I have fished most of my life and like many anglers started by catching Perch in the local canal which as a young kid I used to love. When I moved to a village with rivers and becks close by I graduated to catching Trout with my school mates and returned to the canal for sessions with Perch and sometimes we would catch Pike which initially scared us to death.
By now I had found out how to spin and over the years I graduated to Salmon and Sea Trout fishing which I did very successfully but I still had not tried the fly as I was convinced that worming and spinning were the way to go.
This all changed not long after I started work when a colleague who was a keen fly fisher sold me a Hardy`s outfit that he had spare but I flailed and flogged away to no avail. Got the gear - no idea !
Vera and I opened a fishing tackle shop and we decided that we really had to get to grips with fly fishing in order to give sound advice to our customers. Several fisheries stocked with Rainbow Trout had just opened in the area so off we went to these fisheries. Initially we did not have a clue and just copied the casting and fishing styles of other anglers. In the main this was a bad move but is what most beginning fly anglers do today.
The rest is history, we took proper lessons, became competent fly anglers and I started instructing people on the basics as customers would ask if we knew anyone who could show them how to cast and how to fish for the Trout.
I eventually decided to become fully qualified through the Game Angling Instructors Association which I duly did and I am qualified in single handed
By now I had found out how to spin and over the years I graduated to Salmon and Sea Trout fishing which I did very successfully but I still had not tried the fly as I was convinced that worming and spinning were the way to go.
This all changed not long after I started work when a colleague who was a keen fly fisher sold me a Hardy`s outfit that he had spare but I flailed and flogged away to no avail. Got the gear - no idea !
Vera and I opened a fishing tackle shop and we decided that we really had to get to grips with fly fishing in order to give sound advice to our customers. Several fisheries stocked with Rainbow Trout had just opened in the area so off we went to these fisheries. Initially we did not have a clue and just copied the casting and fishing styles of other anglers. In the main this was a bad move but is what most beginning fly anglers do today.
The rest is history, we took proper lessons, became competent fly anglers and I started instructing people on the basics as customers would ask if we knew anyone who could show them how to cast and how to fish for the Trout.
I eventually decided to become fully qualified through the Game Angling Instructors Association which I duly did and I am qualified in single handed
