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An Angling Escape

Our May 2001 contribution from Lesley Crawford

You many wonder why just a couple of weeks ago I was enviously watching some ingenious sea fishing in Lanzarote, especially when I have a multitude of wonderful angling on my doorstep. The answer is simple - despite government claims that the countryside is open for business, much of our Highland trout angling remains closed as a precaution against foot and mouth. This terrible disease may be some 300 miles away from Caithness but distance is immaterial in terms of panic restrictions and Keep Out signs have littered our loch and river banks since March. Consequently by mid April it was all getting a bit much so the family departed en masse for a bit of refreshing Canarian sunlight.

Lanzarote may not at first seem like a supreme fishing destination. Indeed it is rarely, if ever, advertised as such. Sun, sea, sand and wind surfing maybe, but fishing no. Yet angling is a highly popular pastime on this volcanic island and though it’s all done in the sea there is a multitude of exciting fish species to catch. Grey Mullet, sole, bass, - together with a variety of reef hugging fish with untranslatable names - are all caught but a few feet from the rocky shores. Further out to sea Blue Fin Tuna, Wahoo, Escolar, Marlin, Shark and Dorado are all regularly taken by deep sea boat anglers. It’s a saltwater angler’s paradise and next time I visit I shall be much better prepared. Canarian angling may not have the kudos of bone fishing in the Bahamas but the combination of warm sunshine over translucent aquamarine seas with easy access along most of the coastline makes it a wonderful, less expensive compromise.

There’s a timeless aspect to the fishing here. The fishing methods used on the Canary Islands are ancient ones. No need for an emptying of the wallet here, it is very much a case of making do with simple kit and this approach is refreshing in our obsessively materialistic angling world. Watching how the locals fish was a real eye opener for one weaned on a cult of fly fishing with wet and dry flies. While there was evidence of traditional spinning methods (mainly amongst the visiting tourists), the principal Canarian fishing techniques centre around a crudely made long plastic rod, 14/15ft seemed normal, with a soft flexible tip curled over like a shepherds crook on to which was attached a hook on a length of monofilament. No other accoutrements and no reels were used! When a 'cast' was made, the rod was simply twitched forward and the weighted baited hook dropped unceremoniously into the depths. There then followed a period of serious gazing at the rod tip until, if lady luck was kind, something tweaked the bait below. To land a fish on this tackle was perilous with little room for error. As the fish nibbled the bait, the angler simply whipped the rod skyward which either propelled the catch straight up and on to the rocky boulders behind, or if the fish was larger and heavier, brought it to below his feet with lightening speed. There was no time for any delicacy in playing the fish, instead not using a reel necessitated finely tuned reflexes. Naturally as much of the catch was dropped as was landed but it all made for a great spectacle with any loss greeted with a magnanimous shrug of the Canarian shoulders.

It’s interesting that this type of fishing without a reel (remember they only came into popular use in the late 17th century) goes back right to the very beginnings of angling as we know it. If you look at illustrations in the 'Treatise of Fishing with an Angle' circa 1496 you’ll notice a long rod (12 -18ft) bent over at a terrific angle and no reel attachment, and it would seem the Canarians are imitating fishing techniques from the 15th century or earlier. The posture they use for striking a fish is also the same as olden times in that the rod is dramatically arched back over the shoulder to make maximum use of the rods pliability when playing the catch. It’s interesting that this early striking method first gave rise to the expression 'showing fish the butt' though unfortunately this was later misinterpreted into meaning playing the fish hard. This later assumption was quite wrong as pointing the rod butt at the fish was done to absorb and soften the tugging of the catch rather than be brutal with it. By using the rod’s flexible nature you could control a fish’s underwater movements without breakages.

The Canarian historic connection is further heightened if you consider the original colonisers of these islands were the Spanish who would have absorbed the Mediterranean fishing influence. Angling antiquarians will remember that in Rome in 3AD a certain Aelianus caught trout on a fly rod (again without a reel) in his local river and that this is the first known reference to fly fishing as a sport. It is therefore quite plausible that the Spanish brought with them Mediterranean fishing techniques and that these have been handed done through generations of local anglers. It can be argued that this type of primitive angling is actually more intricate and difficult to execute well than our modern day techniques. Certainly a number of eminent historians including J W Hills in a 'History of Fly Fishing for Trout' point to rod fishing without reels being far more taxing especially when it was originally done with horsehair lines rather than todays much stronger monofilament.

Little wonder 'reel-less' angling is now an almost deserted skill. Pole fishing is still seen today in English coarse angling but apart from a brief attempted revival in Scotland by Webster in the late 1800's (he laid claim to inventing a 'loop rod' which did not employ a reel) the practise has died out. Heck, I would agree with the arduous challenge of not using a reel for I must admit to twice struggling miles into the hills (note it has been only twice, each experience is painfully etched in my fishing memory!) only to discover I had forgotten to bring the essential reel and line. Attaching long lengths of mono and dibbling a fly at the waters edge is just not the same and makes the trout confoundedly hard to hook.

As I left behind the Canarian sunshine to return to my bleak half shut homeland I made a firm promise that next year I would take the rod but unlike the happy go lucky anglers of Lanzarote, I will definitely be taking a reel. Beautifully simple fishing they may have, but I have my limitations!

About Lesley Crawford

Lesley has fished for brown trout and sea trout from a very early age and her enthusiasm for these beautiful Scottish fish shows no signs of diminishing. She is well known as a leading angling writer and photographer with prodigious articles in a wide range of publications including Salmon Trout & Sea Trout and the Scotsman.

Lesley is a REFFIS qualified fishing guide and arranges bespoke wild trout angling holidays in the Northern Highlands. Her first major book 'Fishing for Wild Trout in Scottish Lochs' (Swan Hill 1996) was a runaway success and the long awaited follow up 'Scotlands Classic Wild Trout Waters' (Swan Hill) was published in 2000. Order your copy now. Read more about Lesley at www.wildtroutfisher.co.uk