Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2022 i Trout & Salmon

I WAS STARING INTO A TACKLE-SHOP WINDOW IN Sussex the other day. A father and son stood next to me doing the same. While the father wanted to move on, I could see a fascination and longing on the young boy’s face that reminded me of when as a child I would stare into my local tackle-shop window in Norfolk. That shop had yellow cellophane in the window to stop the display fading. I’m sure the stuff didn’t work. The bleached fingerless mittens, the maggot pot and the Heron bite detector appeared in matching monochrome. Little else was displayed. I stared at that detector for season after season. After being dazzled by the eye-burning cellophane, opening the shop door with its stickers and clanging bell was like entering a dark…

Caught a memorable fish? Send a picture and brief story to troutandsalmon@bauermedia.co.uk Each picture published (p10-11) will receive a Sharpe’s of Aberdeen cap. The captor of the Fish of the Month will receive a Sharpe’s rod of their choice. Our winner may have recently landed a big fish, first fish or unusual fish. They may simply have told a wonderful tale. The editor’s decision is final.For terms and conditions, visit: bauerlegal.co.uk/competition-terms.html For our Privacy Policy: bauerdatapromise.co.uk…

LIKE THE REST OF THE UK, THE winter storms have been wreaking havoc here, with trees down across the track, no power and no heating, I spent five days cut off from the world. It made me realise all the essential skills a lifetime spent in fishing bothies has taught me, not least the importance of keeping fires going and the ability to cook inventive meals in the dark over open flames. Walking along the river once the route was cleared of trees again last week, it was apparent that the storms have eroded the banks and shifted the pools greatly already and we still have several more weeks of wintry weather to go. It’s always interesting to see how much a beat has changed, especially on the lower stretches…

CLARET IS A FLY PATTERN COLOUR that raises many questions among anglers and tyers. It doesn’t seem to imitate any colour we see in trout food. Why is it so effective in seducing fish? This perplexing question underlines how our perspectives are so different in many ways from those of the fish we seek. But even the human eye can identify that claret in varying light intensities can glow like no other. Is this the answer to the fundamental question? Salmon and trout behaviour is strongly influenced by their vision. In nature most animals are either governed by sight or smell — birds have little sense of smell and are influenced mostly by vision, particularly movement; gundogs rely on scent while hounds go by vision; coarse fish work with smell…

MOST MODERN SALMON RODS ARE pretty good when matched to the right line. Few would hold you back. But while there are many capable rods, it’s rare to find something joyful, a pleasure to use. I think that’s the new arms race: fly-fishers want rods that are beyond capable, that have the soul and personality to enhance a day. Ross James is a man quickly building a reputation in salmon circles. He’s immersed in the task of designing the finest salmon rods, built by his own hand from start to finish and fully customised. Who better than an independent rod-builder to explain what really lies behind your latest rod? What is marketing hocus pocus and what makes the difference? JIM How did you begin rod-building? ROSS I wasn’t really happy…

CLARET DABBLER Hook Size 10 Kamasan B170 or B175 Thread 8/0 waxed, red Tail Bronze mallard fibres Body Claret seal’s fur Rib Red wire or holographic tinsel Body hackle Natural ginger cock Legs 6-8 dyed-red cock pheasant tail fibres tied in under collar hackle Collar hackle 2-3 turns of ginger cock Cloak Spun bronze mallard flank Cheeks Jungle cock with two strands of pearl twinkle each side Head Red thread Claret is the best all-round Dabbler colour, closely followed by fiery-brown. The key with Dabblers is how you tie in the mallard. I add a bunch top and bottom, securing each with three turns of thread. I then hold the bunches between finger and thumb, release the locking turns, then rewind the thread allowing the mallard to spin around the…

THE FISHERY Kingfisher Trout Lake, Home Farm, Green Lane, Bromyard, Herefordshire HR7 4SZ. Open every day, except Christmas Day, 8am until dark (booking advisable). TICKETS Four fish, £30; two fish, £20. Sporting ticket: summer (catch-and-release only, depending on water temperatures) five hours, £14; all day, £18. Winter, all day (catch-and-release only), £14. CONTACT Christine Powell. Tel: 01885 488 464. Mob: 07401 114159. E-mail: info@kingfishertroutlake.co.uk Web: kingfishertroutlake.co.uk…

It’s that time of year when you open last season’s fly-box to see what’s left, what’s falling apart and remove any bits of nylon still attached to flies. Some patterns may not look fit for purpose, but before you consign them to the dustbin, there is a way of bringing tired flies back to life. Simply hold the fly in the steam of a boiling kettle and the body materials and hackle will spring back to life. You must use forceps or tweezers to avoid burning yourself while holding the fly 3in-4in above the kettle’s spout. Natural materials respond best, and you must be careful with some synthetics and flash, which may crinkle if exposed to steam for too long. Most flies will be magically transformed to their original state…

If you don’t tie your own flies, what should you look for when buying a Cone-head Monkey pattern in the shops? ■ Make sure the wing is finely tapered with good soft hair. This will improve the movement of the fly. ■ Ensure the fly is not overdressed, which would hinder its sinking rate ■ The cone should be large enough to cover and protect the hackle and wing. If it doesn’t “cup” the materials, the plastic tube liner will bend (and the fly will spin and twist the running line). Eventually, the cone will snap off, ruining your fly.…

The reel’s quick-change cassette system means lines can be switched in seconds. The front, complete with cassette, is released by a small lever on the centre button. To release the cassette, turn the orange locking ring half a turn using the finger tabs provided. You can then pull the cassette away from the front. Fit the next cassette by lining up the recess in it with the reel handle, press it on and lock it in place by twisting the locking ring back again. Each cassette has a large flat area on the outer rim where you can identify the line with a marker pen.…

BIRD FLU WARNING An unprecedented outbreak of avian flu has killed thousands of wild birds, notably around the Solway Firth. Barnacle geese (pictured) have been severely affected but ducks, swans, gulls, raptors and curlew have also been victims. The public have been advised “not to touch any sick or dead birds, their droppings, or any water nearby.” The RSPB said a typical outbreak in early winter is often followed by a second peak later in the season that can be more deadly and may become more widespread across the UK. If you find a dead bird, call the Defra hotline: 03459 335577. RED ALERT Norway has added wild salmon to its Red List of threatened, endangered and extinct species. Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre says that between 1983 and 2019, the…

England ■ ALBURY ESTATE FISHERIES, Guildford, 07976 810 737 1 Brian Hilsdon, Guildford, 5lb rainbow, Blue-flash Damsel. ■ ALDIN GRANGE LAKES, Durham, 0191 384 6090 1 Steve Maughan, Tudhoe, 7lb 6oz rainbow, Red Buzzer. 2 Steve Maughan, Tudhoe, 6lb 6oz rainbow, Bloodworm Buzzer. 3 Steve Maughan, Tudhoe, 5lb 4oz rainbow, Bloodworm Buzzer. ■ AMPORT FISHERY, Andover, 07775 953273 1 Paul Watts, Somerset, 3lb 2oz rainbow, Damsel. ■ BESSY BECK TROUT FISHERY, Cumbria, 01539 623303 1 Carol Dresser, Houghtonle-Spring, 12lb 4oz rainbow, on fly. ■ BRANSFORD GAME FISHERIES, Bransford, 01905 830548 1 Jack Sewell, Worcester, 8lb 7oz rainbow, Montana. 2 Roy Fisher, Tewkesbury, 7lb 9oz rainbow, on fly. 3 Robert Beddis, Evesham, 7lb 4oz rainbow, Nymph. ■ BRICK FARM LAKES, Herstmonceux, 01323 832615 1 John Micklam, Brighton, 9lb 7oz brown, Nomad.…

ENGLAND ALDIN GRANGE LAKES, Durham, 0191 384 6090 AVINGTON TROUT FISHERY, Winchester, 01962 779312 BRANSFORD GAME FISHERIES, Bransford, 01905 830548 DRAYCOTE TROUT FISHERY, Rugby, 01788 812018 MARSTON WYSE TROUT FARM, York, 01904 738383 SPORTFISH-HAYWARDS FARM LAKE, nr Reading, 0118 930 3860 TENTERDEN TROUT WATERS, Tenterden, 01580 763201 THRUNTON LONG CRAG TROUT FISHERY, Alnwick, 01665 574400 WITHERN MILL TROUT FARM, Alford, 01507 450356 SCOTLAND BURNHOUSE LOCHAN FISHERY, Bonnybridge, 07949 220511 GLEN OF ROTHES TROUT FISHERY, Aberlour, 01340 831888 GLENQUICKEN FARM TROUT FISHERY, Newton Stewart, 01671 820593 WALES BIGWELL FLY FISHERY, Monmouth, 01600 772904 LLANDEGLA TROUT FISHERY, Wrexham, 01978 755851 TYN-Y-GRAIG FISHERY, Crynant, 01639 750894 FRANCE MOULIN DE CHAISE DIEU DU THEIL, Le Theil, 0033 0687 099653…

THE EDITOR RECENTLY reminded me that 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the capture of Georgina Ballantine’s record-breaking salmon from the River Tay. Like many salmon anglers I have often wondered whether Georgina’s mighty fish will ever be beaten. During my long fishing career I have been privileged to fish for many of the world’s finest fish. Though I have caught big specimens of many species, without doubt big salmon are the most frustrating. In my experience even giant tarpon get away less often than a huge Atlantic salmon and the only valid comparison I can think of is a massive marlin. The sheer power of a huge salmon has to be felt to be believed. And yet hooking such a beast is only the start of the drama and…

SOME, LIKE ME, FISH UP AND down, like the Grand Old Duke of York. (When we fish directly across river, we are neither up nor down!) But when are you fishing up and when are you fishing down? Are the divisions always obvious? I will return to this notion but, first, let us return to best practice when fishing downstream. On a streamy, but not hectic current, you can cast straight across the river, mending your line at a certain point, but in rapid runs, especially a narrow one, you are best casting at about a 45, even a 30-degree angle downstream. No mending will be necessary: the downstream progress of the cast will be over quickly. Fast runs may have slack edges or cheeks, and through these you…

EURO NYMPHING IS WHERE IT’S AT. Everyone loves it. Why try anything else? But, in the words of the comedian Jimmy Cricket, “Wait, there’s more!” Trust me, there’s so much more to nymphing than the long-leader method. In fact, to catch lots of grayling in winter, I’d recommend the now mythical method that first came to our attention at the World Fly Fishing Championships on the Welsh Dee in the mid-1980s. Then, the Czechs blitzed everyone with their approach. It was close-quarters fishing and nothing like anything we’d seen in the UK. “Czech-nymphing is fuss-free and easy to learn” Czech nymphing, in a nutshell, involves trundling heavily leaded flies on a short tippet, 4ft-5ft, past your feet while wading in deep, fast-flowing rivers. The Czechs used it as the most…

Outer tube 3mm clear plastic tubing Inner tube 1.8mm black plastic liner tubing Weight US tube in brass (or tungsten) Tag Chartreuse Glo-brite floss no 12, superglued and varnished to protect from kelt teeth Body Silver holographic braid Wing Black fox tied short (to protect from tangling the hook), pearl Krystal Flash over, black goat hair tied long with strand of Mirage Flashabou each side Hackle Yellow hen hackle (on large flies add a throat of yellow fox) Cheeks Jungle cock Cone Silver, in brass or tungsten Burr the end of the black liner. Push it into the clear tube leaving 5mm of tube to hold a hook. Slide on the brass tube, fix it with superglue, then run on thread. Form a tag of chartreuse floss, leaving a length…

Double duty Semperfli’s Body-n-Rib does exactly that. It can be wound as a body or thorax on larger trout patterns, or twisted to reduce its diameter and used for ribbing. Being so thin it’s suitable for larger nymphs and wet-flies as well as big lures. The core is dyed in a variety of colours and encased in a flashy pearl weave, which gives off a wonderful sparkle reminiscent of the trapped air in a natural nymph. In essence, it’s the perfect body material, adding sparkle and colour, and easy to apply by simply winding along the hook shank. Body-and-rib comes in 15 colours. Bright fluoro red, yellow, orange, pink and chartreuse contrast with olive, dark olive, golden olive, claret, root beer, fiery brown and rust orange. Black, white and a…

1927–2021 “Vic” Foot worked at his beloved Nursling Fishery on the lower River Test for 56 years, probably the longest serving keeper in the river’s history. And what a great river keeper, fisherman, countryman and gentleman he was. He was also the most honest and likeable man you could meet. Apart from his legendary river keeping and salmon fishing abilities, he was also known for his sense of humour, kindness and his anecdotes about people he’d met and fished with. The anecdotes were often hilarious and never derogatory. Even so, Vic would never name the people concerned in case it caused embarrassment. I first met Vic when I became his assistant river keeper at Nursling about 35 years ago. Working with Vic was an absolute honour and joy. All the…

The single scale sample we retrieved was sent to NINA (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research) and the results are fascinating. Leading salmon scientist Eva Thorstad told me that at 132.5cm the fish is extremely long. She said, “My guess is the salmon has been in the river for most of the season. Most really big fish enter the river from mid-May to early June.” That seemed likely to me, judging by its colour and general condition. I expect it had a bigger girth when it entered the river — a scary thought! “The scale sample also tells us,” Eva continued, “that this fish smolted in fresh water, almost certainly Gaula and spent a minimum of three winters at sea but more likely four or more.” Suggesting the fish spent four…

1. ONE IN THE EYE The mid-1960s at Hoddom Castle on the Annan, I was fishing Goats pool and casting a sunken line with a large single-hook fly when I felt resistance. I knew it wasn’t a fish. Reeling in, I saw nylon hanging from the hook. Looking closer, I found it hard to believe my eyes. My fly’s hook had entered the eye of another fly that must have been lodged upright on the riverbed. What odds? I gave the other fly to gillie Peter Helm, who identified it as one he’d lost in Goats a week earlier. 2. “GO CAREFUL” Easter, 1980, the House of Dun on the South Esk. The river was high with snowmelt and 80-year-old gillie Hamish told me to put on my heaviest copper…

THE ARUNDELL hotel has a fine restaurant, 25 bedrooms and two self-catering fishing cottages. Dog-friendly rooms are available. There is an on-site tackle-shop and a heated wader room. Residents can book fishing for brown trout, grayling, sea-trout and salmon on 24 miles of the River Tamar and its tributaries: the Lyd, Lew, Thrushell, Wolf and Ottery. They also have access to fishing on a local three-acre clear-water lake. The hotel’s three qualified instructors offer guiding, tuition and a wide range of residential courses including two-day beginners, spey-casting, fly-tying and cooking. They can also arrange reservoir and saltwater fishing. Residents at the hotel have priority when booking river beats, but day-tickets become available if beats have not been booked by 10am. Day-tickets for the Lyd are £40 per rod per day.…

Christine’s father-in-law Dennis Wall farmed the land until he decided to diversify in the late 1980s. Dennis dug the four-acre, spring-fed lake in 1990, landscaping it and planting a wide variety of trees, including more exotic species such as larch, maple and acer. He opened it as a trout fishery on May 1, 1992. Darran and Christine took over after Dennis retired and moved away, and following the birth of their first son, William, Christine decided to give up her job in the oil industry and concentrate on running the fishery, giving her and her family a better work-life balance. The couple are building a new family home on the site, a task that Darran balances with his job as an agricultural engineer and maintaining the fishery’s aeration systems and…

Readers who have neither the time nor the library to indulge in an odyssey through the arcane intricacies of the history of British wet-fly fishing, could do no better than get hold of C.B. McCully’s estimable A Dictionary of Fly-Fishing. Here, under the entry “wet fly”, you have the job done for you. It is a fascinating read. It is also worth looking up “chuck and chance it” and, while doing so, you will also stumble upon other entries to add to your knowledge, such as “nymph fishing” — where Skues’ contribution to our sport is eloquently summarized. Required reading.…

ROB EDMUNDS Highly successful competition angler, reservoir bank and boat specialist. RONNIE GLASS Former Scottish champion on rivers and stillwaters and curator of the Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum. STEVE CULLEN Guide, instructor and all-round game angler with a wealth of knowledge. ALASTAIR & WILLIAM PEAKE Brothers Al and Will (AKA TwinPeakes) have a casting school and tackle shop at Crathes on the Aberdeenshire Dee. PAUL PROCTER Cumbrian-based AAPGAI instructor. Prefers the imitative approach. PETER GATHERCOLE Photographer, expert tyer and chairman of the Fly Dressers' Guild. PETER COCKWILL Small-water expert with more than 60 years’ fly-fishing experience.…

TROUT MASTERS Plus this month’s badge winners from Europe’s largest fly-fishing competition See page 122 England & Wales BORDER ESK THE 2021 season was a poor one by Esk standards. The lower river again proved to be the place to be with the Burnfoot beat the river’s most productive stretch. Salmon numbers were well down on the 2020 season. River levels throughout the season were, in general, poor. Anglers out at the right times caught fish but most struggled with low flows. Beats further upriver saw flurries of sport at times especially after water. November saw some lifts of water in the Esk system with salmon and sea-trout busy on the spawning redds. The Esk is not regarded as a spring river but keen anglers have been encountering the odd…

ANNE’S SHRIMP Rear hackle Three turns of Future Fly soft pink hackle Rear body Fuchsia pink/ultra-violet pink blended Lite Brite Middle hackle Three turns of Future Fly soft pink hackle Wing Ultra-violet pink Angel Hair with hot pink fox or tanuki in original, tied in three fine layers to give flash throughout the wing Front body Fuchsia pink/ultra-violet pink blended Lite Brite Front hackles One turn of Doctor Blue cock (blue badger in original) hackle, three turns of Future Fly soft pink hackle Cheeks Three jungle-cock eyes on each side (medium, small and extra small) Head Red thread with clear varnish…

ENGLAND ■ BRICK FARM LAKES, Herstmonceux, 01323 832615 1 Caleb Port, Eastbourne, 2lb 7oz rainbow, Cat’s Whisker. WALES ■ BIGWELL FLY FISHERY, Monmouth, 01600 772904 1 Beau Walker, Pontypool, 3lb 5oz rainbow, Special Egg. 2 Ewan Loturco, Cardiff, 2lb 15oz rainbow, Orange Lure. 3 Cohen Yearsley, Newport, 2lb 12oz rainbow, on fly. ■ GRAIGLWYD SPRINGS, Bangor, 01492 622338 1 Ewan Loturco, Cardiff, 3lb 8oz rainbow, Black Buzzer. ■ TYN-Y-GRAIG FARM, Crynant, 01639 750894 1 Ewan Loturco, Cardiff, 3lb 11oz rainbow, Olive Damsel.…

I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT THE VINTAGE rod and the late-season salmon. I will tell you about the vintage rod and the late-season salmon. In due course. Meanwhile, I feel we ought to take a bit of a look back at 2021, which was better than 2020, though only by a narrow margin. We did get to fish, of course, which is always a good thing. I got to the Spey and the Findhorn and the Tweed as well as periodic visits to the pond to pester the trout. I found myself accidentally promoted to team leader, which caused the Great Red Bearded Gillie’s eyebrow to twitch like a ginger caterpillar dancing on acid and his pipe to be ground something chronic and which served to reveal the heavy burdens…