Sometimes it can be quite daunting starting out with any new hobby as you often don’t know where to start. But when it comes to fly fishing there are many aspects to consider. You’ve seen the programmes on TV, watched the other anglers at the river/lake and fancy giving it a go! But what fly fishing kit do you need? What fly fishing clothing do you need? And the flies? There are so very many to choose from! Then factor in famous fly fishing ‘bravado’ (which can be a little nerve-racking to some) because every fly angler is an expert and only their flies are the best! Put this lot together and you’ve a recipe for a potentially over-whelming situation for a beginner. So what do you do? Fortunately there are plenty of avenues open to you. The first one being the fact that despite the bravado mentioned earlier, there is a wealth of incredibly kind and generous fly anglers out there who are desperate to share their hobby with a beginner and will do so with gusto. So tap your fly fishing friends or relatives for some tips. To avoid getting into any self taught bad habits, it is [...]
Fly Fishing Flies
Inspirational fly fishing story
This kind and inspirational Essential Fly customer shared this wonderful story with us and has given us permission to share it with you. These are her exact words – we hope you enjoy it. Im a single parent with one little boy, I cant do many sporting activities with him so at 41 years of age I learnt to fish and Ive never looked back Ive had some very very memorable days, not always because the fish were big or even just because they were beautifull but for a selection of other reasons. The one I will never forget until the day I pop my clogs goes like this. It wasnt just a day it took me months to prepare for this one. Small child, minimal fishing experience but loved it, 10 tears old watching Matt Hayes on telly catching big trout on the fly. Says to his mother “Id really love to do that Mum it looks awesome” (fatal words) Took him for a couple of casting lessons, took him fly fishing, easy to catch lakes and he’s started catching, take him to harder to catch lakes – and he starts catching, make him fish the Brennig- he catches, [...]
Salmon – an understanding of different types of salmon for our fly fishing knowledge
What is a Salmon? The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is an anadromous migratory fish found in the temperate and arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike the Pacific salmon that have complex and varied life histories that vary widely within and between species, the Atlantic Salmon have very similar life histories and are capable of surviving spawning and re-migrate to return again. Pacific salmon migrate from freshwater to the sea at different ages. Pink and Chum Salmon migrate at any time from one week to a month, Chinooks from 12 to 16 months, Coho Salmon from 12 to 24 months and Sockeye from 12 to 36 months. What does anadromous mean? The Atlantic salmon is referred to as being anadromous because of its habit of migrating from the sea into fresh waters to spawn. This is the exact opposite of the common eel which leaves fresh waters to spawn in the Sargasso Sea, and is therefore called catadromous. Is there just one species of salmon? When we speak of “salmon” we are referring to either Atlantic salmon or Pacific salmon. There is only one species of Atlantic salmon: Salmo salar. There are six species of Pacific salmon: pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), [...]
New Buzzer Fly Fishing Mobile App Released
We have today released our mobile app for Android phones to help you with Buzzer / Chironomid Fly Fishing. The app is downloadable from the Android Marketplace directly on your mobile phone. With details on midges life-cycle,different types of buzzer flies a variety of buzzer rigs and how to fish them plus other tips and techniques. The Mobile Fly Fishing App is available for purchase for just £2.99 and includes a special 15% discount voucher for your next puchase so you should end up with the Application costing nothing if you use the voucher wisely! This is the first dedicated App for buzzer fishing we have released and have more in the pipeline. We are intending for our apps to be released for both iPhone and Android markets.
Emerging Emperor Dragonfly Video and Photo’s
On Friday Sandy Dickson and Andy went to Knaresborough to the local trout lake for a spot of relaxation from the busy world at The Essential Fly. While there Sandy spotted this beautiful Emperor dragonfly that had just emerged. We took photo’s and video of this beautiful dragonfly as it pumped blood into its’ wings and then flew off. This is HD quality video and can be seen below or on our Facebook pages for fly fishing. Dragon fly nymphs or damsel nymphs play an important part in the trout fly fishing fisherman’s hobby. Although we see a few of these superb damsels / dragonflies darting about the lakes we often do not appreciate that trout feast on damsel nymphs in the lake and trout flies imitating this are an important part of the fly fishing armoury. Emperor Dragonfly Emerging More Abut The Dragonfly A dragonfly is an insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera. It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body. Dragonflies are similar to damselflies, but the adults can be differentiated by the fact that the wings of [...]
Salmon Fishing Fly Selection
So you are going salmon fly fishing, what a superb sport but the problem is what salmon flies do you use? Well it is not like a trout where we can see them rising to flies and eating from the surface, with salmon we are triggering the predatory instinct as they cannot eat once they enter fresh water. If you speak to Finnish fly fishermen they use small sparsely dressed flies quite often traditional patterns like Hairy Mary salmon fly, Willie Gunn tube fly, Stoats Tail green butt known in USA as Black Bear green butt, or a Blue Charm salmon fly. Speak to a Norwegian they more modern hairwing salmn flies like Monkey tube flies and Sunray Shadow tube flies talk to a Scot and you will get yet another answer. These are the same salmon species yet everyone fishes for them with different flies. Flies like Ally Gowans Allys Shrimp range have proved to be superb for Atlantic salmon from Scotland to Iceland and as far as Russia. So what salmon fly do you choose when you go salmon fly fishing? Well there is no magic answer, without doubt modern hairwing flies create stunning movement and account for an [...]
First River Fishing Trip Of 2011
Managed to get my first river fishing trip of the season on the River Nidd at Hampsthwaite in the Knaresborough Anglers water yesterday after a toe operation delayed my first river trip of the season. However the weather was beautiful little cloud in the sky with temperature topping 20C, with my daughter wedding dress shopping it seemed an ideal time to get out and hit the brownies! The water was low and little was seen all day in the way of rises yet there were midges and olives on the water all day. The olives looked superb dancing around and there was a constant stream of olives, wings & shucks and midges coming downstream almost all day. With so little natural rises I opted to fish Straggle Pheasant Tail Nymphs tied using a pheasant tail nymph that uses Straggle String which is an ultra fine fritz designed specifically for nymphs and thoraxes with its ultra fine core is just adds that extra edge to many patterns. With Straggle String on the thorax on a size 20 hook, it is really “buggy” and extremely delicate fly. What a day! the shallows had little productivity, the trout really still around the pools, [...]
Czech Nymphing – The Essential Technique
During 1990 World Fly Fishing Championships the The Style of Czech nymphing was introduced in the UK. The Czech team beat the UK International teams at the Welsh River Dee catching grayling in numbers from places that were thought impossibly deep & fast previously. Czech nymphingsent shockwaves throughout the world of fly fishing. The technique is today now considered an essential part of every grayling anglers armoury………………….
