Author: Nigel Rainton

Beer, pizza and a shop full of expensive fishing tackle. Excellent. The launch of the Fly Culture magazine Spring issue at Farlows had drawn fly fishers from far and wide. I met an angler turned author, an author who’d become an angler and lots of other friendly people. It was a great atmosphere and the evening passed too quickly. I resisted the temptation of a Sage 10′ 6″ #3, I’d already bought myself too many birthday presents.

The train journey  from Dorking to Victoria had not been a good start to the evening. It brought back memories of a decade of commuting. Four hours a day wasted. Time I would never get back. Arriving in London Europe was depressing and by the time the black cab arrived at Farlows I needed a beer. Farlows was an oasis of calm, a portal to the real world.

I learnt a lot about the many different people in the Fly Culture family and their motivation for this wacky, left field publication to succeed. The journey home had been slightly more bearable because the south London landscape was hidden in darkness. The Working Dead zombies, condemned to the infinite loop of commuting, had lurched off the train and disappeared. A Chinese meal at our local restaurant had earthed the high tension of the return journey and helped me sleep.

I’d planned a relaxing trip to Petworth and when I woke at the crack of 9:30am, I was pleased to see a grey overcast and no wind. The radio and clock in the Defender stopped working before I’d left the village and I entered a timeless, news free world. I tried to remember the colour coding of the wires behind the dashboard and which fuse would need cleaning but gave up at Billingshurst, resolving to fix it over the weekend.

I met a couple of members at the fishing hut and took up too much of their time chatting. Little Springs had lost some colour since my last visit and as I was enjoying a cup of tea, I saw a fish chasing roach fry near the first point.

I set up the 3oz Hardy 10′ as my arm hadn’t recovered from the previous trip with the 10oz Sharpes ‘Aberdeen’. I tied on a black spider with a yellow tag and wandered down to the seat on the point. Occasionally I saw faint shadows. I was not convinced they were Trout but I flicked a fly towards them just incase. I short-lined with my left arm and watched the tip of the fly line. A fish moved, I covered it and a few seconds later the line tightened. It dropped the hook in the net and I released it unharmed. As I moved around the lake I saw a distressed fish on the surface, Cormorants or bad handling ?

After an hour wandering around, taking photos and chatting I was cold and hungry. I drove home and celebrated the end of a very memorable week with a bottle of Yalumba ‘The Cigar’ Cabernet Sauvignon. Perfection.

 

 

Last year I wrote about Elgar’s first fishing trip to Little Bognor on 15 June 1918. I commemorated the centenary of Elgar’s visit by catching a Trout at Little Bognor on 15 June 2018. I enjoyed researching and writing about his life and music. His cello concerto and enigma variations are a fitting accompaniment on my regular visits to Petworth.

Fly Culture magazine is a new, upmarket publication about fly fishing around the world. It’s all content, no adverts or product placement. It’s about ‘why’ we fish. No regurgitated articles about killer fly patterns or the latest ‘tactical’ fly tying scissors. It’s a good read. The Editor, Pete Tyjas, liked my piece about Elgar and published it in the Spring 2019 edition.

I’m looking forward to celebrating Elgar Day again this year. A friend suggested that a lakeside vintage picnic with a gramophone would be fun. I’m not sure about that.

The weather on Saturday, the Opening Day, was horrible. Gale force winds and rain. It had been an easy decision to stay indoors and wait for calmer weather.

The Defender rumbled along the narrow lanes and then turned across the cattle grid into the Estate. I drove slowly between fields of bright green shoots, the warmth and rain had produced an even covering of cereal crops across the gently rolling escarpment. The cloudscape was impressive, banks of dark clouds had formed over the South Downs and were marching north-east.

The lakes were coloured and no Trout were rising. There were plenty of small Roach dimpling the surface of Little Springs but I couldn’t see any signs of the recently stocked Trout. I had a cup of tea and watched the lake. I had two objectives; to catch a Trout and to christen the Sharpes ‘Aberdeen’. I put the rod together and threaded the Rio line carefully through the rings. I didn’t miss any. I chose a black and copper spider and decided to fish the margins around the first point. The rod and line were awkward in my left hand. The rod was not working the short line, it was not loading correctly. I persevered and moved around the lake convinced that a fish would take. As I sat on the east side of the lake a Trout splashed in the margin where I had started. I changed to an unweighted black spider, it would be more visible high up in the water.

As I crept along the bank at the deep end of the lake a Trout swirled close to the brickwork by the overflow. I dropped the fly into the ripples and the fly line was drawn towards me by the water pouring out of the lake. The line twitched and I lifted the rod but not quickly enough.

I flicked the fly back out, further from the bank to allow it to sink before the movement of the water dragged the fly line down the outflow. The line drew away from me and I connected with a good fish. It fought hard and was in very good condition. I released it from the net and congratulated myself, the fish was about 2lb. Earlier I had seen a fish swirl on the eastern side of the outflow. I had slowed my casting and adjusted to the rhythm of the rod. After a few gentle casts the line tightened and a very good fish went on a long run up the lake. I held the rod low and feathered the spool of the reel. Eventually the fish rolled over the edge of the net, it was about 3lb and in fin-perfect condition. The fly fell out of the Trout’s jaw and I nursed it in the net until it dived away back into the cold, deep water.

I had caught a couple of excellent fish in about two hours and had tuned in to the Sharpes. It had been a perfect start to the season.

Thirty years ago I bought a matched pair of Sharpes Scottie impregnated carp rods. They were immaculate. I paid slightly more than I should have to help a friend who was in financial difficulties. I told him that he could buy them back when he was flush but we lost contact. I didn’t use the rods until a few years ago. I christened the rods with several carp all of which were over 20lbs, one approaching 30lbs. Then I discovered how rare and valuable the rods were. My matching pair of Sharpes “The Carp”, in mint condition, sold for nearly ten times what I had paid. I had mixed feelings about the sale. I was relieved not to have the responsibility of looking after the rods but sad that I could no longer fish with them.

One winter afternoon, bored, browsing through vintage rods for sale, I found a time capsule. Another Sharpes rod. It was expensive. The rod had been made in September 1964 and had been in storage for over 54 years. I didn’t need another vintage cane rod. I had restored two rods and found the Holy Grail of English split cane, a Bob Southwell fly rod. My heart overruled my head and I bought “The Aberdeen”; 10′ 6″ of honey coloured cane. My previous Sharpes rods had given me a lot of pleasure and they had been a great investment. I bought it as an early birthday present to myself. My instincts told me it was the right thing to do.

The rod arrived, in a bullet proof plastic tube, covered in duct tape and bubble wrap. It took ages to unwrap. Once assembled it was a joy to waggle. I compared it with the Farlows rod that I had restored. They were the same length but the Sharpes had a steely quality absent in the lithe loch rod. This rod clearly means business, it would handle a large sea trout. I flexed it in the garden and cast to the lawn trout under the rose bush. It had quite a fast action for such a long, heavy rod.

I now have two rare vintage rods to play with. The Southwell has already been christened. I am tempted to take the Sharpes to Cumbria. It would be at home on the wide, fast flowing River Derwent.

 

 

 

Last season had been memorable but I felt fished-out by the end of October. The early November holiday on Dartmoor was very relaxing and after returning home, I wasn’t minded to catch any more trout. I had fished three times a week throughout the season plus there were other occasions when I visited the river and lakes without fishing.

The Estate records revealed that I had fished on 77 occasions. I’d had a great time in the glorious Sussex countryside but I’d over cooked it. In 2019 I would cut down on the number of visits to the river and lakes and try to make more of the evenings.

I had returned every fish to the river and only retained 11 fish from the lakes. The catch and release experiment at Little Bognor had been a great success. It had been agreed to extend the trial to the other lakes until the weather warmed up. This would enable me to fish all of the waters without killing unwanted fish. I would no longer have to dump trout on my neighbours or the landlady at the pub.

The refurbishment of the Farlows rod I found in a jumble sale meant that I had two suitable split cane rods in my armoury. I will take the latest acquisition to the lakes as soon as the season opens and christen it with a couple of fish. The action of the cane rods will slow me down and their weight will force me to stop casting and rest for longer periods, no bad thing.

I delivered my 2018 diary to Otter Bookbinding at Midhurst yesterday and will collect it in a few weeks. It will be interesting to consult my notes from the last three years and compare the results with 2019. The winter weather so far has been mild and dry. The lawns already need cutting. I hope that we get rain during February and March and that the summer is not as hot as last year.

 

I am researching and planning my week fishing on the Derwent in Cumbria during early April. The fly boxes are filling up with replacements for the flies left in the bushes and trees along the river. I will need a good selection of heavily weighted flies. Without beads. I will use traditional flies, beads would ruin my holiday.

I have already made an entry in the calendar for Saturday 15 June so that I can celebrate ‘Fishing with Elgar’ at Little Bognor. I made a detour around Riverhill on the way to Midhurst yesterday and was shocked to see that the gnomes at Little Bognor were under attack. A digger and chainsaw shattered the tranquility of the valley. The guys from the Estate were amazed when I introduced them to the gnomes and they promised to be careful with the digger.