fly fishing

Five New Fishy Quotes and Sayings

More mind fertiliser from the pens of the true tellers of fishing tales.

“How to become a millionaire by fishing? Start out as a billionaire.” #1336

“Chris Yates is an angling legend who presented A Passion for Angling, which celebrates its 20th anniversary next month. It is still considered the best-ever television programme about fishing. Part of the problem with extreme fishing shows is the nature of modern television, thinks Yates. “They are tearing apart whatever the beauty of the subject is and showing one populist image,” he says. His series took four-and-a-half years to film. “No one in their right mind would make a TV film about fishing. I was insane to agree to do it. Fishing doesnā€™t translate into TV, unless you can somehow convey the sense of tranquility and mystery, as [A Passion for Anglingā€™s filmmaker] Hugh Miles managed to do. Thereā€™s this mystery about why you are doing it and thereā€™s this unknown world happening below the surface of the water, and your line is connecting you to it.” #1337

“There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind.” #1338

“Because fly lines are wild snakes that need to be tamed…” #1339

“People get the Politicians and fishing tackle they deserve.” #1340

See all the quotes on fishing here

Posted by Tony Bishop

Five New Fishing Quotes and Sayings

And each day, month and year the bottle waste grows at an increasing rate.

ā€œBottled water companies donā€™t produce water: they produce plastic bottles.ā€ #1331

ā€œIf, as I suspect, trout fishing is something of a disease, then it is also something of a therapy in itself.ā€ #1332

ā€œFishing Tournaments seem a little like playing tennis with living balls.ā€ #1333

ā€œThe biggest lie I tell myself is I am just going to run into the tackle shop and grab one thing! ā€ #1334

ā€œHow to become a millionaire by fishing ā€¦ start out as a billionaire.ā€ #1335

See more details on the new quotes and all 1335 quotes here.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing quotes, fly fishing

Five New Fishing Quotes and Sayings

Five new fishing quotes bring the total up to 1325.

“Strange: when working I think about fishing, when fishing I donā€™t think about working.” # 1321

“The fishing was so bad even liars didnā€™t catch anything.” #1322

“I may seem quiet and reserved to you, but if you mess with me while Iā€™m fishing, I will break out a level of crazy that will make your nightmares seem like a happy place.” # 1323

“What do the little fishes do that make the most truthful men untrue?” #1324

“You know when they have a fishing show on TV? They catch the fish and then let it go. They donā€™t want to eat the fish; they just want to make it late for something.” # 1325

See them all here.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing humour, fishing quotes, weird fishy stuff

Five New Fishy Quotes and Sayings

More musings on fishing and fishermen.

ā€œThe first principle in all fishing is simple: never let the fish know heā€™s being fished for.ā€  #1271

ā€œThe whole notion of trout fishing would not be so romantic if the trout did not win, too.ā€  #1272

ā€œIā€™ve never had all the flies I wanted, probably never will, and couldnā€™t carry them all if I did.ā€ #1273

ā€œMost fly patterns should be works in progress.ā€ – Lou Tabory #1274

ā€œConfidence is the best lure in your tackle box.ā€ #1275

ā€“ see all the quotes here

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing quotes

Doubters Strike Back at ‘Grip and Killā€™ Article

Trout dying to get a good photo?

My Grip and Kill (GAK) article received a huge amount of support from the fishing community. Links to the article reached many hundreds and is still growing. Many outtakes from the article were, and are still, being published by a large number of sites, big and small. The article has been published, (by permission), in a great many fishing club newsletters, etc.

The GAK page blew my site bandwidth cap out the window, and if it were not for a friend in the business mirroring the page, I would have had to shut the site down for a while. Even today, the page receives over 200 – 250 unique visits, every day.

But of course, being on the Internet, GAK attracted a significant group of nay-sayers and doubters.

So, I have written answers to the more rational doubts, and this is in the sidebar of the original article.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing how-to, Fresh water how-to, trout information

Five New Fishing Quotations And Sayings – 23 May 2015

Five more fishing quotations and sayings hooked out of the river of words devoted to the sport we love. Total quotes now 1245, see them all here.

“Everybody should be quiet near a little stream and listen.” (1241)

“Everyone gets hung up in trees or stream-side brush.  Everyone.  Fly fishers who tell you different are either lying or never fish in those tricky places where the best fish lurk.” – Tom Rosenbauer (1242)

“Iā€™d still consider them my favorite angling destinations. Elements contributing to a quality location are highly personal but, for me, mountains and wildness are essential. I like areas where humans vie with wolves and grizzlies for apex predator status. Places where logging hasnā€™t beaten back nature, where urbanity is nonexistent, and where rivers flow only through rocks, not concrete dams.” – Photographer Adam Tavender (1243)

“Even if you canā€™t cast very far, you can still catch a lot of fish, writes Chad Shmukler. ā€œThe anglers on the stream that arenā€™t throwing line farther than they need to are often the ones catching the most fish.ā€” – Chad Shmukler In a recent article on Hatch Magazine (1244)

“It is just as well to remember that angling is only a recreation, not a profession.  We usually find that men of the greatest experience are the most liberal and least dogmatic.” – Theodore Gordon (1245)

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing quotes, fly fishing, Life & Stuff

Nymphing: Get Even More Hook-ups

Hatch Magazine has a nice little article on allowing the nymph to swing at the end of a drift before picking it up for a re-cast. It is a tactic I have used for many years and have had great success with it.

ā€œā€¦The beginner nymph fisherman dutifully focuses on drag, drifting the fly through the water as long as he or she can prevent drag from setting in by mending the line, following the fly with the rod tip and so on. Once that battle is lost, and the fly starts to drag, most anglers will immediately lift the rod and recast. Instead, try this: once drag sets in, let the fly continue to drift downstream while stopping the line, allowing it to come tight. The nymph will swing aroundā€¦ā€

Really worthwhile read.

Last second thought: Using nymphs with soft hackles (flymphs) or rubber legs  makes this technique even more successful.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing, fly fishing how-to, fly fishing tips

Securely handling trout without causing stress or damage

An article I did on ā€˜Grip and Killā€™. how not to hold a fish for photographs went mini viral. Got me thinking that one thing I left out of that piece was how to hold a fish by the tail securely but without damage to the fish.

Well there is already a fantastic article on my site by Tony Entwistle that explains just how to get a good grip on a fishā€™s tail. It is important because a good tail grip means the pectoral area does not have to be held in a vice like grip.

And here it is:

 Securely handling trout without causing stress or damage

One of New Zealandā€™s best known guides, Tony Entwhistle, writing in the New Zealand Fish & Game Magazine, has one of the best descriptions I have read on the proper handling of a trout.

ā€œSecurely handling a trout without causing stress or damage is a matter of a gentle touch, not a tight grip.

To pacify a landed trout, simply place a hand vertically in front of its nose to prevent it  from swimming  forward and fold the palm to cover both eyes. This acts as a mask and immediately calms it down. Trout relax quickly when their eyes are covered.

Next grasp the fishā€™s tail with the other hand, without excessive force. Some anglers use a piece of stocking for grip, but with good technique this isnā€™t necessary. Securing a trout needs only gentle pressure between the thumb and forefinger, applied directly over the base of the tail, applied where it joins the body (hypural joint).

Apply pressure top and bottom through the first joints of the forefinger and thumb, rather than along the sides. The mistake is grasping the tail too far forward and using too much hand in doing so. Squeezing hard does not help as the fish slips more easily.

Now test the grip by lifting the fish slightly by the tail, keeping the other hand over the eyes for the moment. If the grip is secure the trout will not slip, but if it does resist grabbing at it with both hands. By quickly slipping a hand in front of the nose, and covering the eyes again, a lot more fish will be saved from premature release.

With a positive grip on the tail it is now possible to begin lifting the trout safely for a photograph or release.

Avoid squeezing the fish around the soft belly area behind the pectoral fins because this causes discomfort and can potentially cause serious damage to internal organs. Instead slide the free hand under the pectoral fins, orientating the hand so that the troutā€™s head rests along the index finger, with the pectoral fins spread out between thumb and little finger.

The trout will be nicely balanced and the soft tissue in the belly area will no be supporting any weight. Lifting the trout this way, and returning it to the water between photographs minimizes any distress which could reignite its struggles. Turn the fish belly up when removing the hook.

Handle trout gently and with respect and they wonā€™t panic or stress, ensuring their revival for release without damage and a minimum of fuss.ā€

Ā© Reproduced by permission ā€“ ā€˜New Zealand Fish and Game Magazineā€™

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing, fly fishing how-to, trout information

Just Back From Aussie Fly-Fishing Trip

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Travelled around 1200km through north New South Wales and back up to Brisbane. Had great trip, but the trout fishing ā€“ letā€™s just say, sometimes us Kiwis forget just how lucky we are.

Full story will follow soon.

Posted by Tony Bishop in Fishing Travel, my fishing trips

Catching Big Brown Trout in New Zealand

When does chasing big brown trout become an obsession?

I try to get down to the Taupo region on the central North island of New Zealand in March. As autumn starts to bite, brown trout move into the rivers and streams from Lake Taupo to head upstream to spawn. It is usually a reasonably sedate meander, not like the mad dash of pods of rainbows that tend to move up somewhat later.

Usually rivers and streams in March are low and clear, but this does not seem to deter brown trout. Mostly they move at night, spending the day hugging the bottom of deeper water, or tucked in under overhanging, undercut banks. Some hold deep in the branches of fallen trees – untouchable.

This year things were different. A vicious drought affecting the North Island and beyond turned the land from the famed New Zealand green to a drab lifeless brown. Driving down from Auckland I had never seen the countryside so devoid of grass. The sun literally sucking the life out of the land and waterways.

When I reached the Tauranga-Taupo River (TT), I could see the effect of the drought. The river was now a creek, very low and clear. Despite this Steve Yerex, guide and operator of the Keruru Lodge, where I regularly stay, was reasonably upbeat. Browns were in the river in some numbers he reported over the phone, but he suggested that it might take some high level of skill and more than a big helping of luck to pry one or two out of the TT.

Steve was going to be away for a couple of days raft fishing down the Mohaka River, leaving me on my own at the lodge – I liked that.

Arriving late afternoon, I decided to wander a little way downstream with my Tenkara rod and see if I could annoy a few small rainbows which by now were moving downstream to the lake. Over the next hour and a bit, more than a score of fish around 6 to 10 inches were plucked from the shallow runs. Great fun.

Next morning and now in serious fish-hunting mode I headed slowly upstream, peering intently into every pool and undercut bank. The browns were there. Some brutes among them too. Serious brutes. Brutes that have tempted and tormented me for too many years to recall.

Full Story here

Posted by Tony Bishop in Fresh water how-to, my fishing trips, New Zealand Fishing