Although I am a trout fisherman and this blog is mostly about trout fishing a little story of something as Monty Python would say “Completely Different”. A story about little Oscar and his imminent release from captivity.. Down along the Cornish coast on the banks of the Camel Estuary is the town of Padstow renowned […]

In search of the silver bullet: Over some 45 years of fly fishing including guiding anglers from around the world and bouts of frenetic competitive angling there is a theme which crops up all the time. The constant striving for some magical edge some mythical silver bullet that will provide more success and more […]

Right now in the depths of winter rain lashing against the window and snow on the high ground the stream fishing season still feels a long way ahead. Of course it is a good time to tie flies clean fishing gear and generally have a bit of a tidy up and a sorting out of […]

Is “Euro-Nymphing” killing the dry fly? A few experiences of late have had me question the long term effects of the competitive anglers’ love affair with Euro-Nymphing. Certainly the “French Nymphing” style (and its variations) can be tremendously effective quite possibly the most effective means of winkling trout out of running water when they are...

“I have never met a good angler who didn’t cut his teeth on public water”: those are the immortal words of my erstwhile regular fishing partner before he departed these shores for the desert. A Scot Gordon ventured out into the big wide world armed with a qualification to teach English as a foreign language […]

A problem with Fluorocarbon? I have for some time years at least had nagging little questions about the efficacy of fluorocarbon tippet material for trout fishing. Sure I have seen the “invisible in water” marketing stuff and like many competitive anglers have taken as read the idea that the stuff is superior in the invisibility […]

Fish food flies I recently ran an intensive weekend course for a group of lovely ladies who were relatively new to fly fishing or indeed complete novices. It was billed as a “Ladies Fly Fishing Boot Camp” and in a couple of short days we covered all the essential elements of fly fishing from the […]

A quick trip to paradise Not more than a 90 minute drive out of town lies a remote kloof a canyon I suppose you might suggest. It is steep sided with a gradient to match remote rocky and unspoiled unspoiled in a way that so few places really are. Through this little piece of paradise […]

The more things change the more they stay the same: It is perhaps unnecessary that I should here dwell on the advantages  which a knowledge of fly dressing gives to the angler since it is to be expected that they are already known and felt by those who read these lines. At the same time […]

The C-Word: CONFIDENCE. I have been tying a lot of flies recently mostly with a forthcoming trip in mind. The trip will take me back to waters I haven’t fished in four decades and as a result I have been researching more than a little on hatches fly patterns and all things related. I like […]

Thoughts on selectivity: Much is made of a trout’s selective feeding in a great many angling publications in fact it comes up so frequently that one would have to imagine that it is a fact and if not fact at least commonly accepted wisdom based on subjective observation. Certainly although I don’t fish alkaline waters […]

Well would you know it I have a new baby.  It has taken the better part of two or more years to get to this point people might think that in-vitro fertilization is a long and troublesome process but with no real motivation towards fatherhood and with a natural human longing to leave something behind […]

I suppose handling rejection is something we all have to deal with at different points in our lives. Maybe your fumbled advances to the prom queen (or Football Jock: this is a non-sexist blog) were greeted with those immortal words “Bug off Four Eyes”. Maybe the girl that you knelt before ring in hand gave […]

Things have been a bit of a whirl of late what with the silly season (which closely aligns with the festive season in these parts). Guiding days handyman jobs urgent fixes hot weather a trip out to the lake and a great deal of traipsing up and down the stream valleys in search of fish. […]

I have on occasion written down both here and in other scribblings   my thoughts on selective trout and that supposedly mythical beast the “educated trout”. Of course that has equally led to a level of derisive commentary from some sufficiently determined argument that can on occasion have me questioning if I have missed the point […]

A lucky escape: I have a favourite quotation from one of my all-time favourite books “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The scenario plays out something like this. Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect (an alien with a carelessly chosen pseudonym) are in the pub just prior to the destruction of the planet earth. Ford Prefect […]

It had been an exceptional morning’s fishing Jack had risen a lot of fish and landed a good many of them but our spirits sagged slightly as he had also broken off on some of the better trout a lack of experience with light tackle and fine tippet mostly to blame. Still we did some […]

For a long time now I have been pondering what it must be like to be a small insect hatching out on a freestone stream. I know that insects are smarter or at least appear smarter than we might think. Mayflies for example manage to all hatch at the same time so that they can […]

It’s a common joke out on the river with clients we look up at the sun drenched mountain landscapes the bright profusion of flowers and perhaps an eagle in the sky or a klipspringer on the rocks and someone will say “nice office”.  It’s a bit of a giggle because it is a nice office […]

I like to imagine that I am open to new ideas suggestions hypotheses and such although I must admit at the same time that I am not overly keen to listen to foolish notions without logical backup. So it happens that some months back I hosted Peter Hayes from Tasmania. Peter was in South Africa […]