We at Eat, Sleep, Fish are big supporters of the Wild Trout Trust. Each year they hold an auction that helps raise funds for the work they do in supporting the habitat and environment in which trout can survive. ESF contributor Peter Anderson tells us how we might be able to help with a guided day on your home water in aid of a great cause.
The Wild Trout Trust is valuable to all of us. Its core work has always been to provide advice (free) to anyone with responsibility for a river or lake and to help them to improve habitat for wild trout, either through changes in management or through ‘in river’ project work. With a small team of six Conservation Officers across the UK, they deliver practical habitat improvement projects in addition to making nearly 100 Advisory Visits every year. They have extended into new initiatives such as “Trout in the Town” and “Mayfly in the Classroom”. With the growth of the Rivers Trusts, they partner with them on projects providing in depth practical river habitat experience and ‘grass roots’ volunteer involvement.
This all costs money! The main fund raising initiative is the annual auction which takes place in March and for which I am asking for donations of fishing days. At its simplest, this can be a day fishing on a river or lake with the lot winner pretty well left to his own devices. Obviously, difficult to access waters will tend to fetch more than those which are open to all but don’t let the fact that your club offers day tickets put you off from offering a day. A few years ago I donated a day on the Little River Avon in Gloucestershire. Our club charged an annual subscription of £35, we had no waiting list. The lot went for £110!
Going beyond the simple “here’s the day ticket, off you go” approach is some form of guidance. It can be as simple as meeting the winner on the day and showing him the water. It could be spending a full day with him (or her) acting as a guide and perhaps providing lunch (pub, sandwiches, nothing too fancy). But why on earth would you choose to spend a day with someone you have never met? Because it will bring its own rewards, that’s why. Over the years I have donated a number of days fishing and I’ve had winning bids on others and I’ve never had a day when I wished I hadn’t bothered! You are not expected to be a professional guide able to correct casting mistakes and able to catch fish at will. You are showing a guest the water, pointing out where you have been successful and suggesting appropriate techniques. Your guest may be inexperienced, he may actually be very good – I’ve had both. In all cases I go prepared to spend a day with the buyer, in practice after an hour or so your guest just wants to get on with things and you are “invited” to go fishing! And you know what…..you end up with a new fishing buddy. A couple of examples just from my experience:-
Jeff – a really nice chap who has twice bought auction lots from me. Firstly, a day on the Lugg where we both struggled, then a day on small Gloucestershire streams when he did rather well. Since then we have met up a couple of times to fish the Test for grayling and this year I was able to accept his very kind offer to join him for a day on his club water on the Dove. Very nice too! We will continue to fish together and have already arranged a day on the Surrey Wey for next season.
John took me on the Rye in Yorkshire. This might well be my favourite river and access is difficult so the £129 I paid I regarded as a worthwhile investment. He had booked two beats, did I want to fish together or should we split up? Would he be offended if we split up? No he wouldn’t so that’s what we did. I had a bucketful – 30 fish including some very good grayling. Maybe not 2lbs but pretty close, big by Yorkshire standards (No! Big by any standards). John struggled a bit. He was using the duo and wasn’t familiar with short nymphing. I demonstrated, he loved it. Since then he has fished with me on the Test and I have been his guest on the Rye.
So please, if you possibly can, donate a fishing day and help the Wild Trout Trust. The brains behind it is Denise Ashton and she can be contacted at dashton@wildtrout.org (or email me at peteranderson54@yahoo.co.uk). The money raised will be spent wisely!