View from the hut
Might a little less conversation lead to greater success? asks Dani Morey
THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF prevarication in fly-fishing these days.
You can’t have failed to notice that as the number of fish in our rivers has fallen, the tendency to over-analyse tactics for landing one has increased in correlation. I’m sure we are all guilty of this to some degree. Admittedly, our sport can involve many decisions, but we can waste hours in front of the hut assembling kit and discussing the nuances of knots, the evolution of flies or the advantages of one rod or line over another. We lose precious fishing time when a long lunch morphs into a full-blown cross-party discussion, particularly when divisions arise. But is this procrastination wise?
With so much choice on the market, I wonder whether we’re just trying to reinvent the wheel. Take the spool of nylon in your fishing bag; that innocuous piece of kit that connects fly to line. Nylon or fluorocarbon, tippet or leader, it can provoke interminable opinions. And the shops are awash with variations, each claiming superiority. Salmon lines also now have many variables: there are old-fashioned double-tapers, modern multi-tips, scandis and skagits, but does one really catch more fish than the other? Surely it boils down to the operator behind the kit, their skill level and knowledge of the water in front of them?
You clearly need to match your casting style to the action of the rod and the weight of the line, but once you’ve found what suits you best, it shouldn’t matter how old it is or whether your fishing pal approves of your choice. Rather than jumping on the bandwagon of buying something because it is new, I think it is more important to look after what you already have and replace it only when necessary.
Where and how long you store your kit is critical, particularly spools of nylon or wet and dirty lines, which can become weathered and brittle. Get it wrong and it is not only a fish that can be lost, but also a fisherman’s cool. Remorse and regret sting. It is equally tough to watch from the bank, especially when advice is offered to seemingly deaf ears and aged or sun-damaged nylon is bitten off frayed sp
