French Flies

Phlueger President 2056

2008-05-19T14:40:00.005+02:00

I was looking for a reel to match the light brook rod that I recently picked up. This American Phlueger President 2056 Fly Reel is light and strong with good looks too. Hopefully when loaded with some line that I'm expecting soon it will balance the light rod well. I've greased it up with Hot Sauce and switched from left to right-hand wind.

The 2056 reel is 3-1/2" in diameter, it has a 31/32" spool width and weighs 5.8 oz. It can hold up to #6 line with 30yds. of 20lb breaking stain backing. I'll be loading it with Monic All-Weather clear fly line 4 WT and some 30lb backing that I have lying around.

Phlueger President 2056Features:

Large arbour spool design
Forged, machined and anodized aluminium frame and spool
Oversized ball bearing and one-way clutch bearing
Patented center-disc drag system for total drag control
Convertible left/right hand retrieve
Large rosewood knob
Easy-release spool switch
Protective storage bag included

Upwinged Flies in the Kitchen

2008-05-15T14:34:00.003+02:00

I had a small swarm of Upwinged Flies in the kitchen yesterday. Yep, the kitchen. These were either Large Dark Olive (Baetis rhodani), Medium Olive (Baetis vernus) or Pond Olive (Cloeon dipterum) flies. It is probably a Baetis spinner though showing the large turbinate eyes.

I'm not an expert on flies and there are so many different types of these flies - what could they be exactly? No running water nearby, only my little garden pond out the back.

Burning Man pattern

2008-05-07T12:23:00.005+02:00

Down at the pond the other day, I bumped into a local fishing with an orange popper that reminded me of the Burning Man pattern that I had seen recently on Global Fly Fisher [link: Burning Man]. They describe it as:

A strange but efficient foam popper for all kinds of strange fish.

It looked like an easy pattern to make, so I had a go.

I used some orange floating fly line for the legs, orange braid and black cotton for other parts. These four variants took about 20 minutes to knock-up and I have no idea if they will work, but they should send all the right signals to the fish. Apparently you need a few as the fish reduce the length of the legs quite quickly. That sounds like good advice.

polarised fishing glasses

2008-05-05T13:17:00.007+02:00

Tom and I use polarised fishing glasses to help us spot fish under the water. Mine are clip-on polarised lenses that attach to my normal glasses magnetically. I can flip them up when I need to see something without the dark lenses. Tom's glasses are from Decathlon. They do the job well, but have a slightly less polarising effect than mine.

I bought my Magna Flip glasses from an eBay store: here.

Tench (Tanche)

2008-05-05T09:28:00.005+02:00

Here is a short video clip of a Tench in a local pond, filmed with the polariser filter.

The Tench
The tench or doctor fish (Tinca tinca) is a freshwater and brackish water fish of the cyprinid family found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe

More info:
Wikipedia (English): Tench
Wikipedia (French): Tanche

Polariser Filter

2008-05-04T19:34:00.003+02:00

I've recently added a Polariser Filter to my video camera and it really works well to reduce water reflections, cutting out the virtically polarised reflected light.

Check ou this short video clip showing how effective it is.

Making new friends along the river

2008-04-28T12:49:00.008+02:00

We had a good day out yesterday. Fishing at the lakes in the morning then on the river in the afternoon. Not much was biting and nothing was caught with trout pâté on the lake. Most of the other fishermen had gone home as we arrived, but we saw some fish. I saw a large trout close to the shore and tried about five timed to cast just in front of the thing with no luck - it wasn't interested.

Quite a few insects flying about. On the lakes were these crane flies(below), on the river we saw some sedges.

I have decided to use my best (working) bamboo rod - "The Richard" made by Lee of Redditch. It is 9'2" with a hexagonal section. Originally made in the 1960's, it was restored in 2008 and has a semi-parabolic action. The reel is my Hardy Sunbeem 6/7 that is 3 7/16" (87mm) in diameter. Made in the 1980's. With this cobination, I can get the line to the far bank of the river with ease and it feels quite good doing it.

We're fishing just behind the Conty horse driving grounds.

A pair of swans were feeding on the algae in the river. There are about a dozen swans on the river and lakes and many other aquatic fowl that live in this well looked-after environment.

Olivier trying out my Lee rod and Hardy reel. Olivier is the secretary of the Société Pécheurs De L'Yéres. See their site here: La Truite Yerroise.

Tom fly fishing. He had a go even though not many fish were seen. We practised getting our flies wet. We were just too hot as we had dressed for the cold morning and both of us had thick socks and multiple layers of warm clothing. You do need the protection though because of all the nettles.

What's in my flybox?

2008-04-26T11:20:00.003+02:00

I have a good collection of flies. Some new, many old and some antique. Salmon and trout flies, some pretty and some fugly.

What do we fish with this year? Last year I fished mainly in the summer and had good results with stoneflies and daddy long-legs. This year, I'm approaching the concept more carefully and looking at the hatch a little more carefully.

I have made up one box with a good selection of flies that should appeal to the pallet of the most discerning trout or greyling in my local river.

We have a Dun/adams pattern (bottom right) for the Spring Mayflies. The effective Stonefly nymph patterns in black and brown. A few yellow Dun/Yellow Sally patterns to see if the fish are interested in a little variety. The Daddy Long-legs that excite the fish with their knotted cockerel plume legs. Some March Brown patterns as they work so well. A collection of sedges on quite small hooks to attract the little tricky fish if there are no big ones around - these are stored on the threader needles of the Orvis box. I've included a red spinner and a couple of Jassid patterns just for pot luck.

Spring fishing in Conty

2008-04-20T18:00:00.009+02:00

Tom and I spent the morning down by the lake trout fishing. Pressure had been a constant 998hPa over the past 24 hours. Nothing was biting, but the weather was great and we had fun. We saw some nice trout and greyling in the river on the way home. Next time is fly fishing.

Trout Fishing Conty

Gamefisher Machined CNC Aluminium Fly fishing reel #5/6

2008-04-18T12:13:00.008+02:00

Game-fisher CNC LA # 5/6 Fly Reel

Manufactured from aluminium and CNC machined, the Game-fisher large arbour fly reel features a smooth progressive drag system and is completely salt-water proof. They represent excellent value. If you are interested in a similar reel and a matching rod, you can get it here.

This reel is loaded with Woodstock 30 pound braided Dacron backing and a 25 meter Loop Adventure WF6F line. Paul from New Zealand will now be using this reel hopefully catching some nice wild NZ trout. Check out his local fishing ground: Waimakariri River Fishing.

My favourite way of cooking Trout

2008-03-24T10:54:00.006+01:00

Trout is a very delicate fish and it has to be cooked with care. The bones spoil the pleasure of eating this tasty fish so why nor fillet the fish removing all the bones. If you leave a couple of pin bones, it won't be too bad as these are quite soft and can be swallowed.

I fillet the trout, removing all bones and the skin. Then place the fillets in a shallow dish and add a generous dose of lemon juice and a good quantity of olive oil. I crush a few cloves of garlic and add that to the fish. Try and get the marinade to cover all parts of the fish. I cover the dish well with plastic-wrap and keep in the refrigerator overnight.

After at least 12 hours in the fridge, you could probably eat this fish just like this as a Carpaccio, but lightly cooking it brings out more of the trout flavours.

The next day get the fish out and prepare the serving platter. I lay the fish on a bed of seasonal salad. Here we are using Mâche (Corn salad).

I lightly brown some Almond flakes in a dry pan over the heat and melt a generous amount of butter in a larger pan. I add about some dried Thyme to the butter. I actually did this an hour before cooking the fish so Thyme infused into the butter. The fish is cooked two minutes before serving and it cooks for two minutes. Turning once or twice gently.

Served on the Winter cress and garnished with the roasted Almonds, the trout is delicious. Tender, light and tasty.

Start of the 2008 season

2008-03-22T10:06:00.006+01:00

We woke at 06:15 and headed off to Conty. It was snowing outside and the temperature was 1° C. I doubted that there would be any fish taking the bait. The fishermen of Conty were out in force. We saw a few guys on the river, but the water seemed murky and fast moving as the river was swollen after a week of rain. So we decided to head for the lakes.

The water was bleak and it was cold and damp with the occasional snowflake falling through the drizzle. We arrived on time for the opening at 07:30. The weather cleared a little over the next couple of hours, but it remained cold.

Before I had my rod set up and baited, Tom had caught a little Rainbow trout weighing 280g. Tom was cold even though he had quite a few layers of clothing and he was wanting to get home so just after 09:00 we decided to go. I had one last cast, as one does... Guess what I hooked on that last cast! This beauty:

47 cm long and 1270g Rainbow trout. Probably the biggest fish I've caught at Conty to date. We took a few photos and packed up. Home by 09:30. Now we have some nice trout to fillet for Easter Sunday lunch.

Spring water rat in Conty

2008-03-21T18:45:00.000+01:00

George Hinton & Sons of Taunton Greenheart & Split cane rod

2008-03-11T15:58:00.010+01:00

I recently came across a few classic rods that were restored by a rod maker in the Paris region. Check out his eBay store here: tophe512. Buying most of his rods on auctions in the UK and the USA, he doesn't offer much info on his restoration business, but it seems as though quite a few rods pass through the works. The quality of the work done is very good. Original fittings are cleaned up and used whenever possible and then re-attached with new whippings.

Here is something rather special. This greenheart fly rod (with split cane tip) was made by George Hinton & Sons of Taunton, Somerset in the 1920's.

George Hinton & Sons Ltd was an old established gun making business that was sold to Charles William Hellis in the late 1940's.

How many of these fine rods do you see these days?

George Hinton & Sons of Taunton - Greenheart & Split cane Fly rod
Originally made in the 1920's, recently restored.

- 3 sections + spare tip.
- Length: 10'5".
- top 6" made of split cane.
- Weight: 385g.
- New whippings in green and olive.
- 19 snake rings in good condition.
- Wooden handle.
- Reel seat and rings made from decorated brass.
- Ferrules have hooks to attach a flex control line along the back of the rod.
Good fitting, no play.
- Original ferrule plugs.
- Straight rod. Semi-parabolic supple action.

George Hinton & Sons de Taunton - Greenheart
Canne année : Env. 1920
Très belle Canne a mouche exceptionnelle en très bonne santé.

- 3 éléments, encombrement : 114cm.
- Long : 3,18m (10'5")
- Seul les dix derniers centimètres des deux scions sont en bambou refendu.
- Poids : 385g
- Ligatures neuves, verte et vert olive. Plus quelques ligatures laiton.
- 19 Anneaux serpentiformes d’origine bon état.
- Poignée en bois très bonne état.
- Porte moulinet très bon état laiton a bague ciselé.
- Viroles, avec crochet d’attache bon état.
Pas de jeux, emmanchement très bon.
- Les deux bouchons de virole liège/bois tournée sont d’origine.
- Canne droite. Action semi parabolique souple.

Hardy - The Sunbeam 6/7

2008-03-05T12:33:00.004+01:00

A very well made alloy fly reel. 3 7/16" (87mm) in diameter. Made in the 1980's. Features include: Switchable for either left or right hand retrieve, adjustable drag, rim control drag, reversible agate line guide, sturdy construction and drag parts, reel comes in the original Hardy soft padded vinyl case.

The Hardy Sunbeam reels were an upgrade over the popular Hardy Lightweight series of reels with an agate line guide similar to those on the Hardy Perfect line of reels.

Hardy - The Viscount 140

2008-01-30T14:45:00.000+01:00

The Viscount 140, Made by Hardy Bros Ltd England, 3.5" reel. Made from light alloy and suited as a trout fly reel for one of my cane rods. Made in the 1970's. Giving the impression that it was cheaply manufactured. Part of a series of reels: the 130, 140, and 150. The foot and body are moulded together; There is a plastic check and spring, plastic adjustment knob and plastic crown on the rear.

Down by the river

2008-01-27T15:23:00.001+01:00

Tom and I took a walk around the lakes and along the river at Conty. We were curious to see if there was anyone about and if there were any signs of wildlife. We didn't see many people, mainly Sunday strollers, a few hunters coming back home for lunch. Not much wildlife either was seen. A couple of swans on the Entournelles lake, some more lake birds and a heron. We didn't spot any fish as the waters were a bit murky and the river was flowing briskly. Here are some photos from today.

We're looking forward to the 15th March when the lake fishing starts up again. The river fishing season starts on the 22 March. This year were going after the elusive brown trout - if there are any to be caught.

J.J.S. Walker Bampton & Co. Makers Alnwick

2008-01-25T13:51:00.000+01:00

Don't you hate it when you buy a great split can rod or a vintage reel from an auction house or vintage tackle shop and when you try and find out more information about it, all you get are links for out-of-date eBay listings. Looking for information on J.J.S. Walker Bampton & Co.?

Here is some information that comes from various sources.

J.J.S. Walker Bampton & Co. were a reputable British company based in Alnwick, Northumberland.

The company employed ex Hardy employees. Walker Bampton set up a rod and reel building operation in the early 1930s until around 1968.

There were quite a few such firms around in the inter-war years, allegedly due to the unscrupulous hiring and firing practices of Hardy Brothers - apprentices being employed until the age of 21 when they would be entitled to a man's wage, at which point they were unceremoniously fired.

The Walker Bampton rods shared many of the characteristics of the Hardy rods. The ferrules were based on the patented Hardy lockfast ferrule.

A Walker Bampton nine ft. rod in the 30's cost from thirty pounds upwards. Wages were then three pounds per week so they were luxury goods.

Walker Bampton supplied rods to Farlows of Pall Mall. Eventually Walker Bampton were bought out by Farlows. Farlows have now amalgamated with Hardy.

Hardy reel shop, c. 1900. Walter Dingley is at the far left in back
William Henry Dingley (Walter), born West Broomwich 1-6-1858. Apprenticed Reuban Heaton Co. of Birmingham at age of fourteen. Heatons was then largest mfg. of reels in the U.K. Stayed with Heatons for fourteen years. Worked with David Slater Reels, Newark-upon-Trent for five years. 1891 moved to Alnwick with Hardy but left over a patent dispute in 1911 involving the braking system on the Silex reel. Went to become the head of the reel making dept. of J.J.S. Walker Bampton where he was responsible for the Climax spinning reel. Started his own fly reel company about 1919 and recruited ex-Hardy men. Made reels for the trade and several companies but you can usually find the "D" stamp inside those reels. Died 1-27-1946 at age 88. Oldest son Ernest ran his company until March 1954 when the company closed on his death.

What can you add to this? Do you have any further information or photographs?

Thinking about going fishing

2008-01-24T17:42:00.000+01:00

That finger injury I had last year really did end my fishing season early. It was a real pain. I couldn't tie knots or even hold anything properly. I didn't get any fishing done after the accident.

So anyway, I'm thinking about the new 2008 season, looking at my rods, sorting out tackle and thinking about getting a new (vintage) reel to go with my Hardy Perfection rod. I'm going to put together a list of my rods and reels with all the info I can find on the web about them.

Out of interest: What are your thoughts about this blog? If you subscribe to the RSS feed of this Blog, please drop me a line and let me know what you think of it.

Force Majeure

2007-08-22T15:19:00.000+02:00

I have been unable to fish for a couple of weeks thanks to me cutting myself with the small blade of a Swiss Army knife. I was cutting something in my hands instead of on a firm surface. What a fool. Anyway, 3 hours in the hospital and some stitches later... my left hand is useless with big bandages on the index and thumb.

Check out the source of the pain:

I can't tie knots in the fishing line for another week or two, so in the meantime, here is a little video on the ideal way to catch trout: Click here for the video

How To Fish

2007-07-19T12:10:00.000+02:00

How To Fish, by Chris Yates. Published by Penguin, 2007

I have watched a few of the Passion for Angling programs and was entertained by the aproach and zen-like attitude to fishing of Chris Yates and Bob James. I too like to simplify things and try and get in tune with the water, nature and the fish. Chris Yates seems to be a sort of guru of classic fishing with a holistic approach and using split-cane rods and center-pin reels.

You probably know that Chris Yates caught the biggest fish in the UK (c '80s), the giant 51-pound carp at Redmire pond in 1980. That feat certainly puts him up amongst the best, but one gets the feeling when reading the book that the author considers himself as a modern Isaac Walton. I would have been happier if this book was called: How I Fish.

Don't be misled by the title of the book though. It is not a how-to manual. It doesn't give away secrets, it doesn't tell you where to fish, how to fish or how to rig a trace and it doesn't go into detail on bait and tackle. It does tell you, in the first person, how Chris Yates fishes in a series of tales and memories of his childhood and youth. We hear of his friends who all seem to enjoy drinking tea and eating cake on the riverbank; we learn of his exploits in all sorts of weather and his aproach to stalking fish.

The central theme of the book shows how one can become obsessed with one particular species of fish. We discover how Chris Yates became interested in fishing, fished around the UK for various species of fish, and now how he has become infatuated with one species of fish - the perch. At least that is what this book is about - Chris Yates has written other books on other species of fish, but this one raises the perch higher than the rest.

After catching a few perch the other day on a wet nymph and a fly rod, I personally don't see any mystique surrounding the fish and can't understand how someone can become so obsessed with one type of species. Sure I like to catch trout, but I'm happy catching anything... if I catch anything at all ;-)

As the book concentrates on perch fishing, it is rather bemusing to see that the only colour photo of a fish on the back inside cover is not a perch, but rather a chub - a nice one at that. The stories culminate in a frenzy of fishing by Chris Yates and his band of merry men on a private river fishing 'til they drop - and then they all head off to the pub in typical English tradition.

An interesting read overall. An insight into British coarse fishing for any non-Brit who may be intrigued why the English drink so much tea, don't eat the fish they catch and why they get so excited over little river fish.

Get this book at:

The Loue river vally, Doubs, France

2007-07-17T11:55:00.001+02:00

We've returned from a trip to the Doubs region in eastern France where we tried a little fishing on the Loue river. We have seen quite a bit of trout there before on previous trips, but we never fished there due to a lack of licences. This time, we picked up a couple of weekly licences and tried some lures as the river was much to strong for fly fishing. In the week we were there I didn't even see a trout let alone catch one! What a shame. I did however get quite a bit of practice with my lure casting. Here are some photos of the river.


The 'source' of the river Loue. Actually the river is water from the river Doubs that has gone underground in a few places to the south-east and come out here (see below for how they found this out). The source has some powerful flows and there are a few hydro-electric power stations taking advantage of the force of the water.

A few kilometres downstream, the village of Lods sits picturesquely on the river. As you see the flow is strong after a month of heavy rain. Downstreram from Lods is the town of Ornans and further down again is Chenecey Buillon with it's arched stone bridge over the river.

Normally, there is flow between the central arches and the arches on either side are dry. The area immediately around the bridge itself is a reserve, but the fishing up and down the river here is some of the best on the whole river.

Down from Chenecey is Quingy where we were fishing - or at least trying to fish. The locals suspected that with the heavy rain, most of the fish had been literally washed downstream. We saw a few barbel that were unceremoniously chucked out of the river as they are an alien species and considered a threat to the trout and local species.

How the source of the Loue was found not to be a unique source, but that it is actually a deviation of the Doubs river.
In the summer of 1901 during an accidental fire at the Pernod distilleries at Pontarlier, a million litres of Absinthe was dumped into the river Doubs in an effort to prevent an explosion in the cellars. Absinthe is a green aniseed liqueur. Two days later, the waters of the Loue river was the opaque opalescent white colour and taste of Absinthe and the fish were drunk! The underground channels were thus discovered and were later confirmed by a geological survey.

Brown Stonefly strikes again...

2007-07-07T21:46:00.000+02:00

The brown Stonefly nymph in the post below is amazing. It catches all sorts of fish.

Today we were at the lake trying to hook one of many trout that were swirling around figuring out the hierarchical pecking order between themselves (what is that activity called?). We pulled out a few rainbow trout and I hooked a 40cm fish, but it escaped when we tried to land it. I then had a go with the fly rod and instead of the trout biting, I got bites straight away from some perch that were in the shallows.

I was aiming at the small fish to get my eye in before going for the trout, but I hooked a few of these little fighters. I was quite surprised. I let them get on with their business, but failed after that to even land a trout.

Funny day indeed.

More info on the Perch (Perca fluviatilis):
Wikipedia (English): European perch
Wikipedia (French): Perche commune

The greyling's cousin

2007-07-01T22:28:00.000+02:00

Well the weather service got it all wrong. Although blustery, the front passed over us with only a few drops of rain at dawn. The rest of the day was sunny and fine. We went fishing after lunch and tempted the trout and greyling of the steams. Tom and I ended back where I caught the greyling yesterday. At first we saw a few small fish - not sure exactly what they were, but then we saw a couple of larger greyling take up position in the stream, head facing into the current. Perhaps they were related to yesterday's fish. I tried a fluffy little fly with no luck and then changed to this brown stonefly pattern (with a 22mm hook), below, that hung a few inches under the surface and one of the greyling took it straight away.

Unfortunately the fish got away as we were landing it. We need to work on our landing procedures a bit better. It all gets a bit chaotic when a fish takes the fly and we fluff about bringing it in, getting the camera out and trying to take a shot. Anyway, we had fun. Tom was a bit frustrated getting his line tangled up a bit, but he was happy that he saw so many fish through his polarised glasses. If you have the patience to pause a little you will see one little fish and then by his movements, you'll suddenly see a whole lot more. We are so lucky to have such a nice chalk stream virtually all to ourselves.

The Lady of the Stream

2007-06-30T16:59:00.000+02:00

So the weather was not that bad. It did rain, but there were some clear patches and the sun even came out once or twice. During one of the clear periods, I went out on the river to see what was in the swim. After an extraordinarily wet June, the river was full and slightly murky. There were a few fish though and what I found was this: A Greyling (Thymallus thymallus), known as The Lady of the Stream. Caught with a small daddy-long-legs dry fly hiding a 13mm hook (below). The fly is actually mimicking the Crane fly which you will find in abundance near the rivers.

This particular fish was about 30cm long and a very beautiful specimen. I actually mistook it for a trout as I saw it next to a small bridge on the river Selle at Conty, just up from the old railway station. I was able to cast the fly over and above the fish without having to back-cast as I was only about four meters from the fish, luckily just out of it's angle of vision. For five minutes I played with the fly, trying to tempt the sleepy creature. And then, as if just for my pleasure and knowing that it was a protected species and would be put back, it rose and took the fly. Without much of a fight, I landed the young Salmonid onto the bank. I don't know who was more startled, me or the fish. "A Greyling!" I proclaimed to the birds and trees. The first one that I've caught here as well.

I fumbled to get my mobile phone out of my pocket to take the photo above. Not great quality, but it shows the beautiful dorsal fin, indicative of the species. I removed the hook and returned it to the water. The poor thing didn't move for about a minute and I thought that it was dead, but then it stopped pretending and rolled over and swam off to same spot that it was caught. It would not have been fair to catch it again, so I left the fish alone, knowing that one day, we may just meet up again.

More info:
Wikipedia (English): Greyling
Wikipedia (French): Ombre