Fly fiesta !

I have been scanning some of my flies. As you see, these are old salmon flies. I've printed them out in hi-resolution and now they are framed and posted around the house. These are low resolution images... if anyone is interested in the big files, drop me a line.

Firstly, a Shrimp of sorts, hook 28mm long:

Some old Dee salmon flies, hooks 30mm and 40mm long:

 

Old Dee or Spey salmon fly, hook 40mm long:

Below, a Toppy, a very early pattern described by William Scrope in Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing on the Tweed (1843), together with a Toppy variant. Hooks 45mm and 50mm long:

 

The rest of this little collection that belonged to the previous owner of a JJS Walker Bampton rod that I now have in my possession. Some of the doubles and trebles look quite ferocious:

 

Here is a box of flies. I haven't touched it since it came earlier in the Spring as it looks interesting as is in a random sort of way. One or two salmon flies, but mostly trout flies. All in a Richard Wheatley box that was made for Hardy Brothers:

JJS Walker Bampton & Co 9' 6" trout rod

9' feet 6" inches the rod is in perfect order throughout and weighs just 204 gms. Green silk whipping. Spiral lockfast type Brass ferrules are in perfect condition and pull apart with a good distinct pop.

12" inch Cork handle with alloy reel fittings in perfect condition with screw-fit rubber button. Lower alloy fitting is stamped " J.J.S. WALKER.BAMPTON & Co Makers Alnwick " It also bears impressed serial number '17372'.

A vintage English split-cane fly rod in lovely condition.

 

 

 




 

 I also picked up a few salmon and trout flies, that belonged to the previous owner of the Walker Bampton rod. Some are stunning indeed. Here I've roughly sorted them to size and used an old wooden box to store them.

 

Timed target casting

Field & Stream's FFlogger blog has an article that challenges you to Cast 40 Feet in Four Seconds. Instead of going for distance - as we all tend do, the article encourages you to set up targets at about 40 feet that are called by a gillie and then targeted by the caster. This improves your accuracy over realistic distances and helps you perhaps track a moving fish.

I'm all for it as this is the way that you learn to catch the fish. I'm still casting under my trees out in the back garden during the week when we're not fishing and I find that as the summer progresses, the tree branches are drooping with the weight of the leaves and perhaps moisture. I have to modify my techniques every now and then.

Check out the full article @ Field & Stream

The Selle and Evoissons

After a week of June rain, the rivers are full and silty. The fish are not biting in the lakes and very few fish are even visible in the rivers. The sun was out so I took some shots of the Selle and Evoissons river. The image on the right show some clear water in the shallows.


The Evoissons joins the Selle at Conty. In this photo (left), the Selle is on the left and the slower flowing Evoissons joins on the right.


(right) The little footbridge that allows us to cross the Selle to the left bank of the Evoissons. Some good fly fishing spots with plenty of space to cast.


(left) Walking up the Evoissons a little, we come to some shallow runs where the local cross-country carriage racing courses ford the river. Plenty of wildlife visible. Birds, water rats and frogs.


(right) A moorhen with a young chick on the Selle.







(left) A pair of swans on the banks of the Selle.












(right) One of the lakes of the Conty system called Les Etournelles that is not fished and therefore has plenty of wild fish. Crystal clear water, perhaps 10 pairs of swan and fish everywhere. Here some fry are swimming around in the safety of the weed.






One of the lake swans. What a life!

Cleaning my Walker-Bampton reel

After a little research and some very good advice found on The Classic Fly Rod Forum, I have started to clean up the old 4" JJS Walker-Bampton reel.

The reel has been taken apart and the individual pieces are wiped down to remove grease and grime. The reel and parts are then soaked for half an hour in a 4-part warm water, 1-part vinegar solution. This slightly acid mix stabilizes any corrosion and loosen caked-in grime. Afterwards, I cleaned the parts with water and a little detergent (slightly alkaline) to remove any acidity and clean further. Then a good rinse with cold water.

The reel is then waxed and the moving parts and threads are oiled and greased.

Finished results: