Pete's Weighty ( Fly Fishing ) Words

My rod collection seems to be growing at an ever alarming rate and as I write this. I am sitting looking at the pile thinking if it had to be one which one would it be?

Well, if it had to be one to cover everything it would probably have to be a 9ft 5wt but if you limited me to one type of fishing for the rest of my life it would, without hesitation, be river fishing. So if this were the case all the 9ft and above rods would be dumped. I use an 8ft 8” 4wt on the bigger rivers and chalk streams but I love the little stuff and this rod would be a tad too big for some of the places I like to go. I have 1wts, 2wts and 3wts as well. The one weight is surprisingly usable in most situations even with a downstream wind and even with a nymph but no good if I were to fish a bigger stream so that goes into the reject pile. Do I do the same with the 2 wt? On the face of it yes but what about if I pop a 3wt line on it? The extra weight will bend the rod at short distances and will do just as well at longer range too but I can add a 2wt line if needs be. There isn’t a rule about how many lines you can use is there?

I always think it’s cool to fish light lines and have always enjoyed it. Don’t forget our fish are small so we don’t usually suffer the titanic battles that stillwater anglers sometimes face. As an aside though I have landed plenty of good sized carp of 4 and 5 wt rods in quick time and with no stress to the fish.

The length of my 2wt rod is 7ft 7 which is perfect for just about everywhere here and would cope on most rivers without too much of a problem. The only difficulty might be on some of the wider stretches of the chalk streams where you aren’t allowed to wade but that is part of the fun isn’t it?

Poking out from all the graphite is some bamboo. I love bamboo. I fish it regularly and enjoy it. Does that mean we have a new contender? It might just be. The pick of my pile is the South Creek 8ft 5wt built for me as a 40^th birthday present from Emma, my wife by Mike Clark in Lyons, Colorado. This is a wonderful rod and is called the Bray Special after the wonderful river Bray where I fish and guide.

This is going to be a tough decision and I’m torn but it has to be the Bray Special. The 5 wt might be a little heavy in some of the places I like to go but I can just lengthen my leader. I have fished this rod here and in the U.S. and will cast a size 20 midge to a size 8 wooly bugger with equal ease. Come to think of it I could use it on a lake as well.

If you are heading down to Devon to fly fish I reckon an 8ft 4wt will see you right for just about anything the West Country rivers have to throw at you. All you need is a tapered leader 2 and 3 ½ lb tippet and just a few flies…now don’t get me going on flies!!

Testing, one two, one two…the paint is still drying but we are excited to be broadcasting to the world, having opened the shutters of the Scott Fly Fishing School blog. My biggest fear is that readers will discover my legendary poor punctuation more than anything else but we hope to keep you up to date with what we are up to, fishing reports and a few tips thrown in for free!

We’ll have some input from Bob, Mark and Gary but also a few special guests too who have promised to impart a few words of wisdom. If you have visited us at the School expect to see yourself up here just to prove you did catch something in case no one believed you!

It looks as though 2008 is going to be a busy year out on the water; we are looking forward to bringing newcomers to the world of fly fishing. It is also good to see some old friends dropping by too.

We plan on stocking our new private trout lake at the end of Feb and so I have to apologise to those that have popped down already that there was a reason the fish weren’t biting…only kidding!  Those who have been down already have been fine tuning ready for the season and just brushing down a few cobwebs.

I am dying to try our new stretch of the Tamar. It is a private beat and the owner told me that he hooked a 3lb grayling whilst sea trouting. Now, I’m a guide and would never be prone to exaggeration, so 3lb could be 2lb in the real world but that is still a special fish. I managed to get down there at the back of the season to have a cast for salmon with Bob and it is an awesome place. I know where the big fella lives so if you ask me nicely…

It is pretty miserable right now so I have popped a photo of the Tamar beat to cheer you up and don’t forget to give me a shout if you are interested in some chalkstream grayling fishing or feel free to pop in for a coffee. It seems like Scott Fly School HQ has become a hang out for fishermen so we thought it only right to pop a couple of sofas in so that we can all sit down and talk fishing!

So, that’s the official opening “may God bless this blog and all who sail in her”.

Pete