Just one fly - what would you choose?

I have just been invited to fish in a British version of the One Fly Event that is held every year in the US. The UK event is being organised by Simon Cooper who runs Fishing Breaks, a Hampshire-based agency that organises chalk stream beat bookings.

Simon has fished in the US event, held every year over two days at Jackson Hole in Wyoming when 160 anglers compete in 40 teams. The novel rule for this competition is that each angler is allowed only one fly for the duration of the event although they may choose the fly with which they will fish.

"I went one year and a woman who was fishing from a boat lost her fly on the very first cast. You can imagine the sinking feeling you have when that happens," says Simon.

Yes, I can imagine that, which is why I fear that I will be spending most of the British competition watching everyone else from the banks of the Test where it will be held towards the end of April.

I can lose flies as I'm tying them to the line. My eyesight is not good and tiny trout flies can be really fiddly. I can be standing on a river bank with green fields everywhere, not a tree in sight, I make my back cast and, bugger, it's stuck in a tree. Trees creep up on you, I'm convinced.

It's going to be too early for the Mayfly but I imagine I will need something robust.There's tippet strength to think about too.

It's an interesting concept because it will force competitors to exercise extreme care when casting - something they should be doing anyway. My problem is that it usually takes me a while to relax. Added to that will be the anxiety created by a fear of losing my fly, so really I have no chance.

Simon has competed in the US for the past three years and has lost his fly once, not a bad record.

So now I have four months to think about my choice of fly. What's it going to be? If you were fishing a chalk stream in late April with the option of just one fly that could not be replaced, what would you choose. Imagine you're fishing for your life. Scary isn't it.

Here's a link to my FT column relating to this blog.

Restoring Nelson's River

Thames Water has agreed to spend £500,000 on restoring and improving the River Wandle over the next 5 years, after the company admitted responsibility for killing thousands of fish when bleach leaked in to the river in September.

The Anglers’ Conservation Association that led the negotiations with Thames Water, says it is the biggest settlement in the ASA’s history.

The Wandle, that today flows through an urban landscape in south London, is a historic chalk stream where Admiral Lord Nelson once fished and where Frederic Halford perfected the art of fishing with a dry fly.

The funding has been apportioned in the following way:
• £7,000 project funding for a local education project;
• £10,000 in compensation for the two angling clubs;
• £30,000 to meet the costs of restocking and an ongoing survey to assess damage to the river’s ecology;
• £200,000 core funding for the Wandle Trust to include support for the cost of an employee who will raise additional project funding to deliver access and habitat improvements along the length of the river;
• £250,000 over 5 years for a restoration fund to support local projects to improve the river environment;
• Investment in failsafe measures at Beddington Sewage Treatment works to prevent pollution like this happening again in the future;

The ASA says the announcement will have no bearing on any future criminal prosecution of Thames Water by the Environment Agency for the incident.

Theo Pike (yes this really is his name), Trustee of the Wandle Trust and Senior Vice President of the Wandle Piscators said: “September 17 was a catastrophe for the Wandle, but we are now delighted to be entering into this 5-year habitat rehabilitation project with Thames Water and the Environment Agency. “

Nothing can bring back the lost fish but the agreement should mean that the river’s restoration has suffered a setback rather than a disastrous reversal. Moreover it underpins an important corporate commitment to river health and a new sense of partnership that looks promising for the future.


Corporate responsibility and river pollution.

Fishing notes

Welcome to my new fishing blog, Tight Lines. Up to now I have written fishing notes within my original blog, Donkin Life. These include references to fishing trips in Mongolia, Norway, Scotland and Newfoundland, often as they happen.

From now on I am separating my fishing notes so that those who are only interested in angling news and references need look no further than these pages. I shall continue to post on my web site the fishing column that appears monthly in the Financial Times.

But in the coming weeks look out for an update to the fishing section with the addition of new links and features. The second blog on this page is news from the River Wandle, transferred from Donkin Life.

I'm hoping that future notes will also be a little more informative with more links. If the notes on Mongolia appear a little thin it is because the meat must wait until my article from the trip has appeared in the FT's How to Spend It Magazine in May.