Match Man of the Year Final
Congleton & District Fly Fishers Ltd Westlow Mere
Les Gregory presenting first prize to Paul Knight jnr
Well considering the time of year the weather was very kind to the participants this year, with a sunny day giving reasonable fishing conditions even though the cold wind would mean many fishermen fishing lures on the bottom. The Match man of the Year final is a culmination of points awarded fo r matches, which are held on the first Sunday of the month throughout the year, which anyone can enter. First position was taken by Paul Knight jnr from Widnes with a points score 90 Second place was Pete Kelly Crewe with 84 points and third was Ian Buckley Crewe with 72. Moreover, to add icing to the cake Paul’s dad, Paul Knight senior had both the largest trout on the day of 9lb 4oz and largest bag of 17lb 6oz. Our thanks go to Sonik Sports for providing first prize an SK4 fly rod, Flyshop-online.co.uk for providing second prize an Wychwood Truefly SLA fly reel and Stapeley Water Gardens Angling Centre for providing the third prize an Fly tying bag.
Fish Farming - a brief history
British Trout Farming
Prior to the 20th century most trout eaten in Europe were caught direct from the wild and the few large-scale trout hatcheries that existed were used to re-stock rivers for fishing. Until the end of the Second World War the UK's trout industry consisted of less than 20 such re-stocking farms.
In the early 1900's a Danish trout farmer developed a pioneering farm design where fresh water flowed through each fishpond radically improving fish yield and reducing disease. This breakthrough signified the beginning of the commercial trout-for-table farming industry.
A Danish entrepreneur opened the first "table trout" farm in Lincolnshire in 1950 and in the following 50 years the industry has grown to its current size of almost 360 trout farms producing around 16,000 tonnes per annum*.
While Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) is indigenous to the UK, and were the first fish farmed, the majority of today's farmers produce Rainbow Trout (Oncorhyncus mykiss) which were introduced from North America. Rainbow Trout are more tolerant of warm water than the Brown variety, grow faster and are often slightly larger in size.
Ancient Fish Farming
The artificial propagation of fish was established by the ancient Chinese who collected fish eggs by placing mats in streams or ponds and allowing the fish to spawn on them. The mats with the fertilised eggs were then removed and sold for use in ponds and flooded rice fields.
The wealthy Roman General Lucullus practised another form of fish culture in the first century BC. He dug canals from his fishponds to the sea into which freshwater streams were led. When spawning, sea-fish that need to breed in freshwater passed through the canals into his ponds and stocked them with their young. Floodgates prevented their return to the sea.
In the 14th century, a French monk, Dom Pinchon, discovered the art of artificially fertilising trout eggs and then hatching them by burying them in the sand in wooden boxes.
* Source: The Produce Studies Group, March 1999
Doveridge.
Welcome to the other Passion Clay Pigeon Shooting
Avid Clay Pigeon Shooter?
Whether you are a novice or experienced shot, we give you
clay target shooting
at its very best.
Doveridge is situated between Stoke and Derby, making us easy to get to from Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire or anywhere else in the Midlands.
Visit Doveridge and you will see that the best features of all of the top clay target shooting grounds have been condensed into a facility second to none.
Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, and formally known as Inanimate Bird Shooting, is the art of shooting at special flying targets, known as clay pigeons or clay targets, with a shotgun or any type of firearm.
Doveridge has been awarded the rank of ‘Premier Plus’ from the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA), - the highest accolade achievable thus ensuring every aspect of the facility is meticulously maintained.
Many shooting disciplines are available, and we’ve put some brief descriptions of our facilities here so you can see for yourself why we’ve earned our reputation as one of the finest and most friendly grounds in the country!
What is English Sporting?
Set in natural surroundings, Sporting layouts are designed to simulate the behaviour of game birds, therefore, many targets in this discipline will be named for the behaviour that they exhibit, i.e. Springing Teal, Quartering Pigeon etc. The targets have limitless variety in terms of height, speed and trajectory. Normally two different targets are presented at each shooting location.
What is English Skeet?
Skeet shooting originated from America, but the English version has its own unique set of rules. The targets are fired horizontally over the range from two houses of differing heights, one high and one low. There are 7 stands situated at an equal distance through a semi-circular curve, and shooters will shoot a series of targets at each stand. A typical round would normally consist of 25 targets.
What is Down The Line (DTL)?
‘Down The Line’ is the most popular Trap discipline shot in the UK. A squad consists of 5 shooters. Targets are thrown away from the shooters from a single trap, with shooters standing 16 yards behind the firing house, where they fire at the rising targets.
What is Automatic Ball Trap (ABT)?
ABT is the second most popular Trap discipline in the UK, next to Down The Line. An ABT squad consists of 6 shooters. Only one target is taken at each stand before moving to the right for the next target. Two shots are allowed at each target. There are five stands with a waiting position for the sixth shooter. ABT targets are faster and have a greater range of angles and heights than DTL. Targets are thrown away from the shooters on random trajectories from a single trap in front of the centre stand.
Gun Shop click pic.
About Veniard
Hello and welcome to the Veniard Ltd. Website. Since 1923 we have been supplying top quality fly tying materials to the world.
It all started in the early 1920’s when Mr Ernest and Frank Veniard started collecting feathers from London poultry markets for hat mounts and brooches. This in turn led to limited supplies for fly tyers. By the mid 1930’s The Veniard brothers produced there first fly Tying Catalogue. By the start of WWII the company already had a reputation for supplying top quality materials.
The late 40’s saw a big rise in the leisure industry this coupled with public access to trout fishing led to a boom period for the company. This lead to a shortage of home grown materials and forced the company to look overseas for supplies.
The 50’s 60’s saw the company continue to grow with weekly visits to the Fly tying factories of the midlands the norm.
There have been major changes since then with the arrival of synthetics, genetic hackles and specially designed tools. But through all this Veniard’s have and still remain one of the top fly tying suppliers in the world.
Beginning Fly Tying
The normal evolution a fly fisher usually includes fly tying sometime along the line. Some take up fly tying to cut the costs of all the flies they seem to leave in bushes and trees everywhere they go. Others want to try it to increase their involvement in the finer details of the sport. No matter what your reasons are, tying flies seems to be an integratal part of the whole fly fishing picture.
There have been perhaps more volumes of books and articles written on the art of fly tying than any other aspect of fly fishing. If you subscribe to any of the fly fishing magazines, you have encountered articles that included fly patterns. In fact, a few magazines are dedicated to the art of fly tying. Those magazines will enhance the information you find here and I encourage you to consider subscribing to one or two. You may also want to build your own library of books you find helpful.
This series is produced using techniques which are the basic building blocks of tying. Each subsequent fly builds on the previous flies and methods. You may wish to bookmark this page for future reference to review a previous technique.
Click the logo to see the full Course
The Angling Report March 2007 Pag. 13/14
Volume 20, Number 3 Outfiter Critiques
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Subscriber Jefferson Miler has wonderful things to say about a fishing guide he found during a trip to Italy this past fall.
He writes:
I spent the second half of October on vacation with my wife in Italy. On this trip, I discovered an excellent fly fishing opportunity and a wonderful fishing companion and guide.
Luca Castellani guides anglers on the upper reaches of the Tevere River (Tiber to you and me) and he knows his stuff. This is a recently established tailwater fishery with angling for browns and grayling. There is a lot of insect activity and hatches were happening basically all day. I caught upwards of 20 browns and a few small grayling. The trout we caught weren’t huge, but we didn’t catch any “dinks, either. The fishing was very technical and almost entirely with dries. Luca is totally dialed in to the bugs on the water and to these very selective fish. We fished a variety of small (16, 18) stonefly patterns, changing often and effectively. An 18-foot leader ending in an 8X tippet made things interesting. It’s safe to say that without Luca’s knowledge, I’d have caught maybe a couple of fish.
Luca is really fun to fish with. He speaks very good English and really enjoys putting the angler on fish. A good cast or presentation is met with a hearty “Perfecto!” This stretch of river gets a lot of pressure from the members of a nearby angler’s club. Even on a Thursday, there were a lot of people on the water. Luca is obviously regarded as the guru here and he seemed to always be able to find an open stretch of river.
|
Calendar of Events
Wanted:
Woman who can cook, clean house, take out the trash, mow the lawn, tie flies and build fishing rods, clean wild game and fish, has hunting dog and drift boat. Please send picture;
drift boat and dog.
A young man and an old man were fishing on a pier.The young man started telling the old one that the night before he caught a trout that was over 3 1/2 foot long.
The old man replied "Oh yea, well I was here 2 nights ago and I hooked something huge. After a 30 minute fight I finaly got it up and it was an old lantern and the thing was still lit."
The young man said "Your lying. I can't believe that."
Then the old man said "I'll tell you what, you knock a couple of foot off your trout and I'll blow out my lantern."
Click Logo.
The Magazine for the progressive Game Angler & Fly Tyer.
Quote from a book on Sea Trout fishing
“Brown trout give themselves up to those with skill and salmon to those with money but the sea trout is a very different fish.
To catch sea trout you need soul”.
Roger Salomonsson
A BFFI Demonstrator
Fly tying for me began already at the age of nine when I first got acquainted with the techniques of using a fly vise and marabou feathers. Another event was when my mother suggested that I should call Bengt Öste, a reknowned skilled educator and fly tier, and ask him if he would teach me the craft. I followed my mothers suggestion, looked up the number and called. The phone was picked up by Bengts wife and when I explained the reason for me calling she told me thar her husband was at home and immediatly invited me over. The invitation made me very happy and before long I was on my way over and knocking at the door. Once again i met Bengts wife who told me that i could go upstairs to where he was sitting, in his workshop tying flies. I know today that I could not have had a better tutor and it is with great gratitude and joy that I look back at those days. Bengts attitude towards fly tying affects my view of the hobby and sport still to this day - I'm simply tying flies that are meant to be used for fishing, not just for show!
Fly Fishing for Trout
...is the greatest sport in the world. On any level it is an exciting encounter with nature. On the highest level, it is a chance to match wits not against a fish, but against the power of evolution itself to hone a creature's instinct for scrutiny to masterful levels. Coaxing a selective trout into taking your fly is the most satisfying challenge in fishing.
This site is both a scientific reference to help you catch more trout while fly fishing and a photographic tribute to our trout streams.
Click the logo or Fly.
The study of insects in the aquatic realm (entomology) should be one of your main focuses as a fly fisherman. These pages are a start to help you identify the general insects you will find while fishing a stream. Flies like the Caddisflies, Stoneflies, Mayflies. Take some samples of these insects while out on the stream, river or lake. Take time while fishing just to notice and capture these insects and bugs. This will be the best time spent learning you will ever experience.
There are many interesting and unusual products available for fly tying on the market today but until now, a high percentage have only been offered by companies based out of the UK.
I have tied flies for a living for a number of years now and have always been fascinated by some of the materials available; but have also had to spend a fortune in postage costs to buy them - and wait for weeks on end sometimes for my purchases to arrive.
The Flytying Boutique has been created to gather many of these products under one roof – offering you the ability to order without high overseas postage costs and postal delays.
In the coming months, I aim to bring you more and more interesting materials but PLEASE NOTE that I have no desire to compete with the large, established flytying materials businesses such as Celtic Flycraft, Lakeland Flytying and Fly Only.
If you are shopping for “standard” materials, the companies mentioned above will offer you a superb range of high quality items for your needs.
Fly Fishing Journal
Welcome to the Fly Fishing Journal. The purpose of this site is to provide anybody who enjoys fly fishing with the ability to search and create information relating to fly fishing locations and also to record memories of your fishing trips in the journals. If you're just interested in where to fish view the fly fishing locations database.
Your fly fishing journals are marked private by default but you can open them up for public viewing if you wish. You can record comments against any location (choosing again for privacy or to go public) and you can upload an unlimited amount of photographs relating to your fishing locations or your journal entries.
Your fly fishing journals are marked private by default but you can open them up for public viewing if you wish. You can record comments against any location (choosing again for privacy or to go public) and you can upload an unlimited amount of photographs relating to your fishing locations or your journal entries.
|
