Monthly Roundup

     Hello everyone and my apologies that it has been a few months since I last wrote anything on this page but with the river fly fishing competitions up north and in Scotland and the fierce heat making fishing the southern lakes so bad for the last two months I have just overlooked my website even though I had a few successes but by and large have tried to disuade potential customers for the past few months as the fishing on our local lakes has been so poor. Indeed my syndicate water gave free fishing to its members for the whole month of August to encourage members to have a go, It did not really work as the fish were not feeding at all and the insect life was extinct.

     There has been a very worrying trend this year of a lack of any terrestrial insects from Scotland down to Essex and perhaps further. Usually a car's windscreen is a good indicator of fly flife and despite trips to Perthshire in Scotland and Northumbria my windscreen was clear. Sitting at my more local waters in Essex there has been little in the way of hatching insects at any time of the day or evening to the extent that I dug out some of my coarse fishing rods and had a few sessions after tench which were not very successful either. I did however reaffirm why I enjoy fly fishing more than coarse fishing - it's the amount of tackle that coarse anglers load themeselves down with.

    At the very end of April I was up on the River Tees in Durham to compete in the EPRFFA qualifier and even up there in the wilds there was no insect life. I failed to qualify for the England squad to fish the PSUK International in Scotland in June but did attend and fished in the "officials" match on the River Bran and Tay which I won. Again there was no fly life on the R. Bran but managed to catch a kamakazee trout on an upwing dry even though there were no terrestrials at all on the water. Not one other official had a fish. On day two on the R. Tay there was a hatch and plenty of flies drifting downstream but saw not a single rise and caught on Czeck nymphs on the bottom and won the match and a nice bottle of port.

    On the reservoir Loch Style qualifier held at Rutland I beat my boat partner but again failed to make the England team for the PSUK although I could have represented England had I been prepared to travel across to Northern Ireland as so many that did qualify opted out of fishing Loch Erne due to the quality of the fishing and the cost - upwards of £1000 for travel and accommodation before having a drink. I don't think England fielded a full team.

     Closer to home I took part in the EPSA  Croker Cup event at Chigboro Lakes and won both the individual and heaviest fish cups. This is a special match with competitors fishing 3 hours on each of the lakes swapping lakes after a compulsary lunch break. They are allowed only 1 fish from a swim and must move after catching and a maximum of 3 fish per lake. I was pretty lucky with my first fish on my first cast using a very small tequilla blob and having let the fly settle started to fill my pipe but before I could light it, the line ran taught and I had my first fish. In the end I had six rainbows and the second place managed five but we shared the cup for the heaviest fish both catching a trout of just under 3 lbs.

     Despite the heat during June/July and August I did have a good match at Grafham in July on a Regional EPFFA match when after 6 hours of fishing the known "hot spots" of The Seat, Gaynes Cove, G Bhouy and The Willows etc for little reward I motored to the other end of the reservoir for the last hour of the match and found fish in the open water towards Savages Bay. There was not another boat in sight and I hoped that the deep water and wind might bring cool layers in the isotherms up and with it the fish and I was right. My boat partner and I took a fish every other cast and came in with 10 whilst the next best boat only had 4.

     In August our planned match at Grafham was called off due to high winds but I have an AMFFC match due in mid September at Pitsford and hope the weather is cooler and the fish more responsive. I fished Pitsford in June when there was not a breath of wind and managed to lose a monster that was at least 8 lbs as I brought it to the net and then a couple of smaller fish during the day - I just could not keep a fish on. No-one had much of a bag that day and I was certainly not the only one to have a dry net.

     On a positive note I am looking forward to Autumn at both the lakes and reservoirs when the temperatures begin to fall and I hope that I might get a few days grayling fishing across in Wales so had best make sure all the reels are greased and the lines are prepared and wish you all the tightest of lines in the coming months. I hope to see some of you as clients who might wish to learn the gentle art of fly fishing or improve your abilities to catch consistantly and to learn what and why we use different methods. All the Best. Iain Fraser.