The Fishing Coach

Last week I visited one of my local tackle shops, Thatcham Angling, and the first thing I saw when I entered the shop was a new centrepin reel on display. It was not a type I recognised so I picked it up and began examining it. I am very enthusiastic about centrepins and one of my many failings is I tend to fish swims that are suitable for ‘pins rather than those that hold fish. Guilt prevents me from actually counting the number I own but those of you who have met me know that I am a bit of a tackle tart and the shop owner obviously knew as well. He asked me what I thought the price was and surprise, surprise, that was the exact thought that had been preoccupying me.

My reputation at stake, I considered for a while, thinking that the reel was similar to the Lewtham Engineering Leeds reel which can be picked up on Ebay for about £60 in mint condition. The reel was quite free running, certainly free enough to trot all but the slowest rivers, much better than the reels that Shakespeare used to produce, which I always thought to be too expensive.

The reel is called Shadowlanda and is a ball bearing type centrepin, six inches in diameter which makes it larger than most, and seems to be made of some kind of pressed alloy, making it very lightweight for its size and more suitable for trotting a float on rivers for medium sized fish than margin fishing for carp.

On the back are two knobs, the black one at the top switches the ratchet on and off but the silver lever type applies an anti-reverse mechanism similar to a fixed spool reel. The reel also has another innovation - the two handles seem quite small and while this is an advantage when “batting” the reel with the fingers on the rim to achieve a fast retrieve they might be difficult to grip with cold hands when playing a fish. However, on closer examination they are telescopic in construction and when pulled out they double in size. Now that is clever and something I have never seen before!

My estimate of the price proved to be way out… I bought the reel and got change from a ten pound note. Yes, a large diameter centrepin reel for the price of three pints of casters. It is not the same high quality engineering as the Youngs reels but it does the job.

I have since discovered that that a five inch version is also available. Thatcham Angling is now out of stock but the owner assures me he will be getting some more in.

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My trip to Londonderry last month gave me a renewed enthusiasm for fly fishing but river fishing for trout in my area is ridiculously expensive and having paid a few visits to some still water fisheries in the area, I just couldn’t summon up the enthusiasm to fish one of them.

Rigorous enquiries, both in local tackle shops, amongst colleagues and on the net suggested there might be a short stretch of the river Itchen in Winchester that was free fishing and so I went on an exploration one afternoon and although I was unable to locate the stretch I had been looking for I found one length of river near the town centre where I saw another angler fly fishing. On speaking to him he told me that the river was indeed free fishing at this point and there were a couple of other stretches in the town that were free also, it turned out that he too was a qualified coach and he offered to show me where I could fish. His name was Keith Dipper and we met as arranged last Monday at his house. His front door opens onto the banks of the river and I spent a very pleasant day in his company with him acting as my gillie.

It was such a joy to be fly fishing a river again, I soon shook off the cobwebs from my casting techniques and was able to present a nymph in all but the most difficult swims. This is not an easy bit of river to fish, there is rarely room for a back cast and much of it is fast and turbulent. Add to this the fact that it is in an urban setting and I can see that it might not suit everyone. The wind was still coming from the East and was blowing predominately up stream, along with the cold spell the night before this made dry fly fishing unsuitable and any form of an insect hatch unlikely.

Keith assures me that under the right conditions it is possible to catch on the dry fly but we both chose to fish gold head nymphs. I chose a very soft actioned five weight Shakespeare fly rod that has become like an old friend over the years (nearly twenty!), it allows me to fish with a very fine point, three pounds breaking strain in this case and to use a small hook. The fly I chose was a size eighteen may fly nymph with a gold bead head fished on an nine foot tapered leader.

My guide caught the first two fish, small brown trout, before I hooked my first fish. Unfortunately it was a grayling that was out of season and the second and third fish were salmon parr and I don’t have a salmon licence. Not a good start, but my fourth fish was a small brown trout and I was as pleased as punch.

Keith showed me several stretches of the river on which there was no restriction to fishing some of which will be very suitable for winter fishing for roach and grayling, it seemed strange to be walking through shopping streets carrying a fly rod with a landing net hanging from my belt but the shoppers paid us no heed, too busy with their retail therapy.

After the tour we returned to the river near Keith’s house and I caught the best fish of the day, a brown trout of nearly two pounds that tested my light tackle to the limit aided by the very fast current. It seemed to spend as much time in the air as it did in the water and took me a few very enjoyable minutes to subdue.

A great day out - not the best day’s trout fishing but certainly the cheapest.

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