Fly fishing is too good a sport to give up or have to stop. To do so requires the most compelling of reasons: I will allow death! Anything less is no reason. Not even a major physical handicap. I have some friends whose son had been a very keen fisherman until he lost the use of his right arm in a motor bike accident. I had seen Robert Gibson-Bevan demonstrated his casting aids for the disabled and so decided to look further into what is available to help people carry on fly fishing.

From watching disabled anglers in action, unorthodox techniques may have to be developed and used but at least you will be fishing!

As well as people losing the use of a limb through amputation or accident, many suffer strokes that leave one arm perhaps partially paralysed. Fortunately neither event need mean the end of fishing. Although most of this article is about Gibson-Bevan's aids, the first device to look be looked at is the somewhat curious device from Finland known as Marc's Fishing System. Although not specifically aimed at handicapped anglers, the system offers them great benefits.

Marc's Fishing System was invented by Markku Rosnell and consists of a FinnKeep and FinnRod. The FinnKeep is a wooden device that takes the place of a traditional reel and has the line wrapped round it. Special brackets are available for one-armed anglers: one for walking anglers and one for those in a wheel chair, or, indeed, for anyone fishing sitting down. The FinnRod is the other essential part of the equipment. It has no reel seat (one is not needed) but it does have an extra butt ring near the top of the cork handle. This gives better line control as well as, it is said, increasing the effective casting length of the rod. Rod lengths of eight feet and nine feet are available, as either two piece or four piece rods. The final difference is that the preferred line is a shooting head and level monofilament backing or casting line.

In use the line is released from the FinnKeep as and when necessary. There is no need to have lengths of line on the ground or lying in the bottom of a boat. When casting with one arm, you use the one arm to cast and un-loop line. When retrieving line, a reverse motion will loop the line around the FinnKeep.

To find out more, visit the website at www.saunalahti.fi/~marcs or contact Brian Wilton of Wilton Associates, the UK distributor, telephone: 01764-654427 or fax: 01764-654242.

Robert Gibson-Bevan has two main devices for trout fishermen. One is for anglers with one arm and the other is for people with both arms but limited use of one.

The first device straps round the fisherman's waist and is held in place with another strap over the shoulder. An extension butt is fitted to the rod and this extension fits into the device. The rod is held in the device while the angler ties on his fly and when fishing. The angler has to learn to cast with one arm only and when he has completed his cast, the rod is put into the holder and the angler adjusted. Line is retrieved in the normal way and when a fish is hooked, the angle of the rod is raised and the fish played. If an automatic reel is used, the slack line can be retrieved quickly.

Gibson-Bevan's other device was developed for a man who had both arms but lost the use of his fore arm and hand. The device fits round the hand and fore arm and holds the rod, so allowing the arm to be used for casting, while the "good" arm controls the line etc.

The device for salmon fishers consists of a socket to hold the butt of a double-hand rod and a lanyard that clips on to the rod and holds it at the right angle while fishing the cast. The socket clips on to a belt around the waist.

As all his devices are tailor-made to suit the individual angler, Robert Gibson-Bevan likes to see his customers and measure them. He can be contacted on 01673-858387.

The Vivarelli automatic lever fly reel is available from Sportfish (www.sportfish.co.uk) and works by squeezing the lever which winds in the loose line. It is ideal for use by anglers with the use of one hand only.

What other items of equipment are on the market that will make life easier for the disabled angler? Zingers, or pin-on reels, can be used to hold all sorts of small items including line cutters so that they are easy to find and get hold of. Another device to consider is the Fly Trap which can be used with one hand. It was designed to take the place of a traditional box and fly drying patch and can be pinned to a shirt or fishing waistcoat. It holds flies securely yet they are easy to take out of the Trap. A C & F Threader fly box will help thread the tippet through the eye of the fly as flies are loaded on to the threader loops at home. The fly can then be hooked into a foam pad on the Gibson-Bevan rod holder, for example, while the knot is tied. The Orvis knot tier is another device to consider.

Disabled anglers - and their supporters - may also like to contact the English Disabled Fly Fishers. The secretary is Des Boore and he can be contacted by e-mail at liberty21@freeuk.com