Winter angling takes some thought and preparation. Water temperatures will impact how you fish your fly. And air temperatures will force you to pay attention to your clothing and wading gear.
In winter fishing, success is often measured in the experience. Meeting the conditions and stealing a day outdoors is a great way to lessen the sting of this foreboding season. But a good day in the winter isn’t about beating the conditions as much as adapting and being absorbed into the winter landscape and to appreciate the range of nature’s splendor.
to the famous rivers in the North of Scotland, the Tay, Dee and particularly the River Spey, these beautiful rivers with their fast flow were perfectly suited the fishing the fly.
This is when it hit me that the bigger classic rivers I now fished needed a good technique to cover them properly with any density of fly line to have any measure of success. I have made many friends on my angling journey and from the early days I was determined that this type of fishing was where I wanted to be. I had to teach myself how to spey cast properly!! This was my main goal, so as you have gathered I am self taught. I was given sound advice on my way, and observed and learned from many of the great Ghillies who knew their stretches of river like the back of their hands, I made it my goal to be succeed and cover the water effectively knowing the river and its moods in all heights of water. I feel now that when I fish the fly on any river, I can cover the water effectively and to the best of my ability, giving me the chance of catching that elusive Atlantic Salmon.
Today I feel very lucky, as over the last 30 years I have been on waiting lists and moved up the ladder and have accessed the finest fly fishing at the peak times in Scotland. I now work full time in the industry and have my own fishing tackle company producing the finest fly fishing equipment, known as Gaelforce Flyfishing which is the culmination of 35 years hands on experience in the industry, with my Scottish and Irish connections over the years this was a fitting name. First and foremost, I am a fisherman!! With a passion for distance casting, I design my own fishing rods and fly lines for anglers who have no interest in anything other than catching fish, this is the toughest audience to please as they require top quality perfectly balanced easy to use and effective tackle, I feel I have this base covered. Then there is the distance casting and competition scene, which I play in big part in, this is the formula one of fly casting, where innovation of new equipment, line design and perfect techniques yield huge distances. It is this part of the business that pushes the envelope and many of the designs are scaled down and used in the modern day fishing equipment and design today, so it plays a very important role in my tackle design.