Hardy & Greys - Alnwick, England

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1. Flyfishing
   1. Flyfishing
   2. Coarse

The early morning drive across North Norfolk is always a pleasure, the mist in the hollows, the light as dawn breaks over the sea on the horizon. Through the villages, where the day has yet to start for most of the inhabitants. Down the narrow roads leading to the coast the wild life abounds, the rabbits on the verges pay little attention to you as you pass, the pheasants and partridges barely give a thought to a car rumbling by. What has all this got to do with saltwater fly fishing you may well ask? Well actually a great deal. You see fishing is not all about catching fish, that's just part of it. The memories of the day are far more than that, it's all the journey we take from getting to the chosen spot in the early morning to the glass of ale in the pub with your fellow anglers at the end of the day.

I am on my way to Morston quay to meet my companions for the day. The conditions for Sea Bass fishing, that's our main quarry for the day, are excellent. The wind that has been blowing onto the shore for almost a week has dropped overnight, the weather forecast talks of a bright day with light onshore breezes, great! Just what we want. I like to get there early and set up the rods ready for the party. Most fisherman bring their own saltwater fly rods, for those who haven't I put up the Hardy Zane and the Greys Platinum Saltwater XD #9 rods complete with cold saltwater intermediate lines, and Hardy Zane reels. Yes, you can use cheaper gear but in my experience you need gear you can rely on. When a large Sea Bass is hooked it tends to want to run to Holland!

I have lost both Sea Bass and Sea Trout on lighter equipment. I check with our boat skipper James that all's well and we arrange to leave the quay at 8.30am to catch the tide.

At 8am Nick and Ben arrive and start putting on their chest waders and getting rods and gear out ready for the fray, closely followed by Vic and Laurence. The usual flurries of questions follow, "Which line shall I use?" "Which flies are best?" "Shall we take our spinning rod as well?" "How many will we catch today?" I am asked. "None" I reply "but the prospects look good." Well it ‘s better not to raise their hopes too much as Sea Bass can be quite fickle when it comes to taking the fly! Once all these questions are settled we make for the boat to catch the tide.

We have a 25 minute walk along the coastal path to Stiffkey, all good exercise! We then cross the Stiffkey river and walk out across the marsh to James who has come to pick us up, he has left the others on the point. fishing from a sandbank. As we approach the point there is great excitement from the shore, Nick is playing a fish! A fine 3lb Sea Bass is taken. The tide is going out fast so we start fishing from the exposed sandbanks; great spots to fish from as the channels between these are just the places to find Bass as they feed on Sand Eeles and small Crabs. By now we have spread out along the channels covering all the likely places, the flow is quite fast here and this is when a intermediate line is at its most deadly; getting the lure down to the fish. "I have got one" cries Nick again "It's heading for Holland!" Sure enough this fish was taking the line out to sea. Nick hung on and eventually the fish came to the net. A fine 6lb Bass was returned to the sea to fight another day after the photos were taken. The tide was falling very quickly so we moved further out to the point following the fish. There several followed the fly but failed to connect and sadly no fish in the net. It was time to make for the shore. We intended to beach the boat at the mouth of the Stiffkey river but we had run out of time and had to leave the boat further out to be picked up later. A long walk back across the marsh to the coastal path at Stiffkey and then back to the car park at Morston.

After a sojourn to the Anchor pub in the village for some light refreshment, all the gear was put in the cars and we moved down the coast to Cley next to the sea to fish the incoming tide. Cley beach is a good spot for Bass at this time of year. The Bass were about and well within casting distance; the Terns (diving birds) were taking the baitfish about 25yds out, always a good sign. Here you must follow the tide working your way towards Blakney point casting at 30/45 degrees to the shore working the lines in until they are level with you.

We fished here for another couple of hours before retiring to the George at Cley for a well earned supper and a glass or two of local ale or something stronger. The honours of the day must go to Nick for his fantastic Bass, the end to a perfect day.

Tim Gaunt Baker is a member of the Hardy & Greys Game Academy.

Tel: 01553 813769
Email: tim.gauntbaker@btinternet.com
Web: www.norfolkflyfishing.com