Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

Dave has been trying to get on to do some river fly fishing with us again for a while but the rain just kept scuppering any plans. Thankfully he had put himself on standby at work (he has a boss that fishes) and a call from me Weds had him racing down to us for a fish on Thursday. Knowing how keen Dave is I headed off to meet him 15 minutes early as I thought there would be a fair chance of him being there rearing to go! Dave let me down badly…he was only 10 minutes early!

The river still had a push to it but was down and pretty clear. The tails of pools and slacker water were the areas where we concentrated landing the fly and despite Dave not having fished since we last me up he was throwing his flies into the target areas with ease. I’d love to say the fishing was hot from the moment we started but steady was a better description and the takes we had were a little  half-hearted. The night had been cool and it was just a case of things warming up a bit to really get the ball rolling. As the morning progressed this was the case and we started steadily picking up fish. I had been setting my watch by the caddis hatch we have been having at 2.30 but looks like the cooler start put this back by 1/2 hour and this really got things going. Again using the scruffy klink at the early stages of the hatch it really did the business.

Dave covered the areas really, really well and picked up some nice fish. As the hatch eased we moved off to another spot and things were a little quieter. We talked about using smaller flies and I tied on a size 20 (scruffy klink again I’m afraid)  and we picked up some more fish.

It’s times like this when the fishing is pretty good that you forget to look at your watch and it is a lot later than you think. As ever I urged him on for just one more as it is always nice to end on a fish which he duly obliged and we headed off.

We both didn’t count but Dave caught more than his fair share and did a great. Hope it was worth the wait fella!

I’m sitting writing this as there seems to be this bright yellow thing up in the sky. I sort of remember what is called and it is nice to see it, it’s been too long.

 We had a bit of it (between showers) today when I met up with Jonathan and Sophie for a casting session. They have done some fishing before on lakes and also for some salmon and wanted to get to grips with the casting a little more deeply.  It was a great session and we covered lots and talked about loop formation and how to control it and how to cast tailing loops on command. It might sound strange that a casting instructor is showing how to deliberately cast them but to me it makes a lot of sense. If you can control the power application of the stroke then the whole process becomes a whole lot easier. Being able to tell the difference between even and uneven power helps to ultimately deliver a nice smooth casting stroke.

The guys did a great job and we did have a break when a rising fish kept putting us all off. The only thing to do was to pop a fly on and Sophie obliged (you are a gent Jonathan!) and caught a very spirited rainbow which we popped back who has hopefully learnt not to intrude into lessons!

We are meeting up again to tackle some river fly fishing something I think they will do with ease!

P.S All the flies requested have been tied and posted!

We are just back from Amsterdam and I have a confession. We sold out, well, for the first day anyway. Doing a show we are strictly jeans and T shirt guys and if the weather is good enough it will be shorts. On this occassion we had the president of Abel coming over and we thought it best to smarten up a little bit for him. It was one of those classic moments where we met up and Don had assumed we’d be in our normal attire and so dressed in jeans and T shirt himself and came over to say “hi” Thankfully we reverted pretty quickly and the normal balance was restored!

Amsterdam is an interesting city and I think Mark would have passed out with excitement at all the canals and the pike that must live in them. We had a good time there and met up with some instructors from Europe and had a cast with a few even some from Russia. We met up with some really good contacts and generally had a blast.

We at least have some sun today which is encouraging and I hope we have more as my daughter Charlie is off to the V festival this weekend. Apparently the look is dresses and wellies if you are interested! I think Muse are headlining but it is clearly way too cool for me. Apparently anyone over 30 is too old for this sort of thing….there still life in this old dog though!

There are some fantastic fly tyers around and I have been lucky enough to meet a few and there are also legions of unsung heroes turning out wonderful flies that just them and the fish will see. There will always be that kick from catching a fish on a fly you have tied yourself  and long may it continue.

I have often thought what is better, the generic fly or the exact representation? Our fish down here come from the school of hard knocks and have to take every opportunity that is offered to them foodwise and it is sometimes possible to get them to take a fly that is different from the food source they might be locked onto. I fished a black klinkhammer with wire rib pretty much exclusively last year and it did fine for me, it also seemed to work pretty well one day last season when I fished it through a mayfly spinner fall. It seems at times though, that wild chalkstream fish can be a little bit more picky and it may take a few more fly patterns to get it just right for them. I remember when I was fishing with Howard one time and the fish would take his size 18 parachute adams but had no interest in my size 16.

For me, I like generic patterns, something that covers as many bases as possible just in case. I have been playing with a fly the back end of last year and most of this year that seems to do this pretty well. I haven’t reinvented the wheel or anything but just by tying a really, really rough klinkhammer it seems to do the job. I have used it through caddis hatches and seen the fish take it as an emerger and then head and tail it as the hatch got on. I think I may have mentioned it before but Champo and I hit the motherload of BWO hatches on a chalkstream and his beautifully tied fly just kept getting refused. I threw my old piece of rubbish and the fish couldn’t get enough of it, even to the degree he dipped into my fly box for one. A compliment indeed! Early in the season it worked wonderfully during the grannom on the Culm too.

The idea was that it was supposed to look like a caddis as it was about to emerge where the antennae and legs are pushed back but I think the straggley look just gives the fish a bit more of a trigger point. I don’t believe it is anything more complicated than that.

I have a few tied up and would love it if you would be interested in trying one. Just drop me a mail and I will send them off. I just want to see if it brings as much luck to you.

So does it have a name? It doesn’t really need one as it is only really a slight variation on the original but we thought that the scruffy appearance (like the tyer) needed a name and being a gentleman all I can say is that it sounds like brithammer!

I was talking to Alison this morning and said that I had been in the office yesterday and today instead of guiding Brian on Tues and Dave today. She said that I must be sitting there with a big sullen bottom lip. She’s about right.

It seems we have really been hit hard the last few days even compared to just a bit up the line. I was hoping both days to be on the lower Tamar doing some river guiding for trout and grayling but it is still flushing through and being a bigger river will be just a bit too lively. I spoke to Dave last night and he knew it was coming and we are going to try something next week (weather permitting!) he wasn’t keen on lake fishing. I have guided him a few months back and know he is a hard core river fly fisher.

Mark takes up the tuition with Ollie on Thurs, a group on Fri and Richard and Kate on Saturday while Bob and I are away in Amsterdam at a show. It should be real fun and it is a big moment for our little company and if it comes off will be really exciting!

I had a fish with Toby on the Taw Monday night and it wasn’t as good as the weekend but he managed an 11inch brown which gave him a really good pull. We shared a rod and took it in turns while we chewed the fat and talked about everything and nothing. Thats what it is all about!

We had a nice message from David and Caroline who spent a day with Bob and I.

Dear Bob,

 we both wanted to let you and Pete know how much we enjoyed our time on the Tamar with you. Thankyou both very much for your time and patience with two novice salmon fishermen. We really loved it. We are both very keen to come back again and would like to try and book a day with you again this season if possible and to also do some river trout fishing with Pete.

With all very best wishes to you and Pete

 David and Caroline

The CLA was awesome. Good weather, good friends and good fun. It was great to see so many people drop in and see us and see friends both old and new. We were blown away by the support for what we are trying to do in fly fishing and people really liked that we are trying to be different rather than following the crowd with brands X,Y and Z. We were paid a really nice compliment by a guy who works for Microsoft and said that what we are doing reminded him of the early days of the company. I guess instead of being computer nerds we are fishing geeks!

We also had some of our new Pro Staff drop by and it was great to have a cast with them and to hang out for some drinks and food at the end of the day. We were so rushed off of our feet on Saturday that Jim and Bob even gave us a hand. It’s sort of like that here, we all muck in. Thanks fellas!

The evenings were real fun as we broke out the rods and talked fishing and had a cast. It was cool that all of the AAPGAI guys met up and had a cast. No one hid away and as all became quiet at the show we all drifted down to the casting area to throw some loops. I am so proud to be part of this organisation and the people in it are such top guys. Mark as ever was out throwing until the early hours but was still up and ready to go after a couple of hours sleep.

It was the first time we camped at the show and it worked really well. Bob’s wife Mel looked after us way beyond the call of duty and the barbie was nearly always lit but she even managed a spag bol for dinner on Sat night. We had a tent parked out back that had a couple of bedrooms. Bob and Mel had one room and Illtyd had the other with me in the cooking area. In our main tent we had Mark, Jax, Karl and Lee with Jim and Tony pitched next to our tent.

The thing that made be laugh the most was that Illtyd would disappear to the Fishing Wales tent to have a few drinks and to converse in his native tongue and then come back in the early hours a little the worse for wear. He managed to do all of this without making a sound or tripping up. I put this down to the fact that he is probably one of the finest sea trouters around and as a result spends most of this time of year in the dark and so has no problems seeing in the dark. Seriously though we are all light weight sea trouters when it comes down to Illtyd! He is coming down for our sea trout course and I am helping and can’t wait to learn from the maestro to see how a professional like him does it!

Mark has thrown up a new blog about some fishing at Chew and some interesting and as ever amusing insights into fly fishing for pike.

I have popped a pic below of some of the lads (Jim,Mark,Jim,Paul,Bob,Brett,Clive) at the end of the day ahead of some serious casting. For me it just sums it all up…a great bunch of blokes!

Richard has tried to sort out some river fly fishing from the time I got a call from him on the opening day of the river trout season. Sadly the weather has always been against us but he popped into our place yesterday asking if I was able to take him out today. It was all I needed to get me out having almost shaken my nasty case of man flu. It also meant I got to sneak out of the preparation for the CLA Game Fair.

Richard has done some still water trout fishing but never fished a river before. We headed for a small stream just a couple of minutes away from us and got going. I talked him through the differences between still and moving water and how to approach each cast according to room and as he picked this up really quickly we tied on a fly and got going. It is always a really special moment when someone passes a new milestone and was nice when Richard hooked and landed his first wild trout. He normally uses a 10ft 7 weight rod but slipped into using an 8ft 4 weight with ease which meant I could throw a few fast balls at him and get him casting into some of the more tricky holes. He did a great job and rose to the challenge. I think he’ll get the taste for river fishing and will be chasing more of our wild fish down here. Well done Richard!

I have to post a special mention to my mate Tim Smith who lives by the river I was on and is a fellow instructor who works nearby. He popped down to say hi as he is out guiding for sea trout trout tonight and had the afternoon off. As it was so hot he brought a couple of glasses of water down for us which was most welcome. Thanks fella, see you at the CLA for a cold one!

Sneaking off guiding when I should have been helping Bob, Mark, Jax and Jim get everything ready for the CLA was a bit cheeky but looks like they have got everything ready and it is just a case of loading up before setting off. We have a big bunch meeting us up there and if you are at the show please feel free to pop in and say hello.

I’m ill. I’m convinced it is the flu but it is probably a cold or a virus of some sort. I have been sitting feeling sorry for myself and haven’t been out fishing or casting. I am hoping it clears before the weekend as we have the CLA Game Fair looming large. We are all really excited about it and and have a large team going and have arranged some big nights with lots of friends who will also be sharing the team W & S tent with us. Mark said to me today that we are a bunch who seem to attract the fly fishing waifs and strays and I kind of like that. It is the sort of company I like and it is the sort of company I keep. We’re mainly there supporting our dealers and so our stand will be a relaxed, casual sort of affair where you will be most welcome to pop in and see us and have a drink or two, talk about fishing and perhaps a cast as well.

Before my horrific illness I mentioned a bit about Saturday and will rewind a bit more to Friday. I was lucky enough to be on the river with Bob as we took David and Caroline out for their first salmon fishing trip with double handed rods. They have both done plenty of trout stuff and picked up the double handed rods with ease aided with Bobs excellent tuition. The beat we fished is stunning and we were able to drive along it, fish the pools and then jump in the truck off to the next pool. With 2 miles of water to choose from we were able to cover some water.

We saw a few salmon moving but sadly didn’t connect. Caroline had a really good pull late on and David had a sea trout come off and landed a rather nice 3 lber. It was a great day and thoroughly enjoyable.

 I am on the river with Richard tomorrow. He is a stillwater angler looking to become a river fly fisherman.

Just in from spending some time with Greg. He is a newcomer to fly fishing but is a real class act. As an instructor you get the feel pretty quickly when someone makes their first cast and see how comfortable they are with a fly rod. The guy looked like he was born with a rod!  He comes from a coarse background and enjoys stalking. I have a feeling he will enjoy the rivers just a little bit.

We met up at Kennick which is a stunning smaller reservoir and ideal for someone looking to make the first steps up from small still water trout ponds. When I have a day off I tend to head for the rivers but I do go to Kennick when I have the chance. There is a great bunch of guys up there and I have joined their busy and friendly club. I often bump into local fly fishing instructors there and is always nice to meet up and have a quick chat. I saw my good friend Dave who was teaching and Lee who had a day off just out fishing.

So I got Greg going on the basics and he zoomed through. We were soon covering double hauling and he picked that up in 10 minutes!

We did a bit of fishing and had one come unstuck but Greg asked if we could do more casting as he was getting so into it. It turns out he comes originally from the same neck of the woods as Mark so I dread to think what will happen when these two meet up, casting geeks from Staffordshire!

The other thing I really liked was that Greg had read I like Hobnobs and when we first met in the car park he got a packet out. How cool is that?! We only thought it right we had a trophy shot which you’ll see below. As ever we do things a little bit different….

Greg, great work fella!

I can’t believe where this week has gone, it seems to have gone in a flash much like this year!

Sunday I was fishing with my good friend and fellow instructor at SFFS Gary Champion. He was up doing some stuff on a very exclusive beat of the Test and we had arranged a days fishing on the chalkstream I fish the day before. We hit the river like excited school boys and were soon into some fish. It was a really nice way to fish as we pretty much shared a rod and took it in turns to have a go at the trout and also a few grayling. There were still quite a few mayfly about but not enough to interest the fish. It amazes me that they get so locked on to a food item but then lose interest as the hatches lessen despite the food source still being available in plentiful numbers. I have been there in the past and seen the odd mayfly around in November!

We really covered some water and did a pretty good job. We managed lunch at 2.30 and then fished until 7.30 where Champo got out his stove, put it on the tailgate of my truck and cooked some venison steak rolls. This set us up really well for the evening and what an evening it was! About 8 we saw the start of what turned out to be the mother of all Blue Winged Olive hatches. Champo said he had never seen anything like it and compared it to a swarm of midges. It didn’t take long for the fish to zero in on the flies and the river came alive. I wish I had a photo but the fishing was just too good! The interesting thing was that Champo is an amazing fly tyer and had what looked like a perfect copy of a BWO. We saw a few refusals to it but nothing hit. As we were taking it in turns Champo offered me a chance to have a throw. I had a fly on that I have used a fair bit this year. It is basically a really roughed up klinkhammer and the name we gave it I can’t print but the name fits the way it looks! I cast my fly and it was hit straight off. I quickly had another and gave Champo one. We didn’t look back and lasted until 10.30 where we pretty much had to feel our way back to my truck. It was awesome!

Next day I was out with Graham and again the fishing was good but not quite as spectacular. He managed some really nice fish and although we had an alfresco Chinese on the riverbank the evening didn’t really come to anything. I think the evening before the sun had just broken through and kept the evening just that little bit warmer.

Wednesday I was doing some casting with Mary from Bristol. She pops over to Ireland for some fishing and is really into her Speycasting. She is the queen of the snap T! In the evening I met up with Alison and we went onto the Taw. I have to be honest and say the fishing sucked but the company more than made up for it. We had a real laugh and she is a real star. When we got there, there were a few sedge on the water but it never really got going. The breeze cooled things off just a bit too much. It did stop us finishing at 10 though…I don’t ever want to hear anyone say women aren’t as hard core as men when it comes to fly fishing!

Today I have been doing some casting with Paul. He is making his first bone fishing trip this year and wanted to throw some 8 and 9 wt rods. He had bought a 9wt from Howard and we strung it up. The thing just flew and we were trying various combinations of rods and lines. It was the best I have ever seen Paul cast and the bones better watch out! He was hitting some nice distance but in a controlled and smooth fashion. I really liked the way he was using drift to cushion the tip on his back cast and to lengthen his stroke. This was with him nursing a nasty cold and a bad back I hate to think how well he’ll do when he is feeling 100%.

On Friday Bob and I are guiding for salmon. Given the conditions and a bit of luck you never know! I love it when I get to work with Bob. I learn so much from him. He has been guiding and teaching here for 18 years and knows just about every spot and habit of the river and the fish in there. Its worth it just to watch him casting! 

I am out on Saturday with Greg to fishing who sounds like he is keen to learn as much as possible about stillwater fly fishing so I am really looking forward to it. I am going to head for somewhere he will learn lots and enjoy the scenery. I’ll get some pics and put them up on Monday.

We have had some nice comments from happy customers…

Bob, you gave me a top lesson a few weeks ago. The phrase “old dog, new tricks” was never far from my mind. However, having just returned from the Spey I’m delighted to tell you that I managed to get the line to sing out rather nicely. The score was 2 sea trout and 1 salmon (8 1/2 lbs) so I must have been doing something right- testament to your excellent tuition.

M Cooper

Pete, I’d just like to say what a magnificent day I had in the company of Mark. He obviously has the patience of a saint. I certainly gained so much in confidence that I am out every other night practicing the various casts on the lawn.

A fabulous day, good weather, good company and good fishing.

D Coeshall

The snap T queen in action!