im new to fly fishing and wanted to know if there was anyone of the forum that was from the area and could direct me to a few good spots. also if anyone knows of anyone who does tuition on the fine art of fly fishing as i seem to be in a bit over my head. who would have thought there was so much to fly fishing!

im also going to lake garda in italy for my friends wedding and im making a bit of a holiday of it and by going for a week. ive read a few things about the rivers that flow into the lake being good for trout but other than that i cant seem to find out anymore.

can someone clear up one more question for me regarding a fishing license for england, am i correct in thinking i need a separate license for fly fishing, one of my friends seems to think i need a gaming license? i have my normal fishing license.

hope someone can help as im really keen on getting going with my new rod.

Hi Ross,

I live nr. Darlington (grew up in the lake district) and I often go to trout lakes around and about. Where bouts you located?

re. the rod licence.

you don't need a separate licence for fly fishing. One licence is all you need. If your going to fish for Salmon and sea trout then you need;
£70 'Salmon and migratory trout (sea trout)., non-migratory trout, char, freshwater fish (coarse fish) and eels' - which covers all fish basically.

Otherwise just the one below is sufficient;
£26 Non-migratory trout, char, freshwater fish (coarse fish) and eels

all can be found HERE

Hope that helps

ahh, im living at my nanas house in darlo at the minute, in redhall estate, its lovely, haha. im from durham originally. ive been up to aldin grange and had a chat with the old bloke who runs the fishing tackle shop, he said he does tuition so i was thinking about starting there. any ideas if this bloke knows a thing or two, or hes just getting some extra beer tokens? lol

ill be honest im new to it, as in i just had a go today in a field casting my new rod and found it quite hard to keep a good rhythm up to get the line out further then say 45 foot, but then again i didnt have a fly on the end of me line. dont know how much of a difference that would make though, so yeah i think i need some lessons lol any people you know of that are good at teaching fly fishing?

cheers for the info about the license, im glad to have cleared that up.

You are doing the right thing getting instruction. By far the best way to go is to find a certified instructor, that means, usually, AAPGIA (Association of Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructors) certified. The best instructor in your area is Carl Hutchinson. you can contact him through his site http://www.corporateflyfishing.com/ he is just down the road in Ripon. (He is probably the best anywhere).

Italy - Only fished there once, and that was in Umbria. However the thing that may be of some use. Take some big flies. None of mine came anywhere near the size I needed. Stone flies over 3 inches long and may flies getting close to that size. My biggest ever wild brown took an Ammonite Nymph tied on a size 6 Partrage Czech nymph hook. It bent the hook! Not against the line but by crushing it.

For local information you could do worse than check these out. They are a friendly bunch. http://www.durhamflyfishers.co.uk/
There is plenty of good river fishing in your area. The upper Tees is available on day ticket for trout. The Tyne is a great salmon river, but getting on it may prove difficult.

Hope that helps.

OT

If I was looking to learn how to fly fish then I would contact Gordon Byers at Lockwood Beck fishery near Guisbrough where he does full days tuition with rods and gear provided on a first class trout fishery in superb surroundings

Theres quite a lot of demand for the courses so I'd look out his number sharpish and give him a call

Well after lots of looking around i couldnt really find a instructor at my price range so i opted for aldin grange and had a 4 hour lesson with the old bloke called ronnie and caught one in me third hour. I had pretty much given up on catching anything and whack, i almost muckd me pants. Haha. The fight of a decent trout is now the best type me fishing ive ever had and that beats fishing for pollock spinning a lure.
Since my first lesson ive been back three days on the run and hooked 4 fish, one being a 8 lber! Holy cow did i have the shakes after landing that one.haha
Im cooking one of me catches tonight so im chuffed to bits.
Trout fishing is now etched into me brain. I love the fact that you have minimal gear and you get to change places if its not fishing very well with ease. 99% fly fishing for me from now on. Cheers for the help fellas.

Well done Ross

Well done indeed. One of the great things about fly fishing is that you don't need a trolley to carry all your gear.

I am puzzled about one thing though..

Why would this lead to your sexual amusement ("chuffed")? Is it something to do with the cooking method? If it is I will decline, in advance, any dinner invite.

Joking apart, well done, and welcome to the gentle art.

Cheers,
OT