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Today, I launch a ‘new page’ entitled “Land of my Fathers” which will record my attempt to ‘net’ as many counties in Wales as I can!

I have three in the bag…so just 19 to go.

Roll on March 3rd.

Defensive, negative…me?

Me, he (I) responded indignantly !

Believe me, I have tried.

I have sat in front of my MacBook Air and for hours, searching the internet in hope of a breakthrough find.

Regardless, I have walked the banks of so many streams in that flattest of counties called Bedfordshire, peering amongst weed, along tempting margins, wading occasionally as I like to do, looking for nymphal shucks, imago forms, and begging to see a swirl, a rise, or any evidence at all, of the presence of salmo truta.

I have spoken with countless fishers in said counties asking where and whether. And so many have given me tips, even though most were just over the Herts border!

Aarrghhh!

Merseyside…was once a part of Lancashire, so I should have set my sites on our Counties as established before 1997! But I didn’t. Malcolm Greenhalgh was adamant. There are no trout in Merseyside.

There is no doubt that there are probably brown trout in both counties, somewhere, but now I wish, dear reader, to refer you to the study and detail contained in ‘Freshwater fishes in Britain…the species and their distribution’, a work published by Harley Books, and compiled by several, in conjunction with the EA, and the Joint Nature Conservation Agency.

The distribution map on page 111, clearly shows the indigeneity of our native trout species…but look. Where is distribution of our fario wanting?

My goodness – Bedfordshire and Merseyside!

So now what am I going to do?

Got it! I am heading for the Severn Bridge

Wish me luck

Scan

Readers will know that my first experience of fly fishing was at school at Christ College in Brecon, which is probably why, and to this day, the river Usk remains my favourite trout stream. I have fished it on numerous beats from way down in the town of Usk, and all the way upstream to close to Sennybridge. I have been lucky enough to catch many wild trout in Powys.

En route to Cardiff for a board meeting in the ‘noughties’ I stopped off overnight at the Bell in Skenfrith, and landed half a dozen fish in the early evening from their beat on the Monnow, so ‘netted’ Monmouthshire.

And last year, in the then S&TA, Annual Auction, I ‘won’ a season’s membership of the Merthyr Tydfil AA, and fished their lovely waters with Gareth Lewis and Daniel Popp, to capture the county of Merthyr Tydfil, too.

So surely the logical extension of this is to…well, of course it is!!!

There are twenty two (22) counties in Wales, and I have caught wild trout in just three of them, so in 2016, I hope to add to this number.

I will target South Wales, and the plotting and planning begins NOW!

Any help and tips will be more than welcome!!

I caught this little fella this week from the Gordolasque in the southern Alps, about an hour north of Nice. He came from the stream, at 2000m+ above sea level, thats 6500 feet, or nearly twice as high as the highest point in the UK, and the highest point from which I have ever caught a WBT…and all thanks to my talented guide Marc Boesch http://www.guide-peche-paca.fr/

My friends and contemporaries are lucky, for as young as we think we still are, (I am not prepared to reveal how old we are!) and in spite of the fact that minor injuries and hurts take a little longer to heal, they do. And we can still clamber down rocky banks in Devon, wade in fast flowing Icelandic rivers, behave like mountain goats, although less elegantly, along the banks of Italian Alpine streams, and leap in and out of a drift boat scudding down New York State’s Delaware River. We can. We are lucky.

Some never could.

Some could, but now cannot.

But like to fish, nevertheless.

My friend Elizabeth Buchanan’s father is one such man. And the inspiration for what followed came from the desire of his daughter and his dear friend, Alan Faulkener, that her father/his friend, could resume a personal passion, in spite of…whatever.

And the Wheelyboat Trust was established to facilitate this through the provision of boats with wheelchair access.

This post is made with conviction, but gratitude , too, that I still can. And because WE still can,

I hope that, you, my Reader, might take a second to reflect on how our dexterity and mobility enables our enjoyment of the best pastime known to man, but, also, how a small contribution from my many fishing friends might help some, less dexterous, to be afloat and enjoy the sensation of that splashy rise, take, pull, the netting, the photographing…you know what I mean…and for many more times than might previously have been possible without the support of the Wheelyboat Trust

Please take a look at their website – http://www.wheelyboats.org/ and make a small donation!

Thanks

TM

I was privileged to be invited to fish the Bishopstoke Club water at Twyford last weekend, by Richard Bernays.

I caught a couple of fine browns…but this was secondary to be able to fish this most beautiful of beats.

My view…the Itchen is our premier chalk stream.

Thanks, Richard.

I was lucky enough to fish the hallowed water of the Temple Beat on the Dove, near Hartington in May, where Izaak and Charles spent time together, so long ago. What a privilege, and my efforts yielded five fish. Lucky me! The beat is keepered, expertly, by Stephen Moores, and he generously walked the beat with me pointing out some maybe spots, in the hope that I would enjoy as much as he wanted, at this special place.

I did!

The next day, Mac MacElwain, visiting with PatMac from their home in Christchurch, NZ that is, and I fished the lower Dove on the Norbury Fishing Club water at Ellastone as guests of my pal John Holberry. His is a super piece of water, reminding me of the true quality of trouting in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Cheers, John!!