Next month: A New Year In The Fly Fishers Calendar.

Without doubt the number 1 question is – What tackle and flies do you recommend for catching pike? Answer : I would recommend a Greys Esox or Sage RPLi 9 foot 3 piece for a 9 weight. Both rods can be hidden in the car from thieves and taken on board an aircraft as hand luggage. These rods are designed for casting big flies and throwing tight loops into the wind. They will handle big fish and allow the use of a 20lb leaders which are needed when fishing snaggy conditions. The Sage rod is also designed for saltwater use. If you fly fish the salt or have ambitions to do so then my advice is go for the Sage RPLi. Line choice is very easy Scientific Anglers have the pike taper in 9 and 10 weights. They are excellent and cannot be beaten in my opinion. I purchased my first Scientific Anglers pike taper line during a trip to Canada in the early 90’s long before they were available in the UK. Today Masterline International manufacture a set of big bug taper pike fly lines under the Toothy Critter brand. They have a floater, slow sink and a lead core line. I have tested these over the past few months and I cannot fault them. One line I have found very useful during the summer months is the clear slow sink line from the same company. Jim Teeny has an excellent mini sink tip line on the market which I have found most useful on slow moving rivers where it will fish the fly down about two feet. Fishing big, deep still-waters, I like to carry a selection of shooting heads in different sink rates from slow to ultra fast. I use Masterline sinking lines which I cut back to the size required. Many writers suggest you need 30 feet of shooting head line. This is not quite true. I have a couple of 20 foot shooting heads that really do shoot through the guides. I always up-rate my shooting head by two weights. My advice is experiment with different lengths of shooting heads until you find what length suits your rod and casting ability. It could be anything from 20 to 32 feet. In trout fishing we need the fly to land like thistledown. Itís not the same for the pike. A fly creating a splashy disturbance will often cause a pike to strike and it was for this reason I felt I didn’t need tapered leaders. As always, we anglers are learning all the time. I have NOW changed my view and feel a tapered leader DOES gives you a better turn over. I make my leaders with 40 LB nylon, nail-knotted to the fly line, tapered down to a 20lb tippet. In the past I used small swivels or rings to join leader line to wire. Not today. I now attach a foot of Masterline 20lb tide cheater wire to the leader by the use of an Albright knot. Itís probably the best knot for tying two different materials or lines of different thickness. For further reading there are two books I recommend. Practical Fishing Knots by Mark Sosin and Lefty Kreh, Batsford books, and The Pocket Guide to Fishing Knots by Peter Owen published by Merlin Unwin books. The latter is an excellent book which you can keep in your tackle bag or pocket. Pike flies come in all sizes and descriptions from 1/0 up to 8/0 hooks. My first choice pattern would be the Polar fly on a size 3/0 hook. The tying for this pattern is as follows Ė Tail – white Polar bear hair and pearl crystal.Body – Pearl fritz or silver tinsel strip.Wings – White Polar bear hair and Pearl crystal hair.Remarks – Two types of bodies should be tied up as one type of body will often work when the other doesn’t. That’s the way of fish. This pattern is also an excellent saltwater pattern for bass. Some other patterns are the Sally Rand , Red-tailed Rat, Black-nosed Dace, Rabbit strip Zonker, and a selection of Lefty Kreh deceivers, all tied up on Partridge hooks. On a recent trip to Swedish Lapland the Red-tailed Rat out fished all the other patterns. The probable reason being it was used more than any other pattern. The tying for the Red tailed rat is:Tail – Red buck tail – red buck , red crystal hair.Body – Black deer hair muddler (wedge shaped)Silk – Black – Remarks plastic bead or brass eyes may be added to give mouse like animal effect You will need a selection of floating and sinking patterns, Always make sure the hooks are barbless and needle sharp. They should draw blood when you prick your finger. I have found the best conditions for chucking flies for pike are warm sunny days with dawn and dusk the best taking times. This is not to say you cannot catch pike in the middle of the day when its raining hard and blowing a gale but they are the exceptions. When fishing canals it certainly has to be dawn through to breakfast time. Usually the water is clear and there are no disturbances from boats or dog walkers, where the latter often insist on throwing a stick in the water where the pike is lying up and saying “Fetch Fido”. These people are a real pain in the butt. Providing the water is clear and not disturbed you can often get a dozen strikes in a two hour session. Catch and Release Another question I am often asked is “What are your views on Catch and Release?” These are emotive words in angling circles, especially among game and saltwater anglers. But why? Surely this is the only way forward if the children of tomorrow are to have the chance of seeing and perhaps catching a wild fish. I am not saying release all wild fish. If the river or the ocean can sustain the taking of the odd fish for the table then that’s perhaps the sign of a healthy water. What we must never do is take a dark coloured salmon. I am also told it will taste terrible. And itís an offence. Throughout the world, fresh and saltwater fisheries are under pressure – not just from over fishing but also from pollution, water abstraction, intensive grazing, forestry and the dumping of rubbish by industry, agriculture and the general public. Countries in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres continue to treat the world’s rivers, seas and oceans as dumping grounds. Through the action of Man, the world’s sports fisheries are no longer the rich resource they once were, and the remaining sporting fish that swim in our inland or coastal waters are far too valuable to be killed.Each fish killed is one less to be caught by another angler and one less fish to spawn. Should that fish be a large one for its species, not only are a lot more eggs lost but also the gene pool of a fish with a better quality and reproductive capability is further depleted. Each year on my local rivers, The Ribble, Lune and Hodder, I have witnessed the sickening sight of gravid salmon being killed and displayed to all and sundry, as if to say – What a clever angler I am. I have just killed this salmon that should have been caught and released. And then the carcass is dumped in the boot of the car. When that person gets home and guts the fish, hundreds of young salmon in the form of eggs will roll all over the kitchen table. Surely today we must ensure that wild fish are for catch and release, while stocked or farm-reared fish are for the table. Many of those opposed to catch and release will tell you that released fish won’t survive – a view often expressed by the salmon angler who feels the fish should be displayed on a silver salver to show off to the other hotel guests. He or she is really saying: ‘I want everyone to know what a great fish catcher I am’. If your desire is to kill fish, then the still water angling scene with its put and take stocked rainbow trout are for you. Not the wild fish of our rivers, lochs, lakes and sea; there the sportsman should harvest just an occasional fish when the stocks are adequate to allow it. If a fish is not released there is no chance of its survival. In Canada and the United States of America it has been proven that released fish have an 85% chance of successfully spawning. We need look no further than the Miramichi River in New Brunswick where there is a catch and release regime. Where once the salmon were threatened with extinction, there are now plenty, and it is possible to have a small harvest of ten cock grilse a season per angler. It is interesting to note, though that most Miramichi anglers return most of what they can legally take rarely retaining more than one fish a season. Oregon and Washington anglers in search of steelhead and wild trout realised that their sport was in danger through diminishing fish stocks. Much of the problem was caused by the felling of vast areas of old-growth forest. Through the logging practice streams silted up, and the waters were warmed to a level unsuitable for the survival of fry. Gradually, fish numbers dwindled to danger level. Organisations such as Oregon Trout, Trout Unlimited and The Umpqua Steam boater’s realised something had to be done. They created stream enhancement programs, encouraged the loggers and cattle men to leave a riparian buffer zone, and then practised catch and release. The Fish and Game department were also involved, and soon it was decreed that all wild fish should be returned and only stocked fish could be killed. All stocked fish had the adipose fin clipped so that they could easily be recognised. Over the past three years the steelhead fishing out there has been very good. I know, because I have experienced it. This year, 1999, the Deschutes is having its best run of steelhead for the past 15 years. Many anglers have been able to catch and release their first steelhead. To practice catch and release we must follow some very simple rules. Number one is to use barbless hooks. There can be no justification for today’s anglers fishing with anything but barbless. I don’t believe I have ever lost a fish because my hook was barbless. Oh yes, I lose fish but invariably because I do something silly such as giving slack line or letting the fish get into a snag. Fish should never be touched with dry hands or squeezed in the stomach area, nor must they be landed in knotted nets which are illegal. All nets should be of a soft material, unless the fish is very big one, I don’t think a net should be used. Eighty-five percent of the fish I catch are released without being handled. Itís easy: Just bring the fish close to hand, slide your fingers down the leader and remove the barbless hook. Many anglers today are finding their sport in saltwater with fly fishing tackle. One fish reigns supreme, the bass, Dicentrarchus labrax. Sadly, too many of these slow-growing fish are being killed. Itís not only the Spanish, French and British trawlers that are decimating bass stocks. In 1996 while fishing in Morecambe Bay I witnessed two persons (I refuse to call them anglers) catch some fifteen good bass of between five and nine pounds. They killed every single one. I asked the question. “Why are you killing all those fine fish?” The answer was “Because I will sell them on my fish round tomorrow”. When I tried to talk some sense into them, all I got in return was verbal abuse. Such greed is destroying an excellent sport fish, for despite excellent initiatives to protect immature fish in several nurseries areas around the coast, bass are still very much threatened. Then we have the gill netters who’s nets are often left unattended for several days, destroying fish stocks, crabs and sea birds. Perhaps the only answer for the survival of this species is a strict catch and release policy, enforced by law, with the penalty on conviction not a fine but a custodial sentence and the banning of all gill nets. Thankfully today one cannot use live or dead sand eels (Ammodytidae) as bait in any of the 34 Nursery areas around the England and Wales. Check out the law for your area before fishing. You can use an imitation on a fly rod. The best pattern I know of is Popovic’s Candy Eel. Sadly,the netsmen can work the nursery areas. I have written to my MP Nigel Evans who considers I have raised some serious concerns and my letter has been passed on to John Prescott MP at the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions. I would ask all caring anglers to write to their Member of Parliament so we can make sure nursery areas protect the bass stocks and netting is banned. In the United States, anglers and politicians got together and many restrictions have been put on the netsmen. Today there is magnificent fishing for striper bass, redfish, seatrout, jacks, lady fish etc. This quality fishing is bringing in millions of dollars from the tourist anglers.What Rod Another question I am often asked is what fly fishing rod should I choose for still water and river fishing. A difficult question to Answer. There is NO one rod that will suit all waters. From my experience over many years of fly fishing on rivers and still waters, big and small, throughout the world Ė If I had to choose just one rod then my choice would be a nine foot – nine foot six for a six weight line. It would be the best rod available. Greys Montana, Masterline Red River, Scott SES 906 or Sage 690 RPL What Fly Another question. Martin – If you could only have one fly what would it be. Answer – A Black and Peacock spider on hook sizes 10’s – 14’s. This pattern can be fished wet or dry. It will take trout and grayling and will often cause the downfall of a big fish when everything else fails. On both rivers and still waters, fish will eat this fly and the tying for this pattern is very simple. John Roberts in his New illustrated Dictionary of Trout Flies (published by Unwin paperbacks) he gives the following dressing for the Black and Peacock: Body – Bronze peacock herl tied fat and tapering to the rear Hackle Long-fibre black hen sparsely tied. Where?Ron Smith writes: Martin, If you had a £1000-00 to spend on a fly fishing holiday where would you go? That’s a difficult choice. It would be a toss up between chasing saltwater fish on the flats in Florida’s Indian river, or Mosquito Lagoon, Bone fishing in the Bahamas, or fishing for grayling trout perch and pike in Sweden.All four species can be taken on surface fished flies. If I was to visit Sweden it would be between the months of June and August. The latter month is probably the best time to get away from mosquitoes. Having said that, even in June mosquitoes are not such a problem. If you want further information on fishing holidays in Sweden you can E-mail Barracudatravel@hotmail.com Saltwater fly fishing the flats in Florida for redfish, sea trout, snook, tarpon, flounders, barracuda, jack crevale etc. Take an 8 weight rod floating line. Call in to the tackle store, collect a fishing license and a few flies, then head for the flats Mosquito Lagoon, Banana river, Indian river or just drive down highway 95 and stop off where it takes your fancy. Youíre certain to find some good fishing. A good centre to base yourself is Titusville on the Space coast. Itís perfect for the angler and the family who don’t fish. Also its close to Disney World, Sea World, Cyprus Gardens and all the other places of interest and don’t forget to visit the Space centre! The local anglers are friendly and helpful and the fly fishing can be excellent. If you want further information contact John Stanton who is based at Fort Pierce in Florida John is a very knowledgeable guy he can be contacted by E-mail fishkayaks@aol.comIn February I will write an in depth feature on fly fishing in the sun of Florida. Should you have any question please E-mail me martin@flyfish.demon.co.uk

Next month: A New Year In The Fly Fishers Calendar.