Wild Beginnings

wildthumbWhat is the best way to introduce youngsters to fly fishing? Well, as a youngster in the 1960s none of my relatives fished, so me and my pals had to do it all ourselves. We, like most kids, started off bait fishing and gradually, over the years, progressed to become fly fishers. Sadly, many of the type of places we fished back then - old quarry holes, burns, small pools and lochs - have been filled in, suffered from agricultural pollution or water abstraction (courtesy of the more lunatic EU CAP subsidies), or have become stocked rainbow trout fisheries that are well out of the price range of youngsters who are not accompanied by adults.Others have been taken over by that insidious curse of angling known as "the syndicate", whose members may be the first to complain about kids hanging around idly on street corners and great at suggesting they find something better to do; as long as it's not fishing on their own  hallowed water, of course. 6All in all, things are not as rosy as they once were for kids who fancy taking up fishing on their own and enjoying the sense of adventure and discovery that we of previous generations took for granted.

I started my two sons off fishing about 10 years ago. At 11 and 13, both were old enough to start off fly fishing from day one and skip the bait stage; they tried bait fishing later and found it boring. I avoided taking them to stocked fisheries mainly because I felt that these places, although they can be good fun for 10 minutes or so, might give young anglers unrealistic expectations of the size of fish one might expect to catch out in the real world. Selfishness, I must confess, was also a factor, as teaching them to fish on wild waters would be a lot more fun for me.

Our very first trip was a week up in Assynt, Sutherland in late July. This is a wonderful place to take youngsters. Hundreds of lochs of every level of ease or difficulty, out of the car access or long hike and run by a far sighted angling association that allows accompanied kids under 16 to fish for free. They know this is an investment for the future. All of the fishing on this first trip was done on lochs 2Borrelan, Urigil and Cam. Lots of small, easy to catch, wild brownies that kept the boys enthralled for all of that week. Kids can get bored easily if it's not "happening", so rather than sicken them with endless hours of fishing, we fished in the mornings, took the afternoons off to do something else, went back out for a few hours in the evening, then rounded it off with a few pints – they, much to their disgust, were on the soft drinks! This worked very well.

3During that first week, they both caught fish but their casting technique needed some "development". I am no casting instructor; I had taught them enough to get a line out but that was about as far as I could take them.

The following spring we decided to have an early long weekend up in Caithness. Seizing this opportunity, I booked the boys a private lesson with Lesley Crawford, who spent ½ day with them, taking them through basic casting and loch fishing techniques. The result was a revelation. OK, they were not suddenly winning casting competitions, but the difference was remarkable and I would recommend that anyone who is starting off should get a few lessons from a professional right at the start. It makes all the difference.

 For the next few seasons we returned to Assynt. Early July 2001 was particularly 4 successful for them, getting them out in boats and hitting the mayfly hatches when the fish can be especially suicidal. We trekked over to more remote small lochs, often fishing two or three in a single day and this also helped to keep anticipation levels high. If the fish were not playing on one loch, we could nip over and try another. Incidentally, I bought life jackets for both, figuring that I would get into less trouble at home if I took both of them back at the end of the holiday.

One year I booked a larger self catering chalet and took one of their pals along too. Interesting that he was a fairly accomplished caster but had only ever fished for stocked rainbows prior to this. He did not do very well to start with and, watching him, I figured the trouble was too much false casting, spookng the fish – even the small ones. Although this did not stop him catching stocked rainbows, which were probably more accustomed to the presence of people, the wild trout were having none of it. Less false casting and shorter casts helped solve the problem. This may be a point worth bearing in mind if introducing someone to wild trout fishing who has previously only fished for farm raised fish.

1And today? Well, my oldest son Gordon is  now 23, after a short sabbatical, is keener than ever. The younger, Martin, 21, is now at university. When he is home we still get out for a cast or two, although he usually insists on getting out to the wild waters, which, if loch fishing,  means a lot of driving for a day trip. Definitely worth it though.

Assynt is definitely a good venue choice for introducing novices, especially youngsters, to wild trout fly fishing and I would recommend the following waters to start with: Loch Borrelan for bank and boat fishing - it is stuffed with a good range of fish sizes and is roadside accessible; Loch Urigil – good boat fishing but also great bank fishing with safe wading; Cam Loch, locally known as Loch Cama (the twisted or bent loch) - take the boat out and stick around the islands but watch out for rocks, just under the surface, on which it is very easy to run aground (believe me I have done so often). The open part of the loch may daunt beginners and kids, especially if it is windy.   5 Loch Beannaich is a half hour walk over rough ground, but great from the boat and very sheltered in amongst the islands close to the boat mooring – watch out for massive slabs of rock that will remove your propeller, even far out in the loch – go slowly and you will be fine. There are of course many other suitable places, but on those I have mentioned even the most rank beginner is pretty much guaranteed to catch a few fish.

Can't say I'm disappointed how it turned out, instilling a love of wild places is just as important as the fishing itself and my advice to anyone talking kids out would be this: Get half decent tackle (they will outgrow a crap, floppy rod in less than one season – mine did); always have a backup plan; when they are young, break up the day as much as possible; if, like me, you are not a good teacher, get them a few casting lessons with an instructor; start them off with one fly and have plenty of spare casts made up ready to change; don't bog them down with lots of knot tying and stuff like that to start with and be prepared not to fish yourself, as much of the time will be spent sorting out their problems.

Taking the first steps in fly fishing in such places, to my mind, gives kids a realistic and adventurous start to their fishing career, will not create false expectations and will hopefully call them back year after year for the rest of their lives.

Fred Carrie started fishing in the mid 1960's, hillwalking in the 1970's and has been combining the two on and off ever since.

Fred runs the successful Wild Fishing Scotland web site and enjoys the hike up to the wild hill lochs as much as the fishing itself. The more uncharitable members of his family and friends say that is perhaps just as well.

Fred lives in Donside, Aberdeenshire with wife Monika.