Fly Fishing and the National

Last Saturday I had to make a trip to Burton Springs fishery to drop off some posters for the Beginners day I’m running in June.

I arrived about 2.00pm in blazing sunshine and was greeted by Adam who runs the fishery along with his father. These guys are really friendly and switched on when it comes to running a venue, always on hand with useful advice and a smile…………what a refreshing change compared to some of the places I have been to in the past. If you get a chance to visit, don’t hesitate, you’re sure to have a great day. They have even just added a pleasure lake where you can fly fish for carp, a great alternative in the summer when the days get too hot for the trout.

High Sun at Burton Springs

After putting up the posters in the ticket room and the lodge, I thought long and hard for all of thirty seconds before deciding I just had to wet a line!! Probably not the best conditions with a big sun high in the sky but I couldnt resist having a go anyway.

After wandering around the lake to my chosen spot and sat on a bench to tackle up whilst keeping one eye on the water. No sign of any fish for the ten minutes or so while I was sat there…….no surprise there given the conditions. I decided to fish a black buzzer deep under an indicator as there were a few midge coming off the water, not everyones cup of tea I know but needs must sometimes.

I fished this method for an hour or so varying the depth, fishing the buzzer static and with a retrieve without even a sniff off a fish. Time to change, so I then tied on a bead head Damsel, fished that through the depths and with different retrieves but still no joy. At this point I realised it was time for a different plan of attack so I decided to retire to the lodge for a cup of coffee until the sun had dropped in the sky a bit.

Who stole my seat!!

On arriving at the lodge I discoverd Adam and his father glued to the t.v. as the Grand National was on, I’d totally forgotton about this and usually have an unsucessful flutter on the race myself. Adam on the otherhand had a bet on. The race started and so did all the shouting and cheering with it, any anglers in earshot must have wondered what was going on!

Some rod bending action
…….followed by a Rainbow at the net

Race over I returned to the lake to find a few fish moving so I changed my set up to a black Harry Potter dry with a black buzzer suspended a couple of feet underneath it New Zealand style with the result being the first fish in the net after five minutes. The action really got going as the evening progressed with fish coming to both the dry and the buzzer, all in all a great session after a very slow start. Sometimes its just good to take a break if the fish aren’t playing ball, sit back and realx and enjoy the surroundings and wildlife………or go horse racing!!

Which Fly Rod? Part1 Rod Actions.

‘Which fly rod should I buy?’ is probably one of the most common questions I get asked when teaching someone new to fly fishing. Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this but I hope to make a bit clearer when you come to choose your first or next rod.

In simple terms, the ‘action’ of the rod is the way it bends or flexes under the weight of the line as you make a cast.  Firstly you should choose a rod with an action that suits your casting style and the type of fishing you intend doing , there are three main actions to chose from :-

THROUGH ACTION – These fly rods are designed for close range fishing with small flies and light tippets and are not designed for distance casting. When casting, the rod will flex through the entire blank from the handle to the tip ring. These rods are not that common these days and are a bit of a speciality tool, they can feel a bit like waving a length of limp spaghetti around in the air and are definitely an acquired taste. The through action rod was common place many years ago when rod manufacturing was in its infancy but there are still a few rod makers out there that produce this blank for the ‘traditionalist’ but to get the best out of this rod you will need a very smooth and slow casting action.

My worst experience with a through action rod came a few years ago whilst guiding a client on a river. He had an old split cane rod which he offered me a cast with. I happily took the rod from him as I’m always interested in casting a rod that is new to me………I soon handed it back after my first forward false cast!! I had made a nice crisp, abrupt stop on the forward stroke and watched in horror as the tip of the rod just carried on going for what seemed an eternity………almost submerging itself under the water…..this rod was not for me!!

MID TO TIP ACTION – The best action for all round fly fishing, this bank will flex or bend from the middle of the rod through to the tip. These rods have the benefit of being able to deal with fairly small flies and light tippets but also have some power in reserve for achieving some distance in the cast. I always recommend this type of action to a beginner or to someone who does not have a very powerful casting stroke. From a beginners point of view they will get a ‘feel of the cast’ with this action and they are ‘forgiving’ so a beginners timing does not have to be spot on. This does not mean that this rod will cast itself; you will still need to have a reasonable casting action to throw a good loop.

TIP ACTION – As it says on the tin, this rod will flex in just the last couple of feet or so. This is a rod designed with distance in mind. Master casting with a tip action rod and you will be hitting the horizon with your fly!! If you are a beginner steer clear of this action as your timing will have to be spot on and you will find it hard to get a feel for the cast with its stiff action. The best bet would be to learn with a mid to tip action then progress to the tip action if you want to achieve greater distance with your cast. These rods are not really suitable for light tippet work as you are likely to ‘snap off’ when you strike into a fish as there is little give in them.

This is of course a basic guide to rod actions, there are rods that fall in between these categories, mainly down to the recovery rate of the blank (the way the rod straightens after being bent), and some recover quickly, others not so fast. This is what makes each rod feel unique when you cast it and why different rods suit different people in different fishing situations. Don’t ever be fooled into thinking all rods are the same, my advice is if you get the chance cast a rod before you buy it, it can be a big outlay so that you want to get it right!!

If you would like to learn to fly fish or improve, I am running a beginners day at Burton Springs Fishery near Bridgewater on 18th June, drop me a line for more details.

Fly Fishing In The Sun

Just had a great session, fly fishing in the sun, with Neil from Ilminster at Flowers Farm lakes. Arriving at the lakeside it was great to see everything basked in bright sunshine, although a little chilly first thing I was hoping that the sun would warm up things enough to get some fly activity around mid-day.

It was really interesting talking to Neil, he was originally from Canada and came to England some thirty odd years ago. His father had left him some fly fishing kit so he thought it was about time he gave it a go himself. Having described to me some fishing trips from Canada many years ago, i hope he would not be too disappointed with our fishing over here!!

We started the session with me running through all the tackle we would be using and what it did, Neil was great to teach as you could see he was really taking it all in and would ask plenty of questions as we went. We then started the casting, roll casts first as this really lets someone feel and see how the fly rod work without having to keep the line airborne. After a while Neil was really getting the hang of these rolls and was understanding the basic mechanics of casting so we progressed to the overhead cast, pick up and lay down cast to start, then false casting and before you knew it Neil was shooting a good length of line.

Following the casting we talked about leader set up and fly selection and before long Neil was landing his very first fly caught trout!!

Neil showing ‘good hands’

 

We ended the session with re-capping the casting so Neil can go away and practice then he’s coming back for another session where we will go more in depth into fishing techniques…………………..look forward to seeing Neil again, it was a real pleasure.