The Piscators’ Chronicle
The official magazine for The Wandle Piscators
Issue 1, Summer 2014
Bumper 1st issue, including: Fly of the season, Cannon Hill, Fish where you live, Barton Court, Beverley Brook, Severn barbel, The first bass, Bosnia, Slovenia‌
CONTENTS
3 Editor’s letter 4 Welcoming our new president: Dr Cyril Bennett MBE.
6 Club news
The AGM, World Rivers Day, and the club trips.
8 What lies beneath
The Wandle Piscators supports the Environment Agency with our very own cell of the UK’s nationwide Riverfly Anglers’ Monitoring Initiative.
10 All tied up
The South East London branch of the Fly Dresser’s Guild.
11 Fly of the season:
Jez Mallinson ties the Cutwing Cinnamon Caddis.
12 In Memoriam: Peter Lapsley
Theo Pike on the sad loss of a respected and much-loved angler.
13 Balsam bashing book launch
Waging war against non-native species. By Theo Pike.
14 An oasis of calm at Cannon Hill
The future is bright for the club’s first stillwater, as Garrett Fallon reveals.
18 Fish where you live
It may seem like the most natural thing to do, but hard work and community spirit underpin the ability to fish from your front door. Theo Pike highlights the work undertaken on the Wandle.
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CONTENTS
22 Barton Court beauties
Stewart Ridgway fished the Kennet on a club trip that caught perch, gudgeon, roach, grayling and a lot of trout.
26 The unknown bounty of Beverley Brook
Fishing a small, as yet unfished stream can be a challenging and frustrating experience, but down in the jungles of Beverley Brook, John Stephens finds something close to home that should be made more accessible.
32 To catch a proper barbel
A barbel from the Wandle is special, but when size matters, the Severn is the place to be. By John O’Brien.
36 The first bass
Phil Kay recalls the day the lure of the sea led him to a surprise capture.
36 Upriver in Slovenia
Don your waders and push further into the upper reaches for wilder action. Adrian Grose-Hodge goes off the beaten track.
46 Bosnia: rivers worth waiting for
Once the scene of conflict, its rivers now attract the curious angler. Arcadi De Rakoff gets a taste for what’s on offer.
56 Wiltshire diary
The Wandle Piscators’ Duncan Soar has moved to Wiltshire, where, when he’s not catching fish, he’s taking photographs.
www.wandlepiscators.net
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EDITOR’S LETTER
W
elcome to our first issue of the club’s official magazine, the Piscators’ Chronicle. Last year a thread started on the forum which asked for opinions on how we can get more of our members engaged with the club. Garrett Fallon, a new member, came forward with the idea for an e-zine and after a presentation to the club’s committee and confirmation that the cost to the club is minimal – apart from the hours given up by the dedicated few – we jumped on the proposal. Six months later and the results are stunning – the guys have produced this fabulous e-zine – without doubt it must be the finest club magazine of its kind. Within its pages you will find a wide range of articles covering coarse, game and sea fishing from the Wandle to the bad lands of Bosnia. This is a publication that Garrett and the other contributors and 4
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Photograph: Theo Pike
From small beginnings
“There are so many opportunities to play a part in the club, whether penning an article for the next issue of the Piscators’ Chronicle, joining a club trip to the Fens or volunteering as a fishery warden at Cannon Hill.” members of the e-zine sub-committee have every right to feel proud about. And that’s the point of this editorial; the old adage that you only get out what you put in is as true today as it was at the moment it was first penned. So please
take the time to enjoy this maiden edition and think for a moment about how you can get involved with the club, in the forum, on the bank or at one of our work parties. There are so many opportunities to play a part in the club, whether penning an article for the next issue of the Piscators’ Chronicle, joining a club trip to the Fens or volunteering as a fishery warden at Cannon Hill. Or, if you have an idea for a new project, club trip or social event please bring it to the committee and we will do what we can to help you make it happen. We love taking your subscriptions but we really want you to feel that you are part of something special. Please step forward, get involved and make this club something to be proud about. I look forward to meeting you on the bank. Tight lines. n Will Tall, Senior Vice President. www.wandlepiscators.net
NEW PRESIDENT
Welcoming our new president: Dr Cyril Bennett MBE
W
e are very pleased to announce that Dr Cyril Bennett, a long time supporter of our work on the River Wandle and world renowned aquatic entomologist, has accepted the committee’s invitation to become the Wandle Piscators’ next President following the sudden death of Peter Lapsley. Cyril grew up on the other side of the Thames from Wandsworth and well remembers how awful the Wandle was in the 1960s when the stench from the river was so bad that it was impossible to stand downwind whilst waiting for the bus. More recently he trained the club in Riverfly Monitoring techniques following the 2007 pollution, and has advised us on the re-introduction of Mayflies and Blue Winged Olives. Cyril pioneered riverfly monitoring www.wandlepiscators.net
“Cyril… remembers how awful the Wandle was in the 1960s when the stench from the river was so bad that it was impossible to stand downwind whilst waiting for the bus.” in the voluntary sector and in September this year he was awarded an MBE for his services to conservation. Our previous President Peter Lapsley, said of Cyril: “Anglers and environmentalists throughout the UK owe Cyril Bennett a great debt of gratitude, and the award of his MBE is the very least that could have been done
in recognition of the extraordinary amount of voluntary thought, time and effort he has put into improving the health of Britain’s rivers.” Earlier this year Cyril advised on and featured in the BBC’s most recent Natural History programme, The Great British Year – Spring. (You’ll catch sight of him around minutes 38:02 and 42:22 – one of the rare moments when Cyril has ever been found in front of the camera!) Cyril’s entomological close-up photographs are legendary. Some of the finest examples are featured in the fly anglers’ essential reading: The Pocket Guide to Matching the Hatch (coauthored with Peter Lapsley in 2010). So for the benefit of the Club, the Wandle and the health of our rivers in general, we are immensely honoured to welcome him as the new Honorary President of the Wandle Piscators! n The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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CLUB NEWS
Annual AGM and Dinner The William Morris, conveniently located on the banks of our beloved Wandle, saw us hold our annual AGM at its premises once more. This year, however, the proceeding dinner was held at the Fire Stables in Wimbledon village. After a whirlwind of protocol, namely the ratification of the committee, the formal induction of our new president – Dr. Cyril Bennett, and an update on the club’s membership and financial positions, we were told of the sad-yet-happy-forhim news, that Theo Pike, founding member and one of our senior vicepresidents, was standing down in order to concentrate on our sister club, the Wandle Trust, to edit the Fly Fishers Journal, and to look at how to improve other catchment areas in the South West of England. He will remain a Piscator nonetheless. Mr Pike, the club salutes you and wishes you every success in your new ventures. We also said goodbye to the club’s Secretary for the past ten years, Erica Evans. The Secretary’s role is one of the most demanding and thankless on the club’s committee and must have
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been even more arduous for Erica as she doesn’t fish. That didn’t stop Erica from doing a fantastic job and without her commitment and organisation we would have struggled. The club recognised Erica’s contribution with the presentation of a very smart crystal vase engraved with the club’s logo and short dedication. Once proceedings had finished, we retired to the Fire Stables, where we enjoyed fine dining, libations in plenty and banter that went into the early hours, and which ranged from tippet strength to where we had been fishing. Thanks to all who came and made it such an enjoyable evening! n
“We enjoyed fine dining, libations in plenty and banter that went into the early hours, and which ranged from tippet strength to where we had been fishing.”
www.wandlepiscators.net
CLUB NEWS
World Rivers Day
29 September 2013
So how did we spend World Rivers Day on the Wandle? While the official launch of the Wandle Landscape Partnership’s HLF projects kicked off in Morden Hall Park, the Wandle Piscators made a splash on the Wandle at Merton Abbey Mills with our very own angling event. Will talked about Riverfly monitoring and launched the Wandle Young Piscators’ HLF programme, Jim demonstrated his famous woven nymphs, and Steve showed us how to make floats that frankly looked good enough to eat. Our good friends Charles Rangeley-Wilson and Dom Garnett both drove hundreds of miles to join us for the day – signing their bestselling books and answering detailed questions from readers and aspiring fellow writers alike. Chris Reeve and Caroline Emmet also inspired the fly tying
fraternity with the professionalism of the Fly Dressers’ Guild roadshow, while Alex Titov and Matt Holden wowed the crowds with AAPGAIlevel tournament trick casting, and Jez brewed up a range of fly-dyeing potions in someone’s old hostess trolley (and promises to sell the results via our Members’ Forum… watch this space!) Many thanks to everyone who gave their time so generously and came to celebrate World Rivers Day again with us this year! n
Wandle Piscators Fishing Trips 2014 Date*
Venue
Type of fishing
June
Season Opener @ Cannon hill
Coarse
June
Bewl – 4 Boats booked
Game
July
Bury Hill
(mainly Tench) Coarse
July
Throop
Mixed
August
The Royalty
Mixed
Sea Trip off Brighton
Sea
September
Wandle Specimen Day
Mixed
October
Barton Court
Mixed
Lower Itchen Fishery
Mixed
Wherwell
Game
Fens
Mixed
December
Bury Hill – Pike/ Zander
Mixed
January
Bury Hill – Pike/ Zander
Mixed
February
Wherwell
Game
March
Bury Hill – Pike/ Zander
Mixed
November
*Please see the forum on the club website for details of individual trips: www.wandlepiscators.net/wandsforum/ www.wandlepiscators.net
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RIVERFLY
What lies beneath Olive
Here at the Wandle Piscators, we’re proud to support the Environment Agency and to lead the restoration of the River Wandle’s invertebrates with our very own cell of the UK’s nationwide Riverfly Anglers’ Monitoring Initiative. Founded in 2007 by Will Tall, and now under the leadership of Jim Dillon, the project makes frequent checks on the fauna that make their homes in our riverbed, forming a high-protein buffet for any Wandle fish.
Caseless caddis
Damsel Fly nymph
The protection of natural habitat is essential to the health of the Wandle’s invertebrates 8
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RIVERFLY
Panning for gold
The Riverfly Partnership
The Riverfly Partnership is a network of nearly 100 partner organisations, representing anglers, conservationists, entomologists, scientists, water course managers and relevant authorities, working together to protect the water quality of our rivers, further the understanding of riverfly populations, and actively conserve riverfly habitats. For more information go to: www.riverflies.org/
Click on the map above for details of our monitoring locations‌ www.wandlepiscators.net
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FLY DRESSING
All tied up A
t the beginning of 2014, we were delighted to announce that the Wandle Piscators have recently formed the South London branch of the national Fly Dressers’ Guild. All our fly tying evenings take place on the first Thursday of every month of the year, starting at 7.30pm in the William Morris at Merton Abbey Mills. The evenings are co-ordinated by the Club’s very own professional fly-tyer, Jez Mallinson. Tyers of all levels are welcome to attend to learn and practice new techniques, exchange fly-tying tips and experiences, enjoy a convivial pint or two with like-minded fly-fishers, and even to demonstrate favourite patterns themselves. If you attend these evenings on a regular basis, you may also wish to consider joining the Fly Dressers’ Guild as an individual member for just £20 a year. Benefits include insurance cover, entrance to many exciting competitions and the excellent quarterly magazine Flydresser – a fascinating journal crammed with interesting features and fly-tying advice. By forming the South London branch of the Guild, we’re delighted to help fill a gap in the map which has existed for many years. We look forward to seeing you at our Fly Dressers’ Guild fly tying evenings very soon! n John Stephens, Howard Bishop and Jez Mallinson will be on the Fly Dressers Guild stand at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace from 18-20 JULY 2014.
The beginning: laying on thread
The end: adding the finishing touches
EXTRA EVENT LAUNCHED: Following the increasing popularity of our monthly Fly Dressing evenings, from Tuesday 17th June, the club have started running a second event at The Hope Public House, 48 West Street, Carshalton. These will be run on the same basis as our monthly meetings at the William Morris, and will afford the opportunity for regular tiers or complete novices to come along and learn a few new skills, or pass on their knowledge in very pleasant surroundings. The Hope won CAMRA pub of the year for the last two years so rest assured the ale is cracking.
A picture of concentration, and beer 10
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FLY DRESSING
Fly of the season:
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The Cutwing Cinnamon Caddis Jez Mallinson shares his secret weapon for fishing the summer on the Wandle
D
uring the long warm days of summer on the River Wandle I inevitably use what has long been my go-to fly for this time of the year, the cutwing Caddis. It is a fly you can tie to match any of the family Trichoptera just by a change in wing and dubbing colour for the body. I won’t attempt to bore you all by trying to go into long entomological details, as a lot of it shoots over my head, and there are far more qualified people to do that (not bore you but best describe the fly in question). I would recommend a Guide to the adult caddisflies or sedge flies by Peter Barnard and Emma Ross as a good point of reference for your tying purposes. Anyway enough of my prattling to the job in hand. Below is the recipe and a pictoral guide to tying the Cinnamon Caddis. The wing may be made using a flank feather, Scotch tape and Floo Gloo and cut to shape or bought in most retailers. n Hook: Veniard / Osprey VH211 Dry fly Size 12-16 Thread: Uni-thread 8/0 Rst Brown Dubbing: Olive Hares Fur Wing: Taped Pheasant cock Flank (available through Veniard stockists) Hackle: Furnace Cock Saddle Antennae: Tail Fibbets Method: 1: Attach hook to vise and lay on thread 2: Dub slim body from hook bend to just short of hook eye 3: Tie in pre-shaped wing 4: Attach 2 tail fibbets and split with a figure of eight 5: Place in Hackle and give 3-5 wraps and tie off 6: Form small neat head 5&6
www.wandlepiscators.net
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OBITUARY
In Memoriam: Peter Lapsley Theo Pike on the sad loss of a respected and much-loved angler.
T
he Wandle Piscators have been deeply shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of our much-loved Honorary President, Peter Lapsley, on Saturday 3 August 2013, after a short illness, at the age of 70. As we said in our welcoming blog post in February 2012 (was it only last year?) Peter was one of our sport’s most respected figureheads, and one of the most outspoken, yet personally selfeffacing, ambassadors for responsible angling and conservation. Having fished the Chess as a child, Peter supported the Wandle river restoration project with tireless enthusiasm for many years, recording our efforts in articles for the national and international angling press, and vastly raising the profile of the Rivers Trust and urban river restoration movements. Despite a constant schedule of travel, writing and fishing commitments, he 12
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almost always found time to attend Wandle-related dinners and AGMs, where everyone was struck by his joie de vivre and infectious enthusiasm for any subject relating to fish, fishing, flylife and conservation. As befitted the real angling writer behind Fly-fishing by JR Hartley, his stock of anecdotes – drawn from a lifetime of military, intelligence, medical and fishing experiences ranging from ancestral connections with the Falkland Islands to Mount Shasta and his beloved Derbyshire Wye – was apparently endless. At last year’s Club Dinner, many of us remember being spellbound by his rendition of a characteristically sparkling tale which he later also recounted in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying magazine: Picture the scene. I was standing in the middle of the River Wye which, at that point, is about 20 yards wide. Tight in against the left bank was a family of
mallard – mum and four or five partgrown ducklings. Tight in against the right bank, a big rainbow rose to take a Mayfly dun. I was confident that the ducklings were far enough from the fish to be unbothered if I cast to it, which I did. As the fly landed, one of the ducklings quacked “That’s mine!” and half flew, half galloped across the river towards it. “Oh no you don’t”, thought I, lifting the rod to bring the fly back towards me. As I did so, it was seized by a 1.5lb brown. Who says Mayfly fishing isn’t fun? Above all, it was typical of his humour and modesty that when one of us asked him to sign a copy of his most recent (and best-selling) Pocket Guide to Matching the Hatch, generously donated as a raffle prize, he grinned impishly and answered “But you do know the unsigned copies are the rarest?” We will miss Peter terribly, and we send our most heartfelt condolences to his family. n www.wandlepiscators.net
BOOK LAUNCH
Balsam bashing book launch Waging war against non-native species. By Theo Pike.
E
xciting news… my new book, The Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing, published by Merlin Unwin Books hit the shelves on Thursday 8 May. Thanks to enormous efforts from many third sector organisations across Britain and Ireland, the idea of fighting back against invasive non-native species (INNS) like Himalayan balsam, giant hogweed, signal crayfish, mink and even grey squirrels has slowly been gaining traction among members of the general public. Still, I know from my own experience that unless you’re an environmental consultant, or employed by a rivers trust or one of the government agencies, it’s hard to get solid advice on what to do about INNS on a personal level. There’s no lack of information, especially online. But it’s often frustratingly scattered, and almost never written for anyone who’s not a scientist or professional environmental practitioner (although since taking my PA1 and PA6 pesticide spraying qualifications with the Wandle Trust a couple of weeks ago, I guess I’m now also one of those!) So, as a writer whose day job often amounts to translating technical materials into normal day-to-day Plain English, I’m hugely hopeful that this new, easily-accessible pocket guide will provide a real practical source of information – encouraging voluntary and community efforts to ramp up the counter-offensive against INNS, and giving ordinary members of the public confidence that they really can make a difference. (This doesn’t just apply to my beloved urban streams, where I’ve recently been horrified to see massive improvements to water quality and river life threatened with destruction – all over again – by alien invaders like www.wandlepiscators.net
“If this catches on, it could be nothing short of a grassroots revolution to take back our local landscapes from a host of INNS.” signal crayfish and Himalayan balsam, but across whole tracts of beautiful rural landscapes whose natural character is in imminent danger of being strangled by non-native plants, animals, insects or pathogens). Although there’s plenty of government and EU discussion and legislation on the subject of INNS, real life austerity and budget cuts mean that there’s actually rather less real money to deal with this growing problem. Which means, ironically, that there’s never been a better time for local people to start making a huge difference to saving the character of the places where they live – reducing global blandification,
protecting homes and health, and even preserving native species from extinction in their own area. Every little helps – whether that’s reporting a sighting of a suspiciouslooking beetle or caterpillar, organising a giant hogweed spraying programme so you don’t end up with third-degree burns every time you try to get near your local river, or just remembering to Check, Clean, Dry your kayak or fishing gear after a session on the water, to make sure you’re not accidentally moving rapacious INNS to new areas. If this catches on, it could be nothing short of a grassroots revolution to take back our local landscapes from a host of INNS we’ve spent the last few generations recklessly spreading around the world, rarely dreaming of the kind of lasting damage they’d do. As I wrote in the book’s introduction, if any particular species escapes from its native range to start wreaking havoc on the places, ecosystems and natural processes we all love and depend on, it’s in all our interests to do something about it. n The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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CANNON HILL
An oasis of calm at
Cannon Hill
The future is bright for the club’s first stillwater, as Garrett Fallon reveals.
I
n the Summer of 2012, I discovered that the Wandle Piscators, an angling club I was considering joining, had gained control of an old estate lake in South London called Cannon Hill Common lake. As an angler I was a confirmed stillwater man, but it was my intention to learn how to fly fish. With the possibility of access to both still and flowing water within the boundaries of our eclectic city, I just had to make a closer inspection. Accompanied by my young daughter, who at four years of age already fishes, I immediately made the trip from south east London. What I found was a lovely little lake that had probably seen better days, but which was pregnant with potential. The lake is long and thin, like a canal, but wider. Access was through a treelined path, with fishing from one bank only, the far bank being a nature reserve. There were a lot of fallen branches in the water, which was partially covered in a thick scum that had formed around discarded rubbish. There were also wildfowl everywhere – duck, geese, seagulls – and the banks were littered with rubbish – discarded beer cans, old crisp packets, and unforgivably, deadly castaway fishing line. Chillingly, I saw one large rat, then a second. However, as I looked closer I could see the umistakable action of fish… swirls, rises, then finally, bubbles. It was alive, beautiful, enchanting. Since then I have followed its progress avidly. 14
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The history of Cannon Hill
In the 1500s the Augustinian Canons of Merton Priory owned what was then called ‘Canondownhyll’. Its name was changed following its occupation by Parliamentarian forces in the 17th century, during the English Civil War, when the site was armed with a cannon. It is the fourth biggest hill on that side of London, and so held strategic importance, being used to warn Cromwell’s troops against possible attack by the King’s Cavaliers. At one time there was even a row of cottages on Cannon Hill Lane that was called Cromwell Villas. Whichever way you look at it, there have been canons or cannons associated with that hill for over 500 years. In 1763, a wealthy man called William Taylor acquired the freehold of the site and built Cannon Hill House, using local bricks, which were made from the black clay taken from the area we now know as the lake. It seems the property then changed hands once or twice over the centuries, dwindling in size as suburban housebuilding encroached. Merton Council finally purchased 60 acres in 1926, which forms the common as we know it today. However, the house had sadly already fallen into disrepair and was demolished sometime in the 1930s-40s. The lake is therefor an old estate brick pit, filled with run-off from the parkland surrounding it.
The negative press
Angling forums from before 2009 report good catches of carp to 16lbs and a good head of tench. But sometime between then and 2011 the bigger fish disappeared. What remained was a handful of small hungry carp, some silver fish, and a few pitiful tench. Scales taken from these fish have since proved they were stunted. But whether fishing should happen on the lake at all, had divided local opinion. Angling had been banned in 1974 before being reinstated in 2001. The lake had no doubt suffered from some abuse at the hands of a small minority of anglers who seemingly cared little for it, its inhabitants, or the local residents. It is easy to find reports of past conflict between users of the park and anglers in the lake. It only takes one idiot to spoil it for the rest of us. In a well balanced piece published on 25th January 2010, journalist Craig Burnett of This is Local London reported on divided local opinion: “Users of Cannon Hill Common are fed up with some thoughtless anglers damaging vegetation and wildlife around its lake – but they are split on the best way to tackle the problem,” he writes. He quoted one local: “You have to take a realistic approach. The fishing is going to continue – it’s a matter of getting some kind of discipline to it. It’s not to do with real fisherman, who angle properly, but the yobs.” www.wandlepiscators.net
CANNON HILL recently to enhance the banks and provide nesting platforms for the birds. The number of ducks had diminished greatly through the disturbance caused, through swallowing tackle (and dogs had also got caught up in fishing gear), children were shouted at for throwing bread, and residents abused. Fishing took place on the other bank, which was supposed to be kept as a nature reserve. They said that the Lake was too small to have any fishing, and doubted that regulation could work.”
“But whether fishing should happen on the lake at all, had divided local opinion. Angling had been banned in 1974 before being reinstated in 2001.” But doubts remained. “It has become a foreboding location. A club will not redress this,” said another. On 10th May 2011, the Raynes Park and West Barnes Residents’ Association called a public meeting, which over 150 people attended. High on the agenda was the ‘contentious’ and ‘vexed’ question of whether to allow fishing on Cannon Hill Common: “The Club that runs the fishing on the River Wandle through Morden Hall Park had come forward and offered to control the fishing on Cannon Hill Common. A number of their officers, and others with angling interests spoke, including their water bailiff. Their viewpoint was that if fishing was not controlled, it would happen anyway, and their club had been able to preserve the river banks on the Wandle, prevent litter and detritus, and to maintain good order. “The local residents who spoke were very largely still in favour of a complete ban. They said that the fishermen had taken over, and ruined the improvements put in www.wandlepiscators.net
It was obvious that angling also met with opposition from bird-lovers especially, with horror stories of birds getting caught in discarded fishing line. There was a particularly gruesome tale of a heron becoming stuck, upside down, in a tree, unable to free itself from a noose of nylon, before being shot by wildlife officials, having first failed with an attempted rescue. This all happened before our club’s association with the water, but memories remain hard to erase. Then came an incident in January 2013, where an Egyptian goose was injured after getting tangled in old fishing line. It was reported in the local Wimbledon Guardian, cue the headline “Wild goose chase after fishing line snares bird”. This did us no favours and proved the club must remain vigilant. However, local support for fishing was harnessed, but under tighter control. On 1st June 2012, Cannon Hill Common lake came under the guardianship of our club. Working closely together with the Friends of Cannon Hill Common and other helpful locals, our club has already achieved significant success. From that moment the lake has responded willingly to the attention afforded it, through a variety of different schemes designed to improve both the environment around it and the angling within.
Progress
Under the indomitable leadership of Will Tall, a hardy crew of volunteers was formed. Organisations were lobbied, funding was received, and a pot of £1800 pounds was created. First there was the clean up and the removal of discarded rubbish, tackle,
unwanted vegetation and the detritus that had fallen into the lake. This was followed by significant work to increase the variety of marine plantlife and to protect the fish from flying predators such as herons. They constructed floating weed platforms, beds of water lilies, fish refuges, and bird-proof weed beds. It is never a case of working against wildfowl, they were here first. It is a question of how to work with them. Allowances were made, a balance was sought. 2013 also saw the stocking of 500 roach by the Environment Agency, and finally an oxygenator was installed to improve the water quality while the weed beds are taking hold, and to protect against the sudden and catastrophic loss of oxygen that can happen on small stillwaters when the algae dies. These fish have since thrived, and mixed with the resident fish, are turning up in the nets of anglers throughout the season. These anglers include the newly-formed Wandle Young Piscators. With plans to construct fishing platforms, including those with disabled access, it is hoped this water will become a training ground for those same junior anglers, with club matches even taking place. The clean ups continue, the improvements too. The process is ongoing, never ending. It is a generous dedication and the future is bright as a result. However, as with every silver lining there must be a cloud. It is closed to the general public as a fishing venue, and this has caused some outrage. It is often the removal of privilege that ultimately proves its value. Despite people’s best efforts, this water was suffering. It was being left behind and could have been lost forever. It is now catching up slowly, walking gingerly back towards a bright future, but with little steps. Local residents have always done their best. The council had done what it could, but they have bigger matters to tackle. Anglers know water the best. Which brings us to the issue of poaching. If any person fishes this water without permission, they are poaching. It is as simple as that. They must first have a licence, then be a member of The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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CANNON HILL
Testing the waters: electro-fishing on Cannon Hill Common lake the club, or at the very least be fishing with a member of the club. It is not rocket science, no more so than paying one’s taxes, or learning to breathe. Some people believe they should be allowed to fish it for free, rather than pay a tiny amount to participate in a caring angling club whose members give their free time willingly so that the water and its general environment will improve. Invariably, in my experience, it is these same people who decorate the landscape with empty beer cans, or who leave old line on the ground, ready to cause damage to an animal of some sort, domestic or otherwise. I find the behaviour of such poachers invidious.
Conservation
I was taught to love the environment and to care for it responsibly. But this is not a purely selfless act. The healthier the water, the better the fishing. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement. One of the reasons I joined this club was its fine work as conservationists. In what has been an inspirational account of environmental regeneration on the Wandle, it is living proof that the idea of anglers as wildlife guardians is alive and well. Sadly, not all anglers care about the water in which they fish, no more than all dog walkers care about the land on which their animals play and defecate, but in my experience, enough of us do to prevent others creating a stench. 16
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“The clean ups continue, the improvements too. The process is ongoing, never ending. It is a generous dedication and the future is bright as a result.” But stillwater is a different matter to running water. Despite numerous instances of pollution, the Wandle has continued to flow, with each fresh fall of rain doing its best to wash away the sins of the past, but there is heavy residual damage. Despite this, a river will recover faster, and the Wandle continues to improve. But a small lake? With no significant flow through it to drive its refreshing, Cannon Hill Common lake is forced to bear the scars of malpractice with whatever grace it can. There are still some shadows being cast over the water which are constantly threatening: overfishing, over-use of bait, overfeeding of wildfowl, overpopulation of wildfowl, rat infestation, algae growth, silting, the control fish stocks… these are just some of the balls a club has to juggle when managing a small stillwater, and all of these apply to Cannon Hill. Who would do this if not the angler? If left to others, or simply nobody, the lake could ultimately contain only
The elusive carp: despite being present, stunted, unhealthy fish, little or no weed life, become a rubbish dump, and gradually be consumed by encroaching plant life. Trees would fall in, debris would collect, rats would breed, reeds would encroach, banks would disintegrate and what we are left with is a stinking cesspool, unsuitable to throw a stick into for a dog to chase, let alone take a youngster to catch their first fish.
Cause for optimism
Last year, with permission, I took a friend of mine who had never caught a fish, to try and catch their first at Cannon Hill. If he enjoyed it, he might join. We still encountered poachers on the bank. They swilled from their beer cans while their children ran amok. Old habits die hard. But we managed to find a quiet spot. The water was alive with the chatter and splashing of birds, the surface was broken regularly by the hustle and bustle of fish underneath its surface, and happy dog walkers and passersby roamed among the anglers, often stopping to chat. At one point, a mongrel called Charlie threw himself into my swim, chasing something unseen by me or simply taking a cooling dip. He was enjoying himself as much as the rest of us, and had every right to be there. The evening was warm and windless – perfect stillwater weather – and armed with maggots and a float rod we caught roach first, then tench, and finally some www.wandlepiscators.net
CANNON HILL
not many carp are caught lovely, hard-fighting crucian carp / goldfish hybrids. There are all sorts of fish in there, the former inhabitants of garden ponds perhaps, but they now breed and swim freely alongside the more natural inhabitants. The water was alive with bubbles, and we caught regularly, and each catch was accompanied by the smile of a newly hooked fisherman, now a fully paid-up member. As an angling amenity, this is just one of the small things Cannon Hill Common lake can do for people, given the chance. As a secure, friendly and vibrant water, what it can do for the wider community is considerably more. It is in safe hands now. By proving the club’s intentions through positive action, the relationship with local residents, dogwalkers and bird-lovers is improving in step with the water and the wildlife that inhabit it. But to quote another journalist, Auberon Waugh: “The price of privilege is eternal vigilance”. n
New arrivals: 500 roach are given a new home
Top Tip
New oxygenator
New weed growth
I was catching quite regularly over the summer and all of a sudden stopped catching. I tried all the usual traditional fishing techniques, but they did not work. But I noticed if bait was thrown in by hand, fish took it. I read up a way of fishing called “free lining”. You use line that has been greased up with just a hook. You put bait on (I used double red maggots), then cast out using a pole or whip. With the way the bait drops naturally, I was catching fish endlessly straight away. I have moved to Oxted so will miss Cannon Hill, but thought this technique should be shared now I am not around. So in the summer when the fish suddenly stop taking bait, this is a good way to still catch fish. I also had an amazing day using marmite on double red maggot. Robert Harwood
About the author:
Garrett Fallon is a keen nonspecialist, as likely to be found salmon fishing in Ireland as barbel fishing on the Kennet. Having designed magazines for nearly twenty years, he is publishing his own literary fishing magazine, Fallon’s Angler, which launches in the late summer of 2014.
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The next generation: Young Piscators are tutored in the fine arts The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
17
FISH WHERE YOU LIVE
Adrian Grose-Hodge cradles a Wandle trout (photo: Duncan Soar) 18
The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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FISH WHERE YOU LIVE
Fish where you live It may seem like the most natural thing to do, but hard work and community spirit underpin the ability to fish from your front door. Theo Pike highlights the work undertaken on the Wandle.
W
hat does that phrase mean to you? For me, as I’m sure for many members of this club, it means the simple luxury of being able to wander out of my own front door on a summer’s evening, strung-up rod in hand, for an hour or two of headspace and fishing on a river that’s preferably no more than an easy walk away, even in the middle of one of the world’s great cities. Even if we didn’t fully recognise it at the time, I think this was the original vision of the Wandle restoration project: to get this former sewer back to a state where it could once again be a place for people to fish where they lived. You could even say that this was the ultimate trajectory of the river designated as a Royal game reserve in the Middle Ages, so jealously guarded by its big-money Victorian mill-owners that even celebrity anglers from out of area couldn’t be sure of permission to fish (though William Morris stocked
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his own stretch at Merton Abbey Mills with perch from the upper Thames, while Charles Dingwall used to boast of bagging 500 trout every season from the end of his garden at Shepley Mill, before the Germans eventually sank him in the Lusitania). Eventually, as we know so well, the Wandle fell prey to the Industrial Revolution, followed by the ravages of 1960s town and flood defence planning. In those dark days, nobody could have been less interested in fishing for whatever mutated monsters might still survive in the sewer on their doorstep. But then the comeback began. From the 1980s onwards, as sewage treatment improved, a succession of water authorities started stocking the Wandle with coarse fish, first as a proxy test for water quality, later as a local angling amenity. Chub, dace, roach and barbel all grew to impressive sizes, kickstarting a strong tradition of fish where you live coarse angling that endures to this day. As The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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FISH WHERE YOU LIVE
“Providing space for fish to live alongside millions of humans in the heart of south London is a world-class challenge, but it’s one that’s been gladly accepted by members of our club and our sister charity, the Wandle Trust.” Diggers in the river at Ravensbury Park, building a rock ramp fish pass for the Wandle Trust
Volunteers from the Wandle Trust and Wandle Piscators drag heavy rubbish out of the river (photo: the Wandle Trust) a side benefit of the Wandle Trust’s Trout in the Classroom schools’ programme, it’s now even possible to wander out in the evening to stalk a streetwise urban brownie, surreally sipping a caddis hatch or spinner fall under riverside factories’ security lights. But there’s at least one other important meaning in this many-layered phrase. Fish where you live also implies an obligation upon us as anglers to care for the river environments that offer us such soul-healing immersion in the sport we love, and offer so many other benefits for the rest of society. Providing 20
The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
space for fish to live alongside millions of humans in the heart of south London is a world-class challenge, but it’s one that’s been gladly accepted by members of our club and our sister charity, the Wandle Trust. To date, this commitment has taken the very public form of regular community river cleanups and riverfly monitoring on the second Sunday of every month, and there’s also a steadily-developing range of projects including fish passage and full scale river restoration in partnership with the Environment Agency.
Thanks to the rallying-points we’ve provided, local anglers and other residents now have a louder voice than ever when it comes to saving and improving the modern-day Wandle— as demonstrated by the determined local reaction to the pollution disaster of 2007, and their contribution in record numbers to the consultation for the Wandle catchment plan, which it’s hoped will secure the river’s future for decades to come. As such, this work has set important precedents for grassroots-level river restorationists across the UK, inspiring the Wild Trout Trust to launch their national urban Trout in the Town programme, with a raft of projects that later underpinned my own book Trout in Dirty Places. It’s the same super-rational, grassroots approach that has also driven the growth of the national Rivers Trust movement, all the way up to the government’s catchmentbased approach to improving the UK’s rivers to meet the European Water Framework Directive. And it’s probably no coincidence that the Wandle Trust has recently been asked to expand the range of its charitable objectives, from one little urban chalkstream in south London, to helping even more people restore their own local rivers and fisheries across south London, Sussex and Kent, in the form of the South East Rivers Trust. And so it continues. Fish where you live. n www.wandlepiscators.net
FISH WHERE YOU LIVE
Wandle barbel will benefit from fish passage improvements in Ravensbury Park and elsewhere (photo: Steve Dedman), and chublet thrive in places
About the author: Theo Pike served as Senior Vice President of the Wandle Piscators from 2004 to 2013, and is also Chair of Trustees of the Wandle Trust. His trailblazing guide to urban flyfishing, ‘Trout in Dirty Places’, was published in 2012, and his second book, ‘The Pocket Guide to Balsam Bashing – and how to tackle other Invasive Non-Native Species’ launched in May this year.
The author with his first Wandle-caught trout. Fish where you live: nothing beats spending an evening on your local river www.wandlepiscators.net
Fish where you live is also the strapline of urbantrout.net, his website and eco-brand dedicated to urban fishing and river restoration. The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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BARTON COURT CLUB TRIP
Barton Court
beauties
Stewart Ridgway fished the Kennet on a club trip that caught perch, gudgeon, roach, grayling and a lot of trout.
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n a Sunday in early December the last thing you really need is a 5.30am start on a cold and dark morning, but that was what was waiting for me last Sunday as a group of Piscators headed out of South London to the Barton Court fishery down in deepest Berkshire. Luckily the weather was on our side as opposed to last January’s trip to the Lower Itchen in search of Grayling 22
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and with the best part of 3.5 miles of fishing available to us I was confident of a decent days fishing. As it turned out it was a well placed feeling. Using a Drennan 13ft float rod and a simple centrepin the tactics for the day were to stay mobile and explore as much water as possible with trotted maggot. With it being so early when we go to the bank I think the fish were still asleep and it took a couple of swim moves and
about 45 minutes before I managed the first few bites. The first fish was a Brown Trout of about 1lb or so, not only was it the first of the day but it was a species first for myself and another one knocked off the list of captures. Sadly I only managed the one fish out of this small sidestream swim before the bites dried up and I moved on to a larger section of the river, just down stream of the little brickwork bridge below..... www.wandlepiscators.net
BARTON COURT CLUB TRIP
Narrow bridge over the Kennet
Bridge Swim
Slighty arty fishing ‘selfie’ In this lovely looking swim with a deepening pool beneath a tree I spotted a bit of movement in the clear water and soon had some maggots running down the current. What resulted was a ‘bite a chuck’ for about 15 minutes. Mostly pristine Perch of about 6-8oz and all off the same size and more than welcome as it has been a long, long time since I have managed a Perch. In total I had about seven of the Perch, two Gudgeon www.wandlepiscators.net
Spikey Norman The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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BARTON COURT CLUB TRIP
Best Grayling of the day
A very rare picture of me (and a fish)? and a solitary Roach in this swim before a posse of swans turned up and decided to have ruckus in mid-stream which killed the bites stone dead. So another move was on the cards. So after a bit of a walk around the sidestreams I returned to the swim where I had the Trout first thing and luckily had a few more bites resulting in the worlds smallest Grayling of about three inches long (another 24
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species first for me) and a couple more trout of about the same size as the first one, along with a couple of lost fish. Just as I was thinking about leaving this swim to head elsewhere I ran the float further down the swim to position it directly under a very low hanging tree where the water shallowed up before dropping away again. Holding the float back against the current lifted the hook up to avoid the gravel bar but what it
didn’t avoid was the lips of a very hard scrapping Brownie of 2.5lb, which put up a ferocious scrap in the rapid water on light tackle. For the remainder of the day and I worked my way up and downstream on the main section of the river paying particular attention to swims where the sidestreams entered the main flow. Feeding heavily with maggots kept the trout happy and eager to feed. For www.wandlepiscators.net
BARTON COURT CLUB TRIP
Another 2.5lb Brownie
Sunset There be perch! the last few hours before dusk, it was again back to a ‘bite a chuck’ trotting which resulted in the best part of 20 plus trout with most seeming to be between 1.5lb and 2lb, but at least one other which pulled the dial of the scales around to 2.5lb. All were hard scrappers and even tail-walkers. Amongst the Trout I did manage to come across a small shoal of Grayling and landed two, one of which was www.wandlepiscators.net
about the same size as my first but the second was a much better specimen and the first you could call a ‘proper’ Grayling. I managed to keep trotting and catching right through until the sun began to set making it hard to see the float top in the increasing gloom, and as we packed up and heading for the cars and home we were treated to stunning late autumn sunset. n
About the author: As a housing repairs manager and a Northern refugee in the midst of South London, Stewart Ridgway grew up mostly beach fishing in North Wales with the occasional holiday trip to the Hampshire Avon or Dorset Stour then moved onto solely fishing coarse lakes in the late 1990’s. His favourite species are Barbel and Tench. The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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BEVERLEY BROOK
The unknown bounty of
Beverley Brook
Fishing a small, as yet un-fished, stream can be a challenging and frustrating experience, but down in the jungles of Beverley Brook, John Stephens finds something close to home that should be made more accessible.
B
everley Brook, a tributary of the River Thames, rises almost nine miles away in Cuddington Recreation Ground, Worcester Park. It is joined by Pyl Brook in Beverly Park, New Malden. From there it flows toward and under the A3. Skirting along the edge of Wimbledon 26
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Common, it passes back under the A3 at Roehampton Vale, where it enters Richmond Park – strictly no fishing! Inside the walls of the Royal Park the brook meanders lazily on through the Deer Park meadows, lost almost in a kind of pastoral Arcady before finally exiting rather sheepishly again
under a wall close to Roehampton gate, where once again it enters the urban landscape of southwest London. Here the brook passes into a world now bounded by concrete culverts, by the iron railings of Poulter’s Park, by the blank boarded backs of allotment sheds, the garden lawns and summer www.wandlepiscators.net
BEVERLEY BROOK
Jungle fishing under hungry branches houses of Barnes. On and on it flows under a thick canopy of bankside shrubbery through the playing fields of Barn Elms Common until finally emptying itself into the open arms of Old Father Thames. My interest in fishing this little stream started back in 2012 when it www.wandlepiscators.net
came up in a conversation about fishing urban rivers other than the Wandle. Although I have lived in Wimbledon for over twenty years I had never really considered fishing Beverley Brook - I wasn’t even sure if there were any fish in there. However, the conversation peaked my curiosity.
So, one early October afternoon I decided to explore the stretch that follows the A3 along the bottom of Wimbledon Common, from Coombe Lane to Roehampton Lane, where a fellow Piscator assured me he had seen fish. There are several points of access here. I started my sortie by parking at The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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BEVERLEY BROOK
A feisty chub putting a bend in my rod the end of Hood Road – off Barnham Road. A footpath leads down to a bridge that crosses the Brook. From the bridge there is a short section that runs up to Coombe Lane. This did not look promising. Down stream the Brook quickly disappears beneath a thick canopy of trees and bramble bushes, offering plenty of cover. It looked like the perfect place for a shoal of chub to fin in and out of the shadows and pick off an unfortunate beetle or spider. The Brook is clear and shallow here, flowing over a smooth silt bed. With the afternoon sun slanting down through the trees and reflecting back from the water I had to peer hard, positioning myself to avoid the glare. Even with my Polaroids it was difficult to see anything. Yet, the place looked so very fishy I just had to keep searching, willing the fish to be there. 28
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“Even with my Polaroids it was difficult to see anything. Yet, the place looked so very fishy I just had to keep searching, willing the fish to be there.” I kept moving up stream, behind the tree cover, stepping carefully over a the tangled network of brambles that snatched viciously at my ankles and once or twice nearly pitched me headlong down the steep banks into the Brook below. Then, after staring and staring at the water I spotted it - a little chub. It was so well camouflaged against the silt of the stream bed that
I only spotted it by catching the quick flick of its dark fringed tail. I kept looking and there they were, more of them. Like seeing the hidden face in the ink blot, suddenly I could see more and more fish. Nice fish some of them, not big, but up to and over the pound mark - fish that would give a decent account of themselves on a 2#or 3# rod. They were chub all right. I could make out the red blush of their pelvic and anal fins. Further along I found a larger shoal, holding behind a weed bed, where a bank of silt had formed. The weed streamed back over a short beach, the silt sloping steeply down into a tantalizing pool. Above it a mass of glossy green holy hung low over the water. It was a perfect spot for the bigger chub to seek refuge in. And as I watched I saw two grey torpedoes moving in the shadows; fish of two or www.wandlepiscators.net
BEVERLEY BROOK
Nice Beverly chub comes to the hand three pounds - difficult to get to with a trotted worm, let alone a fly! I ended my exploration at the bridge at the end of Beverley Meads Recreation Ground. I had seen enough. At several points along the Brook there were fish rising. It was all I could do to resist rushing back to Wimbledon Park for my rod and waders, dash back to the Brook and get amongst them. Two days later I was there, wading quietly upstream from the footbridge. At the bridge there is a long clear gravel run that looks like perfect trout and grayling territory. Above the bridge the Brook flows darkly beneath the trees. Nothing was moving, only the slow silt-stained water sliding around my waders like warm treacle. I’d put up my six-foot 3#, loaded with a floating line and an intermediate tip. The Brook is only eight or nine feet wide and overhung with foliage, www.wandlepiscators.net
“I started the retrieve. The nymph hadn’t traveled more than two feet when there was a quick stab of a take. They were there, right in front of me.” making low, water-skimming side casts the only option. After snagging my fly several times in the hungry bankside greenery, I finally got the line to shoot ten yards ahead of me. The fly landed with an audible plop! On a count of four I started the retrieve. The nymph hadn’t traveled more than two feet when there was a quick stab of a take. They were there, right in front of me.
I drew the line back, immediately forgetting where I was, sending the little gold head straight up into the arms of an Alder, lurking just behind my head. Side casting only, remember! On went another gold head GRHE. With my back up against the shuttering of the bank I flicked the line back and fourth in a low arc, trying to keep the weighted fly from hitting the water on the back cast. It was very tricky getting the fly into the target area close in to the shuttered bank under the trees. After three or four abortive attempts I got a decent cast in. Half way through the retrieve I snagged a sunken branch. On went a third GRHE, no bead-head on this one. After losing four more flies and running out of expletives I decided it was time to retreat and rethink the approach. This was jungle fishing, the Brook heavily overgrown and full of debris The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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BEVERLEY BROOK
Mini Clousers land and swim hook-up 1
JS Mini Clouser from the trees and shrubs that line the banks. I needed a small weighted fly to get down to the fish but one that wouldn’t snag in the debris. The solution I came up with is what I call the Mini Clouser. It is tied on a Kamasan Barbless Animal Hook, size 10 or 12. It has a very small gold or silver chain bead head (the kind found on key fobs) tied on the top of the hook, just behind the head. The chain bead makes the fly sink and swim eye down, hook up, thus minimizing the risk of catching bottom debris. The patterns are based on classic wet flies, such as the Bloody Butcher, the Alexandra, Teal Blue and Silver and an old favorite of mine, the Squirrel Minnow, a silver hook with a sparse squirrel wing. Armed with a fly box full of Mini Clousers I returned for a second stab at the Beverly chub. On the first throw I could see how much easier the little bead chain fly was to cast; heavy enough to sink quickly, but not so heavy as to foul the back cast. And the fish seemed to like it. On the third retrieve I got a positive take, and lively 30
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“The patterns are based on classic wet flies, such as the Bloody Butcher, the Alexandra, Teal Blue and Silver and an old favorite of mine, the Squirrel Minnow, a silver hook with a sparse squirrel wing.” little chub of about 12 ounces put a bend in the rod. On the next cast the Mini Clouser was taken on the drop and a carbon copy fish zigzagged all over the place before coming to my hand. In quick succession four other fished followed. Then all went quiet, the shoal was gone. Through the warm autumn afternoon I waded quietly up stream, catching fish every ten yards or so. The best of them, a fish of around two pounds, took close in under the
bank, where the wooden shuttering had half collapsed. All came to the Mini Clouser. And only once did I snag a sunken branch, although, in my excitement a few more flies were lost, but that’s jungle fishing for you. I fished the Brook several times that winter and each time I caught a dozen or more fish. On one occasions I fished a little green winter moth caterpillar that I had had some success with on the Tillingbourne at Abury, in Surrey. Cast to fish rising freely beneath an overhanging oak tree, the fly was taken time and time again the moment it hit the water. And such an easy fly to tie, consisting of no more than a hook length of green dubbing brush bound onto a size 12 nymph hook. However, I am sad to say that in spite of my enthusiasm for the Brook I haven’t returned to fish there again since hearing that a friend was accosted and threatened with prosecution by a Wimbledon and Putney Commons Ranger for fishing there. When I heard about it I was more than a little aggrieved. Firstly because I had discovered a very productive little www.wandlepiscators.net
BEVERLEY BROOK
Little Green Caterpillar stream not more than fifteen minutes from my front door, secondly, the friend had fished the Brook on my advice and thirdly, it is my understanding that, with license payer’s funds, the EA has stocked Beverley Brook with chub and dace. I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that something is wrong here. Beverley Brook is accessed from a Public Footpath. There are no signs that I have seen that prohibit fishing on Wimbledon Common, except at the lake adjacent to Tibbet’s Corner. The Bye-Laws published on the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Conservators website (http://www.wpcc.org.uk/ byelaws.html) appear to be somewhat ambiguous, they state that: 43. No person shall throw or place in any pond or water on the Commons any earth, wood, glass, crockery, metal, paper, or other rubbish or refuse, or any deleterious, noxious, offensive, or disfiguring substances or thing, or do anything (not being fair angling) to destroy or injure any fish in any such pond or water. www.wandlepiscators.net
44. No person shall bathe or wash clothes or other articles in, or fish in, any spring, pond or water on the Commons, except under such conditions, in such places, at such times, and in such a manner as the Conservators shall from time to time prescribe. From bye-law ‘43’ one might infer that ‘fair angling’ is permitted, and from bye-law ‘44’ that the Conservators may ‘from time to time prescribe’ the ‘conditions, places and times’ when ‘fair angling’ is permitted. In order to be clear about this I contacted the Conservators by email requesting clarification. After the third email I received the somewhat terse reply: ‘Fishing is not permitted on any water on Wimbledon Common’. Now from a purely selfish point of view I would argue that as a resident of Merton and Wandsworth, to whom I pay Council Tax, and as a holder of an Environment Agency Rod License, I should have some rights to fish a stream, stocked at my expense, that runs through public
land, presumably supported by the taxes that I pay? Therefore, as a Wandle Piscator I would urge that our excellent Committee draws this unfortunate situation to the attention of the Putney and Wimbledon Common Conservators, and Merton and Wandsworth councils with the plea that the time has come for ‘fair angling’ to now be ‘prescribed’ on Beverley Brook, where it passes though Wimbledon Common, so that it may be enjoyed by all. n About the author: John Stephens learned how to fish on the River Chew near Keynsham in Somerset, when he was in his early teens. He returned to fly fishing on a trip to Loch Corrib in 1996. He has fished all over the UK, in Wales, Scotland, the USA, Germany and Denmark. He enjoys tying his own flies and is a frequent contributor to Fly Fishing and Fly Tying and Total Trout Fisher. The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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SEVERN BARBEL
The big one: John O’Brien with the biggest barbel of the trip 32
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SEVERN BARBEL
To catch a proper
barbel A barbel from the Wandle is special, but when size matters, the Severn is the place to be. By John O’Brien.
T
he first time I met Steve Dedman on the banks of the Wandle, he was just releasing a 6 lb. barbel back into the top beat in Morden Hall Park. It was hard to believe that our little river could hold such a large fish, but over the years he has shown us that monsters do indeed lurk in special places along its course. Over the next few years I did manage to catch a few baby barbel along the Wandle and was impressed by the fighting power of even a one pound fish (my best on the Wandle). Last year I decided it was time for me to catch a proper barbel, but being a fly fisherman with little coarse fishing nous, I needed some help. My regular fishing partner Mike Denny stepped in and we set off for the middle reaches of the River Severn just below Shrewsbury with the sole aim of catching me a fish that Steve would be proud of. The dental floss maggot ball was the first rig that Mike suggested. Thread dental floss through the eye of a hook, slide maggots up the hook and onto the floss until you have 15-20 on the floss, tie the floss ball to the hair rig loop of your barbel hook and away you go. Pretty soon Mike was into a good fish but, rather than the barbel we were
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SEVERN BARBEL
Take that: a cracking Severn Chub
Precarious: a bird’s eye view of a tricky swim after, it was a cracking chub. We got many many small bites, probably little fish stealing individual maggots from the ball, but it wasn’t until the light started to fade that the first crashing take from a barbel sent Mikes rod jumping. He repeated the trick a little later and we might have caught more had we not pre-arranged our dinner 34
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time at the Riverside and had to pack in just as the fishing was picking up— we resolved to eat early and fish late the next day. The Riverside Inn was a great base for the trip. It sits on a massive bend on the Severn where fish can be seen rising and fishing from the garden is allowed. (see sunset picture) It has comfortable
beds, good food, wine and beer and is run by very nice people—who could ask for more? Only one thing was missing—a barbel for me! Day two brought the introduction of plan B. Mike showed me how to rig a pellet feeder and we fished a new stretch downstream all morning with no serious interest shown by any fish. Several times Mike told me not to strike at twitches on the line—“when a barbel takes it,” he warned, “you won’t need to strike. It will take off and you just have to hold the rod and the fish will hook itself.” The dental floss maggots went back on for a while but still no Joy. Luckily Mike had a plan C involving the classic barbel bait which is out of fashion these days— Luncheon Meat! We hacked our way through 20 yards of himalayan balsam to get to a special spot that Mike’s son had discovered on a previous trip. It was a precarious spot and had to be fished with care and Mike, still recovering from a serious leg injury, was unable to climb the www.wandlepiscators.net
SEVERN BARBEL
Satisfaction: last fish of the day tree that offered the only reasonable access to fish. Perched in the boughs of the tree some 15 feet above the water I lowered the glob of meat and played out line as it slowly rolled down towards the clump of overhanging willows some 20 yards downstream. Something very strange started to happen—the line started to move very slowly upstream! What to do? Mike had said don’t strike until the line tears off downstream. I dithered—the line had moved two yards upstream, three yards—I struck and felt the fish momentarily but it was gone. Next cast as the meat reached the shadow of the overhanging downstream trees, the line took off, I held on, wedged between the boughs of the tree and did everything I could to keep the fish out of the root structure. Battle ensued and even when I had subdued the fish and retrieved it to a point just below me, I still had to find a way to hold the rod while lowering a long-handled landing net to its full extent in order to net the fish and avoid www.wandlepiscators.net
falling over a into the river. Eventually I got the fish to the bank and enjoyed the pleasure of meeting him and the joy of a great plan coming good. . While I was recovering, Mike had a cast from a difficult spot beside the big tree and sure enough as the meat met the shadow, bang, off it went downstream towards the roots. Mike held the run, but unable to climb into the tree, he handed the rod over to me to play the fish and eventually land it from the proper vantage point between the boughs overhanging the river. You try passing a fishing rod around the back of big tree branches while a furious barbel does its best to rip the rod from your hand. The commotion obviously disturbed the fish under the tree and all went quiet so we decided to return to our swim from day one and try the luncheon meat there. We had a ball. Mike landed another 5 barbel, and I caught another fine fish but lost three more, one of which was truly mighty and overpowered both me and the drag system on my reel.
Despite our promise the previous day to dine early and fish late, we were so pleased with our days fishing the we dined early, celebrated and left the fish alone to enjoy their evening. What a fine fighting fish the barbel is—tougher than a salmon I would say and that opinion is now based on experience. Mission accomplished! n For more information about accommodation and fishing, go to www.theriversideinn.net About the author: John O’Brien learned to fish for trout as a boy on annual holidays in Ireland, before giving it up for most of his life. He returned to the pleasure on early retirement from a job where his very first officemate was Mike Denny. They met up 40 years later and discovered their shared passion. Now they fish together all over the country and abroad. The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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BASS FISHING
The first
bass
Phil Kay recalls the day the lure of the sea led him to a surprise capture.
I
t was about June 1966 and the family had just moved to the village of Bransgore near Christchurch. As the sea was quite near I decided to investigate the possibilities of a little marine piscatorial activity. Some light reading of the angling press suggested that Hengistbury Head was a likely spot for some worm drowning. I should explain at this point that apart from a four year stay in Malta I was a confirmed coarse angler. So, one fine Saturday morning found me cycling to Mudeford to take the rowing boat ferry across the “run” and then a walk to the head. There I found a long concrete groyne jutting out to 36
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sea with a few people on it fishing. I chatted to one to ascertain what was in the water and willing to be caught. A number of species were counted off including sole, turbot, wrasse, pollock and bass. The latter interested me as I had heard of its sporting prowess coupled with the advantage of it growing to a decent size. Arriving back home I did some research. “Bass”, stated the Hugh Stoker book, “are a fine sporting fish that will readily take a number of different baits as well as lures”. That was the clincher. I owned a nine foot spinning rod that I had used for piking when using spoons and plugs in a lake in Warwickshire where
we had previously lived. So, full of anticipation, curiosity and breakfast I set off the following Sunday morning. I arrived on the groyne at about nine o’clock. There were two or three other anglers there but they hadn’t caught anything yet. I had with me my spinning rod, an “Intrepid” fixed spool reel loaded with (probably) six pound line and a selection of lures. I quickly set-up (one of the advantages of lure fishing) and started to make a number of casts. I was using a plug of about five inches that had a combination of blue and green markings. I fished on, ignoring the shouts of, “you’ll never catch anything like that” and similar www.wandlepiscators.net
BASS FISHING
Photography: Anton Petrus
words of encouragement from my fellow fishermen when, just as I was about to lift the plug out of the water at my feet there was a tremendous silvery white flash and the line tightened followed by an alarming bend in the rod accompanied by a zzzing reel clutch. Holey-moley, a bass – and by the feel of it a big one! After a certain amount of to-ing and fro-ing – certainly much more than any of the Pike that I had caught – I was able to walk my prize up to the beach and land it. It looked enormous and there was much discussion on the method of capture. I looked at the www.wandlepiscators.net
beach fishing gear that the others were using. Massively heavy rods and big multipliers that looked as if they could handle a small shark. How could they detect a bite let alone enjoy the fight of a totally out gunned fish? I guess that was beach fishing in the sixties. A little later I had another much smaller bass of about a pound but put it back. Upon my return home the bass was weighed on the kitchen scales. It weighed exactly five pounds, not a big bass but it was the one that put me on the road to light tackle lure fishing for bass to this day. Incidentally the family agreed, it was absolutely delicious! n
About the author: Phil Kay started fishing at about seven in the local Chesterfield canal using the classic garden cane, black thread and bent pin method. He progressed by stages, becoming a keen member of the local angling section juniors, fishing their bit of the Warwickshire Avon at Hampton Lucy near Stratford. With his father in the R.A.F. he moved around frequently giving him the opportunity to fish many waters in different parts of the country, including sea angling in 1967 following a move to Hampshire. Phillip is still trying to catch a fish – any fish – from the Wandle, where he lived from 1983-1987. Phil is also interested in wildlife (but in a non sentimental way), and says of himself: “I’m not a specialist. I’m happy catching anything from Abramis Brama to Zander, fishing a small stream or the Atlantic coast in Cornwall.” The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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Photograph: Duncan Soar
SLOVENIA
Adrian on the upper Soca 38
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www.wandlepiscators.net
A
Upriver in
Slovenia
Don your waders and push further into the upper reaches for wilder action. Adrian Grose-Hodge goes off the beaten track
www.wandlepiscators.net
SLOVENIA
t some point the roving angler, in their pursuit of a challenge and a change of scenery, will come across Slovenia as a destination - the land of the marble trout (Salmo Marmoratus), the Julian Alps and the jewel in its crown; the river Soca. Slovenia is a destination that offers a wide range of angling opportunities. It is easily accessible to UK anglers and offers some breathtaking alpine scenery, fabulous food and the chance of catching a fish of a lifetime, such as a front-pagesized marble trout or danubian salmon (hucho hucho). If you are a grayling enthusiast, you have both the Adriatic and Danubian strains present. Brown and rainbow trout are the predominant species in Slovenia, and are targeted by anglers from France, Germany, Italy and other nationalities that visit this country in search of that fish of a life time. Those fishermen that enjoy barbel on the fly are also spoilt for choice, especially when these leave the lakes and head upstream to their spawning grounds. On the flip side, I’d say that although I paint an idyllic piscatorial picture, do not be fooled into thinking that catches will be numerous or that large fish will come to the net often. It is not the case. You will have to work hard for your fish, and by that I mean walk, clamber and wade upstream against fast flowing currents, through boulder littered rivers. There are days when you leave the river with a grin from ear to ear and others when you scratch your head and you ponder over what you did wrong. Oddly, this is one of the aspects of Slovenian fishing that I enjoy the most, along with the scenery. Due to its topography, Slovenian rivers tend to be found at the bottom of steep valleys thus they are fast flowing. It also means that when it rains, they colour up quickly, normally taking anywhere between half a day to two to clear. The roads tend to run parallel to the rivers and these, due to the speed at which they run, are peppered with dams and other ‘economic/ social improvement’ schemes. That said, fishing is one of the country’s main sources of revenue and therefore the government is keen to control, enhance The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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Richard Baker catching bows on hoppers and protect this precious resource and ensure that fishing is intricately entwined with its future and its future growth.
Tackle:
To cover the different species and rivers, you will need to be armed with rods ranging from a 3w to a 10w, with size 22 dry flies to 8 inch streamers and everything in between. Leader material can be up to 50lb, if you are targeting marble trout. Some of the hatches are epic, especially the mayfly and stonefly hatches, not to mention the host of other upwing flies present. Flies that work in the UK, work perfectly well out there, although the one thing we don’t have are flies that plummet to the depths as fast as we would wish – these would need to be pre-tied or bought out there. On the whole, the fish you catch will be of similar size to those that you catch on English chalk streams.
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The Soca is Slovenia’s most widely acclaimed river, not just for its turquoise www.wandlepiscators.net
SLOVENIA The author with a Lepena rainbow
beauty but also its fishing. It is here that the population of marble trout is at its highest. Marble Trout are a species of Trout only found in the Adriatic Basin, though nowadays they are limited to certain rivers in Slovenia and Italy. They have a distinctive Marble pattern on their upper flanks and back, and grow rapidly as they are carnivorous and mainly feed on grayling and trout. They are considered an endangered species, mainly due to the hybridisation with stocked Brown Trout during the 20th century. Due to the hard work of the Tolmin Angling Club and their hatchery, the population is now stable. Apart from the Soca, the marble trout can be found in fewer numbers in other Slovenian rivers, such as the Baca, Idrijca, Reka, Rizana and Vipava. The larger ones are best fished for in low light, first thing in the morning. Personally, as the Soca has the heaviest fishing pressure, and the highest quantities of stocked fish, I tend to avoid the main river and head to either its headwaters, www.wandlepiscators.net
A good grayling from the Unec
A perfectly formed Koritnica brownie The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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Rich Baker fishing a tight spot
“The Idrijca is to many anglers possibly the best in Slovenia due to the verdant valley it runs down, its size, the variety of fishing available and the fact that it has spectacular evening hatches.” 42
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tributaries or other rivers. The Idrijca is to many anglers possibly the best in Slovenia due to the verdant valley it runs down, its size, the variety of fishing available and the fact that it has spectacular evening hatches. The Unec is a grayling-to-the-dry-fly man’s dream, as fish rise throughout the day and I’ve had them to 18 inches. The difficulty lies in matching the hatch. It is very much like an English chalk stream, though it only runs for 10 kms through a Karstic
plain, some of which is underground! From the stone bridge along the main road to Unec to the village of Planina the river is a dry fly only reserve. The best time to go is in May for the mayfly or late June for the stone and caddis fly hatches. The Sava Bohinjka, on the eastern side, holds the greatest number of hucho, and has good numbers of grayling, brown and rainbow trout. The Radovna, a tributary, is one of my favourite rivers to fish, as although it might not hold www.wandlepiscators.net
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Back of the net
as many large fish, the fish there are simply stunning to behold. Although I have alluded to this before, I recommend the tributaries and headwaters, as they have had less fishing pressure on them, are pristine, and if, like me, you enjoy fishing for challenging wild fish, then this is the way to go. Slovenia has over 90 rivers, so there is plenty to go at. I’d say that the further off the beaten track one can go the better. One could probably say that about most places! www.wandlepiscators.net
First of the trip The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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Blending in
Where to stay:
A lovely marble 44
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Accommodation out in Slovenia can be found easily and cheaply over the internet, however, if it is your first trip there are a number of ‘fishing’ hostels/ hotels that cater for the angler and more importantly can issue licenses, assign guides and put you onto fish. The best of these in my opinion is Vila Noblesa in Most na Soci, home to Branco and Vlasta Gasparin. Branco provides all the necessary information and flies (he’s a world famous fly tier), whilst Vlasta’s cooking will make you want to return for more. The place is a hive for anglers worldwide and the banter is second to none. Branco is a marble trout enthusiast, and what he doesn’t know about catching them is probably not worth knowing. www.wandlepiscators.net
SLOVENIA
A heavily spotted reainbow…
…and another
Tackle Shop:
The most famous tackle shop is Fauna Fly Fishing (www.faunabled.com) in central Bled. It has all the equipment and tackle that one would need, though I’d go just to see the locally tied flies and stock up on a few. n About the author: Adrian Grose-Hodge is a founding member and committee member of the Wandle Piscators, with overall responsibility for marketing and promotion. He is a keen lifelong angler whose particular interests include fly fishing literature and collecting flies. www.wandlepiscators.net
All dressed up: two justifiably happy anglers
Guide: Rok Lustrik If there is one guide who will put you onto fish it is Rok Lustrik. His contact details can be found through his website: www.lustrik.com/en/ The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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STRAP BOSNIA
I
’ve just returned from a fishing trip to Bosnia with the boys – a mixed bunch of friends from France, Ireland and the UK. I use the term boys loosely. One is just out of his teens, the youngest nudges fifty and the eldest is in his seventy sixth year. Yet all are young in spirit, sound in mind and limb and bursting with energy and enthusiasm for fishing and the good life. Bosnia is a country to stir the emotions – its people as impressive and resilient as 46
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their magnificent forest clad mountains. Two decades ago the region’s genocidal wars cost the lives of thousands of people, subjecting countless others to torture and starvation. Alongside the physical and emotional devastation, on surface view, it’s hard to imagine that most of Bosnia’s towns, villages, and political and social infrastructures were also destroyed. Although not entirely evident to us through what contact we had with the
locals – they spoke very little English and we no Bosnian at all – you sensed the scars run deep and will take generations to heal. It was during the three and half hour car journey to our lodge in Zagreb that we gleaned most of this background knowledge, through Stevo our guide and host for the trip. It seems that no one in this country is without scars. Stevo’s two bullet wounds – sustained while trying to keep a vital supply highway open – were the least of his. But in spite of the www.wandlepiscators.net
BOSNIA STRAP
Bosnia: rivers worth waiting for Once the scene of conflict, its rivers now attract the curious angler. Arcadi De Rakoff gets a taste for what’s on offer.
Le Frogs are in the water country’s tragic past, our interaction with the locals was as warm and welcoming as you would expect when fly fishing is the lingua franca between cultures. And what magnificent fishing this country has to offer. Ross and I arrived first, having flown in from London. Another followed from Barcelona and three more from Paris the following day. Our lodge complex was about a kilometer downstream from the timeless village www.wandlepiscators.net
of Ribnik: rustic cottages, horse pulled hay-carts, small cafe-cum-hardware store-cum-bar selling everything from rusty nails to home made local plonk. A picturesque eastern Orthodox church overlooked it all. The complex itself was quite impressive; four detached three bedroomed villas, tackle shop, a restaurant and bar, all set within a short cast of the wonderful Ribnik river. Despite what Stevo had told us in advance, we were still shocked at how
incredibly glass clear the water was. There was even a school of enormous brownies circling a hole at our feet, occasionally shooting to the surface to pick off an unseen fly (tame tourist fish, conveniently placed to whet our appetites). The river was no more than five metres wide but once past the complex it immediate opened to far broader reaches. The downside, of which we’d already been warned, was that the river was very low. But also as predicted, The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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fish were rising in profusion and reputed to do so all day long! This was shaping up to be a very interesting trip. It was early evening when we fired our first fly in anger on a stretch upstream of Ribnik. To say we were gob smacked at its beauty would be an understatement. Wearing Polaroids to kill the surface reflections we could barely see the water flowing between the banks. It was strangely ethereal, with luxuriant weed growth seemingly wafting and weaving their tentacles in nothing more than thin air. Because of the clarity it took some time to get our eye in. Stevo enthusiastically pointing out target fish – mainly unseen by us – that were either working the currents, beautifully camouflaged against gravel beds, or playing artful hide-and-seek amongst the weeds. Stevo then imparted the two most important lessons of the trip. First, contrary to our traditionally perceived UK wisdom, when in Bosnia, you only fished a downstream dry fly. Second, at 48
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this time of year (early September) all flies were to be a minimum size 20 tied to a minimum 10x tippet, preferably 12x. How on earth were we to see the eye of the fly, let alone handle the angel hair tippet we were meant to thread through it? But the reasons would ultimately reveal themselves to be sound. Because of the exceptional clarity, the shallow depth of the water, and the bright sun (temperatures in the high twenties) the finest of tippets was a must. Due to the profusion of naturals, matching the hatches was also essential. You couldn’t get the fish to so much as quiver a fin at anything larger than a size 18. As for downstream presentation, even that had its own logic: fly first to the fish, tell-tale 15 foot tippet and floating line following behind, and wading fisherman further back still, well outside the fish’s window of view. Another plus of this method is that when casting a straight line downstream, you eliminate casting across drag-inducing currents. This
was a lot to take in, but at least we’d be ahead of the game when the rest of the party arrived the following day. We’d been up since 2.30 am to catch our very early flight out of Gatwick, so for once, it wasn’t such a hardship to leave the water. With dreams never being sweeter than when nurtured by a river, I dreamt the night away, floating in a swirling liquid world alive with many-headed giant fish. Perhaps it was my first introduction to the local Slivovitz (strong local alcohol) that evening that was the true creative force behind the hallucinogenic images.
The Ribnik
The Ribnik’s source is just five kilometres upstream of the complex – created by several powerful limestonefiltered springs combining quickly to create a river of fecund and muscular flow. The river is only eight kilometers long, one of the shortest but certainly richest waters in the Bosnian republic. It ends its short and astonishingly www.wandlepiscators.net
BOSNIA STRAP
Fishing downstream fertile journey in the settlement of Velije where it flows into the river Sana. The density and size of its wild trout and grayling population has to be seen to be believed. After the rest of the party arrived in the late afternoon on the second day, we spent the few remaining hours showing them the local water, where Stevo reiterated his advice. An occasional fly was flicked, but we decided to hold our collective firepower until the following day (our excuse for not catching, again) That old chestnut about a hatch starting as though at the flick of a light switch proved true on our first proper outing. Stevo had already told us you could set your watch by it. At 10am, the hatches began and fish started their day-long excursions to the surface. It was an astonishing sight that filled us with tremendous excitement and gave birth to the trip’s favorite catch phrase, with Stevo pointing at the rises, shouting in excitement (cue guttural www.wandlepiscators.net
“The Ribnik’s source is just five kilometres upstream of the complex—created by several powerful limestone-filtered springs combining quickly to create a river of fecund and muscular flow.” Bosnian accent) “Activity! Activity!” Lines and waders were wetted in earnest, but the fishing Gods are fickle – give with one hand, take back with both! In addition to low water, temperatures were now topping thirty degrees with the sun searingly bright in a cloudless, duck-egg blue sky. One of the plusses for less able casters was the absence of over-vegetated bank-sides, but the downside was less cover and the
much needed shadow. Combined with only an occasional short-lived puff of breeze to ruffle the water’s surface, life was becoming very hard—so no great numbers were taken between us before lunch. I’d not been keen on Stevo’s idea of a return to the lodge for a sit down lunch. But in the event it was the right thing to do as the sun was at its highest and hottest. At 3.30pm, cooled and refreshed, we returned to the water and things began to happen. Maybe the local wine had relaxed us and taken the edge off anxiety, because soon international exclamations of fishing joy were echoing off the water as fish finally came to hand in numbers, and with the first serious fish now in the bag, life was lighter, brighter and infinitely more enjoyable.
The competition
One of our French compatriots, Alain, announced he was creating a friendly contest between what he termed Le Frogs The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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and The Ros Bifs: a team competition for the highest combined total; the biggest individual fish (brownie and grayling); and the highest individual total catch. It didn’t go unnoticed that the competition wasn’t announced until the end of the first day when the French contingent had already caught more than their English compatriots. But there were still three full days to go and all to play for. The only downside on the trip was that the food was not the best we’d ever tasted. The resident chef was on holiday and the stand in (bless her) wasn’t quite up to scratch. However, into the culinary void stepped two Italian fishermen—both restaurateurs from Venice—who soon invaded the kitchen to whip up simple pasta dishes which they graciously shared. They’d even brought a case of their own wonderful regional wines, and grapes that incredibly tasted of strawberries! Le Frog’s contribution to the feast was a large selection of wonderfully aromatic cheeses chosen in Charles De Gaulle 50
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“It didn’t go unnoticed that the competition wasn’t announced until the end of the first day when the French contingent had already caught more than their English compatriots. But there were still three full days to go and all to play for.” airport by Alain, his young nephew, Hubert, and Michel who was also a restaurateur and proprietor of the aptly named Auberge au Truite (The Inn of the Trout) in Paris. The Ros Bif ’s contribution was a local Slivovitz I’d purchased clandestinely from the back of a horse-drawn hay cart belonging to a lovely old gentleman in
Ribnik village. That’s one of the joys of fishing trips, chance encounters in the most unlikely places. On one evening, the television in the lodge brought everyone together to watch the semi finals of the US Tennis Open between Roger Federer and the Serbian idol, Novak Djokovic. The locals were demented with raw emotion and excitement, especially when their boy Djokovic saved two match points in the third set, before going on to win a four hour, five set thriller. The banter between the French – who were supporting Federer just for the sake of friendly rivalry – and the locals was hilarious. Much exchanging of good natured insults and rounds of drinks during the proceedings, finally petered out to bleary eyed bon homie and back-slapping goodnights, well beyond midnight.
The Pliva
The following day we opted for a trip to the Pliva river, just over an hour’s drive www.wandlepiscators.net
BOSNIA
An expert hand across a small mountain range from Ribnik. The Pliva was just as wonderfully graveled, gin clear and luxuriant as the Ribnik, but on a grander scale. We’d now been joined by an extra guide, Jelko Prpic, a young man who spoke excellent English, one of the very few we met on the trip who did. Jelko proved to be an unbelievably accomplished fisherman and undoubtedly one of the best guides I’ve ever met. One-time European river fishing champion, he’d only just returned the previous evening from duty with the Bosnian international team competing at the world championships in Italy. Before we started he’d warned us of the day’s difficulties: the usual suspects of low water, searing sunshine and gunshy fish. Yet again on the stroke of the 10am, Stevo let go his daily war cry – “Activity! Activity!!” The combination of conditions left no margin for error, and certainly no deviation from the guide’s constantly repeated mantra of “Presentation. www.wandlepiscators.net
The author with his prized grayling Presentation. Presentation”. It became so ingrained in our psyche, that some of us even admitted to waking up from sleep, chanting it! Now we lucky six were in sole possession of another four kilometres or so of fish-laden water on which to put that mantra into practice. At first glance this section of the Pliva seemed relatively uninteresting – uniformly broad, long featureless stretches interspersed by an occasional bend – but on closer inspection the riverbed presented a treasure trove of undulations, ridges, pools and clusters of weed beds that remained strangely ineffectual to the water’s untroubled surface. Much against his will, I persuaded Jelko to take my rod for a while so he could commentate as I observed, listened, and absorbed, and it didn’t take him long to take his first fish. On any new water I prefer to start with this approach, rather than to fish under tuition. I can then wander off, alone, to put into practice the lessons learned, making my inevitable mistakes in my
own company and gaining from the experience. Later I’ll rejoin the guide to fish a while under his watchful eyes. The shallow margins, broad width and extreme clarity made it nigh on impossible to judge the water’s depths – it looked far shallower than the reality. It was only when Jelko started pointing to finning fish (I had to strain to catch even a glimpse of their camouflage) that I began to realise where and just how deep some of the lies were. He told me where he wanted to place his fly to tempt the rise and talked me through the mends he was making to get the fly in the right lane. Often I would see the fish, having followed the fly from cast to his lie, but then I’d lose sight of it – even though Jelko was talking me through its ascent to the fly – often only glimpsing it again as it either turned away just sub surface or took the fly itself. I didn’t get a chance to fish with Jelko again that day, but I was happy to fish on my own. The morning’s tally was modest, all catching except The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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Liquid glass Michele, still the only fish-less angler amongst us. Ronnie from The Ros Bif team (Irish but living on the Spanish paradise island of Ibiza) had broken his duck with a fine brownie. Ross took another cracking grayling, with myself, Alain and Hubert catching a modest one a piece. The Pliva lodge (sister to the Ribnik) was a handsome affair situated on the banks of the river only a few hundred meters from its source. It was a typical mountain torrent that cried out for pocket fishing (alas, another time). Although we didn’t have our Italian friends in the kitchen, or our own cheeses, the food was good, as was the local wine. We passed a cooling ninety minutes refreshing ourselves and headed back to the water – but this time to another and altogether entirely different stretch. Le Frogs were determined to succeed under Jelko’s brilliant tuition. Ross spent the afternoon under Stevo’s tuition struggling to understand his limited but well-intentioned English instructions. Ronnie, as usual, was just content to be abroad on the kind of river he’d long 52
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been divorced from though his domicile on a Spanish isle. He enjoyed a postlunch siesta, followed by happy waterside meanderings, punctuated by carefully measured casts and the occasional success, a picture of relaxed contentment.
A problem with Slivovitz
By a bridge bisecting our afternoon stretch, Jelko steered me to a seat at a table outside a gaily painted wooden cabin into which he promptly disappeared. It was his parent’s riverside shop serving drinks and snacks for visiting fisherman. He reappeared clutching a bottle of his father’s home brewed Slivovitz, supposedly famous for its aphrodisiac qualities, and insisted on filling my empty flask. Obviously good manners dictated I sampled the offering but probably not in such quantity as first passed my lips. Jelko left me at the car fumbling in my tackle bag for a fly box as he made off up river with Alain and co. Boy that stuff was addictive. I added several more nips to the total before hitting the water—literally! I’d entered a likely looking spot, with fish rising lazily in a seam created by the bridge’s footings.
No further than a half dozen unsteady steps into the river and my feet slid out from of me, and with arms flailing I fell backwards into the water. Twice more the comedy ducking was repeated before I admitted I was not quite in control of my legs. With waders full of water, I squelched woozily back to the bank. Deciding I was safer in control of a camera than a rod, I spent the next couple of hours looking for photo opportunities. Although still a little under the influence of the magic brew, my itchy casting arm finally got the better of me and I returned to the bridge with the fish still rising in the seam. Sometimes in fishing magical things just happen, an almost out of body experience where time and conscious thought suspend; casts are fluid and silky, the flies descending on gossamer wings; wrist describing line mends in tune with the river’s liquid seams, the unconscious certainty of a beautiful prize at journey’s end. Then a sip and sinewy swirl, transformed to leaping silver and gold crowned by glorious autumnal red. It is the stuff of fishing dreams, and exactly my state of mind as the beautiful grayling came to hand… www.wandlepiscators.net
BOSNIA
Alain’s brownie maybe that’s what was meant by the aphrodisiac effects of Jelko senior’s magic brew. On the journey back we prompted Jelko to talk about his war experiences. It was fascinating to us, but like most Bosnian’s we spoke to, it was still too raw for him. But what was spoken of was the common theme of positive bridge-building that binds the people of Bosnia. The was no better example than the rebuilding of Jelko’s and other families’ homes that were destroyed in the war. Local craftsmen from opposing factions were pooling their skills in a communal will to rebuild the essential bricks and mortar of each other’s lives.
The search party
I’m sure it was the addictive nature of the Slivovitz that did for me again that evening for I neither remember falling into, or being dragged from my bed by Ross the following morning. Though I do remember looking into the empty flask on my bedside table and realising with great relief that I was now no longer in temptation’s path. After breakfast we gathered for a www.wandlepiscators.net
“Some time later, sweltering in full kit under a boiling sun whilst trudging the heat shimmering asphalt road back to Ribnik village, I was found by Christo, the lodge handyman. Never was I more pleased to fall into the back of a rusting Lada.” discussion with the guides. Ross, Alain and Hubert were dropped off to fish up from Ribnik bridge. Ronnie and I opted to fish the topmost upstream stretch. I left Ronnie settled on his favourite bench overlooking a glorious stretch of graveled stream – a picture of serenity, puffing contentedly on a cigarette whilst mulling over a possible plan of attack – a far cry from the 24/7 stresses and strains of running an experimental organic pig farm on a Balearic Island.
I wandered further upstream than on any previous excursion. The world seemed vague and distant as though peering through an unfocussed telescope the wrong way round, my reactions as soggy and creaky as a set of worn out bed springs. Over the next few hours I managed a couple of brownies by pure chance, pulling off to re-cast at the exact moment unseen fish rose to take my fly. By the end of the session I’d wandered so far up off the beaten track that a search party was sent for me. Some time later, sweltering in full kit under a boiling sun whilst trudging the heat shimmering asphalt road back to Ribnik village, I was found by Christo, the lodge handyman. Never was I more pleased to fall into the back of a rusting Lada. The Ribnik party had scored well that morning. Michele, who had wisely opted for the far cooler and shady home waters had taken four. Lunch that day was a local speciality – whole suckling pig, spit-roasted over an aromatic wood fire in the forest. It was a wonderful offering but surely one that would have better saved for the evening, and certainly one I The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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The Ribnik couldn’t do justice to in my rather delicate condition. My afternoon fishing passed in a blur of ineptitude, letting down team Ros Bif badly by returning a null point score. At the end of the day Le Frogs had what looked like an unassailable lead in the team event.
The final day
The following day (our last) we all opted for the shady comfort of our home stretch, with more than enough water to accommodate our group. For the first couple of hours I had Jelko to myself, and what a pleasure it was to fish with him. When a local guide shares his experience and knowledge of the water you don’t need a flask of Slivovitz to experience the magic. He taught me how to check a downstream cast that allowed the slack to unwind behind the fly in a fashion that allowed for total control throughout the drift, 54
The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
sometimes in the region of twenty five metres. His reading of the water seemed telepathic, calling the end result of the drift correctly nearly every time, with at least fifty percent of the casts getting a reaction – whether positive rise, or sub surface recce to check the fly’s authenticity. It was like fishing with a twin: he lived every cast, shared every emotion and even his physical reactions seemed to mirror my own. I took five fish in that purple period and another two more on my own after he moved on to tutor Hubert for the rest of the morning. However, the afternoon belonged to Ronnie. Returning refreshed to the water after his ritual afternoon siesta, he lit his first cigarette, then cogitated a while, ankle deep in the dappled shadows. He surveyed, he spotted, he cast… then caught what turned out to be the biggest brownie of the trip. He was coolness, personified.
Over our farewell dinner, Alain gave us the final tallies: Highest combined total: ‘Le Frogs’. Largest grayling: Ross. Largest brownie: Ronnie. Modesty forbids naming the fisherman with the highest individual total, but I can reveal it was none of the other five anglers. We badly missed the Italians and their Toscana wine at our farewell meal as the lodge’s chiller cabinet was down to the bones. But the bar did manage to produce a rather good Grappa for our last nightcap. The all-round consensus was that it had been an excellent trip: stunning rivers and countryside, an abundance of natural, free rising fish, excellent guides, and extremely comfortable accommodation. Doubtless, had the weather been less wonderful, we’d have had the opportunity of catching more fish. But surely, it’s the quality of the fish and degree of difficulty in achieving the www.wandlepiscators.net
BOSNIA
Three wise men capture that provides the angler with the most worthwhile satisfaction, not the numbers. (Or maybe I’m just clutching at straws to cover my ineptitude) Stevo took us on a different route back to Zagreb, passing through some pretty intense scenery. “Ideal terrain for an ambush”, Ross commented on the dramatic nature of a particular valley we were passing through. Stevo informed us that a convoy of two thousand Mujahideen had in fact been ambushed in that very spot, shelled by Serbian tanks commanding the surrounding heights. Other visible signs included cordoned off areas of countryside partially hidden by trees and housing legions of rusting army vehicles. There were many more bombed out farmhouses in evidence than on our outward journey from Zagreb. Being so close to Bosnia’s raw history brought to mind a fascinating book I read when I first started fly fishing www.wandlepiscators.net
“The all-round consensus was that it had been an excellent trip: stunning rivers and countryside, an abundance of natural, free rising fish, excellent guides, and extremely comfortable accommodation.” A Fisherman’s Life by Negley Farson. Its introduction reads “This is just the story of some rods and the places they take you to”. Farson was every inch a Hemingway character, and coincidentally, a legendary drinking partner of the great man himself. But first and foremost he was a highly
About the author: Arkadi De Rakoff is one of those fortunate people that has managed to turn a passionate hobby into a way of life. Being in the film business for forty five years he was fortunate enough to travel the globe. When he decided to retire, he quickly realised travel was one of things he missed most, So in order to satisfy this unabated wanderlust, he decided to marry it with another passion – Fly Fishing. To this end, he created a fly fishing holiday company called CLUBFISHWORLD, and as the name implies, it offers fishing packages to selected destinations around the globe. As a consequence, he’s been forced to fish all the destinations Clubfishworld has to offer. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. He loves talking to fishermen and often organises trips that he participates in himself as a kind of unofficial host – selflessly devoting himself to the cause.
respected foreign correspondent who traveled extensively in Europe between the wars in search of stories, at the same time indulging his fanatical passion for fly fishing. Farson, on occasion, by dint of his perfect cover as a adventuring gentleman sportsman, was used by the British Foreign office to gather local intelligence in remote and normally inaccessible regions of volatile Balkan states. In all probability he fished the same rivers we had. Maybe he even communicated with Jelko and Stevo’s antecedents around a campfire on the banks of a river, hoping to mine pearls of local information, much in the way we ourselves had tried. Romantic flight of fancy? Probably. But to paraphrase the man himself...”It’s the rods that take you there”. And I know, for me, life would most certainly be the poorer without mine. n The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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WILTSHIRE DIARY
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The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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WILTSHIRE DIARY
Wiltshire diary The Wandle Piscators’ Duncan Soar has moved to Wiltshire, where, when he’s not catching fish, he’s taking photographs.
T
hese are some photos I took during this winter’s floods around where I live. As both an angler and professional photographer, I find my two interests often merge – with the result that I end up with more than your average collection of photos of fish and rivers. Before I moved from London a few years ago, I spent quite a bit of time photographing life around the Wandle. Now that I’m based north of Salisbury, the focus has shifted to the Wiltshire Avon. As a photographer what interested me with the floods was how the landscape that I’ve become used to over the past few years changed dramatically as the water encroached on the land. New streams flowed through the fields, the
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river expanded into a lake, trees became submerged... It’s very easy to become accustomed to the scenes around where you live, so this kind of change gets you looking at your surroundings with a renewed interest. Consequently my camera saw more action around the river than it normally would during the trout close season. Now that the river’s observing its usual course and the landscape has been allowed to return to its non-flooded state, it’s easy to get used to how things are now and forget the effect the floods had on the land around here. I like the fact the photos are a reminder that the water that holds the fish we pursue can also be a transformative force of nature. n The Piscators’ Chronicle Issue 1
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The Piscators’ Chronicle
The official magazine for The Wandle Piscators
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