The Fishing Coach

Although I am primarily a coarse fisherman I really enjoy a spot of fly fishing for trout on a river so when I was offered a day on the river Test as a guest of Strategic Shipping by their Import Manager Roy Meincken I nearly took his arm off.

The day was planned as a thank you to their customers but many of them had obviously seen the weather forecast and cancelled at the last moment. I was honoured to be offered a vacant place. The day started with me picking up Roy and one of his directors, Mervyn Griffiths. I had volunteered to do the driving so that they could have a drink with their lunch. This was the least I could do at the prospect of fishing one of the most famous trout rivers in the world.

After an excellent breakfast at the Grosvenor Hotel in Stockbridge we drove to the river, a stretch at Kimsbridge under the control of the Tackle manufacturer Orvis. This stretch is known as the “Ginger Beer” beat because of the foam from the weir at the top of the beat.

I had fished this stretch about two years ago, again as a guest of Strategic Shipping and had many fond memories, particularly of the gillie Jim. Unfortunately he has since passed away but has been replaced by Brian who is a helpful and capable angler and soon became part of the party. Orvis supply all the tackle needed but my fly casting is such that I don’t need to be further handicapped by using an unfamilliar rod. I used my old Shakespeare Royalty fly rod (perhaps the cheapest rod ever to be used on this famous beat) and a five weight, weight forward, floating line with a four pound flourocarbon tippet.

Roy and I started off in the weir casting weighted nymphs upstream into the fast water. We used to fish together a lot but since his motorbike accident he has not been out fishing much. I soon remembered how much fun it is to fish with him as the “banter” flowed thick and fast and I hope to get him back on the bank as soon as possible. One brown trout took my nymph whilst I was talking to Roy and virtually hooked itself, causing yet more levity.

We then split up, Roy going with Brian the gillie while I tried the main river.

Brian and Roy

Out of the shelter of the bushes and trees around the weir I was faced with the full force of the wind which made casting and fly presentation very difficult. The river was quite turbid after the heavy rains of the last two days and visibilty was too limited to spot fish near the bottom. This meant that my favourite method, the “upstream nymph”, was out of the question and I was very pleased when a hatch of mayflies started. It was very difficult to present a fly on the surface without the downstream wind pulling it across the current and although I covered lots of fish I got few takes.

Whenever the wind dropped a little and I was able to present the fly without drag I got a take but the fish soon became difficult to please and the hatch changed species and was difficult to match.The picture below shows how finicky they became and the only way I could get a positive take was by dropping the chosen fly on the nose of a rising fish, not an easy task in that wind.

I ended the day with seven fish, one Rainbow and six Browns, one of which was about three and a half pounds. I apologise for the lack of pictures but I was on my own and having too much fun for photography, I even got a brief glimpse of a water vole, a very rare creature on the mink infested rivers I usually fish.

A wonderful day on a very special venue with great company and I will express my heartfelt gratitude again to Mervyn of Strategic Shipping for inviting me.

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On Sunday I went to Cottage Lane near Burghfield, a lake rented by Reading and District Angling Association to help out on a “taster day” for local kids run by Reading Angling Project and organised by my partner in TryAngling, Lee Blundell. The event was jointly funded by the Environment Agency and Westcoast.

Members of the public who are interested in their children learning about fishing had booked places in advance and a group of NFA coaches and myself were on hand to provide the coaching. Some of these coaches had travelled miles to attend this function and were paid little more than expenses.

The weather was against us from the start with a cold snap overnight and torrential rain nearly all day, only a tiny fraction of those who had booked actually turned up. I’ve fished this venue in the past but a lot of water had passed under the proverbial bridge since then (about thirty years worth but I was assured that the venue was full of fish. Lee has held courses on the lake with great sucess but on the day bites were as difficult to come by as potential students. The two lads who spent time with me left fishless only having a couple of bites each, their inexperience prevented them from reacting quick enough and after they left I struggled for one small roach.

One little girl, Holly, had more success assisted by one of the NFA coaches and the result was a small mirror carp of about five pounds. All the young people who attended were given a telescopic whip and a “goody bag” by the EA.

The expression on this child’s face was worth the soaking and the lack of sport.

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Last Saturday I had a booking to teach Simon Taylor and his two sons, Will aged 10 and Tom aged 9. I was unable to find a fourth person to complete the course but this was more than made up for by the response from my students. Simon had fished a little when he was younger and the boys were absolute beginners but so enthusiastic. The future of angling is safe if there are a few more lads like these out there.

We arranged to meet at Twynersh Fisheries Complex and I chose my favourite swim on the Match Lake (the one on your right as you enter). The boys caught forty or so fish between them and it is enough to say that Dad did not do so well.

Roach and Perch made up the catch, including one of about ten ounces caught by Will.

It was a pleasure to work with this familly and I am looking forward to doing so again. Dad might even have a one to one course to bring him up to speed.

Simon was kind enought to say in his recent email:

“Just wanted to thank you for today.The boys had a blast (and me !!).

Once again… thank you so much for your enthusiasm and patience… it was worth every penny.

I’ll be in contact soon about more courses.”

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Regular readers of this blog and website will know that a lot of my coaching involves kids (or “young people” as we’re supposed to call them nowadays!). Ideally kids should be outdoors enjoying the brief few months of decent weather our summer allows but this brings problems of its own as they are away from parental supervision and boredom can lead to mischief. As the long summer holiday for schools approaches I start to get ‘phone calls from parents keen to find out more about fishing.

I’m happiest when they ring before buying any tackle (as a regular buyer of fishing tackle myself, I can point them in the right direction and ensure that they don’t get ripped off) but it’s a pleasure to talk to a parent whose child has expressed an interest in fishing and to hear their relief when I explain how easily I can get them up and running. I provide all the tackle, bait and day tickets on my courses, all the student has to do is wear the right clothing and bring food and drink. Copious amounts of food if my students are anything to go by…

For younger children (roughly aged between 7 and 11) I’m also happy when the parent decides to learn alongside of their child because fishing is a wonderful family hobby. In this day and age some parents consider it unsafe to allow their children to fish on their own until they are 14 or 15. This may mean that the parent has to accompany the child on any fishing expedition for at least 7 or 8 years - I encourage parents to learn alongside of their children so that this 7 or 8 years can be a shared adventure.

As for fishing during the summer holidays, not only do you get to sit all day in lovely warm sunshine (or in the shade if you find a nice broad tree on the bankside) but you can take a picnic, maybe a stove for tea making and even (here’s my tip of the day), a keepnet. Not for all those fish you’re going to catch, oh no. I very rarely use a keep net because of the damage they can do to fish. First thing I do when I arrive is to put a couple of large bottles of tap water in a keep net into the water so that I have a constant supply of ice cold water. Mother nature’s very own refridgerator!

When kids come to me for fishing lessons they’re starting off on a hobby that will keep them busy all summer long and it has been shown by many studies that angling is the perfect pastime to occupy them. For example, here’s an extract from a recent Environment Agency study:

A better environment, healthier fisheries - our strategy

• It’s good for your health, with a survey showing angling gives the greatest boost to self-esteem and well-being
• It’s good for young people, as a proven and cost-effective way of tackling anti-social behaviour, educational under-achievement and youth-crime
• It’s good for the environment, with people telling us that seeing fish is one of the best indicators of a clean water environment.

Since many of my courses involve a group activity, students get to make new friends and fishing partners.

This month I started a publicity campaign in Surrey, Middlesex and Berkshire to bring my coaching activities to as many parents and schools as possible. I’ve been distributing a poster to various shops in the area - not just tackle shops but newsagents, barber shops and even supermarkets have agreed to display them, knowing that their customers include parents looking for a summer activity for their children. I’ve also put printed postcards (miniature versions of the poster below) in newsagents’ windows and I am now waiting for the results.

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On Sunday some of the coaches from All Things Piscatorial met at Steve Gray’s fishery at Shepperton for a social/fish-in.

Dave and Annie Higham came down from Oham Lakes in Lincolnshire and stayed with me for the weekend. We know each other from various PAA functions, including the Urban Escapes weekend last June.

Richard Watson came all the way from Suffolk and Jim Rice made the journey from Southampton. Steve Rowland, Steve Gray and myself are all relatively local, but you can see the commitment that this site already generates. This should serve as a good example to other coaches on the site and more importantly to the various governing bodies in coaching.

Two of Steve’s bailiffs also turned up to give support and we were visited by angling journalist and TV presenter Nigel Botherway.

Since the event was first organised we heard that Angling Projects run by Les Webber had been the victim of a burglary and had lost most of their tackle. We all have a great deal of respect for the work done by Les and his colleagues and it was decided that we would all bring some bits of tackle to donate to this worthy cause. Les arrived to pick up our donations and got involved with the discussions that followed.

I won’t give too many details here of what was discussed but neither the PAA, NFA nor Fishcoach.org came out very well.

As for the fishing, it is just as well that none of our potential customers were present as all five of the coaches who actually fished blanked. To be fair the discussions were so interesting that no one really fished seriously and there had been a severe cold snap the night before. That’s my excuse anyway and already the forum on ATP is full of other versions.

Well he said there was fish in here.

Some of the coaches not local to this area were amazed by the wild green parakeets that are abundant in these parts and after I was seen putting some chicken drum sticks on the barbeque certain allegations were made that I strongly deny. I just hope that the RSPB don’t take them seriously…

All in all it was a really worthwhile day and it was great to be able to put faces to names. Much was discuseed and I am sure all who attended came away richer for the experience. Plans were made to hold another day in September organised by Jim Rice in Hampshire.

I think I can speak for all that attended when I thank Steve for organising the day and say that I am looking forward to the next one.

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A couple of weeks ago I was asked by an aquaintance of mine, Dave Cohen, for a recommendation for a set of digital scales. Since they first became avilable for anglers I have had a couple of sets, one was useless and unreliable and the other I lost before I could give the a real trial. I always went back to my old Avon dial scales but about a year ago I bought a set of Rapala Sportsman scales on Ebay

These have proved to be very reliable and I had no hesitation in recommending them to him. Dave has no computer so asked me to find him a set.

I found him a set on Ebay from a seller I have used in the past, Roger the Pike. I ordered the sacles at about 11.30am on Monday and paid by Paypal. At 9.45 a.m. the next day I received a telephone call on my mobile from my partner telling me they had arrived. Now that is what I call service!

I was able to hand the scales to a very impressed Dave Cohen at the monthly meeting of the Molesey Anglers Curry Club that evening.

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Once again I have visited my favourite water on the Taywood A.S. ticket and fished the notorious motorway bank. I used the same tackle and methods as I did on Friday but got to the swim at about eight a.m. My experience of these vast gin clear gravel pits tells me that early morning fishing for tench is little use as they cruise all day looking for food and the trick is location.

I was surprised to find another angler on the same bank. He was using the same sort of tackle as me and not fishing for the carp for which this lake is renowned. I had a quick chat with him and he was happy for me to set up in my favourite swim just next door. It is always polite to ask - you never know, you might need him to take a photo later!

Over the next couple of hours I had three line bites, where the indicator just lifts a little and drops back. These I am sure are caused by a patrolling fish swimming into the line between the feeder and the rod tip. The chap in the next swim left about lunchtime but before he did so he threw in about a dozen large balls of groundbait thirty yards in front of him. This was just within my casting range and after he left I couldn’t resist an experimental cast into the area. It would have been rude not to!

The result was a 6lb 4oz bream heavy with spawn and would have explained the line bites I had earlier.

The hunt for the big tench continues.

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Yesterday I had my first day this year on Taywood Chertsey South lake still looking for some more big tench. I didn’t start until about two thirty in the afternoon and spent a little time at the water in reconnaissance I decided to fish one of my favourite swims on the motorway bank. I set up my two Sportex 1 1/4 lb test curve legering rods, one with a maggot feeder, the other with a semi fixed lead and hair rigged paste. Both rods were fished on buzzers with drop off indicators whilst I used a plummet on a twenty foot float rod to explore the margins. On this motorway bank the marginal shelf common to most gravel pits is about twenty feet out and drops into fifteen feet of water in some places.

My first bite came on the maggot feeder shortly after I had made about six or eight casts without a hook length to put a carpet of bait on the bottom of the drop off on the left hand side of the swim. The indicator lifted in a series of hesitant jerks but the strike met with no resistance, it was probably a line bite.

Over the next couple of hours I remained biteless so I reeled in the the paste rig rod and set up the long float rod with a sensitive waggler. Whilst I was doing this the buzzer on the maggot feeder rod went off in a long bleep as the indicator was lifted steadilly to the rod ring, again the strike was met with no resistance?

The long float rod proved to be a problem to fish with as the surrounding bushes had grown quite a lot since the last time I fished this swim. It was almost impossible to get room for a back cast and my right wrist was not yet strong enough after the sprain to flex the action of the rod for an under arm flick. I finally managed to get the float where I wanted it and fed maggots and hemp on a little and often basis.

I had already had two bites - not a bad result for this area of what is a very hard fishery and I was not expecting to see the float slide away so confidently. The result was not a big tench nor even a big bream but an eel about a pound and a half that seemed to be hooked right down it’s throat, as they always are, about four inches from its bum.

I packed up after that and went home to work on a sliding float rig that will allow me to use a managable sized rod, I may have to put a larger bore tip ring on one of my stepped up Harrisons. The reason for this is that a sliding float does just that and is stopped at the correct depth by a stop knot, tied in a separate piece of line, around the main line. Because of the depth the stop knot would be somewhere near the reel on the cast and would have to travel through most of the rod rings, the tip ring is always the one that causes the problems being the smallest. This is particulary exacerbated by the use of the heavier than usual six pound main line required for the large fish in this lake.

I will report on my progress.

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I have just found a new website that provides loads of useful information for anglers in the South East of England

Take a look when you need details of a fishery, club or tackle shop in the area, it also has some good articles and a news section.

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