A Tough Call

I spoke in my last update of the impossible task of judging a contest which includes a stack of different species, with all manner of sizes and scenarios. Talk about a headache! I had the most supportive of angling stars to help with Matt Hayes and John Bailey on board, both really keen fly anglers themselves and generous in their support. The trouble was, each of us had a different fish in first place, so it was down to second and third slots in the end. A huge well done goes to Geoff Hadley for his first placed bream, which wins a leather bound collector's edition of "Flyfishing For Coarse Fish" worth a cool £150.

How does a fish of four pounds beat others several times that size? There will be some who disagree, but the whole idea of the competition was about the fun, skill and challenge- not necessarily the figure on the scales. Every one of the panel agreed that to sight fish for bream and pick a fish off with a wet fly was a brilliantly unorthodox catch- and the captor hooked and lost another on the very next cast! Definitely a catch to demonstrate what is possible with a little imagination. So often I feel that the biggest barrier to such fascinating, convention-busting sport is in the angler's brain. But if you don't try something, how do you know it won't work? I feel like we've opened a door already with the "Fly for Coarse" project- and the more people give it a try, the wider this door will be flung open.

I have to say, I'm a little surprised that one of the huge pike captures didn't win outright. We had both John Machin (above) and Andy Cheetham, each with pike of over thirty pounds! Hugely impressive captures and they will both consider themselves a little unlucky, but at least grab themselves a prize for being high on our list.
The selection was also bolstered by plenty of other great entries. Mr Dorr's five pound plus chub on a dry fly is a wonderful capture too- as were several others. John Bailey's favourite was this double figure carp, caught on a sinking daddy longlegs (below). A fantastic fish, no doubt, and one that I think he wanted to highlight as an inspiration for modern carp anglers to try something a little different:

Anyhow, the headache of picking a winner aside, the competition has been really refreshing and thought provoking. I hope it at least shatters a few illusions and represents an ethos that's slightly lacking at present. A bit of fun and unpredictability surely can't go amiss? Talking of fun, I've just received the first of several nice mouthfuls intended for chub this summer, which I've designed for Turrall. This one's called the "Jasper" (a wasp, for those not of Westcountry bias):

And fun was also the main agenda for my last trip as I searched for somewhere not resembling trench warfare to fish. I surprised my old man with a pole fishing set for Christmas, which needed a decent trial. Say what you like about commercials (and most people do) but they do keep fishing regardless of muddy, horrible conditions. I tend to pick the ones that aren't purely stuffed with carp- and Shillingford is never too bad for variety. Even on a pretty cold morning, the first hour was good, although in typical style the very swim I wanted for the perch was bagged by a bloke who turned up at the identical time as us but had the foresight to whack his stuff down to reserve the peg. Never mind, the bites came quick- and the fish, while not huge, were nice hand sized roach and perch, the sort you would happily catch all day any day.


The carp inevitably made their appearance as we kept trickling the feed in. Dad was thrilled to bits with his new pole, (the romantically named 6m Browning "Pitbull") that provided some fun with the roach on the light top kit, but serious stopping power for some margin carping. The gift was just the thing in fact. When we started fishing as tiny kids, it was he who plonked a fibreglass whip in our hands; quite nice to return the favour three decades later with a more up to date pole!


Meanwhile, I also enjoyed a bite filled pole session. Why oh why do folks still fish with alarms and bolt rigs for match sized winter carp I wonder? I find it baffling, seeing as you'll catch twice as many on lighter, balanced tackle- and actually enjoy a bit of a battle. Our kit was typically 4lb rig line to a 3.3lb low diameter hook length, followed by a wide gape size 16 hook and a worm or two maggots. A little hempseed didn't seem to hurt either in holding both carp and decent roach in the swim. All good fun I guess, although I am already pining for spring and watching some fish rise so I can break out the fly rod properly.

A Flood of Pike

What a less than appetising start it has been to 2014. Downright odd. Today felt like a wet weekend in April, hardly a typical January day for fishing. Bits of the Westcountry are already resembling a war zone, with sandbags piled at villagers' doors and police tape aimed at keeping the public from treacherous flooding. And in the midst of it all, some idiots still want to go fishing. I am one of them.
Why do I do it? I'm reminded of my old head teacher, the late Trevor Green, whose passion was his motorbike. He enjoyed the worst of weathers because secretly, he found it bracing. He liked to take on the wind and rain. Perhaps it scarcely mattered when he was doing that thing he loved. This is the mark of what might politely be described as an "enthusiast". We come in many guises. Whether it's fishing or motorcycles, we need that experience, even if it flies in the face of sensible advice. Perhaps utterly sensible people are to be pitied; they have no strong passions.

But I digress. Flooding is not all bad news, at least for an angler. One benefit is that if you can locate the fish, they're often stacked up in relatively small areas. Sheltered urban spots were the focus today. More and more often in my predator fishing these days, I also like to pay attention to the smaller fish present on any water. It makes perfect sense to establish where these are concentrated and draw them in. Furthermore, a spot of light float fishing also makes a slow day much more entertaining. Within no time, my pal Russ Hilton had silver fish queuing up on the bread. Nor were they all small- as you can see from this chunky rudd:

It's staggering just how quickly pike or perch will take take advantage of silver fish distracted by free food. It was barely light before the first attackers arrived. My approach was as simple as it gets: a fresh bait on a single treble hook, tossed nearby. Route one fishing, and the first of several pike:

We played it by ear, moving spots roughly every couple of hours as bites dried up or we fancied a change of scenery. It was a drizzly day and I was grateful for the company. Russ is the sort of angler who never rants about his own ability, but quite often out fishes me, so I must have done something right to take the most pike today. Most bizarrely of all, I caught an afternoon fish of around eight pounds that looked really uncannily familiar. By an unmistakable scar on one side, we identified it as a fish I had already landed three hours earlier, a hundred yards away. One hungry -if slightly daft- pike.
Perhaps the only slight surprise was a lack of perch today. I say this, but bizarrely Russ landed two on bread when a small moving bait had been flatly ignored! Lots of silver bream and roach kept coming to bread too, which also explained why I kept pinching Russ's whip while he wasn't looking, to catch another fish or two.
By early evening it felt weirdly mild, in spite of darkening skies, so we stayed on for a little while. As it happens I'm glad we did, because the last bite of the day was something rather special in the form of this 11lb 12oz pike, which was as beautiful and athletic as any I've caught this season:

For those curious about technical stuff, you'll also see some of my pike notes in this week's Angling Times. These days I seem to be using fewer hooks in my fishing and also like to present my dead baits well off the bottom. I also much prefer just one rod and like to give it my full attention. A single barbless treble and an instant strike is so much better for the pike: all six of mine today were simplicity itself to unhook and release unharmed and only one fish came adrift all day. It should also go without saying that if you fish anywhere around concrete, you must never fish without an unhooking mat- it isn't rocket science and I really wish I didn't have to shake my head at the lack of fish care shown so often in urban locations.


Finally, I'm also pleased to say that we'll soon have the final results for the 2013 "Fly For Coarse" competition. It as been quite a surreal experience discussing entries with Matt Hayes and John Bailey this week, two of my all time heroes in fishing! While the judging panel have hardly been unanimous in their verdicts, they've certainly been so in their great enthusiasm. And what all three of us have agreed on is that fishing should be about fun and skill, not just what you catch, but how you catch it. in truth we were given a hard task by the entries: how do you pick between some huge pike, cunningly tricked carp, some phenomenal chub and even a fly caught bream?!! All will be revealed soon. Let's hope the foul weather abates so we can return to some more favourable fly fishing conditions sooner rather than later!

Fly Highs

This blog starts with a drum roll as we kick off a brand new site and a unique competition. "Fly For Coarse" is now up and running- a contest that I hope will epitomise the values of a growing community of those tying flies and hatching plans to open up a new fishing landscape. Our ethos is one of fun and creativity. The thrill of the take is more important than the number on the scales. Just ask Matt Hayes, who we're honoured to have on our panel. "I love this competition!" he writes. "Pursuing your favourite species using a completely different technique presents a new adventure... This is the true spirit of angling." We really couldn't have been blessed with a better spokesman. I'm also grateful to Charlie Hancock, who has set up the new site at www.flyforcoarse.com in the midst of running a business and being a new father, and also Alex Garnett for the neat, perchy logo. Do have a look- and get plotting! Anything from a rising dace to a nymph caught barbel could win you a great prize, and appropriately enough another fishing legend, John Bailey, is also involved as a "Fly For Coarse" supporter. I've already heard accounts of some brilliant early action in the contest, including a giant carp lost at the net, whose big lips had sucked in a damsel nymph. My own recent fishing has been more modest, admittedly. I'm slowly building an arsenal of flies however, mixing new experiments in with tried and trusted favourites. Spiders are especially useful all rounders, and those tied on smaller hooks can be deadly for roach, rudd and dace: In all honesty, the canals are still a little cool and coloured. I took a walk on a sunny afternoon with Jo Bliss, my other half, and inevitably a fly rod just happened to leap out of the boot. The roach were rather apathetic still, perhaps reflecting a lack of insect life on our stroll. I tried everything from a gold bead nymph to tiny size 20 buzzers to no avail. Things will pick up soon though, I'm certain- and some cruising rudd were more willing to grab a fly presented in the upper layers. A red bodied spider seemed the best fly in rather coloured water: It has been a fly obsessed few days in fact. Another enjoyable trip was to join Duncan Keir to find out more about his "Kennick Killer", a special UV damsel style lure that really lived up to its' moniker. No surprises as to where we went for a fish. That'll be Kennick Reservoir: Now produced commercially by Devon fly specialists Turrall, this is a must have pattern on the stillwater scene. With a seductive wiggle, smart colour combinations and UV materials, the rainbows needed little encouragement to chase and seize it. I had sporadic joy fishing a team of buzzers, but Duncan had the lion's share of the action, including a much bigger fish that leapt clear of the water twice before shedding the hook. After a long winter, it felt great to be out with the sun on your back again- and there are days when I honestly get as much pleasure from snapping away with the camera as I do fishing. One of the biggest pangs of all I feel over a long winter is for spring fly fishing on a small river however. That first day of sunlight and rising trout in the season is like a cold beer after a ten hour shift. It was especially exciting to head for the upper Culm with Ian Nadin. This prettiest of Devon rivers is a nostalgic place for me, having formed a happy part of my childhood. I've never crept so close to the source however, where the waters narrow and become stonier and faster flowing. This idyllic part of the Culm is available on the Westcountry Angling Passport scheme for a ridiculously good value £5 a day. It was also a happy return for the smallest fly rod I own. Measuring only an inch taller than me at 6'6", it's like fishing with a toy rod and goes bonkers when you hook even a small brownie. We caught more trees than trout for the first hour, and a small gold bead Hare's Ear was the best fly. By the afternoon however, a hatch of small olives erupted right along the river and it all went crazy. By the end of play, trout were rising everywhere; the nymphs were ditched and we had some cracking dry fly sport and over a dozen of the most beautifully marked trout between us. Days like this remind me why I love fishing. A setting to die for, wonderful fish and good company. New corners were explored- and we even coined a new piece of fly fishing slang: to "Thatcher" a cast, i.e. to send the fly too far to the right wing of the river, as in "bloody hell, you really Thatchered that one mate."