Pioneer Flyfishing - Newsletter 2007 - Wilderness Flyfishing
From Jeremy Lucas
What a fantastic year it has been. The Eden has been spectacular, the best I have experienced in my 25 years fishing this system. After a slow, quiet winter, the spring fishing developed steadily, interrupted by floods a few times, but quickly recovering until by summer and into high summer, with good water flows, the fishing for both trout and grayling was simply outstanding. I thought this could not be beaten until autumn gave even better fishing, with large numbers of wild trout almost everywhere we visited, and big grayling (as well as earlier year group fish) very high up the system. This is hugely encouraging: obviously the good, steady rain diluted the normal agricultural pollutants and both the invertebrate and fish populations recovered and thrived. Some of my friends and guests of Wilderness Flyfishing had wonderful sport. I will never forget Lawrence Greasley hooking, and unfortunately losing, a monster trout on the Appleby Water (we think this was a fish in excess of four pounds), or Steve Rhodes with his three pound grayling (which we did net and photograph) off a private stretch of the Eamont we use. Both these fish were bigger than anything I personally managed through the year off Eden, but I did catch wild browns to almost three pounds, and about a dozen grayling over the 40cm mark. I spent a lot of time this year away from the more popular areas of the river - which is largely the PenrithAA water. What I found on the Appleby Water, the upper river and the feeder becks and tributaries was probably the best wild trout fishing I have ever found in England. I look forward to sharing some of this with you next year.
Virtually everywhere we visited provided good fishing through 2007, with the San River in Poland being even more spectacular than Eden. It is a matter of scale, of course. The San is colossal, and drains pristine national park and forested mountains, and there is very little agriculture in the San River basin. We had thought up until this year, that the river below Miczkowce dam, the legendary No Kill sector, could not be beaten for trout and grayling populations, and the quality of its fishing, but this year we were proved wrong in several locations away downstream. I was simply brought to my knees when I discovered, after quite a lot of research and ‘lone hunting’, an area of the San I regard as absolute wilderness water. When I took Wojtek there – and he really knows the San – even he was surprised and suggested that most this water had never, ever been fished before. It is a little difficult to access, and it is very wild country; but I will certainly be introducing several of you to this area of the river, which is enormous and could keep any flyfisher happy for the whole season! Once you’ve fished here, it will be difficult to drag you away. While I think of it, in the vein of large fish, Denise Oxberry on the San way downstream at Dobra, below our usual haunts, did rise and prick a trout of taimen proportions, on a damsel fly. I was guiding Denise at the time, and we had seen big trout slashing at adult damsels on the edge of a weed bed. We waded in and found a good angle on one of these fish. Denise cast, gradually working towards the fish and when her fly landed in the target area, sure enough a vast trout appeared and snatched her fly away. I nearly screamed when she failed to hook this monster. Frankly, I doubt if she would have netted it: it was just too big. All our groups and individuals on San had wonderful trips. Wojtek and I embarked on the development of 157 Lukawica, to make it into our main guest lodge, Riverside, by extending upwards onto two new floors with balconies overlooking the garden and river. It will be a lovely house when finished (next April) with a summer house high on the bank above the river where we can watch the grayling rising in the evenings. This is one of my special places in this world, and I hope you come over to share it with us.
In August I went to Norway for the European Flyfishing Championships. What a trip of contrasts this proved to be; amidst the most spectacular scenery on the planet, with some of the most exciting wild brown trout fishing (cricket-score catches). We had a wonderful team out there, probably the best with which I have ever had the privilege of earning an England team cap. But it was endurance for me, and it drained me completely. I had already had a busy summer, as most of your will know, and I have now fished a lot of internationals. I really thought this would be my last. It was particularly punishing for most of us. Iain Barr (Barny), sailed through it, of course (though I think even he was tired by the end), and took the individual silver to his eternal credit, for the outstanding, world class angler he is, while the rest of us - Mike Tinnion (the Rock), Simon Kidd (Billy), Stuart Crofts (Skips), Vince Brooks (Milly) and myself (Scarecrow) – we simply put absolutely everything into this championship campaign and were so proud to come out of it with the team silver medal. I think we fished and competed so very well as a team, lead by our outstanding Team Manager, Paul Page. I am still staggered by the wonderful outcome and am completely delighted that I have been selected to fish for England again in the 2008 Europeans, to be fished in Cantabria, northern Spain, along with Skips and Barny, and former team mates John Tyzack (JT), Dave Parker and Tony Curtis (both of who’s nicknames are not printed here to save them embarrassment). Spain: boys, we’ve set the standard high now. I’m so proud to be there with you.
I have done quite a lot with the Game Angling Instructors Association (GAIA) this year - my certificate in fly dressing in March and my APGAI (Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor), on the second attempt, in October. This was rather hard work for me (but not as tough as Norway!). As so much of my time now involves guiding people, I thought that I should gain more qualification (or, as the modern parlance has it – professional development) than the Level II CCA from the Salmon & Trout Association and a GAIC in trout discipline. I can thoroughly recommend prospective guides and instructors out there to go through the GAIA route. There really is no alternative (in spite of what you might hear) if you want recognition nationally with a qualification(s) that has been properly, professionally assessed. I will certainly be continuing my own guiding work via the auspices of the GAIA structure, as will most of the guides I know. One thing I would say: if you are seeking a future involving more professional fly fishing work, or simply to improve as a flyfisher/caster, then find a mentor (who can be found local to you on the GAIA website). Gwilym Hughes, my friend and old Welsh Team adversary, was my mentor, and without him my gaining of APGAI would have been a much longer process.
Our tarn up in the Howgill Fells was a constant delight to Jennie and me this year, as always. We have stocked this little lake only twice: once in 2002 and then again last year, both times with about 30 rainbow trout of between 6oz and 16oz. These fish have supplemented the completely wild head of brown trout. The invertebrate populations of various species are strong; gammarus shrimps and damsel flies, as well as many others, and the growth of the fish is fairly rapid. Brown trout to over three pounds in weight were caught this year, and more than 20 rainbows in excess of three pounds, with a best that was certainly heavier than seven pounds. The latter was the most beautiful rainbow trout Jennie and I have ever seen, not excluding British Columbian wild rainbows and steelhead. This is a place where nature is master, and management is minimal, consisting only of those two stockings, to date, and a bit of weeding and planting (with hardwood saplings), and ensuring that any farm stock is kept completely at bay. It is a tiny, nature reserve actually, the home of snipe and other wild fowl in their season. Some of you have come up there with me to share a little bit of this space, in its way as special to me as Eden or San River. I have arranged with Ian Riddell of Bessy Beck Trout Farm and Fishery to stock the tarn next March with a small number of little rainbows, to keep the population spread across the entire age range of rainbow trout, and to supplement the big rainbows and wild browns. I look forward to sharing a few more stolen moments here next year, and to introducing just a few more of you to this special place.
Wojtek, Jennie and I are currently extending the scope of Pioneer Flyfishing to take in new destinations. Our aim from the outset was to have the San River as the core of this enterprise, but to explore into other beautiful locations which offer outstanding fishing, principally for trout and grayling, which are not already established (and usually over-priced) fly fishing destinations. Next year we will be taking guests to the great Dunajec River in southern Poland and Borne Lake in the wilderness of the northern Polish forests. We are also arranging a group visit to the Sunnfjord region of western Norway, where we had the European Championships this year. You can have a glimpse of these destinations if you look at the Pioneer website. We are also currently investigating the fishing in the extreme south-eastern countries of Europe; Romania, Bulgaria and Bosnia, and hope to be getting down there next summer.
I have joined the Fish & Fly team and am writing a regular series, Flyfishing on the Frontier. Fish & Fly is where you can find up to the minute features, information and news online. This is an excellent and modern means of communication within our sport and I encourage everyone to have a look at this. Take a look at www.fishandfly.com.
Thanks for your company in 2007, have a great Christmas, and I look forward to spending time with you in 2008!
For full details and to contact Jeremy please see www.pioneerflyfishing.co.uk and www.wilderness-flyfishing.co.uk