Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Trout & Salmon

ONE OF THE BIGGEST CONCERNS OF the fishermen with whom I discuss salmon issues is the fragmented structure of the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who are charged with protecting our fish. On a local level these groups are effective, but when it comes to conserving Atlantic salmon and tackling the international crisis the species faces, there is a need for the NGOs to unite if we are to fight our corner and change policy. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen following the launch of The Missing Salmon Alliance (MSA) on November 26 at Fishmongers’ Hall, London. This collaboration includes The Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST), Salmon & Trout Conservation, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Angling Trust and Fish Legal. While the groups will not merge, their partnership will pool…

It was groundhog day on the Tweed in October when 14-year-old Harry Gotzheim landed an incredible brace of salmon. Harry was the winner of the 2018 Junior Bemersyde Trophy for catching a 13lb and 20lb fish at Traquair on October 23. In 2019 he repeated the feat. His father Adrian said, “Harry lost an 8lb silver fish on Wednesday morning, but managed to land an 18lb fish at 4pm and a 22lb fish at 4:20pm — on the same day and beat that he caught his winning fish last year.” Watching Harry were five anglers who hadn’t caught a fish in two years. Adrian said, “We were asking Harry what fly to use, what leader and what depth — and he only turned 15 in November.”…

What does a wife of nearly 30 years give her fly-fishing obsessed husband for a significant birthday? An Atlantic salmon cake complete with his favourite fishing flies. Katharine Sorensen’s spouse Philip has been fishing around the world since he was “knee-high to a grasshopper” and has been reading T&S since he was 13. The cake was made by Lee Farmer (instagram.com/mrleefarmer) an artist based in Newport Pagnell, near Milton Keynes. Philip said the cake was the best he'd ever seen. Its detachable top comprised an edible fondant platter with a rim inscribed “Happy 60th Birthday Philip” and decorated with three favourite salmon flies: Ally’s Shrimp, Stoat’s Tail and Willie Gunn. The sculpted salmon was made from vanilla sponge cake (tinted salmon pink) with vanilla syrup and buttercream, covered in white…

HE IS LED BY AN INVISIBLE HAND to promote an end which was no part of his intention.” The writings of Adam Smith, the 18th-century philosopher and economist, should haunt to the grave those who in the late 1970s and early ’80s took delivery of infant American signal crayfish. Perhaps I am being harsh. In the words of a man far wiser than even Adam Smith maybe I should forgive them for they knew not what they did. They were, after all, following government-sanctioned policy that saw the importation as a welcome diversification for fish farmers, creating a lot of income for little investment. As it turns out, all it has created is a lot of headaches, no income and put our native white-clawed crayfish at real risk of extinction.…

Where and when did you start fishing? According to mother, it was with dad at Aldwark Bridge on the Yorkshire Ouse. World War Two was just about over so I’d still be six, catching Tommy Ruffes and gudgeon. We had a car, I think it was a Singer, like a box with narrow wheels at each corner. Ma said the radiator would boil up on the slightest hill. You’ve had a wonderful fishing career. What are you most proud of? I reckon my book Flytyers Masterclass (1994) is one of my best achievements. I was a draughtsman at Sulzer Bros at the time, so picking up a pencil again, after tea, every night for five years, to draw — in detail — all the tying stages for 20 patterns took…

THE LONSDALE Library’s Salmon Fishing (1935 edition) by Eric Taverner and others, discusses “salmon literature” and the merits or otherwise of its various authors. Those at the top of the tree form an exclusive trinity. Richard Franck, William Scrope and Alfred Henry Chaytor whose book, Letters to a Salmon Fisher’s Sons (1910) had “placed him in the very select company of writers on salmon-fishing who are of the first rank. “He [Chaytor] expresses the best practice of his time; he clarifies in simple and effective language the thoughts of many of his contemporaries; of traditional ideas he discards much without destroying what had been proved true and of value; and he adds to the sum of our knowledge of salmon-fishing much that was original and was the result of his…

SOME PHRASES ARE JUST so beautifully and instantly self-explanatory, as was the case the first time I heard my dear, late sister utter the words “It’s a right old bugger’s muddle”. Those of you of a certain age may recognise what was a military expression that came to prominence around World War Two. The muddle in question was a motley crew of servicemen with dubious credentials. The phrase soon hit civvy street, and was less specific, being used to describe anything that was a chaotic mess. The perfect phrase, then, to capture the essence of a series of Muddlers that I had been working on. “Chaotic mess” may be a little harsh; I prefer “controlled chaos”, which isn’t a bad mantra for fly-tying in general, particularly wet- and dry-flies. Some…

FISHING AND DRINKING HAVE been firm bedfellows for millennia and I rather fancy I would have liked a day on a boat with Li Yu. He seems as interested in observing nature, a tipple along the way and the freedom of the waves as much as catching fish. In the UK the links between drink and fishing are evinced in pub names — The Fisherman’s Return, The Mayfly Inn, The Angler’s Rest — all early examples of attempts at brand loyalty. The names conjure a bucolic idyll of snugs and firesides, charming beer gardens close by a river or lake. When I lived in Marlow a number of years ago and I was transitioning — from coarse to fly — I used to make a point of fishing just a…

Strong but delicate In recent years, fly-tyers who have spent time learning how to use super-fine, super-strong threads, such as Fish On’s Ultimate Tying Silk (UTS), have reaped rewards. What are the benefits? UTS is multi-stranded and easily split when not under tension, which makes it easier to form dubbing loops and means the thread can spread, lying flat when needed. A strong thread that spreads is less likely to cut delicate materials such as hair or hackle stems. Under tension the thread is very thin, and this means the bulk of underbodies and heads can be reduced to almost nothing — ideal for delicate patterns. It is so strong and can be wound so tightly that it is unlikely you’ll need to varnish heads again (unless for show). You…

Crathes Castle, River Dee Prime spring fishing for up to four rods on the lower Dee, immediately below Banchory. The beat enjoys 2.5 miles of left-bank fishing. All the pools are accessible by car. A newly-built hut, which has electricity, a solid fuel stove, microwave and a barbecue, can be used by all guests throughout the day. Tuition is available for the less experienced by arrangement in advance. Day tickets for salmon start from £55. Contact the fishing team at FishPal. Tel: 01573 470 612. Buy tickets online at fishpal.com…

LOCH LOMOND On the last Saturday of October, Loch Lomond anglers who berth their boats at Balmaha meet for a traditional “drum-up” on Inchlonaig island. A steak roll with mushrooms and onions, followed by a couple of drams, goes down a treat. The following day, most of the boats are taken off for the winter. While salmon are caught on the troll from spring onwards, it is Lomond’s sea-trout that occupy the minds of many local fly-fishers. August and September are prime months when the fishing is concentrated around the southern end. Drifts around islands such as Inchlonaig, Inchmurrin, Inchmoan and the Endrick Bank — where the River Endrick enters the loch — are favourites, using floating and intermediate lines and teams of traditional and modern wet-flies. Patterns such as…

The Adventurous Salmon is a witty children’s picture book that offers a modern take on the salmon’s life cycle. Published by West Cumbria Rivers Trust and Eden Rivers Trust, it “introduces children to their natural heritage, and encourages discussion about their habitats, ecology, and conservation.” The book is written as a long poem by trust officers Rebecca Neal and Tania Crockett and depicts weir removal, pollution and pearl mussels. Its charming characters are illustrated by artist Clare Waring and Year 5 pupils (nine and ten years old) from Robert Ferguson Primary School in Carlisle. The 28-page book would be a great Christmas present for young children and grandchildren. It has been given free to local schools and may be circulated nationwide, but copies can be bought (£5.50 plus £2.95 P&P)…

THE SUNRAY SHADOW MAY NOT guarantee you a fish, but there’s no denying it’s one of the world’s most successful salmon flies. If you’re new to the Sunray I hope I can persuade you to try its many variations in size and colour and to experiment with how it’s fished. I urge you to carry a few versions and to fish them throughout the season. But before I introduce the Sunray, we need to talk about the Collie Dog, a similar long-winged fly that was used in the Scottish Highlands long before the Sunray’s fame spread. Like many great fish-catchers the Collie Dog is simple and quick to tie. Perhaps because of this simplicity it has been forgotten by many anglers and overtaken by the Sunray Shadow. With its long…

“One of those unique events of nature; the scale of which had to be seen to be believed” “IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT was the worst of times…” That opening line from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities could easily apply to the current state of Irish wild brown trout fishing on the limestone loughs. There is still good fishing to be found in Ireland, but the windows of opportunity have become less frequent, and even if we choose a favoured season there is no guaranteed formula for success. Hatches of fly and weather conditions will always conspire to influence our success, or lack of it, but now wild brown trout in Irish limestone waters are not as numerous as they once were. And because their stocks are…

CHASING SCOTLAND’S INDIGENOUS trout in wild open spaces, as far from the madding crowd as can be, has always represented the essence of fishing to me. A lifelong obsession with the ever-adaptable brown trout, whether they’re landlocked or have access to the sea, has taken me to the farthest flung and most jaw-droppingly beautiful parts of the country. Strange, then, that it took me so long, after years of dreaming, to land on the most picturesque of our islands, Lewis and Harris. The white sands and pristine waters of its southern and western coastlines, backed by the south Harris mountains, is the most beguiling landscape in which to sate my passion. South-east of Harris lies Finsbay, nestled amid myriad bays, inlets and peninsulas. Here is the famous Golden Road that…

Late last summer, one of my Norwegian friends (a first-class salmon fly-tyer who lives and breathes the history of Scottish flies) visited the north of Scotland for a two-week tour around this beautiful area. One of his main reasons for visiting was because he wanted to see where his fly-tying hero, Megan Boyd, crafted her work. After careful planning and with much excitement, he and his wife set off from my Scottish home to find where his icon used to live. When he arrived at Brora his heart was pumping, but he couldn’t see any signs or information of any sort relating to her existence. He stopped at a local pub and went inside to ask if someone could take him there, but much to his horror, no-one in the…

Stenton, River Tay This is one of the most picturesque beats on the River Tay with seven superb pools offering fly-fishers sport along the length of the beat. It fishes well in all heights of water from late spring and summer into the autumn. An arrangement exists with the proprietors opposite whereby anglers fish double bank on alternate days. Stenton is half-a-mile long and fished from both banks by wading and from the boat. It is located two miles from Dunkeld and marches with the Glendelvine water where Miss Georgina Ballantine caught the British record salmon of 64lb in 1922. The beat has the services of a boatman and there is a well-equipped fishing hut. Day tickets for salmon start from £40. Contact the fishing team at FishPal. Tel: 01573…

Aboyne Water, River Dee Aboyne Water Fishings are situated on the north bank of a delightful stretch of the Dee and extend from Aboyne Bridge for 2.5 miles downstream. The Upper Beat comprises the Bridge, Stone and Jetty pools, with the latter the most productive. The Jetty has a good run followed by a long glide and holds fish throughout the season. Wading is generally easy and may not be required in high water. There is access for vehicles to the Bridge, Upper Irrigation, Lower Irrigation and Lummels pools. All other pools are easily reached on foot. There is a fishing hut and toilet facilities. Day tickets for salmon start from £40. Contact the fishing team at FishPal. Tel: 01573 470 612. Purchase tickets online at fishpal.com…

Jaws usually drop in the T&S office when admiring entries to the Sharpe’s Fish of the Month competition. This 2in parr with a big appetite made us smile. It was caught on a size 16 Olive F-fly by York angler Peter Conde at Thirkleby Beck in North Yorkshire. Peter was fishing in style with a 5ft 2in Hardy Glass rod and a Cortland Sylk double-taper two-weight floating line. He said. “The fish swam away strongly.” Although competition conditions state “It’s not always the captor of the biggest fish that triumphs…”, sadly on this occasion the Thirkleby monster was trumped by a 16lb 1oz sea-trout from the North Tyne.…

ANYONE UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH not to be a fisher might find it difficult to understand me when I say that I fell in love with a river 50 years ago and that, 50 years later, I am still hopelessly besotted, am in fact much more deeply in love with the River Wharfe than I was when first the affair began. This singular confession might suggest to many non-fishers that the person who has just made it is in urgent need of help. You fishers, of course, are more likely to make some sense of my words and may even feel a similarly strong attachment to one of your own rivers. My fisher’s journey did not, as it happens, begin on the Wharfe, but on the Ribble and I still remember with…

THE HUTCHY SHRIMP WAS brought to my attention by Tay rod Allan Young, who is a big fan of the pattern and a friend of the man who, through his prodigious catches, lent his name to a fly that had no name. Allan said, “It first appeared in the 1970s where it soon became popular on many Lower Tay beats. Luncarty angler Jimmy Hutchison was one of its early advocates. He used it to great effect with conventional fly-fishing but found it equally productive with bubble and fly. Such was Jim’s success that many more anglers started fishing the pattern. It was another Luncarty fisher, Hugh Law, who christened the fly by stating his fish had been caught on ‘That shrimp fly that Hutchy uses’. From then on, the fly…

DRUGGED RIVERS Illegal and prescription drug use is so high in the UK and other developed countries that the chemicals are increasingly being detected in river fish and invertebrates. Recent research found the anti-depressant fluoxetine (Prozac) in fish in Australia. Biologists discovered the drug made shoal fish less aggressive and repressed their feeding. In a major study published in 2019, cocaine was the most widespread contaminant found in several rivers in Suffolk, including the Stour and Waveney. Other drugs found included ketamine, tramadol, salbutamol and diazepam, as well as illegal pesticides. The chemicals were found in mayfly and freshwater shrimp. The research was published in Environment International (Vol 129). MEMORABLE FISH The winners of the Sharpe’s Fish of the Month competition for September are: salmon — John Brison, Macclesfield (27lb…

Taymount, River Tay Taymount is one of the legendary fisheries of the River Tay. It is divided into Upper and Lower beats, which Taymount anglers fish on alternate days, alternating with Stobhall. There is excellent streamy water, ideal for fly-fishing in all but the biggest spates. There are also deeper runs and pools where salmon hold up. There is always a chance of a fish regardless of conditions, but a rise in water provides the best opportunity. At the bottom of the Lower Beat the river narrows into a rocky gorge, where a long pool called the Major’s Cast is well known for producing huge Tay fish. The river then spills through Campsie Linn, an awesome waterfall, into the Linn Pool, reputed to be 90ft deep. Day tickets for salmon…

Catholes, River Tay One of the best early spring beats on the Tay. It lies about six miles from the top reaches of the tidal water in Perth. In spring, running in very cold water, salmon tend to stop in the pools around Stanley because of the dramatic rise in gradient and the weir at the top of Catholes, thereby making it a prime beat. Catholes offers good spinning and fly-fishing from the bank and the anchored boat in mostly small, easily-covered pools. Although known as an excellent spring beat, it can offer good summer and autumn sport due to its attractive streamy water The beat has an excellent hut with toilet facilities. Tuition can be provided for all abilities, and tackle can be supplied. Day tickets for salmon start…