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en in the UK

Our June 2001 contribution from Trout Bum

Swedish contributor Trout Bum writes about fishing his pilgrimages to England from his first when he went to see if the country and rivers of Halford, Skues and Sawyer still existed to more recent trips when he and his friends caught monster brown trout in Scotland at night. Really good fishing is to be had for less than a tenner, and he says, it is still a trip worth making. Well worth making. Read why he can't wait to go back!

My first trip to the British Isles was when I was 17 years old. Then I went, as Helen Hanff said in the book 84 Charing Cross Road, to find the England of literature. And I found it. England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland became for me a necessity; I went there as often as I could.

A decade later, after having taken up fly-fishing, I went on another pilgrimage. I'd read Halford, Skues and Sawyer and now I wanted to know if that country still existed. For me it does. Yes I know there are more fishermen, more stocked fish, more cars and so on. But for me, it is still there.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to fish all over the British Isles for the last 10 years or so. I have also had the good fortune to meet some of the kindest people I've ever met, all thanks to the fishing. Great fly fishermen like Oliver Edwards and Charles Jardine, both kind and patient men with a great love for this, our pursuit. And my very good friend Laurie Charteress, a true gentleman and a good friend and fisherman. He and his wife Wendy made their house my home from home. These and many more I am in debt to, and of course Johan who dragged me into this and who introduced me to Brian Leadbetter. Well enough name dropping, it's just that there are so many people that have made my fishing in UK so enjoyable.

I've brought some friends with me over the years and they in turn have introduced other Swedish fly fishermen to the fishing in the UK. The most common questions I get when I talk to people who are interested in fishing in the UK is if it's expensive and if there are a lot of people fishing. And the answer is yes, on both accounts. But that is not the whole truth, so I tell them of days on the Welsh Dee, the reservoirs at Rutland, Grafham and Blagdon, on the Derbyshire Wye and River Tummel up in Scotland. And then there is Wylye, Hampshire Avon and Frome, the rivers on Dartmoor, the list is long over places that have been good to me over the years. And that is just the tip of the iceberg!

First real eye opener was River Dee at Bala; we managed to spend 10 days in Wales without rain on that trip. And that is not a fishing story! This was on the debut trip, neither Johan nor me had fished there before but we got a load of good advice from all sorts of people. What days we had! Johan, being the experienced one, got me into some good fish with all sorts of methods. We soaked up on misty, cool mornings with nothing but the river and the sheep moving. We never saw another fisherman in four days.

There have been many occasions like these, most of them in June or September, my favourite months for fishing in the UK. Since this is turning out to be a sort of listing why not list some of the greatest experiences I have had, fishing in Great Britain? They have formed my view of the fishing in the British Isles, so here we go.

Sitting on the pier at Grafham Water an early September morning, two fairly light rods tackled, one for fry feeders and the other for trout sipping buzzers. Sun just coming up and there is just the odd boat cutting the glassy surface out there. The occasional swirl of cruising fish closing in on me. Some of them real heavy, big fish, taking fry close to the surface. I put the fly out there, some eight or 10 feet in front of the first heavy swirl.

Nothing happens. I make a few slow hand twists and the Minkie out there wiggles a bit in the water. Still nothing, I'm starting to worry that despite an 18 foot leader I might have spooked the fish. Then the gentlest of tugs and as I tighten I feel the fish turning, yes! I manage to land the fish and it turns out to be a 3½lb brown trout and things just can't get any better! Half an hour later I lose a fish that just ignores me and, running to the end of 150 yards of backing, just breaks me off! At ten o‚clock I grin like an idiot when I walk up to the lodge for a late breakfast.

Hampshire Avon and I have Robert and Mikael with me from Sweden. Late August and after wonderful days at the Frome, on Blagdon and an eye opener for Robert down at Chalk Springs, we are now fishing the Hampshire Avon. I get stuck fishing for a brown that will take anything but my flies. The two others wander off and suddenly I am oblivious to everything around me. The guys come back to 'wake' me from my reverie and I am not really sure if I caught the brown. I have caught some fish but all I can really remember is the sun on my back and the sound of water rushing over gravel. The tea tastes heavenly!

Lars and me did a tour of Scotland around midsummer one year. It was the complete tour and thankfully our girlfriends who went with us kept themselves occupied. The memories from that trip and all the fishing we did there would fill an article in itself. There are a couple of occasions that stick out though.

Sitting by the boat after a windy day at Lochindorb, having a wee dram when the sun finally comes out long enough to warm our faces just a bit. The smell of peat, water and conifers. The silhouette of the old castle ruin on the island lit by yellow light. And the colour of the small trout Lars caught from the bank.

Fishing the River Tummel. We got great advice from Nick at Mitchell's of Pitlochry. I don't think he had the greatest of confidence in the two over enthusiastic Swedes but he told us about the fishing. He said that the trout were there in numbers though not in size. We would well deserve a pint if we caught any trout over two pounds.

His predictions were all on the spot all through the first afternoon we fished there. It was a great day with yellow Mayflies coming off the water in amazing numbers; both the trout (up to 1.5 -2 lb.!) and the gulls enjoyed it enormously. We decided to go for dinner and come back towards dusk to see if there were any fish rising to the spent spinners we anticipated. Yes there were! We'd had a few pints so we left the car and most of the gear, including the camera, up at the B&B we were staying at. As soon as we came down to the spot we had decided on fishing we saw some rises. Lars promptly managed to hook and release a fish of about 3lb. As the light faded the rises intensified and the odd salmon that rolled heavily close to or on occasions over our flylines spiced all of it. Suddenly I saw some really heavy swirls, they did not look like salmon, but with the waning light I could not be sure. Lars cast to one of the rises with his spent spinner imitation and it just disappeared.At first we really thought it was a salmon, but when we finally got it close to the bank we saw a big brown, when we weighed it in the net before quickly releasing the scales went well past 5 lb.

That evening, before giving up to the darkness we caught four more fish over 4lb. Between us, the biggest one tipped the scale over 7lb. We kept one of them, not the biggest but a good one, and took some pictures of it when we got back to the car. The fish we gave to our very surprised landlady in the morning. As I remember Lars' girlfriend was not too happy about being awaken to admire a big, slimy fish that her boyfriend enthusiastically proclaimed as a 'monster'. It was fun though! The next day we went, extremely cocky, to Mitchell's to recapitulate our success story. We must have been unbearable in our 'expertise' but there were a couple of salmon fishermen that had been there for a week without catching that got really interested in what flies we had used. We managed to get another night off two days later and drove up from Perth were we stayed. We had three more 'big' trout that evening and a fair number of what we then considered average ones.

There have been many other occasions, blank and frustrating days and blank but rewarding ones. Luckily, there have also been days with much more fish, both fishing alone and with friends, Swedish and English. I've had more good moments fishing in the UK than I can possibly have deserved, and being fond of good ale and bitter I have also learnt to appreciate the fact that there is a lot of good fishing to be had fairly close to pubs. If you bring your fly tying gear into the pub (ask the proprietor before starting to tie flies!), you will soon have a knowledgeable audience that will give you good advice, traded for the odd fly. Writing this I have gone through pictures trying to find some good ones to illustrate the text. One thing that comes to mind immediately is the clothes; our gear has changed a lot! Of course the rods and reels are all different, new rods is an essence to fishing, or so it would seem, but there seems to have been a shift in our fishing fashion as well. From oilskins and hats to Gore-Tex and caps, I think we might have lost something along the road there.

Well enough of fashion, it's time for me to sum this up.

Most of my trips have been made at fairly low cost. Usually it has been my girlfriend and me and we have spent two to four weeks in Great Britain. On occasions other friends from Sweden have come over and spent a week or two with us. We have travelled by boat from Gothenburg to Harwich or Newcastle and then driven our own car around the British Isles. Before the recent rise of the British pound compared to the Swedish Krona it used to be really inexpensive if you just moderated the days on more expensive fisheries. Sure, I think it is worth to pay £35 for a day at the Derbyshire Wye, but I would not spend every day there. Really good fishing is to be had for less than a tenner, and yes, it is still a trip worth making. Well worth making.
I know. I can't wait to go back!