Kris Kent looks at fly fishing clothing
I have a confession to make. I like ITV3. Reruns of Agatha Christie’s Marple and Poirot, Heartbeat, Morse, Lewis and Endeavour. When there is nothing much else on the TV they are a great way to pass an hour or two. I especially enjoy Foyle’s War, partly for the great stories, partly for Michael Kitchen’s understated acting but mainly because Detective Chief Superintendant Christopher Foyle is a fly fisherman.
Foyle's War
Every once in a while, when it’s all getting a bit too much in sunny Hastings, Foyle disappears off for an hour or two with his cane rod and silk line to try and catch the big trout under the brick bridge that spans some Sussex river. It’s a useful reminder of how much fly fisher's tackle has changed over the last eight decades and how much the clothing has changed. Foyle goes fishing in trousers and a tweedy jacket with shirt and tie. No breathable chest waders for Foyle just a pair of rubber hip waders. When the weather in Sussex is less than sunny he dons a wax jacket to keep out the rain and the wind. How things have changed.
Foyle fishing
Some people still hold on to the traditional attire. Once upon a time I lived in the Highlands of Scotland and I would fish the Blackwater above Rogie Falls. This Conon tributary is a fine salmon river but also holds a good head of wild brownies and the enlightened club that controls the fishing allows trout angling alongside salmon fishing. From time to time I would bump in to an aged gentleman who fished for the salmon, I say ‘fished’ as I mostly found him having a nap on his favourite bench overlooking his favourite pool. He was the most elegant fisherman I have ever met, decked out from tip to toe in the finest Scottish tweed, tweed breeks, tweed shooting jacket, crisply ironed shirt with a matching tweed tie. He was not wholly stuck in the past. He fished a modern carbon fibre rod and synthetic line. He said the old rods were far too heavy for him to fish even for just an hour or two at his age.
Traditional fishing attire
We are spoilt today with high tech clothing that keeps out the wind and even the heaviest rain whilst allowing our sweat to wick away, fleeces that trap warm air and keep us cosy on the bitterest of winter days, waders that allow us to wade deep for long periods of time and walk long distances without causing discomfort, boots that are comfortable and supportive and stop us ricking our ankles. But much of this clothing is somewhat utilitarian, designed for its function rather than the aesthetic. This means that today’s angler can appear somewhat generic, all grey and khaki.
So how does the modern angler cut a dash on the river bank?
Some manufacturers have recognised this issue and have started to produce clothing in more exciting colours and patterns.
Pete Tyjas cuts a dash in a vivid orange jacket
This has caused much consternation to those who think an angler should be camouflaged from head to foot.
On arriving at the river one host once asked me “are you wearing THAT shirt?” It was a dull checked shirt that I often wore when fishing. I looked at my host who was wearing nothing but dark khaki from head to foot. I quickly found a duller shirt and got changed fearful I wouldn’t be allowed to go fishing otherwise.
One way to make your mark and personalise your attire is through accessories. One acquaintance cuts quite a dash with a lanyard slung around his neck. Leather cord with various beads for decoration with a host of nippers, lotions and potions, driers and a torch hanging from it. Many anglers have given up their old dull fishing vests and adopted more technical ‘packs’. I’m a great fan of Fishpond. They produce a vast range of different technical accessories from small chest packs through to vast day sacks. Not only do they accommodate everything you need from a fly box to the kitchen sink but they also come in an array of interesting colours and fabrics, tough, hardwearing and fashionable. They are much imitated.
My Fishpond pack loaded up on the Yorkshire Derwent
When I bought my first wading boots they were brown mock leather, like every other wading boot you could buy. Even wading boots now come in trendy colours and designs. I was taken aback a couple of years ago when one fishing buddy turned up in orange wading boots. I now see that Vison make an ‘urban’ range., they would look at home on a skateboard as well as in a river.
Vison’s ‘Urban’ wading boots
A popular way to personalise your attire is through your headwear. I follow a number of anglers on Facebook and Twitter in my capacity as social media guru for The Wild Trout Trust and Grayling Society. A few years back you would mostly see people donning the ubiquitous baseball cap; they are still very popular. Lightweight, they keep the sun off your head and shade your eyes. With drop down flaps they keep the sun off your neck when wading the flats hunting bonefish or they keep your ears warm on a cold winter day.
David Southall modelling a Tenkara Bum baseball cap
They come in a dizzying array of styles and colours, some plain, some logoed. You can even get them in tweed. My old Wild Trout Trust cap was for a long time my go-to headwear. But these days you see fewer baseball caps, people are getting more adventurous, it seems to me. All sorts of hats now don people’s craniums. nitted beanies and bobbles for the colder months, Tilley hats, flat caps, berets, Tam O’ Shanters, Panamas, Stetsons, Homburgs, Pork Pies, Indiana Jones Fedoras, I even saw someone in a Deerstalker recently.
Nice new hat for Charles
Time was of course that people regularly wore hats, you never see Foyle out in Hastings without his hat; summer or winter, rain or shine. We’ve lost the habit over the last fifty years but now they are making a comeback, at least on the river. I have always been a hat fan. I have a large collection including a fur affair with drop down ear warmers that I picked up in Prague; just call me Boris. I now rarely wear my WTT cap, favouring instead a felt fedora, as popularised by Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movies. It is light, shades by ears and neck as well as my eyes, it's waterproof, it packs flat for trips abroad and brushes clean if I drop it in the mud. I’ve decorated with a few feathers I’ve found by the river: swan, heron and buzzard.
An elegant fishing hat, oh and a cracking trout
The problem with a hat is that it can attract much derision. I relentlessly tease my friend Paul regarding his choice of hat. He favours a Tilley hat which I don’t think suits his face, but because he is a stubborn bastard the more I tease the more he wears it.
Paul's hat sheltering him from the Slovenian sun
Paul Proctor attracted a lot of comments when he switched to a flat cap, so much favoured by his northern brethren. I notice he has gone back to the baseball cap now, perhaps the banter was all too much?
A hat is a very personal thing and it can be quite hurtful when people deride your choice. So I apologise to Paul for my mockery. Our hat says a lot about us. I’m not sure what my fedora says about me? Frustrated adventurer perhaps? So I encourage all you anglers out there, get yourself a hat. A hat you like and that suits you. And once you’ve chosen your hat, wear it loud and wear it proud.
Even rods are pushing the boundaries of aesthetics. All my early rods are dull greens, claret or black. Last year I bought a Redington Butterstick, it is bright yellow with orange wipings. Quite striking, if you’ll excuse the pun.
Sage MOD
This year Sage brought out the MOD range with vivid Jade blanks and updated their Click series reels with a Lime green option
Sage Click reel in lime
So when fishing we don’t have to don the dull, the grey and the khaki. There are ways to cut a dash on the river and personalise your attire without scaring the fish witless. So next time you are buying clothing or tackle why not eschew the dreary and the boring and try something a little more avant-garde?
Biography:
Kris Kent has been fly fishing and trotting for brown trout and grayling for over 20 years in the UK, Europe and Scandinavia. He is PR Officer for the Grayling Society and helps out The Wild Trout Trust with their online communications and events.