Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

willowsoverheadmakingit almost

tootight.I wasratherenvious of Max

andhisnimblelittleOrvis.

Good-sizedbrownie

Finally,betweenMaxandmethere

wassuddenlyevidenceoffish.A good-

sizedbrowniesmasheda flyupahead,

takingitselfcleanoutofthewaterin

theprocess.It gotthebloodgoing,

and with the next cast I landed my fly

exactlywherethefishhadjustbeen.

Sadlyforme,thiswasthemoment

Max’slinewenttight;a crackingfish

hadtakenhisParachuteAdamsand,

witha grinflashedacrossMax’sface.

Thefishwashavingnoneofit

and,turningdownstream,charged

towardsme,flashingthroughthepool

wheremyleapingfishhadjustbeen

andpassedmeat lightningspeed.Max

broughtit toa stopasit reachedhis

backingline.Hefoughtit hard,twice

managingtoretrieveit fromundera

submergedbranch,andaftera few

minutes,hehadit toheelandlanded.

Thedaywasnottobeformeandthe

tenkara. I wasmightilydisappointed;

I hadbeenkeentoproveBenandMax

wrong.Buttherodwillbepackedfor

thenexttripandtherearea fewlittle

riverswhereI can’twaittogiveit

anothergo.It is a simple,pureform

offishingandonethatI would

encourageeveryfishermantotry—

perhapsjustona day with a little bit

more sunshine.

ourselvestherainhadeaseda little.

TherewasonelaststretchI wanted

totrybeforewecalledit a day.I had

caughta nice2lbbrowntroutthere

a coupleofweekspreviouslyand

I knewtherewerestillsomegoodfish

there.Wecreptdownthebankto

thebottomofthepool,and

Maxslippedintothewater

aheadofme.Hewasn’t

interestedintenkara

andhadoptedfora first

outingofhis7ft3wtOrvis

SuperfineGlass.A longtippet

leadtoa ParachuteAdams,

witha pheasant’stailnymphona

dropper.Hegentlyworkedhisway

alongthepool,andaftergivinghim

a five-minuteheadstart,I followed.

Thetenkarawasmuchmore

difficult to wield here, with the

Flyfishing

“Therodwillbepackedforthe

nexttrip,andtherearea few

rivers I can’t wait to give it a go”

46 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

rifflesneatlyasI workedmyway
upstream.EachtimeI watchedthe
mayflyfloatbacktowardsme,
I raisedtherodtipuptokeepin
contactwiththeendoftheline and
asit approachedmyfeet,
I flickedtherodtipbacktothe
12 o’clockposition,and
swoosh, backto10,
stopandthenfollow
through.Perhaps
nottheperfect
technique,but
it seemedtobe
working.And
it wascertainly
a loteasierthan
theconventional
flyrod.Therewas,
however,still no sign
ofa trout.
Allthreeofuswerecold
andwetbynow,soat lunchtimewe
beata hastyretreattotheWilliam
CecilinStamfordfora bowlofhot
soupanda pint.It wasjusttheticket
andanhourorsolaterourspirits
were back up and we convinced

Thereis noreelona

tenkararod,adding

to its simplicity

Max,JamieandBen

try to read the river

Jamieuseda

mayflywitha

Hare’sEarNymph

on a dropper