What We Learned in 2021

One of the most rewarding elements of fly fishing is the fact that the learning process never ends. Closely linked to this is the continuous development of new techniques and new equipment, including flies. We see clear evidence of this in our own Pro Range of flies where sales of patterns introduced in the past few years now far exceed those of older traditional flies. We probably now sell more Micro Blue Flash Damsels than all the much loved - but not so much used these days - traditional wet flies such as March Browns, Invictas and Mallard & Clarets put together (which actually still work fine!).

With Christmas just around the corner now is a good time to try to pull together some of the things we've learned in the last 12 months, partly out of interest but rather more importantly because they can help us to fish more successfully in the future. Here are some of them – and they might just put a few extra fish in your net next year!

• Small can be beautiful - and successful. Catch and release is now a big feature of fishing on still-waters both large and small. Added to this is the fact that on many occasions during 2021 we have also been fishing in crystal clear water. Both these factors seem to have combined to make fish extremely wary of larger flies (and any ugly presentation issues!) Lots of customers have kept their catch rates up and outperformed those around them by dropping down to size 14s - often drab, imitative patterns such as Diawl Bachs although bright things such as Micro Blobs can be highly effective too.
• Not only will heavy tippet tend to spook the fish but these little flies won’t fish nicely on it either so be prepared to drop down in diameter/breaking strain – and a long leader with well spaced droppers (if you’re fishing them) will also pay dividends. Our preference for the (reassuringly expensive!) Grand Max Soft Plus fluorocarbon is well known.
• The success of small flies also applies to salmon fishing – a few years ago a size 12 was pretty much the smallest fly in the box whereas today 14s and 16s have become popular low water choices and we offer a good range of these tiny flies. If you fish in the summer months and don't have a few of these you should think about adding a few. An appropriate leader is important too - the defence of 15lb brown Maxima with 'but it's new this season' might raise a chuckle but perhaps not a salmon.
• Go fishing! Waiting for conditions to be perfect will mean you spend an awful lot of time waiting rather than fishing – and we’ve all had plenty of good days when conditions were bad – and vice versa! With the weird weather patterns we get these days this advice becomes increasingly important.
• If plan A isn’t working try something different. Change your location, your line, your fly – whatever it takes to get some action – the reward for not being lazy!
• Try new things. Regular customer Jamie Sandford has been doing that for the past few years, discovering just how much fun there is to be had right here on our doorstep. He's kept us up to date on his journey, from trout to carp, then a jump to saltwater – firstly targeting bass, then this summer Pollack. With summer over his attention recently turned to grayling. In his own words -