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IMPORTANT
SITE UPDATE:
Visit the relaunched
Fish & Fly at fishandfly.com
What has
it got in its Pocketses, Precious?
Our March 2002 contribution from Nigel Haywood
You’re all kitted out with rod, reel, line and flies, and raring to go. But wait! You’ll need more than that. “What?” I hear you cry, “why didn’t he write a December column, so we could add thingsto our lists for Father Christmas? Or a January column, so we could go poking around in the January sales?” Fair point. Sorry. But here’s a list of things to wear, carry, and put in your pockets, to get you through a season.
Line basket
Don’t leave home without one. Really. This is one of the most important
tips I can pass on. You can buy an excellent, if expensive, one from Orvis.
This is my constant companion. It has an additional advantage. You can
put it in soft luggage, where it forms a handy protective shell around
fragile valuables (which you wrap in items of clothing). You can also
make one from an oblong washing up bowl (bore two holes in the rim on
one of the long sides, fit a bungee cord in one hole, put around your
waist, secure in the other), or an open-weave, plastic waste paper basket.
To stop the line swilling around in it, bore a few holes in the bottom,
and glue in 6” lengths of 100lb+ nylon, having first blobbed the
ends with a lighter. A piece of Astroturf is easier, and works pretty
well. The basket stops the line getting lacerated by rocks, or washed
around in the surf. It is very difficult to fish properly without one.
For additional persuasion, go down to a calm estuary on a dark night.
Stand on the weedy foreshore, and let the line fall around your feet.
Cast as far as you can. Within 15 minutes, maximum, a shore crab, having
happily grabbed your line, will smack against your hand or your butt ring
as you reach out on the cast. Very nasty, and you won’t want it to
happen again.
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hat, models a home made line-tray |
Waders
For wading in estuaries, and fishing from beaches. Chest waders are best. Not because you’re necessarily going to wade in far: it’s sometimes counter-productive, as bass and mullet are often very close in. But the sea has a habit of surging when you least expect it, and soaking your crotch. This makes sitting in the pub after a trip uncomfortable, though see Change of Clothes below. Breathable waders may be the best option, but they’re very expensive. I happily use standard Ocean waders. They last for years (a pair of their thigh waders lasted me for nine), are easy to repair, and, a feature I find especially useful, have tungsten studded soles as standard. Invaluable on slimy Dorset rocks. I’ve never found them sweaty: most of the time in the UK I’m trying to stay warm, anyway. If I’m walking a long distance to a mark, I’ll sometimes carry them in a canvas bucket.
Sunglasses
Polarised glasses help you see fish in calm water. They protect your eyes from UV rays, and help prevent headaches caused by staring at a sunlit sea for hours on end. One of their most important functions is to keep badly cast Clousers from hitting your eye, either because your fishing companion is clumsy, or the wind is playing havoc with your back cast. I like a brown tint. It makes the world a cheerier place than grey. And it’s wonderful for driving along tree-lined roads on a sunny autumn day: the colours are amazing.
Hat
Keeps the sun off your head. Protects your ears from badly cast Clousers, especially if you buy one designed for flats fishing, with a short brim over the ears. The peak of a flats hat also helps you see, by shielding your eyes. A dark underbrim is helpful. I tend to wear an excessively brimmed Tilley hat, which copes with the most tropical of conditions. I dislike baseball caps: their peaks are inadequate, they don’t protect your ears, and they make you look like a prat. But that’s just my view.
Landing net
If you like. They’re often more trouble than they’re worth, especially where you can beach a fish. But I usually carry a 22” Snowbee collapsible, which I’ve had for years and which drives me mad. It’s never easy to get it up when you’re under pressure (so to speak). But it’ll cope with fish up to 10lb, which might otherwise be difficult to land. You certainly need a net to fish from rocks, though you need to be very careful about where you stand to use it. I know your first problem is to hook a fish. But a few moments spent looking for a place you can easily get to to land it is time well spent.
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a short waistcoat are essential |
Waistcoat
I couldn’t manage without one. I need pockets. A shortish one, to wear over chest waders without getting too soggy around the bottom, is ideal. Clip or sew on a small sheepskin patch that you can stick flies in. A D-ring on the back, into which you can clip a collapsible landing net, is a mixed blessing. It keeps your net out of the way. But, after you’ve netted a fish, it makes your back wet.
Pliers
Use them for flattening the barbs on hooks. I use a small pair of Abel pliers, which are exceptionally well made. You can use them instead of forceps to get hooks out (of fish or of skin: another good argument for de-barbing hooks), and instead of snips for cutting line. I’m punctilious now about using snips or pliers on line, since my new dentist pointed out the damage to my front teeth caused by years of simply biting it.
Tape measure
Buy a cheap one, and mark on it the minimum size for bass and sea trout, and any other local requirements. It’s also quicker to measure fish than to weigh them, once you’ve built up in your mind an average weight/length correlation for various fish. NB: the size limit for bass is far too low, at 36 cm. Go for 46cm, around 2 1/2 lb, at least.
Hook sharpener
It’s unprofessional to fail to hook a fish because of a blunt hook. And points dull easily, especially if you’re fishing over rocks and stones, and you let your back-cast drop.
Priest
If you’re going to take a fish, kill it cleanly and quickly. Hunting
around for a suitable stone is inelegant, and you’ll usually need
more than one blow with it.
Sea Trout Licence. There are more sea trout about than you think. Real
nuisance fish. But they taste OK. If you want to keep one, again observing
sensible size limits, you’ll need an EA licence, costing (last year)
£59.25 if ordered from the EA’s web site.
Camera
Always worth stuffing a small point-and-shoot, such as an Olympus Mju,
in your pocket. You’ll need something to keep it from getting wet:
at minimum, a zip-lock bag. Beyond that, a whole new subject opens out:
digital or not? SLR or compact? Weather/waterproofed? I really don’t
want to go into this here, except to say that something able to get the
best out of Kodachrome 64 would be my bottom line. I normally carry a
body of some sort, and a couple of lenses, which means I use a
Rucksack. I probably carry too much, but I like to have a flask of coffee
for early morning starts, a Petzl headlamp for late evenings, a set of
scales and a weigh sling if I think there might be something worth weighing,
a mobile phone (which is out of signal range in most places I fish), and
all sorts of other junk.
Change of clothes
Keep in the back of the car. Amazing how often you’ll need it. Especially if your waders spring a leak. Or your brother falls in.
That ought to do you. Of course, you’ll also need a variety of things which form part of your tackle, such as ready-made leaders, spools of nylon, Xink and Gink. But your pockets will fill with these anyway, whatever I say, and though you may never be sure why you’ve got a scrunched up bit of amadou in them, or a tub of fluorescent red Strike-Putty (I’ve just looked in mine), you know you’ll find you need something the day after you’ve decided to leave it behind.
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Fly Selection
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Fly Lines
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Tackling Up: Reels
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: First, Find your Fish
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Tackling Up: Rods
If you have any questions or comments regarding this article please visit our Saltwater Flyfishing Forum
Nigel Haywood was brought up on the Cornish coast, and has fished in the sea for as long as he can remember. He tied his first saltwater fly over thirty years ago, and over the last ten years has focused almost exclusively on the fly rod. He is writing a book, provisionally titled Flyfishing the British Coast for Merlin Unwin