Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Trout & Salmon

IN THE mid-’90s, some friends and I fished the Dubh Loch and the spate rivers Aray and Shira on The Duke of Argyll’s Estate at the northern end of Loch Fyne. We stayed in an estate cottage and had both rivers and the loch to ourselves for a whole week. In the ’80s, there was a good chance of catching a salmon from the rivers, but our attention was held by the Dubh Loch and its sea-trout. The Dubh Loch was one of the best trophy sea-trout waters in the UK. I recall seeing pictures of large catches of sea-trout up to the high teens of pounds lying on the grass in front of the cottage. It was not a pretty sight and one that many would not find acceptable…

AS A KEEN fly-dresser I’ve become known on social media and at fishing shows for my obsession with tying Intruder-style flies in traditional salmon-fly patterns. The flies pictured here are typical of the way I add modern twists to popular salmon doubles. These flies have taken numerous fish for me and those of my friends who are brave enough to try something a little different. When tying Intruders, the trick is to select materials that create shape and movement in the water. The soft badger fur I use to wing these patterns has great guard hairs and a lovely, soft underfur that is exceptionally mobile in the water and creates a subsurface wake that I’m convinced attracts fish. I came across this fur (different from standard badger fur with its…

MAYFLY HATCHES ON the Irish limestone loughs will soon reach a crescendo, when thousands of anglers will head out for the cream of the season’s daytime sport. Each year is different with weather dictating the timing and size of the hatch, but with so many imitations to chose from, in what is the Mayfly fisher to put his faith? Here, I’ve cherry-picked six of my all-time favourites, which I tie knowing that they’ll bring consistent sport. I’ve chosen three wet-flies for use on a traditional pulled wet-fly cast and three reliable dry-flies, including a spent pattern for a fall of gnat on calm May evenings. I fish a team of three wet-flies on either an intermediate, midge-tip or floating line and a team of two dry-flies on a floating line,…

“The marrow spoon taught me that the vast bulk of trout food is slim in profile” MENTION BUZZER TACTICS and the average angler’s mind fixes on static epoxy-style offerings. And a better way to catch stocked or wild trout is hard to defend. But, and it is a big but, there are times when traditional wet-fly fishing may be the best option. Buzzer hatches tend to be a feature of spring and early summer. During these periods calm or gentle winds can be the exception rather than the rule. In a fast-drifting boat, trying to fish very slow or static epoxy-style flies can be extremely difficult, and unless anchored or - dare I say it - using the dreaded bung, traditional techniques with traditional patterns may be the only answer.…

Year of the big springers A HEARTENING NUMBER of big salmon have been caught from British rivers this spring, the highlight of which are six “30s” landed on six different rivers, as far apart as the Herefordshire Wye and the Helmsdale. Perhaps the most striking of these multi-sea-winter giants is the 32 lb sea-licer caught by Colin Wighton from the Doune Estate beat of the River Teith. The 43 in fish took one of Colin’s Keir Osprey flies in the Minister’s Dubh pool on March 24. The fish fought for more than an hour and was eventually landed with the help of fellow rod John Scott of Stirling. Colin, from Dunblane, Perthshire, has been fly-fishing for more than 40 years, during which time he has caught a number of big…

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT RESPONDS I was extremely disappointed to read in your letter in the April publication that the Scottish Government is “dropping any plans for Wild Fisheries Reform”. This is an inaccurate and unhelpful interpretation of our February press release, which explained that, while the Scottish Government has ruled out proposals to introduce rod licences and a new wild fisheries levy, we will continue to work closely with stakeholders to bring forward legislation that is robust and fit for purpose. We recognise that the sector has already invested a huge amount of time and effort over the last three years attending meetings, contributing to discussions and responding to the consultation. This participation has been invaluable, helping to ensure we take the right approach. We have involved fisheries managers and stakeholders,…

INCREASINGLY POPULAR, THE Snap C is a sustained-anchor cast, similar to the Snap T and Circle C, where the D-loop is formed upstream of the fishing position. It’s easy to execute and very useful when faced with an upstream wind. The angler begins the cast by lifting the line diagonally upstream from the dangle. As the rod passes in front of the angler, the tip is brought back under the path of the fly-line in an accelerating C-shaped movement (hence the cast’s name). This has the effect of flipping the fly-line upriver. If the “snap” is applied correctly, the line will lie on the water pointing upstream and the rod tip will point downstream. The caster then sweeps the rod back upstream in a diagonal climbing path to form the…

Q ON MY way to the Spey for my annual salmon-fishing holiday I drive past the famous Loch Leven. For a number of years, I have not seen boats on the water. Is it still fished? I have heard that water quality has been an issue and that the fishing is poor. Geoffrey Plummer, via email A: I FEEL FOR those who love and look after Loch Leven today because it is not as busy as it was when it was the centre of many club outings and competitions. Leven became famous for its population of well-conditioned, silvery, sea-trout-like brownies averaging 14 oz to 1 lb 2 oz and its hatchery produced fry for most of the brown trout populations throughout the world. Many of today’s Leven trout are golden…

HATCH FINATIC 4 PLUS £339.99 ■ WHAT WE LIKE: The exceptional build quality, from the reel-foot machined from the same block of metal as the frame, to the etched green detailing. The slick satin finish looks great. ■ TECH SPEC: Made in the USA from Type 2 anodised aluminium and with a powerful sealed drag. It has a captive-screw spool release and large backing capacity. COLOURS: black/silver, silver/black, silver/blue,silver/green, silver/red. LINE RATING: 4-6. WEIGHT: 5.2 oz. DIAMETER: 3.425 in. CAPACITY: WF5 plus 170 yards of backing. CONTACT: Fishtec. Tel: 0871 911 7001. Web: fishtec.co.uk GUIDELINE FARIO 46 DARK GREY £329.99 ■ WHAT WE LIKE: Its lightness and the wide, large-arbor spool, which has a high retrieve speed and room for plenty of backing. ■ TECH SPEC: The light, low-diameter sealed…

LIVE IN A CASTLE Imposing Duchray Castle, in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, is for sale. It’s set in 80 acres with 12 miles of fishing. In the possession of the Graham family from the 16th century until the 1940s it survived being set on fire twice. In ruins at the start of the 19th century it was restored in 1825 and refurbished in 2010 as a wedding venue and exclusive B&B. Located three miles from Aberfoyle, it has a great hall, vaulted dining room, family room, study and four bedrooms. There’s also a two-bedroom annex and a Victorian gate lodge. Outside are stables, outbuildings, Victorian gardens and a tennis court. There are 12 miles of fishing on the Duchray Water which, when it joins the Avondhu outside…

“The power of three continues in folk tales. Three bears. Three little pigs. Three wishes. Three chances to gain redemption. Third time lucky” SO HERE IS the question of the month. “Do things really happen in threes?” To which one might reasonably add, “And if so, why?” Shakespeare understood the power of three. Three witches in Macbeth. Three murders. Three murderers. Three apparitions. The suggestion is that he was repeatedly referring to the inverted trinity, the pact with the Devil. Then again, if you believe in the Trinity - the good power of three - it stands to reason that you accept the opposite, which is the bad power of three. Three wise men. Peter denied Jesus three times. Faith, hope, love. There were three crosses at Calvary. This is…

FINDING SPORT IN unexpected places is a big draw for trout-fishers. On this crowded isle, it would be reasonable to think that all the exploration has been done, that all the doors have been unlocked. But look closely, take a gamble with your precious time, and the surprises are still out there. The Lune was once just a vague presence in my subconscious. I don’t live far away but I looked past it, like many other trout anglers, dismissing it as a salmon river. It didn’t even have grayling. But building on scraps of information shared by local rods over a long time, it gradually grew into something more substantial until I felt compelled to look for myself. The river rises in the Howgill Fells and flows westward, a charming…

“Then, right behind it, will come a thing to make your eyes pop – a freakish, chrome-plated behemoth” WHEN I WAS a kid, I didn’t have a local salmon river to cast my line upon, or even a babbling brook full of handsome speckled trout to tangle with. I lived in the suburbs west of London, and pretty much all I had was “the cut”. “The cut” was the Grand Union Canal, and my local stretch ran as straight as a die from Uxbridge in Middlesex pretty much all the way to Denham Deep Lock in Buckinghamshire. The whole stretch had barely a discernible feature apart from the odd sunken bicycle frame, a ghoulishly bloated dead dog or two, and a very occasional overhanging tree. Mostly, it was featureless, overgrown…

ASK YOURSELF: HOW much time did you spend last season fishing a full floater, without a sinking tip? For much of the season some form of sinking leader or multi-tip line seems to be the default setting. Like mobile phones and the internet, it’s hard to remember how we used to go about things without them. But we did. I wonder if we risk forgetting the simple effectiveness of the full floating line (our native greased line, rather than Scandinavian shooting-heads and North American skagits). I see two pressure points. First, the dominance of shooting heads (and the sheer weight of options) so often rigged up by default with a sinking tip; and second, a reluctance to experiment in the face of patchy runs of fish. Yet now is the…

Pen-y-Garreg Hook Size 10-14 Hanak H200 Thread Black Butt Opal Mirage tinsel Tail Golden pheasant tippets, dyed red Rib Red wire Body Black seal fur (with a little flash added) Body hackle Black hen Collar hackle Black hen, slightly longer than the body hackle Cheeks Jungle cock eyes This fly came into its own on Pen-y-Garreg reservoir, hence the name. It has proved very useful ever since. Richard always fishes it on the top dropper on a floating or midge-tip line. It fishes best when fish are “up top”, feeding on buzzers. Hutch’s Pennell Hook Size 10-16 Hanak H200 Thread Black Butt Flat silver tinsel Tail Golden pheasant tippets, dyed hot-orange, sparse Rib Fine oval silver or wire Body Long, fine peacock herl from a sword Hackles Black hen, long…

Buttercup Hook Size 12-14 Klinkhamer Thread Primrose Body Bright yellow natural seal fur Wing case Yellow CDC Beard hackle Dyed green pheasant tail WE ALL REMEMBER our first love with a clarity and a tenderness that is never surpassed. First love, you see, is rarely lasting and this is what makes it so sweet. With luck, we go on to meet another with whom we share a good life and yes, sometimes the vagaries of fate. And we may reach a shared empathy and a depth of feeling with our life’s love that would be impossible with any other. But every now and then we are caught unawares - by the line of a song perhaps, or a hint of perfume on the night air - and the heart flutters…

“We quickly established that these Environment Agency guys wanted exactly the same as salmon anglers” SINCE ITS COMMISSION in 1995 the Tees Barrage has been blamed for preventing the migration of salmon. I believe this criticism, while once justified, is now ill-informed and unfair. The original Barrage design didn’t have a fish pass until the then National Rivers Authority (predecessor to the Environment Agency (EA)) advised the builders that one had to be included. In my opinion the resulting Denil pass is too narrow and does not allow enough fish to navigate it successfully. I would also argue that it is not located where fish would naturally run. Compounding these problems is the big increase in the number of seals feeding on salmon and sea-trout that are in a vulnerable…

FOR A SURE FOOTING, USE A STICK WITH A HEAVY BASE Use a weighted stick at all times, either one where the base is wrapped in lead or one that has lead hidden in its core. I once fished the River Spey with a friend who used a short wooden stick with no weight in its base. The stick floated in front of him when he cast and retrieved line. It gave me a chuckle to see him unfankle (a good Scottish word meaning untangle) his line from around the stick, often to a chorus of fairly colourful expletives. Not only will an unweighted stick get in your way while fishing, you will also have difficulty getting it down to the riverbed quickly enough through a strong current if you…

“Trout don’t waste energy; those that did so starved and left the gene pool long ago” THE RIVER FLY-FISHER’S Holy Grail would be to spot a rise-form and know exactly what the fish is eating and the imitation needed to match it. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as that. There is much we can tell from rise-forms and there is quite a lot we can’t; they often mislead us. I guess this is pretty disappointing if you hoped this article would give you a big list of rise-forms and the exact imitations required to match the insects involved. So does this mean that studying rise-forms is time wasted? Not at all - just be realistic about what such stdy can tell you. Biological phenomena follow a bell-shaped curve where the…

Q WE ALL know that salmon fishing is at its best when the water is still falling after a spate, and so it can be demoralising to arrive at a river and see it is running at summer low. What do you do in these circumstances? Michael Meyers, via email A: I’M ASSUMING from your question that you’re not the sort to climb back into your car, or helicopter, when the going gets tough. Rather, you will accept the conditions as a challenge and, if the fish aren’t taking, will do what you can to make them change their minds. The ability to “read” the water becomes very important. Your gillie might wave you away with instructions to try this pool then that, but the fish will be more and…

Hook Size 10-12 Kamasan B175 or 170 Tail Bronze mallard Rib Oval gold Body Hare’s ear/mask Body hackle Palmered drab hen (ginger/brown) Head Natural deer hair (Roe) IS THERE ANYTHING more fun and more rewarding to tie than a muddler? That satisfying flare and spin of the deer hair as you gradually tighten the thread. Then there’s the haircut: a few deft strokes of our scissors and before our very eyes a rather ungainly and amusingly chaotic little ball is transformed into a thing of beauty. Our creation now has angler appeal by the bucketload. Best of all, it has fish appeal in equal measure. On the downside, out of all the different families of trout flies the muddler probably has more variations on the theme than any other. This…

Including WATERS TO FISH AND FLIES TO TIE AND TRY THIS MONTH England & Wales BORDER ESK BUCCLEUCH ESTATES head bailiff Peter Kinstrey told me there had been plenty of water to bring in sea-trout and salmon, and it is likely that there is a stock of fish in some of the better pools. Given mild weather, night-fishers may be out during May. Cold nights often kill the sport stone dead. Iain Blackett from Canonbie fished the Esk and Liddel water and landed a fresh-run 2 lb 8 oz run sea-trout at the Dubh at Canonbie on a Stoat’s Tail needle tube. The river was clearing and running about 1 ft above normal level. The odd fish was seen showing in the Willow pool. A 9 lb salmon was caught…

Tebay Anglers control the fishing on the uppermost reaches of the Lune. This is beautiful, open limestone country with stunning views into the deep valleys of the northern Howgill Fells, and is easily accessible from the M6 and A685 road to Kirkby Stephen. Some 15 miles of challenging fly water on reasonably priced visitor tickets. Day (£20), two-day (£30) and weekly (£65) options are available from local outlets. Web: tebayanglers.com Sedbergh and District Angling Association offers access to the river between Firbank and Broad Raine (plus fishing on several local tributaries including the delightful Rawthey). The river is rocky and challenging to fish and a reasonable level of fitness is needed to cover the water adequately. Some very large fish are present, but skill and stealth is required to tempt…

TO THE BEST of my knowledge, the Tapam fishery was originally discovered by pioneering fly-anglers Daniel Gosz and Jan Bach Kristensen. Tapam Lodge is run by Randy and Rosa Poteet, who are hugely likeable. They are best described as the Basil and Sybil Fawlty (and occasionally the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor) of the Nicaraguan jungle. Tapam is represented by Danish agency Getaway Tours. See: www.tapamthelodge.com You can also book with Pete Mcleod at Aardvark Mcleod. (www.  aardvarkmcleod.com) Be warned: the fishing is tough. If you want to discuss whether you think this trip is for you, feel free to contact Matt at mattharris@mattharris.com…

“A day on the Wharfe with the trout in a picky mood may tempt six or seven patterns from the cool comfort of my wet-fly boxes” I THINK OF holiday fishing as fishing that generally brings me few trout or no trout at all, something which - unusually for this fisher - does not much bother me; for I approach holiday fishing in an entirely different spirit from the restless longing for trout that fills my days on home waters: on the Eden and the Wharfe and the Foston Beck. Home waters, by the way, are not necessarily close to my front door; Foston, for example, is more than two hours away. Home waters are waters of long acquaintance that I fish regularly in the course of each season. Perhaps…

Black Hedgehog Hook Size 8-10 Kamasan B160 Thread Black Tail Silver micro-crinkle flash Body Tying thread Wing Black deer hair Legs Black pheasant tail, knotted Head Sooty olive dubbing A pattern with a specific use. In cold, bleak spring conditions, when midge are not hatching but adults are being blown from shelter and being targeted by trout, this fly, greased up and fished static, is a banker for visibly rising fish. James recommends it for Harray and Swannay, and over the firth on Watten. Peach-Tail Pennell Hook Size 8-10 Kamasan B160 Thread Black Tail Globrite floss, no 7 and 8, mixed Rib Small flat silver tinsel Body Tying thread Thorax Hendz Spectro orange dubbing Cheeks Over-sized jungle cock eyes with FNF Mole Rat dubbing over Hackle Natural black hen Peach…

So. Farewell thenEuropean Union. With Your CommonAgricultural Policy, bafflingDirectives andE-numbers. I have alwaysRather liked being aEuropean, butKeith’s Mum saysShe can’t see the point when theyMake wine in AustraliaThese days. Chacun à son goût as They say inEurope. By E. J. Thribb “She burst from the caravan, cursed him up and down – a good, solid telling-off – and blamed me” I’M WRITING THIS in the last week of March. I’ve just eviscerated a chicken: a messy business - but all the signs portend that things will get a lot messier from Wednesday with the triggering of Article 50. And all that that entails. So I’m spending my last few days as a fully paid-up European in fond remembrance of things past. A year ago, on that same day last June…

“Fishing is fishing and I’ve never understood the peculiarly British demarcation between coarse and game fish” YOU KNOW YOU’RE getting old when some of your earliest fishing tackle has become collectable. I don’t like parting with things. Old reels, broken rods, moth-eaten flies, priests, tatty floats and greening lead ledgers - they all hang about in cupboards and drawers. I fished out a broken rod the other day. I’m looking at it now. A Hardy Fibalite Perfection, 8 ft 9 in seven weight, bought for reservoir fishing when we lived in the north. The name is hand-written in white paint. Someone took great care in its construction and I regret that the care was not reciprocated since this one was smashed in a car door a long time ago. You…

IN EARLY SUMMER the blossoming flowers and bursting leaves swell the numbers of land-born bugs. They inevitably fall on the water and their loss is the trout’s gain. On rivers with few upwinged hatches, the fish rely heavily on what drops from above. From dot-like money spiders to tumbling daddy long-legs the list of terrestrials on which trout feed is endless. To copy them all would require a suitcase full of flies but thankfully trout and grayling exhibit a catholic taste. More than once I’ve seen fish scoffing greenflies readily move to a large Beetle pattern. Rather than list all creatures great and small, my focus this month is on five of the commonest insects UNDERSTANDING THE FALL Terrestrials first stretch their wings after developing as larvae or pupae, usually…

“Alan dresses it with a light touch. He has a restrained tying style” Rear body Holographic silver Mid-hackle Magenta cock Wing Electric blue Arctic Runner and silver Lite-Brite Front body Burgundy Lite-Brite Front hackle Magenta badger hen Cheeks Jungle cock Head Glo-Brite No 5 MAGENTA IS AN increasingly popular colour in salmon flies. Much deeper than pink, you could call it purplish-red. It can be used in patterns all year and some tyers combine it with black for clear water and others mix it with other bright colours for peaty water. In Brian Shaw’s Stinchar Flamethrower ( T&S , July 2016) pink and magenta looks orangey in peaty water. This month’s contribution to the magenta revolution is a pattern created by Alan Greene, who fishes the Tay, Tummel and Angus…