ESF talks to fishing guide Stuart Minnikin
Name: Stuart Minnikin
Where Based: Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire
Tuition Offered: River fly fishing techniques and rivercraft, stillwater bank and boat fishing techniques, fly casting (single handed), tenkara, etc.
Guiding Offered: Rivers and lakes throughout the Yorkshire Dales and hosted trips to Slovenia.
Target Species: Brown trout, grayling and rainbow trout.
Tell us about yourself: I started fishing around the age of 11. I don’t know where the urge to fish came from other than having a decent brown trout stream in the village where I grew up, which I used to fish with worms and maggots under a bubble float. It certainly didn’t come from my father who had no interest in outdoor activities. My fishing was put on hold in my teenage years with the discovery of the things that teenagers do.
When I “grew up” and settled down I rediscovered trout fishing but soon realised that all the good places were “fly fishing only” so in 1992 I enrolled on one of Simon Gawesworth’s excellent courses. I was bitten by the fly fishing bug from day one and all I did was “Eat-Sleep-Fish” in those early days. I would fall asleep thinking about fly fishing and wake up thinking about fly fishing! Working shifts as a firefighter I would fish before night shifts and all four of my off-rota days, basically serving my fly fishing apprenticeship on the rivers and lakes of the Yorkshire Dales.
I eventually realised that I could fish a bit and so entered my first river eliminator, the route to qualifying for the England Rivers Team. I qualified for the National Final at the first attempt and quite unbelievably finished 5th, gaining a place in the England Rivers Team at the first attempt (I still have to pinch myself to this day!). I fished with a great bunch of anglers in that 2004 England Rivers Team, including such greats as Howard Croston and John Tyzack, and made some very good friends. I only ever got the one England Cap, though I came close to adding to that on a few occasions at subsequent National Finals. I enjoyed the river competition scene but I’m glad I’m now out of it!
While all that was going on I began on the path to qualifying as an instructor and in 2003 qualified as a Level 2 Coach, setting up my business, Yorkshire Dales Flyfishing, early the following year. I was never going to be satisfied with just a Level 2 qualification so continued to work on my casting until in 2007 I passed at advanced instructor level (APGAI). I never expected I would get much work as an instructor/guide but in all honesty but my business took off virtually overnight and the last 12 years are just a blur!
In 2007 I was invited to join what I considered to be and still consider to be the best tackle company in the world, Hardy. Of course I humbly but proudly accepted and nearly nine years later I am still part of this great company’s ProTeam and I’m not overstating things when I say I cherish this as much as my England Cap and APGAI qualification!
With maturity I have slowly changed as an angler. Long gone are my numbers days when I was competition fishing, running between and fighting for the best pools on the river, fishing at 100mph and missing all the other reasons why we go fishing. In those days every fishing day was a practice session, head down, fishing like a machine. Now I prefer to get away from it all, fish in wild places for wild fish, sometimes enjoying being alone, other times fishing with great friends that I’ve found along my fly fishing journey. I now take my time, take in what’s going on around me, not care how many I catch (though catching fish is and always will be important - there’d be no point going fishing otherwise). While I enjoy catching big trout and big grayling it’s not the be all and end all for me; I get pleasure catching wild fish from wild places whatever size they are.
What is your angling Ethos: Fly fishing should be simple and not overcomplicated. Far too many people make it too hard and overcomplicated, which, once you have the experience, you realise doesn’t catch you anymore fish. And even if it did get you an odd extra fish who cares?!
If it’s enjoyable and doesn’t hurt the fish let them get on with it! From Blobs to bungs, Squirmy Wormies to streamers if you don’t like it or don’t want to do it then don’t do it, BUT, don’t moan about it or try to stop others doing it or using it!
I look forward to the day when fly fishing wakes up and stops stocking (polluting) rivers to make fishing easier (and that’s the only reason for it). Put the same time, effort and money into getting the habitat right and there’s no need to stock (proven).
We have some of the best trout and grayling fishing anywhere in the world in the UK yet many don’t realise what a fantastic resource we have and try to write it off and put it down. All is not rosy admitted, but it’s not lost either. Within an hour of where I live I can expect wild grayling +2lb, wild lake brown trout +6lb and wild river trout +2lb. I can fish rivers where 50+ days of smaller fish are likely, fish in city centres or relative wilderness. Not many countries could boast all that - it’s there if you want it!
Your angling influences: First up would be Simon Gawesworth. He was a brilliant instructor with an infectious enthusiasm who got me off to a perfect start. I feel lucky to have had the experience of two of his excellent courses. As I tell my clients, casting is key to being good at fly fishing, so getting this foundation was key to my further enjoyment and success.
My early fly fishing years, learning the ropes so to speak, was on stillwaters, but once I turned my attention to rivers there was only one person: Oliver Edwards. At the time he was writing for FF&FT magazine and I eagerly awaited his brilliant articles each month, tied his flies and went out practicing what he written. I managed to get in touch with him and had lessons with him on the Dales rivers, where he taught me to fish North Country Spiders how they should be fished, i.e. not swung unnaturally down and across! He invited me to join a syndicate on the River Wharfe he was part of and I had two of the most enjoyable years fly fishing I have ever had there. His book, Flytyers Masterclass, was seminal in my opinion; teaching not only how to tie his marvellous flies but also entomology - his book simplified entomology on the rainfed rivers to a degree that it was no longer daunting. Those of us that fish on rainfed rivers today owe him a great debt. He modernised river fly fishing with his foresight, intelligence and pragmatic approach. I don’t say this lightly but in my opinion Oliver Edwards is to rainfed rivers in the UK as Halford, Skues and Kite are to the Chalkstreams of the south… and he’s still going strong, still pushing the boundaries!
In the intervening years I was mostly out on my own though I have gained from the experience of spending much time with my friends Jeremy Lucas and Glyn Freeman. In recent years my good friend Paul Proctor has furthered my knowledge and experience in a way that only a great angler could do and he is truly a great angler, and by far the keenest, most enthusiastic and most complete angler I’ve ever met.
Finally I couldn’t sign off without mentioning someone who I didn’t know a few years ago but now consider him a great friend and big influence on me currently - Matt Eastham (The North Country Angler). We’ve fished together locally, in the wilderness of NW Scotland and many places in between. We’ve exchanged opinions, information, photos, flies, tackle, stories, etc, etc. Most of the successful new additions to my flybox have come from Matt’s vice or blog. I may be the ‘well known’ fly fishing guide but it is mostly a one way street: from Matt to me, so thank you Matt.