Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

Saturday was great weather and I was lucky enough to be on the water in Wiltshire doing a demo and some fly casting tuition for members of a club I belong to. We covered lots and I hope that it went down well. The guys were all good anglers and just wanted a few tricks to make the day on the water a little easier. We covered presentation casts to ensure a good long drag free drift and also how to deal with the wind in different situations along with a few other casts.

Ray came and gave me a hand and it was really cool working with him, he did an awesome job!

So it gets to 5pm and its a long drive home, what do you do? Yup, go fishing! It is much nicer having the A303 to yourself so a later leaving time is much better. Ray has found a superb Chinese take away so we sat on the tail gate of my truck and munched a most excellent MSG free noodles and chicken and then hit the river.

We thought it would be nice to fish dries and we’d seen fish gulping LDO’s throughout the day and with the wind dropping we thought we were in with a chance. We did OK too and had some fish. When Ray and I fish together it is a case (if the fishing is good) of having one and the other person has a go. There was a short spell where Ray was re tying on a fly and I had moved upstream just enough that he could make a few casts and pick up a couple of fish I had left for him!!

The highlight was a fish that we couldn’t really work out. We had been fishing through a caddis hatch but this boy was on something different and despite throwing a few flies at him he didn’t want to take. I had foolishly left my phone on and Mark had called to see how we had got on. I was telling him about this fish and hadn’t noticed Ray sneak on a size 22 unweighted pheasant tail nymph. It did the job but as I said to Mark it must have been a hollow victory as he had broken our dry only rule for the night. Mark thought it was a bit like foul hooking a fish!!. I laughed but big respect to Ray for being flexible and sussing things out.

Apparently my pics of Natasha and Wendy didn’t show up so lets try again…

I managed to get back from a two day trip to California in one piece and despite a nasty case of jet lag I have to say it was really worth it. We have been extremely honoured to be asked to distribute Abel reels in the UK. Part of  the signing off process was to visit the factory and meet the guys in person. The really cool thing is that first of all they were a great bunch and we all hit it off really well but secondly they are all hard core fishermen. This means the guys who are building the product know and understand what they are building and actually use it out there; be it on the flats or on a trout stream. Any little tweeks that might be needed are understood from both an engineering perspective and more importantly from a fisherman’s view too!

They are fiercely proud of their product and it was wonderful to see everything is built in the factory even down to the screws and pawls, nothing is outsourced. This means no corners are cut as they build exactly what they want and need and to the exact specification. Like Scott, everything is built in the USA by fly fly fishermen for fly fishermen so you know you will be getting a product that has spent hours out on the water with a lot of knowledge and know-how behind it. 

On the 28th April at the annual dinner at the IGFA museum Abel are to be recognised as the world’s leading reel manufacturer. High praise indeed and well deserved. This speaks volumes about the quality and durability of their reels!

We finished the tour and meeting and it was really nice to pop down to a local bar for a quick drink before the flight home.

Abel are famous for their anodised reels and you can really go to town and have a custom pattern for just about every occassion. Your local Abel dealer will have a selection for you to have a drool over! We have some exciting plans for these reels in the UK.

It was a real pleasure to meet the guys and to see a company that puts quality, passion and pride into the product they are making…here’s to you guys!

 I had an email from Jim who has just popped his Permit cherry…good work fella!, hopefully I’ll be getting a crack in December!

Next week is a really busy one for the school, I’ll be busy guiding and Mark is on our lake with plenty of newcomers including a couple of ladies. Looks like my new camera is going to be busy…shame about the operator of it!!

I was due to teach Luke today but as I have not met him before and he is 11 I agreed with his dad, Simon, that we would play the weather by ear as we were both keen that Luke didn’t get cold. I got to SFFS Mission Control early as I had a load of emails to sift through but the signs were ominous. Driving down the A30 I had seen cars coming up covered in about an inch of snow. I was getting the rods ready to strap to the truck and the phone went. Simon had rightly decided to postpone til midweek. The snow was falling heavily and it was cold so it was the right thing to do. Mark was up at our Yak Shack at Roadford so I decided to pop in and see him have a cuppa. The watersports guys were having a snowball fight and you could barely see the water from the Shack. The snow was starting to settle but the showers were not long enough for it to get a hold. I hung with Mark for a bit and decided to head home. Now as any Trout Bum will tell you what do you do when you suddenly find you have a day off?  Thats right, head for the river!

I had to pop in to pick up waders and said hi to the girls. Emma said she has seen swallows…perhaps they have been a little previous?!

I headed for my beloved Taw. I belong to a couple of clubs that have fishing there and headed for one of my favourite stretches. It was a little chilly but I rigged up my 2wt with the ever present black klinkie that had worked so well for Jim on Friday and I also tied on a green tungsten bead head nymph NZ style about 3 ft from the dry. I am sure heavy stuff hi sticked through the deeper pools might have been an option but the upper reaches of the Taw are pretty small and confined and bar a few holes the water is pretty shallow. Hi sticking is great in a lot of circumstances but when I have a day off I like to cast my flies rather than lob them!

I know it was cold when I started as I lost feeling in my left hand pretty quickly but carried on. I had a few small fish and decided to carry on up the river. There is a really nice bend that for some reason I don’t have the sort of success that such a fishy looking hole should offer but I threw my rig in there and missed a fish, cursed and then stepped up again. Early season is great as the over hanging branches are thin and not as heavy as summer time so its perfect for those tight in, right up against the bank casts. Well, I guess I was lucky this time and my dry dipped under and I felt a nice fish on. It was a good fish, my rod has measuring marks on it (to keep me honest!) and a quick check showed 12 inches. I was really pleased.

 I carried on up and had a few more fish, I had been fishing an hour and a half and the thought of a cup of tea became appealing. I went back to my truck and still in my waders hopped in a headed out the back way. A few minutes later I came out by Taw bridge which has a parking spot for the other club I belong to. I couldn’t see the parking space but decided if it were clear and no one else was fishing there it was a sign and I should have a fish.

It was empty so I parked up and decided to go upstream of the bridge with the same set up (I hadn’t broken my rod down)  I started at a pool that is reasonably deep but nice and slow and I have had some nice fish from in the past. Third cast and a plucky little 7 incher took the nymph. I carried on around the corner and up to the next corner. The weather had got worse and the temperature had dropped a little. The snow had got pretty heavy and I was thinking of what it must be like being a steelhead fisherman. These guys are often out in horrific conditions chasing sea run rainbows. It is often said steelheading is more of a religion than a pastime. It sort of reminds me of sea trout fishing and some of the guys who live nocturnal lives when the fishing is hot.

So, I’m standing there casting and thinking about the weather and something really nice has a go at my dry. I’m not sure who jumped the most but I missed it.I think I was just surprised something came for the dry in such awful conditions. Why is it that as fishermen, I see this a lot when guiding, that when we miss or lose a fish that we straight away fire a cast to the area where we just lost the fish. I did just the same, perhaps it is a vain hope that the escaping fish will give us another chance to catch him?!

The snow eased and although the fishing didn’t improve for a bit things warmed up. There were some small trickle hatches, I saw one LDO and some really small stuff and on the last bend it was a treat to see a few rising fish. I managed one of them and it spooked the other so I cut my flies off and headed home.

Looks like Graham is really starting to get this casting bug thing. He tells us more about it below…

Last week I helped Pete, Bob and Mark. on their stand at the Spring Fly Fishing Show
and it became apparent how sadly addicted they are to casting! I was
introduced to Karl for the first time and he kindly gave me a lesson in the
car park despite it blowing a gale. Again no surprise in that Karl joins
the ranks of all the AAPGAI geeks in that he is a sublime caster and
excellent tutor to boot despite the occassional “what was that ?” refering
to what I believed to be a smart spey cast! I had to chuckle with all of
them for every hour or so one would quip “fancy a cast?” met with a
unanimous “yup” led to the stand being vacated with muggins here left to
hold up the fort! Towards the end of the first day I dawdled over to the
indoor pool that they had somewhat commandeered and realised they were
trying to arielise a full line that had become somewhat detached from its
backing. Each in turn would double haul and let fly diving to catch the
line before it shot out of the rings. Strange creatures these addicts!
Anyhow back home and down to my local canal to put in some more hours
finessing some of the tips I stole  off them. There is a nice wide bend
where I go and don’t get bothered with wise cracks, however, this time I
caught up.  The barges need all the bend to get round and as I was watching
one manouvering my backcast caught the front edge of one that was waiting
to come the other way! And despite using only a piece of wool seemed to
hook up! Fortunately the owner didn’t notice my predicament and to avoid
any embarassment I snapped off and slinked off home as I had no spare
material with me! Rather humbling end.

I’m off today and as the weather has been bright (although still windy) and I’ve used it to tie a few flies for my own use this season. I’m one for small stuff and don’t usually go bigger than a size 16 and enjoy tying and then fishing 20’s. Most of last season I fished with just a black klinkhammer and it worked pretty well for me and although I like the Partridge Klinkhammer Extreme hooks I find them a little large even in size 20. I was in Crediton recently and managed to bum a cup of coffee from Howard and we got talking hooks. He happened to have a new lot in from Varivas and on closer inspection I found their 2200 range. These look as they they are perfect for klinks and I took a pack of #20’s to tie a few up. They certainly look the part and don’t appear brittle despite being so fine. I will put them to the test once the weather settles.

 On that front it doesn’t look like the rivers will be in their best state on Saturday (opening day of the river fly fishing season) and there are more showers forcast. It looks like we’ll give Colliford a go and despite being very open the wind looks like a friendly 12mph compared to what we have right now!

A few flies from earlier below, the larger ones have a larger post as I tend to use them for NZ style fishing and the wee ones are on the new hooks. I describe my flies as “rustic” but they are functional and pretty quick to tie!

Graham has entered the world of casting geekdom and has had some lessons from our good friend in London Brett O’Connor. He has been putting all of Bretts advice into practice on his local canal and wanted to share it with us….Now that Brett had pointed out my multitude of faults it was time to practice and try and iron them out. And boy have you seen my ironing? Anyhow down to my local water I went which is the idyllic Grand Union Canal full of dead bodies, condoms and the occasional barge. I took my trusty 9ft #6 outfit and found a reasonable piece of open water just below a pretty hump backed bridge. That proved to be a poor choice for within 5 minutes of me executing sublime snake rolls, double speys and snap-t casts I had a small audience. Sage advice along the lines of “you’ll never get a trout with that piece of wool” to “see if you can snare a duck” to “caught a cold yet” emanated from the bridge. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was “you need to cast less and give the fish a chance” led to me upping sticks and moving elsewhere. After that my casting fell to pieces. Ah well down to Devon soon and hopefully Mark will give me some “proper” advice.