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Thursday, 23 February 2017
A Dermot Wilson legacy
Friday, 10 February 2017
What is in a name?
Nether Wallop Mill, Hampshire, England
Last autumn I was sitting with the new owner of Kingfisher Lodge on the River Itchen making plans for the coming season. With lots of changes afoot to improve the fishery and a whole new ethos he and his wife, who is originally from China, felt it time for a new name.
After all,
there are plenty Kingfisher Lodges and it is fairly generic. So, it was
re-christened Qing Ya Xi Lodge, which roughly translated from the Mandarin,
means tranquil waters. All rather good we thought.
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Different name but still
the same
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Apparently not,
as it prompted a bit of a Twitter-style storm on the Fish & Fly Forum as
plenty took umbrage at the change of name. Not very British and a Chinese
cultural invasion if I had to sum it up. Who would have thought it? You can
take a look at the thread here, though be warned it digresses into very
odd territory after someone mentions that it is National Yorkshire Pudding Day.
Mercifully,
moderator Paul Sharman, has closed down the discussion group after it got a bit
out of hand (19 pages later) with some rather intemperate remarks. Of course if
you really want to get it all going again I should probably tell you that
immediately below Qing Ya Xi (pronounced king yah zee) is a beat called Kanara,
better known as the region of India famed for saffron.
I'm sure the
fact that it has had that name for as long as I have known it (30 years plus)
will be incidental.
'CATCH' THEM YOUNG
I have
never, at least until the other day, quite understood what leads people into
teaching. The thought fills me with dread but when I received this email and
accompanying photo from a mother whose daughter Imogen has been on our Fish
Camps, I think I saw the light.
It read:
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The sign of a well-spent youth ....
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"Imogen is 11 years old
and a pupil at Prince's Mead. She has attended all the camps I have
organised through the school with Fishing Breaks and for Christmas she had a
fly tying kit, she was 'hooked' when Alan [Middleton] taught her.
She does this every day in
her bedroom when she gets home from school, before she changes out of her
uniform!
I thought you might like to
see it. So important to 'catch' them young."
Alan, take a
bow, along with both Steve and Bob who also run the camps.
I am delighted
to say that, such is the success of the Fish Camps that we are expanding the
scope of them this coming summer. For those who have been before, or young
teens, I am especially excited about the new River Camp.
We really are
taking to the river for all three days starting with an intensive chalkstream
day on the Upper Test at Bullington Manor. Day two is all about getting your
hands dirty with a specially commissioned restoration project on the Wallop
Brook led by Andy Thomas from the Wild Trout Trust.
The final day
will be more relaxed, time for some leisurely fishing but not before we've
given them all a crash course in 'How to be a Fishing Guide'. After all,
parents and siblings might do with a bit of help from time to time!
For more details
of this and the other 2017 Kids Camp options click here.
UNDER THE HOOD OF FLY FISHING WITH A HAYNES
MANUAL
I suspect
there are very few of us who haven't owned a Haynes Manual during our lifetime.
Mine, I have to confess, was an unmitigated disaster. I have the mechanical
aptitude of a mole, but I was sucked in by those wonderful exploded drawings
that made fitting a new exhaust system so damn easy. Well, that was but only
after the car had been towed to the local garage minus bits of the old exhaust
and the new one still in its box.
However, I'm a lot more
confident taking on guidance from the latest addition to the Haynes library,
the Fly Fishing Manual:
The Step-by-Step Guide. It is written by Mark Bowler, who many
of you will know as the editor of Fly
Fishing and Fly Tying magazine.
The 192 pages are packed
with illustrations and photos on all types of fly fishing, for all the species
you are likely encounter. It is right up-to-date, with even a section on
tenkara fishing, something I am yet to try.
If you want a great primer
to give to someone who is starting out in fly fishing, you will not go wrong
with Mark's book.
QUIZ
Three random teasers to test
your brain. It is just for fun and the answers are at the bottom of the page
1)
What is
the origin of the word heckling?
2)
What
hobby does a toxophilite indulge in?
3)
What
does an ethologist study?
PS The last quiz sparked all
sorts of correspondence regarding the only two countries named The [insert
name].
Here is the definitive list issued by the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office from the rather bizarrely named transparency data list.
Have a good weekend and/or
half term
Best wishes,
Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk
Founder & Managing Director
Quiz answers: 1)
Heckling is removing the knots from wool 2) Archery 3) Animal behaviour
Monday, 30 January 2017
How not to pack
I am feeling both smug and faintly ashamed at my latest effort at
packing. Here is the layout for my current bone fishing trip. Pretty compact
I'm sure you'll agree and as you read this I should be gliding across azure
blue flats with our trusty guide Walter barking casting orders with all the
very best of intentions.
'Ten o'clock.
Twenty yards. Wait. Wait, Waaaaait. Strip, Strip. STRIPPPPP!' You get the idea.
He is a hard taskmaster and
we are his not-always-competent acolytes. I don't mind being shouted at.
I'll never do enough saltwater fly fishing to get really good and let's be
honest those local eyes mean the difference between ten fish and one on any
given day. So I take it on the chin when he chides me for my mistakes, for
despite the thousands of fish he must guide to hand each season, he still seems
to get more joy from my success than I do. And that is quite a thing, not to
mention being the mark of a good guide.
What, you must
be wondering, is all the shame about? Well, it is my chalkstream packing. Now
you might think after all these years I'd have honed it down to the essentials.
Not a bit of it. I have this cavernous Orvis bag of the wheeled variety that
would bankrupt me in excess luggage fees should I ever fly Ryanair.
Rods? There are
about six of various configurations though five rarely see water. Reels? The
same. Flies? Actually I am pretty blameless here having eliminated all but
twenty or thirty patterns, plus the seasonal Mayfly box. However, I do rather
fail in that I will carry at any one time three or four dozen of each, plus a
variety of sizes. I think I have every Parachute Adams hook size from 12-26. In
truth at the smaller end of the scale it is more about fishing guide bragging
rights as I can barely see the miniscule ones to tie them on.
Spools of tippet
material proliferate; I don't bother with tapered leaders - too expensive.
Lotions and potions in the form of Gunk, Gink and sunscreen are confined to
leak proof baggies. Lots of Fishing Breaks baseball caps. Well, they make for
good marketing giveaways. Numerous pairs of sunglasses. Tubes of plastic for
gutted fish. Two gutting knives; someone will always lose one in the river.
Even a cigarette lighter. I haven't smoked in three decades but I soon learnt
as a guide that a client with a cigarette but no way of lighting it makes for a
very long day on the river. It once even got me a book contract, but that is
another story.
I think
ultimately the problem with my chalkstream packing is that I'm trying to cater
for every eventuality. My family in particular have this astonishing ability of
arriving at the river with absolutely nothing and feeling no shame about it.
I have become the repository of everything you might ever want on a
river. It is a burden in more ways than one.
CONKERS - REALLY QUITE
DANGEROUS TO FISH
At my local
squash club we were having all sorts of problems with players wearing black
soled shoes which leave unsightly scuff marks on the blonde wood floor that are
tough to remove. Every squash player should know this but plenty forget or
ignore the requirement to only wear suitable footwear despite prominently
displayed notices exhorting compliance.
Then someone, I guess a
disciple of nudge theory, had a bright idea. Let's replace the current notices
with ones that read: PLEASE CHECK YOUR OPPONENT IS WEARING NON-MARKING SHOES
BEFORE STARTING PLAY. Voila, problem solved.
This small
victory came to mind as I read the 2015-16 Annual Fisheries Reports from the
Environment Agency. I highly commend these 16 reports, though you might be pleased to
hear you need not read them all. Each one represents a particular region of
England and Wales so you'll easily find those relevant to you. However,
what really did disappoint me was that fact that the opening pages of each
report from every region focus on rod licence checks and prosecutions, with a
bit too much Soviet-style glee for my liking.
Now this is
clearly a directive that has come from on high. I don't suppose for one minute
that of all the really great stuff the local EA people get excited about the
rod licence checks are high on the list. But clearly their Whitehall masters
think differently. And that is a shame. Go to the later pages in the
regional reports to read some really wonderful stuff that is doing a great deal
to revive wild fish populations of all sorts, covering not just the big name
migratory fish but also sometimes passed over species such as roach.
The EA really
should be loved; they deserve it for much of the work they do but waving the
Big Brother enforcement stick is a PR own goal. Aside from the fact that nobody
reading these reports is likely to be a licence evader, it is telling the story
of the bad when the good should be shouted from the roof tops. Sure, mention
the prosecutions if you must (only 65 in the Solent and South Downs region
during the past twelve months) but relegate them to the back pages. In fact,
let us go one step further to save that effort by removing fishing licence
evasion from the list of criminal offences.
This brings me
back to my squash story where peer group pressure became a silent, but potent
weapon. The simple fact that your opponent might be monitoring your shoes was
enough to ensure compliance. Nobody ever does check or ask, but that is the
beauty of it.
So, let us
simply make it obligatory for all anglers to display their licence somewhere
where it can be seen whilst fishing. Or maybe create a pin to be worn with
pride in hat or lapel. For if shorn of the need to be the angling policemen the
EA can become the good guys where people buy a licence because they know it is
the right thing to do.
I for one, when
we have a justice system that is straining every sinew, feel increasing
uncomfortable that the criminal code is being used for a transgression that at
the very worst requires a fixed penalty. We are wasting the valuable time of
our volunteer bailiffs, thousands of police hours and millions of pounds in
court cases. There is a better way. It just takes a bold vision and some faith
in human nature.
Oh, I forgot
about the conkers, which is a nugget of a story that demonstrates how random
and unexpected fish kill incidents can be. On the Rother in Sussex a report
came in of dead brown trout. All the usual poison suspects were investigated,
leaving the EA officers scratching their heads until the piscicide (new word to
me) Saponin was discovered. But where had this unusual substance come
from?
Eventually the
source was located to a giant horse chestnut tree that had shed its conkers on
to the road below. Passing cars had in turn crushed the fruit, releasing the
toxin which was in turn washed into the river after a sudden downpour. It is a
story worthy of Agatha Christie but apparently North American tribes were
fishing in a similar manner many centuries ago.
DUNBRIDGE
The new cabin is taking
shape .......
QUIZ
Three random teasers to test
your brain. It is just for fun and the answers are at the bottom of the page
1)
Beside
The Gambia what is the one other country in the world with a name that starts
with The ...... ?
2) Haynes Manuals are more
commonly associated with cars, but who recently wrote the Haynes Guide to Fly
Fishing?
3)
What
three fish comprise a Florida Grand Slam?
Have a good weekend.
Best wishes,
Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk
Founder & Managing Director
Quiz answers: 1) The
Bahamas 2) Mark Bowler, editor of Fly Fishing & Fly Tying.
[Review in next Newsletter] 3) Permit, tarpon and bonefish.
Thursday, 12 January 2017
My otter friends are back
My otters are back and it is not a good time to be an
overwintering rainbow trout in the lake here at Nether Wallop Mill.
Usually from November to
March they have a blessed life. No pesky anglers turning the water to foam. No
strange coloured, sharp things interrupting the daily routine. Just the fast,
clear waters of winter, with enough nymphs to snack on during daylight hours,
plus a shadow that arrives twice daily dispensing tasty pellet treats.
But come
nightfall chaos reigns. If I don't first hear the otters I will hear the fish.
Glooping swirls as they twist beneath the surface to escape hungry jaws.
Desperate splashes as they leap from the water. They retreat to the darkest,
deepest sections of the lake for safety. The morning after the night before is
always evident to me; it takes a brave trout to abandon his hidey hole even
when tempted by the lure of pellets. For a while the food will lie untouched on
the surface instead of the usual instantaneous feeding frenzy. But eventually
hunger gets the better of the night time survivors as they poke their noses
over the parapet in dribs and drabs.
Despite the
carnage, it is good to have the otters back. They don't appear every night, I'd
say two out of three nights, arriving with a chorus of highly voluble 'eeks'
soon after dark. You don't need a still, windless night to hear they have
arrived. At this time of year I'll be able to hear the calls over the sound of
the early evening news as they keep tabs on each other.
This time around
I am fairly sure the family is the mother and two cubs; two years ago it was
mother plus four, though one pup died early on. They are, I guess, around 3-4
months old so still firmly hanging on to the apron strings. Otter pups,
especially the females, will stay with the mother until they are 12 months old.
They need to be taught how to hunt, a laborious process, and should the mother
die before they reach that first anniversary the pups will, in all likelihood,
die of starvation. Such is the scale of maternal dependence that infant otters
even have to be taught to swim. In case you are wondering where the father is,
don't. His contribution began and ended at the conception.
So, as the
countdown to a new season continues, I suspect I am losing five good trout a
week though the attrition rate will increase as the pups grow bigger. At that
rate I estimate we will have around thirty fish left in the lake, which will be
close to being the fittest, most wily and turbo-charged rainbows on the planet.
And do I mind
the attrition? Well, I used to but I don't any longer. There is something
magical about otters, for so long extinct from this part of the world. The
other night the mother left one of the pups on the island for most of the night
as she patrolled her territory. Every so often the pup let out a tentative eek
that echoed across the dark, a sort I'm-here-don't-forget-me call. For hours it
went unanswered until a distant reply came, the chattering increasing
exponentially as the distance between the two narrowed until combined they
splashed down the lake and off to find a holt ahead of the upcoming dawn.
FLIES ARE SMARTER THAN YOU
THINK
I don't
know about you but I always think of insects as very local, barely straying
more than a few hundred yards between the place of birth and death. But
apparently not.
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Painted Lady butterly -
one of our 'immigrants'
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A recent study from Exeter
University makes this view look very parochial. Apparently somewhere up there
in the skies above us a staggering 3.5 trillion insects are arriving to the
United Kingdom on a northwards migration as summer approaches, returning
southwards before autumn takes a hold. It is truly a massive number,
3,500,000,000,000 in good old longhand, making the migration of songbirds at 30
million pale into insignificance.
The data, built up over ten
years, measured insects flying in at heights from a few hundred to thousands of
feet in the air, where they sometimes reach speeds of 30-45mph, presumably
carried on winds or thermals. The recordings don't tell us the origin of the
insects but we do know that they arrived (and departed) over either the North
Sea or the English Channel.
Who were these intrepid
invertebrate travellers? Well, it wasn't just confined to larger and apparently
hardier species such as butterflies, ladybeetles or moths. The vast majority of
the insects were tiny creatures like cereal crop aphids, flies and midges.
What is actually quite
fascinating is how they find their way here. At first glance you'd think it is
a random get-yourself-up-in-the-air and hope for the best, but that is no way
for any species to survive thousands of years of evolution. No, believe it or
not, the medium and larger insects do have a compass mechanism that allow them
to take flight, assess the wind direction before catching the breeze or
returning to ground to await more favourable conditions.
I'm going to show our insect
pals just a little more respect from now on.
SPAWNING
TIME
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This is not
the best video clip in the world (note to self: buy iPhone 8 with enhanced
zoom) but it gives you some idea of the spawning activity currently happening
on the headwaters of the Test.
I've seen this fish for a
few days. He lies inert over the redd for long minutes at a time before, as if
electrified, flipping on his flank to power down as if attacking the gravel
indentation before returning to rest.
Hope a mate arrives soon!
QUIZ
No theme this time around,
just three random teasers. It is just for fun and the answers are at the bottom
of the page
1)
What
would you be scared of if you suffered from paraskevidekatriaphobia?
2)
How
heavy is a fully grown male otter?
3)
How many
eggs would a 1lb brown trout lay? 200, 800, 1600, or 2,400
2017
BROCHURE
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Diane keeps a low profile
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It is strange how marketing has changed with the advances of
technology. When I first started Fishing Breaks the new brochure was the
marketing 'event' of the year, firing the starting gun for bookings.
Months of
preparation and creative energy went into each annual edition. The office would
be piled high with boxes and mailing labels, the drudgery of stuffing envelopes
sparking many a weird conversation into the late hours. Then there was the
heated discussion as to posting date and the optimum day for it to drop through
your letter box.
Today it is all
very different. Yes, we do produce a brochure but it is not the critical thing
it once was and we don't do a mass mailing. However, it is sometimes helpful to
have something in your hand as a point of reference so if you would like a copy
of the 2017 Edition please ping me an email
confirming your address.
Enjoy the snow!
Best wishes,
Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk
Founder & Managing Director
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