Welcome to Issue 47 | Eat, Sleep, Fish

This autumn has been fun so far. I’ve left my nymphing set up in the car and have been lucky enough to catch grayling on dries. It isn’t any sort of purist statement in any way at all it is simply there have been some good hatches of blue wings and I’ve been having fun catching fish this way. When the frosts set in then I’ll be hurling some heavy stuff instead.

It can be easy to get tied up in “my way is a harder way to catch fish” debate. Let’s face it, as fly anglers we are ALL trying a difficult way of fooling a trout, salmon, sea trout or grayling but is casting a fly to a rising fish more tricky than pitching bugs into a fast run?

I had an interesting conversation with a friend recently who, like me, will fish the technique that is appropriate for the conditions on the day but we touched on dry fly versus nymph debate. We talked about fishing dries and how important it was to present the right fly in the right place without spooking the fish but to me this was the interesting bit. If we have seen the fish rise has that made the job easier than when we fish nymphs?

If we are working our flies subsurface does this mean we are employing as much skill as the dry fly angler? The answer, in my mind, has to be yes. We aren’t fishing for a fish that has shown its position by rising so we need to use watercraft in a different way by deciding the depth we are fishing and where we feel the fish will be. During that time the skilful nymph angler will be building a picture of where they are catching fish and constantly changing the depth they are fishing and the way they are moving their flies too. This can be the difference between a cold wade in the river and catching a few fish.

To me, there is nothing like seeing a trout (or at this time of year grayling) rise, make the cast, get the drag free drift and see the fish take my fly.

Equally though, when nymphing, I like to read the river, get myself into a spot where I think a fish will be and pitch my flies into the run and when the indicator does something that isn’t uniform with the flow I strike and sometimes, not always, a fish is on. This, in my book, is just as exciting as when a fish rises to a dry.

We live in a really interesting age in fly fishing. We have rod manufacturers making superb rods, fly lines for any occasion, fly tying materials that are just plain exciting and wonderful organisations that are working hard to ensure the habitat of the fish we love so much is looked after.

To me, it is all good and I love every second of it no matter what method I am using to fish with.

Thanks to my friend and colleague Lewis for the cover shot, it is me looking for a rising grayling!

Good fishing

Pete Tyjas

Pete Tyjas is a fishing guide based in Devon, UK.

His website details are: Devon School of Fly Fishing

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