Now I can cast well, why don’t I catch more fish?

The simple answer to this little, or large problem, is fairly straightforward – Discipline!!
Be it the physical aspect of casting the fly to present it in the correct manner, or reading the river properly, all facets of fly-fishing for salmon [and I say “fly”, not lure fishing here], are challenging, and require great discipline for any human being. Although we are hunting, we are not hunting to stay alive, our lives are not at risk! However, on the inside, we are all driven by primeval instinct, but interestingly, we are also competitive by nature and find it really difficult to control both, especially in the “extremely unlevel playing field” of salmon fishing;, but why?
Primeval hunting instincts and methods learned from others point us to where the fish are likely to be resting and how best to present our fly in each particular pool. However, our competitive nature blinkers all of us, playing tricks with our mind, clouding our primeval instinct by focusing on how far we can throw the line rather than “hunting” our fish!
There are times when casting a long line will help catch a fish, but I have to say, those are few and far between. Many more fish are missed by fly-fishermen because they fail to read the water properly, focusing on casting as far as they can, covering as much water as possible rather than the manner in which the fly is fishing in a particular part of the pool.
Essentially, our desire to cover more water is stronger than that of thinking where the fish may be and covering that area of the pool accordingly.
Modern rods and lines present casters of mediocre ability to make casts of 35 yards or more, something which in the past could only be achieved by the best of casters. What nearly all fail to take account of is – The influence of the current between the rod point and the fly. The greater this distance the less potential control the angler has on the fly.
Time spent reading the river and observing the effect of the current on your fly, ultimately will provide you with many more takes and salmon landed. Throwing a pointless, ill judged and poorly executed long line, in the unlevel playing field which is salmon fishing, will get you nowhere.
Concluding – Other than salmon being present in the pool you are fishing, I believe, presenting your fly properly to salmon is the most important ingredient in catching them. Trust your instinct, hunt the fish, rather than have you fishing day degenerate into a “Casting” day! Discipline yourself, fish for the fish and not the far bank.




The picture above shows the effect of casting an overly long line at the wrong angle, the fly is now being “Dragged” around near the surface, fine in the summer or in warm water, but not in the spring. In this case and to fish the best part of the pool, the angler needs to wade deeper, use a shorter line, holding the rod tip higher than he would in the summer.

Alpine Trout Part two

I was lucky to grow up during a period with lots of salmon in Scottish rivers, then worked as a Ghillie though a period where those numbers declined ten-fold. When I was young salmon fishing was about targeting individual fish in the many different lies, fishing over fish and targeting the nice ones. How different this has become; most of the time we fish over empty lies and simply bump into the odd fish on the way past. Anyway, for those who know nothing else, or enjoy this, fine, great, everyone enjoys different things. Even now, with fewer fish, Salmon fishing is still a hunting game, a challenge to catch that illusive fish, or maybe, two or three if you’re lucky.
However, for me, I’ve just found what I’ve been missing, I’ve just found what floats my “fishing” boat! Last year I was fortunate enough to spend a really nice morning fishing Dry Fly in Ireland in the company of a real trout expert, Jason O Riordon. The whole “sight fishing thing took me back to my earlier days fishing for Salmon, the “hunting” instinct was back! Queue Alpine Trout 2011! As big as most salmon, in gin clear water and my personal move to the “dark side” is complete! Like my other passion, pigeon shooting, this is a real game of reconnaissance, targeting and working out which method is best for each fish, wow. Seeing fish of 70cm+ coming at my fly was like turning the clock back thirty years, and fight, those big trout are in this lovely clear water are like Sea Trout on the Spey or Deveron. I shall not write here of tactics as in this game I would classify myself as a real beginner; however, very similar rules apply. The same as salmon fishing and so many other things, for best results, listen to the locals or guides, they, and not some “table expert”, know best.
Many Thanks to Robert and Michaela Stroh, for arranging what for me is real fishing trip. Seeing, planning and anticipating the take, WOW!! Descriptions of each fish and the fishery to follow!!
Having said all this, Salmon fishing on the Spey, Dee, Tweed or Deveron, at the right time can also be fairly special!!!

The water in the pictures above and below, at its deepest is around 8 feet.

Trout around the Alps

Having wrapped up the fly casting course in Munich, we are now in a “very very secret” location fishing dries and nymphs for huge Trout in somewhere in the Alpine region. The Gin clear waters here are full of Brown and Rainbows weighing anything between 2 and 15lbs. So, after listening carefully and being shown the required tactics by my friends who have fished here for some time, I am now getting into the swing of catching some. The name of the game is Stealth, as well as placing the right fly in exactly the right place, high banks and overhanging bushes mean having an understanding of “Spey Techniques” helps, even with a 4weight rod and dry fly. Oh my god, I’m enjoying this so much...Sight fishing!! Yes...Yes...Yes, this is real hunting, peering through bushes, targeting my fish, assessing the correct tactics, stalking, and then placing the fly. My God, I feel like Brad Pitt [obviously better looking and with a mush superior belly, made even more superior by the wonderful Bavarian hospitality!] in that wonderful film; the river is clear and sparkling, with monster trout asserting their authority over the best lies. The location and fishing are simply stunning, and all this in the company of good friends. After a really busy spell of work, does it get much better than this?
I could write so much more, but hae, it 8am and there’s fish to be caught, My buddies are stirring, the morning rise is imminent, I’m sorry, more later!!!

This one was lying in very fast and undulating current, difficult to get the fly presented just right, but eventually - A nice fish after a great stalk!



Must get fishing more pics later!!!

EWF Fly Fishing Show

I’ve just drew breath from what is the best fly fishing show, well, certainly in Europe, and perhaps the world! Huge crowds were entertained by some of the world’s best fly casters, including, this year, the world’s best, Steve Rajeff.

Whilst many show focus on many other outdoor sports/pursuits, this one is purely fly fishing and I believe is well worthy of and merits the tag of best of Europe.

As expected the new Hardy Sintrix rod created a huge interest at this show and those coming to test it here were not in any way disappointed, well at least not until they were sold out. The show also gave people a chance to try the new double handed Sintrix rods also, with again, much interest in this state of the art product. I have so many pictures and stories from this event and will post them when I get home next week. The highlight of this is a video of Steve casting an 18 foot rod with a 100 feet of line SINGLE HANDED!! I will post this with Steve’s permission when I return. Quite unbelievable!!

Having finished and tidied up the show on Monday, Michael Mauri, Garry Scott and myself then had a very successful two day casting course with all students making great progress, with one in particular shocking all of us with his rapid movement from beginner to very accomplished caster in a single day.
Fishing for trout somewhere tomorrow, I hope they are as plentiful as the fish we saw and came to our wool during the course!
Great Pics and more stories on their way.

Free Online Casting Lessons

Here's a neat little idea. For all you who would like to - Brush up on their casting, learn about the double handed rod, need advice on what rod to buy based on your style/technique. I have looked at trying this for some time.
I figured, there are so many people who have access to video now, why not do what all the top sportsmen are doing and have their coach give them a lesson from anywhere in the world!
Yip, a neat idea. So here's the gig - Go to my website and look for Free Online Casting, Now to you who think the word Free and Scotsman cannot be used in the same sentence, look closely, no small print, Free, well at least one lesson! I know you will be impressed and I know it wil be helpful, which is why, I'm sure you'll want to come back for more!
Basically I have travelled around the world watching people making the same, or very similar mistakes, so I thought, what can I do to help.

Check it out at - www.speyonline.com