September Edi�On of Your Big Puddle

Home , Catch and release

First Cast ... Join the Club Welcome to the September edion of your Big Puddle. This month sees the start of the Autumn ﬁshing and is the me of year we all hold our breath hoping for great September, October and November ﬁshing. As this edion is being wrien the water is sll warm though cooling as the nights get colder. The trout seem to be quite lethargic but as we all know, this can change over- night. So we look forward to some aggressive fry feeders throughout the end of the season.

This edions looks at the ﬁshing from bank and boat; reports from RWFF summer events and all the usual features. Please connue to send material to the editor, all welcome.

Keep in touch from the inside, with the RWFF News Facebook page. hps://www.facebook.com/ groups/929836410468197 . If you ’ re not already part of it, join the group.

Random Casts This Month we bring you the ﬁnal instalment on the history of Rutland Water. This will take us from 1973 to 2006. How will the next 30 years be recorded. Times are changing for sure and more commercial and visitor populaon consideraons are becoming more of an issue. We are just one group of users enjoying Rutland Water as this history highlights, so get your ﬁshing buddies to join the club RWFF to beer protect our interests.

Recreaon Management In 1976 Jonathon Inglesant was appointed as Recreaon Oﬃcer. His team of wardens consisted of Ernie Locke, Arthur Chapman, John Clarkson, Marn Hearth and later John Seaton, and these were ready to manage the thousands of visitors who were already travelling some distance to see the reservoir taking shape.

Capital expenditure on the reservoir ’ s recreaonal infrastructure had coincided with a period of severe restraint on public expenditure, and although the £1 million budget seemed healthy it rep- resented a cutback on the visitor centres originally envisaged.

The Rutland Sailing Club was formed in the early stages of the reservoir ’ s construcon with its members funding the clubhouse on land leased from the Water Authority. Sailing started at Easter 1976, from which me it has developed into the best inland sailing facility in the country with 2,000 acres of water and a clubhouse, extended in recent mes thanks to a loery grant and support from Anglian Water, to provide world - class facilies for disabled people to sail.

Sailing In 1977 the Fishing Lodge was also the best in the country but other facilies were more basic. For example, a ‘ Day Sailing Centre ’ was provided from a Portakabin at Whitwell so that anyone could 2 launch a boat on a casual basis under supervision of a rescue service operated by the Peter Fry Rescue Trust. Whereas the Rutland Sailing Club was responsible for the safety of its own members, the rescue service at Whitwell looked aer the ‘ day sailor ’ and provided a ﬁrst aid base for the reservoir.

The Peter Fry Trust was founded by John Fry in memory of his son who drowned in an inland sailing accident in 1972. Rutland Water provided an ideal base for the charity to play a useful role in protecng public safety, and with funding from Anglian Water it operated successfully here unl 2003, aer which me its role was integrated into the management of Rutland Watersports.

Catering was the least adequately provided service in the early days. At ﬁrst mobile ice - cream vans were based on the car parks, but, as demand grew, small kiosks were built on each of these and were successfully operated by the Beradi Family of Grantham for many years.

Today, the most popular acvity is cycling but there was lile thought given to this in the early planning. In 1981 David and Anne Archer, who operated a cycle hire service in the Peak District, approached Peter Langford, the local manager for Anglian Water, with a view to developing a simi- lar business at Rutland Water.

Fortunately Frank Knights had appreciated that an oﬀ - road access track was essenal for eﬃcient operaonal management of the reservoir and he had already created a route in stages during the construcon phase. Although this track was very rough it was adequate, and in 1982 the cycle hire centre opened at Whitwell car park, to be followed by a second centre at Normanton, and then the new building at Whitwell operated by David and Anne ’ s son, Paul Archer.

Birdwatching It has only been in the last decade that the new Normanton Fishing Lodge, Anglian Water Bird- watching Centre and extended Sailing Club have really provided the high quality buildings which the reservoir jusﬁes. The Rutland Sailing Club was formed in the early stages of the reservoir ’ s construcon with its members funding the clubhouse on land leased from the Water Author- i t y .

Sailing started at Easter 1976, from which me it has developed into the best inland sailing facility in the country with 2,000 acres of water and a clubhouse, extended in recent mes thanks to a loery grant and support from Anglian Water, to provide world - class facilies for disabled people to sail.

In the above photograph from Anglian Water are: Colin Harden, Fish Farm manager and John Seaton, Senior Warden, grading ﬁsh at the ﬁsh farm in 1976 (AW)

3 Rutland Belle Another important development was the launching of Rutland Belle in 1986.

Again, it was a family business which made the inial approach. Trevor and Joan Broadhead ’ s sug- geson wasn ’ t very popular with the exisng users and the Rutland Water Users Panel took quite a bit of convincing before agreeing to a two - year trial to test safety, polluon, and wash impact up- on ﬁshing and sailing boats.

Everyone ’ s fears turned out to be unfounded as the Rutland Belle operated without incident in the trial period and has now completed twenty years and given over 500,000 passengers the superb views which can only be fully appreciated from the water.

Mrs Peddar (above le) launching Rutland Belle in November 1985. Reservoir Manager Frank Knights with Jack Charlton (above right) at Rutland Water Cycling Centre in 1985)

Landscaping With so much acvity, landscaping has been crical in developing and maintaining the natural appearance of the reservoir. Anglian Water ’ s forester, Tony Ford, did a fantasc job in growing 200,000 trees in special nurseries and planng the new woodlands and hedgerows to create the landscape that he and Dame Sylvia Crowe had planned.

With over one million households within a day - trip range of 60 miles, and 400,000 within a half - day trip of 30 miles, the original plan esmated that there could be 17,000 visitors to the reservoir on a busy summer Sunday, based on an average of 3.25 people per car.

The reservoir quickly became a regular aracon with 12,000 visitors recorded on a Sunday in 1978, and beer facilies were needed to cater for them. In the mid - eighes there was a burst of investment under the iniave of the new Divisional Manager, Ian Ramsden. Cafés were built on each of the four car parks and those at Whitwell, Sykes Lane and Normanton have been extended to meet the standards expected by today ’ s visitors.

Water Sports Centre The temporary base of the water sports centre at Whitwell moved into a permanent building operated by David Hales as Surface Watersports for many years. The visitor centre was extended into a Tourist Informaon Centre and an Interpretaon Centre was built for the nature reserve at Lyndon. 4 A drought garden was created in 1986 by Tony Ford and television gardening personality, Geoﬀ Hamilton, to show that you could have an aracve garden on a south - facing slope of clay without watering it.

In 1986 there was a major change in the recreaonal management of the reservoir when the Angli- an Water Authority decided to lease its Trout ﬁsheries at Graam and Rutland Water rather than directly manage them.

Roger Thom The Rutland Water ﬁshery was leased for ﬁve years to Roger Thom of Northampton who intro- duced a tackle shop and a small restaurant into the Whitwell Fishing Lodge. During this me the reservoir hosted the 1987 World Fly Fishing Championships, and was fairly successful unl the severe blue - green algal bloom in the autumn of 1989 which closed the reservoir to all water - based recreaon for two months. This phenomenon was repeated in varying degrees across the country and all of Anglian Water Authority ’ s reservoirs were closed for six weeks unl the algae cleared away.

Following this the reservoirs were treated with ferric sulphate to reduce the phosphorous content of the water and ‘ starve ’ the algae and hence reduce its development. This treatment was successful but could not be connued indefinitely as it might eventually have led to a reducon in the invertebrates, birdlife and fish growth in the reservoir. The uncertaines over managing fisheries in water supply reservoirs resulted in both Graam Water and Rutland Water being returned to the direct management of the newly privased Anglian Water.

In 1989 Frank Knights was appointed Recreaon Development manager with me as his assistant.

5 The increased customer focus and recognion that reservoir leisure was an important public face of the new Company meant that there were many more improvements. Since 1990, £3 million has been invested by Anglian Water in improved leisure and access infrastructure at Rutland Water.

Birdwatching Centre The Birdwatching Centre has been built at Egleton and subsequently extended to provide an edu- caon service.

Fishing Lodge A new Fishing Lodge was built at Normanton in 1993, complete with a large tackle shop and restaurant, thus freeing up the old building to provide a much needed catering outlet for the water sports and Rutland Belle visitors. This was opened by Arthur Lumsden, the actor who played the ficous angling character J R Hartley, created by Peter Lapsley, himself an enthusiasc angler who had fished Rutland Water on the first press day prior to its opening.

Also in 1993, the Buerﬂy and Aquac Centre was opened at Sykes Lane as a joint venture between Anglian Water and Jack and Sue Harris. This indoor aracon has appealed to all ages, espe- cially schools, for twenty years and is currently run by Jack and Sue ’ s son David.

Normanton Church as a Museum In the sixteenth century St Mahew ’ s Church at Normanton was described as being ‘ in a very ruin- ous condion ’. It was rebuilt by the Heathcote family in 1764 and in 1826 Thomas Cundy and his son added the new tower and porco which we see today. Modiﬁcaons to the west end were completed in 1911 which brought the whole church into the style of the 1826 construcon. When Normanton Hall was demolished in 1925 - 26 it le the church as an isolated feature although it remained in use by the local community unl it was deconsecrated in 1970.

The high water level for the new reservoir planned for the Gwash Valley was a few feet above the ﬂoor of the church and so in 1972 the Normanton Tower Trust was formed to work with Anglian Water to preserve this local landmark.

By the me work on the new reservoir had begun, members of the Normanton Tower Trust had already started fund - raising, and together with Anglian Water a scheme was planned to protect the church from gradual decline. Floors were raised by two metres, walls were repaired and dampproofed, and an embankment with a causeway to the shore surrounded the enre building to protect it from the waves and provide public access for the future. Work was completed ahead of the rising waters and by 1978 the new landscaping for the church was complete. However, aer all the eﬀort put in by so many people, it unfortunately became neglected and vandalised in the few years aer the reservoir was completed, although the Normanton Tower Trust had connued to meet and aempt to maintain the building.

In 1983 Anglian Water took the iniave to refurbish the old church and create Normanton Water Museum, featuring local history and artefacts from the water industry. More extensive repairs were needed to both the exterior and the interior to make the building safe and aracve, but by June 1985 the work had been completed. The museum was oﬃcially opened on 13 th June by the Hon Peter Brassey, Chairman of the Normanton Tower Trust, and Col Jim Weir, who was the Angli- an Water Authority Board member responsible for recreaon and conservaon at that me.

6 Among the guests was Margaret Plumb of Empingham who, in 1954, was the last bride to be mar- ried in the church. The building has become the best known landmark in the county, even featuring in naonal markeng campaigns by the English Tourist Board.

Ten years later, in 1995, the Museum was re - launched by Anglian Water as Normanton Church Museum, with a new display featuring the history of the reservoir and its construcon. The new display was opened by Lady Jane Willoughby d ’ Eresby, whose family has been closely associated with Normanton Church since the eighteenth century. Now, 15,000 people visit the museum each year.

Health and Safety Since 2000, health and safety have been a parcular priority for the reservoir management. This can be seen in the massive investment in surfaced car parks. Also, the cycle route from Barnsdale car park, across the dam, through Normanton and to Rutland Sailing Club, has now been resur- faced. This provides an easy route for less able cyclists, walkers, wheelchair - users and those with pushchairs. This leaves a more challenging route around the Hambleton Peninsula for the more adventurous.

Success In 1994 Rutland Water was entered for the European Union award for Tourism and the environment. It made the ﬁnal round, being selected as one of only four ﬁnalists in the United Kingdom. It has also won awards from the English Tourist Board, and also from Tourism for All in recognion of the facilies and access it provides for people with disabilies.

7 Today the reservoir has enormous importance in so many people ’ s lives. These include the 500,000 who rely on it for their connuous supply of very high quality drinking water, the local community who enjoy its leisure and sporng facilies throughout the year, and the several hundred people who are employed directly or indirectly by the reservoir and its associated tourist industry.

Right - An early award for Rutland Water as reported by the Leicester Mercury on 30th May 1978 David Moore, Recreaon & Access Manager, and John Seaton, Senior Warden, in 2006.

THE LAKE Fishery and Bank Report from John Wadham .

Despite the weest July for some years, the water level has not yet dropped low enough to benefit bank fishermen. With the very hot weather at the end of August, the marginal water temperature just aer the bank holiday was sll 20° C. This encouraged a lot of algal growth and rendered the margins far too warm for the approach of fish.

However, those who persisted and cast a reasonably long line were able to get some degree of interest at either end of the day. During this period there were a number of flat calm days: ideal for coarse fishermen but not for bank side trout fisherman! Another reason for the fish not vising the margins may be due to the absence of weed bed cover

8 for the apparent abundance of small fry. It is however pleasing to note, at the me of wring, that there is some evidence of late growth. It is fairly widely known that Canadian pond weed has a five - year cycle of growth. Last year the weed beds were prolific. However, the fish sll didn ’ t visit the margins much before the end of September: due mainly to the exceponally hot weather mid - month when 34° C air temperature was reached.

At the me of wring, in contrast, the air temperature on the same day this year was 14° C. Not very pleasant, but I ’ m sure will be a great benefit to the fishing. Even now, despite cold winds and heavy showers, the water temperature is sll 16.5° C. So, we are geng there. This needs to get down into the mid to low teens for the benefit of us anglers and the comfort of the fish.

Quite clearly from the results of boat fishing results , there are sll many fish le in the lake. Two reasons for this. Very low fooall on the bank and catch and release. It is interesng to note that this is the first season to my knowledge when brown trout have been available from the start to where we are now. They are in superb condion and when they really come on again they will offer us some spectacular sport.

Rock Armour Now that the water has gone down below the foot of the rock armour in some places, we will be looking at commencing access works down this rock - face shortly: given of course, that the land adjacent to the water ’ s edge does not become saturated with the risk of vehicles becoming bogged down. You will be kept up to speed on this work. We hope inially, to carry out a trial run at Stockie bay. This will enable us to calculate the amount of stone needed to sasfy the other 60 proposed access point. These will be at the most popular ﬁshing venues at various places around the enre perimeter.

John Wadham has been ﬁshing Rutland since it opened and

has a wealth of knowledge on our lake. A fountain of knowledge, he has wrien a number of excellent books on the subject, including RUTLAND WATER: BANK ANGLER'S GUIDE

BOAT REPORT Report from Rob Waddington . July and August saw the lake changing its character. The arms which held so much promise earlier in the year, didn ’ t really give their best. The South Arm suﬀered from bad water clarity and fewer weedbeds than in previous seasons and the North Arm, which oen looked in perfect order with vast fry - ﬁlled weedbeds and gin clear water also didn ’ t consistently deliver.

It was the open water from New Zealand Point all the way to the dam which gave more steady catches. And oen the trout would be in such numbers off the inlet area that huge bags were recorded by boats targeng these well condioned stockies. Some superb fish were amongst them probably benefing from the only influx of cooler water in the enre lake.

The boils have not been operang through the summer so the trout are more spread out but not

9 as energec in the warm water, oen only catchable on ny ﬂies. Finicky takes and lost ﬁsh have been a major characterisc this summer with the trout.

However, the margins are full of perch, bream and roach fry and even in open water, trout have been taken on surface fry paerns. More oen than not a fast glass line with mini lures, small Minkies, blobs and nymphs or hoppers have ouished pure surface ﬁshing. Occasional trips down the arms have found good ﬁsh, so they are there, just not easy to get in the mood!

Notable areas have been open water in the main basin, around the tower and the corner around V buoy. Open water from Sailing club to May Tree bank and oﬀ Barnhill Point. Also along the Nor- manton bank which normally will hold pods of stock ﬁsh.

Nymphs, dries, fry, blobs all taking fish. Even on bright days, fish have been in the top foot of water and when a dry fly won ’ t work, a slow glass line and blobs usually does the trick. The arms should come into their own when the colder weather comes.

A Big Taﬀ Trout A few notable catches by members include this superb brown trout caught by Roger ‘ Taﬀ ’ Bailey

Here ’ s Mick Brooksby ’ s report of the catch.

Roger and Wal had asked me to demon- strate fishing the Rudder. The wind was starng to die down a lile and I had put Roger on a fast intermediate line The fish took a black snake off Yellow- stone, Roger had lost a couple of fish by leng the line go slack, but not this one! I suspect that he will be talking about it for some me to come. The fish was esmated to weigh 8LB, I had caught and weighed a 7 Lb 5 Oz Brown earlier in the season and this was defi- nitely bigger. The superb condion fish was returned alive at Yellowstone .

Taﬀ ’ s expression above says it all, well done on your great ﬁsh.

The First of Many Peter Gover ’ s grandson Max gets hooked on ﬁshing . This is my Grandson (above right), Max (13), with his ﬁrst trout. Key other person in the photo is Gary who was ghillie for the all - important occasion. At one of the Bank meengs Max had been given some instrucon by John Wadham on casng, but with a few hours available we thought a session in the boat would have a greater overall interest factor. As Max's casng was not really up to boat standard we opted for a session on the rudder.

Unfortunately, the weather (wind) was far from idea (too light) but we nevertheless set up a dri from 5 buoy towards Normanton church.

10 Gary very quickly had a couple of pulls but with no real con- necon.

As Max was winding in with the boat well into church bay there was a cry of "oh I think I have a fish". Aer much rod waiving and bending and reel control sorted out and with the fish alongside the boat I asked Max if he wanted to release the fish.

His ﬁrst reply was "Yes, let the ﬁsh go free".

He then quickly changed his mind and said " I will have to have a photo with my first trout". Anci- pang difficulty with him geng hold of the fish for a photograph I told him that the fish would have to be killed. He accepted the consequences and the fish was duly landed, photographed and weighed at just under 2lb.

Thereaer he could hardly get the words out fast enough about how fantasc 'it' had been and "wow, how hard does a 4lb fish fight, and next me I'm down can we please do this again". Max went on to catch another rainbow which was released in the water, and he lost a fish when it jumped clear of the water. Both of Max's fish were caught on a barbless blob.

Keeping it in the Family The name Barr is well known in the trout ﬁshing world to say the least with brothers Iain and Craig, They were well taught in the early years by their dad Bob.

On the big ﬁsh front seven year old Oscar Barr, son of Craig, went out for an evening ’ s boat ﬁshing.

Oscar hooked and need (with help from Dad) a specimen Brownie that weighed 4lb 12¼oz, well done Oscar!

Monster Predator Season Begins Gary Edmonds caught his new P.B Pike on Friday at Graam Water. Caught on one of his own ﬂies and weighing 37lb 2oz this magniﬁcent pike (top photograph on next page ) measured in at 124cm and had a girth of 59cm! Well done Gary!

Gary Edmonds ( above ) caught his new P.B Pike at Graam Water

These vising anglers gets to grips with some feisty North Arm Fry feeders.

More visitors geng the ‘ Rutland Experience ’ this month. Rob Waddington Editor.

Rob is a well known Rutland guide and qualified trout and spey casng coach and Orvis endorsed guide. He has fly fished for 45 years for many different species around the UK and overseas.

13 MEMBERS NEWS

WaterAid Day 8 th September RWFF Gillies helped raise over £5,000 for WaterAid today at Anglian Waters charity ﬂy ﬁshing match at Rutland Water. Top Ghillie was Big Dave Porter. Thanks to Amber Claughton and her AW team for organising another great day and John Wadham for organising the RWFF gillies. We'll done to all the RWFF members for supporng the event which is now in it's 15th year!

A big thanks to Dave Porter, Mick Connor and the rest who very kindly offered their services as ghillies on the day. It was quite tough going but quite a number of fish were caught. The inter- mient heavy showers and variable wind direcon made for tricky fishing.

A big thank you to Andy Ainscough (le), Senior rang- er for allowing those who had volunteered as ghillies on the day to take out a free boat.

John Wadham gave Amber some casng instrucon and she proved to be a very ca- pable pupil. Ghillie material for 2018 perhaps? Aer some persuasion Amber actually handled the ﬁsh at the weigh in. Well done!

The winning ghillie, Dave Porter ( above centre ) presented with his prize by Caroline Wakelin ( above right ) from Water Aid.

John Wadham ( centre and end of table ) was thanked for organising RWFF side of the event. He replied that it had been a team eﬀort and thanked the team for their support and went on the congratulate Amber Claughton and the Water Aid team. He added that Water Aid could count on

connuing RWFF support. This was followed by the raﬄe which included a very choice Chablis generously donated by RWFF member Stuart Ross.

Dave ’ s Big Day Rutland Water Fly Fishers Open Day re - branded by popular demand to ‘ Big Dave ’ s Open Day ’ was a huge success this August. Dave led the team of happy helpers in offering fishing, fly tying and

Casng sessions for young and old alike. A great hit with parents also, let ’ s hope we have lit a fly fishing fuse for these newcomers to fly fishing.

Well done to all who took part or came to visit. You are a credit to RWFF and to the future of ﬂy ﬁshing. Fly the Flag for RWFF!

RWFF Vs GWFFA Maitland Trophy 2017 20 th August 2017 Thanks to GWFFA for hosng the Maitland Trophy today. A good turn out for the match from both clubs. The fishing wasn't easy, fieen boats le the harbour in less than promising condions under a cloudless sky and a moderate westerly wind, but we managed a rod average of just over 3 fish.

Many people stayed up the West End of the lake where fish were quite clearly few and far between. However, as me went on and it clouded up, the fishing improved dramacally with some interesng dry fly acon for Peter Gover and JW driing off G buoy.

These were good quality ﬁsh around the 3lb mark but unfortunately these two chaps didn ’ t come across them unl an hour before the end of the match. John quipped that aer years of obsnacy, he had been ﬁnally persuaded go out in a boat!

Congratulaons to the winner, Chris McLeod ( centre right ) with the best bag of 20lb 5oz. He had just recently joined Rut- land Water Fly Fishers and helped us to a win! Thanks for that Chris!

He received the prize of a bole of best Malt Whiskey donated by Jan, the late John Maitland ’ s widow!

Thanks to Marn Brocklebank for organising

17 the match assisted by Peter De Kremer. Thanks also to the lodge for pung on a great meal. Both clubs are looking forward to next years match.

Tuesday Boat League Final Congratulaons to the overall winner, RWFF member Richard Cooper Final placings are as follows: 1 st Richard Cooper 98 points 2 nd Keith Jones 88 points 3 rd Neil Squires 57 points 4 th Hilary Tomlinson 37 points 5 th Sean Hillaby 29 points 6 th Gary Cooper 28 points Anglian Water say ‘ A big thanks to all who took part this season and for the great banter aer- wards as usual! Thanks also to “ Sid ’ s Fish and Chip Shop ” of Stamford for the suppers; Hilary Tom- linson for supplying the cakes last week and to Neil Squires ’ wife for the banana cake on the ﬁnal night. ’

Dates for your Diary

st Bankside Meengs, the 1 Sunday of the month A Great Bank meeng Sunday 3 rd September along the Normanton Bank. New faces trying fly fishing for the first me. Well done to young Finnley and Jack who picked up casng really quickly. We hope you all found the ps useful.

Thanks to the volunteers and Anglian Water for supporng us. Hope to see lots of you at our last bank meet next month. Tight lines.

Fish ‘ n ’ Trips Member John Baer reports on a recent Tarpon trip. Tampa, Florida - also known as “ Cigar City ” because of its popular Ybor cigars, also home to the Tampa Bay Superbowl winners The Bucca- neers, hop oﬀ point for Busch Gardens and Disneyland and – oh yes, Megalops Atlancus otherwise known as Tarpon.

Sing on the west (Gulf) coast of the United State ’ s fourth largest state by populaon, Florida (aka the “ Sunshine State ”), is an angler ’ s paradise with a wealth of species to pursue both offshore and inshore with bass, bonefish and tarpon perhaps the most well known. Having been a regular visitor to Florida with my family over the years, I was recently able to take advantage of a kind offer to stay with a close friend (and excellent fly fisherman) who resides for the best part of 9 months each year in the Tampa Bay area, with tarpon our main target.

My travelling companion and good friend Harley Smith also made up the party at the end of April this year, who has caught several of the species up to 180 pounds from the Florida Keys area in previous years using bait and powerful rods and mulplier reels, whilst our pursuit of this enig- mac species was going to be exclusively using a 12 weight ﬂy rod and Orvis large arbour reel with an incredibly strong disc drag (more about that later).

According to our young (but very experienced) guide whom we booked for three nights, the resi- dent tarpon which we were seeking, as opposed to the migratory Gulf tarpon which are a later arrival to the bay area, feed mainly at night using the shadows cast by the highway across the bay to make surprise aacks on their prey.

19 With just one night and day to overcome any jetlag caused by the five hour me difference, we set off in the evening of our first full day, meeng our guide at one of many launch points around the bay before seng off in his powerful skiff in the increasing darkness across the bay to our first port of call, namely bayside boat docks aached to the many large, impressive and no doubt hugely expensive properes doed around the shoreline.

Whilst waing for the opmum de, we delayed our tarpon quest for an hour or two in pursuit of snook which inhabit the illuminated boat docks, swimming very close to the wooden structures, requiring some precision casng to present a bait paern to (we all at one me or another managed to miscast, ending up hooking the structure; somemes with the fly coming loose and other mes not). I have to say that fishing so close to these mega properes, it did feel like fishing in someone ’ s backyard, rather akin to poaching but it was perfectly legimate and judging by the number of other boats around the bay, a commonplace acvity.

Having successfully hooked your snook, it was essenal to clamp down hard on the fish, otherwise it will bolt swily into the wooden piles with an almost certain loss of both the fish and the fly. Once clear of the structure, they fight very hard but can be quickly subdued on a 7/8 weight rod and line before being released to fight another day. Apparently, they do make good eang but we were happy to pracce catch and release, going from one boat dock to another aer landing and/ or losing a fish, causing the small numbers of other fish present to disappear.

Back to the tarpon at around midnight, we found ourselves in the shadows under the highway bridge spanning the bay with only the pale light of the overhead lighng and no more than 9 feet or so clearance above our heads, the skiff being held in posion using the electric trolling motor, as we search from bridge pier to bridge pier aer our quarry. Sadly, on the first night despite seem- ingly excellent condions, we failed to find a single tarpon and with Harley unexpectedly suffering from an increasingly painful toothache, we cut our night short at around 2 am for the hour ’ s drive back to our host ’ s canal side villa and a very welcome bed.

The next morning, with Harley spending an almost sleepless and painful night, we are fortunate to ﬁnd a local denst who was able to see him almost immediately, prescribing anbiocs to subdue the pain and prevent any further infecon. Later that day and with a combinaon of lack of sleep and a sll painful jaw, Harley decided not to join Andy and I for our second aempt at tarpon, so with hopes high and again good condions, we set oﬀ for another short spell inially aer snook, returning to the gloom of the highway bridge where our eagle eyed young captain summons up all his experience and skill to spot the tarpon moving along the shadows in search of prey.

Anyone used to the average 5 or 6 weight reservoir rod and reel will immediately ﬁnd the heavy 12 weight rod and line something of a “ beast ” and whilst only short casng is necessary once a ﬁsh is spoed, in the almost total darkness, it can be virtually impossible to judge just how much line you have out in order to load the rod and execute an instant, targeted cast once the guide has spoed a potenal quarry.

I don ’ t mind adming, a combinaon of remembering not to cast overhead for fear of smashing the rod against the underside of the highway bridge and calculang how much line is outside the rod p to cast to a fish which you can ’ t see, all in the Stygian darkness is about as far removed from casng a size 16 dry fly to a rising fish on Rutland as you can get!

When it happened, I don ’ t know who was more surprised - the ﬁsh or me, but suddenly I was

20 aached to a more powerful fish than I have ever encountered in my life, which made off into the open water of the bay, taking line against the ghtly set drag with consummate ease. The guide meanwhile, has moved the skiff out from under the bridge, so that I am able to stand at the prow with the rod upright (for a change), but despite the heavily set drag, I find myself almost incapable of slowing the leviathan at the end of my fly line, which is now so far away with only the backing showing.

It is impossible to judge in the darkness before the dawn, but I insncvely feel that at least eighty or even a hundred yards of line must be outside the rod p, when the fish to decides to leap full length out of the water, shaking it ’ s head furiously in order to dislodge the hook. It is the first me we get to see the fish, albeit in the distance and the relave darkness, which the guide esmated at between 80 and 100 pounds (he tells me later). Sadly, but not unexpectedly the line eventually goes slack and I realise the fish has gone, but having caught smaller “ baby ” tarpon on previous bonefish trips, I am only too aware that, due to their very bony underslung mouths, tarpon are notoriously difficult to hold onto and success is oen measured anywhere between 1 in 5 to 1 in ten landed to fish hooked (or jumped, as it is known).

Aware of this stasc, my disappointment is somewhat tempered at the loss of the fish, as to have connected with something so big and powerful in the relave darkness was an experience that can only be described as “ awesome ”. There were no more opportunies that night, which ended at around 4 am and sadly, with an increasing, gusty wind, the third and final night was also fishless apart from a few snook and a couple of very hard fighng caish which curiously took the large tarpon fly high up in the water.

With fishing guides not coming cheap and despite us sharing the cost, three nights in succession was judged to be the right amount of me (and dollars!) expended on this trip before we enjoyed a few days of R & R (and Florida sized bar b q ’ s) around our host ’ s pool before flying home. Our host Andy and his wife were due to return to the UK for a few months shortly aer our departure, but not before he spent two more days with a different guide, this me in the open water of the bay rather than at night for the “ residents ”. He told me that the first booking had to be cancelled due to high winds, with the second and third both fishless with hardly a tarpon spoed, let alone cast to. So no maer where we go in pursuit of sport, we are at the mercy of the weather, be it high wind ( or no wind ), monsoon rain as can happen in Florida, or just the darn cussed- ness of the fish on any given day, which I ’ m sure we are all used to.

So many thanks to our host for his hospitality and a promise to return to take up the search for the mighty Megalops Atlancus .

John, ( le ) not with a tarpon, this is a snook.

We want any stories, reports of your ﬁshing trips please, send to [email protected]

FISH ’ N ’ TIPS - FLY OF THE MONTH - Popper Minkies and Surface Fry Paerns September and October should be the me to get out the popper Minkies. There are hordes of

perch, roach and bream fry around also, so maybe e some up with dark bars along the mink strip for perch imitaons. Foam Ars** Blobs are working their magic with the well mended stock ﬁsh in the main basin. These keep the ﬂies higher in the surface and produce an encing gurgle as they are retrieved.

22 THE FISHERMAN ’ S FRIEND MEMBER ’ S LETTERS PAGE

An open forum for ALL members to share views, comments, gripes, stories.

Email or post your comments to us.

HOOKS ‘ N ’ BOOKS - 2 new releases recently make recommended reading this month. John Geirach ‘ A Fly Rod of Your Own ’ "the voice of the common angler" (The Wall Street Journal) and member of the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame, brings his sharp sense of humor and keen eye for observaon to the ﬁshing life and, for that maer, life in general.

John Gierach is known for his wiy, trenchant observaons about fly - fishing. In A Fly Rod of Your Own, Gierach once again takes us into his world and scrunizes the art of fly - fishing. He travels to remote fishing locaons where the airport is not much bigger than a garage and a flight might be held up because a passenger is running late. He sings the praises of the skilled pilots who fly to remote fishing lodges in tricky locaons and bad weather.

He explains why even the most veteran fisherman seems to muff his cast whenever he's being filmed or photographed. He describes the all - but - impassable roads that fishermen always seem to encounter at the best fishing spots and why fishermen discuss four - wheel drive vehicles almost as passionately and frequently as they discuss fly rods and flies. And while he's on that subject, he explains why even the most conscienous fisherman always seems to accumulate more rods and flies than he could ever need.

23 As Gierach says, "fly - fishing is a connuous process that you learn to love for its own sake. Those who fish already get it, and those who don't couldn't care less, so don't waste your breath on someone who doesn't fish." From Alaska to the Rockies and across the connent to Maine and the Canadian Marimes, A Fly Rod of Your Own is an ode to those who fish? and they will get it.

DOUBLE DELPHI: TWICE THE CRAIC, TWICE THE KALIK For some years those who know Peter Mantle have been willing him to write about his two very diﬀerent Delphis: East (Co. Mayo Ireland) and West (Abaco, Bahamas). It is oen said that ‘ everyone has a book in them ’, but most are without lively and engaging material to work with, or a talent for wring in the ﬁrst place. Peter has plenty of these assets: great stories to tell and the wring skills to bring them alive. I ’ m not being paid for a creepy encomium, but I ’ ve read ‘ Double Delphi ’ in its various iteraons during the winding road to publicaon (it has been a prominent feature at Rolling Harbour Towers during producon). It ’ s exactly what we all hoped for!

I don ’ t want to issue ‘ spoiler alerts ’, and I ’ m not proposing to provide a cheery synopsis of Peter ’ s book.

For all those who have loved Delphi Lodge in Ireland; for all those who have loved the Caribbean twist to the Delphi experience on Abaco.

For all those who love ﬁshing; and for all those who have admired Peter for his astonishing creaon of two fabulous ﬁshing establishments over 35 years – this book is for you.

Sandy Leventon, well - known former editor of the indispensable Trout & Salmon Magazine has read the book: his views are on the back cover. Double Delphi contains plenty of incident. There are fishy tales of course; some people great and good; some perhaps less so; a gold rush; legal drama; financial drama; conflict and personality ‘ mis - alignments ’; and in amongst it all, hard work, success, craic and good mes as Peter bestrides the Atlanc with his ambious twin piscine pro- jects. There seems to be a lot of whiskey along the way, too.

Many readers will head straight to the index at the back of the book, looking eagerly to see if their own roles in the Delphi sagas have been recorded. They will be disappointed: there isn ’ t an index! But the chapter headings are promising, and include Of Lice & Men; Princes & Papers; Stars & Gripes; and Bahamian Rhapsody. And there are two secons with plenty of photographs (many historic) to enjoy.

Fish Tales - Like Buses The connuing story of Editor Rob ’ s pursuit of his Holy Grail, a 30 pound salmon. There were no takers to join the RWFF editor for a last minute trip to the Yokanga in Russia ’ s Kola Peninsula in early August. Due to the extreme late spring and huge water levels cancelling the early weeks, an extra 7 days had been slapped onto the end of the salmon fishing season and was offered to the fishing public at an encing price. Despite resolutely NOT planning to fish Russia this year, my

24 quest for the holy grail of salmon ﬁshing, a 30 pound Atlanc salmon (frequently menoned in this mag!) meant that I was a hopeless, gullible case. It COULD be amazing they said. But it COULD also be a huge gamble, I thought, as all things salmon ﬁshing are never guaranteed.

Fantasy Fishing Don ’ t believe when you see the glossy brochures, the heroic anglers holding magnificent trophy fish that that will be you when you go. Or that you just have to cast 10 yards into a Russian river and you ’ ll catch fish. “ Russia! that ’ s cheang ” some will say. As a salmon nut since the 1980’ s and a visitor to Russia some 16 mes on various rivers in the Kola, I can assure you that this fishing is as extreme, arduous and as skilful as it gets. Requiring good long casts in oen difficult winds, tricky wading in powerful rivers, knowledge of the river and its pools, rapids, riffles and runs, and to sck at it day in and day out. Good results are never assured.

Sure, there are some rivers along the southern coast on the Kola where large numbers of small salmon are possible on certain weeks, but mostly, it ’ s as tough as it gets and as with all salmon fishing results can be in the lap of the gods. Weather, temperature, water levels and dates are as important factors here as they are in Scotland or elsewhere. Expensive, no doubt, but I have spent weeks in Scotland on flooded or low rivers paying hard earned cash to watch a coffee coloured water rage past, or to see it ’ s bare bones with ‘ nae fish ’ and being told “ ye ’ re wasng yer me laddy ” by an embarrassed gillie.

Look at any fantasy trip write up or adversement and you ’ ll see happy anglers holding huge fish: - double figure brown trout from Iceland, 100 pound tarpon from Florida, hey GT ’ s in the Sey- chelles, ‘ grander ’ marlin from the barrier reef, and 30 pound salmon from Eastern Canada, Norway and Russia. These images lead one to imagine that we can book a trip and we too will catch these monsters. Of course, these results are by no means certain (see John Baer ’ s report on tarpon fishing in Florida for example) these feats are indeed achievable but only a few lucky souls get the condions right and succeed first me, second me or even at all. The rest of us have to put in the hours and the do the travelling and hope that, one day all the condions and luck will be with us.

I remember seeing a video of spent gnat fishing on Lough Arrow in Ireland. Where skilful anglers would silently row their boats within casng range of huge wild trout feeding at dusk and then expertly casng a dying mayfly imitaon to huge slurping fish with perfect presentaon then to have it gulped down by a gargantuan trout. The perfect dream of wild fly fishing. When I visited this Lough some years later, anxious to do the same, locals would tell me ‘ oh to be sure, we have- n ’ t had condions like that since 1979!!’ In other words, it can happen but don ’ t expect it as normally it doesn ’ t.

GWFFA members Chris Bobby and Leanne spent a good few years searching for GTs in the Sey- chelles ll they had suitable condions and a reasonable presence of fish and finally caught some ( see story in previous Big Puddle 2015 ). “ If it was easy it ’ d be called catching ”. I ’ ve done reasonably well over the years fishing for Atlanc salmon in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Eastern Canada and Russia, put the me in, fished hard and somemes had fish, but the elusive ‘30+’ had never been achieved. Aer much thought, surrendering to my salmon addicon, I realised that I had to go, so I did. Aer the rigmarole of geng a new passport and obtaining a Russian visa, on July 25 th I was heading back to the Yokanga in the tundra of arcc Russia to join a friendly bunch of strangers; Norwegian, Icelanders, Germans, Scots, and me on what must be one of the finest salmon rivers on the planet. The report? Well not all good news for the team.

25 The ﬁshing didn ’ t realise its promise, with catch numbers well down from what was hoped for.

It seemed that the salmon had either gone far up- stream, or had their heads down sulking, or hadn ’ t come up from the estuary, or they ’ d been poached by the Norwegians, or the villagers on the coast, or aacked by seals.

There were more theories than fish it seemed. In the end it ’ s fishing aer all, and this was just a tough season for many rivers out there. 10 rods caught 61 fish. An amazing result if you were in Scotland but this river should be giving an average catch of possibly 15 - 20 fish per rod per week at this me if you can fish ok, and these guys were all good fishers. One reason for the lower catch rate was that the grilse run hadn ’ t materialised, so while numbers were down, the average size was high. So, how did it go for the intrepid salmon nut?

Well, on the Tuesday I landed my fantasy fish, and an epic fight resulted in a fish of 30pounds weighed and measured at 110cms on a small Willie Gunn tube in Norcamp pool. Then on the Thursday I had another even bigger fish, this me weighing at 32 pounds and 112cms on a 10’9” #7 weight switch rod and a small red francis double from Poachers pool. A beast of a fish, landed aer long chase, er, make that ‘ hobble ’ over large boulders aer the giant salmon which decided it wanted to head back to the sea down a 150 yard rapid. (5 hours earlier I ’ d lost an even bigger one, heading for 40 pounds! Which snatched the fly as I was stripping the line in to recast, always a problem for a good hook hold.)

All together your editor had 10 salmon from 8 - 32 pound in a week. Sounds amazing, and it indeed was, but let ’ s not forget the mossies, the aching back/knees/shoulders/ the lack of sleep and the thousands of casts per day, the falling in (twice!), plus the 35 ‘ pracse years ’ preparing for this moment. No one said it would be easy! So what ’ s next? It ’ d be great to catch a silver one, but these fish come into the river 4 weeks earlier and those weeks are even more astronomically expensive and also, the chance of extreme weather spoiling things is greater in the early weeks. In future edions we ’ ll report on why these rivers are so prolific for big salmon and of the care and investment that the Russians are giving to these Northern fly fishing resources. The headwaters of

Like buses, you wait 35 years for one and two come along at once!! these remote rivers are a mecca for dry ﬂy enthusiast also, for the huge wild brown trout which inhabit this prisne environment. Anyone interested in accompanying Rob next July to the Yokan- ga, please get in touch.

… Last Cast - Look Forward to Winter Last season we had excellent ﬁshing right though ll January 31 st , what will this year be like. Send us your reports, pictures, trip features and we ’ ll be pleased to add it to your next Big Puddle. Rob Waddington Editor. [email protected]

Chairman: Chris Evans, [email protected] Treasurer: Paul Wild, 33 Kelthorpe Close, Ketton, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 3RS. Tel: 01780 720308 or e - mail: [email protected] Minute Secretary: Peter de Kremer. Tel: 01572 - 724873 or e - mail: [email protected] Secretary: John Wadham, 6 Mendip Road, Oakham, LE15 6NN. Tel: 01572 771092 e - mail: [email protected] Editor: Rob Waddington, The Lodge, North Shore, Rutland Water Rut- land, LE15 8AB. Tel: 01572 722422 or Mob: 07711 182853. or e - mail: [email protected]