APRIL BLOG

Bit of a mix up getting the last blog properly posted so my apologies for that, and hence a quick update because of the rapid changes that have happened these past few weeks. Covid 19 has impacted all of us  and it’s going to be tough to talk about what I love most  -  going fishing  -  because we are all in the same situation of not being able to go for the foreseeable future.

It’s all the more frustrating when my job involves seeing fish every day, and here, at Dever Springs where I now live, there are two lovely lakes plus a stretch of river, and not an angler in sight.

Trout fisheries and fish farms throughout the UK are in a dilemma with thousands of pounds worth of stock which either isn’t being fished for or is sitting in ponds consuming food, and not being able to be moved.

Even more frustrating, is not knowing whether or not we will be able to travel internationally to go on holidays and fishing trips. The costs, and knock on effects, are going to be felt for a very long time.

However, it will all come to an end, and hopefully the fishing world will recover.

Happily for me I can isolate quite easily, and work at the same time. There’s stacks of jobs to do on the fishery and much of it wouldn’t get done in normal times so it’s a great opportunity to make the place look better, and at times do the little things that make the normal day to day jobs that little bit easier.

I like making things from bits and pieces and it’s satisfying to contribute towards the fisheries future.

OK so I can’t get out and about to do feature jobs or guiding, but fly tying is something to while away the hours and I have been building up stocks for guests on Alaska trips, as well as tying a few odds and sods for myself.

One of my favourite dries is the Renegade, and that’s all due to my good friend Lou Hegedus from Fort Collins in Colorado. It’s good to have friends all around the world and Lou is certainly up there with the best.

It’s amazing what you accumulate in fly tying bits and pieces. While sorting through some old boxes I found a few ‘blind eye’ salmon hooks which I will never use so I posted them off to Dan Jordan in Anchorage , Alaska because he makes the most exquisite classic salmon patterns. Dan befriended me over thirty years ago on one of my first Alaska trips an it’s nice to give to people who appreciate it.

I learnt to tie when I was 14 ( ye Gods, that’s the best part of sixty years ago), and it’s odd how you can switch from a size 2 salmon iron and lashing on strips of rabbit to make the Dolly Llama to then carefully putting little hackles onto a size 14. Maybe that’s what an entire lifetime of fly tying makes possible.

Whatever, I do still enjoy it, and before this shut down I had been doing a little tuition again. Fly tying classes were a big part of my life for a very long time and back when club nights were a bigger feature than they are now I often did demo evenings. They were fun too, until one evening someone stole my tying scissors, and that sort of put paid to that session!

Seems there’s always someone on the lookout for a chance to steal and a recent thieving incident here reminded me of occasions on the syndicate I used to run back in Surrey when things like a quad bike, chain saw etc would disappear within minutes of turning your back. Someone simply must be watching for the chance and the countryside community do their best to share information and catch some of the scum who steal.

On a brighter topic, this week I committed flights for next March (2021) to go down to Argentina to fish again on Lago Strobel for its immense rainbows. Taking guests on these trips is one of the most pleasurable things I do and the gradual build up prior to eventually getting on the plane is all a part of the overall experience.

Got to assume that by then we will be over this pandemic and the world will have worked out how to manage it.   

March 2020

Second blog!  The first one produced lots of really kind comments so that’s decided me, I’m going to keep it running.

It’s been quite a busy few weeks and interesting times too with a different style of writing for the features I now do in Trout and Salmon. Bit more planning for each one but happily it does mean still working with photographer Peter Gathercole, and as always it’s almost constant banter while we set about getting the job done. My lovely wife Sue travels along on feature days and gets to see parts of the UK that most likely wouldn’t happen otherwise and it’s good to have some company on the long drives.

Always appreciate being lucky enough to see so many different fisheries and I’m constantly learning new things. For a large part of my life I have been involved with the Fishery Managers Association trying to act on behalf of all fisheries, and the interaction with owners, managers and fish farmers has been really rewarding.

But, gradually it became harder and harder to get cooperation from fisheries for meetings, or indeed membership, such that much was expected, but for no input or involvement and yet when we go on feature days a lot of it is about talking fishery politics, what’s available in terms of stock, weed control, problems with lice, algae and all other fishery matters.

I will always champion the fishery people and it’s so much harder now with the advent of social media and the emergence of so many armchair experts.

I sometimes look at some of the sites and see comments about fisheries that very clearly come from people with no idea of the realities of running a day ticket water and then too there are posts from fishery owners/managers constantly knocking fisheries in other parts of the country.  Suffice to say that each fishery is different to another, has costs which are likely none too easy to compare and it’s entirely up to the fishery as to how to market itself and then it’s down to the angler as to which ones to frequent.

The fish themselves cost much the same throughout the country – providing we compare like with like – and if you don’t like a particular water then find another. Better still, take on one yourself and get into the real world.

It’s sometimes quite funny now when an angler starts to tell me how a fishery should be run, because the conversation seems to stop real quick when I just ask which one he or she has actually run.

I most certainly don’t regret the 34 years of my life spent running a syndicate trout water and again now these past two years on a day ticket fishery although I think we do all have some regrets in life.

One of mine is that although I am Cornish born and bred, there is so much of my home County that I have yet to see. Indeed there are lots of places in Cornwall that I would dearly like to fish but in late February a three day visit to the Lizard area let Sue and I go to see some of the glorious coastal villages (if sadly empty in winter) and some of the old tin mine structures.

While having a couple days with an old school friend in Bude up on the north coast I was able to do a mid day talk to his fishing club at their AGM and that was a genuine pleasure. It’s good to meet anglers around the country and in an ideal world, magazine editors, and indeed myself, would love to be able to get around and discuss matters with as many fisheries as possible, but it just isn’t practicable within the budget set by the publishers for each issue.

Actually been quite a busy time these past weeks as I have been doing a couple of fly tying lessons at home and then was down in deepest Sussex doing a teaching day for a lovely club.

With a regular client we had a crack at carp on fly in early March but in reality it was still too cold and wet. But, perseverance pays off and we got a few fish moving under bushes and two to the net. It will get better and there’s some more 20’s on the cards for this year.

Finally, just this last week, I arranged a get together here at Dever Springs for guests on previous Alaska and Argentina trips along with some of the ones booked for this coming July to Alaska. It worked real well and new friendships were made. Sue and I did the mid day nosh with fried pheasant breast strips, a whole smoked Sparctic trout and a pate’ made again from Sparctic in exactly the same way as it’s done on the Alaska base camp. Bit of a busy day for us but very worthwhile.

The July Alaska trip is full for this year and already I’m looking to reservations for the next two years as well as looking to Strobel in Argentina for next March. Hosting these trips is something I thoroughly enjoy and now with thirty plus years of experience I’m sort of getting the hang of it.

Finally for this month’s blog, here’s a puzzle.

Why do I so often see facebook posts of really nicely tied flies which are then wetted and photographed with the caption that this is how the fly will look in the water.

That’s how a wetted fly looks when it is OUT of the water.

IN the water it looks exactly the same as it does in the air.

PETE’S BLOG 1

For the past umpteen years I have written a monthly column for Trout Fisherman magazine, and really enjoyed the opportunity to put together thoughts and observations on a myriad of fishy related subjects.

The magazine has now combined with Trout and Salmon and I will continue doing features on the smaller stillwaters, but because I will miss the regular column, it seemed a good idea to start up a blog, so here goes with the first.

February 2020 came in with a bit of a bang as storm Ciara hit the country  and down at Dever Springs in Hampshire, where I now live, it really was a windy day and yet we still had some stalwarts out on the water. The fish certainly don’t care about the weather and actually they really enjoy these super rough days. The we were hit by storm Dennis and that was a really wet and windy couple days.

I had only been home a few days from fishing in Argentina and it seemed like being back on Lake Strobel with its usual gales. It’s always hard to explain that down in southern Patagonia it really is a bleak and windy part of the world. Strobel is 3000 feet high and being some 8 miles by 10 miles the winds can soon generate big waves.  Nevertheless, its trout are stupendous and the best conditioned I have ever seen. Connect with a Strobel double and you really do then discover just how hard a trout can pull.

We were a small group this year, just me, with regulars Clem Booth and Rod Sturdy but we had amazing fishing once again. Clem was top rod with a magnificent 19 pounder and proved that a spey rod could conquer the winds. Rod, by his own admission is an irregular fly fisher but had his share of doubles and again was able to advance his techniques. I do wonder why some of the UK’s top reservoir anglers don’t give Strobel a go, they would have an absolute ball. By no means am I saying that it’s easy fishing but apply yourself and the rewards are there.

The terrain is tough, and it pays to respect it because the simplest thing can make life a little harder. All I did this year was to stand by a giant boulder and take a picture of the encrustation on it when my feed just slid away on the sand and down I went. Pathetic really but my goodness the bash on my leg has taken some sorting and I ended up in Winchester A and E a couple days after getting home. Seems it’s just severe bruising and the giant lump will take quite some time to go down. Teach me to be more careful in future although I don’t think I could have done anything different as it all happened faster than I could think.

My best fish this year went 15lb and as ever was truly stunning but I lost too many of the big fish I hooked. Usually through the hook hold just giving way, no breakages, no hooks straightened, they just came loose. Going to be a major rethink of my flies for next year because this has happened for the last three years. Or maybe it’s just me!!

Plans for 2021 are to go in March when it’s often better weather and also coming to the end of their season and a better chance to hit with a trophy fish.

Check in with me if I can help with advice or organisation. I have been running trips for more than 30 years and it remains such a pleasure to see people experience something they never thought possible.

It all started with a trip to Alaska and there’s something that draws me back each year. When I added up the weeks it now amounts to well over two years of my life which has been up there in the 49 State – and I love it.

With a full group all arranged I’m now starting to get some flies tied ready for the annual July trip. The next thing is to plan a get together at Dever when I will do a big plate of the pate served up to everyone at the end of each day on the river. I have the recipe and the smoked fish and know that I can match the taste from having already done one very successful day. It’s a good chance for guests to get to meet and makes for a fun day too.

Most everything else is ready now. Hotel rooms booked, car hire arranged, internal flights done. Next thing will be licences online or possibly when we go visit a branch of Cabelas in Anchorage. I do a day trip on the Friday prior to flying out to the river and although it’s a lot of driving there’s no doubt that people really enjoy the chance to see something else of Alaska.

So, what else of late. Well Sue and I went to Stafford up on the M6 for a first experience to the BFFI show. Luckily we planned on the Saturday and missed Sunday’s big storm. I was amazed as to the amount of fly tying gear and indeed the number of people there. Lovely to meet old friends and lots of new faces too. We watched Dave Felce’s talk on the history of carp on the fly and what a well researched piece it was. 

That amazingly talented Charles Jardine was casually putting together watercolours while talking to virtually everyone that went past. Undoubtedly the UK number 1 he’s been a completely reliable friend for 50 years.

His work with Fishing for Schools is all absorbing and he is planning on running the London Marathon once again to raise funds. I only wish I had half his talent, and energy.

So what else this time? I just did a pod cast with my old friend Pete Tyjas who runs Fly Culture. We talked for an hour on all manner of fishy things and the time just flew by. Look out to hear my ramblings which will go out sometime in April and I guess that’s about it for my first effort at a blog. More next month.