It seems that we are in a constant state of worry about the number of young anglers joining the fly fishing ranks but when you scratch a little harder you'll find them and John Boon is a perfect example. He lives for fishing and is also one of the youngest instructors in the industry
Fishing has been my passion since the age of 15. We had a holiday home in Anglesey and my first introduction to the sport was catching Ballan wrasse under a float of the precarious rocks that seem to cover the Island. Rag worm was always my bait of choice; despite the nasty pincers. I didn’t know what I was doing but I loved it, I would spend all day on the rocks for the two-week holiday, only leaving when the light started to fade. It was magical and it got me through what was a rough patch in my life giving me something to look forward to. Soon though the attraction of fly fishing took hold, and I had my first lessons with Gary Coxon. The memories of those lessons is still extremely vivid in my mind, and still get the same feeling today picking up a fly rod as I did back then. I learnt how to fish on the local stillwaters, and as the years went by I started fishing more and more and broadened my horizons with the waters I fished and the fish I targeted. I knew straight away after those first lessons that the ultimate goal for me was to become qualified and become a guide. So at the age of 18 started to pursue the qualifications I dreamed of through GAIA thanks to the help of Louis Noble, Roger Miles, and Leslie Holmes, as well as countless others too numerous to mention, I managed to achieve both APGAI awards and the IFFF awards by the age of 21.
I had achieved what I wanted, but that wasn’t enough, I wanted to give back the knowledge I had gained and pass it on to others. That's where the guiding and teaching comes in, which I have been doing on the Welsh Dee for five years or so. I love helping others with their fishing and casting, it is the ultimate buzz for me watching a student progress, or learning a new technique they believed they could never learn.
Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to guide in Slovenia for the past two seasons thanks to Kevin Smith from sloveniaflyfishing.com, who with his wife Rosalie runs a great lodge with the help of their son Francis and his wife Katrina. If you want to explore the rivers of Slovenia, along with great hospitality I would thoroughly recommend staying with them.
Over the two years in Slovenia there where some brilliant moments but it wasn’t all a walk in the park. The difficulty with guiding is when the is no water or too much, and trying to find a place for the guests to fish can be fairly stressful. Having said this, I love being out on the water and the positives far outweigh the very few negatives. I would like to share a story with you that happened during my first season guiding in Slovenia.
It was the first week, and I was guiding Michael from Ireland. It was Michael's first time fishing rivers, though he is a hugely experienced lough angler as you would expect being from that part of the world. We were fishing the River Trebusica, a small tributary of the infamous Idrica. It is a tough little river, and stalking fish is key, but it is the most beautiful river I have ever laid eyes on. After fishing a few pools and catching some nice rainbow trout, Michael left for the day and I headed back to the river and fished with the fly that had already done the damage; a Stimulator. This fly can work wonders for bringing fish up to the surface that aren’t feeding. I cast it along a likely looking rock ledge. Bang! I struck and a small rainbow trout was struggling frantically on the end of the line. Then something happened I wasn’t quite expecting.
A huge marble trout shot out from under the ledge and was in hot pursuit of the rainbow. The rainbow tried to beach itself as the marble got within inches of it. Fortunately for the rainbow with the fish only being a couple of feet away, it saw me, and with one large boil at the rainbow it dually flicked its paddle- like tail and went back into its lair. I unhooked the rainbow which was in complete shock, but not as much as I was. I had never seen that before with trout, and only witnessed it a couple of times with pike. After releasing the fish I beefed up the leader and put the largest steamer I had on the line. My hands were shaking. I cast under the rock but nothing; this fish wasn’t going to show itself again, but to be honest that didn’t matter, the thrill of catching wouldn’t have been nearly as special as what I had just witnessed. This was nature at its finest, the predator and the prey. I don’t know how big the fish was but it was certainly over 10lb, a truly magnificent creature, and I can only hope that one day I will see that again.
More from John HERE
I'm thrilled John is swapping Slovenia for Devon this year and is guiding with me this season. I'm really looking forward to it!