When To Wade?

From my experiences at the waterside during the winter months, I feel we will get off to a good start this coming season, especially if the weather is mild. All the rain we had through the autumn and winter will have done wonders for our rivers. When you take a look at the bed of your favourite river you will see the gravel beds are shining bright like diamonds. Gone is all that horrid clodorpha weed. We could have suffered through many of the reds being washed out but nature has an excellent way of looking after itself. Far better than we humans do. What has surprised me during my many chub fishing sessions during the autumn and winter has been the large amount of waterborne insects coming off with lots of greedy trout and grayling feeding on them. In fact on a couple of occasions I stopped chub fishing, went back home and collected a four weight outfit with floating line and a box of flies. Fishing for just a couple of hours I’ve had some interesting sport with the grayling and the occasional out-of-season trout. Having caught a trout I then move away from the spot. My successful fly has been a very small black gnat tied up on a size twenty hook I don’t usually use flies this small, but to get the fish to take, that’s what was required. I have also caught some very good out-of-season brown trout on bread crust during my many trips after chub on the northern rivers. In all cases the fish have been of good size, averaging some two pounds plus, and have been in excellent condition. I had one fish that must have weighed a good three and a half pounds! I have always found bread crust to be very attractive to brown trout. As far back as the early 1950’s we used to get all our big brown trout from the river Len and Kentish Stour on bread crust when fishing for the coarse species. One thing you will notice when you go back to your favourite river will be the changes. Those deep quiet pools could now be fast shallow glides. Those nice long shallow glides might now have been broken into smaller glides and pools. New pools will have been created, some of these caused by bank side trees that have crashed into the river or been bought down by flood water. Beware of undercut banks caused by the high water. My advice is wear a buoyancy aid. You know it makes sense. To arrive at ones favourite stretch of river during the springtime with warm sunshine and a light wind is a delight indeed. Strolling along the river bank you will find hawthorns in their new cloaks of green, catkins and pussy willow, marsh marigolds, primroses and daffodils in abundance, adding a beautiful splash of colour to the drab countryside. If you’re lucky you might just see some early snowdrops and cowslips. Sadly all this beauty will be taken away by the riverside trees, bushes and fences being draped in black and white plastic sheeting and fertiliser bags in various colours. (It’s about time farmers had to pay a deposit of 20 pounds sterling on fertiliser bags). Dippers will be going about their nest building. Blackbirds and thrushes, redwings and field-fare should all be about in numbers. As you sit at the waterside looking for a feeding trout you will no doubt be joined by a robin looking for a free handout of food in the form of bread crumbs. At this time of the year I take some sunflower hearts which I will spread around the river bank. I also call in to my local butcher and collect a hunk of fat which I then tie to a branch of a river-side tree. The birds love it. Its been well documented that in early spring we should arrive on the river just before 11am then leave just after lunch, say around 2-0pm. Usually this is quite good advice as the rise of insects is often of a brief duration at this time of the year. But this year it could be different story. If it’s mild you might have insects rising and trout feeding from around 10 O’clock through to 3 or 4 O’clock. As previously mentioned, on many of my winter grayling and chub fishing sessions I have seen insects coming off the water with fish feeding throughout the day. If we have a normal start to the season it will probably be cold with an easterly wind. Then fishing will probably be between 11-30 am and 2pm. But make sure you have dry flies and nymphs in your fly box so you can cover all possibilities. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a very mild spring. Having said that, the second week of January was icy cold with a north easterly wind but still one could see the odd trout and grayling rising to what looked like a very small black gnat – all this action was taking place around 2-O’clock in the afternoon.

When To Wade?

When should one wade is a vexed question. I feel if you can cast to the feeding fish from the bankside then you should do so. Unless you wade slowly and quietly all you will do is push the fish further up or downstream and make them very spooky. Last season on the river Ribble, Alan Roe and myself experienced the most obnoxious behaviour we have ever seen at the waterside from a very bad mannered person. I refuse to call him an angler. As Alan and I sat at the waterside observing some rising fish, this oaf clad in all the best clothing with the latest in chest high waders and carrying the most expensive fishing tackle drew level with us. Without asking if it would be OK to fish the stretch of river or giving any other explanation he plunged into the river like a bull elephant saying “I’m going to fish the Czech nymphing style today”. This idiot then commenced to walk upstream flashing his rod around like the sword of Zorro. Alan and I were speechless. We looked at each other in disbelief at this oafs behaviour. As he moved upstream and after he had gone a few yards, the fish again started to rise behind our idiot. I said to Alan “Tie on a Paythorn olive and show the idiot how to catch those fish”. Alan did as I suggested. Moving slowly and quietly, using the available bankside cover, he followed our idiot upstream. With some very accurate casting and dropping the fly like thistle-down Alan caught half a dozen nice brown trout. It was a great demonstration of dry fly fishing. All the time our idiot in his costly clothing with expensive tackle failed to catch a single fish. After a while he came out of the water and said “I’m going upstream to the big pool, there’s some big trout there”. We let him go. Then, looking at each other, I said “What’s happened to the etiquette in angling these days?”. It’s interesting to note that Alan was fishing with a six foot rod costing about forty pounds sterling. I well remember one season fishing the river Tweed for brown trout when I had to wade the river. Some nice brown trout were rising towards the far bank. The only way of reaching those fish was to wade slowly out into the river and by doing so I had an excellent session with some good size trout. I can never understand why more anglers don’t fish the river Tweed for the brown trout. There have been many days when I have had the river to myself. Most anglers think of the Tweed for its salmon fishing. Give me the Tweed’s wild brown trout anytime, they are a far more interesting quarry. I have waded many rivers when it has been necessary to do so. If fish are rising under the far bank, your chances of catching those fish will be greatly increased by careful wading. Remember to wear a buoyancy aid and carry a good wading staff. I cannot impress upon you enough to double check the water you plan to wade. The riverbed will have changed quite dramatically after all the autumn and winter floods. What I would say is; think before entering the river, stream or lake. Ask yourself, is it possible to cast a fly to a rising fish from the bank side? If the answer is ‘Yes’ then don’t wade! Nymph fishing is one method which does often demand getting into the water to fish an upstream nymph between those inviting gaps in the weed beds. Also check with your fellow anglers if it’s okay to wade. Never go into the water downstream of an angler who is wading down a pool, always go in above. The etiquette of fishing a pool is; fish the cast out, then take a step downstream repeating the process after each cast. Never hog the pool. Anglers have for a long time used their reservoir trout fishing tackle for river trouting. I have been as guilty as the rest. A few years ago I was fishing with a seven weight outfit and my colleague used a four weight. After lunch I asked if I could try out his light outfit. The answer was an immediate ‘Yes’. I used that outfit for the rest of the session. It was a most delightful outfit to use. Within weeks I had discarded my tackle in exchange for a four weight outfit, I have never looked back since. When one thinks of it, the average size of brown trout from our rivers is probably 14 inches – it makes sense to use a four weight. Some of my more experienced trout fishing friends are using six foot, three weight outfits with great success on the smaller rivers. My four weight has handled trout to three pounds. At no time did I feel under-gunned.

Woman anglers help others

I have always felt that women not only make excellent anglers but they also bring something special to the sport, especially when it comes to giving the sport a good image. One such group of ladies who promote the sport of fly fishing are the International Womens Fly Fishers who have selected Bransford as the 2001 convention site. The IWFF was founded by Fanny Krieger and the Golden West Fly fishers of San Francisco; the International Womens Fly Fishers is a non-profit organisation that has grown to more than 300 members. Each year, IWFF holds its festival. For three days, fly-fishing sister anglers gather from across the country and around the world to fish together, hear famous anglers on their favourite topics, have hands-on sessions to improve skills in casting, fishing techniques, fly tying and knot tying, and learn even more about the sport they love. Festivals are held where the entire family is welcomed – from Baja California, Mexico and San Francisco to Sun Valley, Idaho; from Stratton, Vermont; to Florida. This year the group will meet in the Ozark mountains at Big Cedar Lodge, 10 to 15 minutes out of Branson, Missouri, October 25-27. For their primary project in 2001, the women have adopted Aquatics in the Classroom with a goal to help the environment through childrens education. They are helping organise (based on successful models from San Francisco’s Golden West Women Fly fishers and others) classroom teaching segments on aquatic life, such as trout. Children will learn to raise trout and other aquatic creatures in the classroom and release them into healthy streams. “We are all thrilled that we are successful enough to be able to give back as well as share” said Yvonne Graham, president. The IWFF also supports the Casting for Recovery program. CFR is a not-for-profit, national organisation that conducts retreats in natural settings where women who are recovering from breast cancer learn to fly fish. It is an activity which helps reduce swelling and restores mobility which may have been compromised by surgery. “The goal of CFR is to aid in their physical, emotional and spiritual healing” continued Yvonne. For more information, contact the IWFF at:107 North Main Street Farmville, VA 23901. Phone (888) 811-4933; e-mail IWFF@intlwomenflyfishers.com; or visit www.intlwomenflyfishers.com. Any lady fly fishers interested in attending this convention will be most welcome. Why not E-mail the IWFF for more details? Any ladies who would like to try fly fishing, please get in touch. I will be organising some fly fishing days for the listeners to BBC Radio Lancashire’s ‘At The Waters Edge’ programme to which you will be most welcome. Fly fishing is the perfect sport for ladies, no creepy crawlies and you ladies make great fly fishers.

Improve the habitat for better fishing

I have always felt that if we anglers worked harder at improving the bankside and aquatic habitat, our fishing would improve greatly. Many game anglers will say to me during the winter months “I’ll be glad when the trout season starts. It’s a long winter without any fishing”. Anglers, you might not be able to go trout fishing but there is a lot you can do to improve the habitat on your stretch of river. What about all that rubbish in the riverside trees and bushes? It all needs to be removed. What about the old bit of fencing in the river that collects more and more rubbish each week? Get it removed now. With the permission of the riparian owner, why not spend some time and money and put up some fencing to stop sheep and cattle from grazing close to the waters edge. You will notice an immediate improvement in the insect life along these stretches of river that have been fenced off. Many of today’s rivers banks are devoid of willows and alder trees. Why not plant some trees? They will offer sanctuary and overhead cover to fish and insect life. Birds will be attracted, especially long tailed tits in search of insects. Plant a bush or two over a nice looking pool where minnows congregate so the kingfisher will have a place to perch as he surveys his dinner table. Now is the time to take out all those rubber tyres, plastic sheeting, supermarket trolleys, fertiliser bags and other general rubbish that has collected at various places along the river. If you don’t do the job, no one else will and your stretch of river will end up like a rubbish tip. With the fish disappearing we all owe the sport something and the best way we can help it prosper is looking after the habitat, then the fish can concentrate on looking after themselves. Last month I turned up at the river to spend a few hours fly fishing for grayling. As I pulled into the lay-by off the A59 near Skipton it resembled a rubbish tip. McDonalds drink cartons, fast food containers, wine bottles, drinks cans, bottles, lots of dog dirt, odd bits of clothing, condoms, two hypodermic needles and 2 luncheon meat cans. The club rules forbid cans at the waterside so this angler (or anglers) dumped them in the lay-bye. I was a very angry person. If I could have got hold of the dog owners I would probably have rubbed their noses in the stuff their animals had left. As for all the other slobs that left their rubbish, given the chance I would have stopped all their leisure time activities and made them clear up the streets of Britain for the next twelve months. There was no excuse for this rubbish, as there is no excuse for anglers leaving plastic bags, groundbait bags, luncheon meat and sweetcorn tins and nylon line at the waterside. I didn’t fish that day but purchased some plastic sacks and a pair of rubber gloves – then spent the day cleaning up the area. Having done so, it all had to be taken off to the rubbish tip. Fourteen bags of rubbish and 4 car trips. Still, I felt better having cleaned up the area. Hopefully the slobs won’t leave their rubbish next time or is that wishful thinking on my part? I would like to thank the two anglers from Bradford No 1 AA who were grayling fishing the next day for helping to take some more rubbish away. One club where members have been at the waterside during the autumn and winter successfully improving the habitat are the Bradford City AA fly fishing section. These guys haven’t been sitting around moaning about the poor quality fishing, they have gone out and improved the habitat which improves the quality of the fishing. There has been no sitting around at home, chasing grayling or coarse fishing for these members. They have got off their backsides and spent their time working at the waterside whenever conditions were suitable. Each Sunday a group of members could be seen on the river Aire armed not with rods and reels but saws, hammers, nails and screws, wire netting, timber, young trees, shovels and spades and other bits of equipment that might be needed in their improvement work. Well done gentlemen! You’re a credit to the sport of fly fishing. It’s nice to see more and more fly fishers giving up their fishing time for habitat improvement work. Two other clubs with an excellent record for habitat work are; Bowland Fly Fishers based in Lancashire, their work on the rivers Aire and Ribble has certainly improved the fishing tremendously and Prince Albert AS members, with waters all over the north, Wales and the midlands. All these anglers who give up their time must be congratulated on their efforts.

Learn to fly fish

This column on www.fishing.co.uk in conjunction with BBC Radio Lancashire ‘At The Waters Edge’ programme will be offering all readers of this column and their friends the chance to learn the easy and correct way to cast a fly during May. Further details in this column next month. If any of you want information on fly fishing or you would like to try fly fishing for pike this summer or wish to join me on one of my trips across the pond, please write to me, martin@flyfish.demon.co.uk.

Have a good start to the season and hopefully the weather will be kind to us all.