Celebrating the beautiful fellowship of fly fishing - the diary and newsletter of Justin McConville
The Wild Trout Trust's annual auction provides a lovely way to experience 'once in a lifetime' days on far off, private waters. In this year's auction, I spotted a new opportunity - a day for two on the River Stour in Dorset. Bjorn Annegarn wades in the Dorset Stour I reached for Rangeley-Wilson's defining bible and found the Stour included in the ranks of the chalkstreams, even if it came with…
I joined Bjorn Annegarn for a day's fishing on a carrier of the Itchen, in the last week of May. Such is the way with chalkstream bookings that days are reserved well in advance - especially the prime days in the mayfly period - and you take your chances not only with the hatch but also with the weather. In May, that usually means a fairly even chance of rain, and you take along a rain coat. But…
This is a report of my visit to an intimate and very private chalkstream barely outside Greater London, in the county of Hertfordshire. So private that I was asked not to say very much else about its whereabouts. I took the train, needing to travel through London at the peak of the morning commute. I hoped for a seat but when my train eased beside the platform passengers were already occupying the…
Contents : - Similarities between fishing and gardening - A secret Hertfordshire chalkstream - The Itchen in a heatwave - Fishing report from Northern Italy - An author faded from view - Carp on a fly (baiting the water with bread, you say?) - Fly fishing tuition in Sussex - News from the WTA in the Eastern Cape Highlands of South Africa You can read it here . My list of subscribers steadily…
Contents : - April fishing - Snakes alive! - Chris Bladen's bronze art - Sussex fly fishing clinic - An ode to the French Partridge - A chalkstream guide's fly tying recipe - Birthday wishes - Heron swallows a large trout! You can read it here . If you would like to receive my newsletters 'hot off the press' into your inbox, you can subscribe below. If you wish to contribute with updates and news,…
A diary of my visits to my club's section of river, somewhere in deepest, darkest Sussex. Walking along the path beside the river, the unmistakable shape of a snake caught my eye. I froze instantly, just in time. I had almost stepped on it. I don't expect to see them in Britain. Hailing from Southern Africa where the likes of mambas, cobras and puffadders lurk, I skrik at the sight of any snake,…
What a delight it is to see a river for the first time after a winter. To catch a first glimpse of the babbling waters of an old friend through branches just beginning to bud green, and assess in that expectant glance not only the turmoil of the winter-past but auguries of the season to come. I've never seen my secret Sussex stream looking so good, with almost a dash of chalkstream about it. It…
Contents : - Last minute preparations for the season in Sussex - Friends plan out the Season ahead - Nick Moody's exquisite photos of high altitude lake fishing in New Zealand - Sad news about Robin Armstrong - An 'angling free for all' and case of mistaken identity in North Wales You can read it here . If you would like to receive my newsletters 'hot off the press' into your inbox, you can…
Contents : - weather blues - reflections on the British Fly Fishing International - Graham Stevenson's art - cataloguing a fly fishing book collection - John Waller Hills and "A Summer on the Test" - Dirt Road Wild Trout Festival goes ahead - Fishing auctions - Sussex Tigers - Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro with a fly rod? You can read it here . If you would like to receive my newsletters 'hot off…
Contents : - anticipating the new season - a fly angler's perspective of carp fishing - Arthur Ransome - remembering Tony Biggs and his special fly, the RAB - a friend relocates to find a secret stream - the demise of Tom Morgan Rodsmiths - Wild Trout Trust Spring Auction - British Fly Fair International You can read it here . If you would like to receive my newsletters 'hot off the press' into…
The Risle seemed every bit the equal of England’s finest chalkstreams, so when our host offered to arrange a day’s fishing on an upstream beat, I leapt at the chance. My fascination with rivers only grows the further upstream I go. What I wasn’t expecting was a burned‑out crack‑den urban fishing experience. Bryce and Jacky talk fishing at a burned-out crack den. We began in steady rain beside a…
Ask any angler about favourite fly fishing books and Charles Ritz’s ‘A Fly Fisher’s Life’ will feature prominently. The heir of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, Charles Ritz had the luxury of being able to spend a lot of his time fishing, often in the company of famous guests like Ernest Hemingway. Ritz most enjoyed fishing the River Risle, in Normandy, and believed that if you could catch a trout from…
The upper Itchen was in fine fettle yesterday. Laser-sharp sunlight illuminated the crystalline water. Every crease and current glinted and gleamed. Expectant trout hung in the midwater as if suspended by unseen strings. Their shadows swayed rhythmically on a tapestry of chalk and verdant weed. Fins and tails dimpled the water's surface where they fed. Hidden by a bank of teeming sedge, Bjorn cast…
I recently had the pleasure of fishing the River Wye at West Wycombe Park. A chalkstream, the Wye rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows for around 10 miles until it joins the Thames. It was my first foray to the (troubled) chalkstreams north of London and quite exciting to explore a new scene. West Wycombe Park is the 18th century 'pleasure palace' of Sir Francis Dashwood. Whilst Dashwood briefly…
A tall, solitary pine tree grew beside the lake. From the sun-dappled waters beneath its branches, I caught my first trout with a fly. It was a little over thirty years ago now. The pine grew a little way from the water's edge of 'B2' dam in the Usutu Forest of Swaziland. We really ought to have been a little more creative with the name of the dam. It was a rainbow trout about a pound in weight.…
Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, returned to England a hero after defeating Napolean at Waterloo. In recognition of his service the state gifted him a large estate in north Hampshire. Wellington personally chose the site, apparently endeared by the River Loddon which flowed through the estate and surrounding woods. I have been unable to find any evidence that the Duke had an interest…
Nooitgedacht Trout Lodge nestled in the valley below It took longer than expected to drive from Swaziland to the trout belt in Mpumalanga, thanks in most part to South Africa's deteriorating roads. Vast dust clouds also played a part in slowing traffic. I don't remember South Africa being so dusty, but perhaps it was always that way. Our youngest child had woken up by the time we drove into the…
I went to Norfolk this month to fish a chalkstream. It was my first foray to the chalkstreams of East Anglia. 18 June In the theme of this season the river was bursting at the seams with water which was of the aged brandy persuasion, rather than gin or somewhere approaching a single malt whisky. I fished flat out from 10 am to 6 pm. I saw only two trout and both were in places where casting was…
If I won the lottery, it would be a coin toss between upping sticks to a village in Hampshire or Dorset. The only condition I would set is that a chalkstream would flow through or at the perimeter of this fanciful property. It wouldn't need to be a grand chalkstream or a very long stretch. All I'd really want is a place to sit long into the evening, soaking in the pleasant sounds of the waterway…
Last season was the first since I have fished the chalkstreams that I heard people complain there was too much water. In truth the abundance resulted in a pretty poor fishing season. Fewer insects seemed to hatch and when they did, the trout remained dour, holding fast to the gravel bed as if they might be blasted out to the ocean if they attempted to take a winged fly. This season has reached a…
We arrived today at our holiday cottage beside the upper reaches of the River Piddle, a chalkstream in the rustic Dorset of Thomas Hardy. Our cottage is thatched in the typical style of the county and sits in the grounds of a Tudor estate dating from the 15th century. I'll fish the Piddle 'proper' on a day later in the week, some miles downstream from here, where the river is more substantial and…
To mark the opening of each fishing season I take my family for a picnic lunch beside the same secret and free to fish river. I'm not really one for routine but I like this tradition. My family has grown by one since last year's picnic and now four arms are needed to marshall two curious boys. Of course it means that my fishing time has been reduced even further, but these trips aren't really…
A diary of my visits to my club's section of river, somewhere in deepest, darkest Sussex. Last month I received an email from Kyle, a fellow South African who'd recently made Sussex his home. Kyle wanted some ideas about where he might find trout in running water before the approaching close of the season. I delivered the bad news first. Unusually for Britain, finding river-dwelling trout in…
I had the pleasure of fishing this intimate chalkstream for the first time with Bjorn. This Dun is the tributary of the River Kennet and shouldn't be confused with the chalkstream of the same name which flows into the River Test near Mottisfont Abbey. We met on a weekday in mid September and fished the Hungerford Marsh beat, a little way upstream of the Dun's confluence with the Kennet at the town…
I had last fished with my brother, Bryce , almost nine years ago. That was on a hot Boxing day in the mountains overlooking the Lowveld of South Africa, where summer storms would hang thick in the air and wild-speckled rainbow trout thrived in a cool mountain stream. Bryce now lives in Belgium. Last year, when participating in the Wild Trout Trust's auction, I bid on a day for two fishing for…