THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

7DoHoXxkA

For me Ffestiniog was

For me Ffestiniog was one such an occasion. In the first six casts from the rocks just below where water coming down the mountain entered the lake, I took five fish on a silver mepps spinner from a peg, which while it was chosen at random, couldn't have been better suited to finding early season diploid fish which running water always seems to attract. Not exactly the most auspicious start to what would evolve into quite an avid fly fishing career, but a launching pad none the less that would soon have me learning to cast, studying freshwater invertebrate biology, and travelling the country to fish many trout fisheries both large and small. This included all the big midland reservoirs, plus the gin clear chalk stream fed fisheries of Hampshire such as Dever Springs and Avington with Graeme Pullen to shoot a couple of trout fishing video's for YouTube, where I was introduced to the art of selectively stalking individual big fish. My intention here is not to explore the various facets and techniques generally of fly fishing for rainbow trout. There are many excellent books and video's out there done by real experts that will make a far better job of it than I could ever hope to do. That's not what this book is all about. My mission here is to recount specific experiences, observations, and personal opinions on a take them or leave them basis, offered as an unapologetic bout of self-indulgence, and as such, my next piece of recall involves an encounter with Birmingham angler/tackle dealer Terry Eustace, followed by an angling visit to Esthwaite near Hawkshead in Cumbria. Terry was doing a promotional talk pushing Berkley tackle which he was importing from the USA at the time. Amongst a wide variety of Berkley products handed out at the end of the presentation, I remember in particular being given two items. One was a floating fly line, which I have to say, having owned and tried pretty much all the big name brands up to that time, was the best I have ever used. You could screw it up in your hand and immediately it went straight again like soft string. It had absolutely no memory at all. Perfect for keeping a tight line rather than having a series of kinks across the water surface as is so often the case when using a figure eight retrieve. In complete contrast, the other handout goodie was a small jar of synthetically produced bright orange 'plasticine' like dough called Power Bait, which Terry made me promise I would use and report back on, otherwise I wasn't going to be allowed to take it away. Not so much with Power Bait in mind as just fancying an easy day trout fishing on the tail end of a long, cold, hard winter's cod fishing, Dave Devine and I decided to take a run up to Esthwaite, which at that time was an any method fishery where we could just laze about on a small headland next to the car, bait fishing with our little cooker producing hot brews and bacon butties. A nice relaxing day out. We were legering worm tipped off with sweetcorn popped up just off the bottom in conjunction with monkey-climber bite indicators, and very quickly, we each had our limit and were at the stage of putting fish back, when I came across the Berkley Power Bait in the bottom of my bag. Despite my earlier promises to Terry Eustace, subconsciously I think, I'd been avoiding using it. It looked ridiculous, it was artificial, and to my mind it was never going to catch fish. But, a promise is a promise. So I buried Phill Williams, nocturnal Rainbows 358

the hook inside a small ball of the stuff and out it went, then immediately found myself struggling to get the bite indicator set-up on the line wondering why it wouldn't settle down, little realising that a trout had picked up the bait within seconds of it going in. So I wound in for another cast, only to find that I was into a fish. A pattern that was to go on and on and on all day. So hectic was it in fact that other anglers were coming over to see what I was doing so right in light of their meagre efforts, which resulted in me handing out blobs of the stuff, and instantly they were into fish too. It was ridiculous. Shortly afterwards I was out on an assignment with a very famous and very capable fly angler doing a feature for Still Water Trout Magazine. It was a freezing cold bright sunny day up in the hills somewhere, where for £1 million, you honestly could not have bought a bite. Finally, in sheer desperation, we took a smear of Power Bait and rubbed it onto the fly. Not so you could see it, but enough to give it 'flavour', and had three rainbow trout out in front of the camera in no time at all. So, gob smacked by those two preliminary results, I went back up to Esthwaite to try it again, only to find that the other lads I'd given samples to had been out bought some, cleaned up, and it was now banned. Back to the fly fishing. As you might have guessed, I've tried pretty much everything there is to try on that score, which is good in the sense that it affords you the privilege of being able to objectively make mental comparisons and form firm opinions regarding favoured techniques. Phill Williams, Power Bait haul Top of my list for small waters is without doubt buzzer fishing on a nice warm overcast early summer morning or evening when the trout are mopping them up for fun. Days when you can see ripples and bulges all over the surface, then placing your buzzer smack in the middle of it all and waiting for that sudden swishing noise as the line suddenly tightens sending water droplets into the air. From confident anticipation to adrenalin pumping action in less than the blink of an eye. Amazing stuff. On the larger waters however, it has to be boat fishing doing one of three things. First off there is the general water coverage approach of drifting with the drogue out loch style fishing down the wind onto a lee shore with a team of flies, using whatever line is required on the day, actively looking for fish. An excellent none specific approach which my fishing buddy and avid competition angling friend Ian Gaskell taught me. This is closely followed by fry feeding time on Draycote with sunken fry patterns, and finally, fishing some of the calmer bays on Rutland, also at fry feeding time using a suspender minkie, again with Ian Gaskell, out in the boat. Floating minkie fishing is a bit like up-rated suspender buzzer fishing, where quiet patient anticipation again turns instantly into heart thumping action with visible takes at the surface. Finally, despite having put a lot of time, money, and effort into rainbow trout fishing, I have to ask the question, should they be here at all. I say that not as someone who would like to see them go, but rather, 359