RH Fly Fishing

“Fly fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it” – Herbert Hoover   Previous visits to John O’Gaunts Trout Fishery have been described in episodes 20, 23, 32, 35, & 47, guess what? Here we are again! Upon arrival we were greeted by a pair of honking Canada Geese, watched by a scattering of Mallard, afloat on the main pool, and more sullenly by the chap who was there to relieve us of some moolah. Another poor showing I’m afraid: the Admiral, Inspector, and Whytee made up the Fluff Boys, plus I had brought Dodgy again, which was just as well, as nobody else showed for most of the morning, probably due to the weather forecast, but as it happened we had showers although none heavy as predicted; they got the gusting wind right though. I wish all this wind and rain would blow somewhere else and give us a break. Both the fishery’s pools were actually overflowing, submerging areas of the bank.   Simms was as clear as ever, just those wind gusts distu

Off the log #3   This one certainly harks back a while, over twelve years actually, to a day when my buddy and I must have been feeling flush, thus lashing out for a six fish permit for each of us. It was late summer/early autumn, and warmth, sunshine, but thankfully a nice breeze to ruffle and break-up the water surface. Purely by chance, the venue was the same as in Off the log #1, i.e. John O’Gaunt Trout Fishery; well, I did mention it had become sort of a spiritual home (although in recent years I’ve rarely made it there more than three times, annually).   Back then, I fished heavier lines than I do nowadays, because my casting was often less than mediocre, and I needed line weight to cast reasonable distances. I set up a 9’ 6” #7 weight intermediate outfit, and for back-up or a change in approach, I rigged up a 9’ #6 floating line outfit. We headed over to the far bank of the main body of water and within the first hour we had each banked our first trout, resulting in our c

The BFFI 2020 was, in a word, excellent. The trades, fishing and tying’s great and good, and enthusiastic hordes combined to make what I thought was certainly the best I’ve seen, (no, I haven’t been every year, but I try). I have never experienced such a long queue with the show having been open for an hour or more. I shouldn’t really have been surprised, what with people like the inestimable Charles Jardine present, and surely a living legend; not tying or demonstrating casting today, but showcasing his incredible art, such as this pen and ink: Tiers’ Row(s) was as fascinating as ever, including many new faces. The ‘clinics’ were well attended, and the trades seemed to be enjoying good business. I bought beads and hooks to replace used stocks, had three pairs of tying scissors professionally sharpened, obtained a matched pair of Mallard wings, plus more new tying materials to try. Well, what, exactly, is “enough”? But what made it a stand-out were the insightful,

During todays River Monitoring Initiative sampling on the River Meon, among the usual suspects, we found this distinctly yellow nymph. It's about the same size as most of the Olives and BWOs we find, but this stand-out colour which I haven't come across in over three years' of monthly samplings. Can anyone identify it?