Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

I had a really good day on the river guiding Jo today, the conditions were spot on and the fish were poppin! We started off hanging a nymph under our dry but seeing risers had me cutting it off pretty quickly. The stretch of the Culm we were on is a long one with lush weed growth and plenty of insect life. We had a wealth of hatches today with various caddis, light and dark olives, hawthorns and we even spotted a lone mayfly!

 We covered rising fish and Jo did a great job hitting just about every fish that took a liking to our offering. The interesting thing was that we had great success with sighted fish but casting blind into likely looking holes didn’t work as well as we might have hoped. It seemed the fish in the pools were either on or off and no inbetween. Thankfully there were plenty who were “on”!

I am on another river again with Gavin tomorrow and hope it will be as good!

Our good friend from AAPGAI, Lee, has just come in from a very successful trip on Coniston chasing pike…well done mate!

Paul had done something a little different with an elk hair caddis we used on the Culm last week when I was guiding him and has written a little bit about it below. Hope you enjoy!

Had another great day out with Pete on Wednesday, helping me come to grips with our stretch of the Culm which has consistently defeated me both in terms of wadeability and catching fish. The demons have now been exorcised!During the day there was an excellent rise to caddis- in fact the fly of the day was an emerging caddis of Pete’s that caught the whole afternoon. However, on looking in my box, Pete was quite taken with some of the caddis that I’d tied. He hadn’t seen one like it before; I’m sure there’s any number of people that have tied it, written it up and claimed it as their own, but I’d just developed it myself as a solution to my own fly-tying inadequacy.

Natasha and Wendy spent a day learning to fly fish with Mark and below are  a few words from them…

We just wanted to write to thank Mark for a fabulous introdution to fly fishing -

we had a lovely day on the lake and hopefully this will be a great start

to many years of enjoyment by the water.

 Alan Stevens into a fish!

Alan has also made a return to fly fishing after a break but under Marks expert guidance he was casting a beautiful line in no time!

Bob is away from today for a couple of weeks and not withstanding the thought of him sunning himself in his Speedos Mark and I had Sunday off as he did the teaching honours so we could do some fly fishing.

 We are building a few new river venues up as we think it is nice to offer different options rather than the same old same old, its not so much fun when you know the names of the fish! The little gem we have found flows into the Tamar but clears really quickly as it is high and straight off of the Moors and so is handy if we do have a wet one. It is a really pretty little stretch and one for the small stream fan and is just 10mins away from SFFS mission control. I might give it a shot Weds if the weather stays the same as I am out guiding.

Whilst on that it reminds me of a joke about a fishing guide who dies and wakes up on a riverbank with his client waiting to go fishing. He has a perfect day picking the right fly, spotting the fish and the client fishes perfectly and doesn’t miss a fish. The day ends with a very happy guide. Next morning the guide wakes up at the same beat, same client, same conditions. The client starts fishing and everything is exactly the same and at the end of the day everything has happened as the day before, even the conversation. The same happens for the next few days. Frustrated and at the end of the 12th day of exactly the same the guide turns to the client and says “hey, I thought this was supposed to be heaven” the client flashes him an evil smile and said “who said anything about heaven? welcome to eternity!”

When a little bit of sun creeps through and things warm up the Large Dark Olives are looking to hatch and we have also seen the odd hawthorn. If the winds are right look for places like Colliford and Roadford for spectacular brown trout fishing with hawthorn flies. There is nothing like seeing a fit 2lb wild brown hit your offering and head off for deep water!

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!!

Just in from a most excellent day having taken Joe for a days guided grayling fishing. It was a special occasion as it was his birthday and thankfully there were a few presents waiting in the river for him. The river is still thundering through. It is lower than where I left it a week or so ago but still meaning options are still limited to heavy stuff. The pink nasty was the fly of choice and I think Joe was just a little shocked at how pink it actually was. Don’t forget pink is the new black. It again worked pretty well for us and even a brownie or two thought it looked the part which amused Joe as I think he might have had a few reservations about how something so bright would attract a grayling let alone a trout.

Graham continues to tell us about his fly fishing lessons and a little bit about when he came down to see us guys at Scott Flyfishing School HQ.

Well my next indoctrination to the world of “tight loops” and awesome
casting prowess was a trip down to Pete’s part of the world to meet up with
him, Bob and Mark to find out how inept I still am. I always thought I was
a bit of a nut when it comes to fishing but these guys are the ultimate
true geeky bums who I believe don’t count sheep to fall asleep but the
number of tight loops they can achieve. Upon arriving and welcoming me,
Pete ushered me in to show off a video he and Mark did on …..guess
what… You got it casting. And where did they film it? In a sport hall!
For some odd reason they were rather proud of it whereas I still get more a
kick out of Bond movies. A quick coffee and a chat and it’s off to the lake
out the back of their premises and some hard core casting. Mark’s
enthusiasm is infectious and I enjoyed the lesson immensely and I certainly
picked up many hints and improvements to my technique and that was despite
it being bitterly cold and blowing a gale. Anyhow just to show how badly
afflicted they are, at the end Mark suggested to Pete “let’s see if we can
get down to the backing and get a loop so tight it makes you eyes water”!
I’m sure there is medicine available to help these guys. Anyhow back to my
practicing in my local canal and next venture will be lesson 2 from Brett
and probably a bundle of criticism. Watch this space.

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.

Rays VW is the orginal fly fishing mobile. I have fished with him a long time, the rods might have changed but the one constant is the fishing mobile.

What makes a good fly fishing mobile? Smell is important, it has to have odour of wet waders and perhaps a hint of fishing net too. Maps are a must that have to be shoved into the side pockets. The floor of the fishing mobile needs sweet wrappers from petrol station munchies and there needs to be a least 3 flies either stuck in the dashboard or in the cup holder if it doesn’t have already have an old coffee/water bottle there already.

My truck is getting there. I have had it 2 ½ years now and it has been on numerous fishing adventures. I have added a few little touches of my own. Firstly the back seats are a sort of all season wardrobe. I have 3 fleeces of varying thicknesses and 2 rain jackets. There are also 3 baseball caps and a beanie and my sunglasses are kept on the dashboard so I never forget them. I have the maps for both roads and OS for the moors and from Scott some furry dice that they say are for holding flies.

As all, I am very aware of the price of diesel and carbon footprints and keep thinking that I need a smaller car that is cheaper to run and won’t harm the environment but every time I come to do it I can’t pull the trigger. It starts every time, zooms up the A30 with no problems everyday and is just starting to get that fishing mobile smell.

One of the things I really love is my truck. The only downside is the appalling fuel consumption. Those of you who have sat along side me know that I don’t hang around when driving and I guess this is partly my fault at having a such a heavy right foot but I still have a problem with the amount we pay for petrol and the amount we are taxed.To me, it looks like the UK is in for a tough 2008 with house prices falling, huge consumer credit and other things like huge heating bills and the ever spiralling price of fuel not helping the situation. Looking at the amount I put into the truck I knew I had to make a few decisions. Do I change my car for something a little smaller?…no way. Do I buy an older car and convert it to LPG?…little chance as my mechanical skills are woeful and the chances of me fixing a problem are slightly less than zero.