Home page About us Instruction Guiding Locations map Gift vouchers Prices Articles Contact us Accommodation Links	An appreciation of "Fly Fishing Outside the Box: Emerging Heresies" by Peter Hayes, published by Coch-y-Bonddu Books, Machyynlleth, 2013 Peter Hayes succeeds in his aim of encouraging anglers of all abilities to question what they have been told about fly fishing for trout. He doesn't expect the reader to agree with his conclusions, but urges them to avoid "... accepting a structure of supposed truths about fishing the fly ...". He has 30 years experience on English chalk streams. I come from a different background: the rivers and streams of Dartmoor; granite not chalk;  small wild brown trout with runs of larger sea trout. The last paragraph in the book answers the question most anglers ask at some time: "What flies should I use?". The list is hardly controversial: Parachute Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear etc. But the message I take from Chapter 12 ("Dry flies from outside the box") is to look at well established patterns, make an educated guess about why they are effective, and incorporate those design features into your own flies. I call this the Lloyd Morgan's Canon approach to fly design. For example, here is my Comparadun Tups. It looks a mess but it works for me. Why? It borrows elements from Tups Indispensible (body) and the Sparkle Dun (comparadun wing), but maybe it's simply due to my confidence in this fly. The book covers a wealth of interesting topics: Should the tippet be greased?; What's the best fly floatant?; using a slack line cast to aid presentation and prevent drag. Chapter 6 "How fish see the leader" argues that because a floating leader is less visible to trout we should not follow the conventional advice to de-grease the tippet. I must confess that I don't have strong feelings either way on this point. Personally I'm not convinced that trout react to the leader as a sign of danger. I would need to be convinced that tippet acted as a selection pressure that led to the evolution of 'leader shyness' in trout. Or that learning to avoid the leader is an example of "preparedness". But maybe I'm trapped inside a box of  evolutionary prejudices. I do hold eccentric  views on fly floatants (Chapter 7 'Whatever floats your fly'). I am a firm believer in the value of all the "faffing about" involved in applying this stuff to flies. Why? Because it wastes time, and wasting time is important after you have caught a fish, scared the 'bejeesus' out of its companions, and then hope to catch another from the same pool. Going through the ritual of drying the fly with an amadou patch, applying a water repellant powder, and finally applying a paste floatant all help to allow time for the pool and the angler to recover. Chapter 5 (Casting every which way - but loose) presents a convincing case for casting a loose leader and tippet to avoid drag. I confess that when I am instructing I do teach beginners to cast a straight line which the author describes as "exactly the opposite of what you want to achieve." Why do I do this? In two words, accuracy and speed. On my local rivers the angler needs to place the fly accurately and be prepared to react quickly to an offer. In the relatively shallow parts of our rivers it helps to be able to present a fly just outside the edge of the trout's window which can be around 12 inches in diameter. And it helps if the angler reacts quickly to  any offers. Slack line doesn't help in this situation. In fact I advise anglers to take up slack by raising the rod tip as the fly travels downstream. This can help to hook a fish that rises to the fly. I'm sure the slack line technique is the answer on chalk streams if a relatively long drag free drift is required. But on Dartmoor I might title Chapter 5: "Casting every which way but overhead" because of another of my heresies,  I encourage visitors to avoid false casting and use a roll rather than overhead cast. One problem with overhead casting is that flies inevitably get caught in trees and bankside vegetation. This can be particularly frustrating on small tree-lined westcountry rivers. Chapter 15 (Pushing the envelope: Mimicking the secrets of the trout's larder) resonates with me: the significance of small (hook size 20) chironomids in the diet of river trout; the challenge of creating artificials to represent simuliums (reed smuts and blackfly) and members of the glossomatidae family of caddis. These 'neglected' flies are common on rivers running off Dartmoor. There is a lot in this book that will interest readers curious about the history of fly fishing. Chapter 19 (Reading outside the box) is an enjoyable review of the origins of fishing with a dry fly. It may not tell you much about how to catch fish but it throws a cautionary light on the role of the ego in the history of fly fishing. Chapter 20 (Full circle with Tenkara) compares Tenkara with the original methods of fly fishing in Britain. The author suggests that Halford's Dry Fly Revolution killed off the long established Tenkara-like approach in Britain. I agree with the author that Tenkara is not  appropriate when large trout are expected.  But at least this chapter suggests a solution to a problem that I hope to face in the next few years: teaching a grandchild to fly fish for small wild Dartmoor trout- Tenkara looks the way to go.
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