I had the pleasurable company of Derek and his good friend David yesterday for a session on the river. Not just any session but one that precedes a guided trip to the river San in Poland next week.

Wanting to arrive in Poland with some technical knowledge so as not to waste valuable fishing time, the focus of the session was to cast and fish using a ‘Tactical Presentation Leader’ et al Leader to Hand technique which they’d previously purchased having been advised that this would be a chosen technique to be used amongst others.

Now… I absolutely get this concept and understand totally where it could be advantageous given certain situations and conditions, however, to then try and do so with a leader that has more memory than a rocket scientist and knots seemingly tied by a 3 year old didn’t make things any easier.

The copolymer leader is packaged with lots of information printed on and within to aid your decision on how to set up your system based on your pre determined method of fishing. (Excellent stuff)

Straight out of the packet and unravelled – holding tension removed, it’s like an explosion in a spring factory. No great shakes here, all that it needs is a wee stretch and we’ll be good to go…

I think not!… stretch after stretch it’s ability to straighten improved not one jot.

(Left) I got this as a present from Derek, it is free hanging in this picture having been stretched five times already which by anyone’s measure should be plenty enough.

Derek & David’s were no different through the guides and out beyond the rod. Slack as we know is the bane of fly fishers when trying to load the rod through a given stroke, to do this with very little line mass is difficult enough and takes some getting used to, but with a line in this state casting it was not going to be easy.

Then we looked at the knot that joins the level 12mtr section to the 2mtr advanced taper section…?

And this knot is what exactly?… just rubbish and down right lazy, all 3 were the same.

And as for this tag section supposedly to make the locating of the indicator easier… I despair!

Having put some rights to the wrongs and pulled out as much memory in the leader as possible we set about the cast. Using quite soft tip rods (Hends & Hanak 10ft) and void of any line weight otherwise associated with standard weight forward/double taper fly lines, we worked on shorter casting strokes and increased inertia to work the tip and traject the leader. Once mastered and none too soon after, twas to the water we progressed.

With a snappy breeze and thus sometimes limiting the ability of this system as would be thought, the guys were restricted to relatively short casts teamed with some favoured RNPTN’s and Olive Quill nymphs. Fishing both upstream and up & across so as to work with both slack and taught drifting line techniques, the guys were soon into fish.

Having rattled two prior, David brings his first to the net from the upper reaches

Derek knows no bounds as to the length (depth) he’ll go to get a fly back… Oh yes – it’s one of mine

Getting to grips now with longer line nymphing, this sight, stalk, cast and take was text book

Dave – pleased as punch and deservedly so.

Likewise and casting in a tight tree laden pocket… some sterling fishing from Derek followed.

These beauties came on a size #18 flash back PTN teamed with 2 No4 and 1 No8 shot to drop the fly onto the fish within a foot of the drift. 2 casts resulted in these from the same pocket.

Well spotted and thus avoiding a squish as it hopped across our path – The protected ‘Common’ frog

Late afternoon and returning upstream from whence we came

We targeted likely known holes plucking fish from almost all we surveyed.

Pretty as a picture

The guys performed superbly this afternoon nailing plenty of good fish. If they were any lesser an angler in terms of capability they’d have scored little today… very much a case that their skills far out weighed the quality of the product, in this case the Tactical Leader.

I admired them for wanting to stick with the technique, I feel many areas would have seen a fly line perform better, however in certain runs it was lethal and pulled fish due to it’s delicacy.

They’ll almost certainly be putting the frighteners on those River San residents if they fish in the same vein. I’ve loaned them the rods used today for the trip and discussed some leader material alternatives to source, take and have a play with.

Finally: I will give the tactical leader a further mention in that by the time we’d finished it had lessened it’s grip on retaining coils and straightened a little. Perhaps the pull of fish, the weight of the flies and warmer afternoon temperatures helped but not to a degree where mine will ever see the light of day.

As to this L2H type set up & technique, much has been written, argued and debated… there’s a host more I’ll use before resorting to it… that’s called personal preference and you’ll have yours.

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Having acquired the river and completed the hard bit: that being trimming, strimming and tidying

It was now time for the even harder bit… to fish it, in anticipation I feel this part of the Wylye has barely seen a fly rod, nor the fish an imitation of a fly probably, hopefully – what a challenge!

It’s critical that one’s in the right frame of mind, nowt sorts it out better than a cup ‘o’ tea. Having donned wellies and with rod ready to go it’s now a game of patience… and mines slowly running out

there’s a rise and so to it I go… what remains in my cup tells me there’s a hatch of midge

A few casts of the above ‘F’ fly beneath the upstream canopy and I’m into a fish, surprisingly it’s a grayling… pleased as punch I am… it means some possible winter fishing on here then me thinks.

A pretty we Lady she is

Moving on and being stimulated by more frequent rises, all be it seemingly from the same fish I make some basic numpty errors on otherwise spooky fish by positioning myself too close to the bank to get a clearer view & cast – consequently putting them down.

I decide to go long on the leader, with my new system I’ve changed in mere minutes to 14 feet without affecting the front taper, using my ever faithful 10ft #2 (a length of which I’ve used exclusively now for the last 3 seasons) I stay well back from the edge whilst still very much in touch with the line, leader and more importantly the fish.

The fish rises on a further 3 occasions before I make a covering cast… that’ll do for me as I nail it on the fourth. The #2 weight buckles as the trout sets off downstream, this fish feels far bigger on the rod than off it, I’m tickled pink as it lunges skyward only to fall with a mighty splash… you can’t buy fun like this – it’s like a hard 5lb fish on a #6 weight.

Just gorgeous – a wild trout, bloody livid if you ask me… impressed to be caught it was not

That beautiful blue hue on the gill plate

Alarm bells had obviously sounded across the pond so to speak… following it’s release everything went still, very still. Impatience got the better of me so I thought I’d give a nymph a wetting – I couldn’t resist offering a Red Neck PTN to the current. Changing the leader to a shorter 7 foot length yet again with ease I dropped the fly into the murky depth and drifted the fly some 8ft towards a grassy outcrop on the right bank… a twitch in the line was followed by yet another grayling, a wee bit smaller than the first – like a really care.

She parts company none the worse for wear

Through the interruption and need of another cuppa there is but a brief hatch of Mayfly, does counting half a dozen actually count as a hatch?

None the less I tie on a nice silhouetting Mohican and cast at some casual rises… rises of which are not at the Mayfly I see – what the heck, in for a penny.

In quick time a number of pretty wild’uns come to the fore, pictures of which don’t do them justice.

Today was a great success in many ways… the water has got fish in it and nice ones at that, my new leader system worked a treat, and the #3 hi-vis Barrio line I recently dyed at the tip didn’t mess with my head, nor did it seem to have an impact on the fish… now onto reading currents with it.

The 10 foot dyed tip is inconspicuous… a result

I’ve yet to hear of any significant Mayfly hatches as yet from friends and colleagues, the water temperatures are still cold… for me I think June will be the killer month, May is pretty much written off already, I hope however it’s not so for you ~ enjoy your fishing regardless.