Toothy Edits

I am a total mash of different emotions at the moment. 2011 will have been perhaps the busiest year of my life, with two books now in their final proofs and design stages. There's still a while to wait for publication in each case, but it's exciting already just to see "Fly Fishing for Coarse Fish" now listed on Amazon to preorder! I am especially proud of the cover shot- one of the best of some 20 000 taken in the last twelve months. Behind one glossy book cover is a campaign of muddy, long haul trips and endless planning and writing- some disappointments but also some remarkable catches I hope.
The real thrill will perhaps be to contribute something of a permanent reference point in angling. Magazine features are great, but they're there and then they're gone. A hardback with over 200 pages of my best words and pictures is very different. On the home straight, my feelings are mixed to say the least- relief, trepidation, pride, a hint of exhaustion. If nothing else, I hope plenty of fellow anglers enjoy "Fly Fishing for Coarse Fish" and give something new a try. Some of the chapters took real determination (tench, zander), but other species are just so perfectly suited to fly fishing I can't quite fathom why we're not already flyfishing for chub, rudd, carp etc in our droves.

Text is one thing, but I also wanted to show the methods in practise with a DVD of the same title, which includes roach, rudd, carp and last of all pike, which I've just finished filming with Steve Lockett. Film work is a very different pressure- juggling different camera angles with a loose script and the need to catch in a limited time frame. A slow start on the Levels didn't help, with rains really stirring up my chosen drain. Having taken just one tiny pike, plan B was an afternoon on the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal.


A smart move as it turned out, because the water was much clearer and although hardly on fire I managed a further five pike to around 5lbs. The best fly seemed to be a pink number, which really stood out and was also, interestingly, the only colour to get any response in coloured water early in the day.
Credit is also due to film maker Steve Lockett, my partner in crime for the DVD. From the footage you might guess there were several cameras- when in truth it's just one intrepid camera man- scaling banks, dodging casts and getting up to the armpits in cold water. You'll have to watch this space for a trailer- but most of the project save some fly tying sequences is now finished.

A Week of Carp

Perhaps due to their sheer popularity there is an anti-carp current within some fishing circles. I love the species- it's the methods and condition of the fish that don't always inspire. Hence a big push this week to explore some different venues with methods high on excitement this week, from fly fishing to free-lining baits in the margins.

Abbrook Pond (above), run by Exeter Angling Association, is definitely what you'd call a classic, "old school" carp lake. Once visited by Dick Walker, it might be noisier these days with a local quarry and even the racket of a punk band's rehearsal at one point- but when all settles down, what a beautiful place. As per usual, I tried both old and new methods but found free lined or float fished baits by far the most effective. Sometimes I wonder if the modern era has gone bite alarm and static fishing mad. Each to their own, but it's so much more effective as well as more fun to use lighter tackle and be mobile. I lost a decent something on an overnighter, only to grab a beautiful common on float fished bread paste next morning. Nothing to write home about at eleven pounds? Not in my book- perfectly conditioned and ridiculously strong on a float rod.

The weeks other kicks have been on a fly rod, with the added pressure of fellow angling writer and film maker Steve Lockett on camera at Stafford Moor. The fish needed some coaxing, but eventually got going in the sun and gave a pulverising display on a fly rod. With the exception of one mirror taken on a terrestrial, the key on the day was regular loose feed in the right spot.

To cap off a fun week of carp I also took an evening ticket at Creedy lakes for some further action. Fewer but bigger fish here- and after seeing several good sized cruising fish on the top pond, I tempted a solid common on a good sized dry fly. Not a "bait" fly this time, but a nice bushy stimulator presented by overhanging cover. A fly that looks a little big and clumsy- until you see the size of a decent carp's laughing gear close on it! On an seven weight outfit the fight was nothing short of sensational another good reason to give this enthralling method a try.