Tackle Recommendations


Tackle Recommendations

Fly fishing


 

  • A rod between 9 foot six and 10 foot is adequate, preferably with a soft middle to tip action to control aggressive takes, absorb shock and protect leaders between 8 and 10 pounds.
  • Reels backed with a hundred yards of a minimum of twenty pound backing , as fish can grow quite large on this river and to reduce coiling of the fly line.
  • Weight forward floating fly lines between 6 and 8 depending on river conditions, and will enable roll casting which is all that is needed with tree canopy and other river obstacles.
  • A number of five foot poly leaders of different sink rates and densities, will be all you need to match river conditions.
  • Leader material - people tend to use Maxima 8lb ultra green and occasionally fluorocarbon, (but many people don’t trust fluorocarbon as it tends to snap due to poor abrasion resistance).  People may go slightly heavier in flood river conditions.
  • No one should go fishing without the means to remove a hook such as forceps or the very effective mitten clamps remove hooks; they will help you remove hooks safely and with minimal damage to our valuable fish.
  • Flies are a personal choice, though usually in summer small flies that include silver, gold, black, blue, orange and yellow such as a cascade, or silver stoat in small sizes can be effective but they need to be sparsely tyed.
  • In autumn slightly larger flies in size 10s or small tubes can work with a bit of red, orange and gold in the pattern and little more bushy in the tying.

 

With thanks to Peter Robinson for the above advice!


Safety


There are a number of flotation devices available to anglers, from fishing vests that self inflate if you fall in, to versions that rely on you pulling a toggle, to inflatable life perservers and devices that do not need inflation at all.  Members are recommended to review the optoins and consider the risks they face whilst on the river.


Spinning


Spinning rod - you could do worse than an 8' Diawa Whisker - you want something that will flick small Mepps accurately but with enough power to play a reasonable fish.



Net 


A number of members are very impressed with MacLean nets, particularly those with built in scales. We understand that some models may also have measurements on the handle too.


Removing hooks from trebles/doubles


Increasing numbers of members are looking for ways to reduce spinners with treble hooks to spinners with double or single hooks.  Here are some suggestions:

 

  • Safety first - both the methods we suggest can result in sharp bits of metal flying about - protect your eyes in particular and make sure that hooks/parts of hooks are properly tidied away so they cannot get stuck in your/your family's/your pets' feet etc
  • Method one - hold your treble and cut or break off the hooks you do not need.  We suggest that you ensure that the single remaining point is not the one that is welded on to the wire of the other two hooks on a treble as that is probably the weakest (have a close look before you start cutting).
  • Method two - if you think that the hooks spinners come with are poor (and some of us do), remove the complete hook by cutting through the eye of the hook (not the loop of the spinner to which it is attached).  Then attach a small split ring to the loop of the spinner and add your chosen hook to that split ring.
  • Tools - if you are doing a large number of spinners, you will find a pair of strong wire cutters much easier to use to cut off hooks than a pair of plyers.  If you use Method 2, a pair of narrow nosed plyers can be used to hold the split ring still while you thread the spinner and hook on to the split ring.  If you do this right, you can force the loop of the spinner (and then the eye of the new hook) into the split in the ring without using (and probably breaking) your finger nails.

 


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