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Imagine therefore my surprise when Al McGrory and I were on holiday in North Wales looking for Sea Trout not quite knowing what to expect, or rather, armed with little/no info on what to do/where/when or how (me not Al) when I tell you I think I may have found the one thing for me that surpasses my already passionate love for loch style fishing.

I am not sure how many of you have done this before, or intend to do it in future, but rest assured, despite a zero bag count after 5 days fishing, I learnt a great deal and thoroughly enjoyed the experience; one that will stay with me for a long time to come – invariably until at least I get back out there and try again.

I wanted to draw to your attention the intricate level of detail that’s paid attention to when river fishing for the ST.  After 3 days RECCE prior to Al’s arrival, I spoke with local anglers, spied out the local fishing/gun shop and delved into the details of the license fees and fishing permits.  It wasn’t until our first outing where we returned to a spot I had first encountered other anglers, that we came across a couple of real local boys.  These colourful chaps turned out to be some of the most helpful anglers I have ever met and one of which – two weeks away from a double total knee replacement and double hip replacement gilled us along a fair stretch of the Afon Glaslyn (River Glaslyn) – in nothing but a pair of flip-flops (which were duly discarded when we hit some rather muddy ground) showing us the best local hotspots to fish.

Donald – also known to be a man of local renown took his time to ensure that we were catered for, talked us through the best method and provided int on the locality that I would never have expected from a complete stranger.  It was with his help and advice, accompanied by a book on Successful Sea Trout fishing by Graeme Harris and Moc Morgan that Al and I learnt a few painstaking lessons on what/not to do.  It was also endearing when Donald refused to take a drink from us as thanks for spending time helping us out; the pleasure he said, was in passing on his help that he already knew was greatly appreciated.  

During our sessions, Al and I learnt how to ‘trot’ the worm down the pool, through head, neck, belly and tail and at the same time, fish the fly on the same piece of water.  Angling etiquette would have dictated that we should not cover either end of the pool on a ledgered bait and with just the two of us left alone to fish each spot it was clear to see and learn how to move during both daylight and without sound or light at night.  During the sessions, we learnt to balance the weight/flow accordingly and to adjust for depth/underwater obstacles.  Al’s collection of fishing equipment now contains bubble weights, ledger’s, shot and worms!  We learnt through trial and error how to check our bait when you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.  Cast after cast, down, test, adjust for each and every piece of equipment; repetitive? No – careful planning and fishing that can easily be replicated on the loch.  It is this attention to detail that adds new value to fishing for me.

A great deal of our fishing took place at night, having RECCE’d our river carefully, and knowing the lay of the land, the direction of the flow, the time to trot from head through the tail of the pool in daylight hours proved invaluable.  This gave us the opportunity to immediately know the cast/count required to reach a given point on the pool during the dark.  We fished river and lake (Llyn Dinas) during the week and learnt that not every take was going to be savage.

It just so happened that by the time we had figured out what we considered to be eel nips, the ST had already passed us by.  During the week we bought rod and line. reels and bait, waits and bubbles, flies and spinners.  A whole ensemble of fishing equipment now adorns my already growing collection but for such little cost.  I was amazed at how cheap this gear actually cost and would encourage any potential ST anglers to check it out for themselves.  A IN2 Spinner/Bank rod cost £22.00, with the real/line coming in at a hefty £11.95!!

If there are any other anglers that are interested, we hope to travel to South Wales next month for a Long W/E during some of the last runs of the season and are open to additional advice or maybe even company.  I have yet to snare one of the little spotted fella’s but hold my first catch in great anticipation.

Photo’s of our trip will be on the Pics Page later tonight
]]> Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:25:16 Andy Draper http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1280881316/ http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1280881316/#num1
Andy, Rob and myself fished the English Rivers Final on the Dee this week.

I made the England team with a 5th place finish and am still in a state of disbelief!

I managed this because of the solid practice that Andy and I had put in over the previous weeks.
I'd like to thank Andy, it was a fantastic team effort that got one of us in, i'm lucky it was me.

Andy finished 14th, including a session win, Rob enjoyed his great learning experience.]]> Wed, 4 Aug 2010 01:21:56 Graham L http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1271276622/ http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1271276622/#num1 ]]> Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:23:42 Paul Lee http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1266747010/ http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1266747010/#num1
]]> Sun, 21 Feb 2010 10:10:10 Lindsay http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1266578853/ http://soldierpalmers.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1266578853/#num1 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:27:33 woodbine