The Art Of The Fly

2:30 and kicking our heels back at the lodge. We needed some rain to get the fish running and we now have a severe weather warning in Perthshire with localised flooding. Guess where we are? Spot on! As a result we managed 3 hours this morning at the top beat where I had a bonny trout and the faint suspicion of a salmon pulling the fly …… before we were washed off.

The river must have risen 2-3 feet, it looks to be stabilising although it’s still raining hard so we hope that it stops and starts to fall. If so we will have a bash this evening – but I’m not holding my breath as the forecast was for it to stop at about 8 this evening.

So we have had a great lunch again courtesy of Paul and this evening we are planning on yesterdays salmon slowly baked with lemon, white wine and garlic. Just because we are in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean that we have to slum it. The lodge is very nice and now that we have finally mastered the log burner it’s more than comfortable. We have plenty of food and drink so we may well have another evening of light banter and a wee dram!

For the techies amongst us there is no internet nor mobile phone signal here at the lodge, which is nice in one way but not in another. This afternoon I will venture out in the car to try to pick up a phone signal and call home like ET. Whether anybody will be in or not is a moot point but I will try after 4 when school has finished.

I will also endeavour to try to take some photos over the next few days. It’s delightful scenery but I’m not here to wander lonely as a cloud but fish instead. Therefore the camera may stay in the bag, but we shall have to see.

Will we get out again tonight? Judging from the torrent I would say not. However as this is Part 1 I will have to hold onto Part 2 for now. It may be a short posting though!

Tuesday came and went in a flurry of rain and misdirected expectation. 2 fish fell to the rods, a 8 pound reddish fish to David and a 4 pound grilse to myself. Not great by any stretch of the imagination but T least it’s fish.

The river is sectioned off into 3 big beats each about 2 miles long. Tuesday was the lower beat which held some great runs and pools, whereas on Monday it was the middle beat which to be fair only had a couple of real pools when the water is so low.

On Tuesday however the rain started to come and the river rose about 4 inches. Ordinarily that should get the fish running, and we saw a a few – but they weren’t exactly obliging. Today however (I am writing this early Wednesday morning) it is raining hard and therefore suits the top beat which we are fishing today.

So far 2 days and 2 fish.

Strange how things work out.
I’ve not fished any of these really northern Scottish a salmon rivers before, up here near Inverness I have been told that the Findhorn is a spate river. Now I thought that meant that when it rained the fish would run and we would have a bonanza of big hungry silver salmon. Yesterday we arrived and it was blowing a gale – probably the worst conditions that you could imagine. Good job that there’s no salmon fishing on Sundays – so I watched a really boring Open Championship and awaited Monday.

The ghillie arrived and my expectations were dashed immediately – the Findhorn Is a grilse river – the biggest fish on offer will probably be 6-8 pounds – not exactly what I imagined – so the tube flies went back into storage, the 15 foot rod was packed away and I fished with the Sage 10 weight and the smallest salmon flies that I had. – not amused really. Will I come back? Probably not but that depends on the what has happened at the end of the week.
Today- lost one salmon and brushed against another – not exactly bursting the nets.
Tuesday looms and it’s rained – will we catch tomorrow on the lower beat?

Not sure whether I care!

The Findhorn – what do I know about it? Very little except that it’s in the Highlands, it’s mouth is near to the Moray Firth, and that it could be very wet, very windy or roasting hot.
A week ago there was no water and the salmon were nowhere to be seen. Now it’s a different story as it’s been very very wet and the fish should be running …….

…… Has anybody told them? I shall just have to find out. Tomorrow I will have a 6-hour 340 mile drive so I shall have an early start. The tackle is loaded but I may still have to pop in to Norris on the way up (it’s like a magnet) for sone hooks and tubing. What will the week bring? Midges? Fish?

There may be no signal at all up there in the lodge – so I will post the blog entries and load them when I can.

See you in a week!

Irrespective of the dodgy weather, myself and Johnny B dared to go to the river yesterday and try to tempt some of the balmy trutta out of the trickle of water that some people call the river Wharfe. I didn’t rate our chances as there has been no rain since 2001 (or at least it feels Iike it) but it’s always nice to get down there and even better with John, so off we went expecting to just chill out and waste a few hours.

To those of you that don’t know, JB used to be controller of Radio 1 back in the heady days of Noel, DLT, Kenny Everett etc so he’s not unaccustomed to the glare of the spotlights and the smell of greasepaint. I reckon that once in showbiz always in showbiz, but surely the fish don’t know of John’s pedigree do they. Or do they?

A strange late afternoon, at one point we went back to the car expecting a deluge, but none came, and as it turned out it was a very pleasant summers evening, not too hot, not too windy, just right.

On a good day I can usually catch, but it was tough as I reckon that the fish are just hunkering down hiding from the sun and picking off the odd fly as and when, but I managed to raise 2 and hook one whereas JB was having a tough time but had raised one.

Then we had the rain break that never happened and as a result we moved downstream. Straight away John starting raising fish but couldn’t hook one for toffee (on the other hand I was fishing like a blind one-armed amateur and couldn’t touch a fish).

That’s where showbiz being in your blood makes a difference. I swear to God we could have thrashed the water for hours, but then along came a couple walking along the river bank. John immediately started to look different, his casting became almost poetic and the fly drifting down the river was akin to the Royal Yacht as it gently and effortlessly floated downstream. It was like one of those TV programmes where we expectantly awaited the gentle sip of the trout taking the fly. Sure enough as the couple neared us it happened, right on queue, the Royal Yacht was scuttled by the fish and John gently raised his rod into a fine fighting brown trout. The camera slowly panned back to show the couple watching and gently applauding as John made a real meal of playing it in front of the virtual camera before finally netting it.

End of chapter 1. The couple moved off and John flogged the water again turning it in to a foam with as much chance of catching a fish as, well me to be honest. We had a laugh as I made it clear that he was a complete show-off, which John took in his stride. Until once again another couple chanced by. Again the elegant casting started again, the smell of the greasepaint was wafting through the air and the gentle snap of the clapper-board could be heard in the distance. Once again the camera rolled and again the Royal Yacht was sipped off the surface as we all held our breath. Again the gentle applause of the audience watching from the bank could be heard as John once again fought the tireless trout to the net to capture Chapter 2 in a single take.

That’s John you see, loves the audience and the trout know it. It’s in the blood you know!

Alas I have never been in showbiz so I could not hope to emulate the loved and famous. Perhaps I should try harder, or perhaps I should accept that I’m just a lost cause whereas John? ‘Nuff said.

Back home from the marathon travel from Belize it’s easy to look back and give a rhetorical view of the week. Putting it into perspective of fish per pound Sterling – a weak conversion rate with the pound being very strong against the fish. Putting it into perspective of experience versus pounds Sterling – worth every penny.

During the week I saw literally hundreds of Permit, cast to dozens and hooked and lost 2. Tarpon-wise between the 2 of us we boated one forty pounder and I hooked and lost a 100+ pound fish after an exhausting hours battle. Where else in the world could a person experience that? The last 2 days were a washout due to the weather but even then we cast to some big Tarpon and could easily have been still there fighting them.

Luckily we only lost 2 days fishing, if we had been there this week we could have lost the week as the tropical storm that blew out our last 2 days has turned into Hurricane Alex and is currently ripping up Gulf of Mexico and could be killing the fishing – so we should count our blessings.

We had a week on a tropical island, saw, cast to and caught many fish and had a fantastic time. Would I go again? The world is a big place.

The travel was a a killer however. Manchester to Newark to Houston to Belize City to Turneffe Island. 13 hours on an aeroplane, 1 and a half on a boat and the pain of changing craft.
Never again. I have learnt a big lesson, travel experience can make or break the trip so next time it will have to be an easier journey.
Would I go again? – yes. Will I go again? – no sure.

Finished the trip off with a trip down the river last night. 2 grayling and 2 trout – on a 2-weight instead of a 12-weight.

Next stop Scotland for salmon at the end of July. Hope that we get some rain!

The birthday came and went with a whimper. The wind had changed to the North-east and the clouds had rolled in. The boat sped off to Permit Cove but it was impossible to spot anything at all. Dion the guide thought that as the wind had changed and the water was far more choppy that the Permit were all staying out in deep water.
With a heavy heart (sounds tragic) we sped off for a day in search of Tarpon.
9 hours later David and I had cast hundreds of times to dozens of Tarpon. As Dion put it – ‘Man – those fish just don’t want to eat no fly’!

So a fishless day.

The last day on the water today. – last night it poured down, it’s windy and cloudy. Oh No!

Here it is June 24th – my birthday – and here I am in Belize at Turneffe Flats. It’s 5:41 am and I am waiting for breakfast before we go out at 6:30 to catch the tides. Today will be the best chance for a Grand Slam that I will probably get. The Permit were taking a fly yesterday and after 2 hooked and 2 lost I am hoping to get one to the boat. The Tarpon average 100lbs and we know that they are running. The bonefish are taking a fly so there we go.

All the best plans and everything – we shall have to wait and see.

Belize is beautiful. – let’s hope that the fishing Gods are listening.

Question: What’s probably the hardest fish to hook on the fly?
Answer: The Permit.

Question: Who hooked 2 today and lost them both?
Answer: I’m off now!

Its been a couple of days since I updated the blog – I had great plans to do a daily diary – but general tiredness prevailed so instead here’s a short but sweet update at 5:31 am on Wednesday.

The fishing is fantastic – a true mixed fishery with options for the Grand Slam every day. Myself and David have purposely NOT targeted the bonefish as we want to get that elusive Permit and then on for the Tarpon. As a result we have not been boating hundreds of fish, but instead have been flogging the water, in some cases to no avail, but in others with great success.

Typical example was yesterday morning where we were surrounded by literally hundreds of Permit – more than I have ever seen in my life. We emptied the fly boxes at them but after 2 hours just could not get a take even though the flies were covered dozens and dozens of times. The guide was ready to jump in and grab one, but instead we moved on. Perhaps today.

That was one if the highlights, another was David on day 2 catching his biggest ever Tarpon, a baby of 40 pounds which I tried to better yesterday by hooking into one over 6 feet long. After fitting this 100 pound fish for an hour, the reel handle snagged on my shirt and it was off. If it had not I am sure that we would have boater the beast. My shoulder still aches and I reckon that you have to be fit to be a Tarpon fisherman – those fish are as strong as a Ox.

Another major highlight is playing with a school of 5 dolphin which wouldn’t leave us as they twirled and sounded around their baby. Just marvellous.

I will post the piccies when I get back, for now it’s breakfast and then on the water for 7:15. More cloud today and a little breeze, spotting the fish will be harder – but off we go!