used: hooking a
Tunnel entrance is, naturally, slightly deeper; have had good perch on fly either side. That
| sacrificial point nymph into the weed and fish
being said, when a wind is pushing through the tunnel, a wind-lane forms, and this can be a his Nymph proper above it. prefer Gavin’s
|

great fish-magnet if water clarity is good, the fish responding well to Snatchers, lightly way —
CJ.)
dressed Nymphs and dry flies like Hoppers and Crippled Midges.

www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 25

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in association with

The Big Half 13 The Cliffs up to the Gorse

There is a lot of bank here with several points and bays they all can hold fish;
The majority of Pitsford's fishing lies from the dam side of the causeway, it truly is a case of working your way along the area and finding them-
up through the narrows into the main basin - if you happen to be in a casting here and there and just covering as much ground as possible. Buzzer
boat you really should allow 30 minutes to get from the lodge to the patterns and the usual nymphs would be my first-choice, with ‘the
a FAB on — -~- =o—

dam; that is a significant stretch of water. - but

point fished later on it
keep simple. Anglers also have great results
The topography of the surrounding land and the shape of the water here, and in other areas, suspending various designs of nymph under the
can create challenges on where to fish both off the bank and in the boat, bung.
sometimes the wind is not as you would expect, and wind funnelling
down the Narrows can generate challenging boat conditions; however,
that same wind can switch the Narrows into fine fly-fishing conditions
equally quickly, so look out for that.
A roving approach when bank fishing can find fish, which perhaps
have not seen an artificial fly in recent times. There are enough areas to
try, the caveat being: fish clean water. When roving, I tend to use the
approach that I leave nothing on the bank, hence my net is with me on
a magnetic release with a lanyard. I hang the net head down, and as I
work the banks assuming I am wading, check the net occasionally, you
will be amazed how working along 200 metres of bank you find patches
which are alive shrimp whereas some other areas are devoid of this food
item. hee
Following on from the bank roving approach, boat fishing mainly
involves drifting. I will anchor at certain times, but once the fish
out I findits more productive to drift. spread

,
12 Sailing Club to Brixworth Bay . \
w
The Sailing Club bank starts from after the
sailing club frontage and runs down into
Brixworth Bay (12a). Again, prolific fishing .
a _ Say.Mh. n 8

and a shrimp hot-spot. Do be aware that

the banks are high, and weed can make
this challenging at certain times of the
year. The area with the posts in the water
towards Brixworth Bay is not suitable for
wading, the silt and depth are too .

dangerous but it's good for bugs... the wees

p7 10.
irony! Shrimp and Snail patterns can work
well here, and don't forget that try old
-
faithful the Black & Peacock Spider.
Working our way back towards the
causeway sees the next section: the Cliffs.

10 The Pines
The Pines runs from Rigby down into the Pitsford Creek. Casting can be challenging
with the trees behind you, and I would urge caution when wading during high water
levels, having been caught out myself. Here Buzzers and popper fry designs — Steve
11 Dam/ Sailing Club -
Cullen’s design is perfect! and the usual nymphs score. Further down into the
The Main dam and Sailing Club frontage are prohibited for bank Creek area there are some deeper holes and during lower water submerged tree-
fishing. Here, anchoring early season with Buzzers, then again later stumps are visible, there are good browns to be had close in around these stumps
on in the season, or drifting across the main bowl using all methods -
early or late in the day. Fish and tread — cautiously.
and flies, will find you fish. Pitsford can suffer from algal problems On the opposite bank to the Pines, Pitsford Creek curves round across the Flats and
and then the dam and main bowl can be clear and fishable. up to the left corner of the dam. Bank fishing from the dam is not permitted. This
Alternatively, if the wind is wrong, this area can be like pea soup! In entire area has a mix of wading conditions and it's possible to get some way into the
most cases when drifting, floating and intermediate lines are all that reservoir in some places. The sedge hatches can be phenomenal here, and there are
is required. also weed-rafts to target.

26 October 2020
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 TECHNIQUES = RESERVOIRS

14 Gorse Point 15 Pig Stream 16 Stilton Point 17 Bog Bay to Duffers

This point has rescued many days This is a bay that ends up at A hot-spot, especially early season. Be Early season and then later, especially
fishing. There is depth closetothe Stilton Point. Usually the aware the undertow/currents will when caddis are active, this area fishes
bank and, on harder days, it's well area contains quiet water, impact on fly presentation in certain well, and apart from the usual caddis
- worth searching the layers withan and can be tricky to fish, conditions here. Fish this early or late in imitations — Invictas, Fraser Nymph, and
~o either fromthe bank to the trees. The area is the day in clear water, as once the sun so on — you will also have fish responding
“<T=sintermediate —_—_due

or from aboat-+often use asilver- not fished a great deal comes up the fish tend to move out of to nymphs fished in conjunction with
headed Hare's Ear onthe poini because of this — but it does the area. In the wrong wind this water FABs. The water is shallow here, and
with two Silver Invictas on a slow-~—~ in some nice fish. colours up and the mud slick can be needs good clarity; be careful, though,
intermediate and fish it very
°

significant, so avoid fishing here then. -

the fish can be right under your feet so
slowly. (I can vouch for this tactic, a cast along the bank, as opposed
too, and would also add that a outward, can bring bonus results ...as
Booby on a fast-sinking head long as no one is in the way! At the end of
during the early part of the season Duffers we find ourself back at the
pretty
“*'Gan.be devastating ~ CJ) Causeway.

6 Causeway
The causeway fishes well, primarily early and

a x ~
“date
season.
Be warned it can become coloured
Ld

fi and produce algae during the warmer months. |

s recommend Buzzers and sink-tip lines to

.
a produce some great results; and later on in the
?
A.
\e year, large brown trout can be found patrolling
/
this area and can be tempted to fry patterns -
oy
,
particularly towards the corners of the
causeway and tunnel entrance.

7 Northfields down to Stone Barn

This side of the lake fishes well all year; but be aware
of weed, and take a long-handled landing net as the
4 stone bank support structures can be slippery and
oe dangerous. Floating or intermediate lines with most
reservoir patterns will yield results; favour natural
|

designs like Diawls, Buzzers, Hare's Ear; patterns of

that ilk... That said, brighter patterns such as a FAB
or Booby on the point can, sometimes be useful.

9 Rigby Point ae
At the start of the Pines you will find Rigby Point (also called
‘The Wire’). The water can colour up here, but when it's clear in
a south-west wind, fish will cruise off this point but be aware -
it's shallow. FABs with nymphs and, for some reason, claret,
flies do well here. (I can vouch for this, and don’t be afraid to
fish close to the shoreline if in a boat — or cast too far out if you
on the bank! CJ).

8 The Gravels to Sermons bank

Usually holds a lot of fish and, as a result, is popular. Normally,
though, you can usually find space, but aim for a bay, or a point to
fish from. Wading conditions under foot are in most places, good,
although there are some silted areas so “be careful where you
tread”. As you do think of the midge larvae that live there! You
will find two large weed-beds along Sermons. This area responds
well when the shrimp are active — which is usually in the slightly
cooler months. Be warned the takes from shrimp-feeders can be
vicious! This is the area to try the Foam-backed Snail/Shrimp
pattern given here. You might want to use that in conjunction
with the omnipotent Diawl and a Muskins or two. Later in the
year, Snakes will tend to take the better fish here.
Anchoring off the weed-beds in autumn and fishing Floating Fry
patterns can be lethal. And please don’t be put off by the weed,
the fish will move both sides of it and can be caught — whether
you are bank-bound or boat fishing.

www .flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020

| |
27
 Fly ofthe Month

The Dress.ing
Ga Ye Dunvant Mructanaan
Yook 'Kamasan Bigg er B40, or FM
Grab Gope for Barb/ess, size io-i4. A
Greed Stile Aook iS an option.
TAread: Olive/Black Textreme s/o.
knowa snail is a mollusc, but given the breadth Tal: 4-8 cock pheasart tal fibres.
which this ingenious design covers — Gavin also uses Back: Tan/ olive foam Caapsi),
it for shrimp feeders — I just thought its title is some- Body: 4s% brown, 48% olive seal’s fur
how “snappier”.... pix, Kob Denson) with io% orange
We turned the boat westwards, and off we motored. (Mango-tango) at the head.
Sure enough, the fish were in Hideaway Bay, and they were
rising at the surface. The irony was that I simply didn’t
have this pattern to hand. At that time, I didn’t even know
about it. Had I done so? Well, if only... process
—
especially if he noted that the close-copies of his
The marrow-spoon pictured from that afternoon tells -
chums were utterly ignored when he saw orange as a
-
its own tale. As it happens, I caught fish as did Peter - key and “trigger” colour.
he, to a Foam Daddy, me to a Fiery Brown Midas. Fur- But there’s two things to add here: I wonder if it’s that
ther irony. actual “softness” of the foam in the design, here, and the
So does the pattern truly matter? Hmm, I think in some fishing position of the fly that brings about a better suc-
ways “yes” and others “no”; but having a design like this cess rate? I honestly think that we are now far better at-
gives us a very firm foundation on which to build an ap- tuned to reservoir surface activity than ever before. Dry
proach, and a confident one, too, as this one comes with fly is not an oddity or a rarity any more (like it was in
a proven track-record. Arthur’s heyday), but a mainstream tactic. The sport
The other glorious thing is that it is so easy to tie. All evolves. However, I have, with a nod to Arthur, opted to
pluses. add some orange into this dressing of Gavin’s, in ac-
But why use snail patterns? Well, trout really do seem knowledgement of his belief that the trout recognised a
to love snails; also, it should not be forgotten that there degree of orange when seeing the seeing snail’s carapace
are an awful lot of snails in our lakes and reservoirs. But from below, against a light source — the sky. Who is to say
as a dry fly? Really? Absolutely! that the same doesn’t stand for shrimps, too?
Snails float. When detached from their host vegetation One thing I did notice when fishing for those Rutland
on which they browse, up they come to bob about at the snail feeders, was the speed in which they moved up wind
surface — but not on it, or even in the surface meniscus, and hoovered them up. No meandering or dawdling; just
but cunningly just on the underside of it. So often you'll straight, head-on, up-wind, undulating feeding ...and they
see trout cruising and rising and just think: “Ah-ha! There moved quickly.
they are, and they are taking midges/caddis/olives, or stuff This also gave rise to a conclusion that in this situa-
that’s just about to hatch”. After a while with no reaction, tion, one fly is actually better than more — and fished on
the reasoning dawns: the fish are totally focussed on tak- a short leader. Speed and accuracy are of the essence here:
ing floating snails — gripping, or just idly drifting on the not, faffing about, long-leader chaos, with a team of mat-
underside of the surface. ing dry flies hell-bent on a mid-air collision course.
Arthur Cove put a huge emphasis on this occurrence Both Peter and I had success; but I am reflecting on
and imitating it — especially at Rutland with an Orange what we might have had with this pattern and if we had
-
Seal’s Fur Nymph or a Cock Robin wet fly at Grafham. fished there all day. Hey ho. That, as they say, “...is fish-
Iam not going to challenge the late, great man’s thought- ing”. But I will be ready, should another occasion arise.

28 October 2020
| |
www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 TECHNIQUES * RESERVOIRS

GW S Butoyart Creestacean

4 Dub and wind the

WA Cover the
seals flr. wax Yottr
Aook-shank with thread and dub ‘Vitle and
the thread. often’ as opposed to a
| Grea MASS initially.

S
2 /
Tie in Che
5 / Drtroduce a smal!
amottnt of orange Seal's
pheasart tal fibre fetr al the therax'. Then
GPProx. length of bring over the foam éack.
shark).
Tt

b/ Tie down the foan,

3
301m
/ Tie in the
foam strip.
whip-Finsh. Trina foam
with a Zag! a front.

www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 29

| |
 Once in position to cast to a fish, it’s
important that the fly is the correct one.
Here, DAVE SOUTHALL Says there's
seven key criteria that a fly should
possess and gives 10 patterns
to exploit most situations

lies need to be designed in itating. predators positively select prey that looks or
such a way that they satisfy a I am a disciple of the late Richard Walker behaves a bit differently from the norm, such
range of criteria. Let’s have a who believed that a good caricature is more that they stand out from the crowd.
look at what that should in- recognisable than a poor portrait. Naturalists A classic example is when
clude: and students of animal behaviour have shown Gammarus/shrimps are infected with the
that many organisms show an increased re- Acanthocephalan (spiny-headed) worm, Pom-
1. Triggers sponse to exaggerated features (super-normal phorhynchus laevis. This parasite accumulates
stimuli). For example, a nesting hedge spar- carotenoids that naturally occur in the shrimp’s
In most cases they need to have the correct trig- row will concentrate all its efforts into feeding body producing a bright orange spot. In ad-
ger features to convince the fish that they are a cuckoo chick with its extra-big yellow- dition it upsets the hormone balance in infected
food. For anglers like myself who prefer imi- edged beak, rather than feeding its own shrimps making them diurnal rather than noc-
tative patterns, their design needs to embody chicks. Scientists have also recognised a phe- turnal (ie they are active during the day,
the essence of the organism that they are im- nomenon known as ‘oddity selection’ in which rather than at night, making them far more

30 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 TECHNIQUE « RIVERS & STILLWATER

an egg-bound female. If you want to give a male

stickleback at breeding time an apoplectic fit
show it a model the same shape as a female
stickleback but painted red!
Bearing these trigger factors in mind, I
therefore try to make my flies as simple as pos-
sible, paring them down to what I consider to
be the vital trigger, or triggers, by which I be-
lieve that the fish identify them as food. I be-
lieve that the key trigger features are basic
shape, size and in some cases colour.

2. Fly engineering
Our flies also need to be engineered so that they
can be presented correctly. Dry flies need to
-
float correctly on or in most cases in — the
surface film. Sub-surface flies need to sink to
the required depth and many need to be so con-
structed that they are relatively snag-free
when being fished along the river or lake-bed
or when being pulled through weed-beds; jig
hooks, appropriately placed weight, or weed-
guards can help with this. Flies that are to be
manipulated, such as streamers, need to be bal-
anced so that they move in an appropriate man-
ner.

3. Aerodynamics
Flies also need to be sufficiently aerodynam-
ic that they are reasonably easy to cast and, par-
ticularly in the case of dry flies, that they do not
spin during flight. I’ve seen some big Mayfly
patterns with huge feather-wings that spin like
propellers, twisting even thick tippet into a
bird’s nest tangle.

4. Be visible
Another very important feature of dry flies, and
if possible sight-fished sub-surface flies, is that
they should be easy for the angler to see.

5. Simple ties
If at all possible, they should be simple to tie.
No one wants to risk losing a fly in an over-
hanging tree if it has taken half an hour to tie,
yet it is deep under that tree that is the most
likely spot to catch a fish.

6. Durability
Lastly, in my opinion, they should be durable.
I know one fly tyer who says that he is quite
happy if his fly will only catch a single fish be-
fore it is damaged, but I want mine to catch at
likely to be predated upon). As a result, infected least 20 fish, and preferably more. So I tie us-
shrimps are selectively predated by fish and the Gammarus infected with Pomphorhynchus ing Superglue, UV-cure resin, wire or thread
parasite ensures that it gains entry to its sec- laevis, which appears ribbing, I wind thread through collar hackles,
=
ondary host. In many instances trigger features as a distinct use double whip-finishes, and use durable ma-
are very simple, as in the case of male stick- orange spot, terials, like CdC.
lebacks during the breeding season, studied by which fish
Conrad Lorenz. Having seen that stickle- recognise. 7. Material choice
backs in a fish-tank attacked the glass every
time a red post office van passed the window, Choice of materials and where and how they
he then showed that they would attack any- are incorporated into the fly are very impor-
thing that was red, whatever its shape. Mean- tant, for example some deer hair is hollow and
while, they would only do their mating dance therefore buoyant, and CdC has an incredibly
when shown an object the same, fat shape as large surface area due to the tiny barbules, >
www. ilyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 31
| |
<« whilst the amount and location of tungsten
beads and lead wire can determine not only
how fast a fly sinks, but at what angle it sinks
and how it behaves when retrieved.

So let’s look at ten of my favourite fly patterns

and see how they fit the above criteria, start-
ing with the simplest.

Marjan Fratnik’s F Fly

Metal Micro Buzzer Pupa Hook: Dry fly, size 10-20.
Hook: Grub, size 18-30 (Gamakatsu C12 BM Midge Thread: Brown or tan 8/0. Body: Thread.
hooks in sizes 26 to 30, Wing & head: 3 or 4 natural mallard CdC feather
Tiemco 2488 or similar). tips.
Body/abdomen: 0.09mm diameter wire.
Rib: 0.09mm diameter wire. Another simple, durable fly that floats well when
Head/thorax: Black or brown 0.09mm wire on treated as with the MMM and with the basic
smaller sizes, or 1.5mm & 2mm black tungsten triangular profile of an adult caddis fly, stonefly or

PP i beads for sizes 24mm and bigger.

Coat the wire with UV-cure resin for extra durability
moth. A couple of horizontal thread turns between
the wing and hook lock the CdC in so that it will
and to seal the loose ends. never pull free. If need a similar fly that is more
|

visible against a dark background orthat has a bit

Minimalistic Micro Midge This is another simple pattern that has the basic more weight to cast against the wind use a basic
|

(MMM) shape of a midge pupa and in this case sinks quickly Hackleless Elk Hair Caddis (see next).
to the required depth when fished under a dry fly or
Hook: Gamakatsu C12 BM, size 26-30. other support mechanism. It is very effective in
Thread: Tan 8/0 (waxed). rivers and stillwaters for both trout and grayling and
Wing: Tip of a mallard CdC feather, pointing over is indestructible. Colour can occasionally be
the hook eye and the butt cut to leave a short rear important when there is an abundance of a
wing/body. particular colour of Chironomid midge pupae.

Note: This is just the tip of a CdC feather tied onto If tying it as a nymph tie in a tail of a few strands of
the shank of a tiny hook. CdC clipped to length.

Itis incredibly effective when trout and grayling are

preoccupied with tiny midges and aphids. Size can
be critical and I've had fussy fish repeatedly refuse
size 26s, but confidently take size 30s. They are ‘TT IS VERY EFFECTIVE Hackleless Elk Hair Caddis
simple to tie (with a magnifying lamp) and virtually
indestructible. The CdC with its large surface area
IN RIVERS AND Hook: Dry Fly, size 12-20.
floats the fly amazingly well when treated with a STILLWATERS FOR BOTH Thread: Tan 8/0 or 6/0 (6/0 is less likely to cut
very thin coat of Roman Moser Miracle Float (if| TROUT AND GRAYLING through the elk hair).
want the fly to be dark coloured and visible on a Body: Dubbed hare’s mask or squirrel.
light background) or white Fumed Silica Powder (if
AND IS Under-wing: Brown deer hair.
want the fly to show up against a dark background). INDESTRUCTIBLE’ Over-wing: Bleached elk hair.

Jack Tucker’s |OBO Humpy

Hook: Dry fly, size 12-24.
Thread: Yellow or tan 8/0.
Tails/back & wings: 2 natural mallard CdC feathers.

| know that I’ve mentioned this fly several times in my articles, but it really is what its name (It Oughta Be
Outlawed Humpy) implies. If was ever restricted to just one dry fly this would be my choice. It is simple to
|

tie, floats, and is incredibly effective when olive duns, midges, egg-laying stoneflies, caddis flies and a
number of terrestrial insects are on the water. With the two wings splayed out it always lands correctly and
the soft CdC wings never cause the fly to spin in flight.

The tying sequence that use (very different from Jack's original method) was featured in the March 2019
|

issue.

32 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 TECHNIQUE « RIVERS & STILLWATER

OMe

Orange, Pink or Purple Shrimp Shuttlecock Utah Kiiler Bug (variant)

Hook: Grub, size 8-18. Hook: Grub, size 12-24 (mainly sizes 20 and 18). Hook: Grub, size 10-18.
Thread: Tan 8/0 or, if fussy, to match the fly. Thread: Tan 8/0. Under-body: Lead wire.
Under-body: 1 or 2 layers of lead wire. Body & thorax: Thread coated with UV-cure resin Thread: Glo-Brite pink or orange floss (covering the
Body: Any suitable dubbing with a bit of sparkle and or Superglue. lead under-body).
some spiky bits with fibres pulled out underneath to Wing: 3 CdC feather tips. Over-body: Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift wool
look like legs. (Oyster colour or other suitable
Back: Clear Scudback, or similar colour to the body. This is a very simple, durable midge or upwing colours).
Rib: Fine copper wire, or similar colour
to the body. emerger pattern. For aesthetic reasons often tie
|

this with a yellow stripped quill abdomen coated This very simple fly resembles a number of possible
These have a basic shrimp shape. By varying the with UV-cure resin and hare’s ear thorax, but the aquatic invertebrates including shrimps,
size of hook and amount of lead under-body the simple thread version works just as well. The resin Tipulid/cranefly larvae, some beetle larvae and
sink-rate can be varied. The slim profile facilitates or Superglue-coated body ensures that this part some leeches. The bright floss exploits the ‘oddity
fast sinking. Their bright colour exploits ‘oddity sinks instantly, both giving an apparently selection’ phenomenon and, when wet, the thread
selection’, and in addition, makes them easy to see vulnerable food item for the fish and anchoring the colour glows through the wool. Some of my biggest
when sight-fishing. They are also very durable. fly into the surface, which helps to reduce micro- grayling, several over 3lb, have succumbed to this
drag. The vertical CdC wing provides floatability fly, particularly the orange version.
and good visibility. Pink dyed CdC can be used on
smaller versions if visibility is problem.
a

Flip Flop Scarab Noire

Hook: Fine wire dry fly, size 10-18.
Thread: Black 8/0.
Under-body: Peacock Glister dubbing on rear half
of the hook-shank.
Over-body: 2mm black sealed cell-foam cut to
shape.
Legs: 2 single knotted strands of peacock herl.
Sighter: Pink Poly yarn. Stuart Crofts’ Agapetus Pupa
Build a good thread base and apply Superglue Hook: Dry fly, size 20.
fe under where the foam is tied in to stop the body Thread: Tan 8/0.
twisting around the hook-shank. Body: Brown or a mix of brown and orange fine poly
dubbing (colour depends on the species being
The key trigger is undoubtedly the body shape and imitated).
this works very well even without the legs. It is Legs: Brown Crystalflash or a single cock pheasant
simple to tie, very buoyant if the balance between tail fibre angled backwards
foam body and hook weight is correct, and itis fairly Posts: White poly yarn.
durable.
Stuart Crofts is a master of fly design and this
pattern is an absolute essential on waters where
Agapetus caddis are abundant. The pupae (strictly
speaking they are pharate adults) swim to the bank
Whilst I am in awe of the realistic masterpieces if you can simplify them without reducing their where they transpose into adults. The legs act as
that some fly tyers produce, for me the real art effectiveness, or even better, see if slight outriggers ensuring the fly fishes correctly and the
of fly tying is portraying the essence of the or- changes will make them even more effective double post, which is the only part that should have
ganism that is being imitated and, if possible, floatant applied, holds the fly horizontally in the
enhancing it by exaggerating some of the surface film and acts as a sighter. Wet the body
features to make the fish select it from the nat- Dave Southall startedflyfishing on the before applying floatant so that the body sits in the
urals which can at times be so abundant that Yorkshire Rye and Driffield Canal in the 1960s, surface. Fish dead-drift with frequent twitches.
the chance of a fish taking our fly might seem and later progressed to the South Midland Stuart also ties a version without the posts and with
to be infinitesimally small. It is worth having Reservoirs. He has fished all over the world for a a 1.5mm black tungsten bead to imitate the pupa as
a go with some of your favourite patterns: see variety ofspecies. it swims to the surface.

www .flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 33

| |
 ike all tyers, I have a healthy something I am growing increasingly fond of to the Camasunary Killer in the book, probably
curiosity for older patterns, and I doing, especially in the summer evenings. because at the time he wrote this book, he was
like to study the original dressings Many patterns were discussed, and I incarcerated as a prisoner of war during World
and the history of the pattern to try showed off my adaptation of the Clousta Blue, War II; he was writing the book on a notepad
and ascertain why it was tied in a pattern that’s been quite a mystery over the he was given to try and ease the boredom, and
this way, then (if possible) look to put my own years and one I researched and ultimately as an escape from his restricted circumstances.
slant on it. wrote about back in these pages in May 2018. On reading it, I was immediately
I need to stress that this is no mere vanity This, in turn, led to another age-old classic; the transferred into his world of fishing
attempt to alter a classic into something I could Camasunary Killer, that well known, but often adventures, from the times leading up to the
try and put my name to — quite the opposite, overlooked, sea trout pattern from yesteryear, outbreak of war, during which he served as a
in fact. It often is an attempt at looking to either and one I was assured still took fish in salt Mosquito pilot, to being shot down over
adapt the fly to suit my tying/fishing style, or water today. enemy-occupied territory, and being captured
to apply a more modern angle to it by using and imprisoned. A very interesting guy.
materials which simply were not available at Research Stephen does, however, refer to two other
the time when the pattern was first conceived. flies, one devised by his brother and regular
It’s also a good way to help preserve the So began a little research into this fly, first of fishing companion, Maurice Johnson, and
original dressing as well as bring it back into all by trawling my old books to see if I had any another one, his attempt at a Peter Ross,
our ‘angling eyes’; there are plenty of old, reference to the original dressing with the first produced from the few materials he had at
classic patterns out there that are a joy to tie, port of call my copy of Fishing from Afar, hand at the time, and a photograph from an
many of these undoubtedly as deadly today as written by Stephen Johnson. old book he bought years before from money
they would have been ‘back in the day.’ Stephen, for those who didn’t know, wasn’t he’d won as a prize from a chemistry
One of these came to my attention earlier merely referring to this fly, he was in fact the competition at school (I wonder what the
this year at the Glasgow Angling Centre Spring originator and son of the owner of the education authorities would make of this
Open Weekend, where I had the pleasure of Camasunary fishery on the west coast of Skye, now?)
demonstrating and where, at one point, the remote, wild and stunningly beautiful. Stephen’s Peter Ross dressing was certainly
discussion turned towards sea trout in the salt; Interestingly, Stephen makes no reference close to the original, but with a couple of

34 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 FEATURE « TACTICAL FLIES

The original Camasunary Killer

(right), and its modern
counterpart.

book is the bond between the two brothers and Killer was a derivative of this. There’s also
their passion for fishing, especially in the wild uncertainty as to the exact original dressing, as
waters on western Skye and also how good the Stephen never listed this in either of his books;
fisheries here must have been back then, before the aforementioned Fishing from Afar (first
the sad demise of sea-going trout, especially published in 1947) as well as his second book
on Scotland’s West Coast — a small insight as Fishing with a Purpose, published some years
to what this could in some small way resemble later.
again if we were to ever address this situation? That said, I personally don’t feel this really
Even as poor it is today, I still have the urge to matters and as far as I can gather, there isn’t
head over to this place and explore the wild any real dispute as to this being Stephen’s fly
west of Skye for myself, so as soon as we are and this, in my opinion, is how it should be
free to move around again this is certainly on remembered; Camasunary Killer, originator
the ‘bucket list’, Stephen Johnson, of Jedburgh / Skye.
Without a definitive dressing, though, there
Blue fly is ambiguity as to the colour of the blue, with
the most common perception is that of a rear
So far, we’ve had two flies described and not section of Royal blue wool and front section of
the actual one we’re aiming for, so here goes: red wool. Daytime fluorescent materials are
originally the Camasunary Killer was reputedly mentioned, but I doubt these would have been
called the “Blue Fly” by Stephen (this may have in the original, as ’'m pretty sure these wouldn’t
been mentioned by John Veniard, but I’m be widely available when the fly was first
afraid I can’t find any reference of this in the devised which, most certainly, was just after
books I have by John, but my library is certainly Stephen’s return following liberation, probably
differences, mainly being a gold tinsel body far from complete) and there is some circa late 1940s. Add to this his previous
(which would no doubt have been antique gold uncertainty as to whether the Camasunary comment of using whatever materials were 3
and certainly metal, rather than plastic we use
today) as well as a mixed hackle of scarlet then
black. I might be wrong, but I’d always thought
mR AM
ES)
the gold-bodied version was a Mrs Ross, but Aetere
EO SECSBe NES atrtag®
given Stephen was undoubtedly working from
a black and white photo and no dressing listed,
he can certainly be forgiven for the alteration.
Either that or he did, in fact, customise his fly
deliberately?
Also noted in the book was his brother
Maurice’s pattern (incidentally also captured
and imprisoned during WWI) for which he
doesn’t give a name, but does note that this is
by far the best fly to use at night on the lochs
for sea trout. Maurice’s fly, from the dressing
Stephen sketchily lists, is essentially a red fibre
aa
tail, grey wool body, white (probably seagull) S
fel
3
wing and a red hackle. w
ad
a
I’ve tied up both and must admit they look g
ww

like flies that would certainly work today, ad

S
oS

perhaps I should look at these in more detail

=e
6
ga
and incorporate my own little twists on these BO
og
as well? 3I
S
What else comes through strongly from the ag

www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 35

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aCamasunary Snatcher Camasunary Muddler Camasunary Bob Fly Camasunary Killer
Hook: Partridge Barbless SLP Grab Hook: Partridge L5A Dry Fly Hook: Partridge L5A Dry Fly Supreme, (original)
Pupae, size 12-14. Supreme, size 10-14. size 10-14. Thread: Black 8/0 waxed Hook: Partridge G3A/L Wet Fly
Thread: Madeira Metallic Royal Thread: Black 8/0 waxed thread. thread. Tail: Hends Metallic dubbing Supreme, size 8-14.
blue. Rib: Tying thread. Tail: Hends Metallic dubbing (code (code 11). Rib: Semperfli 0.2mm sil- Thread: Semperfli black 8/0 waxed
Body (rear): Tying thread. 11). Rib: Semperfli 0.2mm silver ver wire Body (rear): Hends Metallic thread.
Body (front): Semperfli 8/0 fluo- wire. Body (rear): Hends Metallic dubbing (code 11). Body (front): Tail: Royal blue wool.
rescent red waxed thread. dubbing (code 11). Body (front): Fluorescent red seal fur. Rib: Silver medium oval tinsel.
Hackle: (body) Black saddle cock. Fluorescent red seal fur. Hackle (body): Black saddle cock. Body (rear): Royal blue wool.
Hackle (front): Golden pheasant Hackle (body): Black saddle cock. Hackle (head): Black saddle cock Body (front): Red wool.
blue neck. Cheeks: Jungle cock. Head: Black deer hair. (longer ‘webby’ fibres best). Hackle: Black ‘webby’ cock hackle.

+ at hand, which probably means DFM wool to this pattern on my forays into the brine at the as though this will certainly be a hit, especially
might not be in the mix to begin with. mouth of the mighty river Spey or along the given how successful this style of fly is in
Peter Deane, in his book, Peter Deane’s Fly nearby coastline areas I fish, close to the mouth saltwater for me already. That shrimp-like or
Tying, lists the colour as “Appleton’s 477 of this famous river. So, yes, it’s still very much general grubbish appearance of the Snatcher
tapestry wool which he states is more a ‘bluish a ‘killing’ pattern. style can prove to be convincing, especially
slate grey’, but whatever the case the dressing Buoyed by this initial success on my local when the sea is calm, and fish are rolling on, or
most accepted today is the one with a Royal waters I’ve tied up a series of variations some in, the surface and this fly is is my go-to next
blue rear end. utilising modern materials, but still close to the step if pulled flies and streamers are being
How does it fish today? Weil, I can confirm original, and others a change of shape ignored, or at best are generating only a half-
that many sea-going trout have taken a fancy altogether, with the Snatcher version looking hearted interest from the trout. Try a Snatcher

Tying the Camasunary Killer (origin al)

The original was a combination of wools, Catch in thread and rib and wind Wind thread back up two-thirds of
ribbing and hackle. down hook in touching turns. Catch the hook-shank, and wind on wool to
in wool to form tail. form body. Catch in wool and trim waste.

36 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 FEATURE « TACTICAL FLIES
w

= —
\\

Peter Ross variant Night Fly Camasunary Killer

(Stephen Johnson) (Maurice Johnson) (Allan Liddle)
Hook: Partridge G3A/L Wet Fly Hook: Partridge G3A/L Wet Fly Hook: Partridge G3A/L Wet Fly Supreme, size 8-14.
Supreme, size 10-14. Supreme, size 10-14. Thread: Madeira Metallic, Royal blue.
Thread: Black 8/0 waxed thread. Thread: Semperfli black 8/0 waxed Tail: Silver holographic Angel fibre under Madeira Metallic Royal blue.
Tail: Golden pheasant tippets. thread. Body (rear): Madeira Metallic Royal blue. Note: switch to red 8/0 waxed
Rib: Semperfli 0.1mm fine gold wire. Tail: Red cock hackle fibres. thread once rear body has been formed to complete fly.
Body: Antique gold jurex tinsel. Body (rear): Medium grey wool. Body (front): Semperfli fluorescent red Straggle Micro Legs.
Wing: Teal flank. Throat hackle: Wing: White seagull wing slips. Hackle (rear): Black saddle cock.
Red cock hackle fibres under black Throat hackle: Red saddle cock Hackle (front): Peacock blue neck.
cock hackle fibres. fibres. Cheeks: Jungle cock.

on a slow, figure-of eight retrieve on a sink-tip more recognisable variation of the original, ability to attract sea-going trout from a wild
or intermediate or, if the fish are right in the fished on the tail of a team of three flies, short- place on the far west coast of Skye; the
surface, a floating line; I’m sure you'll be happy line style in a rolling wave, or a bob fly version Camasunary Killer really deserves its place as a
with the outcome. with a palmered body hackle, a Muddler ‘traditional classic’ wet fly.
What I also know is the original headed version, and the aforementioned
Camasunary Killer certainly works on our Snatcher version, demonstrating the potential
resident trout too, and blue is a definite versatility of this fly. SGAIC-qualified instructor, Allan Liddle is
attractive colour in waters heavily coloured by The possibilities to alter are almost endless, based in Morayshire. He specialises in wild
peat, so ’'m keen to try out this fly when on the and I hope Stephen Johnson would approve, trout and angling throughout Scotland and
Highland lochs. This could be either as the however let’s not forget the original, and its the islands.

NS ee

Catch in red wool, run thread to

hook-eye and form front third of
Catch
4 eachhead
in black cock hackle and wind
hackle (4 turns max) brush- o Whip-finish head and varnish to com-
plete fly
body with red wool. Secure and trim. ing turn back. Secure hackle and
trim waste. »
www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 37
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Tying the Camasunary Killer (Allan Liddle variation)

MADEIRA ON BOBBIN SILVER TAIL FOLD TWICE

Secure Madeira thread onto hook- Catch in smail amount of silver Take 150mm (6 inches) Madeira thread
shank. holographic ‘Angel Hair’ to form lower and fold twice before securing onto
tail. hook.

PEACOCK BLUES TRIM UP STRAGGLE ON SPOOL

Take a bunch of peacock blue neck Trim off waste and secure thread and Catch in Mini Straggle Leg thread.
fibres and secure on top and underside cut off.
of hook, facing forward extending
approximately the hook-shank length.

JUNGLE FOLD JUNGLE SECURE PEACOCK DRAW

Lie jungle cock feather onto top of Once happy that jungle cock is sitting Draw peacock fibres back ensuring an
hackle and press down, which will fold correctly, secure with three, tight, turns even, all-round head and tie in so fibres
feather onto both sides of hook, forming of thread and trim waste ends. sit back over fly.
cheeks. Secure and tie in with two turns of
thread only.

38 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 FEATURE « TACTICAL FLIES

FOLD BACK THREAD BODY RED THREAD

Fold back thread, secure and trim Form rear body section and tie off Catch in red waxed thread.
(same length as holographic silver) Madeira thread. oe
‘square’ to form tail.

RED THREAD SADDLE UP JUNGLE SPLIT

Form front body section and secure Catch in black saddle cock hackle, wind Take natural jungle cock neck feather
Straggle with a whip-finish and cut off. on three turns, secure (brushing fibres and split down centre.
Catch in red waxed thread again. back) and trim off.

FINISH UP MODERN VARIANT UV GLOW

Whip-finish head and varnish. The finished Camasunary Killer variant. The modern fly positively glows under
UV light.

www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 39

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 MARK BOWLER describes a fabulous large, wild, Scottish loch on which to fish wet fly

40 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 FEATURE * LOCH FISHING

ne of the most pleasant, classic

ways to spend a day fly fishing
is to work a team of wet flies, on
a floating line, from a drifting
boat on a wild water. Sadly,
there’s less and less of this going on these days.
Once a common sight on our reservoirs,
nymphing, dry flies, lures, washing lines
and the development of sunk lines have altered
the outlook and approach of the boat angler,
plus, maybe, the changing insect ecology of
our lakes, from the olives and sedges of yes-
teryear, to the buzzers and daphnia of today
have enabled the demise of the wet fly ap-
proach,
Whatever the reasons, I still like to set into
a drift with a team of wet flies and cast, pull,
lift, and dibble the bob fly before repeating the
process. When on song, the method comes with
a succession of swirls, jolts, tugs, tightenings,
boils and splashes that make it an exciting com-
bination of a visual and sensory technique. Just
as much as I love the slow draw of a Buzzer take
to a slowly fished Nymph, I think I’d always
opt for the positive smash-and-grab take from
a hungry trout taking a wet fly as the bigger
adrenaline shot.
So that’s why I get excited whenever I vis-
it Loch Rannoch, because whenever the Ran-
noch fish come ‘on’ you are in for some rod-
jangling sport; I don’t think any trout hit hard-
er than a Rannoch trout dialled in on a pulled
wet fly.
I’ve been visiting this Highland Perthshire
loch, which is part of the amazingly engineered
(but, sadly, environmentally vandalistic) Tum-
mel hydro-scheme, for the best part of 25 years.
WhenI first fished it, the trout were a fraction
smaller — ranging 6-12 ounces, and there was
quite a number of them, but these days Ran-
noch trout seem to be fewer and further be-
tween, but of a better quality, ranging to well
over a pound.
What has never been in doubt however, is
their eagerness to take a wet fly, and their fight-
ing qualities. In addition, Rannoch trout have
a certain unmistakeable ‘look’. There are two
types of trout in Rannoch the deeper-bellied,
—

richly spotted and butter yellow trout of the

shallows, and those of a more pointed nose,
sharp, vee-shaped tail-fins, gun-metal, green-
tinged flanks and a steely look, which appear
to be reflect their Arctic origins and associat-
ed temperatures.
Rannoch is a big, long loch, which is full of
character. It is bounded by Schiehallion the east,
the magical, triangular ‘fairy mountain’, which
is so symmetrical at its pyramidal peak that it
was the scene of the first calculations of the
earth’s mass, in 1774. Only recently was the
mass of the earth calculated by digital means
and the result, almost 250 years later, was vir-
tually the same. Not a bad result for afew 3

‘I DON’T THINK ANY

TROUT HIT HARDER
Schiehallion — the Fairy Mountain. THAN A RANNOCH
TROUT’
www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 41
| |
 of the shore is lined with trees; sametimes Lying east of the mountains of Glencoe,
Much E
Aishing right under the is pediipe Rannoch can be wild.
trees
4,

<« sums based on the deviation of a plumb- and most productive, but Rannoch also pos- silt in which another character of Rannoch sto-
line! sesses an area of extensive shallows — around ry lives the Mayfly. When these fellas put in
—

Further west, where the road ends, is Ran- three square kilometres — which runs from the appearance then the trout will hunt them out.
noch Station, one of the most remote and beau- nineteenth century island folly tower all the way This means that a drift anywhere across this
tiful railway stations in Britain, which is con- to the west end, where the river Gaur feeds in. vast expanse can bring up a fish or two, so drift-
nected to London Euston via the overnight When the water is low and clear, one can make ing across this expanse needn’t be limited to
sleeper. Beyond here lies Rannoch Moor des-
— out the white sandy bottom here. As you the loch edges, which is generally the case with
olate, boggy, and wet — and then the iconic drift, the lake bed looks a bit like a flat, white the rest of Rannoch, apart from those areas
mountains of Glencoe. desert, but don’t let that fool you, for this is the where feeder streams enter, or around points,
Loch Rannoch is part of a National Scenic shallows and skerries, drop-offs, under the trees,
Area, one of 40 such areas in Scotland, which or round any islands. As with many big High-
are defined so as to identify areas of exceptional land lochs, if you can find weed-beds then you'll
scenery and to ensure its protection from in- probably find trout, and this is especially so with
appropriate development. The remnants of the Rannoch, as it can support some excellent olive
Caledonian Black Wood of Rannoch, on the hatches.
south shore, being a Special Area of Conser- At such times, I find the Black Pennell is per-
vation. haps the best wet fly imitation to use; yes, the
The loch plunges to nearly 500 feet deep in traditional dressing with a floss body. If you
places and holds some trout and pike of leg- look at Rannoch olive nymphs they are very
endary size. However, it also holds a large pop- similar in shape: sleek, tapering to the tails, and
ulation of Arctic charr. At nine miles long it is dark in coloration. They are satisfying flies to
fairly typical of many big Highland lochs, in that tie, too.
hugging the edges is the best place to find trout, If olives are hatching at Rannoch, then the Black So, here’s a cast for Rannoch: Claret Bum-
as these are the places where it is shallowest Pennell is a first choice fly. ble, size dependent of the wave; size 14 Black

42 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 FEATURE * LOCH FISHING

Pennell, with either a Chinese Whisper or

Gosling/ Dabbler on the point. For a variation,
try Bibio on the top — or maybe a Hedgehog
-
or Dabbler Solwick lower down, and a Con-
nemara Black on the point. If nothing is hap-

‘RANNOCH CAN BE pening, then a Dunkeld on the point might just

bring up a fish or two.
ONE OF THE WILDEST However, Gordon Brown, who has spent his
OF PLACES’ life on Rannoch, and who runs the club and the
boats in the area, surprised me recently when
he admitted that his favourite pattern for
Rannoch would have to be the Soldier Palmer.
I wasn’t expecting him to say that, but you live
and learn in this game! Now, where’s my red
wool?
A midge-tip line is worth threading up, just
to get the flies to bite a little deeper, but a floater
will work on most days.

Mayfly
If you are fishing in June, July or August keep
an eye open for big, green flies taking off ver-
tically from the surface, or sitting sedately on
top. These will be Mayfly a big mouthful for
—

a hungry Rannoch trout, and well worth rep-

resenting on your cast. I’ve caught trout on
Dabblers, Goslings and Claret & Gold com-
binations when Mayfly are about here. The
earliest I’ve seen them on this water is June
10.
Sometimes, Rannoch can be dour. Then you
have to use all your knowledge to find oblig-
ing trout. Hugging the shoreline is generally
a good idea, especially under the trees that
fringe most of Rannoch, but drifting from
Finnart to the tower can be a good plan, or the
bays around Dall and Carie, as can drifting
around the points of the bays on the north shore
at the extreme west of the loch. The hydro-pow-
er plant is unmistakeable on the north shore,
and the inlet here is sometimes good. In fact,
any inflowing stream is always worth explor-
ing. I once fished the loch from a canoe, and
the burn that enters at Dall provided some great
sport, this time on a dry fly, as it washed heather
beetles in from the moorland above, and
Some of the Rannoch fish are sharp- some decent trout awaited the feast in the apron
finned, streamlined and pointy nosed. of flow as the burn spilled out into the loch.
One giveaway for Rannoch trout is the gulls,
swallows and martins. If you see activity from
gulls working over a specific area, then you can
be pretty sure a hatch is happening. This ac-
tually typical of many big Scottish lochs. If you
see bird activity, get there quickly. The cause
could be hatching olives, Mayfly or caddis, and
the trout will also have noticed, too.
Rannoch is well worth fishing from the
bank, as the margins are likely places to find
fish, and a road runs along both the north and
the south bank, which means access is straight-
forward. Waders or wellies help, as by paddling
you can steer clear of the trees that line the
shoreline, but make sure you have felted, >

‘IF YOU SEE BIRD

ACTIVITY, GET THERE
QUICKLY’
www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020
| |
43
<« cleated soles - the rocks are slippery. An favourite venue for ferox hunters, due to its pike. It is a favourite venue for specimen
ability to roll-cast will help here, too. Apart from large charr population on which they feed, hunters. Over the years, the size of the jack
—

that, keep on the move, cast and pace, cover new but interestingly, this much-studied popula- pike in Rannoch seems to have got bigger:
water constantly. tion was estimated to be just 71 fish in the when I first started fishing it we would
whole of the loch — one of UK’s largest lakes catch a number of ‘jacks’ around three-quar-
Ferox — which
emphasises the fragility of the pop- ters of a pound. More recently, the pike I’ve
ulation if recreational fishing is intensified, encountered on wet flies have been more
There are some very big trout that live in Ran- and the importance of catch-and-release to around the 3-4 pound mark.
-
noch ferox have been recorded up to 23lb such a fishery. I’ve often noticed that, whilst pulling
(the British record is 31lb 120z); it is a Also present in numbers in Rannoch are wets on Rannoch, one is suddenly aware that

6 wet flies for Rannoch

Half-a-dozen wets for Rannoch (from left) Soldier Palmer, Black Pennell,

roe
we
\
iF \
ghee
3
eo weeyh
Nes

% \ 4
.

Soldier Palmer Black Pennell Solwick

Hook: Dry/wet, size 8-14. Hook: Dry/wet, size 10-14. Hook: Wet, size 10-14.
Thread: Black. Thread: Black. Thread: Black. Tail: Red game cock fibres.
Tail: Red wool. Tail: Golden pheasant tippets. Rib: Gold oval or gold wire.
Rib: Fine silver oval. - —
Rib: Gold oval. Body: Rear gold tinsel; front red/claret
Body: Red wool. Body: Black floss. seal's fur or sub.
Palmer hackle: Red game. Hackle: Black hen. Hackle: Red game.

Chinese Whisper Dunkeld Olive & Claret Dabbler

Hook: Wet fly, heavy wire, size 8-12. Hook: Wet fly, size 8-16. Hook: 2X nymph hook, size 8-10.
Thread: Black. Thread: Black. Thread: Black.
Tail: Claret henny cock hackle fibres. Tail: Golden pheasant crest fibres. Tail: Bronze mallard fibres.
Rib: Fine gold oval. Body: Gold tinsel. Rib: Fine gold oval. Rib: Fine gold oval.
Throat hackle: Claret henny cock hackle fibres. Body: Flat gold Mylar. Body: Light olive dubbing.
Wing: Bronze mallard. Palmer hackle: Orange hen. Palmer hackle: red game.
Wing: Bronze mallard. Hackle: Claret cock.
Note: This fly came about when overheard a dressing
| Cheeks: Jungle cock. Wing: Bronze mallard.
for a fly which, think, may have been an Extractor —
| Throat: Bronze mallard bunch.
and old Rogan pattern — when was on Lough Conn, in
|

Ireland. [ got the dressing wrong, but then discovered

this is a good combination for peaty lochs.

44 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 FEATURE * LOCH FISHING

something is ‘not quite right’ about the cast Then the boats came off completely. Now, a
and, on checking the leader, there is a blank boat is available through Gordon Brown, who
stub of nylon — the fly has been bitten off so runs the garage in Kinloch Rannoch. It is not
easily that no resistance was felt. Be pike available on Rannoch all season, and it has
aware! various places of mooring, so telephone be-
The feeding in Rannoch is diverse. Apart forehand to book. You can launch your own
from Maryflies, olives and caddis, midges also boat on Rannoch with a permit. When we go
feature, along with fry and snails, plus any- out, we take an engine, along with an electric
thing land-borne that might happen to drop outboard and depth finder, which is useful for
in from the surrounding trees or moorland. finding the shallows, skerries and drop-offs,
It's when these fish feed on snails or cased cad- which will all hold trout.
dis that I find a Dunkeld on the point can Take a long, tapered leader and a small, size
bring up a fish or two. Fish it on a sink-tip and 16 Black Hopper, just in case it’s absolutely
give it plenty of time to sink before com- dead flat calm... and if it is, be warned, take
mencing the retrieve. Other flies wouldn’t
I some midge repellent!
like to be without on Rannoch are: Bibio, One extra fly you should take with you is
Claret Bumble, Connemara Black, Greenwell’s, a Soldier Palmer. I was astonished when Gor-
Invictas, Hedgehogs, Mallard & Claret, King- don Brown told me it was his favourite fly for
fisher Butcher. Rannoch. This fly was immensely popular bob
If fish are really starting to show at the sur- fly on Rutland Water back in the 80s and ear-
face then a dry Greenwell’s, Black Hopper, a ly 90s, but has fallen from favour in recent
small Foam Beetle, Elk-hair Sedge, dry decades and become a ‘forgotten’ fly. Not on
Mayfly, Daddy-long-legs should draw them Rannoch, apparently. Put one on and prepare
up. for one of the most exciting and explosive hits
If you like wild waters then Rannoch can in fly fishing.
be one of the wildest of places. Especially for
wind, so make sure you have a good engine
and boat skills, plus a life-jacket, before you Mark Bowler has fly-fishedfor troutfor over 45
leave the shore. And it can also rain here, bib- years. He fishes mainly on Perthshire lochs and
lically, so always take your coat. Midlands reservoirs. He has edited Fly Fishing
The boats on Rannoch have been ephemer- and Fly Tying magazine since its inception,

U
al. In the early days, they were hauled on on and wrote the Haynes’ Fly Fishing Manual.
a beach on the north shore and available from Rannoch is a great water for traditional wet fly Every autumn, he runs the Salmon Schools on
the Dunalistair Hotel in Kinloch Rannoch. fishing. the Annan.

TIED ENOUGH FLIES?

BLOKE
"OM
You might think building your own fly rod PSUR IWMI EL GENT
Cu Sn ech
prepared so assembly is really rather simple.
CREO UC CR Ce Ue eT
components including blanks, reel seats, With a few basic materials it is entirely possible a
Loe
grips, winding thread, guides and varnish. extremely high quality blank up to a factory finish for around 120.

Check out ail our blanks ane cempenents from our eBay

www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 45

| |
 *ve always been aware of Pot-bellied Pig with either a black or yellow floss body, so this be fished on a sink-tip if required in heavier
flies for salmon, and acutely aware of introduced a different element. David says that flows or cold water.
their effectiveness. As the popularity of this style of fly can be used at all water heights I normally tie it on brass tubes or alu-
the boar-bristled flies on stumpy bot- and in all condition, as the yellow will certainly minium tubes as that is mainly what has been
tle-tubes grew, they developed into a show up in coloured water. It’s become one preferred by the anglers I have tied it for, but
range of various colour options. However, I of those flies that can be fished throughout the a couple of seasons ago I also tied it on dou-
was then asked by fellow angler, David Crerar, whole season, so it’s always worth carrying it bles for another angler for a trip to Norway.
if I could tie him some tubes with a silver body. in your fly box. This Pot-bellied Pig has been very suc-
It is a fly that he has used for many years in It is fished in the traditional method of cessful in all rivers, throughout the northern
various parts of the world to great success. Up down and across. The tubes do carry enough hemisphere, including Russia, where David en-
until then, I had only seen Pot-bellied Pigs tied weight to get down on their own, but they can joyed much success with this fly a few seasons

46 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 FEATURE « SALMON

The yellow Pot-bellied Pig can be used all through

the season, and is also a good fly to try in coloured
water.

Silver & Yellow Pot-bellied Pig

Tube: use Sean Stanton’s signature tubes
|

in either aluminium or brass and lengths 10, 14

or 19mm. Yellow Franc 'n Snaelda extension
tubing. If you do not want to use a conehead
then the T Tubes in 15mm or 20 mm are an
alternative.
You
can also use double/treble
hooks. if no cone head is used finish the head
|

with Glo-Brite No4 floss, secured by Supergiue.

Thread: use Semperfli Nano silk 12/0, but use
|

whatever is the normal thread you prefer.

Skirt: Sunburst yellow Schlappen or long saddle
feather. You can use bright yellow, too.
Bristles: Sunburst yellow. You can use bright
yellow too.
Bucktail: Sunburst yellow. You can use bright
yellow too.
Flash: Veniard Boosted Krinkleflash in either
gold or yellow.
Rib: Oval silver tinsel in size to suit tube. use
|

Lagartun medium or small.

Body: Semperfli flat silver braid, or you can use
holographic silver tinsel.
Body hackle: Sunburst or bright yellow, long
enough to make 4 turns up body
Head: 2 jungle cock feathers, tied long.
Cone: Dark red Franc n Snaelda, in either small
or large, depending on the tube size, as these will
impart a bit more weight to the overail fly.

bination of shimmering pig bristles

Mee ROR

of the Pot-bellied Pig, possibly

pamient thé

al-breaker in convincing a salmon to také.. ™

As this fly is inherently yellow, I also use

a length of yellow extension tubing to hold the
hook at the rear.
ago, landing fish to 26lb (and losing one es- and I now have a number of clients for whom This dressing style given here is totally flex-
timated at 24]b just five casts later) during I tie it in various guises. Obviously, as rivers ible and can be applied to all colour combi-
his trip to the Yokanga. get warmer then it is best to use it in small- nations... but try this yellow one first!
-
One of his guides — unsurprisingly took er sizes, and vice versa for the deep, cold rivers
a liking to the fly and from that point, if things of spring.
were tough on the river, then it was “on with On the smaller tubes I do not use a Sandy Howie started fishing seriously at the
the Yellow PBP” to save the day. wound body hackle, but I simply utilise a col- age of 11 after learning to tie flies. He has
Back home, the fly has also been successful lar hackle with the jungle cock tied in front. fished for salmon, sea trout and brown trout
on the rivers Ewe, Conon and Ness, to name I always try to use as soft a hackle as I can on the rivers and lochs of the north and east
a few. As a result, the fly has become more find, as this imparts a bit more movement to of Scotland as well as on the islands of Lewis
and more popular as the seasons march on, the fly as it swings in the current. and Harris. »

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 47

| |
“Tying the Silver & Yellow Pot-bellied Pig
, |

x
Take a length of fluorescent red liner The burr should be large enough to stop Insert into chosen tube from the
tubing and burr it at one end using a the liner slipping inside the brass tube. oe back (ie, theyour
part with a uniform tube
lighter flame to melt the very end. section).

Secure with thread. Trim off excess Catch in a bunch of sunburst bucktail Catch in a bunch of sunburst boar
hackle. and tie to the desired length. normally
| bristles - about 6 or 7, on top of the
tie to approx 1.5-2 times the length of skirt. bucktail, and secure, trimming off the waste.
Secure and trim off excess.

Wind the flat braid in slightly Select a suitable sunburst saddle Wind up the body to the base of the
overlapping turns to the ‘nose’ of the hackle by the base. skirt hackle in approximately 4 open
bottle tube, secure, and trim waste. turns.

Whip-finish and remove thread. Apply a coat of Superglue to the head. Push securely onto the head of the fly
Select your chosen cone and slip this and Superglue will do the rest.
onto the liner tube.

48 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 FEATURE * SALMON

Cut the red liner to a length that will allow Catch in your thread and apply some Apply 4 or 5 close turns of the feather,
you to dress the fly and accommodate a turns to the rear of the tube. Select a sweeping each turn backwards to form
cone at the front. Cut a length of yellow suitably long sunburst Schlappen feather and a‘skirt’.
extension tubing and apply to the rear of the remove the fluff and secure it by the stem to
tube before securing on your tying pin. the rear of the bottle tube.

Catch in 4 strands of gold or yellow Catch ina length of oval silver tinsel ina Select a length of flat silver braid or
Krystalflash, secure and trim. size suitable for the tube (this is to rib tinsel, tie in and run the tying thread
the palmered hackle). back to the head of the tube.

~
SASS
ANS
NY
x
RA
RLYN \

xxWe
N

Secure the tip by trapping it down with Select two jungle cock feathers, which Trim and tidy head.
a turn of the silver tinsel and then should extend to the start of the skirt,
continue to wind this forward, in open turns, and tie these in a rearwards-pointing ‘vee’.
through the body hackle, secure and trim.

Remove from your tying pin and trim Take your lighter and burr the end of the The finished Silver & Yellow Pot-bellied
the liner tube to about 1-2 mm. tube by melting to ensure the cone does Pig.
not slip off the tubing.

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk| October 2020 |

49
 “i
et aH
phOn A a

fe
ay

‘
Images Cer! Thomas & Alan Parfitt

i
we
*h
.~~

4,
. We

ee
=~
Nasr

Re Aw
e

iy -
ye
a5.

4 i
eg

Re
Words Cert Thomas

adh

50 October 2020
| |
www. flyfishing-and-flytymg.co.uk
 FEATURE * WILD TROUT

eaders may recall my ‘Cam:

brian Safari’ article in the
September 2018 edition of
Fly Fishing & Fly Tying,
where we ventured to sever-
al remote lakes (Ilynoedd) in the hills above
Blaenau Ffestiniog. The group I chose to fish
and write about were fairly inaccessible and
required some legwork to reach them.
Enthused by our results, fellow ‘Ilyn col-
lector’ Alan ‘Parf Parfitt and I decided to try
some of the other mountain lakes in the area,
these being on the eastern side of the town
where, from the looks of it, the access was
somewhat easier.
The three lakes I picked out on the map had
names that sparked the imagination. Llyn y
-
Manod the lake of the mountain, llyn Dwr
Oer — lake of the cold water and Ilyn Dubont
— lake of the black
bridge. Would there be a
mountain, cold water and a black bridge up
there? Or any fish? We would find out.
Parking for these lakes was easy — right on
the Main Street in Ffestiniog itself, the A470,
which happens to be the main road through
Wales. Tucking ourselves into a parking spot,
we donned our gear and began the trek. Op-
posite our parking area was an opening to a
track that led the way upa steep incline, a road
(or maybe an old slate wagon track) that must
have been trodden by thousands of miners on
their way to work in years gone by.

Lake of Cold Water

It was a bright July day, perhaps not the best
for fishing, but ideal for photographs and not
unpleasantly hot, either. Below us views of Ffes-
tiniog and the neighbouring mountains were
magnificent. Way down there ‘the town that
roofed the world’ was framed by rugged hills
and abandoned slate tips — it looked pretty
glamorous.
The track was easy to walk, and although
fairly steep we soon reached the first llyn af-
ter just 20 minutes. An old mining reservoir,
Llyn Dwr Oer is said to hold fish according to
the Cambrian club website and the Fishing
Passport (where we had booked our tickets on-
line). The lake was tiny, crystal-clear and
knee-deep. From what we could see (every
stone on the bottom!) it appeared to be com-
pletely fishless. The water did look cold,
though.

Lake of the Mountain

From here we decided to press on to llyn y
Manod, a ten-minute walk to the right of Dwr
Oer. Our first view of the lake met the de-
scription exactly. The lake of 20 acres or »»
so was wedged dramatically between the two

“WOULD THERE BEA

MOUNTAIN, COLD
WATER AND A BLACK
BRIDGE UP THERE?’
www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 51
| |
mountain peaks of Manod fawr and fach, very bright and now mid-morning. Not a fin been a dozen, 1n just half an hour The lake of
impressive; definitely a loch of the mountain. stirred. the mountain wasn’t gomg to give us anything
On a gloomy, dreich day I'd magine this could We headed round to the far end of the llyn, bigger. It literally swarmed with small under-
be a solemn, moody place, but today 1t was very the lee side, which appeared shallower and had fed trout, which had a bug-eyed, big headed
inviting, with the welcoming shrill of a pere- some attractive bays and points. As we rigged look to them. “Well, we can stay here all day
grine falcon and call of ravens breaking the si- up we saw a dimple of a rise 1n front of us. I and catch hundreds of these — or change lake”
lence. The water was, again, gin clear and the put on a single Coch y Bonddu wet fly and a I exclaimed. And so off we went, to Llyn
boulder-strewn shores shelved off into bot- long leader (a good tactic for a bright day) and Dubont.
tomless black depths 1n places. out 1t went. Second cast I was in! A small one,
As we reached the top end we came across barely the size of my hand. And from the looks Lake of the Black Bridge
two young ladies, who had evidently been wild of it a stunted adult fish, not a juvenile. Like-
camping that might. “Have you seen any wise, Alan was soon into the action, a tiny trout Llyn Dubont hes under a crag to the left of Dwr
fish?” I asked. “Yes — loads jumping, but only skipped across the surface, and was held up for Oer, about a 20-mmute walk from Manod.
at night or early morning”. That sounded a photo. Again, nothing too strenuous, just a gentle up-
promising but also not good, since it was very
— Before long we’d landed what may have hill pull on a good path. Dubont was a charm-

52 October 2020 www flyfishing-and-flytying co uk

| |
 FEATURE « WILD TROUT

ing lake, the crag rising above the water two halves, Dubont fach being very small and nau Gamallt, said to be the jewel in the crown
dominating the setting. The lake had a slight weedy, therefore impossible to fish properly, of the Cambrian Angling Society.
peat stain and some weed in it. There was no although I did see a rise amidst the reeds. The
sign of any fish for the first half an hour causeway was weathered and grey with lichen,
—

which compared to Manod, was probably a but perhaps it had once been black and made Lake of the Steep Step
good thing. Eventually, I spotted a rise and of freshly cut slate. Behind it the Moelwyn
soon connected with a fish, a nice one of about Mountains loomed, a truly impressive backdrop Going back down, with this thought ringing
8oz. For a spell, the fish rose freely along the in which to cast a line. in our heads, was a speedy process. Within 20
lee shore, picking off terrestrial insects being It was now about 2pm, sunny and calm. minutes we were in the car, and 15 minutes lat-
blown onto the water. From thereon in we start- What rises there were had stopped. Should we er we were on a track which led us to the park-
ed to catch quite a few, with several half- carry on or go somewhere else? With plenty of ing area for the Gamallt lakes. We headed
pounders and one of about ¥Ilb, which we lost. time and surprisingly high energy levels across a peaty moor, an easy walk of about 20
It was a lovely place to fish, but was there (thanks to these lakes being much less stren- minutes with no great change in elevation to
a black bridge? No there wasn’t, but there was uous to access than usual!) we decided to head trouble us.
a stone causeway that separated the lake into back to the car and try two more — the Llyn- Llynnau Gamallt really is a fantastic lo- 3
www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk| October 2020 53
|
cation, with a high rock wall dominating the a long line and “brown flies”. Indeed, there Things did pick up as the afternoon wore
lakes. The larger, 24-acre Gamallt fawr was were a few sedges skating about, one of on into evening, with noticeably nothing do-
peaty, its black waters had a bottomless, inky which was slurped down in a big swirl off some ing in the margins. I had one nice fish of about
look to them, but I suspect it was actually quite reeds. 120z take a small Black Leech pattern fished
shallow. It looked very ‘fishy’. Apparently casting far was the key. The lo- at range. But still, the action was not frantic.
It took a while for things to happen, despite cal chap carried a Hardy rod with a long butt
the cloud cover increasing and the breeze pick- extension, this appeared to be a switch set-up The Small Step
ing up to a good blow, although Parf had a few of some kind, complete with salmon sized reel.
small ones, hand-sized. We spoke to a local gent To demonstrate, he stripped off some line and Iremembered reading a Moc Morgan article,
on his way out, who had experienced a good made an impressive cast with it before he head- where if these were two Welsh lakes togeth-
day, with 11 fish up to nearly 1lb, all taken on ed off. er, the smaller one was usually the better, with

54 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 FEATURE * WILD TROUT

larger and finer quality fish in it.

So once again, a switch to another lake was
made. Gamallt bach, the smaller of the two at
five acres, was just a short walk from the top
end of Gamallt Fawr. This one hadn’t been
fished by the local on account of the wind di-
rection, so there would be fresh, undisturbed
bank for us.
In my eyes, this llyn was even more of a
‘looker’. A ruined boat-house lay at the far end,
and above it a fisherman’s hut, a relic from
when these lakes were stocked in the 1880s for
the local quarrymen, who were all keen fly an-
glers. The hut is still intact and in use over a
century later, carefully maintained by the
Cambrian Angling Society for its members.
The small Gamallt lake had much clearer
water, tinted slightly with tannins, but not gin
clear. For some reason I always feel more con-
fident when the water colour is ‘just right’.
From the off, it fished much better, a good half-
a-dozen came to hand for both of us, to near-
ly 1b. They were dark looking fish, but strong
and very pretty, with white edges to the fins
and big, black velvety spots. The takes would
all come at extreme range, nothing in close, just
as the local angler had said.
At about 8pm we dragged ourselves from
the water and headed for home. Yet another
great day out in the mountains of Snowdonia
in wild, unspoilt surroundings. Accessible
angling with a truly wild feel. But what does
Gamallt mean? Allt means ‘steep’ and Gam can
mean ‘step’ so almost certainly a reference to
the dramatic mountain ridge above the lakes.
For us, Gamallt was a step in the right direc-
tion.

Information
Tickets for Cambrian Angling
Association lakes are available online
through the WUF Fishing Passport, or
the Cambrian AA website
www.cambrianangling.com. The season
ends on October 17 for most of them, so
you have plenty of time to plan a late-
season trip when the fishing is often at
its best.

More information on Welsh llyn fishing

can be found on www. fishingwales.net —
the new website for Welsh Angling.

Flies for Cambrian AA waters

We used our usual patterns for llyn
fishing. Coch y bonddu, Bibio, Black
Pennell, etc. plus small black ‘leech’
imitating lures. Special ‘Ffestiniog’ flies
have been developed for these lakes by
local anglers. These have been
-
catalogued in “Plu Stiniog Trout flies
for North Wales” a book by Emrys Evans
(published by Coch y Bonddu Books), a
fascinating insight into the heritage of
the Cambrian Angling Association and
of the quarrymen who fished the lakes.

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 55

| |
 @
2 @‘h .
eis >|
 FEATURE « SALTWATER

unday, July 19 and, once again,

unseasonably strong winds caused
the postponement of a long-await-
ed session. Thankfully, the delay was
a mere 24 hours and hopefully Sat-
urday’s loss would prove to be a case of Sun-
day Best.
Today, Paul Jennings and I had the plea-
sure of fishing with Philip Spratt and Shane
Davies. Both gents were keen to catch their
first mullet on fly, and they also hoped to
transfer any knowledge gained from the
day to their home waters.
Shane and Philip have discovered an es-
tuary in Hampshire with a good head of mul-
let, but have struggled to make the break-
through. This presented an ideal opportuni-
ty to go ‘back to basics’ by structuring the ses-
sion to cover the various aspects involved in
the successful capture of a mullet on fly, rang-
ing from choice of location, tackle selection,
fly choice, water craft, understanding the ef-
fects of tide on fish behaviour, evaluating the
intensity at which fish are feeding, how best
to approach feeding fish, behavioural dif-
ferences between species and the type of re-
trieve required.
Philip and Shane arrived appropriately
equipped, with outfits comprising nine foot
rods with floating lines rated at 6-weight and
5-weight respectively, to which were added
tapered fluorocarbon leaders of 13 feet in
length and 8lb breaking strain. Floating
lines are the line of choice, because whether
drifting flies in a current or retrieving for fish
feeding in the shallows it is important that
the line passes over the fish rather than
through them. Fluorocarbon is my preferred
leader material because of the advantages it
provides. When fly fishing for mullet, every
possible advantage must be utilised. Fluo-
rocarbon is credited with being near invisi-
ble in water and it sinks more readily than ny- concentrated in the shallows, the point fly themselves from our prying eyes as we wad-
lon, a distinct advantage when fishing salt- should change to an unweighted Shrimp ed stealthily towards the nearest sand-bar. The
water, which is more buoyant than fresh. One pattern, which can be drifted on gentle cur- crown was barely submerged and the sur-
of the few things which will completely rents or retrieved slowly through the shallowest rounding waters still and deep. I explained to
spook mullet is nylon tippet floating on the of water. Philip and Shane that the fish would be lethar-
surface and twinkling in the early morning gic and spread out at present and that it was
sun. Productive venue necessary to wait for water levels to drop suf-
I provided our guests with a selection of ficiently to encourage the formation of a cur-
flies for the day, and explained that the Today’s choice of venue was a large estuary. rent, which would attract the mullet and in-
point fly would be substituted as the session Estuaries are by far the most productive crease the concentration of fish.
progressed, to reflect altering conditions. My marks for catching mullet on fly, offering a Acombination of strong sunshine and po-
favoured approach is to feature a tagged sheltered, bio-diverse and food-rich environ- larised sunglasses make spotting mullet in the
Romy’s Sand Shrimp on a dropper of around ment, which attracts fish in large numbers and shallowsa fairly easy affair, but the sun’s ab-
two inches, which remains in place through- convinces them to stay. The diversity found sence can leave many anglers in the dark and
out the day. A short dropper reduces the like- within an estuary often applies to the topog- we must rely on other indicators to locate fish.
lihood of tangling in windy conditions. Gen- raphy as much as the flora and fauna, and pro- Thankfully, today’s cloudy skies were ac-
erally, the point fly should be a weighted pat- vides the individual habitats favoured by the companied by only light winds and, as the tide
tern, such as a Silica Shrimp, to cover the start three species of UK mullet, with thick-lipped receded and shallows formed, we were treat-
of the ebb, when water levels are relatively mullet favouring areas of fast-flowing current, ed to the spectacle of a multitude of fins, tails,
deep and the fish tend to feed in channels and thin-lipped mullet preferring areas of mud or swirls and nervous water as fish moved in to
troughs. Once levels drop and the fish become silt, while golden greys seek out static water feed in the flat water which formed along the
over sand. Therefore, a coveted ‘mullet slam’ western perimeter of the bank.
is always a possibility when fishing an estu- I quickly described the required approach
for fish feeding under these conditions and
“WHEN FLY FISHING ary.
Suitably rigged-up, we set off as a group to Shane and Philip soon kneeled at the water’s
FOR MULLET, EVERY prospect the early ebbing tide, with low wa- edge, crouching low to make short casts to fish
ter still three hours distant. Dark, brooding feeding in only three inches of water and re-
POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE skies, spent of rain, but leaving a legacy of dark trieving the flies with short, slow pulls. This
MUST BE UTILISED’ waters enabled the mullet to skilfully conceal is where the advantage of long leaders s»

www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 57

| |
 ‘AS ONE AREA OF FISH-
ATTRACTING CURRENT
DISSIPATES,ANOTHER
ONE FORMS’

<« becomes apparent, meaning that the

leader lands on the closest shoal members
rather than the fly line, greatly reducing the
possibility of a spooked shoal.
Shrimp were present in the margins, but
not in the extravagant numbers expected on
the flooding tide. Sufficient enough though to
tempt the mullet to push into ridiculously shal-
low water, much to the amazement of Shane
and Philip. Mullet are frustrating at the best
of times and more so when they pluck and pull
at the flies without fully committing. Both an-
glers were experiencing exceptionally fast takes
which were impossible to convert as the fish
merely nipped at the flies, but rather than suc-
cumb to ‘mullet angst’ they reported a surge
in confidence, due to the amount of interest
the flies were receiving! Rather embarrass-
ingly, I suffered a period where my own flies
were struck hard a dozen times or more, with- Lightning streaks beneath a brooding sky.
out reply, including one particularly deter-
mined fish which attacked the flies twice in
succession and I managed to fluff my lines (lit- tray their presence through animated surface surface, within feet of the shore. This was in-
erally) on both occasions. Philip and Shane activity, involving a show of fins and tails, credibly shallow water but somehow the
soon realised that the mullet’s lack of com- splashing, swirling and leaping. Meanwhile, mullet were there and beginning to feed
mitment was due to the fact that the fish were large bass linger below. Just seven days pri- competitively — where the fish are highly ac-
present only in loose groups and competitive or, this same area provided me with an ex- tive and feeding in closely packed groups —
feeding was not taking place. But, as is often tremely hard-fighting thick-lipped mullet, increasing the angler’s chances of success im-
the case with mullet, it suddenly all came good but today the current trundled and twirled measurably. Normally, I would advise wad-
and two spritely thin-lipped mullet fell to my without interruption and the flies drifted in ing to shore to cover the fish from the water’s
tagged Romy’s Sand Shrimp, before the re- forlorn hope. The only predictable thing edge, as casting from deep to shallow water
treating water left us high and dry. about mullet is their unpredictability! typically results in spooked fish, but be-
The ebbing tide ground to a halt, leaving tween the flotilla of swans and the sheer num-
Chase the tide us suspended in a watery no-man’s land. Be- bers of mullet cloaking the margins, there was
fore long, the flood would crank in to gear and no way through. Philip began to target the
Time, then, to chase the tide. As one area of a particularly beautiful area of sand-flats group closest to him with intent. The occa-
fish-attracting current dissipates, another beckoned for the commencement of the flood. sional fish spooked, but the mullet were be-
one forms and a quick march led us to a vast However, it is quite incredible how an area of coming so preoccupied with feeding on small,
area of shallow sand-flats, which receive the lifeless water can suddenly come alive with the translucent shrimp that any danger signals
drain-off from a large bay. Philip is an avid first pulse of the flooding tide, and I suggested were immediately ignored. The mullet were
bonefisher and the similarity between fishing to Philip that we stay on this side of the chan- so close to shore that Philip’s flies were almost
this particular spot and a far-flung bonefish nel a little longer, while Paul and Shane went landing on dry land, before being pulled
flat was not lost on him, standing in shin-deep to investigate the adjacent flats. Within min- through the fish with a short, medium-paced
water scouring the golden sands for black utes, substantial numbers of swans gathered retrieve.
shadows or nervous water. On its day, this area to feed in a developing current, tight to the The water suddenly erupted as a mullet
hosts large shoals of thin-lipped mullet, gold- shore of a small island. It is always worth grabbed the tagged Romy’s Sand Shrimp on
en grey mullet and bass, all charging through checking for the presence of mullet amongst Philip’s dropper. All credit to him for re-
the current to intercept prey, every bit as ex- a group of swans. I suspect that mullet either membering to tighten into the fish before rais-
citing as it is visual. feed on the same items as swans, or that swans ing the rod. The fish decided to expend energy
Today, unfortunately, the flats were de- stir up the water, releasing food for mullet in through dogged resistance rather than blis-
serted and we strode on towards the central the process. tering runs, and Philip expertly played his first
channel by the estuary mouth, which receives A sudden rash of fins and tails pricked the mullet in the shallows, ever mindful of the ex-
the last of the run-off and any flow from the treme reaction which mullet often display
river, creating an area of vigorous current. when faced with the net, resulting in the loss
Strong, food-rich currents regularly attract ‘A SUDDEN RASH OF of many a fine fish right at the finishing line.
thick-lipped mullet and large bass to feed with- Nothing gives me greater angling pleasure
in their flow and the most effective approach FINS AND TAILS than helping someone to catch their first mul-
to catching them is by simply dead-drifting a PRICKED THE let on fly and the smile on Philip’s face was

SURFACE, WITHIN FEET

Flexi-worm accompanied by a Shrimp pattern a joy to behold, as a plump thin-lipped mul-
on a dropper amongst the feeding fish. If thick- let of 3.25lb tumbled in to the net. There was
lips are present in the current, they soon be- OF THE SHORE’ just enough time for me to join in the action

58 October 2020
| |
www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 FEATURE * SALTWATER

hane his first fly caught mullet

shellback used to tie Romy’s Sand Shrimp,

a

just to show that the old hands still have what

it takes.
With the pressure removed by Philip and
Shane successfully capturing their first mul-
Aspecimen golden grey of 2lb 140z which claimed Philip's first mullet, courtesy of a tagged let, it was time to relax slightly and appreci-
a Mullet Bach. Romy's Sand Shrimp. ate the sheer beauty of the environment in
which we fished, while watching the mullet
happily going about their work. The flooding
by tempting a small thin-lip to a Romy’s Sand they would still be present for the flood. Only of the bank introduced incredible numbers of
Shrimp, before the rapidly rising tide prompt- the crest of the bar remained above water on fish in search of any lingering shrimp, but
ed our re-crossing of the channel. our arrival, and Philip and I took the oppor- rapidly rising water levels allowed the mul-
tunity whilst on dry land to replace tired flies let to spread out, reducing their concentration
Increase in depth and weary leaders for the final assault of the as a consequence and the likelihood of com-
day. petitive feeding. But it is always worth that last
The sand-flats now lay beneath a foot of wa- I advised Philip to fish with a tagged cast before preparing to depart, especially
ter. Mullet were simply everywhere, moving Romy’s Sand Shrimp on the dropper and a when golden greys are around! The dark skies
at pace through the crystal water, but it ap- tagged Mullet Bach on the point, on the ba- above parted momentarily, allowing a shaft
peared that the main feeding period had sis that any thin-lipped mullet encountered of golden sunlight to illuminate the bank and
passed. Prime feeding occurs at the very would be attracted to either fly, while golden reveal its hidden treasures. I felt sure that gold
edge of the flooding tide in ultra-shallow wa- greys feeding over sand find a tagged Mul- lay ahead of me and this was confirmed when
ter, where mullet bulge through the margins let Bach hard to resist. Paul and Shane were the line pulled tight on the first cast. The fish
to intercept sand shrimp, before an increase already working the western edge of the immediately launched into a scintillating
in water depth persuades the shrimp to bur- bank, where growing numbers of mullet run along the crest of the bank before veer-
row to safety beneath the sand. It was nec- queued to raid the margins which were alive ing towards a nearby navigation channel at
essary for us to chase the tide once more to with shrimp. A despairing groan announced unstoppable speed. An approaching vessel
maintain sport, by retracing our steps north that Shane had just connected with and in- spelt disaster and considerable side-strain was
to find shallow water in the upper estuary. stantly lost a decent fish, while kneeling at the required to deviate the mullet from its path
As we travelled, there was evidence of fish water’s edge. to freedom. The fish appeared to be en-
feeding in a small depression in the sand. Mul- dowed with endless energy and it was a gen-
let were lying in a hollow with a gentle cur- Frenetic activity uine struggle to bring it to the net, in the now
rent washing over them, rising intermittent- waist-deep water. Once safely in the net, I no-
ly to claim food from the surface. I positioned Activity levels were ramping up and it was ticed the gold thumb print on the mullet’s gill
myself to drift the flies amongst them, and on surely just a matter of time before Shane’s plate, which explained the fabulous fight
the third strip the line sprang to life as a live- slowly retrieved flies tasted success. Just mo- and bonefish-like runs. This was my largest
ly thin-lip snatched the Mullet Bach. The fish ments later, Shane finally tightened in to his golden grey for two years, and a specimen fish
fought extremely well, producing flashes of sil- first mullet, a sparkling thin-lip which fought at 2lb 140z, courtesy of a tagged Mullet
ver lightning beneath the darkest of skies, as long and hard in the shallows before surren- Bach.
it bolted for freedom in the strengthening cur- dering to the net, another victim to a tagged And so the session ended on a golden note,
rent. It was tempting to fish there a while Romy’s Sand Shrimp. The smile had barely de- with smiles and aching shoulders all round,
longer, but with water depths approaching parted from Shane’s lips when he connected and two fresh inductees to the ‘Mullet-hood’.
eighteen inches, our chances of success were with his second fish of the day in crazily shal-
diminishing rapidly. We continued north to low water, this time to a Mullet Bach and
join Paul and Shane at the sand-bank where weighing in at 3.25lb. Congratulations Shane, Raised on fishing for the wild trout of Caith-
the day’s activities had commenced. We on a superb effort. ness, Colin now lives on the south coast of
knew from our earlier visit that large numbers Not to be outdone, Paul tricked a very nice England where his passion lies with the wild
of fish were present in the vicinity of the bank thin-lip with a hybrid fly, the Romy’s Ghost- fish inhabiting our shores, and the constant
on the ebb and the chances were good that buster, a buoyant pattern incorporating the development offlies and tactics to catch them.

www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 59

| |
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 routs wish Uist

Much 1n little

Inbuilding a fly box for wily

/
trout, NEIL PATTERSON Says
tying small flies shouldn't
be a big problem

oh

October — The Very Little.

he other day I got chatting to a Yorkshire- similar. In places, you could be fishing an entirely dif-
man down south on business, in the Lon- ferent river.
don Flyfishers’ Club. ‘Roiling’ was how he For this reason, one fix-all box of ‘chalkstream
described the Yorkshire streams he fished flies’ is far from adequate for the progressive fly-fish-
near his home. Strange word, I thought. The erman who wants to benefit from the different varieties.
‘oil’ bit shattering the impression he was giving of their Let me give you an example of what I mean.
clarity and purity. I looked the word up. Take the river Kennet. Here you have a ‘heavy’ riv-
‘roil: to make a liquid turbulent by agitating it’. er. In particular, the middle and lower beats. The wa-
Ah! Fast-flowing, highly oxygenated water was ter is slow, dark and deeper than, let’s say the Upper Test
what he was getting at. But the word suggests the op- where the flow is nippier and nimble racing over
posite. Far from the idyllic picture he was attempting Neil Patterson has sparkling gravel shallows. On the former, the water
to paint of this quiet, calm corner of the world. My turn: fished all over the ‘flows’. On the latter, it ‘fizzes’. This is what I call a ‘light’
‘Lush’ was how I summed up the chalkstream beat
... world and is credited river.
down the track from my house. But I added another word with the development So what’s the importance of this categorisation? Why
which surprised him as much as his depiction surprised of many innovative fly should it have an influence on the design of dry flies you
me (our conversation was very surprising!). This word patterns, including the should pack away? It’s this:
was ‘heavy’. Raised eyebrows all round. I had to explain. Suspender Nymph On the Kennet, keepers tell me many of the fisher-
Having fished most of the infamous and not-so-fa- and Funneldun. Neil is men fish Grey Wulffs all season, not just at Mayfly. May
mous chalk and limestone streams within an hour or the author of to September they catch enough fish with these deer-
-
so from my home setting size and how wild or groomed Chalkstream Chronicle hair-heavies to keep them happy, without lowering a res-
-
they might be aside I have concluded that all chalk- and Flyfisher’s ident Kennet trout’s expectations.
streams aren’t anywhere near the same. To begin Chronicle — In Search Chucking such a fly at any time of year into a glide
with, the top parts of every chalkstream are dramatically of Trout and Other on one of the more exclusive beats on the Upper Test
different from parts lower down. Indeed, the top, bot- Fishes and the Flies and you might as well have let loose an entire herd of
tom — and even the middle part of the two-mile stretch that Catch Them. moose into the stream, such is the effect it would have
I’m fortunate enough to fish — couldn’t be more dis- on the trout. The trout that were once there, at least.

62 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 CRITICAL STAGE: ...
TOWARDS ROOTS

Bill Parry-Davies fishing a ‘lighter’ stretch of the Kennet.

For this reason, when off to fish a chalkstream, I take

with me two fly boxes. One for ‘heavy’ waters: over-
dressed palmered Sedges, Duns with tails, bodies,
wings and hackles, the whole caboodle. All on sizes no
smaller than 16s. The other box is for the ‘light’, more
livelier waters. Here, few of my flies are larger than 18s,
mainly 20s, lightly dressed. Thread, hackle and a leg or
two. Rarely more than three materials, including the ty- Very Little
ing silk. Gnatty things, the tips of the extremities of these 1.PREPARATION: Make a ‘Wonder-wing’ by
flies gently stroked with floatant to keep them low, and “WATCH OUT stroking a large ginger cree hackle with black
helpless-looking. FOR... centre towards its root, inverting the barbs below
A good friend of mine who fishes the Upper Test fish- the tip. Measure wing to length of hook, including
es dry flies that are only a couple of turns of hackle round TROUT IN eye. Without relaxing hand-grip, spread varnish
the hook. “I like to leave as much air between the ma- WATER THAT thinly over wing. Clamp in hackle pliers. Set aside to
terials as possible if bother to tie on any materials
... I ” dry.
at all”, is how he put it. FIZZES 2. Vice a #20-22 Tiemco TMC 100 hook.
The fly illustrated here interprets his tying style per- 3. Tie in red thread and small ginger cree hackle —
fectly. It’s just a hackle (the body) - and a wing. Very with barbs no longer than twice the hook’s gape —
Little, in size. Very little to do, in the tying. at bend. Glossy side facing eye.
Rather than a dense rolled-up feather or opaque poly 4. Wind hackle to eye. Secure.
yarn, to add lightness to the fly — and to let as much air 5. Trim top of the hackle.
and light through its silhouette as possible — I go for the 6. Tie in wonder-wing at barbs’ end - to lie flat.
Wonder-wing style named, I guess, because people look Secure. Trim excess.
at its apparent intricacy in wonder. It looks so damn tech- 7. Trim unused hackle tip on stalk.
nically tricky! But (shhh!) nothing could be easier. 8. Whip finish. Varnish.
(But don‘t tell anyone.)

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 63

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 from the halstreams

ride of autumn
Gordon Mackie plays hide and seek at peak grayling time

Gordon Mackie
moved to the
chalkstreams in
1965, served the
Wilton Fly Fish-
ing Club as pres-
ident for 10
years, and is now
a vice-president
of Salisbury & imilarities between brown trout and grayling in the return to at a later date) yet a more acceptable balance
District AC. sporting sense become less apparent as autumn among grayling and trout stocks now prevails.
advances, so as fly fishers we need to adapt our Fishing with keeper Steve was an eye-opener, for he
customary style accordingly. Thymallus are at their taught me much about the various species present in a
most active as trutta become increasingly wary rectangular man-made holding area known as the
prior to spawning, while many visitors today are able to ‘swimming pool’ stationed right outside his back door.
access stretches formerly reserved for season rods only. That Measuring about 30 square yards, and of considerable
few chalkstream fisheries advertise can give a false depth and turbulence, it contained few trout or coarse fish,
impression, though local enquiries will likely bear fruit. but many grayling of impressive proportions and hundreds
River keepers and tackle shops are a mine of information, of eels at migration time. Lorries would arrive from London
offering advice regarding location, fly patterns and tactical on dark nights, while bundles of notes changed hands, but
matters. In my case, a number of these folks have become for me such seemingly inexhaustible stocks of mature
life-long friends, whose guidance has been of immense grayling were the number one attraction. Many scaled over
value. So, having discussed some of the preliminaries 11/2lb, with few juveniles present, though the requirement
(September issue), let's consider a few pointers that may to kali them all soon dulled my sense of enjoyment.
ease the transition. Choice of tackle was simple enough; just a stiff fibreglass
Securing my first brownie on the Devonshire Erme in rod, a high floating line, a variety of weighted Bugs, and a
the late 1940s it was not until 1965 that grayling entered buoyant sighter. It was Steve who introduced me to sheep's
my radar. By then I’d moved east within comfortable wool, straight from the fence and retaining its waterproof
distance of the Wiltshire Avon and Wylye, arguably the -
properties a tight ball, lightly greased, and quickly replaced
finest grayling rivers in the south. Indeed, there were judged with a simple half-hitch. Unorthodox, but effective, such a
to be far too many thriving in this watershed, to the grounding has since formed the basis of my autumnal
detriment of native trout populations. The rules often activities across the region.
insisted that all grayling be killed, though despite this — plus I soon found that once hooked, the proportion of
annual netting and electro-fishing operations — stocks were grayling landed is much lower than in the case of trout. The
as abundant as ever, until the severe drought years of the latter are generally predictable, instantly dashing into weed-
early 1990s. Only then were grayling numbers substantially beds or bankside cover, powerfully stripping line as they do
reduced, along with river levels, where they have remained so, whereas grayling remain in open water, performing
to this day, this largely due to rocketing human demand for subtle twists and turns, or relieving rod pressure by
freshwater supplies and consequent borehole abstraction. swimming towards us. This way they conserve energy, so
Many streams typically carry less than half of the pristine the real fireworks occur as we draw them towards the bank.
aquifer water they did in the past (a subject we'll doubtless Now they can see the net and the stooping angler, and as
Steve observed “all hell breaks lose”. Elsewhere hatch-holes,
weirs and natural gradients may create similar conditions.
As for weights, very few grayling over 3lb have ever been
“SHEEP'S WOOL, STRAIGHT recorded here, my largest scaling 2Ib 110z, although in my
FROM THE FENCE AND heyday my totals ranged from 365-411 over five successive
seasons. OK, this is largely reminiscence, but today’s
RETAINING ITS WATERPROOF enthusiasts are dedicated, fully focussed and better
PROPERTIES’ eauioned than I. But I’m not done vet!

64 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 dul of the menth

TIVERTON & DISTRICT

ANGLING ASSOCIATION
Offering an impressive selection of game and coarse species at just 30 a year,
DOMINIC GARNETT reports on a Devonshire club is hard to beat for value and variety

ry
M
N
N
N

www_flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 65

| |
 enever I look on jealously at
others’ far-flung adventures,
or exclusive waters closer to
home, it’s always a comfort
to know that there’s some
great fishing at a far more humble budget,
right here on my doorstep, here in Devon.
Some of it not only cheap, but beautiful and
surprising. In fact, even if it cost several times
the measly annual sum of thirty quid to fish
waters like the stunning Grand Western
Canal, I would happily pay it.
To put things in a wider context, you might
easily pay this sum and more for a single day
of premium fly fishing. But how many of those
A-list fisheries could give you trout, grayling,
carp and pike, as well as some clonking,
immaculate rudd, roach and perch all on the
same ticket?

Urban fly fishing

on the Exe
Before we discuss the huge variety of coarse
fish that will eagerly nab a fly here in east
Devon, perhaps the most logical starting point
is in Tiverton itself, right slap-bang in the
town. Club members have long enjoyed the
rights to fish between the two main bridges in
Tiverton, on the stretch known as the ‘Exe
Walk’ (along Rotary Way, until the A396 road
bridge).
Its admittedly not the prettiest.
Unfortunately, as soon as it gets leafier, it
belongs to another club that is, in League of
Gentleman style, local fishing for local people.
But don’t let that put you off, because the
more urban Exe can be productive too.
The upstream section of this area is rather
uniform and slow, admittedly. It does have
trout that you might cast a nymph or small
streamer at when conditions permit.
However, as you come downstream to a weir
and broken-water section, the river gets more
juicy and interesting. There are quite strong
currents here, and a real variety of rocky
depths and pockets to explore. On first
inspection it might not seem vast, but on
closer inspection there are plenty of hiding

66 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

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 The perch are an interesting yet neglected
prospect.

places for fish and it’s quite ample for an

afternoon’s fishing.
Smali trout are common, but the real
highlight is the grayling, which have been
caught to over two pounds here in the past. It
does get the odd decent fly hatch, but most of
the year it is best suited to a long rod and
French leader set-up with weighty nymphs.
Sport can be either generous or slow,
however, depending on the movements of the
fish. Sometimes the grayling can be stacked up
in this section; other days they are conspicuous
by their absence. Should you fail to earn a pull
in an hour or two, however, it’s also worth
mentioning that just five minutes drive away is
the river Lowman, which offers free fishing
around Amory Park (and features in Theo
Pike’s excellent book Trout in Dirty Places).

Devon’s most beautiful

coarse fishery?
If urban fishing isn’t your thing, or you simply
fancy a different challenge, we should quickly
move on to the jewel in the crown, namely the
Grand Western Canal; although most locals
simply refer to it as the Tiverton or “Tivvy”
Canal. Blessed with little boat traffic and some
15 miles of clear, weedy water, it is quite simply
one of the best and prettiest places you could
ever wish to stalk coarse fish using fly tackle.
In my own case, having been excluded from
most of the Exe by silly prices and private
fishing, the Tivvy Canal has been both a god-
send and a love affair of many years. It was also
essential for me when writing and taking the
photographs for Flyfishing For Coarse Fish.
With no close season, you can fish the canal all
year, but it tends to fish best from May to
September for my favourite stalking quarry
here, the rudd and roach. The former do
especially well here in the clear, insect-rich
waters. One-pounders are quite common,
although there are fish to double that if you can
find them.
I tend to stalk it with a long, ten-foot plus,
three or four-weight rod and either slow-
sinking wets, or tiny dries. General fit patterns
work fine, or you could replicate buzzers,
freshwater shrimp and small terrestrials if you
want to go down the imitative route. On hot
Re em = days, you can see the fish basking and a gently
cast fly is often gobbled up on sight! Avoid the
ry temptation to retrieve flies, but just let them
gently settle and if you present your fly

www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 67

| |
<€ gently enough, the fish will tend do the rest. stretch that fishes well for pike, with easy neglected target, simply because most lure and
It’s not convenience fishing, so do take a long- parking just past the village of Halberton. fly anglers use such hulking great artificials for
handled net and be prepared to get stuck into Crown Hill is a good stretch for the rudd, while the pike. Take some smaller streamers and
the undergrowth to get the best from it. Minnows Caravan Park to Westleigh is you'll find some nice fish, with just about any
The same, footloose attitude also pays off for excellent for the roach. If you fancy mixing of the bridges or areas of tree cover worth a
pike and perch in the cooler months; and I wait some fishing with lunch or a pint, The Globe shot.
until at least October usually, simply because Inn at Sampford Peverell is another good
pike are too fragile for safe catch-and-release shout, with plenty of pike and solid roach just Hard-fighting carp
through the hottest months in these shallow, a few footsteps from the pub.
warm waters. Don’t just take it from me, though, don Another excellent prospect for those who like a
Once the weed dies backa little, though, it some polarising glasses and take a good walk. varied diet in their fly fishing, is the prospect of
can be excellent for predators. You'll find I often spend as much time fish-spotting as battling some carp on light tackle. In which
countless pretty fish from a hand’s length to actually casting, certainly with the bigger rudd, case, look no further than the club’s Little Yeo
three or four pounds, and these are superb fun and the more you look, the more you'll find! fishery. It’s a fair drive out into the sticks, some
ona lighter set-up than you might usually carry. The real joy of the canal is that you never quite 20 minutes west of Tiverton, but well worth the
An eight-weight is perfect, in fact. Nor do you know what you'll come across. For a man- effort. Bob’s Lake, the larger of two pools here,
need massive flies, and I catch plenty on made venue it’s beautifully wild and there’s has a big head of hungry carp that are the ideal
patterns of just 3-4 inches, which are lovely to always an excellent chance of seeing size to battle on your usual trout rod.
cast compared to reservoir-sized beasts. That lingfishers or a swimming grass snake. Besides Regular FF&FT readers might remember
said, I still pack strong leaders of 20lb BS the usual fish suspects, I’ve even had bream the venue featuring in my article about carp on
fluorocarbon finishing in a wire trace, because and, on one occasion, a tench on the fly from natural patterns a while ago, and it remains an
there’s always the chance of a ‘double’. these waters! The perch are another much excellent prospect for those who don’t relish the
In terms of locations, there are almost too
many to list. Hot-spots can also change year on
year! If you can be bothered to walk a good
distance, the fishing tends to get even better as
you can escape the more pressured access
points.
The town end at Tiverton is rather coloured,
it must be said, and not ideal for fly fishing aside
from the coldest winter days. However, once
you get out past Blundells School, it begins to
get clearer. Greenway (EX16 7AE) is a famous

‘THERE’S ALWAYS
AN EXCELLENT
CHANCE OF SEEING
KINGFISHERS OR
A SWIMMING
GRASS SNAKE’
68 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
| |
usual dog biscuit route to success. Indeed, the stretch of the river Culm, on the way to Exeter,
margins are well planted and the fish are which has chub, dace and the odd trout that Information
numerous and hungry enough to accept quite will all take a fly. It is also one of several clubs
a good range of flies, from large dries such as that has shared waters on the Somerset Levels, At the time of publication, Tiverton
Hoppers and Beetles, to slow-sinking wets. which you can get a booklet about in local and District Angling Association tick-
There are occasional weekend matches, but get tackle shops. Suffice to say, there’s enough ets are just 30 a season or 6 a day,
out on a weekday and you'll find it lovely and winter pike fishing than even the most ardent with concessions also available for
peaceful, as well as productive. All would warn
I
angler could exhaust in the space of several youngsters and OAPs. You'll find fur-
you is to make sure your flies are dressed on seasons, including sections of the river Sowy ther info and general rules on the club
strong, barbless hooks, because these fish pull and various drains. website:
back hard! If I had to pick just one water, however, it www.tivertonanglingclub.com
would be the Grand Western Canal, which is The two main ticket outlets are Culm
Further adventures out an absolute delight, thanks to the clarity of the Valley Angling (EX15 1BW and conve-
west... water and the richness of fly life. And at 30, niently just seconds off J28 of the M5)
it really is a no-brainer to join the club, or Exeter Angling Centre (EX11BN)
Even less explored by fly anglers and still on the regardless of whether you are a local or havea which is also a great place to find out
same, crazy, cheap ticket, it’s also worth few days of holiday. I guarantee you won’t more about fishing in the region.
mentioning that Tiverton DAC also have a regret it.

Must have “Tivvy” flies

SN

Frost Bite Black & Peacock Rudd Bug

Hook: Streamer, size 1 Hook: Wide gape nymph 12-18. Hook: Nymph or emerger, size 14-16.
Thread: Black Kevlar. Thread: Red. Thread: Tan.
Tail: White savage hair with a little Krystalflash. Butt (optional): Green or red holographic tinsel. Rib: Silver tinsel.
Barred sides: Grizzle hackle. Body: Peacock herl. Body: Light tan dubbing.
Throat: Barred orange chickabou. Hackle: Black hen. Hotspot: Lime green or orange dubbing.
Wing: Black bucktail. Hackle: Partridge or any soft game hackle.
Head: Epoxy plus 5mm 3D eyes. So simple, but brilliant for the rudd and roach.
Cast as gently as possible to cruising or basking Sometimes this fly is easier than the Black &
This pint-sized pike fly has a bit of everything- fish and resist the temptation to yank it back; the Peacock to pick out, especially in dark water. You
light, dark and flash. Easily cast on an eight- fish will often inhale it as it settles, with no inter- want to try and tie it so it just about sinks, giving
weight, the bucktail helps it sink slowly. This is im- ference at all. Incidentally, this can also be an ef- surface-browsing fish plenty of time to spot it
portant at times to keep it out of the weed. usu- | fective carp fly, tied larger on a strong barbless and make a grab. You can even try using CdC to
ally crush the barb to make it easier to unhook hook. achieve this.
Tivvy's ravenous jack pike.

Micro Pink Shrimp CdC Black Gnat

Hook: Size 16-18 grub. Hook:Size 18-20 dry fly. Dominic Garnett is an avid angler and writer
Head: 2.4mm gold or brass bead. Thread: Fine black. based in the Westcountry ofEngland. He
Thread: Pink. Body: Black seal’s fur sub. enjoys exploring wild rivers but will employ a
Rib: Fine monofilament. Wing: White CdC. Sty rod to tackle anything that swims. Dom also
Tail & throat: Partridge. Hackle: Black cock. guides trips for coarse fish.
Body: Bright pink dubbing.
This delicate fly is useful in any clear water situa-
Worth a cast on river or canal alike. A terrific tion for fussy risers. Excellent on a fine tippet,
grayling fly, but also a good bet for roach. also
| whether you're targeting rudd, roach, dace or @ Does your club qualify as an Angling Club
carry a very similar Shrimp fly in plainer, tan trout. of the Month? contact:
colours for the coarse fish. markbffft@btinternet.com with details,

www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 69

| |
 NOVEMBER
-
2020 ISSUE

Onsale
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 9
~

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70 October 2020 www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
Win Bushnell
waterproof
binoculars!
ata aS
Specifications Lie
Bushnell H20
Se age 4p; % MS: fam

*
Waterproof
8 times magnification
SO
+
42mm object lens, producing wide
view: 123m at 1,000m
*
Weight: 709g
*
O-rings and nitrogen-purged to eliminate
internal water or condensation
*
Roller focus
*
Twist-up eye-cups
+
Dioptre adjustment
+
Detachable lens-caps
*
Padded nylon pouch, neck-strap &
cleaning cloth
*
rrp: 199.99

ere's achance to win a valuable and useful piece of kit to add to

your tackle bag: a pair of Bushnell H20 8 x 42 waterproof
| binoculars. Now you can focus on the water for hatching
insects, scan the surface for rises, identify the birds, study what they
are feeding on, watch the wildlife, check up on other boats and how
your friends are fishing, all courtesy of Uttings, the major fishing and ANSWERS Closing date for the Quiz is Monday, October 12, 2020
field sports retailer.
These binoculars are tough, with a rubberised exterior, brilliant 1 2

optics, and designed for hand-held, bright magnification. They

are also waterproof, employing o-rings as seals and nitrogen- 3 4
purged lenses, which means they never fog-up, suffer from
5 6
condensation, or mould.
Focus is through a central roller knob, and there's a setting on
Name
the right lens barrel to adjust the dioptre to suit the user.
Both viewing lenses have eye-cups and all the lenses are
protected with detachable lens-caps. Address

To win the binoculars all you need to do is fill in the form (right), answering
the 6 questions posed, and post it to the FF&FT Office. The first correct
entry drawn will win. All the answers are contained within the articles in
this issue of the magazine, so keep your eyes peeled!
Postcode

Telephone
Questions
1, Which ‘Fairy mountain’ overlooks Loch Rannoch? email address
2. On which Devonshire river did Gordon Mackie catch his first Return your form to FF&FT Quiz (OCTOBER), Rolling River Publications Ltd,
brown trout? Locus Centre, The Square, Aberfeldy, Perthshire PH15 2DD, UK.

3. What colour is the body of Dom Garnett's Rudd Bug? Please tick this box if you wish to receive communications from FF&FT
relating to offers, promotions, future events or content via email, post or
4. On which Russian river has the Silver & Yellow Pot-bellied Pig mobile message from FF&FT and our partners, which we believe you will be
becomea 'save the day' salmon fly? interested in and enjoy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
5. Who wrote ‘Fishing from Afar' from his prison cell? Yes, please opt me in CT]
6. Which scientist demonstrated that sticklebacks would attack
Please tick box if you receive the magazine by post |
anything red, irrespective of shape?
www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk |
October 2020 71
|
 MAGNUS ANGUS takes a long, hard
look through some waterproof
binoculars, whilst MARK BOWLER
drives, fishes and ties on fl es with
just one pair of polarised spectacles

Waterproof focus
Bushnell H20 8x42 Binoculars

Waterproof, tough rubberised coated which reduces internal

exterior, brilliant optics. These (and external) reflections so
come in a padded nylon the view is as bright, clean and
pouch, with a neck strap, clear as possible.
cleaning cloth, both the eye- For their H20 range Bush-
cups and object lenses are nell have fitted o-ring seals
covered by detachable lens and nitrogen purged the
covers. lenses. O-rings make for gas
These binoculars are 8 and waterproof seals around
times magnification, generally lenses. Nitrogen purging,
thought to be at the limit for means dry, clean nitrogen gas
comfortably hand holding, cer- is used to flush air from inside Bushnell H20 8x42 - tough waterproof binoculars.
tainly my limit for use from a the lens assemblies, so there
moving boat. These lenses is no moisture inside the nitro-
seem to offer a tremendous gen-filled lenses. So these are for my eyes without glasses; people in very sharp focus.
—
|

amount of resolution, the de- properly waterproof and fog- seems like a wide range of ad- know reservoir anglers who
tail at distance is superb. The free — no moisture inside the justment. tried these with
| uses binoculars to watch other
object lenses are 42mm wide, lenses, So no condensation specs — not the way to go. anglers and boats, a little
which is big enough to pro- when temperatures change. Both barrels have twist up knowledge about who is
duce an image which is bright (Longer term, nitrogen purg- eye-cups which click into hooking up and where never
and the field of view is com- ing should prevent fungus place, these are not adjusters, hurts. have fished with skip-
|

fortably wide enough (123m at forming on optical glass — they set the appropriate dis- pers who turn to binoculars to
1000m). All that comes ina which can happen in poorly tance from eye to lens. check for feeding birds and
fairly small package, if quite stored camera lenses and Using these binoculars is fish. And then the chance of
weighty (709g). binoculars.) fairly intuitive, focus is seeing a kingfisher or a heron
These are roof prism binoc- These have a roller type fo- straightforward, just roll the in detail...
ulars, le the tubes are cus knob between the barrels, central focus knob. was sur-
| An excellent piece of kit at
‘straight’ (porro prism binocu- the action is smooth and prised by how close these can an exceptionally keen price.
lars have that distinctive dog- -
slightly stiff so the focus focus (3.6m), rolling the con- Price: 89.00 (FFFT reader
leg shape), which is why these does not move once set. The trol out the depth of focus is offer)
are relatively compact. All the right lens barrel has a dioptre fairly precise, found it easy to
| From: Uttings
glass surfaces are multi- adjustment, so can set these
|
get a subject — birds, boats, www.uttings.co.uk/

Adjust the dioptre setting Twist to raise the eye-cup.

for your eyes below the
right eye-cup.

72 October 2020
| |
www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 IN THE NET « EQUIPMENT

The long and short of it

Varifocal transition drivewear polaroids from Optilabs

It's quite some time since | said it was no problem. a rocky pool when wading it — excellent and, yes, can even
|

used prescription polaroid Armed with my prescription and these lenses are particu- tie on a fly without peering
sunglasses for fishing. In re- details, was sent the solution:
|

larly effective, found, on

| over the top of them or with
cent years, I’ve preferred to varifocal polarised transition slightly peat-tinged, Scottish the aid of reading glasses! The
use contact lenses to compen- drivewear tinted lenses, fitted rivers. varifocal part of the lens does
sate for my short-sightedness. into a wraparound Rapide Fit was good, probably the ‘bend’ light which tends to dis-
In conjunction with a pair of frame — a Loubsol design. The best I’ve had for a wraparound tort vision at the very edges of
decent polaroids, find this
| transition part meaning that style — like the fact that my the lenses, but this is com- a

combination gives me the best the intensity of the lens eyes are completely protected mon aspect that one has to
results for both distance-vi- changes with the light inten- from the harsh rays of the sun get used to with varifocal
sion and glare-reduction, so |
sity, so it lightens as the sun and any extraneous light does lenses in any case; a small
can see a dry fly at 25 yards, goes in (in a matter of sec- not penetrate the lenses. price to pay for variable visibil-
and also clearly right into the onds) - from brown to an olive Never mind the security this ity.
water. However, there is one green, and the Drivewear part type of fit allows for when The glasses come with a
down-side to this approach — of the package means that not casting a fly; doubt you could
|

cleaning cloth, soft bag and

because I'm over 45 years old only can | fish all day in them, get a safer design. The Rapide adjustable, over-fit lanyard, all
and now suffer from aged-re- but can wear these whilst dri-
|
style of frame is designed to fit in a stylish, lightweight protec-
lated long-sightedness, can’t
|
ving as well as fishing — po- close around a smallish face, tive clamshell case. can |

see a damned thing close up, laroid glasses in combination and this is so complete that vouch for the case. dumped a|

especially when it comes to with a polarised windscreen sometimes in hot, humid heavy tackle bag on top of the
knotting ona fly. will normally cause visibility is- weather, the lenses steam up case accidentally: no damage
In normal life, to get round sues. a bit, because there is very lit- done. Thankfully, as these
this problem| either carry an The first advantage found
| tle air movement behind them; have already become an es-
extra pair of reading glasses with wearing these glasses I'm tweaking with adjustments sential component of my
(which is, quite frankly, a pain) was the simplicity. No contact to the frame to allow for this, everyday gear along with my
or wear my normal, varifocal
| lenses or reading glasses re- by heating the bridge with a hat, snips, amadou and gink.
glasses (usually in the quired. Going fishing? Just put hair dryer and re-setting them.
evenings, when the light is these on and jump in the car. The lenses offer protection From Optilabs:
low). I’m grateful that technol- When fishing, found ease of
|
against UVA and UVB rays, www.optilabs.com
ogy and ophthalmology can wading was the first notice- but are nor designed for night Tel. 0208 6865708.
manage to produce ‘bionic’ vi- able improvement. Because driving. Price for single vision pre-
sion through my useless eyes, I’ve become used to wearing Back to fishing. As for re- scription polarised lenses:
but asking for all this and then normal glasses for fishing (I stricting surface glare, and 185.95
also seeing it through a po- generally fish in the evenings), seeing dry flies on the surface, Varifocal prescription lenses
laroid lens is probably asking I'd forgotten what a boon it is then full marks all round; the in transition drivewear:
too much. Or is it? Optilabs to be able to see the bottom of clarity of vision at distance is 305.95

www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 73

| |
 Grip products are
imported and distributed
by Chevron Hackles.

Stockists of Chevron, Sybai and Grip products:

Scottie Products Fly Fishing Tackle &

“SCOTTIE" Fly Tying Materials.
On Line
- Scottie Vices
-
Split Cane Rods Highest Quality
- Fly Tying Accessories Fast Service
- Grip Hooks (Formally Eyebrook Tackle Shop)
- Chevron Hackles www.eyebrooktackleshop.co.uk
email : sales@eyebrooktackleshop.co.uk
http://scottieproducts.co.uk
tel 07503815927
 Stockists:
Fly Tying Company - Stoke on Trent
Fawcett's Country Sports — Carnforth, Lancs
Troutflies UK - Morecombe, Lancs
Suppliers of PWW Designs — Cambridgeshire
Chevron and Fly Only — Holmfirth, Yorks
Fly Tying Boutique — Silsden, West Yorks
Grip products. Foxons Tackle —
St Asaph, North Wales
Fly Fishing Tackle —
Crediton, Devon
Angling Active — Stirling, and Dunfermline, Scotland
Kate Fleming — Blairgowrie, Scotland
-
Somers Fishing Tackle Aberdeen, Scotland
-
Eyebrook Tackle Caldecott
-
Tungsten-Beads-Plus — Bradford
Chinook Wind Outfitters - Canada
Korsholm — Denmark
g (?’ 1

e
-
Finest Flyfishing Bedburgh-Hau, Germany
FFP Shop — Hemdingen, Germany sybai ,

ae
 Feather folding-block
with the necessary clip.

On

MAGNUS ANGUS reviews a feather-

folding block, a palette of dubbing
colours, a sight-board and scissors, and
takes an in-depth look at using oval tinsel

Fold, clip, snip and trap Push a feather stem down into a slot Use the clip to hold the barbs sticking up
Feather Fold Block to fold the feather. from the slot. Trim off the stem and tie...

A wooden triangle, dark and and push the stem down into trim away the feather stem, hackles, and also well with
light wood (sycamore and the slot. That folds the feather leaving a fringe of barbs stick- game hackles.
black maple) bonded together, so only the tips of the barbs — ing out of the clamp and bring Price: 15.00 (plus 1.15
with a series of slots cut in the the bits of the plume we usu- those to a dubbing loop or postage UK mainland)
light side. Comes with a trans- ally want, are showing. Clamp split thread. From: FFB Feather Fold
parent plastic bulldog-clip. the barbs in the clip and lift Utterly practical. Works very Block on eBay
The idea is familiar, lie a the folded and clamped well with large CdC, reason- Email:
large CdC feather on the block feather from the block. Then ably well with hen or cock featherfold.ffb@gmail.com

Oval tinsels, mainly “ =

gold and silver, from
Extra Fine to Large

This month: Oval tinsel

A traditional tying material

we use for ribbing flies and,
occasionally, in touching
turns for bodies. Oval tinsel Two sizes of gold oval, each relative to the fly
came from a form of em- - in this case a pair of Ritz Nymphs.
broidery and, believe, from
|

military decorations and in-

signia — think of gold en-
crusted epaulettes on dress
uniforms.
Oval tinsel has a thread
core, which is wrapped ina
fine metallic strip. Originally

76 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
 IN THE NET « FLY TYING

On ahook, dubbed tight,

Dubber's palette get a fine halo of gleaming
|

Semperfli Sparkle Dubbing coloured fibres. Easy to brush

out and make more shaggy.
Easy to control, dub thin and
slim, dub a little heavier for a
more substantial body. | like
this packaging a lot, slim, light
and convenient. The dubbing
itself seems to work well and
is versatile, so could use this
|

for small Bugs and Jigs and

just as easily could dub the
|

bodies of salmon flies.

varies from colour to colour, I'd use by themselves, blues, Price: 29.99 for the full
some tufts pull out a couple of purples, white and cream for colour range, 30 colours in
inches, some longer. I'd like example, however those two boxes.
the fibre length a little shorter colours will come in useful for 2.50 for a single colour
Handy flat boxes, medium fine and more consistent, but can|
mixing — maybe a few more packet.
synthetic dubbing — in 30 colours. of course sort that with a cou- than need, but give me time
| 19.99 for the Natural Col-
ple of snips of sharp scissors. and I'll find uses... lection, 12 colours.
Two boxed sets, 15 colours in From the box, which is really a On thread this is a soft, slip- 24.99 for the Stillwater
each, Sparkle Dubbing dub- row of tubes, these are pure, pery fibre, twisting it onto Collection, 16 colours.
bing is available in sets, or as single colours. Looking at the thread Sparkle Dubbing From: Semperfli stockists.
single packets. two boxes have more or less
| seems to tangle on itself
The substrate for this dub- a full spectrum, some primary pretty weli, although the sta-
bing is a fairly fine, very soft colours, more are mixed ple length is long this reminds
synthetic fibre. Like other syn- colours, orange, olives, me a little of some forms of
thetics, Antron for example, browns and pinks, pleasing SLF. rather like that can
| |

this is glossy, though this clarets and olives and more — slide a slim, tangled dubbing
seems a little less slippery and excellent range of colours. For ‘noodle’ along my thread.
more co-operative than some, tying a pure colour is Spread and opened up, placed
Antron. fine; to make a more interest- into a loop and spun, Sparkie
Handles fairly well. As pull
|
ing dubbing this mixes with it- Dubbing handles well, the soft-
tufts out of these tubes it’s self reasonably easily. In these ness of the fibre means it
clear that the staple lengths boxes have colours doubt stays put and cords easily.
| | Gives a fuzzy, dubbed surface.
»
wide for example. Uni French
Oval comes as large, medium,
small, and extra-small; Veniard Veniard Oval tinsel sizes
Oval Tinsel come in Ex Fine,
Fine, Medium and Heavy. As far
as can see, there is no stan-
| Size Code Width (approx)
dard for tinsel widths, though
I'd say Uni and Veniard are X-Fine 14 0.4mm (1/45 in.)
probably the benchmarks. Indi-
vidual fly dressers tend to use Fine 15 0.5mm (1/40 in.)
one or two brands and use siz-
ing terms comparatively, Medium 16 0.6mm (1/32 in.)
smaller or larger. This is further
complicated by the idea that a Heavy 17 0.7mm (1.28 in.)
tinsel which looks narrow ona
three-inch tube could look wide
ona size 12 wet fly hook.
the outer layer was metal, but
this is far more commonly now
a gold or silver plastic (mylar) Oval tinsel was traditionally
which stays bright, does not gold or silver, more recently
ka— sa
tarnish, and does less damage copper and a few other
L

to our scissors. During manu- colours have appeared. If you

facture, once the core is Veniard Ex Fine (Size 14) are following a published pat-
wrapped, the tinsel is flattened silver oval next to tern it is unlikely to ask for
to shape, ie made oval. The Lagartun Silk Core X-Fine Oval other than silver or gold.
profiles of oval tinsel varies by Gold. Tinsel sizes (widths) For salmon and trout tying |

brand and manufacturer. may be similar, they can use X-Fine and Fine Ovals al-
Oval tinsels are usually sized be very different. most exclusively.
by width, from extra fine to

www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 77

| |
«
Focus on the fly
Scottie Bright White Target Board

metal fitting which has a flat,

metal surface ~ again easy to
set in position and fix firmly.
Then, finally, a light-weight,
round, sight-board fixes to
that flat metal surface with a
slim, strong magnet. In use,
this gadget is easy to set up,
easier to set up than explain.
The result is have a white
|

disc behind any hook in the

jaws of my vice.
These days usually tie with
|

Scottie’s version of a sight- stems. From there, an L-

board which fits to a vice, has shaped wire support clamps
asubstantial clamp fitting, into that fitting — fits tight and
which attaches to the stem of firm. On the leg of the L, can|

most vices — have to be round adjust and position a small

As ovals bend around a hook they can open and show their core — better
ovals don’t open. On the right, this oval opens as it bends, the core is yellow
which helps hide the effect.

Quality Ovals open, or not as much, as the Tying in of old so that technique works
As you wrap an oval tinsel strand is wrapped around a ra- |think it’s now fairly standard well. Working with a wide or
around a hook or tube there dius. find Veevus and Lagar-
| that a tinsel is tied in for the heavy tinsel, the bulk of that
is a tendency for the surface tun seem to handle this char- length of the body of a fly so form of tinsel can be an issue,
wrapping to open, to show a acteristic very well, other the under-body is more level. leading to a pretty fat fly.
gap and even show the core brands vary, but are generally In general, we're using flatter Older tying books, written
inside. Good tinsels don't acceptable. and narrower oval tinsels than when oval tinsel had a metal

78 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk

| |
a sheet of white paper behind
my vice, the contrast and re- Everyday blades
duced clutter helps me focus. Fulling Mill All Purpose Scissors
Scottie’s Target Board does Tae

the same, takes up less space, From the same brand and in
once fitted it's always there the same livery as the Razor
when want it. This comes
| Scissors featured last issue.
with a couple of self-adhesive Again these are four-inch scis-
stickers so the white surface sors. The form this time is
of the lightweight target can more towards ‘iris scissors’ - can tell, these cut well all cuts; a fine, sharp pair for tight
be refreshed. shorter biades, the pivot is along the blade-length, and and light cuts; and an every-
First time I've seen a mag- closer to the points, and the seem sharp. Nice, clean cut- day pair, which must be strong
net used to hold the sight- finger-loops touch when the ting blades, one serrated one enough to cut stiff and hard
board, an excellent idea which, scissors are closed. Compared smooth, so fine stuff tends to stuff, sharp enough for clean,
combined with the exception- with similar scissors these catch in the serrations and close cutting of fine materials,
ally light target, works well. blades look slightly stronger, a gets cut. eg thread, feather and fine
Nicely specified and made, | fraction stouter. I'd use these as everyday hair — these scissors fit that
like the metal joints and fit- In my hand, these feel very blades, general-purpose scis- role well.
tings, brass bolts with knurled comfortable, like the coated
| sors. tie with three pairs of
|

heads; this looks and feels like handles and the loop size is scissors on the desk, a heavy Price: 19.95
a well made accessory. I've ideal for my thumb and fin- pair for tough stuff and long From: Fulling Mill stockists.
seen and used far more com- ger(s). These scissors are held
plicated sight-boards, this is together by a simple screw,
simple to set up and use, very familiar most of my scis-
maybe a little less sors, fly-tying and others, have
precisely/flexibly adjustable a similar screw
than some, but does what it fastening/pivot. These scis-
needs to do, which is place a sors can be taken apart for
white background behind my sharpening and, with care, can
hook, at a very attractive be adjusted if the action is too
price. stiff. Out of the packet, there
is slight resistance as open
|

Price: 19.95 and close these blades, not One serrated cutting edge.
From: scottieproducts.co.uk too stiff, but not ‘hairdressing-
Tel: 07708 942604 scissors’ smooth. As far as |

covering and was therefore Placing a rib actly on the bottom of the from the bottom of the hook,
less flat than the stuff we have This applies to all ribbing mate- hook or tube as you pull the rib mount the rib slightly behind,
now, typically mention that rials and is only an issue where to make the first turn it will in- say one quarter of the circum-
oval tinsel can be frayed, the the look of a fly matters. Tradi- evitably pull up a little onto the ference. Fix the rib in place as
outer wrap pulled to expose tional tying called for a rib tied side of the shank — the ribis normal, and wind forwards as
the core. Frayed with care and in under the shank, so the first held there by thread and a lit- normal, and all being well, the
trimmed neatly, the end can turn of rib appeared from the tle slippage is to be expected. first turn of your rib should
be tied in at the butt and tied bottom of the fly. When oval or So, when you want that look appear from the bottom of
in almost flat. wire or flat tinsel are tied in ex- of the first turn appearing the hook.

www. flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 79

| |
 RESERVOIR REPORTS

Dtillwater@cene
Fishery reports (dated dated August 18)
Carsington, Derbyshire on the point and nymphs on the early and late. Best boat areas have mark (returned). These browns have
Rod av. 1.1. Changeable weather droppers. Those seeking out the wind been G Buoy and North shore. been caught mostly around the North
brought a restriction on methods lanes prospered. Arm.
which could be used and this has also Pitsford Water, Northamptonshire Fry patterns are working well with
contributed to a tough week. Orange Eyebrook Reservoir, Northants Rod av. 3.8. Some algal blooms plenty of fry in evidence now, along
Blobs, Bibios and green or black Rod av. 2.55 Hot spell of weather left forming at the dam end, but water with snails, shrimp, Corixa.
Snakes and sub-surface Di5 to Di8 the fish a bit lethargic, but cooler clarity improves towards the The aerators have been switched off
lines have mainly been used around south-westerlies improved fishing Causeway and Narrows. Fish are for a few days now, so fish have
the back of Watersports island, Half later in the week, especially to showing, but are reluctant to take, spread out well in the main basin with
Moon Bay, Buoy 10, and the main Sedgehogs, Black, and Bibio but a 5Ib brown was taken. amixture of Blobs, Nymphs and dries
basin. versions. With increasing cloud cover Successful methods have been either accounting for these fish. Best
the bank came into play, too with dries or floating and intermediate rainbow of the week was a mint
Draycote Water, Warwickshire Buzzers and Daddies scoring. Diawl lines and foam Daddies teamed up condition 5Y%2lb specimen.
Bright start to week, but cloud later Bachs and CdC s working later, as with nymphs. The best boat areas are
helped the fishing. Dries like Big Red, temperatures rose once again. still the Main Basin, Narrows and Thornton, Leicestershire
Crippled Midge and Bob's Bits Causeway while bank anglers should Rod av. 1.6. Unsurprisingly, sinking
working well, but nymphs and Grafham Water, Cambs try Rigbys, Gravels and Sermons. lines, like a Di7 with a Booby was the
Muddlers also producing fish. Rod av. 5.23. Extreme weather, but most successful method in the
Floating line and a Damsel producing anglers have still been finding and Rutland Water, Rutland searing conditions which lasted all
some nice fish. The banks at Rainbow catching the fish. Few anglers braved the intense heat week, with a Damsel or Olive Booby
Corner and Biggin Bay are proving Hare's Ears, Shrimps, red Diawl and bright sun mid-week, though scoring well in the mornings,
popular, too. With cloud and wind a Bachs, and Olive Buzzers have been some were still catching with quality especially around the deeper water at
washing line was popular, with a FAB successful, especially off the dam, browns, including six over the 6lb the dam.

Catch a salmon in October!

An FF&FT Salmon School will take place this autumn
operating under full Covid-19 social-distancing guidelines
here’s still time to catch a salmon,
so don’t let the misery of Covid-19
spoil your year completely! The 2020 COURSE
2020 Salmon School will take place The course includes: fishing (on two differing
just over the Scottish border, on the beats), separate accommodation, 3 meals
Annan, from October 5 — 9. Due to Covid-19, per day, guiding and qualified casting
numbers will be strictly limited at our residential instruction, hosted by beat owner Anthony
school, based in cottages at Kirkwood, with each Steel, and FF&FT Editor, Mark Bowler.
guest having their own room and bathroom,
and all rules for social-distancing at that time 4-day School:
will be followed to ensure your safety. beyond. Run over October 5 9.
We have experts and guides ‘on call’ on the The comfortable, warm accommodation is A day for cleaning/disinfection will take place
bankside, and a resident casting instructor in a quiet, stable block close to the river, and before the School starts, and all rules for
available at all times. By the end of the the home-cooked food has, well, become part social-distancing at that time will be followed.
course, you'll be buzzing with information on of the course itself! No sharing of gear or clothes will be allowed.
the gear, lines, techniques, tactics, theory, prac- One 4-day/5-night course will run this year. Price: 1,190 per person, which includes all
tice, approach, flies, fly-tying and safety. So, whether you’ve never picked up a rod be- fishing, instruction, tuition, accommodation,
Over the fourteen years of the courses, we fore, or whether you have already enjoyed some and food over the four-day course.
have managed to catch quite a number of ‘first of what salmon fishing has to offer, this fun * Two extra
days of reduced tuition fishing at
salmon’ and we’ve also lost a few!
... course will have something for you. The the end of the week are available at an extra
In addition, you'll be mixing with like-mind- course is open to anyone who wishes to fur- 450 (all inclusive)
ed folk, all eager to learn, but enjoy the expe- ther their fishing skills and to learn more about **
Couples (or people from the same
rience at the same time. This is not 9am—5pm
a salmon fishing. It will include casting demon- household) can join us, at a discount.
course. Being residential, everyone — guides, strations and instruction, watercraft, tackle and Further information: 01576 510200, email:
instructors, delegates and the cook — gather fishing advice, evening talks and fly-tying. AS@SalmonSchool.co.uk and website
at breakfast time, and the focus is on salmon Let 2020 be a memorable year — but for the www.SalmonSchool.co.uk
and how to catch them until supper-time and salmon fishing!
80 October 2020 www-flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
| |
‘suime’
O
the prior
d or reproduced without
n of the publisher
Classifieds
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www-lyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020 81

| |
 PrssicsN

Your favourite fish? BY PETER HOLTET

o, what’s your favourite? The one that

brings you the highest level of fulfilment as
an angler? The one that allows you to say,
“Well, it’s been a good season after all”?

We won’t go into the trivia of the development stages

of angling (catching something, catching a lot, catching
the big one, catching the difficult fish) and all that. am I

presuming that you are at some intermediary stage, al-

though regressions are always likely. What I would like
to do is present you with a number of options when it
comes to ‘favourite fish’ and my personal experiences and
idiosyncrasies connected to each one. Note that your choice
of favourite fish will reflect heavily on you as an angler
and a person. Already at this point you may be jumping
up and down, putting your hand in the air. If I could just
get the class to calm down, I must add that there are two
sorts fish that don’t cut the mustard in my view. I have
some experience with one and none with the other.
The first is what I would call the ‘guide fish’. You fish
with a guide. He ties on the fly that he has tied. You hook
a real whopper. He tells you how to play it. He lands and
releases it for you. Just for a second, you forget the huge
wads of notes flying his way, and when you get home, you
wonder whose fish it was. The other fish is the ‘bought
fish’ : given enough money and sufficient connections, you
will catch great fish. But anyone (rich enough!) can do
that... or maybe I’m just filled with envy. and serve with a crisp white wine of your choice.
So. here are the real alternatives (and there are plen-
ty of overlaps): « Sometimes you do leave your family when conditions
indicate that your time would be best spent in an easy chair
The basically ‘bigger than your mate’s’ fish is alluring or around the house. Winds are howling, rain is lashing
Gaal
*

to many of us. It will be high on many people’s list. We your angling haunts or the river is running high with
suck in the admiration. We see the ill-concealed envy in colour, but you go out anyway, and you catch ‘the fish in
others. We get our own back for all the other years. This completely averse conditions’. It defies experts and even
fish comes with a large number of small variations : ‘the common sense, and once you’ve got warm, it’s a really sat-
club trophy fish’, ‘the magazine photo fish’, etc. isfying sort of fish.

For those less ostentatious and more pretentiously in- « The next sort is perhaps not going to be high on your
trospective there is the darling of this magazine: ‘the care- list of lifetime achievements, but in all frankness it’s go-
fully planned/innovative tactics/Compleat Angler fish. There ing to be at the back of your mind quite often. It’s the
is something infinitely smug and insufferably self-con- ‘dumb luck/where the hell did that come from fish’. When
gratulatory about this sort of fish. If nothing else it will you have done your best for a long time, and your best just
allow you to write articles for this magazine. If you keep hasn’t provided the goods, then dumb luck is your last re-
it to yourself, suppose that there’s no harm done, which
I course. Dumb luck hits you at the strangest of times.
is why I will say nothing of the escapee rainbow from last
year. It was lurking behind some rocks in very shallow wa- Then, of course, there are fish connected to numbers.
ter. It finally hooked itself after four or five trips to visit New personal best, first ever of a species — first/best... it’s
it. There was, however, a price to pay because when I came all in your head.
back, it was no longer there, since it was lying in my freez-
er. « Inthe Disney show Christmas edition they talk of ‘mem-
orable moments’, and there are fish that correspond to that:
e In this time of catch-and-release and political cor- first/last of the season, the fish you caught the day your
rectness it might my offend some readers to bring up the uncle died. If you remember both your uncle and the fish,
next sort of fish: ‘the really fresh fish, brought home for then that’s fine.
the family to enjoy’. To me, it is what makes it all make
sense. My favourite recipe is to fillet a small salmon or de- You can have the pick of this litter, though out there the
cent sea trout, cover it with equal amounts of soft butter, fish and the fishing Gods (more about them later) decide.
bread crumbs and chopped parsley. Bake for 15 minutes Me? I'll just settle for the next one!

82 October 2020
| |
www.flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk
 Bonefishing school
, 1e e
|

FlyFishing
ook on FF&FT’s Bonefishing School-
for fish, instruction, knowledge,
tackle, tips, Island life, more fish, plus
plenty of laughs and stories.

Now in its 4th year, benefit from the expe-

rience and knowledge of FF&FT Editor, Mark
Bowler and saltwater guide Dave Grove. Cro tryr Exam time.

Yay
Bus stop. Games field. Class room.

Bonefishing school
Bahamas, autumn 2020
@ Travel date: November 6, 2020.

@ Price per person 3,395.

@ Deposit required to hold place.

@ Single supplement available on request.

Homework. Doing lines. @ Price includes: return flights London-

Crooked Island, transfers on Crooked Is-
land, 6 days’ tuition and guided fishing, 7
days’ full board, one night at Orange
Beach Inn on room only.
=
2ald @ Not included: meals in Nassau, transfers
in Nassau.

Email:
info@gofishingworldwide.co.uk
Tel: 020 8742 1556

School dinners. 100% pass rate. www.gofishingworldwide.co.uk

www flyfishing-and-flytying.co.uk October 2020

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