New Gear

Well, that's the rod, reel and line ordered. After a couple of weeks of web browsing and visiting a few angling shops, I decided on the Sonik SK3 9ft 6in. 6/7 rod, Sonik SK3 cassette reel, pre-loaded with Sonik floating, intermediate and sinking lines, all for £149.99.  I chose this outfit mainly for fishing the numerous lochs and stillwaters around my area. The rod, reel and fly line have all had excellent reviews and at that price, was a bargain.
I will post a review of the rod, reel and line in the near future.

Now I need to arrange to have a couple of casting lessons - back on the internet.

TV Presenters

I've been watching and listening to fishing programmes and podcasts of various angling programmes and have come to the following conclusions.

Paul Young: A really good presenter and a good fly fisherman who comes across as a decent guy who I would gladly share a boat and have a pint with.

Matt Hayes/Mick Brown: Matt and his mate Mick present different types of angling, from coarse to fly fishing. Matt is a fair fly angler though Mick's fly casting could be better, and he admits it too. Both are really easy to watch and listen to and come over as decent guys. Again, I could share a boat and have a pint with them.

Rex Hunt: Another enthusiastic angler who is Australian, is easy going, loves his fishing and I would gladly share a boat with him. Don't know about a pint though, he looks like a pint would just be the start.

Hywel Morgan: The man can cast a bit and is an excellent presenter, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Would like to pick his brains when sharing a boat and a pint.

John Wilson: Enthusiastic, knowledgeable and jack of all trade as a fisherman. Every time he has a fish on he erupts into inane giggling and can often be seen unhooking a guests fish, showing it to the camera then returning it to the water, all without the person who caught the fish even holding it. I would gladly share a boat with the man but as soon as the giggling started, the priest would be bouncing off the back of his head.

Fly Box

Chinese Fly Boxes - Excellent value.
The photograph appears to show the box with white ridges.
The boxes are black.

I bought a couple of Fly Boxes on ebay recently. I had noticed a Chinese seller with an offer of two fly boxes for just over £5 for the pair plus postage of £1.90. I thought that if they were crap then I had only lost around £7.00 so I bought them and nine days later they arrived, well packaged, nice looking, water sealed and to my eyes, an excellent product that I would recommend, especially at the price. In fact I am going to order the two larger sized boxes he has.
One box is lined with slit foam and holds 216 flies. The other box is also lined with slit foam and is designed for lures and will hold 126 flies. Both boxes have identical dimensions and will slip into a pocket easily.

Fly Tying

Something resembling a Cormorant Lure

Before I get a rod and reel I bought a fly tying vice and hooks and materials. I browsed the internet studying all the step by step instructions and watching videos on YouTube, especially by master tier Davie McPhail (Davie makes it look so easy, the fecker) helps a lot but it doesn't stop me breaking thread, cursing pheasant tail fibresas slip from my fingers and uncoil like a bleeding spring and then having Marabou fibres floating around the room and annoying the OH.

Cursing, swearing and sheer frustration aside, I do enjoy fly tying, especially when everything goes well and what I was trying to make, almost resembles what I intended. As long as the trout don't mind taking an ugly fly then I will be happy. Tying Buzzers is enjoyable as you only need thread and one or two other materials - fairly easy but they are finished with a few coats of varnish, most popular being Sally Hansen's "Hard As Nails". You do get some strange looks in Boots when buying it.

A Bead Head Buzzer

Hackles are another problem, there are so many different kinds, from cheap Indian and Chinese capes to very expensive capes from Whiting and other companies that can run to over £80 for one.

My first time tying on a hackle I broke several and eventually ended up with a fly looking like a shuttlecock as the hackles were way too long, but that's how I learn, from my mistakes, and I make lots of them.

My Local River

Upstream from Station Road bridge

I'm lucky in that my local river the Glazert Water, is only a short walk away. It's a spate river, in that it is fairly shallow along it's full length (5 miles approx.) but it can rise rapidly and become a torrent within an hour or two. During these spates there are huge amounts of debris carried along it's length - I have spotted tree trunks, logs and branches along with Buckfast bottles, plastic bags and bottles and other assorted rubbish that should never be allowed near a river.

I remember as a boy leaning over the bridges and watching trout lying in the deeper channels, there seemed to be a lot more trout about then than there is now but that could be a result of pollution, as I remember the river being poisoned some years ago from a chemical discharge, thought to be either from a Farm or from Lennox Castle Hospital. Nowadays Lennox Castle Hospital has shut and the local Nail Work Factory has also closed, bad news for the local employment figures but good news for the local trout population.

Glazert Water near Balglass Farm

Fishing the Glazert back then was a problem as the majority of the river that I fished was lined with trees with branches hanging over the water, though there were a few clear areas of banking. The problem, in my opinion has got worse since then, with large sections of the river almost inaccessible due to trees and bushes encroaching over the water making casting nearly impossible.

I went for a walk along the riverbank from the  bridge on the Torrance road all the way upstream to Campsie Glen, making my way along the local Walkway, which roughly follows the Glazert. I was fascinated by how much the river has changed since I was a boy. Areas of stony banking from where I fished are no longer there and in places, the route of the river has altered significantly. During my walk there were no anglers on the river, sad really as it is such a lovely little river with plenty of small brown trout, wonderful scenery and a very cheap season ticket, £17.00 for 2012.

A Roe Deer photographed on the banks of the Glazert 

The Glazert Water seems to be in good nick these days, though to me, there doesn't seem to be as many trout as I remember as a lad, but I suppose that could just be my imagination. There must be a good population of fish though, as there are a large number of Heron patrolling it's length and I have seen a few beautiful Kingfishers flying past in a blur of blue and red. I have also spotted numerous Roe Deer feeding on the grassy banks and Dippers can be seen along the full length of the river, so insect life must be fine. There have been reports of Otters in the Glazert but I don't know if this has been confirmed. One animal I do know is present is the Mink as I have seen them on a couple of occasions.

New Beginnings

When I was in my mid teens to mid twenties, I used to fish my local river three or four times a week in my local river, and though the trout were small, they were plentiful and the sport was great fun.

After an absence of over thirty years, due to work, golf and other distractions, I retired early on health grounds and decided to go back to fly fishing. 

Sonik SK3 Rod and Reel Outfit.

Before buying any fishing gear I thought that it would be a good idea to learn to tie my own flies and maybe save some money.

I went on ebay to look for a vice and was shocked at some of the prices for something that only holds a hook. I eventually settled on a cheap vice from a bloke in Estonia for £15.00. The vice looks ok, holds a hook well and rotates, what does a vice at over £200 do that it can't?

When it comes to fly fishing rods and reels I have whittled it down to either a Wychwood or Sonik Rod but am leaning more towards the Sonik as I can get a good deal from the Yorkshire Game Angling shop consisting of a Sonik SK3 9ft 6in rod and SK3 Cassette Fly Reel with three spare spools all pre-loaded with floating, intermediate and sinking lines.

This outfit will be more suited for fishing lochs and stillwaters and would not be suitable for fishing my local river as the rod is a bit too long to negotiate the tree lined banks. I will buy a cheap 7ft - 8ft light rod for small stream and river fishing.

Who said fishing was a cheap hobby?