Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i Trout & Salmon

Blokes don’t normally get excited about fishing bags. But this one’s different. The quality of the materials is extraordinary. The waxed cotton is incredibly tough and heavy. The deep brown Italian leather is slab-thick, smelling of quality shoes. Stitching is faultless. Buckles are made from brass and steel, the parachute-style clips release pleasingly with thumb and forefinger. The Tethera has two document pockets and one big cavity. Room for a flask and sandwiches. It has a roll-down top. How should you wear it? Rucksack or over the shoulder? How should you use it? For fishing, office, overnight or flights. It will last a lifetime. Visit: www.montylewis.uk Tel: 0782 332 8297.…

That’s the price in pounds that a salmon can add to the value of a prime beat on a major Scottish salmon river. The figure is contained within the 2018 review of the Scottish fisheries market by leading agency Strutt & Parker. It values fisheries based on five- and ten-year rod catch averages, which are multiplied by a value per salmon. On a big river the value of each salmon is £5,000-£7,000; on a medium or small river, each fish is £3,000-£6,000; and on an island river, the figure is £2,500-£4,000. Other factors dictating value include location, beat length, single or double bank, ownership of the riverbank, property, and the existence of netting at the river mouth.…

CRAIG SOMERVILLE works for Castabroad Media (castabroad.co.uk). He is producer of The Dee series on YouTube, a media contributor to retailer Angling Active, and videographer for the Atlantic Salmon Trust. HERE I AM AGAIN, IN MY Scandinavian bunk, where before me for almost two centuries, fishing legends have lain awake thinking about the prospects of dawn. I’m just 20 yards from Teddy’s pool and my eyes are transfixed by the pine slat boards across the ceiling, lit by moonlight yet muted by ancient stands of pine. The window is ajar and the river is like a concert, pounding out the sound of turbulent water thrashing through a gauntlet, fighting to prove it can beat gravity to the estuary. It’s a sound that haunts those who hear it. What was meant…

Your dream home in a national park? Glyn Pedr, on the edge of the village of Llanbedr in the depths of the Brecon Beacons National Park, is a grade II-listed Victorian house with fishing on the Grwyne Fechan river. Built in 1835, accommodation extends to three reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, six bedrooms of which two are ensuite, and a third bathroom. Set in 14 acres, there is a detached coach house, extensive outbuildings, gardens that include a tennis court, ponds and paddocks, and 1/4 mile of double-bank fishing. The river, a tributary of the Usk, rises on the southern slopes of Waun Fach and joins the Usk at Glangrwyney. £1,799,950 Bidmead Cook (01873 812006) A perch above the River Taw Rose Cottage on the River Taw in Devon is…

PETER HUNTINGTON Our Severn reporter will be fishing with his Devon minnows at Diglis on the Severn and plans to make more use of his season ticket when the water drops. He’s also been tying Snaeldas and long-winged tubes for trips to the Wye’s Wyesham and Whitney Court beats. STAN HEADLEY While recuperating from an operation on his spine, following a boat-related slip, the loch-fishing legend has been dyeing French partridge hackles, a smaller substitute for the large guineafowl hackles he uses on his favourite loch patterns. We wish Stan a speedy recovery. FRED HIGHAM Ribble and Hodder reporter Fred is waiting for a lift of water on the Ribble, where he’ll be trying to catch a first springer of 2018 on his new 12ft 9in Shakespeare Scandi. He’s been…

A framed set of 20 classic salmon flies tied by George M. Kelson (pictured), author of the 1885 fly-tyer’s bible The Salmon Fly, fetched an extraordinary £12,000 at the Angling Auctions sale on April 7. Provenance on antique flies can be a minefield but this lot was helped by the great man’s carte de visite being set within the frame and a central oil painting of a leaping salmon by H.L. Rolfe, a sought-after angling artist in his own right. Overall, the sale bucked the trend of waning interest in collectables with 630 lots raising more than £250,000. Rare Hardy reels, as always, underpinned the high sale total, the best being a Cascapedia 2/0 reel, £13,200. Lures by Gregory and early Allcock found buyers at more than £2,000 each, prompting…

“In that vast smorgasbord of naturals your imitation is often ignored, then ignored again” MAYFLY. YOU’D THINK THAT was a word that would send the blood coursing through the veins of every fly-fisher. But apparently not. From time to time I end up in a conversation that takes an odd turn; some people simply say mayfly is all too easy and once done it is done forever. Reaching for that book of quotations I am tempted to rework Dr Johnson. Surely when a man is tired of mayfly he must be tired of life? Maybe it is just me. Through my formative teenage years, I was starved of mayfly fishing, dispatched to boarding school and university, headmasters and tutors unwilling to release me from my studies. I tried to make…

WILLIAM SCROPE inherited the Castle Combe estate in Wiltshire on the death of his father in 1787 and later, in 1795, Cockerington in Lincolnshire. The income from these properties allowed Scrope to live the treasured life of a gentleman of leisure. He studied Classics and became a noted landscape artist, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. He was a member of the Accademia di San Luca of Rome and a fellow of the Linnean Society. But what he is best remembered for is his devotion to deer stalking and salmon fishing in Scotland, about which he wrote two books: The Art of Deerstalking (1838) and Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the Tweed (1843). At that time, salmon fishing rights were to take salmon by any…

IN YOUR DREAMS YOU ARRIVE at the river and see a profusion of flies on the surface being eaten by rising trout - the perfect hatch situation. In the real world you often find that there is no hatch in progress. Your chances of success will now depend on your understanding of where trout live and why. 1 How to recognise lies The 81 Rule The perfect fly, presented perfectly, is useless if it lands where there are no trout. It’s said that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish. Watching that 10% instead of indiscriminately scanning the whole river makes you nine times more likely to spot a trout. Actually the odds are much more in your favour. If there are ten fish in the river there…

JON BEER is the president of the Wild Trout Trust. He fishes all over the world and is the author of three books: Gone Fishing, The Trout and I, and Not all Beer and Bezencenet. “IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY night” — the classic start to any tale of adventure and derring-do. It was dark and stormy, too. The cool sunshine and gentle breezes of the last few days were just a memory: the forecast for the next day was wall-to-wall rain and 60mph wind. Which is all fine and dandy if you can retire to the back bar of the Jolly Fisherman and sit out the storm in a comfy chair by a cheery log fire. But we were camping. And we were in Shetland. So far it…

ALTHOUGH OUR traditional weather patterns appear to be changing, I’m hopeful that at the start of summer there will be less rain than in spring, which will provide better water conditions in which to catch salmon on or near the surface. Clear water is needed and its temperature must be rising to get the fish active and more likely to take surface flies. Sometimes water temperature can rise too high, making the fish unresponsive and sulky, but this varies depending on the river. There are numerous different flies that can be used on or in the surface. Here I’ve recommended five families of flies. Which you choose depends on the best tactic for each pool. MUDDLERS The Muddler is a style of fly that has fallen slightly out of favour…

RONNIE GLASS is a fishing specialist at Orvis in Kelso and a renowned fish modeller and carver. He is vice-chair of the Tweed Commissioners and chair of Kelso Anglers’ Association. He has been a national champion on rivers and stillwaters. “Coming from Manchester he had never experienced ‘darkness’” QI live near London, but my wife and I are visiting Edinburgh in July and I have persuaded her to stop off in the Borders so that I can fish on the Tweed. I don’t want to leave her on her own for too long. Can you suggest a good plan? Christopher Dent, via e-mail A You could take your wife fishing. But failing that, visiting anglers usually want to fish during the day while their wives are shopping or visiting an…

England & Wales BORDER ESK THE SEASON opened on April 1 in atrocious weather. Snow, hail, wind and rain greeted anglers hoping to wet a line. One or two did fish but soon aborted their mission. River levels were good for a few days before a deluge on April 4, when the river rose to over 5 ft at Canonbie, washing out any hope of sport. The Esk and Liddel Angling Club fees remain the same as last year: all-ticket waters £350, Canonbie £300, Langholm £150, Lower Liddel £150, and Newcastleton £50. Season tickets are available by post from Ian Jardine, 4 Surrone Road, Gretna DG16 5AL. Payment is by cheque only I heard of two salmon caught on the Westall Fishing just above Longtown Bridge in March. As I…

I WAS WATCHING THE TELEVISION LAST night, flicking through the channels - as you do - looking for something, anything, that did not involve brutal murders, addiction and abuse, which seem to be the unremitting diet put forth for the delectation of the modern viewer - whatever happened to “Elevate, educate and entertain”? - when I came across a couple of blokes trying to wrestle an enormous alligator into a tin boat. I paused the flickering tube and watched for a minute as they congratulated one another on a job well done and moved on to a new spot where they had, apparently, previously left a baited line and - lo and behold! - on the end was another simply enormous alligator. And one of the blokes was soon yanking…

What are you up to? I’m reading geography at Aberystwyth Uni, trying to balance my course with fishing and a bar job. What’s the appeal of fly-fishing? It’s relaxing, but then I experience a sharpening of the senses in a “fishy” area or wait for years and finally the line goes tight. It’s completely addictive. But it’s not just the sport. It’s the feeling of family and being around anglers who’ve been a significant part of my life. When I return to the Tweed I always look forward to chocolate digestives and a cup of tea in the hut. Caught many salmon? Over 50! My biggest is 18lb, in March 2014. Most memorable day? A sunny day in summer 2011. The head gillie on Hendersyde, Kenny Jack, was one of…

“A 40-pounder – of which he caught two – is a ‘good fish’” EVEN though it is the most famous and exciting salmon river in the world, Norway’s Alta River features comparatively sparsely in angling literature. This is a great pity because most of us are unlikely ever to fish this legendary water, and reading about it is our only solace. This little book, by American Joseph Pulitzer (of Pulitzer Prize fame) comprises daily extracts from his diary when he and his wife fished the Alta from June 23-July 25, 1954. At 80 pages, 31 of which are of never-before-seen photographs taken by Charles Ritz, it won’t occupy you for long, which is a shame as I longed to read more. Pulitzer describes his journey from Quebec (he’d been fishing…

THE world of fly-fishing has been mourning the passing of one of its greatest ambassadors following the death of Bernard “Lefty” Kreh, probably the most famous fly-fisherman in the United States, whose reputation spread around the globe. Lefty, who died on March 14, aged 93, was best known for pioneering the techniques of saltwater fly-fishing - his 1974 book Fly Fishing in Saltwater is considered a benchmark in the sport - but he was also an accomplished freshwater fly-angler. His fly, Lefty’s Deceiver, first tied in the 1950s, remains a staple in most saltwater anglers’ fly-boxes. It was depicted on a US stamp in 1991. Kreh was also an outstanding caster, who wrote or co-wrote more than 30 books and hundreds of magazine articles, as well as appearing at shows…

“With the benefit of hindsight, time-share might be seen to be more of a burden than a boon” IN THE HEADY DAYS OF 1987 BEFORE the stock market crash on Black Monday ended a five-year bull market, the late Jim Slater, one of the UK’s more colourful financiers disrupted the time-honoured salmon beat rental system in Scotland by introducing the concept of time-share to fishing. Hitherto, time-share had been confined to the high-pressure selling of apartments in package resorts such as the Costa del Sol. But Slater, an avid salmon-fisher, decided to apply time-share principles to Upper Scone and Lower Redgorton, two well-regarded Tay beats he had acquired from Lord Mansfield, the 8th Earl. Slater carved up the season into “rod weeks” and sold ownership in perpetuity, placing the running…

CDC HUMPY Hook Size 12-16 Partridge Grub Thread Brown Semperfli Nano 12/0 Shellback and Wing Natural CDC (3-4 plumes) Body Orvis peacock Ice-dub Thorax/Legs Semperfli dark green olive Straggle String With its bedraggled looks, this Humpy is not only a useful beetle imitation, it will appeal to fish feeding on a host of other terrestrials. CDC fibres left trailing at the hook bend suggest trapped wings. Tease out the Ice Dubbing with a needle. SUSPENDER SPINNER Hook Size 16 TMC 2487 Thread Brown 12/0 Nano Rib Brown Pearsall’s gossamer silk Body Fly-Rite No.11 rust dubbing Wings Sparse CDC plumes Thorax Orvis golden brown Ice-dub Head Semperfli 2.6mm yellow booby tube Tail-less spinners may appear peculiar, but the trout love them, especially those that hang partially subsurface. The flimsy CDC wings…

ELK HAIR CADDIS Excellent imitative, buoyant pattern useful throughout the season. Size 12-18. PARACHUTE ADAMS Visible on fast water but sufficiently imitative for slow glides. Size 12-18. ROYAL WULFF A natural outline with an attractive flash of colour. Size 10-16. ANT A great summer pattern anywhere there is overhanging vegetation. Size 18. GRIFFITH'S GNAT A great midge pattern when you can see risers but not what they are rising to. Size 18-20. KLINKHAMER A great high-visibility pattern that penetrates the surface. Size 10-16. GODDARD CADDIS An unsinkable big mouthful, great for fast water, very effective fished with induced motion. Size 12-18. FOAM BEETLE The best all-round terrestrial searching pattern. Size 14. DADDY LONG-LEGS A big mouthful with shock value that really makes the fish sit up and take notice. Size…

Neil is an AAPGAI-qualified advanced casting instructor with more than 25 years’ game-fishing experience. Based on the Tyne, he is a coach for the Angling Trust and chairman of the North East Fly Casting Club. Web: tyneflyfishing.co.uk 1 Get into a rhythm We’ve all had bad casting days, when for some reason nothing seems to work as it should. Try shortening the line, slowing down and fishing the water in front of you. Then, when your rhythm returns, start to gradually lengthen the line. 2 Where’s my fly? Ever experienced that moment when your line starts heading off in a strange direction and you discover a fish has taken your fly in a totally different position to where you thought it was? I always imagine what my fly is doing…

Habits of sea-trout I would like to add a few comments of my own in response to Chris Newton’s letter (May) about sea-trout habits. Chris suggests that sea-trout undergo a personality change when entering freshwater. This presumes a degree of cognitive thought that I believe is beyond a trout’s capability. He suggests that upon entering freshwater sea-trout become somewhat “paranoid” (my words, not his) and retreat to deep water, where they feel safe. If Chris had spent as much time as I have hunting sea-trout in saltwater, he would understand that the inter-tidal zone is their preferred habitat not because of any security obtained there but due to the ample provision of food. Sea-trout are as cagey and alert in the shallow sea as they are anywhere. Chris also suggests…

BEAUTY AND THE BUMBLE Andrew Flitcroft fishes the historic Casla system in Co. Galway Summer flies for salmon Tying and fishing tips from Stuart Foxall FRANCIS FRANCIS Crawford Little profiles an august Victorian fisherman The brownies of Bodmin Moor Tactics for high-summer sport on Colliford Reservoir PLUS MEET CYRIL The gillie who’s netted more big sea-trout than anyone else BAFFLED BY BLIZZARDS? Find out how to master the heavy hatch with Don Stazicker’s River Rescue JULY ISSUE ON SALE MAY 31…