Learn Fly Fishing

I learnt Czech Nymphing while fishing the 1996 World Fly Fishing Championships in the Czech Republic. It was a revelation, a real eye opener. In some ways it is the antithesis of traditional nymphing techniques. Yet it is devastatingly effective and what is more, you will hook good fish in areas you may have previously considered not worth fishing. It is without a doubt, one of the most effective techniques for fast water.

80% of what trout and grayling eat is subsurface and the majority of that is taken directly off the riverbed or very near to it. So, if you want to improve your catch rate, you are better off fishing subsurface and close to the riverbed. This principle is at the heart of Czech Nymphing.

Promo for Sight Fishing videos with Oliver Edwards. See website for video on both search and sight fishing and unique insights into his most famous flies the Pheasant Tail Nymph (PTN) and the Killer Bug. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

We go to the crystal clear waters of the Lambourn sight fishing for trout and grayling using his famous Pheasant Tail Nymph.

Frank Sawyer occupies a unique place in fly fishing history. He is, in my opinion one of the greatest nymph fishermen of all time.
To detect ‘takes’ he greased up his leader to within a yard or so of the nymph. This floating part of the leader was his only ‘strike indicator’ when he search fished. For us lesser mortals, the greased up minicon or braided sleeve does a similar job.

However, Frank Sawyer is probably more famed for his ‘sight fishing’. This technique calls upon eyesight to a far greater degree than merely detecting the slight movement of his greased up leader. It requires a skill, which he said - "surpasses the high art of dry fly".

Promo for Mayfly Time on a Chalk Stream videos with Oliver Edwards. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

The Greendrake or Ephemera danica is by far our most common species. It is the fly that hatches in hundreds of thousands, millions even, from the Chalk Streams of Southern England every year from late May to early June, in what is known as 'The Duffers Fortnight'.

However, on many rivers, there are times when the hatch just trickles off, and then trout can be almost as cautious as when taking small Olives. This is when Essential Skills come into play. Your artificial will have to be a good imitative pattern, and it will have to be presented accurately and delicately if you wish to be consistently successful.

Promo for Wet Fly Fishing on Rivers videos with Oliver Edwards. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

The key to successful wet fly fishing is letting the flies 'dead drift'. In these videos I show you the three key techniques.

The 'across' method - I find this technique particularly effective on crinkly, near flat glides, when fish are looking up, eagerly knocking off duns and emergers.

'The Escalator' A technique that I have developed over the years but is an easy style to master, increases your search area and imparts a lift to the flies as the drift fishes out.

And the 'upstream' style of wet fly fishing. I love this short line upstream style, it has a high work rate and requires complete focus. However, the flies fish naturally, in a dead drift. So if you want to up your catch rate, stop facing downstream!

Promo for the dry fly videos. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

My mainstay dun-imitating dry fly patterns are the Paradun and my Footprint Dun. They're both prototypical patterns, so you can match any of the Olives or Spurwings, simply by changing colours and hook sizes.

Both these patterns beat the old slip winged flies hands down. For a start, the Paradun is simple to tie, there's no messing about with fragile starling slips. Also, it floats like a cork, lands correctly on every cast, and is very robust.

The Footprint Dun is a little more tricky to tie, but it is a great pattern for wily fish, those that come up to the fly and then turn away at the last second. Such fish are usually fooled by this fly.

Promo for Big Dry Flies for Fast Water videos with Oliver Edwards. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

In my opinion, the Klinkhåmer has made the biggest impact on river fly fishing in my lifetime. It is a universal fly, it copies everything, and nothing in particular! This pattern has an unbelievable ability to bring fish up out of the blue, a fish fooling fly with few equals.

It is a low maintenance fly, floats superbly, even after been taken by a trout or grayling. It's also a straightforward tying exercise, even for beginners.

There are two more fast water dry fly patterns that I would not be without. Roman Moser's Balloon Caddis and my own Tape Wing Caddis, both can bring fish up in riffles, but really come into their own when fish are keyed on to caddis flies.

Promo for Deep Diving Shrimp and Chalk Stream Entomology videos with Oliver Edwards. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

Freshwater shrimps are a preferred food for trout and grayling, and in alkaline waters, such as our English chalk streams, they can be found in truly biblical numbers, which is why my Masterclass Leaded Shrimp pattern works so well.

But for those deep hatch pools with powerful swirling currents something much heavier is required. So the trick here is to ballast the hook with a tungsten sleeve. Tungsten is twice as dense as lead, so you get all the weight you need without spoiling the outline of the Shrimp. In this video, you see in detail, every step of tying this ‘heavyweight’- and I demonstrate how to fish it, in the fast complex currents of a hatchpool.

You can obviously catch fish without any knowledge of entomology whatsoever, but to be consistently successful, particularly when after wild brown trout and grayling, having some understanding of aquatic insects is a definite advantage – an Essential Skill.

You don’t have to take a degree course in entomology, all you need is an interest, an enquiring mind, a good pair of eyes and a few good books or videos. Then spend some time stone turning or kick sampling.

It is not necessary to delve down to Species level, I don’t. Just concern yourself with Orders and Families. That will give you a body shape, a silhouette - the very thing which fish recognise and key onto.

Promo from Upstream Nymphing / North Country Spiders streamed videos with Oliver Edwards from https://www.learnflyfishing.net

Classic upstream nymphing was once the preserve of southern chalk streams. However, it is also very effective on fast flowing freestone rivers. It is often quite strenuous fishing fast riffle, but more often than not, your hard work is rewarded both in terms of numbers and the size of fish caught. For me there is also something very special, almost magical fishing this way - tightening on to that slight stab of the fly line and feeling the solid thump, thump of a fish.

Contrary to what many people think, streamer fishing is not a chuck and chance it technique, it has its own particular skills, equal to any other fly fishing discipline. Importantly, it attracts big, predatory fish and is an Essential Skill for every river fisher's armoury. https://www.learnflyfishing.net

In these videos we go streamer fishing on the Wharfe, the river that gave me my best two fish on any Dales river. One, a wild fish of 20 inches! I didn't weigh it, but I'd guess it was around 2¾ pounds. It took a 2½ inch Snappy Poodle. I doubt that you'd have interested this fish with a size 16 Partridge and Orange!