The Fly Fishing Thread

[nigelpugh7]

Bonefish Blues said:

I assume the author is referring to rivers in their natural state?

It’s a fascinating subject.

If you look at this older OS map of my local river the Severn it certainly seems to ring true, it’s got an amazing amount of twists and turns.

[Bonefish Blues]

I used to fish the Severn just North of Welshpool. An incredibly dynamic river, it changed course between visits. Farmers would lose some land on the outside of one meander and gain some at the next bend.

[Bonefish Blues]

coppice said:

timbob said:

otolith said:

Enjoy!

Don’t think that a lack of trout means no fly fishing though, coarse fish are a great challenge on the fly. Dace are harder than trout by far!

That’s something I’d not even thought of! How do fly fishers get looked at by the coarse anglers along the various usual river stretches? I assume you don’t just go wading up and through the area they’ve been pre-baiting!!

Just pick somewhere small and overgrown - obviously not best to wade through somebody's barbel swim but these days if you avoid barbel territory you will hardly see a soul . Lots of scope- drains for rudd and perch , canals and stillwaters can all be flyfished , but careneeded if many people around. The ideal is small, overgrown stream - don't worry about the casting , as with practice and use of side and roll cast it is not difficult .

This chap's posts are worth reading

https://www.flyfishing.co.uk/members/skateboard-da...

[timbob]

Bonefish Blues said:

This chap's posts are worth reading

https://www.flyfishing.co.uk/members/skateboard-da...

Wonderful, thank you for the link. There seems to be a quite well regarded book about fly fishing for coarse fish, by a chap with a good blog as well.

Not an avenue I’d thought about exploring (I had assumed it was trout or nothing on the fly), but looks really interesting

[coppice]

He's not the only one to have written on that subject (he said, immodestly). Try A Dream of Jewelled Fishes and The Glorious Uncertainty by ....err... me . Both cover the subject , as well as lots of other stuff.

Edited by coppice on Tuesday 22 August 18:44

[RichB]

coppice said:

He's not the only one to have written on that subject (he said, immodestly). Try A Dream of Jewelled Fishes and The Glorious Uncertainty by ....err... me . Both cover the subject , as well as lots of other stuff.

From Anglers Net website: "A Dream of Jewelled Fishes (recommended to me by C Yates) is not a little gem, but one of the finest angling books to have been written in modern times. It's a very BIG gem." I will have to find a copy.

[otolith]

A recommendation from Yates is not to be sniffed at! I shall also get a copy.

[dickymint]

coppice said:

He's not the only one to have written on that subject (he said, immodestly). Try A Dream of Jewelled Fishes and The Glorious Uncertainty by ....err... me . Both cover the subject , as well as lots of other stuff.

Edited by coppice on Tuesday 22 August 18:44

Bought your first book just now on Amazon. Looked at your second one but it's 40 quid and a used copy I'll shop around once i've read the first

[coppice]

You can buy the third instead - it's all about cars , driving and motorsport. A snip at £10. 58 on Amazon

[RichB]

coppice said:

You can buy the third instead - it's all about cars , driving and motorsport. A snip at £10. 58 on Amazon

Slow down, I've just ordered the first one!

[timbob]

So, I booked myself and went on an introductory morning session/casting lesson at my most local stillwater the other morning. Obviously with the current weather, it was bright blue skies and approaching 30 degrees by lunchtime, so not the best conditions - but perfect still weather for a bit of casting practice.

It seemed to go quite well, I picked up the cast timing quite well and was able to get the line to out straight ahead. Wasn’t quite able to translate that to shooting very much line though - I think, in retrospect with the index finger grip on top (rather than the more natural thumb on top for me), I was struggling to get a firm enough “stop” on the forward cast. Plenty to practice. We had one fish on, late morning, when a fish took the fly straight away as my instructor cast under a tricky tree and was handing the rod over. Didn’t quite keep enough tension on and it got away…

I shall definitely be back in a week or two when the weather turns - just got to kit myself out now with enough essentials to fish independently!

[dickymint]

timbob said:

So, I booked myself and went on an introductory morning session/casting lesson at my most local stillwater the other morning. Obviously with the current weather, it was bright blue skies and approaching 30 degrees by lunchtime, so not the best conditions - but perfect still weather for a bit of casting practice.

It seemed to go quite well, I picked up the cast timing quite well and was able to get the line to out straight ahead. Wasn’t quite able to translate that to shooting very much line though - I think, in retrospect with the index finger grip on top (rather than the more natural thumb on top for me), I was struggling to get a firm enough “stop” on the forward cast. Plenty to practice. We had one fish on, late morning, when a fish took the fly straight away as my instructor cast under a tricky tree and was handing the rod over. Didn’t quite keep enough tension on and it got away…

I shall definitely be back in a week or two when the weather turns - just got to kit myself out now with enough essentials to fish independently!

Well done timbob that's great news you'll soon pick it up. As for 'shooting the line' it's all about finding the sweet spot of your rod and line combo and the amount of line in the air before final release - have a google of 'double hauling' in fact here's a good one...........



Best advice is fund a field to practice on

[otolith]

I don’t know whether this is inspirational or depressing

[timbob]

dickymint said:

Well done timbob that's great news you'll soon pick it up. As for 'shooting the line' it's all about finding the sweet spot of your rod and line combo and the amount of line in the air before final release - have a google of 'double hauling' in fact here's a good one...........



Best advice is fund a field to practice on

Great video! Doesn’t he make it look easy…!

[nigelpugh7]

Can’t believe none of us have posted on here for over 6 months.

Personally I didn’t have a good last half of the year in 2023.

At the end of August we had a huge fire in my garages at home, I lost a lot of my belongings, and lost of my fishing gear too sadly.

Amazingly we still don’t have the claim sorted out, but we are hopeful to have that resolved soon.

So I need to get out fishing soon, I’ve really missed getting out and about in the countryside.

So who’s been out and what have you caught?

[otolith]

Not fly fished since June, when I failed to catch mullet but did get this little blighter.

[coppice]

Not on fly but a nice perch on dropshot lure of 2-13, and a PB chub of 6-10 on my special blue cheese paste .

The near endless rain has screwed my fishing this winter but I've also had some lovely sessions trotting for grayling , with fish to 1-14 .

[Nola25]

I’m just about to start fly fishing

Unusually carp fish but having a 3 yr old and busy life I struggle to get any decent time on the bank (can’t stand day ticket fishing, preferring to spend a few nights away) and having gone float fishing a couple of times, it really doesn’t do it for me, hence giving fly fishing a go.

Have a taster day booked at the end of March at Eyebrook reservoir.

I may have already bought a cheap rod, reel and some other kit from Maxcatch, hopefully they won’t end up on eBay in April 😀