Outside Days » trout

Blowing Away the Cobwebs: Do You Know How to Reach Your Sporting Agent?

Howard — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:11:52 +0000

Are your rifle, gun and rod gathering dust? Fear not. With an email or a phone call you can enter a season of great sportfulness.

There’s fishing on southern chalkstreams from infamous like the Test and Itchen to more obscure waters like the Piddle and Ebble. Or maybe pulling the trigger 500 times in a sunny summer’s day is more your speed? Simulated game days are afoot with dates for scratch days and whole teams available. And of course the roe season is peeking a wary head around the corner.

If packing your suitcase and escaping these shores for foreign climes appeals, we are still booking trips to South Africa and Argentina, Spain and Croatia. Within a couple of hours’ drive of Buenos Aires, you can be engaging in high volume dove shooting that will leave your heart racing and barrels hot. In Croatia, you can dabble your toes in the Med before heading inland to tackle the migratory quail over pointers.

A word of warning to the procrastinators out there: shooting is booking up fast for the coming season. Giving me the heads up can make the difference between a lovely day in the field or one spent on the sofa watching cartoons with the kids. As always, if I can help please get in touch.

Thomas Cook Has Nothing On Us

Howard — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 21:47:04 +0000

Before you start shaking your head about the cost of foreign travel (never mind sporting holidays) and cleaning your weapons in preparation for mothballing, have a look at Outside Days out of season sporting breaks. After all, I didn’t get a can of WD40 for my birthday because I am a frivolous spendthrift.
Texas
No. 2′s nationality has nothing to do with my passion for this vast state and the varied sport it offers (her kind cling to the coasts). From quail over pointers to hogs in high seats and bass from boats, there is literally sport to be had 365 days of the year. Packages can be as simple or complex as you like: take in multiple venues or be based from one camp, devote yourself to one quarry or sample a plethora of sporting opportunities. In 2011, start from $250USD a day.

Argentina
The high volume dove shooting in Argentina needs very little introduction, nor does Tierra del Fuego and its enormous sea trout. But it wouldn’t be an Outside Days adventure if we hadn’t explored every nook and cranny to bring you sport off the beaten track. The pampas holds enormous trophy reds and antelope that will have the stalkers dreaming, and Patagonia’s stunning trout rivers and freshwater lakes will take the ardent flyfisherman by surprise. Whether iconic Argentinian sport or a diversion from convention gives you the shivers, we can take you there with 2011 excursions starting at $450USD a day.

South Africa
Last year’s guinea pig trip is this year’s strong contender for the best boys trip away, offering huge value that almost matches the bag. We offer a range of South African options from the luxe and plush colonial to the no-frills lodge experience. From wildebeast to dove and all sizes of fur and feather in between, we’ve got a southern African trip to suit. And the meager hour time difference means no jet lag! With 2011 African experiences available from £1,600 for a week, you can trade the heat of the British spring and summer for the balmy African winter.

Croatia
With the amount of time I spent there last year and the fun I had, I’m considering registering as a Croatian citizen. They think nothing of waking before dawn to pursue quail over pointers, then heading to the Dalmatian coast for a bit of spearfishing and baitfishing, or to icy mountain streams for trout before returning for another bash at the birds. Add chamois, moufflon, boar and woodcock to the sporting menu and it represents pretty amazing value within a couple of hours of London. Let’s be honest, that’s closer than the big Devon high bird shoots (for most of us), and with two days of sport starting at 900euros in 2011, a LOT more affordable.

If any of these sporting destinations appeal to you, please get in touch so we can help you customise a trip to suit.

******CALLING ALL GUINEA PIGS******
If you like the unexpected, the bargain, the occasional compromise, and expressing your considered opinions in a constructive way, this is for you.

Every year, we add a few new strings to our bow. And, as you would expect from us, everything is road tested before we offer it to the wider world. The road test dummies, affectionately known as guinea pigs, get bargain trips to stunning (well, we hope) locations. In exchange, they tolerate me and the unforeseen. Risks have included dodgy transfers, mystery meat, unusual food combining (banana, ham and salad cream sandwiches), local games, and patchy sport. On the other hand, we’ve had enormous bags of a diversity of birds, real bargains, made some new friends around the globe, and no shortage of laughter.

Providing I have enough of you volunteer to be experimented on, the 2011 offerings include:
* Flyfishing for trout on the rivers in Bosnia
* A three day barbel on the dry-fly trip to Spain. Yes, you read that right, my fantasy fishing experiment has been made a reality by the Spaniards.
* Partridge, taimen and antelope, the Mongolian McGenghis, for the really adventurous.

Sign up now to join the doughty band of adventurers named after a children’s pet. You, too can be an Outside Days guinea pig.

Guest Blogger: Tony does the Kharlovaka

Howard — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 18:51:59 +0000

This guest blog has us joining Tony Watson on the banks of the Kharlovka in Russia in his continuing pursuit of THE fish: an enormous salmon. Just how big is enormous is a question we’ve been asking Tony for years as he travels the globe after the elusive fish of a lifetime.

Try as I might, I just couldn’t get my Spey cast to come together. The more effort I put in, the more it went wrong. This was turning into a disaster…and I was less than an hour in.

I was fishing in August on the Kharlovka, one of Russia’s northern rivers situated on the famous Kola Peninsula. The northern rivers have a repuation for being challenging to fish. Less prolific than their southern counterparts in terms of numbers, they yield much larger multi-sea-winter fish. I didn’t want to catch a lot of fish: I was looking for the fish.

This was my quest for the week, assuming I could ever get my fly into the water. Eventually my fishing partner, Sean Clark, lit another cigarette and waded out to join me. “Calm down and stop dropping your rod tip when you bring your cast to the stop.” The line formed a tight loop and I finally started to cover the water, easy.

We fished down the pool together and I could finally relax and start to enjoy myself. I drank in my surroundings and reflected on the prospects for the week ahead. The first part of which we’d enjoy in the comforts of the lodge on the Kharlovka, and the second would see us helicopter to the nearby Litza and tented accommodation. As I considered what lay in store, I felt the familiar tap…tap as my line started to draw away: a fish! Not the monster I was looking for, but as I safely returned the fish, I had the feeling I was in for a good week.

Set in pristine tundra, the rivers here are achingly beautiful and leave you feeling this must have been what salmon fishing was like everywhere a couple of hundred years ago. Challenging to fish in parts, the rivers required some tricky wading and long casts, but this made all the more thought provoking and rewarding an experience. As the week slipped by, the rivers lived up to their reputation. One memorable afternoon saw a fellow anger land a personal best of 31lbs to be followed down the pool by his companion, who then caught a fish of 35lbs out of the same lie (I felt satisfied enough ending the week with my own personal best of 20lbs and several smaller fish to boot). The Kharlovka and Liza are truly fisherman’s rivers where you’re only ever a cast away from something amazing.

If you want to join Tony in his pursuit of GARGANTUAN salmon and trout, he’ll be leading a few trips to various prime big fish locations each year. Get in touch!

Icelandic Waters

Howard — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 15:55:28 +0000

Infamous for its volcanoes and salmon fishing, Iceland offers the angler outstanding sea trout, brown trout and even arctic char to accompany the legendary leaper. Outside Days offers a range of fishing opportunities from June to October in a number of noted rivers including the Tungulaekur, the Minnivallalaekur, the Galtalaekur, the Breiodalsa and the Jokla. Explore the wild beauty of Iceland rod in hand.

As you would expect from us, packages combining several rivers and species are available and as always we are only too happy to tailor a package to suit. We use a number of lodges, most on a river’s edge, and all designed to provide maximum comfort for guests. Whether your pleasure is wild trout reaching 16lbs, salmon heading for 30lbs, or sea run char and trout in any combination, we are happy to oblige.

Cold Croatian Trout

Howard — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 13:30:56 +0000

Determined to use every bit of kit I’d hauled to Croatia, I arranged with Ana to flick fluff in the River Krka. Little did I know when she offered to arrange guides she’d come up trumps with half of the Croatian fly fishing squad.

Cocky in my packing and my low tech approach to fishing in sunshine in the mid 30s, I’d packed Crocs and swimming trunks intending to wet wade. What I hadn’t counted on was a constant water temperature of a balmy 9 degrees. Thank God for prepared guides and neoprene waders. Appropriately kitted out, I leapt into the shallows…only to find myself waist deep. Crystal clear water makes it impossible to judge distance and depth. While you would think I would have learned my lesson, I had a series of near dunkings that kept my guides in stitches and Ana in giggles (fortunately, the disparaging insults required no translation as she was breathless with mirth).

Lack of a common tongue and Ana’s inability to translate technical fisherspeak led to an amusing half hour of ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ as we compared tackle boxes. I’d packed my Orvis Zero Gravity 5 weight as a precautionary measure (it is my go-to rod for new and unknown situations), and a Mach reel. Casting wet nymphs in every direction, I was trying all sorts to get the measure of these tricksy Croatian trout. It was only when light levels dropped with the onset of dusk that fish started rising to flies on the surface that I had any success. Having switched to dry flies with the first rise, I spent my last hour before dark picking my way upstream from one fish to the next (scrupulously avoiding pools).

Despite near-drownings and a novice Ana catching the biggest fish of the evening, I’m sold on the joys of Croatian water…although I may add thermal legging to the suncream and snorkelling kit next time.

One Season Closes, Another Opens

Howard — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:39:23 +0000

When Britain mothballs game shooting for the season, my attentions turn to sport further afield, and to the next season looming on the horizon – a summer of game clays and fishing for trout and salmon.

While you’ve been reliving the season past over a pint and cleaning your gun for the final time, I’ve been to the GP to arrange shots and contemplated packing for a guinea pig trip to South Africa in May. Never one to live in the present, I had the details of that trip sewn up with my Christmas shopping: now I’m firming up plans for trips to Croatia in early August. Better known for boar and deer (which we can also arrange), Croatia is also home to a species of quail so small that disturbed coveys have been described as swarming bees. Cheap flights to parts of Croatia have made bargain sporting breaks a tempting prospect. We’ll be putting together teams to go to locations near Split and Zagreb in pursuit of these tiny dynamos. The sport will be quail over pointers at either end of the day (avoiding midday heat), and ‘cultural’ activities in between. As always with pointers, the ideal team size is 4, and the standard package is 2 days sport, 3 nights accommodation. If birds the size of angry bees are your thing, get in touch.

When game birds become protected species on February 2nd, trigger fingers across the country begin to itch through lack of use. Simulated game, or game clays as I like to call them, provides the remedy for many of you each year. From April until mid-July we offer days on several locations in the South, or we can bring the sport to you. Unlike driven shooting where the line is limited to 6 to 10 guns, we work on 12 to 18. Perfect for everything from team building to wedding guest amusement, we’ve organised days for it all. From fully catered with wait staff and candelabras to picnics in a hay barn or sandwiches from the boot, we can do it all. For the lone gun or incomplete line, we have a number of scratch days throughout the simulated season. Get in touch if firing upwards of 400 cartridges a day sounds like fun.

My sporting passion began with rod and line, and every year as the buds burst and the days lengthen I am drawn back to my roots on the river bank. Whether your pleasure is still water or river, novice or experienced fisherman, we have opportunities to flick fluff at trout for all. Days are booking up rapidly, but remember you can always fit in an evening’s sport after the office closes with some of our waters catering to the afterhours fisherman.

Devonshire Flyrod McNab: Freshwater

Howard — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:57:48 +0000

We wrote this blog more than a year ago, but had to hold off sharing it with you for editorial reasons. Now, in the gloomy rain of autumn, it seems appropriate to hark back to summers gone, and dream of the ones to come. As I have observed when trying to justify my attempts to catch barbel on the fly, fishermen invent new challenges when bored. The Arundell Arms staff, passionate about their flyfishing, have invented the Devonshire Flyrod McNab: brown trout, sea trout and sea bass on the fly in a day. I’ve been desperate to visit the infamous Arms since I was 10 and keen to learn to flyfish. Needless to say, my parents couldn’t be convinced to send their kid off to Devon on his own, and had no interest in accompanying me, so I had to satisfy myself with drooling over their brochures. Thirty years on, Anne Voss-Bark was kind enough to invite me and Number Two to stay and attempt the McNab.

The 2008 season was a challenging one on the spate rivers, with the constant rain making conditions unpredictable, but I packed my rods in great anticipation, and headed west. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of staying at the Arundell Arms, it is famed as much for its fabulous food and hospitality as for the 20 miles of fishing on the Tamar and its tributaries.

Conditions on the Tamar resembled the Nile in flood, ruling out any night time adventures as the water was just too dangerous to fish for sea trout in the dark. Come the morning, it was apparent we would have to be clever with our fly choice to tempt salmonids of any flavour to take. Needless to say after several hours of dangling Pilkington Bumbles (our ghillie’s foolproof invention) in likely spots, we conceded defeat and beat a hasty retreat to the welcoming arms of the bar. Under fishing paraphernalia that would make the most accquisitory collector blush, we plotted and schemed the salty part of the day’s challenge.

A Lewis Year: Four Seasons Six Species One Day

Howard — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Fortunately, excursions to the Outer Hebrides aren’t made or broken by the weather…for dour folk, the Hebrideans are weather optimists: whatever comes next, it won’t be the same twice. Very like the sport. After grouse, the odd snipe or passing plover, and a whatever the collective noun is for 3 salmonid species, we’d stretched FlyBe’s weight limit with kit and headed north.

All I can say is we didn’t see snow. There were plenty of coveys – Scottish National Heritage‘s commitment to mink trapping real seems to be paying off with groups of 5 or 6 replacing the twos and threes of previous seasons (turn numbers are on the up, too). The wind was determined to make its presence a factor: moments of absolute stillness, broken by the midges, had the dogs befuddled by lack of scent. A couple of hours later, and we had birds out-racing Superman and needed elastic for our hats. In between, we managed some excellent shooting, bagging braces of birds in great condition.

The variety of fishing normally offered by the island’s lochs, burns and rivers from boat and shore was supplemented by the challenge of a generous wind. It provided some excellent gifts (two minutes of video of our man in the Hebrides clinging to a rock by his prehensile Northern toes, fishing all the while…priceless), and plenty of brown trout. Their larger cousins rolled at the occasional fly, but stayed warm and wet out of the wind.

Well worth it for the sighting of a sea eagle and a peregrine sharing the same sky, not to mention stags, seals and numerous golden eagles, we still have a couple of spaces for walked up woodcock for this season, and are booking up fast for next year’s grouse over pointers. Get in touch and go wild.

Casts From a Gravel Path: Sea Trout in Low Water

Howard — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 12:37:39 +0000

Way back in the grim castless days of last season when Toby the Pedant suggested we explore the sea trout possibilities of his local waters, it seemed a fabulous idea. I rounded up some willing guinea pigs, and we made for the wilds of the West Country. The perils of planning a water-dependent venture so far in advance (more than a couple of days) are always amplified when fishing spate rivers like Devon’s. A lovely and DRY spring had Toby praying for rain.

As always, when the rain came, it came too late for the fish, but in plenty of time to drench the fishermen. We arrived for two days fishing and spent the first afternoon doing recognisance of the beats and access points while doing our best to tempt the odd wild brownie out from under the trees. It is always worth looking at a river you intend to fish in the dark BEFORE it gets dark…a river can change in character and lay of the land enormously in a short period of months. Better to identify the obstacles and hazards while you can see and avoid them rather than after you are standing in them. What we found was a sea trout pool with an enormous fallen tree in the middle of it (not there when Toby and I had explored in the spring), water moving so slowly that it was like fishing a pond, and the riffles between pools resembling gravel paths.

Despite the conditions, all five of us caught some brownies, but the sea trout were more elusive, probably queuing down at the river’s mouth waiting for the rain to raise water levels. We heard the odd splash, but only one sea trout was landed. The best bit about guinea pigs is their acceptance of the small pleasures of fishing: although we all had fun, before we offer this as a regular package we need to think long and hard about the impact of water level on these spate streams. Too little, and you find what we did. Too much, and it is like fishing the Nile: you are as likely to hook a hippo as a fish.

Salmon, trout and….tuna?!

Howard — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:37:35 +0000

With my son in an Irish boarding school, I have taken to haunting Ireland’s rivers and coast in search of perfect sporting opportunities. We’ve bagged two new jaunts based around Dingle Bay in County Kerry: salmon and trout on the lower stretches of the River Caragh and albacore tuna on the fly offshore.The Upper Caragh appears in the pages of Salmon & Trout on a regular basis, but until this season, the Lower Caragh was a net fishery. And fly fishing for tuna? The skipper caught the European record albacore in 2007 on lures and is absolutely convinced that the piscine champion of the northern seas will take to the fly.

There are no rod records for the Lower Caragh, so short of sticking a wet finger in the wind and guessing, we can only tell you the Upper Caragh records 250-300 salmon a year, and the net fishery was declaring a similar number. The river is dotted with the riffs, ripples and pools that make salmon fishing so exciting. Sea trout and brownies also run in the river, and there are an abundance of sea bass in the sea pool and estuary, making multispecies days a possibility.

For regular readers of these pages, you’ll know I’m easily goaded into non-traditional sporting challenges, egged on and accompanied by Special John, Kayak Nick, Tobias the Pedant and Tony. When I heard the nearby wildlife touring boat turned its hand to a little offshore tuna fishing for a few months a year, I had to challenge the captain. So he’d caught the European record…could he help me and anyone crazy enough to join me tackle tuna on the fly? He’s game…are you?

***there are still a few places for rods on a trip the first week in August to fish the Lower Caragh’s salmon run***