New arrivals for 2018

New arrivals for 2018

Greetings!

It is always exciting to have new beats as you never quite know how they will turn out; over the years I have had unexpected hits and head scratching duds. Rivers can sometimes be as confounding as the fish that swim in them.

At the Craven Fishery on the River Kennet it is good to be working with Josh Purton who spent many summers weed cutting with us and is now installed as the river keeper. Josh is one of a new breed of keepers coming through who are in their 20's, with fishery management degrees from Sparsholt College. Along with our own Simon Fields this cohort, including Michael Taplin at Wherwell Priory and Rob Rees at East Lodge, seem to have a good way of blending progressive thinking with traditional practices. You will see plenty of this at Craven.

Craven Fishery

Many of you will be familiar with Kanara on the River Itchen, which is probably one of the longest established day ticket chalkstream fisheries, dating way back to the 1960's when it was under the care of 'Scrappy' Hay of the Rod Box in Winchester.

If you like wading this is definitely one to consider. There are one or two sections that are fishable from the bank - river keeper Keith Purse, who also runs John O'Gaunt lakes, has done a great job clearing back the trees over the past two winters, but you really do need to get your feet wet. 

The bottom half is deep; think in terms of up to your waist with a couple of pools you will have to crab around. At the mid-point there is a huge hatch pool where you can really let rip and then upper half is shallower, more knee depth. In terms of fish this is both stocked and wild, plus you will regularly see salmon and sea trout.

With the addition of these two this brings our roster for this season to 35 fisheries on sixteen rivers across seven counties. I think I am going to have a fair bit of walking to do in preparation to the start of the new season!

DIARIES NOW OPEN

On Christmas Eve we logged our 10,000^th on-line booking. I must admit this landmark rather crept up on me over the busy run up to the holidays as I had meant to offer some reward to whoever made the click. However, all I can now say is thank you to Julian Woolgar for notching up this small landmark in Fishing Breaks history.

The diaries are now live for the 2018 season, so to search for dates and book on-line just click away. That said I know that plenty of you, for a whole multiplicity of good reasons, prefer email or phone and that is just fine with us.

We will be back in the office as of Tuesday (2/January) and I will reply to any emails prior to that.

DAY RODS

All the diaries, bar one or two, are live including much sought after Mayfly dates.

NETHER WALLOP MILL

We open April 1^st for private tuition, Foundation Courses and the Half Day Tasters

FAMILY & CHILDREN

I have set aside dates for both Father & Son and Family Days over the Easter holidays and half terms.

KIDS FISHING CAMP

Back for a third year over the summer holidays. Five days of fishing for 8-15 year olds. July 16-20.

FISH CAMP

This is now a highlight in the calendar; two days on the river with a night under canvas. In broad terms June 11-25, July 16-26 and August 20-30 to march with the River Test weed cuts. July 1- August 31 on the Allen, Avon and Frome.

CORPORATE DAYS

I have held back a couple of choice Mayfly dates and Nether Wallop Mill is an increasingly popular choice for a fish fest.

	Captain Quinn holds forth

BEST VIDEO OF 2017

I must admit this video from Captain Quinn (who I assume is Canadian) makes me blush because, as a fishing guide, I am guilty of uttering nearly all of these phrases, nearly all of the time. 

Click here to watch 4 minutes of fun.

BEST JOKE OF 2017

An algorithm walks into a bar. 

'What are you having?' asks the barman. 

Surveying the other drinkers the algorithm answers,

'What are they drinking?'

QUIZ

As the winter solstice is already a week past I think we can now consider the start of a new season a better prospect that memories of the old. So, three questions with thoughts of warmer times. As ever it is just for fun and the answers are at the bottom on the Newsletter.

1) What time will sunset be exactly six months from today?

2)    What date was the hottest day of 2017?

3)    What is civil twilight?

All the best for 2018.

Best wishes,

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk

Founder & Managing Director

www.fishingbreaks.co.uk 

Quiz answers:

1)    9.25pm BST in Nether Wallop. It will be 4.06pm today.

2)    June 21^st at 34.5C/94.1F. The hottest since June 1976 and marked five consecutive days over 90F.

3)    This is the limit at which twilight illumination is sufficient, under good weather conditions, for terrestrial objects to be clearly distinguished.

Women in waders

I am a huge enthusiast of women fly fishing. I met my wife fly fishing and some of the happiest days we spend each summer are when the three of us (my daughter has likewise been inculcated) head for the river.

It must be said, and I know they will admit to this, that there has to be some 'bribe'. If I simply pose the question 'Shall we go fishing' the take up will be poor. So I have become a little cunning, dressing up the day with an incentive of a post-fishing lunch at a good pub. 

For those of you who wish to adopt this strategy I'd advise lunch rather than supper; afternoon departures are inevitably kyboshed by events. In general don't expect to get them back onto the river after lunch and don't delay lunch. My wife once became so infuriated by a particular fish I refused to leave uncaught that she snuck up behind me to lob a rock in the river. I took the point.

All this came to mind when I read an article in the New York Times last week that said women are now the fastest (and only) growing demographic in fly-fishing. My business ears pricked up. I went on to read that in an extract from a recent study by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation it was that said women make up about 31 percent of the 6.5 million Americans who fly fish.  In 2016, more than two million women participated in the sport, an increase of about 142,000 from the previous year. The aim of the survey is to promote the fly fishing industry goal of gender balance by 2020 with an equal proportion of men and women participating.

At that point I scratched my head: 31% of fly fishers are women? I found it hard to believe. When we fish the One Fly in Jackson Hole no more than ten of the one hundred and sixty competitors are ever women and of the eighty guides maybe two are women. If I scoured the Fishing Breaks database I think I'd struggle to do any better than one in twenty. In the dim distant past I seemed to recall the UK mix said to be one to twelve. As this story took traction on social media the figure of 24% women for the UK became common currency, quoting an Environment Agency lifestyles survey from 2010. I still wasn't convinced so I dug it out. This was a market research survey that polled 2800 people to discover how often people went fishing, what motivated them to go fishing and what might encourage them to go more often.

The first thing that struck me as odd about the poll was that the respondents were 51% women and 49% men. In a male dominated sport that would certainly skew the data but in itself it didn't seem to explain the discrepancy so I turned to Dr. Bruno Broughton who is the expert in this field. It seems I wasn't alone in spotting the oddity the problem lying not in the answer but the way in which the question was framed. Broughton explains:

"The 2010 survey repeated the phraseology used in previous surveys: "Have You Been Fishing...?" Females who accompanied males but didn't actually use a rod-and-line referred to themselves as anglers because "we" went angling.  In other words, about one in four male anglers went fishing with a female at some stage in the period covered by the survey."

So nearly all those 24% (there are of course some female anglers) considered that they had 'gone fishing' even though they never held the thick end of the rod. It seems that once this discrepancy is factored in the split reflects a 2006 survey that comes back to the rather depressing 5/95% figure.

I guess it is not all bad news. There has to be hope that if a quarter of partners are willing to come along it is surely a short step to actually have them fish themselves and likewise the children as well. Quite how you make that conversion I am not sure but I suspect the most effective strategies will lie at fishery level. Two for ones, family days and those sort of things. Abolishing the rod licence would help. The Environment Agency is already boasting that there has been an increase in participation by children after 12-16 year olds were exempted. It is short step of logic to say that this would apply to all society groups.

In the United States the focus, to quote the NY Times is on, "outreach events to educate women on gear choices, selection and function; plan classes to build skills and confidence on the water; and arrange mentoring opportunities for future female guides, shop employees and industry leaders." All good stuff. Similar things have been happening here so I'm sure with the combined US/UK push we will see women with a higher profile in fly fishing and better served in stores.

But all that said I think that if we really want to move the needle it is probably incumbent on all of us who fly fish today to play our part. I am sure there are plenty of spouses out there who'd be willing to give fly fishing a try given encouragment, though I'll give you a heads up: a fly rod to the uninitiated rarely makes for a romantic Christmas gift! On the other hand to a child or grandchild it is a whole different story - the promise of an adventure with those you love most.

CHALK APOLOGY

Sincere apologies for the hassles with trying to see CHALK in the first 48 hours of release. I didn't help things by announcing four hours ahead of the official launch (sorry) and then we had techie problems.

I can't pretend I understand how or what went wrong, but it did and your frustrations are understandable. However, all is resolved and thank you for all the glowing reviews that have since arrived at my Inbox. 

So, if you'd like to watch CHALK click this link and follow the instructions to register with FishingTV. If you are still having difficulties do ping me an email. There isn't a problem we haven't been able to resolve yet!

If you'd like to see CHALK 'live' as it were, I am hosting a special screening as part of the One Fly Festival on April 26th & 27th. The Thursday showing is now sold out but tickets are available for the Friday. Book here ......

THE IMITATION GAME

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery; at the weekend I felt the adage tested me.

I took a trip to Rosebourne, a new style of home store that specialises in local and fresh produce in which one of our neighbours in Nether Wallop has an interest. Maybe two Saturdays out from Christmas wasn't the wisest day of the year for a first foray, but it was good to see the car park full and the store packed.

Wandering around I alighted on the drinks section which has all sorts of unusual brands and a local cider caught my eye. Well, it would. It was called Meon Valley Cider and comes in three varieties. 

The dry has a damsel fly label. The medium dry called and with a brown trout label. And the medium, styled cool as a chalkstream, had an idyllic river scene on the label. 

'Gosh, how lovely.' I thought. And then I did a double take. It was the cover from Life of a Chalkstream, with a few details altered.

I am not sure whether to be enraged or flattered. Watch this space.

PS You will not find the Life of a Chalkstream in hardback in the shops any longer. It sold out the print run. However I do have a stash if you'd like a copy. Buy here ....

QUIZ

Congratulations to Sgt Kev Kelly who was named Wildlife Law Enforcer of the Year at the Wildlife Crime Conference last month. His 'beat' is North Yorkshire with 21 wildlife crime officers under his control.  So in that vein, three questions. As ever it is just for fun and the answers are at the bottom on the Newsletter.

1)    When was hunting with hounds banned in England and Wales? A) 1994  B) 1998  C)2004

2)    What is the punishment provided under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for shooting a hawk in England or Wales?

3)    When was bear baiting banned in England? A) 1735  B) 1835  C) 1935

Happy Christmas shopping!

Best wishes,

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk

Founder & Managing Director

www.fishingbreaks.co.uk 

Quiz answers:

1)    2004

2)    An unlimited fine, up to six months imprisonment or both

3)    1835 and then soon after across the Empire.

CHALK is out!

CHALK is out!

The premiere of CHALK in Leicester Square was something to behold. Fishing guides in black tie? Pints of Dorset's finest beer swapped for sloe gin champagne cocktails? Action thrillers of the big screen replaced by a journey through the gentle world of the chalkstreams? Was this really happening?

Well, after years of dreaming it had all come to fruition. A feature film that traces the evolution of fly fishing through the prism of the beautiful English chalkstreams, plus some, it must be said less so. For we didn't just follow the stereotypes. 

Yes, of course there are the thatched cottages of sleepy villages but we took our rods into urban London. Amidst burnt out cars, the smoke still curling to the sky, the resilient brown trout, Britain's most widely dispersed freshwater fish, proves it truly can be caught anywhere. 

This sequence remains my standout part of the film though you'll gasp at the drone shot over the Driffield Beck at Marina Gibson spots, casts and hooks a fish. 

If you would like to watch CHALK it is available anywhere in the world with just a few clicks of a mouse. Here is how you may watch it:

CHALK is exclusively available on the FishingTV platform. FishingTV is a streaming/OnDemand service, like Netflix for fishing. It is free to join and there is no monthly fee, rather a pay-per-view system operates. You can join FishingTV here: www.fishingtv.com/register

You can access FishingTV in one of the following ways:

- Use the website: www.fishingtv.com

- Download the app for smartphone and tablet - Android and iOS versions are available

- Install the FishingTV app on your smartTV - supported on most makes and models including Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and many more.

- Find us on Amazon Fire TV Stick and a range of other Set-Top devices including EE

If you'd like to see CHALK 'live' as it were, I am hosting a special screening as part of the One Fly Festival on April 26th & 27th. The Thursday showing is now sold out but tickets are available for the Friday. Book here ......

QUIZ

I was asked this question last month by someone who has untold wealth. He told me that he was asked this same question as a child, the questioner assuring him that once he knew the correct answer he'd be able to go through life winning bets at will. 

Here is the question:

What are the most northern, southern, eastern and western U.S. States?

I know my friend made his fortune in more traditional ways, but regardless the answer is a pretty good party trick. Before you go directly to the answer I will put a clue further down the page which might cause you to re-evaluate your answer.

WHAT MAN GIVES .......

In a way it was rather sad as we removed a last of a bit of rural industrial history from The Parsonage last month.

The concrete structure was part of the massive hatch system that controlled the water meadows in that area we call middle Test, namely the river you see on your right as you drive south from Stockbridge to Romsey. 

If you had been on that road exactly a hundred years ago today you would not have seen the river, or the meadows, but tens of thousands of acres of what would have looked like continuous lake, the fields covered with water as the hatches impounded the river, forcing the flow to spill out over the land.

Drowning, to give the process its proper term, was actually a very skilled art. The water had to flow continuously or it would stagnate, rotting the grassland it was meant to fertilise and protect from frost. So, from December to May the drowners lived out by the river in specially built huts moderating the flows night and day by adjusting the hatches.

The water meadows were first introduced to England by the Earl of Pembroke in the 16th century when he bought over Dutch engineers to his Wiltshire estate, through which flows the Avon, Ebble, Nadder and Wylye. The water meadows soon became a money machine, the early season grazing ideal for sheep which commanded a premium price reaching market earlier and fatter than sheep from other regions.

You can still see the remnants of the Wiltshire system today, the hatches things of great beauty, chiselled as they are from Portland stone. Ours at The Parsonage, ugly reinforced concrete, were of a much later vintage. In fact we think they might have been almost the last water meadow hatches ever built, the folklore being that they were constructed by WW1 prisoners of war.

But their time was past; their purpose redundant, the remains preventing water flowing easily into the carrier. What man gives, man can take away and I think you'll agree that the result is something far more natural looking.

QUIZ CLUE

The answer contains the names of just two States.

FEEDBACK DRAW WINNER

Colin Burton brings the feedback draw season to a close collecting the Abel TR reel as the first out the hat of all the 2017 replies. Well done to Colin and thank you to everyone who contributed this year. Your feedback, comments and suggestions are truly appreciated offering us invaluable insights that we may otherwise miss.

Next year I am hoping to expand the feedback by (technology permitting) putting the reports on-line, translating them into a star rating system. The tentative plan is that you will rate your experience from 1-5 with comments. You will be able to put your name to the report or remain anonymous. If anyone has advice or past experience of using systems like this, do let me know

If you are grayling fishing please keep the reports coming in; there will be a special draw for you at the end of the season (March 14).

Happy viewing!

Best wishes,

 

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk

Founder & Managing Director

www.fishingbreaks.co.uk 

Quiz answer:

The answer is Alaska and Hawaii.

Northern is Alaska, southern is Hawaii, eastern is Alaska and western is Alaska. If you note the map, Alaska is clearly the most northern state, and Hawaii, at 20º North, is without doubt the most southern state. Note how much further south it is than Florida. As far as the most western state, note how Alaska's Aleutian Islands stretch right up to the edge of the Western Hemisphere at the 180º line of Longitude, thus the most western state in the country. Alaska is also the answer for eastern, as the Aleutian Islands stretch across the 180º line of Longitude, into the Eastern Hemisphere, and up the edge of the Russian Federation.

If you exclude Alaska and Hawaii, the answers are northern Minnesota, southern Florida, eastern Maine, and western Washington.