Sea trout charmer

Regular sea trout festival fisher, KEVIN MESSENGER divulges his secrets to consistent successful night-fishing no matter what the river. His steadfast appproach has won him the week-long competition once, and also secured him two second placings

Nicole's Fancy Nicole's Fancy, dressed on a Waddington. During the night this is the only sub-surface pattern that the author puts his faith in.
Tail:	Golden pheasant crest.
Tag:	Scarlet floss.
Body:	Pearlescent tinsel.
Rib:	Oval silver wire.
Hackle:	Scarlet cock (for Waddingtons) and Crystal Flash strands.
Wing:	Black squirrel.
Cheeks:	Jungle cock.
Note:	To be tied narrow and sparse.
	Female duck breast feather, wound and clipped to length.

I have fished the National Sea Trout Festival a number of times, which have all proved thoroughly enjoyable, not only because of the beats it enables you to fish, but because of the people you meet. The first time I entered the Festival I kept hearing people say, "It's not a competition, it's a festival". I used to think to myself, "What are they on about, surely the aim is to win it?" However, after fishing the week-long Festival for the first time, I soon learned that competitiveness really does not apply. In the past few years I have had the pleasure of meeting some excellent fishermen from all over the country, from whom I have learned many things about sea trout. One over-riding thing I have learned, however, is that with so many facts, theories, techniques and flies to hand, the sea trout fisher approaching a river for an all-night session can easily become confused as to what his approach should actually be. Whether it be a festival competition or a night's pleasure fishing, it's important that the sea trouter thinks he's constantly in with a chance of a fish; he's only got the blackness of the night in front of him - there's no flowers, trees, birds or scenery to cause his mind to wander and compensate for a sleepless night - and little wildlife interrupts his thoughts. He has to be confident to keep fishing throughout the night. He may start his evening brimming with expectation, knowing that fish are resting in the river, but if he is initially unsuccessful he can start to quickly lose confidence in the approach he has decided to employ. Instead of concentrating on the technique, his mind becomes cluttered with questions: Should I be using another colour of fly? Should I switch lines? Should I try a big tandem? Should I be fishing a different pool? With sea trout fishing, I think there is one facet that is more important than any fly, technique, or even line and pool - and that is confidence. When you are wading, casting, retrieving and feeling for takes with your sense of sight completely removed, and your hearing and sense of touch are the only things to guide you through a pitch-black pool, then you simply must be confident that your flies and approach are going to give you the best chance of a fish. There is nothing more draining than fumbling around in the dark, thinking you are using the wrong method or flies. If your confidence wanes, tangles often result, casting becomes erratic, and doubt creeps in to further erode your confidence. A quiet sea trout pool in the middle of the night, an empty bag, and a doubtful angler, lacking in confidence and constantly changing lines and flies, is not the best recipe for a memorable session!

Since taking part in the Sea Trout Festival, I have fished on a number of Welsh rivers and also a number of my western border rivers - mainly the Eden, Annan and Nith (I can't get on the Border Esk!) - and, in meeting many sea-trouting kinsmen I have come into contact with many flies, ideas and theories which differ from my own. However, despite all this wealth of sea trout knowledge 'on tap' as it were, and despite which river I am to fish, I still find my flies and methods for sea trout do not deviate. I stick to the method I like, no matter what the river. Confidence, you see. No matter where I'm fishing for sea trout the approach is the same.

At dusk, I usually start with a floating line and a team of flies, two droppers and a point fly. I will put an Alexandra on the top dropper, Mallard & Claret on the second dropper and my Nicole's Charm on the point - all the same size, either 10 or 12. Alternatively, I might try my Black Shrimp early on in the night in rough water for sea trout, especially if grilse are about, as it has proved to be a more than capable fly for both. Once darkness takes over, I will switch from a floating line to a sinker or sink-tip, depending on depth of the pool I am fishing. I then put my Nicole's Charm - dressed on a size 2-4 low water iron - on the dropper and the same fly dressed on a one-and-a-half-inch to two-inch Waddington on the point. I don't use two different flies after dark, and there are a few reasons why:

First: I don't have to ponder over what to put on next and have niggling doubts about fly pattern.

Second: I get good results. I have developed my fly - Nicole's Fancy - over quite a few years and I think I now have it right. It's named after my fiancee, because it's nearly as pretty.
Without stopping to change fly, method, or lines I can still offer the sea trout variety. When I am fishing a pool I tend to alternate my casts from square across the river to 40 degrees downstream with different speeds of retrieve. This tends to give me good results, as it not only presents the fly at different angles and speeds, but can also affect the depth at which the fly fishes. I have a theory that if you want big sea trout you fish big and fish deep. However, on many of our sea trout rivers 'deep' does not neceassarily mean fishing a full sinking line or a sink-tip. If you do fish a sinker, you can spend a great deal of time de-weeding the fly, or getting the fly stuck on the bottom if the flow is light or the pool is reasonably shallow. In both cases, your fishing and casting rhythm is consequently disrupted, and your confidence can be dented. On some beats that are shallow or simply at low-water height, I will sometimes use my floating line throughout the night; a long (9-foot) leader can combine with a Waddington to fish as deep as I require. The dropper is six-foot up from the point.

Waking them up in the middle of the night

The only exception to my 'deep is best' rule is the use of the Surface Lure. The Surface Lure method does seem to bring more fish out of hiding than you would believe; even though you tend not to hook a lot of them, you certainly see and hear a lot, which, again, can do wonders for your confidence. Also, it doesn't need to be as dark a night as many books lead you to believe it should be in order for Surface Lures to be successful. Most books will tell you that for the Surface Lure to work, the darker the night the better. This is true, but Scottish sea trout anglers will tell you it never really gets very dark during those short, Northern mid-summer nights. However, if you use your Surface Lure under trees, or when the moon has set, or in a gorges - all those darker parts of the river - at 1-3 o'clock in the morning, it can still work. Try it, the results can be astonishing. Once you have located fish you can then cover the area in which you moved them with a deeply sunk fly and sky-high confidence. Usually, if nothing is happening with my sunk lure during the dead of night (ie no takes, or surface movement), I will switch to a Surface Lure to see if any fish are about.

My Surface Lure is dressed like this: the body is deer hair spun and packed all the way down the shank of a longshank 6 hook, which has had a size 12 trailing treble attached to protrude past the bend. The deer hair is clipped to a 'torpedo' shape and the head of the fly is formed from a bullet-shaped piece of cork glued between the deer hair body and the eye of the hook. I have seen no other Surface Lure to rival this one, apart from a little innovation Welsh sea trout fisher Jonathan Jones showed me, and I have since adopted, which replaces the cork head with one of shaped Plastazote.

Black Shrimp Black Shrimp - a good fly for dawn and also fast water at dusk, as it can entice grilse to take as well as sea trout. Peute" is a French idiomatic expression usually referred to a woman and indicates that particular type of girl you would not like your son to date with. It is a really effective and versatile pattern: it floats like a cork, it may imitate either a sedge or an emerging upwing or, when fished wet, a large variety of aquatic insects. To tie it in the proper way, select the darkest feathers and do not overdress (a couple of hackle turns will do the job). This ancient and simple fly proved to be the correct answer during sunset fishing the Dora Baltea River, when three or four different insects were hatching at the same time. A well presented, big Peute was merrily taken by big speckled trout during the dead drift or even when skated across the surface.
Tail:	Black bucktail.
Tag:	Red floss.
Body:	Silver or lurex (pearlescent).
Rib:	Fine oval wire.
Hackle:	Black cock and Crystal Flash.
Wing:	Black squirrel.
Cheeks:	Jungle cock.

As daylight starts to creep on and dawn breaks, I usually fish my flies nearer the surface, but not necessarily with small flies, sometimes I will keep the Waddington on. The time I usually change is when I start seeing grilse. I then put on a Black Shrimp fly, which I have been using for a few years now, as it can give some good early morning sport.

You may ask why do I use two flies of the same dressing? My philiosphy is: give the sea trout a choice of fly and they don't know what to take! I sent my two versions of Nicole's Fancy up to the north of Scotland to someone who was trying sea trout for the first time. He ended up being the only person to catch in a group fishing on the Ness system - he caught three fish, the smallest was 2 1/2 lb. My faith in my flies and approach can be measured by the following story from the last night of the Festival last year on the Teifi in Wales. The vice captain of the Welsh team gave me a really good looking fly and told me it would certainly catch that night, but I couldn't put it on, as I still pinned my faith in my own flies and approach. That night my loyalty was rewarded with a beautiful 4 1/2 pounder on the Nicole's Charm.

As I write, in May, this year's sea trouting has just begun. Early season sea-trouting is about big specimens that are thin on the ground - they tend to move into the river before the main run of smaller fish. Over the last four night's fishing, I've lost four fish and my mate - who also fishes my flies - has landed three, including a 6 1/2 pounder. Nicole will never lose her charm - of that fact I'm completely confident.

This article originally appeared in July/August 2001 issue of Flyfishing and Flytying