Tag: browntrout

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Wilderness Fly Fishing Weekend

Wilderness Fly Fishing Weekend 16th – 18th May 2014

A weekend of camping and fly fishing on some of Exmoor’s wild rivers surrounded by stunning scenery.

Join myself and rivers expert Lewis Hendrie, a member the England European Rivers fly fishing team and local guide, for a weekend of guided fly fishing on some truly wild rivers and streams.

This course is suitable for a river novice or a more experienced fly angler wishing to learn some more skills and techniques. There will be an element of walking over the weekend (around 30 minutes to one of the beats) so you will need to be reasonably fit, although the walking is usually overshadowed by the stunning surrounding scenery!

The weekend will start by meeting up at the camp site around 3.00pm on the Friday, set up camp and then a meal around the camp fire with plenty of fishy banter!

After breakfast on the second day we depart for the water where you will spend the day catching some truly beautiful wild brown trout whilst learning some new river skills. At the end of day it’s back to camp for some food and an evening around the camp fire.

Breakfast on Sunday will be followed by packing up camp before making our way to a different river and fishing until 3.00 pm. We will all meet up after the fishing for a quick debrief and to say our goodbyes.

Cost for the weekend will be £225.00 per person.

All camping fees, fishing permits, food and guiding fees are included in the cost. All you need to do is to bring a tent, sleeping bag and a chair to sit around the fire on! Any tackle you need can be supplied along with waders although please feel free to bring your own if you have any.

To reserve a place a deposit of £75 is required, or you may pay the full amount if you wish at the time of booking. Any balance must be paid by 14 days before the course date.

As this is a river course, it will be subject to cancellation due to weather conditions, so please bear this in mind, although a full refund will be given in this event.

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Thinking About Trying Fly Fishing?

Thinking about trying fly fishing? So what is fly fishing all about?

Put simply, fly fishing is a particular method of fishing where flies made from fur and feather are used to catch fish. The biggest difference between this and other forms of fishing is that no weight is used at the end of the line to cast out your fly, it is the fly line itself which becomes the weight used to enable the cast. Look at any fly line and you will see it is very thick compared to standard nylon line used in other forms of fishing, it is the thickness and weight of this line which is used to flex the rod and catapult out the very light fly across the water.

Why fly fishing?

Well if you think that fishing is a boring pastime where you just cast out your line and sit on the bank and wait for a fish then you really should take a closer look at fly fishing.

Fly fishing is all about going after a fish rather than waiting for it to come to you. It is a very mobile form of fishing where you tend to carry minimal equipment and keep on the move, having a few casts here and there before moving to the next spot, it’s a really active way of fishing.

It can be perceived as a very exclusive sport, available to only the privileged who wear tweeds and deerstalker hats and fish for salmon and trout…….far from it today, it really is a sport for all whatever your age, sex, ability, or social standing!

Not only do we fly fish for the salmon and trout, but more and more these days other species are becoming more popular targets. Fish such as carp, pike and perch as well as saltwater species like bass, mackerel and mullet and a whole host of other species are now targeted by the fly angler. So no matter where you live or what budget you may have there is always a fly fishing opportunity to suit you.

So what tackle do you need?

As I mentioned before, you don’t need masses of equipment, to start with just a rod reel and line a box with a few flies and maybe a net will get you going which can be purchased for as little as £50 to £80, so it needn’t cost you a fortune to give it a go, then if you find you like it you can then go on to add to your tackle collection.

As far as size of rods and lines goes, you will see that there is quite a selection. As a starter outfit you should look to go for a rod of around 9ft that casts a 5 or 6 weight line. This set up is pretty middle of the road as regards size goes and can be used on a variety of venues for various species.

So why not give fly fishing a go? If you think you wouldn’t like fishing give fly fishing a try and you might just be surprised!

 

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Introduction To Czech Nymphing

Czech nymphing is a method of fly fishing where a team of flies are fished at close range with a short line tight to the riverbed.

The term “Czech nymphing” derives from the 1980’s when the Czech national fly fishing team adopted the method from local fly fishers whilst competing at an international match in Poland. It was found to be a very efficient way of catching fish hugging the riverbed and so the team went on to use it with great success.

The idea with this method is to get the flies down to the bottom as quickly as possible so these weighted nymphs have a slim profile to aid this. Normally a team of three flies are fished on the leader with the heaviest fly positioned in the middle which pulls the trio of flies down to the riverbed where the other two flies fish just above the bottom. If you fish the heaviest fly on the point the top dropper fly will fish too high in the water and over the top of the fish.

 

With this method there is no real fly cast involved, in fact if you try and use a conventional fly cast you will end up with the mother of all tangles! All that is required is a few feet of fly line outside the rod tip then just a gentle lob upstream. Allow the flies to sink, then raise the rod tip and follow the flies back under the rod tip, being careful to keep the fly line just above the surface of the water. Watch the fly line and leader then strike at any abnormal movement you see in these such as a slight dip of the line, a stop of the line or a sideways movement. To aid bite detection you can colour the tip of the fly line or attach some form of indicator to the top of the leader. The key is to follow your flies with the rod tip and keep in contact with them at all times. Once the flies have passed you and are downstream all that’s needed is to give a short sharp strike to raise the flies towards the surface then a gentle flick upstream to set them fishing again.

Because this method is fished at close range it works best in broken water which makes the angler less visible to the fish but remember to still wade slowly and carefully as not to spook the fish. Water with a bit of colour is again favourable, again offering the angler some cover. Make sure you cover all the water with your flies from bank to bank, especially the creases just off of the main flow where a lot of fish tend to sit and don’t be shocked to be catching fish you’re almost standing on!