Fly Fishing With Fraser

My son is doing the Spartan Race to raise money for a great cause. If you can help that would be great.

Returned home from fishing the PSUK 5 Nations which due to no team from Ireland this year it was down to just England, Scotland and Wales plus the Royal Navy& Royal Marines combined.

It was fished on the River Ayr in Scotland and it was generally quite hard with 9 of the 28 anglers failing to catch anything and the competition was abandoned on Day 2 due to the dangerous conditions due to the river rising at a rapid rate and turning chocolate colour after the first hour.

I came 5th overall and on Day 1 caught as many as the two English Teams combined with 4 good grayling and two which did not make the minimum 20 cms that can be measured and counted.

My controller and partner for the match caught nothing either day and on day 2 we decided to pack up about 11.30am because of the conditions and thought we would be first back to the meeting hut but when we arrived there were already 8 or 10 other guys that had the same idea that prudence was the better part of valour in the conditions and the organiser abandoned the match at 1pm because of the dangerous conditions and the river was still rising fast.

Wales won with Scotland A team second and England B Team 3rd.

I am off to fish a Home International on the River Ayr in Scotland on the 23rd and will be fishing the 25th & 26th June (ducking the Anniversary again - Sorry love - very understanding wife who luckily enjoys fishing too )
Albeit on this occasion I am only the reserve I am looking forward to fishing a new water and unless something unforeseen happens I should be able to have a more relaxed week not burdened by the pressure of being in the match.

Thats all for now. Tight Lines and if you are interested in taking up fly fishing please contact me at www.flyfishingwithfraser.co.uk for my website or my e-mail at [email protected] .
Cheerio for now.

Fly Fishing Instructor Discover the Joy of Fly Fishing, Fully qualified instructor and tuition course available in Essex and surrounding areas. River, lake and reservoir. Fly Tying lessons, experience days. fishing for heroes, charities, events, Hanningfield, Chigboro. Thronwood Springs

As you can see from my posts I've had a fair bit of angling activity recently.

Yesterday I was teaching at Chigboro with Ross Adams who is normally a coarse angler and wanted to try Fly Fishing.

Not the best of conditions being very hot and unfortunately the fish at Chigboro are suffering badly in the heat – no insect life seen and the fish very lethargic and many dying in the hot water.

Nevertheless, we spent the first three quarters of the day starting at 11am going through the theory regarding entomology, isothermal action in the water layers, habitats of the trout and their foods – sub-aquatic and terrestrial insects, invertebrates, worms and fry.
Fly recognition, knots for tying on flies and droppers, tackle assembly, different rigs and styles of fly fishing and of course casting.

We did have a couple of hours of fishing until 7pm but saw no trout feed and caught just rudd on a shuttlecock buzzer.

Ross still said he thoroughly enjoyed the day, learned a great deal and is buying a kit to practice his casting until the trout fishing improves when the weather turns cooler hopefully in September.

I too enjoyed the day as Ross was an intelligent and keen student who picked up the basic skills of knots, casting and retrieval methods very quickly, asked questions during the theory stages and showed practical abilities throughout.

Don't forget you can contact me anytime if you are interested in lessons. There is always something more that can be learned from spending time with a well seasoned and experienced angler, I myself am always learning about new flies being tied and used and different methods that are working on different waters and enjoy passing on my experience to all age groups.

Sunday 11th June and I was teaching Vinnie Maxfield at Great Leighs waters. Vinnie had already had one previous lesson so we were able to do a short re-cap and get onto the water to fish but again the temperature was too hot, there were no insects in the air and little sign of feeding activity plus there was a very strong wind blowing.

Vinnie had obviously been practicing since the first lesson and his casting was a delight to see having well mastered the overhand cast the single and double haul casts and was able to punch his flies into the wind a long way.

We had no great expectations of catching and indeed saw only one fish jump throughout the whole day between 11am and 7pm except for rudd and carp and in the extreme heat even they did not seem keen to eat anything.

A good reminder that a fish isn't always guaranteed, even for someone with my experience.
But if it were, it would be called catching and not fishing :-)

Tight lines everyone

On Thursday 12th June I decided to have a pleasure day fishing by myself at Great Leighs and waited until 5pm before making a start when the temperature was a little cooler.

There was a fairly strong breeze blowing onto the dam wall and there were just the odd rise from trout so I put on a very small shuttlecock buzzer to avoid any w**d and began catching quite quickly netting 5 fish through till 6.45pm and lost a couple.

Then the wind dropped and the fish stopped feeding and I only took two more before packing up at 9pm but having heard that the fishing had been very poor of late from the banks I was more than pleased with 7 fish.

Its nice to be out just for pleasure sometimes without the pressure of a competition

On 03/06/2025 I had the pleasure of representing the Anglian Region (No.5 Police Region) fishing a competition on the Lake of Menteith in Scotland at our Home Nationals.
It was very windy indeed on the first practice day the weather was too bad to allow boats out and some went for a practice at a more sheltered loch but even so one of the guys from up north fell out of his boat.
He had bought a new life-jacket that morning and it failed to inflate. Fortunately he was experienced and grabbed the side of the boat and was slowly motored to the bank by his partner. He was not a happy chappie with the life-jacket and took it back to the shop.

There had sadly been a fatality at Draycot the week before when a boat overturned a father and son, this highlights the dangers of going afloat with insufficient experience in high winds and the need to have life jackets regularly serviced and checked for expiry dates.
I asked the staff at Menteith to check mine and found it was very much out of date and immediately had the gas and firing mechanism replaced for just £25.

I urge anyone who has their own life jacket to do the same and check the expiry dates. What price a life.

It is the same when wading and following an incident two years ago when one of the team snapped his tendon behind the knee and I could not get him out of the river without the assistance of two other anglers, as Chairman of the EPFFA directed that at all EPFFA competitions all English competitors MUST wear a buoyancy aid when wading rivers and should have a wading stick.

Fishing is on the whole relatively safe sport, however you should always respect the water, respect the rules, guidance and take the advice of any water you are visiting.

Tight lines and watch for more posts to follow

Iain

Fly Fishing Instructor Discover the Joy of Fly Fishing, Fully qualified instructor and tuition course available in Essex and surrounding areas. River, lake and reservoir. Fly Tying lessons, experience days. fishing for heroes, charities, events, Hanningfield, Chigboro. Thronwood Springs

I had the pleasure of a full day lesson with Robert Longlade yesterday 19/04/25.
Previously a coarse fisherman this was his first try at flyfishing.
He did really well, there were loads of fish showing. He found dry fishing to be very exciting because if it's visual nature.

There were others fishing on the lake who had very little success that day, as a newcomer under my tuition he hooked into 5 or 6, but dry is the most difficult of the flies to master, finally hooking and putting his coarse skills to good use playing and landing in a superb rainbow trout which he took home to his wife to book her chef skills to the test 😊

Fishing here with Steve Stuart at Chigboro Trout Fisheries on Tuesday 15/04/25.
This was a full day lesson with theory in the morning, entomology, knots, types of fly and casting in the morning, then onto the lakes for the afternoon.
As usual my attentive student had success and had the joy of taking his catch home with him.

I had the pleasure of instructing Kemmel Sunday 13/04/25.
Just 15 years old, first time fly fishing, seen here with the fish he took home for dinner.

It's always nice to see someone young trying out a new sport.

Dear all,
Now is the time if you are interested in taking up fly fishing for trout as a complete beginner or if you want to improve your skills. The weather is getting warmer and the insect activity has stimulated the trout with the start of the buzzer hatches.
The beauty of fly fishing is that there is no need to burden yourself with loads of tackle as everything can be fitted into the pockets of a waistcoat or a small shoulder bag and then you are free to roam the banks and find where the fish are active.
Fly fishing is acknowledged to be therapeutic to relax the mind and body and is even being prescribed to some people. It is also acknowledged by the medical profession as a good exercise for certain conditions which have necessitated surgery to the chest especially for ladies.
Unlike other forms of angling, fly fishing is also a sport that requires thought to be successful – what flies to use, what depth, what type of retrieve, where to fish, the relevance of wind, wave action, temperature and air pressure and other factor.
On Thursday last week I won a competition at Grafham Water but only because I changed location, method and flies after catching just two fish in the first 5 hours as did my boat partner. We moved to the other end of the reservoir, I changed methods, depth and flies and ended up catching 9 fish in 75 minutes whereas my boat partner kept plugging away with a method that was not working and caught just 3 more fish compared to my nine.
Do consider taking up fly fishing, not just because I teach it but it can relieve stress, makes your brain more active and is just so much fun. If you want to take a fish to eat that’s fine or you can release what you catch and I can show you how to do so without damaging the fish.

Christmas is coming !!!!!!!!
What to buy ???
Presents to give to Friends, Relatives and Loved one can be a real headache at this time of the year especially if they have most things already but have you considered getting them or even yourself a Xmas Gift Voucher for Fly Fishing Lessons.

No previous experience is necessary as all equipment is supplied except for a stout pair of shoes or boots.

Vouchers for lessons can be purchased for novice and for improvers days and are held at Chigboro Farm Trout Fisheries near Maldon, Essex and Thornwood Springs near Epping (where there may be a small surcharge on the day due to day ticket costs).

It might be interesting to know that the number of women taking up the sport and having lessons has soared in recent years and they proven themselves to be as good if not better than many gentlemen.
I put this down to the fact that no strength is needed to cast a fly just technique and there is no need to carry lots of equipment as in other forms of angling.

If your stuck for an idea for a present please consider something unique such as fly fishing lesson. You might even want to give it a try yourself or get someone to get you a lesson.

Merry Christmas and tight lines.

www.flyfishingwithfraser.co.uk

[email protected]

Fly Fishing Instructor Discover the Joy of Fly Fishing, Fully qualified instructor and tuition course available in Essex and surrounding areas. River, lake and reservoir. Fly Tying lessons, experience days. fishing for heroes, charities, events, Hanningfield, Chigboro. Thronwood Springs