Daily Cast Archive


On our way up North

Tracy&James - Sunday, June 30, 2024

Last weekend was the first BFCC day of the year and it was the most poorly attended one we've been to since we first found out about the club in 2009. Tracy and I travelled from North Wales to Kent, with an overnight stay to have a casting competition with just two others. We had discussions with the instructors, who also incurred travel expenses and gave up their time, about why attendances are falling through the floor and nobody had any real insights. It does mean that those attending for instruction pretty much get one-to-one tuition for as long as they want it. This situation is not sustainable long term though.

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White

Viking Lars - Saturday, June 29, 2024

A long time ago and couple of very experienced friends taught me most of what I know today about sea trout fishing in the rivers. I had caught sea trout before, but they handed me decades of knowledge and experience over a year or two. Some of it almost the direct opposite of what I had learned from other and from books.

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Finally something else

Mika Lappalainen - Friday, June 28, 2024

Reindeer markings seems to be done. Now I probably get time to casting practise, fishing and there are guiding bookings in. We have much higher water levels compared to normal and it makes fishing challenging now. At the same time fishing in early July looks better than normally. So win-win.

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Creamy

Martyn White - Thursday, June 27, 2024

The weird rainy season continues here, we're back to dry from Tuesday to Friday then pissing down from Friday till Monday. This Saturday and Sunday we had over 18" of rain, which meant Monday was a non starter on the river. But luckily we're getting ready for a run down to Okinawa so there's plenty to be getting on with.

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And there it was….. gone!

Chris Avery - Wednesday, June 26, 2024

For many of us in Old Blighty, even those amongst us blessed to earn our crust out of doors, and should know better, that longest day catches us unawares, unexpectedly flips over, and shoots tantalizingly past us in a humming,  anxiety rising, whoosh, like a looming and missed deadline in Oh-so-many-ways.

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Three Drills

Paul Arden - Tuesday, June 25, 2024

There I was today. Made what I thought was a nice video for the manual, and then while editing it, I thought I’d better check my use of the word “Autonomic” (nervous system) only to discover that this may be incorrect and so changed it to “Autonomous”. That’s what I like about life; you learn something you don’t know every day. At least I didn’t have to redo the complete video.

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Medina Lake

Andy Dear - Monday, June 24, 2024

“So lovely was the loneliness of a wild lake.” --Edgar Allen Poe

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Touché

Tracy&James - Sunday, June 23, 2024

As I write Tracy and I have just come back in after some last minute practice for the first BFCC competition of the year. Actually it should have been the second BFCC day but the first had to be cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch. As you're reading this we should hopefully be in Kent competing in the seven events that make up the championship. The forecast is for a very pleasant day weather-wise, although the light winds predicted will be good for the instructors and their clients rather than the competitors, who would much prefer a steady, strong wind.

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Norway status

Viking Lars - Saturday, June 22, 2024

I more than hinted to the worrying conditions in Norway in the opening weeks. It’s now 21 days since the season opened and there are still very few salmon migrating up stream. Nobody know why and there’s probably not one explanation or cause. Most likely it’s several colliding. The season is still long and we don’t know what’ll happen.

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It is Friday

Mika Lappalainen - Friday, June 21, 2024

“How it is going mate?” Ou shit, it's Friday. Thanks for reminding me. It is midsummer. This week has been busy and insane, not with fishing... with reindeers. We have reindeer marking going on.   Monday we were back from marking 2 am, well it was already Tuesday in fact. Then Wednesday we started other area 1 pm and finished that on Thursday 5 am. I had few hour sleep and out again. Thursday was like being really drunk without alcohol. That is normal life here at the moment.

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We're Not The Same

Martyn White - Thursday, June 20, 2024

This week we finally got a break from rainy season and as I had no other distractions I went out to the river. Normally, we'd be just getting the best of the mulberry hatch now, but as they came early this year they were almost done so I'd missed the best of it with the storms.

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That big fat Pike in the room is politics.

Chris Avery - Wednesday, June 19, 2024

My return to fishing the Nassington road bridge, apart from the mysterious gravel pile, had clear evidence of a lot of changes and improvements, and not by the club members. In my absence they had hired some one in , bought up a lot of Sweet Chestnut stakes in bulk and Hazel coppiced poles for using to make flow deflectors and protect the bank sides where they were eroding.

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Finally a Drill!

Paul Arden - Tuesday, June 18, 2024

This week’s Masterclass 2 video includes a drill, or possibly an exercise, or most likely a drill that turns into an exercise! Nowadays I think this is the first drill to do when first learning to flycast, but it’s not a bad exercise for anyone looking to tighten up their loops (or learn the underhand/pendulum/inverted loop!). The other exciting thing about this video is that you can see how fast the sun sets in Malaysia! Blink and you’ll miss it, apart from which, finding your way home again afterwards can be a problem, especially if you don’t know where you are when it happens.

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Father's Day

Andy Dear - Monday, June 17, 2024

Once a month or so, I have lunch with an old friend that I have known since the second grade. During the course of the conversation, he always asks about my family, and more specifically how my father is doing. Not long ago he confided in me how thankful he was that my father always included him in many of our fishing trips when we were young. His father wasn't much of an outdoors man, and he expressed how grateful he was to have been introduced to the sport by my dad, as it had quite a profound effect on him, and is still something he loves to do, even to this day.

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Passing the buck

Tracy&James - Sunday, June 16, 2024

This week there have been several news papers articles about water pollution. Many have been reporting about the over 6,000 incidents of English water companies expelling sewage from their plants during 'dry' spells within 2022, which is illegal in the UK. The companies are denying this of course and stating that the readings are a result of faulty monitors, however I'm not sure that they realise that this is worse. Faulty monitors, reporting incorrectly for a whole year, indicates their lack of concern about checking our water systems – if that is the real reason and not just an excuse by the companies. When I looked at the map of England as to where these incidents were located, I was concerned to note that many were on the Welsh-English border, and I wondered how the Welsh water authority had to deal with these incidents. Whereas the English water companies are profit led, Welsh Water is not. That said, they still have a poor record of pollution and many of the Welsh water systems are also as polluted as the English ones.

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Mass collision?

Viking Lars - Saturday, June 15, 2024

I hinted at it last weekend and I’ll expand on it here, even if it’s less than enjoyable weekend reading. Not only did we not catch anything - 125 years of salmon fishing experience combined, but in total very few salmon were caught on the Gaula. Sporadic catches throughout the week. All big fish as to be expected in the opening week, but only a few with lice and many caught far up the river which is no surprise the low water levels given. The most productive pool by far, the Gaulfosshøl caught maybe 5 fish the week we were there. That’s the huge pool just below the biggest water fall on the river - a place where even the freshest and strongest salmon hold before moving upstream. That is perhaps the strongest evidence that sonething’s wrong.

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One more time

Mika Lappalainen - Friday, June 14, 2024

Somewho late night again, camp fire, some drinks and then sleep. During the night I had visitors around hammock... monitor dragon lizard for sure and then either chipmunks or mouses. I didn't have good sleep, not even decent one.

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Cross Pollination 3

Martyn White - Thursday, June 13, 2024

Today we are migrating servers to a newer faster server and the Board will be closed for about 6hrs. I've had some family visiting Japan this week so haven't fished, although we're still getting so much rain that I'm not missing anything in the rivers. Chuck had a decent day on the float tube on Monday and it would have been nice to get out, instead I was indulging in all the food and drinks my system could handle.

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Poldark

Chris Avery - Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Despite the puzzling and mysterious transformations down the Brook, things for me now, were not all grim. Life had become about living again, and not brooding. Actively seeking the beauty in the world, rather than staring into its shadows. Tomorrows were to be cherished, welcomed, and savoured again!

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Getting to grips with the rod

Paul Arden - Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Another video for the manual. Drills start next week! This one has some advice on how to grip the rod as a beginner, and then later in the video, things to try as an experienced and intermediate level caster.

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Cross Pollination-2

Andy Dear - Monday, June 10, 2024

"There's a lot to learn from conventional anglers, and I'm sure there are other areas where we could increase our catch rates by really understanding what it is they're doing and adjusting our whole system to match it." ---Martyn White

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Chess

Tracy&James - Sunday, June 9, 2024

I've recently started playing a bit of chess online. I've played the game since I learnt as a child but I've never really had anyone to play against. Whilst growing up I was quickly able to beat my family although, to be honest, they were more interested in practising football or golf in the back garden than playing a 'boring' board game with me. Latterly I've had the odd game with Tracy but again the gulf in knowledge shows and these games have mostly been very one sided, and perhaps the willingness to get beaten again is hard to muster – she's great at backgammon though! As such, finding an online community where I can play games against players of a similar rating has been great.

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Heading home

Viking Lars - Saturday, June 8, 2024

I’m on my way back from a week’s fishing in Gaula, Norway. The opening week has passed and catches have been very low. Worryingly low, in fact. Some say catastrophically low, but let’s. The ice on the high mountains melted early and no rain came. The opening weeks can easily run with 300m3/s. By Monday we had less than 50, gin clear, bottle clear water. Usually rain is much better than drawing the salon up river. We did get a flood - still very few salmon.

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tearing the game shorts

Mika Lappalainen - Friday, June 7, 2024

This week has been farming week. We have one field which had to be renewed, about 2,5 hectares. Luckily on Sunday our friends came to help and pick it up most of the stones. Satu and I was celebrating my daughters’ graduation in south. Monday I finish it from stones. Tuesday we had some rain and after that I spread fertilizer on fields so we cet better hay for reindeer. Wednesday I spent whole day in tractor and got seeds and all afterwork done on renewable field... now we just wait that it will grow.

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Cross Pollination

Martyn White - Thursday, June 6, 2024

Our weather continues to be shitty; rainy season has firmly settled in, the rivers are swollen and brown and it's blowing a hooligan pretty much every day. I've not fished since that couple of hours I squeezed in last week. Awful.

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Life up in the Groynes has changed

Chris Avery - Wednesday, June 5, 2024

It wasn’t just the shifting gravels of the Nassington Road Bridge, life up in the Groynes had changed too, I discovered this as I waded up through the length of it early in that season back in the flowing waters of the Brook. Ever since that regular canalized channel that had been treated with 8 pairs of flow deflectors over a dozen years ago, we occasionally had to replace the odd one that had drifted away, either the post losing its mooring , or the mooring itself being worried out by the flows, and a new post needed driving in. It was a constantly shifting and developing channel being nudged into a new shape. Others, tightly bound branch faggots, had simply got squashed down, lower beneath the surface, as the new flows came up over them and eroded the bed to the rear of them while adding material to the front, creating quite a step up or step down when wading. Pressed down like this under the surface the deflection of the current in the channel was reduced as the velocity was now focused over the faggot and down scouring out the bed behind. To these we simply added an extra faggot on the top and broke the surface of the water again diverting the energy back into the central stream.  This hollow was soon filled with silts as the water calmed and lost its energy behind the deflector again.  

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Tackle for Training

Paul Arden - Tuesday, June 4, 2024

I watched part one of the Sexyloops flycasting video manual and realised there were a few more things to explain. So yesterday I created the follow up video. Still no drills and exercises. They are coming!! Busy day today, but my evening flycasting lesson has been postponed, so if I’m fast I can hopefully get out early to fish this evening. I’ve shifted the Battleship to a new location and I’m on the hunt for Gourami again!

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G-Force

Paul Arden - Monday, June 3, 2024

Andy is unwell today, so I’m covering. I hope he gets well soon. Yesterday I posted on YouTube a video of a Giant Gourami I landed. First in a while!! And my first big one in a couple of years! Unfortunately the batteries in my electronic scales had died. I did use a BogaGrip rip-off to weigh the net and fish together, and then the net. Fish was over 4KG but under 4.5. A good one anyway. Any Giant Gourami here over 4KG is a serious fish. And this one was an absolute stunner. Excellent condition and a really nice light colouration.

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Getting Comp Ready

Tracy&James - Sunday, June 2, 2024

Last week James and I mostly worked away from home so didn't have had time to go fishing or casting during the week. Last weekend we had hoped to have a casting session however the field we normally go to was full of kids playing in a football tournament that went on all weekend. Also due to family commitments we didn't really have time to get to the river, so we spent some of our time going through our videos from the latest saltwater holiday. We haven't posted much recently so James can edit some of the videos, whilst I start researching future holiday destinations. However our next few fishing trips will be UK-based, such as a trip to Rutland before going to Scotland for the Scone Game Fair in July.

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Repair kits

Viking Lars - Saturday, June 1, 2024

Among who knows how many small items I bring when fishing several days away from home, domestic or not, are a couple of repair kits. Three in fact, but the third is just a special key needed to open the brake system of the reels I use, a tube of silicone grease and a spare bearing, so that’s hardly worth showing. I bring a kit to repair pinholes and punctures in my waders and a kit to repair myself or a friend.

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