Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2020 i Trout & Salmon

YOU MAY REMEMBER THAT TWO YEARS AGO we published a fly-tying book. It sold out. 248 Modern Flies & How To Tie Them was a collection of trout, salmon, sea-trout and grayling flies that had appeared in Trout & Salmon over the past decade. I’m pleased to say we’ve just produced a second volume, chockful of 258 patterns. It will be available from mid-November (see p21). The new book explains essential tying techniques, as well as dressings for each fly and many photographic sequences. It is spiral-bound and can be laid flat or stood upright for ease of use. It is a quality book containing many of the most successful modern flies tied in the UK. If you’re in search of a stocking filler, something sure to keep you busy…

ONE LAST CAST George Birtwell from Brighton is pictured with his first-ever salmon, 12lb, alongside gillie Jimmy Grey at Lower Beat One on the River Spey. “I had spent all day learning to spey cast,” said George. “The other anglers were heading into the hut for a whisky and I was about to call it a day, but well-known salmon fisherman Ian Gordon stopped me and said, ‘I don’t think you should go. You must go out and have another cast.’ He kindly tied on one of his flies and encouraged me to stick at it for the last half-hour. I was soon playing my first salmon. I am just over the moon, it’s a dream come true. Without Ian’s positivity and encouragement I would have gone home. He must…

THE NIGHTS ARE DRAWING IN, THE temperature is dropping, and autumn is slowly sliding into winter. It is a beautiful time of year, with colourful palettes set against dramatic landscapes. It’s hard not to fall in love with this most theatrical change as the leaves — yellow, orange and red — prepare to be rattled free by the whistling wind. At High Mains there is a chestnut tree on the opposite bank at the corner of a large bend in the river. Normally it begins its autumnal phase before the surrounding trees. Last season it was a bright orange by September, but this year the transition has been slow and — as I write — it’s a golden yellow; I assume, due to the mild weather. So far, we’ve enjoyed…

BLAKESTON’S BUZZER Hook Size 10-12 sedge or grub Thread Black Body Black tying thread Flashback Medium pearl tinsel Rib Nylon mono Thorax Black tying thread Thorax cover Peacock herl Cheeks Glo-Brite floss No 7 While working at a tackle-shop in Corby in the late ’70s I asked a customer who worked for a local textile company if he had any materials I could use for fly-tying. A few days later he placed on the counter a half-empty cone holding a fine sparkling tinsel that shone with all the colours of the rainbow. He told me it was the most expensive non-metallic yarn available. I added it to all manner of lures and had incredible catches at the newly opened Rutland Water. A year later I used it to create a…

Topher writes: When I hang up my rods, I think I’ll look back at two or three really big fish I’ve lost — or more accurately that just completely spanked me, just took off and left me with nothing but a straightened hook and the shakes. I consciously seek out times and places where this might happen, such as the early season on the Cascapedia and the Restigouche. High cold water is expected, and the raw strength of the big early salmon is unmatched. I’d rather catch one of them than 50 later on in low water. I hooked one a good distance above a bridge, but it ran me downstream until inevitably I could go no further, the bridge blocking my path. I pointed the rod and clamped the…

All of your regular trout flies will catch grayling. There is no such thing as a grayling-specific fly. If they are rising and you can identify the fly being taken, then imitate it as closely as possible. If you want an uncomplicated approach, these five flies will cover most situations. Dry-flies 1. Size 14-20 black F-Fly for surface feeders. 2. Size 10-16 tan Klinkhamer for dry-fly searching Nymphs 3. Size 14-18 beadhead Pheasant Tail Nymph for moderate depth and sight nymphing. 4. Size 12-16 grey/beige weighted shrimp for deep nymphing 5. Size 8-14 light green weighted Caseless Caddis Larva for deep nymphing. Fly teams You can combine the Klinkhamer and the PTN for a Duo set-up (nymph suspended off the bend of the dry-fly). Or use two or three nymphs,…

Leatherman Free T4 multipurpose tool, £74.95 Twelve tools in one. Beautifully engineered to fit in your pocket. A device you should never go fishing without. Web: leatherman.co.uk HOT OFF THE PRESS! Another 258 Modern Flies & How to Tie Them, £12.99 Our brand-new book of trout, salmon, sea-trout and grayling patterns — from the pages of T&S. See p21 for full details. Stillwater Magnus fly-tying vice, £49.99 clamp, £69.99 pedestal A strong lever-action vice with rotating barrel. Jaws hold hooks from 22 to 1/0. Web: fishingmegastore.com Orvis Hydros reel, £198-£279 Light, strong, a smooth drag and large arbor: Orvis has taken its best-selling reel and made it even better. Web: orvis.co.uk Guideline Experience DW vest, £129.99 A light waistcoat for the wading angler with large adjustable multi-pocket pouches.…

Junior ENGLAND ■ BRANSFORD GAME FISHERIES, Bransford, 01905 830548 1 Matthew Edgerton, Sutton Coldfield, 3lb 8oz rainbow, White/Yellow Beaded Lure. ■ LOYNTON TROUT FISHERY, Stafford, 01785 284261 1 Matthew Edgerton, Sutton Coldfield, 4lb 4oz blue, Buzzer. ■ ROCKBOURNE TROUT FISHERY, Fordingbridge, 01725 518603 1 Tamsin Foy, Marlborough, 5lb 3oz rainbow, Black and Green Stalking Bug. ■ THRUNTON LONG CRAG TROUT FISHERY, Alnwick, 01665 574400 1 Harry Knox, Alnwich, 4lb 2oz blue, PTN. SCOTLAND ■ KAILZIE FISHERY, Peebles, 01721 729020 1 Riley Rowan, Mid Lothian, 2lb 8oz rainbow, Green Fritz. ■ KINROSS TROUT FISHERY, Kinross, 07376 762057 1 Eilidh Craik, Errol, 1lb 8oz rainbow, on fly. Youth ENGLAND ■ ALDERNEUK FISHERY, Dumfries, 07901 602020 1 Lewis Dempster, Penpont, 6lb 14oz rainbow, Cut-throat Cat. ■ KINROSS TROUT FISHERY, Kinross, 07376 762057 1…

In the event of it being difficult to buy a print copy of Trout & Salmon in a newsagents, your favourite magazine is available on digital platforms. So, if you can’t find us in stores, or if you’re stuck inside, please consider: • Downloading our Trout & Salmon app from the iOS or Android app stores. We have superb one-off subscription offers. You can also purchase single-copy issues if you wish. If you’re a Kindle Fire user, you can download our magazines from Amazon Newsstand. • If you are a print subscriber and we cannot deliver issues to you owing to the Covid-19 situation, please visit: greatmagazines.co.uk where clear updates will be given. We appreciate your support and readership during this period of uncertainty.…

MY DEAR FRIEND AND OCCASIONAL fishing partner, Mr David Jones, is a geek. He has fishing logs going back to when glass rods were cool (first time around) and can thrill you with more stats than a covid conference. Oh, how the long winter nights must fly by. I’ve never been lucky enough to see his precious parchments, but if I know Dave at all, his log will be thorough, giving chapter and verse on the cunning capture of each and every fish he’s deceived in the last 60 years. I suspect also that he can tell us how many of his fish fell for the charms of the middle dropper. (Dave, if that’s true, I’d dearly love to know.) Stats are one thing, but explanations are another, and winter…

SEASONS Salmon: February 11-October 31. Trout: March 15-October 6. TICKETS Kildrummy Fishings. From £20 plus VAT. Contact: Kildrummy Inn. Tel: 01975 571227. Web: kildrummyinn.co.uk Aberdeen and District Angling Association. From £35, salmon; £20, trout. Web: adaa.org.uk/shop Castle Forbes . £45 plus VAT.Web: fishpal.com/ Scotland/Don/ Manar Fishings. £35 per rod. Trout-only tickets also available. Permits from Sloans of Inverurie, 125-129 High St, Inverurie AB51 3QJ. Tel: 01467 625181. WEBSITES: www.deedonsalmonfishing. blogspot.com or riverdon.org or www.fishpal.com…

1. MR CRABTREE GOES FISHING Shortly after I started fishing in 1956, I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing by Bernard Venables. It was an instant inspiration with the way it progressed through the seasons, moving from one species of fish to another. The Severn and Avon around Tewkesbury gave me the opportunity to pursue this approach and set the course of my fishing life. Many years later, a small group of us came together in a cottage garden in Wiltshire to celebrate Bernard’s birthday and I was at last able to thank him for that early inspiration. 2. A BRACE OF FLOATS These two old floats transport me back more than 60 years to my early days as an angler. In the…

IT’S LATE SEPTEMBER AND MY journey to Brick Farm Lakes takes me through the Sussex Downs, which are looking fabulous in their early autumn colours, the hedgerows laden with masses of nuts and berries. It is a most beautiful approach to a fishery. The entrance through the farm leads to a drive running past two of the four lakes and on to a spectacular lodge overlooking the original Brick Lake. “Hedgerows laden with masses of nuts and berries” A year to the day before my visit, the fishery lease was taken over by the Axell family, who also run nearby Horam Manor coarse fishery. Graham and Linda Axell share a love of fisheries with their son Phil, who oversees the trout side of the business with his wife Danni and…

I OCATING BIG FISH ON A BIG WATER is critical to success. If you’re not in the correct area, you simply have no chance. You need to find structure. The best places are weedbeds, pontoons, draw-off towers, sailing clubs and buoys (underneath which are a chain and weed) especially if they’re near the safety of a drop-off and deep water. They provide a safe haven for year-round food sources such as fry, shrimp, snail, corixa and damsel nymphs. If these are abundant, big fish will not be far away — they need plenty of food to sustain their weight. Adapt to the conditions In clear and calm water I always opt for a single fly on a long leader. Big fish are cautious and don’t make foolish mistakes so I…

WHEN THE TROUT season ends many of us put away our tackle until the rivers open again in the following spring. But there’s no need to do this. Another fish comes into its prime as the trout season ends. The grayling. What are you waiting for? A grayling river on a clear, crisp, frosty day is the perfect antidote to the inevitable cabin fever of the trout closed season. So don’t mothball your tackle, wrap up warm and get out after a fascinating wild fish that will test your abilities and extend your fishing season. SEASON AND DISTRIBUTION Grayling spawn at a different time to trout. Their closed season is that of coarse fish, March 15 to June 15*. But grayling are not coarse fish. They have adipose fins like…

The society was formed in 1977 to promote the conservation of grayling and their status as wild game fish. While the grayling has long been well-regarded as a game fish in Europe, in the UK it has been persecuted for eating the eggs of salmon and trout and in the mistaken belief it competes for food to the detriment of trout. Historically, grayling were destroyed in large numbers by bait and fly-fishing, netting and electro-fishing. The Grayling Society has played a pivotal role in changing perceptions of the fish and establishing it as a worthy target for game anglers. Southern chalkstreams and Scottish salmon rivers where grayling were once regarded as vermin now open their beats to grayling fishers. The Society funds grayling research through the Grayling Research Trust, which…

England & Wales BORDER ESK THE Burnfoot Beat below Longtown continued to be the Border Esk’s most productive beat. To October 14 it had produced 459 salmon and 122 sea-trout. These catches certainly don’t reflect a failing river. As far as other areas of the Esk are concerned, angler numbers have been on the low side. This can be put down to Covid-19 restrictions, lockdowns and restrictions on travel etc. Also many anglers stop fishing once the sea-trout season is over. Down river at the Willow Pool and Cauldron Beats, Colin Hudson caught an 8lb salmon on fly while Stuart Ralph landed one of 10lb also to fly. John Barry caught a 14lb salmon on fly while Chris Jamieson landed one of 15lb also to fly. Ronnie Hoare caught a…

“A good deal is like a fish; if you leave it on the table too long, it goes off.” Jim Glasspool, who has died at the age of 87, used the phrase to drive along the discussions that led to the creation of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal in 2009. As vice chairman of the Fisheries and Angling Unity Group, known as the Moran Committee (though much of the work fell on Jim’s shoulders) and then of the Fisheries and Angling Conservation Trust, Jim laid the groundwork for Angling Trust to become a uniting voice for the sport. Brought up in Bristol and Bath during the Second World War and beginning his angling career on the Frome in Dorset, Jim became a chemist, working with Shell Chemicals for his…

FISH OF THE MONTH Fourteen-year-old Cammy Craik from Perth caught this lovely 7lb brown trout from Kinross fishery using a white-and-green stalking bug presented four feet under a bung. The catch wins Cammy an Airflo Superflo line. WHAT YOU CAN WIN Each month Trout & Salmon will award an Airflo Superflo floating fly-line worth £69.99 to the captor of the best fish of the month caught from a Troutmasters water. Trout & Salmon will judge the catch based on fish quality and tactics used. The winner will be the pick of those submitted for that month. The Editor’s decision is final. E-mail your catch pictures to troutandsalmon@bauermedia.co.uk or post to Troutmasters Fish of the Month, H Bauer Publishing, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough PE2 6EA. Please be aware of your national…

I RELATED TO YOU LAST MONTH HOW Mr Tod, my new dog, had overcome an early suspicion of water to the point where he has become a complete water baby and now can’t get enough of the stuff. Fresh or salty, still or moving, it makes no odds; if it’s wet, he’s in it. We have also been diligently attending training classes and generally it has been going well. If you squint a bit and overlook the handfuls of treats routinely offered in exchange for a degree, at least, of compliance. We do some retrieving. We love a tennis ball. Or a dummy. Who doesn’t? But that is in class. Will it be as successful in the real world, is the question? So, we went to the lake. What was…

SEASON Trout, Apr 1-Sep 30. Salmon, Mar 17-Sep 30. THOMASTOWN ANGLING ASSOCIATION Day tickets: €15 trout, €25 salmon. From Simon Treacy Hardware, Market Street, Thomastown. Week tickets: €60 trout, €100 salmon. Season tickets: €150 for non-local rods, limited to 50 tickets, first come, first served. €50 for a local living within Thomastown. Web: thomastown fishing.wordpress. com MOUNT JULIET ESTATE Guest tickets: €30 half day, €60 full day, trout or salmon. Syndicate ticket: €200 a season, trout or salmon. €350 a season, trout and salmon. Tel: +353 56 777 3000. Web: mountjuliet.ie…

Run the thread to the bend and catch in a length of gold wire and opal tinsel. Wind enough turns of tinsel to cover half the shank, then secure and trim waste. Now catch in a fluoro orange cock hackle and apply evenly spaced turns over the opal tinsel. Wind the wire through the hackle turns and secure the loose end. Fold back the wire then apply the seal’s fur dubbing mix to the thread. Wind on the dubbed fur to form the front half of the body, stopping well short of the eye. Prepare an orange grizzle hen hackle and attach it in front of the dubbed section. Wind evenly spaced turns of the hackle as far as the rear body. Now wind the gold wire through the orange…

Q What’s the best way to add weight to flies? I’ve joined a local stillwater and started fly-tying. I need to tie faster-sinking flies for winter. Roy Anderson One of the simplest ways to add weight to flies is with wraps of lead wire along a bare hookshank. The lead is secured with a fine coating of superglue or varnish that seals the underbody and prevents it from oxidizing over time, which can cause discolouration on flies with pale bodies. While lead wire is a simple and relatively quick way to add ballast, other methods are more effective. Drilled or slotted tungsten beads can be slipped on to a hook before dressing a fly. Beads are usually located immediately behind the eye and fixed with superglue over a layer of…

It is with the deepest regret that I announce the sudden loss of my brother, Chris Lucas, on September 21, 2020. He was well known and respected within Northumberland fishing circles, and beyond, on account of his work with West End Anglers, where he was secretary for more than 30 years, the Northumberland Rivers Trust and Coquet Riparian Owners’ Association. Born in Barnard Castle, and only 18 months older than myself, we were destined to be very close, and grew up sharing the same circle of friends and interests. We played rugby and squash and rode noisy proper British BSA motorcycles. We were introduced to angling by our father, spending time fishing with worms in the local becks before graduating to become members of Barnard FFC. On finishing school, Chris…

Releasing a salmon quickly and preserving the memory with a photograph can be tricky. Follow these guidelines to make sure your fish has the best chance of survival. ■ Before fishing a pool, identify where you can land the fish safely. Somewhere without sharp rocks or grit that can harm the fish’s protective mucous and scales. ■ Play and land fish quickly to avoid exhausting them. ■ Using a net is preferable. Keep the fish in the water at all times. Do not drag it up the bank. ■ Use a net with fish-friendly knotless small mesh. ■ Never lift the fish by its tail or gills. Ensure your hands are wet. ■ Use long-nosed forceps to remove the hook quickly and minimise contact with the fish. ■ If a…

All you have to do is visit a registered Troutmasters water and catch a fish. Fill in the official form, which you will find at the fishery, and then post the form to T&S. Senior, Youth and Junior forms are available. Captors of the three biggest fish from each fishery each month win an exclusive Troutmasters badge. For a full list of entry details and rules go to: www.troutandsalmon.com/troutmasters SENIOR BADGE WINNERS England ■ ALDIN GRANGE LAKES, Durham, 0191 384 6090 1 Matthew Lumley, Co Durham, 5lb 2oz rainbow, Red Diawl Bach. ■ AVINGTON TROUT FISHERY, Winchester, 01962 779312 1 Paul Lees, Swansea, 10lb 3oz brown, on fly. ■ BRANSFORD GAME FISHERIES, Bransford, 01905 830548 1 David MacDonald, Cheltenham, 5lb 12oz rainbow, Olive Nymph. ■ CHIPHALL LAKE TROUT FISHERY, Fareham,…