Trout Fisherman 483 (Digital Sampler)

FREE DVD INSIDE! stillwater tactics Iain Barr's & Gareth Jones' alternative early-season

FIRST FOR TACTICS, TACKLE & WHERE TO FISH

Mayfly Special ISSUE 483 £3.40 APR 27 - MAY 24, 2016

How to fish dry & nymph

Caenis flies

Ways to beat the curse!

Spring into ACTION

Try new venues l Fish nymphs l Downstream dries FLYMASTERS SUMMER TIPS GRAFHAM MAP Tie a fly & impress the judge

A plan for success in the heat

Anniversary guide to the hotspots

THIS MONTH: APPROACHING NEW WATERS Words: Phil Dixon Pictures: Peter Gathercole

Is there a better sight than a pristine brown? Thought not.

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TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

Hatching A PLAN

How Phil Dixon approaches a venue he’s never fished before

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

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FOCUS ON: MAYFLY DRIES Words: Peter Cockwill Pictures: Peter Gathercole

Natural mayflies are our largest upwings and trout love them.

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TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

It’s the hatch of THE YEAR

Mayfly

SPECIAL

Peter Cockwill fishes the Mayfly at Powdermills in Sussex

DAY on the mayfly is always Just look around! memorable, especially if your I have said this many times before, but it chances to get out fishing are bears repeating, that if you want to be limited. Here in the south it can selective then observation is the key. I scan cost ‘mega bucks’ to get a day the water looking for rises and then choose on a prime river beat, but there are options. one that pushes more water than others.

Last year, for the very first time, I went to Sometimes, when on the mayfly, you can Powdermills Reservoir in East Sussex and actually see the fishes’ head and guess the was amazed to see the mayfly hatch all day, size and then I watch ahead of where I spot despite constant rain. And it guaranteed the rise to see if it comes again. great sport.

It might take a while but eventually you I’ll recall the story for you. Trout can get an idea of where the better fish is Fisherman photographer Peter Gathercole next likely to show and cast to intercept. had fished here before and is very confident that we’ll do well, even though he eventually ends up with a hefty bill for messed up electrics on a The Shadow Mayfly sits right in this thoroughly soaked Nikon camera, trout’s scissors. such is the amount of rainfall we experience.

No sooner have we rowed away from the jetty on this morning in early May than we can see fish rolling over the hatching fly. There’s a steady breeze and the naturals pop up wherever we look. Getting into position to be able to cast across the breeze, it’s only moments later that my fly disappears and the first pictures are in the bag. It’s not often that we have the opportunity to get a feature day sorted out so quickly and that’s when Peter says we should try for a trophy shot.

He kindly takes the oars while I carefully watch the rise forms to pick out the fish we want and after a bit of a lucky cast we have a beautiful four-pounder in the boat.

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LEARN ABOUT:

✓ How to fish the dry ✓ The Walker’s Nymph ✓ Life-cycle & species ✓ Deadliest patterns ✓ Inspiring catch stories

“I scan the water looking for rises and then choose one that pushes more water than others.”

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

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FOCUS ON: MAYFLY NYMPHS Words & Pictures: Ceri Jones

Big fish like the NYMPH

Ceri Jones & Matthew Pate use traditional Walker’s Mayfly Nymphs to get amongst Lechlade’s doubles 28

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

Mayfly

SPECIAL

Ace tyer Matthew Pate used a hometied Walker’s Mayfly Nymph to tempt this 13lb rainbow from Lechlade.

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

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THIS MONTH: NON MAYFLY WATERS Words & pictures: Russ Symons

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TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

Nymph skills FOR SPRING If you’re not fortunate enough to enjoy a hatch of mays, a deep nymph set-up usually gets results. Russ Symons explains…

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PRIL and May can be two of the best trout fishing months of the year when the water starts to come alive after the cold and changeable weather.

We’re often faced with early-season conditions varying from a frost at first thing to sweltering by midday!

Clothing-wise, we must be prepared for cold yet, with the removal of a couple of layers, be comfortable to fish if we get a warm spell in the middle of the day. Being able to cope with the vagaries of the early-season weather is not to be underestimated. I’ve come off a reservoir late afternoon in the early stages of hypothermia because I was stupid enough to be unprepared for the changing weather.

I learned my lesson a long time ago!

It’s much easier today with the superb modern lightweight but durable clothing, which – if you watch the sales and special offers – can often be bought for very reasonable prices.

What, no mayfly?

Even if your water doesn’t have mayfly, there’s still rich fly life to be found.

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

This is the time of year when the mayfly start to make an appearance and suddenly all the magazines are full of wonderful images and tales of fish sipping ephemeral yellow or green insects off the top. If it happens on your waters, go and enjoy it, because it is a truly wondrous experience.

But then that leaves the rest of us on the

outer edges of the British Isles, where the water has a micro tinge of acidity in its makeup and mayfly are scarcer than hen’s teeth! So what do we do at this time of year?

Certainly we have some dry fly such as the hawthorn and maybe a few olives hatching off, but – in truth – most of the action is taking place subsurface.

Finding the feeding depth It’s the depth the action is taking place, that’s key to success. It always is. But at this time of the season the depth at which you fish your fly can be more critical than ever.

Early in the day the fish can be quite deep.

By midday, when it has warmed up, the trout can be well up in the water looking for buzzers or anything that might have hatched or been blown off the bankside bushes. So be prepared to change your line a couple times during the day or – if it is a fairly shallow fishery – change to a beadhead or an unweighted fly.

We are all creatures of habit and if you catch a fish early in the day on a Damsel and then the takes dry up, perhaps the fish might not be that deep any more. Don’t continuously plug away with the same method or depth.

Having said that, given that fish follow their food up and down in the water, it’s fairly true to say that trout spend a considerable portion of their time deep in the water. Here they haunt channels

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THIS MONTH: RIVER TACTICS Words & Pictures: Jeffrey Prest

The acceptable full-frontal...

Approaching your target from behind seems a given in any hunting scenario, yet for anglers there is sometimes much to be said for meeting ďŹ sh head-on and casting downstream 40

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

Nick Halstead works Yorkshire’s River Calder from the ‘wrong’ side.

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

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WHERE TO FISH

THIS MONTH

Rob Edmunds celebrates Grafham’s 50 glorious years

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TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

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HEN Grafham Water opened in 1966, few could imagine the effect it would have on fishing. Flyfishing suddenly became available to all at affordable prices and was no longer just the playground of the well-to-do.

One of the favourite Grafham patterns during those early years was a White Baby Doll, or a tandem White Baby Doll. Devised in 1971 by Brian Kench for fishing at Ravensthorpe, it quickly became a firm favourite on midland waters. Fished deep on a sinking line, it was mistaken for fry and proved very effective towards the end of the season when trout are bulking up for winter.

Although very effective, however, the pattern didn’t have the kind of movement that we anglers now take for granted. It relied on its profile, colour and the skills of the angler to fool the fish. It was only a matter of time before it was superseded.

Bob Church revolutionised fly-tying, in my opinion, when he created the Appetiser lure in 1972. It was designed to resemble Grafham’s roach fry and was used to target the large fry-feeders that were making the water so popular. It is, to my knowledge, the first time that marabou was used in the wing of a modern lure, providing unprecedented movement. It remains one of my favourite patterns at fry time and has accounted for some huge bags of fish.

Dave Barker, another Grafham regular, again changed the way we fish when he created the Minkie, a pattern that had the correct profile; and movement yet could be fished with an ultra-slow figure-of-eight. In 1992, Dave used the pattern to great effect when he captured the current Grafham rainbow record of 13lb 13oz on a Minkie from the Harbour.

Birthplace of the reservoir dry It’s not just lures that have been developed: Grafham Water is also the birthplace of the modern reservoir dry fly. Hoppers (Bristol Hoppers as they are often known) started life at Grafham in the early 1980s, pioneered by the likes of John Moore, Bob Worts and Andy Linwood. They came to prominence when used to great effect by the successful Grafham Water Fly Fishers team in a Benson & Hedges International final, allowing the Grafham team to record some amazing bags in extremely difficult conditions. It was inevitable that the method leaked out, and it was soon adopted by anglers from the Bristol area as it proved equally effective on the relatively shallow Chew Valley Lake.

Another modern dry that is now widely used in a vast array of colours was created for Grafham. Bob’s Bits is a creation of dry fly expert Bob Worts, who originally tied it as a small green dry to imitate a hatch of green midge that were prominent on Grafham at the time. His old green fishing jumper was the source of his first patterns.

The name comes from the ‘bits’ of wool pulled from the jumper…

For me, the most important advance came via my flyfishing hero and twice individual world champion, Brian Leadbetter: a person who changed the way we fish and who TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

Cove Nymph

revolutionised competition flyfishing. He was the first person to perfect the ‘hang’, dramatically increasing the control of his flies and ultimately increasing his catch rate to a level previously unthinkable by many anglers. His idea of whipped line markers are now taken for granted by competition anglers and manufacturers even now are incorporating them into products.

The Pheasant Tail Nymph was originally designed and tied by Frank Sawyer, for fishing southern chalk streams. But like all flies there have been many popular variations. Arthur Cove’s pattern the Cove Nymph is probably the most famous; originally tied on a size 8 long shank hook to represent the very large buzzers hatching at the time, it soon became Arthur’s preferred nymph on Grafham Water.

“In 1992, Dave Barker used the Minkie to great effect when he captured the current Grafham rainbow record of 13lb 13oz.”

The arrival of the killer shrimp in the last five years has changed the game once more, as Grafham experienced a dramatic change in feeding habits. Fish are holding much closer into the bank, in fact five to 20 yards out has been the place to fish almost all year.

Boats have often struggled to catch consistently as anglers simply cannot fish close enough in, with bank anglers now needing to angle their casts along the bank rather than out into the reservoir, for optimum results.

Rough, well picked-out Hare’s Ears, fished on a floating line or midge-tip, often in the washing-line style (held up with small Boobies or even dries) have been the most productive for over half the season.

WHERE TO FIND GRAFHAM’S HOTSPOTS SEE PAGE 56

Appetiser, the perfect imitation of roach fry.

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NEW TYING COMP

The best ideas and patterns will make you a Flymaster

Fly Dressers’ Guild chairman Peter Gathercole judges Trout Fisherman’s new fly-tying competition

Challenge 1: Typical Summer Nymph A flashy thorax creates an attractive hotspot for the fish to home in on.

Tails bring balance and just that little bit of natural movement when retrieved.

A light wire hook makes the fly remain high in the water, just subsurface.

tter m mas aste r

W I N N E R W I N N E R

Winners' badges.

A drab, picked-out, hare’s ear body makes the fly look ‘buggy’ and natural.

Hackles create movement and slow the descent thus keeping the fly up.

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ROUT Fisherman has teamed up with Barbless Flies to relaunch the Flymasters flytying competition, with Peter Gathercole as judge.

Each month a challenge will be set inviting you, the tyers, to put your creativity to the test. Your pattern should then be posted to us at the Trout Fisherman offices and will be passed onto Peter. Now the Chairman of the Fly Dressers’ Guild, author of the best-sellers ‘Fly Tying For Beginners’ and the ‘Fly Tying Bible’ and all-round game fishing personality Peter is well placed to be judge. It’s up to you to impress him!

How flies will be judged Peter is looking for innovation, a high standard of tying and creativity but this has to be tempered with the pattern’s prowess as a fish-catcher – after all, that’s what it’s eventually designed to do. All submitted flies should be squashed barb or tied on barbless hooks.

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Challenge No.1 This month we want you to tie a light summer nymph to be fished just subsurface.

It can resemble an emerging chironomid, a damsel nymph, olive nymph or be a general nymph imitating all manner of aquatic life.

These patterns are usually tied on light wire hooks, not overly dressed and somehow ‘hold up’ in the water via a hackle or similar. They must not plummet down to the lake bed! Keep the pattern ‘fishy’ while incorporating any new or different materials to add that ‘something extra’.

Post to: Flymasters, Trout Fisherman Magazine, Bauer Media Ltd, Media House, Lynch Wood Business Park, Peterborough PE2 6EA. Give the fly’s name, full dressing plus notes on how the fly evolved. Attach fly to notes, add your name/address and submit. Entries cannot be returned. The competition promotes barbless flies to reflect the popularity of catch and release, so squash the barb or tie on barbless hooks.

Deadline for entries: May 24. Results will appear in issue 485, on sale June 22.

www.barbless-flies.co.uk

TIE ON BARBLESS HOOKS Barbless hooks are often seen as less effective at landing fish than their barbed equivalent – this isn't true.

Partridge of Redditch has played a long and innovative role in the development of barbless patterns – arrow points, dropped points and needle points all started here and have morphed into some of the most well known brands today.

Partridge’s PATRiOT Barbless patterns are characterised by the best of the features and benefits required by competitive and productive fishers: •Black nickel finish aids hook setting •Robust needle points to ensure that they set time and time again •Wire weights suit tough fishing applications

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

THE PRIZanEtsSreceive:

SPONSORED BY

tr All published en ecial Flymasters sp a e, dg l as a a Flymaster ba less Flies as wel rb Ba om fr n io s. ok ho fly select ss le ge barb packet of Partrid r the year wins: fo r Overall winne page article in TF as well star of a 6case. a trophy, be the their best flies mounted in a of of ty e ili on ib g ss in as receiv has the po for the year also ss Flies. r ne in w l al er Ov Barble association with rs d to a Flymaste in e tyers ar vite All showcased y at Elinor Trout Fishery in Celebration Da onstrations, with tying dem summer 2017, ch and at m fishing food, friendly . ns tio ta presen

Each month a challenge will be set inviting you, the tyers, to put your creativity to the test...with Peter Gathercole as judge.”

TROUT FISHERMAN APRIL 27 - MAY 24

www.barbless-flies.co.uk

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