Tag Archives: Orvis

The Ginger Beer Beat

11 Saturday Jun 2016

Posted by in Hampshire

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If you are a fisherman you will get this.

If you are not, you may not.

But when a fisherman, the most generous of species ‘homo sapiens’, invites someone who is not a fisherman, to try…

Then links him with someone of patience who wishes to share, to impart…

Some magic can happen.

Such was my day with Satts (Chris Satterthwaite) and novitiate, Ed Pickard, Satts’ running chum, who has never fished before, therefore. Which is why Chris organised Orvis guide/instructor, Brian Robinson (surely one of the best guides in Hampshire) to assist Ed’s entry to our lovely world.

Coffee and early day exchanges done, it was to the riverbank, for some explanation from Brian, of the history of the English chalk stream, and on this bridge

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from where we all wondered at the streaming weed, the clear water and the odd fish, holding quite deep. A Mayfly excited, but there were not many, which led to a discourse on what worries so many – the state of our chalk streams and the impacts of man’s actions on them. (The S&TC UK deserve all our support for raising the profile of this problem)

Kitted up, Chris and I walked the beat, leaving Brian to get Ed casting, and before long, Brian declared that Ed was “getting it”. So many listen to his casting technique suggestions, he said, and then put them into practice, but then just as quickly, forget to. But Ed, an eager listener (and hearer!) quickly understood the 10pm to 1pm orthodox, and whilst once or twice the rod dropped to below the horizontal on the back cast (and whose doesn’t some times) and Brian already knew that Ed, who was already throwing the line sufficiently well to go to the river bank, was ready for lesson two…fish spotting!”

And there were quite a few, on view.

There was little fly life though, just a May or two and a few small olives, and the fish were lying well down in the water, so, in due course, Brian opted for a weighted nymph for Ed’s first cast to the flow.

Many forget that for a beginner, hooking is one thing, but playing, netting and landing, is yet another skill which has to be learnt. But how do you learn to do this before you have learned to hook something. Well Brian’s answer to this was cunning. Both went into serious spotting mode and it was Brian who cast to a targeted fish, and with his considerable experience, he secured an induced take quite quickly, whereupon he handed the rod to Ed, and calmly talked him through the process of getting the fish to net and bank, which he did!

So now it was Ed’s turn, solo! And under Brian’s tutelage, and either side of a delicious picnic, he landed four fish on his own.

I hope he will by now be kitted up and ready for another day on the water, for I have rarely seen someone casting as well as he, and so quickly, and his joy from a successful first ever fly fishing experience was palpable., and we were all pleased for him.

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Where next for him? Frensham Flyfishers…and the Wey, will be my bet, for round two! Wonder whether Brian is available!

Happily, Satts and I caught ten fish, or so, an assortment of browns and grayling, and at least two of the browns were wild fish. (But this day was not about us!)

The Ginger Beer Beat is picturesque and is kept (keepered) beautifully as I hope these pictures show:

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Post script: I regret, I am not a fan of the River Test, because it seems to me just daft to have interfered with its natural stock of brown trout by introducing overgrown, aggressive feeding, non breeding rainbows on many, if not all the beats downstream of the A303, in an astonishing trashing of such noble heritage, simply for commercial gain. If those of these beats’/businesses’ clients, for whom catching is so important, still need to, I commend them to the many ‘put and take’ ponds, where they can fish and catch to their heart’s content. For they are not anglers.

Will the owners of these famous beats relent? For it is they who are responsible for this ‘trashing’. Now there’s a challenge…!

So why was I there, then? A hypocrite? No! I was there at the invitation of Chris Satts, who I like enormously and with whom I have fished before and hope to again, and, because of the reputation of a beat, lovingly cherished by Orvis – even if it is slightly overfished.

 

 

 

 

 

WEST YORKSHIRE

22 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by in West Yorkshire

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A founder member of the Wild Trout Society, I remain a devotee in its, now,  more tax efficient charitable status as the Wild Trout Trust, and bid for several lots in this year’s auction.

Securing Lot # 171 in March,  I  welcomed the opportunity to fish with Paul Gaskell,

of whom more later, in June, because this might have enabled me to fish and ’net’ South Yorkshire. But before this means was even a possible, I was already there, as My Readers will know! [see  April 2011]

But a note to Paul enquiring whether I could parlay his guiding in the South Riding, to some time in West Yorkshire, produced a positive response for which I was grateful, and entirely, it seemed, within the spirit of how we fly fishers behave.

Paul is one the small full time team of five (now, six) which does the work of which we are all proud, and testified to, by the enormous sum which was generated from members in this year’s Auction, and was of the order of £50000. He, is a passionate outdoorsman and intellect, and the WTT, and therefore, we too as members , are lucky to have him. A PhD, and father to a handsome young son with his PhD-ed partner , he/they (and their energetic greyhound!) live a lovely life together, and I wish them happiness…he is great company, and our chatting during the  ride to Huddersfield was illuminated by his love for his work and his care for the environment. Some conversations of this type can veer toward the negative, the concern voiced in dire terms…but his tone was positive, but realistic, and constructive…he is a ‘builder’, and  I was energised by his enthusiasm.

The WTT Newsletters chronicle the activities it conducts….if you are not a member, please JOIN…and you will find there is fishing to be found which remains ‘free’, and of this, much is in urban areas, where programmes have been devised to seek to improve the water quality by the removal of detritus,

and more, to encourage the next generation, to understanding the value and vitality of our streams. The early work of the Wandle Trust is to some, an example of what can be achieved. And it is working, and the WTT’s ‘Trout in the Town’ shows just how well, but so much more has to be done. But without wishing to sound negative, no one, reading of the joy of finding trout fry in Carshalton earlier this year, cannot have felt pride for the efforts of Theo Pike and Will Tall, and their group. And all of they who are so committed to such programmes, share their learnings and give of their time, as does Paul…but it’s tough. Just how many tyres and supermarket trolleys are there subsurface in trout waters? Far too many is the answer, and we saw them this day on our first river –

August 2011 – the Colne, then the Holme.

My ‘quest’ has taken me to lovely places. I have discovered that wild trout can be found throughout England. Many of my days have been spent in tiny rural streams, and there are more trout in these, because there are more of them, than in the rivers which are written up in the fishing press, which one imagines are because these are more easily accessed. Overlooked, are the streams which flow through busy places.

And I understand this. We fishers enjoy solitude, for all the benefits which counterbalance our busy lives. So who wants to fish in sight of a bus garage, anyway?  [see Greater London!] But…and this closes the loop, so to speak, as to why the WTT focuses its education programmes in towns where it can, hopefully, influence more effectively, at least as far as numbers are concerned.

Whatever my first thoughts about the river flowing through Huddersfield were, after observing the obligatory traffic cone or two, I was thrilled to see the spreading rings of rising fish. And in the heat of an August afternoon, and in its brightness, I knew with Paul’s thoughtful guiding, it should be possible to net another county. And if my first fish, caught on his rod, rigged with two weighted nymphs, cast to run along a fast run only a couple of feet deep, produced snags and misses then a grayling, I registered the key point about the grayling need for good water!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So whilst traffic cones are artistically disgusting in trout streams, presumably they are not contaminants! A wade back to the town bridge, under which we had seen a golloping rise earlier, produced, after just two casts, a lovely trout of ten ounces or so, to a CdC olive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forget the ‘county’, or rather my ‘netting’ of another…this trout was a tribute to cleanliness, and to the efforts of all those who believe in restoration of our wonderful waters. And especially to Beth Allcock and her team at Greenstreams who have achieved so much in improving the Huddersfield rivers.

We walked upstream awhile, and cast into a tributary of the Colne, almost alliteratively named, the Holme

and, together, caught half a dozen or so wild trout, and right up to Bridge Street, and even if the felt sole of my left wading boot did fall off, (and all credit and thanks to Orvis for replacing them very quickly!)my memories of a lovely afternoon with Paul, live on. For me four trout from urban streams…all of them on dry fly. The rather pale worm on a hook at the end of a static line tied to a stick wedged between rocks sometime ago, opposite an old mill…just reminded me…I am not sure, of what. But this is an urban stream!

WARWICKSHIRE

20 Wednesday Jul 2011

Posted by in Warwickshire

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This was initiated via a web search in the New Year (plotting season!) and I found Warwickshire Flyfishers who in addition to five still waters, offered one stream. An email to the Secretary, yielded this response from Chris Skuse –

“Having discussed with members of the committee the opinion is that yes you can fish the river if you buy a guest ticket at £15 and are accompanied”

…a ‘no-brainer’! And I was soon to fish   –

June 2011 – the Swift

 A couple of calls to Bailiff, John Burton,

and arrangements were fixed.

Warwickshire….cars, football, industry, Coventry, motorways, Shakespear, the Belfry…a bit of a mixed bag.  John asked me how I liked to fish?  “ For a couple of hours, then maybe a pub snack, and then a couple more” I responded. “There are no pubs where we are going” was his concerning reply! To the countryside is where we went, even if the river ran under and alongside the A5 trunk road, but just for a little while.

Diving off the main road, and through a padlocked gate reminded me of accessing Fortress Trossley, in Kent, where I spent many a happy hour in the late nineties and early noughties with Fraser and Pick. And the river is a typical lowland stream, running over clay, and with a just little colour, and low, as all waters have been this season.

John determined that our best plan was to walk to the bottom of the beat, at least to where this most diligent of membership had done the most improvement work, and whilst we chatted and he imparted much of what has and is being achieved, he had continually to drag an inquisitive me back from the waterside so we could complete our 45 minute walk.

John’s is a narrow river, and even narrower in those places where reeds have still to be cleared,

but elsewhere, a continuum of bends and pools, and enticing lies under overhanging bushes, interspersed by riffles caused by the introduction of many, many deflectors, and the odd etched pool below where rocks have been placed to create mini weirs. There are places where clearance makes casting easier, and many where, and always above and behind where one saw a fish rise, that the nettles are dense, and I will have to make another visit to Farlows, or Orvis, or Grangers, to replenish my stock of Adams and Klinkhamers, as well as my 6x tippet material.

It was passing such a mini weir that I was convinced my first trout would be taken, but it was not, and nor was it below the second. I noted that John has developed a style of fishing which clearly works for him on this river….more of a stalker hunter approach,

crawling and hunching down to approach the bankside where he favoured to run a dry down as close to the overgrowth as possible to tempt trout out and from under those roots and grasses….and did, and missed, frustratingly. But also, did!

Mine was a more conventional approach, seeking fish from familiar lies in the safety of rippled waters alongside feed lanes, and cast with a longer line than John’s Dart like flicks.

We happily leapfrogged each other, and my first came to a parachute Adams where I thought one might be lying in quick water, above the site of an ancient mill.

And then so did a second, along a stretch which John described as unfishable a year ago, but with considerable clearance work is now, and members have been rewarded, for along its one hundred yards or so, more fish have been caught there this year than elsewhere on the water. And it was the only stretch where fish rose constantly, and we both hooked and missed a couple.

I learned that only a few years ago, the club was close to going under when falling membership reduced subscription income to a total, barely higher than rents payable; and that a growing interest in the Midlands for conservation, is credited with rebuilding numbers. Maybe ‘word’ of what is being undertaken by this noble band is getting about…I hope so! Conservation and preservation of what is so special to us, must not be limited to the eforts of the few…the countryside, and all that is stands for and provides, is unique. HRH The Prince of Wales thinks so, too…we must all support his vision.

Back to the fishing!….I watched John teasing chub with a sinking nymph; and he was impressed to see my third come to another trout which was lurking where I knew one might, below a stony outcrop; and then, ‘piece de resistance’ he hailed me to reveal another fish caught on a weighted nymph…a twelve inch pike, which was quite rightly, dispatched!!

Many thanks, John, and thank you to, Warwickshire Flyfishers for indulging me.

Now….John knows and loves his water, and I must share his recent note to me which testifies how effort and result blend so beautifully. I hope you agree  –

“On the Friday after your visit I landed 7 trout and on the Saturday 11. On both    occasions it was at the end of the day. They mostly came from the tightest lies and narrowest channels so it was a real challenge. Until this Monday I had only taken fish from this year’s stocking, but at the top end of our beat I landed a trout of one and a half pounds. I have just ordered 20 tonnes of gravel for enhancing one of the sections, which will, hopefully, encourage some trout breeding in the Autumn. It would be an absolute delight to hear that a member had landed a young trout next year. We have tried the egg boxes and provided a number of gravel beds, but we have yet to see any results. The stockist believes it will be hard because of the large number of chub and perch which love fry. We live in hope.”

OXFORDSHIRE

25 Monday Oct 2010

Posted by in Oxfordshire

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Oxfordshire streams are predominantly coarse and such game fishing as is available is tightly controlled  and day ticket access is very limited. So I was intrigued to note that the Orvis catalogue shows that their store in Burford has water. A telephone call to Keith Passant and a ticket was secured for the modest sum of £25, on a river where, when fishing with Steve Webster the day before on the Chess, I learned that brown trout were plentiful, and that he, a member of a small syndicate upstream of Burford, had learned that the mayfly were up and he was to fish his beat the same day as I was to fish –

May 2010 – the WINDRUSH

 

Burford is the most picturesque market town full of Cotswold stone shops and houses, and a mecca for tourists offering local fare from a number of small restaurants and bars, and boutique-y stores. And the Orvis store offers visitors its classic range of country wear as the main attraction, with the fishing store upstairs at the back of the building, which is where I found Keith in mid stock take.

The shop has three tickets on the Burford AC water which flows upstream and downstream of the town bridge offering about a mile of fishing. Keith is a real enthusiast and stressed that their hope was only that visiting anglers had fun, and by “whatever method” they choose….which made me suspicious ! He offered me a beat map and helpfully indicated the fish holding areas, alerted me to where tourists might be a problem, then sold me some mayflies (with ease!)

A stroll upstream from the bottom of the beat revealed a channel below muddy sided elevations of ten feet or so and sandy muddy bottom and little weed or other cover except for the odd fallen tree. Then shallows and gravel runs which was repeated a couple of times, interspersed by a wide bend with the inevitable deep pool scoured out by winter flood rush.

These pools hold trout I have no doubt, but it’s May and I am seeking fly life and rising fish, and a purist, my preference is to fish the dry fly, and few are moving, except for small fish, and I manage to take two on CdC olive in the hot afternoon sun from a riffle.

Walking in full chest wader Gortex, and quite conspicuously through the town to the upstream beat, I went to its head, but apart from a small weir pool where I tempted a small grayling, the rest of this water resembles a coarse river and is canal-like….

LEICESTERSHIRE

23 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by in Leicestershire

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There are few trout streams in Leicestershire, and when an opportunity to fish the Gopsall Flyfishing Club’s water was posted for bids on their 2010 Fishing Auction by the Wild Trout Trust, I spent part of the last evening for online bids, placing and upping mine, but ultimately was unsuccessful by a meager £5!  Thanks to my internet guru, Peter Little, I now know how success is achieved through this system, but am too mean to reveal this until after next year’s event.

Not to be outdone, I connected with the Gopsall Club via their website www.gopsallfishingclub.org.uk suggesting that if they could accommodate me, I would make a donation to the WTT, in the same sum as my bid. And Secretary, Mark Owen responded – “Am sure something can be arranged”

Our first attempt to meet in August was foiled by heavy overnight rains two day before, and new arrangements were agreed by phone and two Mondays later, it was up early and onto the M40/42 to meet Mark.

September 2010 – the Sence

Like in so much of Britain, when you leave the motorways on which we depend, there are interesting places to see. From the road to our assigned meeting place, I could have diverted to Appleby Magna, or to Sheepy Parva, or even to Norton-Juxta-Twycross, and I felt like a Medieaval traveller. This was warring territory for I was not that far from Bosworth, and the site of civil horrors in Cromwellian times. Now all is peaceful except for the trundling of monster tractors and 12-wheelers taking bales of dried grasses to winter storage.

There was a blustery easterly wind about making casting impossible on the first stretch that Mark took me to. But this early part of our encounter enabled me to learn a lot about him. A commodity trader (oil) and committed country man, he is already a major contributor to the Club’s improvement programme, which had begun with assistance from the EA, and grant monies from amongst others’ the WTT. His love for this project led to his taking a course in Environment Management (of waters) at the University of Derby, and then opportunistically, having left the trading world, he was offered a key role in the newly formed, Anglers Trust, as their Environmental Campaigns Manager, with his important role sponsored by the WWF. For his work on the Sence, he has been honoured with the award for Best  Amateur Conservation Project by Orvis/WTT in 2007. Working the riverbank with him is like listening to a walking encyclopaedia, and is completely fascinating. His love for what he is doing is inspiring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His river has a head of wild trout and is stocked with 800 triploid browns each year.

It has a small coarse fish population, too.

We drove to a part of the Club’s 5kms of water where he knew we would be sheltered from the wretched wind. We saw fish for the first time, but they were probably dace or grayling, an introduced species, and another part of the improvement programme. There was no fly life and I was nymphing with a gold headed PTN, but apart from one distinct pull, I was attracting nought, and when it was well past noon, the pub called!

In the afternoon, and whilst the temperature stayed around 17c. the wind was up again and we fished a tight stretch where we were bombarded by leaves and sizeable twigs. Below a small weir, I could attract no interest from the pool and I lost a cast in an overhanging branch. Jerking it free, I found that I had lost my braided leader and had no choice but to tie a new leader around a knot made at the end of the flyline. I reasoned that the folk in Africa had no need for sophisticated Loomis kit, nor perfectly tied polycarbon this and that, and are better fishermen than me without it, so I pressed on. And only minutes later, and casting into a run below a line of rocks angled across the river, below an alder, I felt a tug from only inches of water, and in seconds I netted a little beauty of eight inches or so. I felt humbled….but lucky to have been guided and with success by the expert who is Mark.


We spent the remainder of our time together, just wandering along his river, whilst he gave me a tutorial on bank management technique. The work that has been done by this 35 strong Club is impressive. Nettle beds have been cut back and willow saplings have been planted. Quality fencing has been built to widen the bankside margin and contain cattle invasion, new bridges placed, structures have been installed to narrow channels and speed flows, exposing gravel beds and improving weed growth, and importantly, creating spawning areas.

Mark is also very busy with the Anglers Trust. This new enterprise harnesses the separate influences of eight smaller bodies into a better, bigger body representative of our pastime.

From his explanations, I know from my own experience in the world of Public Affairs, that this is a good move, and it clearly has the ear of DEFRA officials. I hope that Government cutbacks which will be revealed next month, will not be detrimental to their endeavours.

When we parted, and with respect for what the Anglers Trust is doing I gave Mark a cheque for them, and I have sent the WTT a cheque, too…..next year, with my new knowledge, I hope to secure some other interesting rivers to fish in the WTT Auction catalogue !