Quality materials really do help

I have been tying flies for almost 30 years now.  I couldn't even guess how many Irish Shrimps I've attempted in that time.  Thousands probably.

As I've said before on previous posts, no one ever taught me to tie flies.  I started tying in the mid 1990's before youtube, social media and internet forums.  I was able to get feathers and other materials onto a hook and was able to catch fish so I was happy enough but I always want to improve. My flies didn't look like other peoples, or the one's you could buy in the shops, or the ones you could see in Trout & Salmon magazine. 

It really is only in the past 10 years or so that things have started to fall into place and I've learned techniques that help with how a fly looks.  I've also discovered that materials really do make a difference and none more so than a good quality Golden Pheasant body skin for tails on Irish Shrimp flies.

 

I get quite a few compliments about how the tails on my flies look.  I know what a few people must be thing when I tell them that the quality of the feather really is half the battle and I hope that this post will make that a bit clearer.

I really didn't think that there was any difference in skins in the past.  Honestly, I'd just walk into my local tackle shop, grab the first Veniard's skin I saw and just tie with it.  It was the same in later years when I bought them off the internet.  I'd just order a GP skin and use whatever arrived.

I really got my eyes opened though about 3 years ago when I was ordering some materials from Steve Cooper at Cookshill Fly Tying.  I was ordering a few bits and pieces and ordered a GP Skin as part of the order.  It was almost like a revelation.  For the first time in my life, the tails looked exactly how I'd pictured them for years in my head.  Lovely soft fibres that curved beautifully for the shank of the hook and fluttered nicely even in a gentle breeze.  With that skin, I probably tied the nicest looking Irish Shrimps I had ever tied.  In my own opinion anyway.

Apache Shrimp with a nicely curved tail

That skin was used up so I needed a new one.  I got back in touch with Steve at Cookshill and mentioned that I had just used the nicest Golden Pheasant I had ever used and he said that unfortunately, he had no 'good ones' left and was finding it difficult to source.  I told him I needed a skin anyway and to send me what he had.  The difference between the two skins was stark.  Thick stalks, stiff lifeless fibres, it really was difficult to get a nice looking fly with that skin.  

 

 

Very straight fibres on this tail

 

Now, in no way am I running down Steve here.  He was good enough to tell me he had no good skins left and I ordered it anyway.  I have ordered from him since and will certainly order from him again in the future.  His materials really are first class.

That was the last GP Skin I'd bought and I am now wary of buying GP Skins randomly as I now know the difference between a really good one and an ordinary one.  Then I was contacted one day by a really decent chap who I've come to know on the online Salmon Fishing Forum.  He told me that he'd bought two good quality skins and was only keeping one of them.  He offered me the other one and I almost took the arm and all off him.  It arrived last week so I thought I'd use it to try to show the differences between a good GP Skin and an ordinary one.  

I know that not everyone will agree with this and everything I write here is based purely on my own opinions.  

Right through the following set of photos, I've tried to keep everything from each skin in the same position.  Everything to do with the feather of each skin will be kept in the same position with the ordinary skin on the left and the better quality one on the right.

So here are the two skins I now have.  The poorer quality one on the left and the better quality one on the right.  Pay no heed to how they look here.  The one on the left has been used quite a bit and has been in and out of a drawer for well over a year.  The one on the right was just removed from its cover so will always look better.

I'll now pick a feather from each skin of roughly the same length.  I don't remove a feather from the skin as I measure them against the hook.  I place the middle stalk of the feather just benind the eye of the hook and I want the feather fibres just to slighlty longer that the bend of the hook.  This is something I do with all my shrimp flies to keep the tail in proportion to the hook.  Nothing look worse to me than a size 12 shrimp with a size 6 tail.

 

I now have two feathers, one from each skin

On a closer look, you can see that the stalk gets thicker much sooner along the stalk than the one on the right.  The one on the right is much thinner throughout it's entire length.

I really should have taken a video instead of the next picture to show the difference in movement of the two feathers as they were moved.  The thinner stalk gave more of a slow pulsing action whereas the thicker stalk was more like the action of a metallic spring.

The two feathers now with the waste material removed.  You can see the one on the right has a webbier looking fibre than the one on the left.

Bother feathers doubled.  The softer fibres didn't double as well as the stiffer ones for some reason.

So now it comes to tying them in.  In both cases I'll use a size 6 Mustad 80525 hook with a rib already tied in and both are now ready for the tail

I'll start with the feather on the left.  I always tie my tail in by the tip of the feather.  I know some like to tie in by the stalk and that's fine.  Each to their own.  When I have wound on my tag, I secure the tag material in place with three forward turns of thread.  At this point, I'll tie in the tip of the feather by winding three turns of thread back towards the tag.

Next, I'll fold the tips of the feather back towards the tail and wind three turns of thread forward again.  This really helps to keep the talk in place.  The space now between the tag and the thread will be the space I'll wind my tail onto.

I was just taking these pictures with my mobile phone so it was very difficult to take a picture after each wind of the feather.  So, we jump ahead now to three turns of the feather and it being secured in place with three turns of thread.

You will notice that the thicker stalk leaves quite a big bump.

The stalk has now been cut and the bump levelled out a bit.  You are now ready to tie the rest of the fly on this hook.  Now we'll look at the other feather.

Feather has been tied in and secured and is ready to be wound

After three turns and secured with three turns of thread, you can already see the nice gentle, natural, curve of the fibres as they slope gently upwards away from the hook shank before dropping back downwards again towards the tips.  Guaranteed movement.

Look at the difference in thickness between the two stalks.

And here we have the two tails side by side.  The one on the left has much stiffer, straighter, fibres whereas the one on the right has much nicer curve to the fibres.  I know which one I prefer personally.

Now, the thing to remember here is that both will probably take as many fish as the other.  In fact,  if I know I'm going to fish a very heavy stream, I'd probably use the tail on the left.  If on the other hand I'm going fish much slower water,  I'd always prefer the one on the right for the extra movement.  But that's just me.

I know I've went slightly OTT above but hopefully now you will see my views on what makes a nice Irish Shrimp tail.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.

How do you like your Curry's?

 

No, this is not a blog on whether you prefer spicy Indian or Chinese food, although a nice Chinese chicken curry with fried rice would be nice right about now. This is about the old Irish Shrimp fly first introduced and tied by Pat Curry of Coleraine in the 1930s.

This blog post was meant to be about something else completely. I had intended to research and try to find out, if at all possible, where the Irish Shrimp fly originated. Despite quite a while researching on old newspapers etc. I could not really find out much information. Other than shrimps originated from the old Grub patterns of Kelson’s and Pryce-Tennant’s era, the later half of the 1800’s, I could not really find much information but suspect the style of fly we now associate with Ireland, could have actually originated on the Wye and Usk of Wales or the English borders. I do firmly believe that the Wye Bug and the Usk Grub were the first patterns to use a Golden Pheasant red breast feather as a tail with another two smaller cock or hen hackles going forward. I’ll try to keep looking to see if I can find anything definitive.

Another topic of huge debate is, who actually brought the fly to Ireland? There is some debate as to whether it was indeed the Coleraine man with his world famous red shrimp or a lesser known man from my own river Faughan, with his ‘Secret Weapon’, in E.C. Heaney.

There is probably more chance that it was indeed Pat Curry. I believe anyway. Not only was Pat a renowned fly tier of his time but he was also a highly revered angling guide and game shooter. Pat was highly sought after for his guiding services and was the first point of contact for many of the wealthy estate owners and angling enthusiasts visiting Northern Ireland and the river Bann in particular in the 1930s. It is possible that some of those visitors arrived with a few grub patterns from the Usk or Wye and Pat put his own twist on them. I am guessing of course but it could be a possible scenario.

Anyway, getting back to Pat’s fly in particular. Pat’s Red Shrimp has now become the most widely known and respected Irish Shrimp pattern around the salmon angling world. Even those who don’t use Irish Shrimp patterns themselves will have heard of, or know of, the Curry’s Red Shrimp. Whether or not the Usk Grub or Wye Bug did come before Pat’s Red Shrimp, it is Pat’s Shrimp that is seen as the basis for all other shrimps that have come since. That is a fine legacy!

So what made Pat’s fly so successful? I know it is a really beautiful fly to look at but just what makes it so attractive to the salmon? Is it just the right mix of colours? Just a flash of red shining through the subdued badger hackles? Is it the translucency of the badger hackles fluttering in the current that triggers the image of a natural shrimp in the eye and mind of the salmon? Or is it just a case of the old theory of covering the taking salmon with the fly at the right time at the right speed and depth? Who really knows. But what is certain is that Curry’s Red Shrimp still accounts for huge numbers of salmon in a season.

So we’ll look now at the actual pattern, the list of materials, to tie a Curry’s Red Shrimp. The pattern list does seem to have changed over the years. As has the actual pattern itself I suppose.

Generally today, the pattern would be listed as follows:

Tag: Oval Silver

Tail: Golden Pheasant Red Breast

Rear Body: Red Floss ribbed with oval silver tinsel

Veilings: Red hackle points above and below the hook

Mid Hackle: Badger Cock

Front Body: Black floss ribbed with oval silver tinsel

Veilings: Red hackle points above and below the hook

Front hackle: Badger Cock

Eyes: Jungle cock

These are the materials that are most readily available and will make a decent Curry’s Red.

If we go back and look more to how the pattern was originally tied, you will see quite a difference in the list of materials used. I say, originally tied, but what I really mean is the patterns given in the past.

 

E.J. Malone’s book gives the following pattern list for Curry’s Red Shrimp.

Tag: Flat Silver

Tail Hackle: Golden Pheasant Red Breast

Body: Rear – Red Floss

Rib: Fine Oval Silver

Veilings: Indian Crow (at sides of body)

Centre hackle: Badger cock

Body: Front – Black Floss

Rib: Oval Silver

Veilings: Indian Crow (at sides of body)

Wings: Two Jungle Cock (arrow – head on top of body and fully roofing black floss)

Front hackle: Long Grey Badger cock

Head: Red Varnish

The notes which follow the pattern state the following.

“The side veilings (front) must be long enough to be clearly seen against the underside of the jungle cock wings.

A variation is to dress the rear body with red fluorescent wool. A substitute for the Indian Crow may be pale cock pheasant neck feather dyed bright scarlet.

This pattern is generally recorded as having the veilings above and below but a letter written by Pat Curry, and now in the author’s possession, stresses, side veilings and roofed jungle cock.”

While Indian Crow is listed as the material for veilings, it would appear that Pat himself used the other material mentioned. Cock Pheasant neck feathers. Being a great game shooter and being so well know by the wealthy landowners at the time then this would make perfect sense to me. Pat would have had access to so many pheasants either shot by himself or the estates around Coleraine and the surrounding area. Pheasant neck feathers would have been in plentiful supply to Pat which I’m sure he dyed himself. Indian Crow was quite an exotic material even then and would probably have been quite expensive so it seems reasonable that Pat would have used the more readily available material.

Indian Crow would be more orange in appearance than the red we now associate with Curry’s fly. This idea is backed up even more when you see flies tied by Pat himself.

I was sent a photograph of one of Pat’s original Red Shrimps by the well known angler and fly tier from Northern Ireland, Andrew McGall. As can be seen the photos, the veilings used in those flies are red and would suggest that pheasant feathers or swan strips were used and not Indian Crow.

 

One of Pat Curry's own Red Shrimps.  Courtesy of, and many thanks to, Andrew McGall

 

This is backed up further by the book Shrimp & Spey Flies for Salmon by Chris Mann and Robert Gillespie.

It states: 'Curry's original pattern is almost always quoted as having Indian Crow veilings, sometimes only at the rear. Looking at the veilings on Curry's own flies, however, this is not the case. He always uses front and rear veilings and in most of the examples these are of dyed white ringreck pheasant feathers, although one example uses hackle tips. Curry makes no attempt to imitate Indian Crow with pheasant ringneck feathers but simply dyes them plain colours to suit the dressing of the fly'........ 'The form of veilings is also interesting in that they are markedly spade shaped, again no attempt has been made to modify the feather shape to match that of an Indian crow. Based on the evidence we have of Curry's own tyings, we think it unlikely that the veilings were ever normally Indian Crow. This is not to say that examples were never dressed using Indian crow but that if they were they were likely to be ‘specials’ using the diminishing stocks of feathers held for tying the classic fully dressed salmon flies'.

How exactly the pattern became as it is more widely known today, with the vielings above and below the shank, I am not sure.

I then have a dressing given in Peter O’ Reilly’s book “Trout and Salmon Flies of Ireland” which gives the following…

Tag: Oval or flat silver tinsel

Tail: Golden Pheasant red breast feather wound

Rear Body: Red Floss or seal’s fur

Rib: Medium or Fine Fine oval silver

Veilings: Red swan strip or hackle points

Middle hackle: White tipped badger

Front body: Black floss or seal’s fur

Rib: Fine oval silver

Veilings: Red swan strip or hackle points

Wings: Jungle cock

Front hackle: White tipped badge

Head: Red

This would have been the pattern that I would have followed myself over the years.

One thing is for sure though from all the pattern lists and various things written about the fly, veilings are an essential element of the Curry’s Red Shrimp.

I know I’m laughed at and ridiculed for my insistence on following pattern lists and trying to stick to the original patterns if possible. I hear it all the time from many people tying today that they don’t really follow patterns but try to put their own twist on things. That is fair enough, but if someone else attempts some of the patterns that these same people have claimed to have invented, they are not long in pulling people up that this part is missing or they should be using this material over another, etc.

A case in point of this was when I tied a fly a few years ago and put it on the Salmon Fishing Forum online. It was an Irish shrimp tied using the colours of a very famous flamethrower pattern. It turned out to be a very good thread and people were coming back with their own ideas and twists and takes on the pattern. It was great.

A short while after that, I got a message to have a look at a fly tying page on Facebook that I wasn’t involved with. It showed a user of the Salmon Fishing Forum bemoaning the fact that people were tying his fly and not giving him credit in their posts. A friend of mine posted a link to the Salmon Fishing Forum thread and the flies that I and others had posted and the Facebook thread was quickly deleted. If people are so demanding to be credited for variants of things today, I just feel it’s a bit rich that they can decide to leave bits of, or add bits, to classic patterns and claim them to be the same pattern. I just can’t understand that.

One example of this is a website I came across will putting things together for this blog post. It states, “The Curry’s Red Shrimp salmon fly is Pat Curry’s original shrimp fly, except that his had Red Swan strip veilings, which are no longer used.” I thought to start with that they meant that swan strips were no longer used and that hackle points or some other material was used but they then go on to give a pattern without veilings of any kind. The pattern given closely matches the Badger and Red pattern from Peter O’Reilly’s book or the Red and Black shrimp from “Along the Faughan Side”. Leaving veilings out of a Curry’s Red to me is a bit like leaving pastry out of a recipe for a sausage roll.

We have seen so far that there are already various items that have been used for veilings in the past and that is still the case today. I will show a few of the different materials that I have used myself over the years and try to show the difference that each type of veiling has on the look of the overall fly.

While there are various Indian Crow substitutes available, I’ve never used any of them myself. As stated above, I had always used swan strips or hackle points as the veilings on my Curry’s Reds.

Here is a version using swan strips as veilings:

Red Swan Strips

A finished Curry's Red using Swan strips as veilings

 

Another version using red hackle points as veilings.  These are actually the very small feathers from the very bottom of a dyed red cape.  The feathers that just can't be used for anything else.

Veilings of small red hackles

The finished article with red hackle tips

You can see the difference between the two flies above.  The solid red of the Swan strips and the more subdued red of the hackle tips.  Another version which I have used in the past for a more pronounced red shining through the badger hackles is done by using red knitting wool.

Red knitting wool rear veilings

A very bold red shining through the hackles

 

Perhaps a more simpler and more modern veiling material is Glo Brite floss.  I know a lot of people like to use Glo Brite number 4 for their veilings but this is orange in colour.  I prefer Glo Brite number 3, scarlett.

Veilings of Glo Brite Floss No. 3

Not just as bold as the knitting wool but still a strong red shining through

I have tied Curry's Reds in the past with the vielings at the sides and thought I'd tie one for this blog post in the same way using hackle points.  This pattern looks very different in the water and the veilings kick very differently when viewed directly from above.  The almost look the small paddles kicking in and out in the current.

Red hackle points tied at the sides of the hook shank

A very different looking Curry's Red

If you have a closer look at the all the variants I've posted above you will see that I have tied the Jungle Cock eyes in very flat.  This is to allow the front, top, veiling to be visible rather than being blocked out by the Jungle Cock.  If you can't see it, why bother tying it in to start with?

So that is a look at this most wonderful Irish Shrimp fly, the fly that preceded every single Irish Shrimp fly in existence today.  A fly that I personally hold in a higher regard than any other pattern in existence.

I have also shown some of the multitude of materials that can be used as veilings.  I've stated before on my blog about reading on the Salmon Fishing Forum about a forum user talking to the brother of Lawrence Cunningham about the Green Silk salmon fly from the river Faughan. He had asked about the correct shade of green for the body and was told that the shade of green used didn't really matter as long as it stayed the same shade when it got wet.  What he did say however, was that the pattern MUST have Jungle Cock.  Without it the fly should not and indeed, COULD NOT, be called a Green Silk.  

I have very similar views on the Curry's Red Shrimp.  If it does not have veilings, it CANNOT be called a Curry's Red!

These are all my own views and opinions and in no way have I intended to say that this is how a Curry's Red must be tied.  There are many tiers out there with more knowledge and ability than I will ever possess who will have very different opinions to my own.  I mean no offense or harm to anyone.

The case for NOT fishing

I wrote the most of this last weekend, around the 9^th May, and there have been some developments on angling since then. I’ll still start with what I’d written last weekend.

The current restrictions on the movement of people and urging people to stay at home has been extended here in Northern Ireland for another 3 weeks. More people are venturing out now however than at any other stage since the lockdown began in March. The crowds gathering to get into places like Homebase is nothing short of shocking.

The numbers of people entering hospitals are decreasing and numbers dying are also going in the right direction but this is because of people’s actions 3 weeks ago when more were adhering to the government advice. Northern Ireland still has one of the highest reinfection rates (R numbers) in the British Isles and Coronavirus and Covid-19 are still as contagious and still as deadly as when the lockdown began. The spread has been greatly restricted by people staying at home. With more people now getting fed up with the restrictions, venturing out more and coming into contact with more and more people, I expect numbers to rise again in the weeks ahead. Will this mean the lockdown being extended further?

Angling has also been restricted since the lockdown began and rightly so. The Northern Ireland Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) closed the Public Angling Estate waters in March. The Lough’s Agency didn’t just go that far but advised that angling was not an essential journey and they also closed the online system for buying fishing licenses etc. It is not possible for the vast majority of the angling public to get to their fishing spots without having to travel by car and at the present time, fishing is not classed as an essential journey.

There are people who think that fishing should be allowed during lockdown and they have very valid reasons for this. Most anglers fish on their own and usually stay well away from each other while they are actually fishing. In most cases, it simply isn’t possible to fish with someone as close to you as would break the two metre social distancing guidelines so social distancing really isn’t an issue while actually fishing.

Many people talk up the mental health benefits of fishing as it is one of the most relaxing pass times that there is. I have said many times myself that being at the river and fishing is one of the few places my brain switches off and I get some proper relaxation. The mental health benefits of fishing are not in question and I know that many people will benefit from being allowed to fish both mentally and physically from the walking involved. People also have the very valid argument that people are allowed to get into their cars and travel somewhere to walk, run or even take their bicycle to travel further away again so why can someone not do the same to go fishing? Looking at it at face value, they are absolutely correct. To me there is no difference at all. So what are the issues with fishing during the current pandemic?

For me, it is simply that there are just so many types of fishing that it is impossible to say, “fishing is allowed” and still keep everyone safe. Never mind keeping anglers themselves safe. Far too many people say, “I don’t care if I get Coronavirus. It’s my choice”. That’s all well and good but it might be someone else’s choice not to get it. Whether YOU get Coronavirus is irreverent. It is more about not passing it onto someone else, them passing it on to someone else and so on and so on.

With that in mind, in theory, private fisheries could be able to open sooner. They may have to have social distancing measures in place with maybe only one person allowed in the office or shop at a time and maybe having to close tea rooms and things like that. Many people won’t like that as for many, visiting these fisheries is as much of a social occasion as it is about the actual fishing.

Many people enjoy fishing from a boat in the lakes and loughs of Northern Ireland and this too can present it’s own set of problems. Fishing on your own from a boat could be quite dangerous as if something bad happens, no one is there to raise the alarm. Is it possible to keep social distancing on a boat?

Sea fishing from the shore also could be quite problematic. Some of the popular rock marks for example can get very busy, especially in summer in some of the holiday towns, and distancing may become an issue. Sea fishing from the beach should be fine as it is much easier to keep away from others.

There are quite a few anglers that don’t drive but still go to fish along with their mates, maybe 3 or 4 in a car, sometimes travelling great distances to some of the rivers, lakes or shore marks. I can’t see any restrictions being relaxed that much that this could even be considered.

Then there are areas where the virus is more prevalent than others. A look on the Health Agencies website shows that there are more cases of the virus in the council areas in the east of Northern Ireland than there are in the west. Should angling be allowed in the west but not in the east?

Some are saying that you should be able to travel from your home for short distances to fish. How short should that distance be? 2 Miles? Anglers living on the City side of the river Foyle wouldn’t be able to get to the Faughan at that distance. 5 miles? So they can fish on the Ardlough Road but not in Claudy? It just doesn’t make any sense.

Then there are members of the general public and I honestly feel that many anglers are neglecting to see the potential for spreading coronavirus to people who have no interest in fishing whatsoever. I’ll use my local stretch of the river Faughan in Co. Londonderry as an example.

This stretch of the river has been extremely popular for many, many years. It has got even busier this past couple of years with more and more people than I have never seen before trying their luck. Whether this has to do with people broadcasting catches on social media or just more people trying different parts of the river, I really am not sure.

It used to be that most of the people that fished in the couple of miles either side of where I live, would park in farmers gates or other points along the road and make their way to the river to fish. In more recent years though, more and more people have begun to park in the small housing estate where I live. This in itself has caused a few problems. There is a road to the field beside the river that residents park on for access to their houses. There are six houses in the row and there can be two or three vehicles used by each of the houses in the row. At the bottom of the road there is a turning area where cars nose into, reverse back towards the field and then drive up the road again. Anglers usually park in the turning spot and then residents have difficulty turning. This has meant delivery drivers refusing to deliver large items to some of the residents houses and the driver of a Special Needs bus refusing to go down the lane to lift a child. The parents had to wheel the boy, on his wheelchair, up past the entire row of houses to a square where the bus would not pass and the same in the evening when the boy returned from school.

Where the anglers were parking, was a maximum of 10 metres from this families front door.

Other members of the same family have health issues with at least one of them cocooning at the minute under advisement of the doctor. The stay at home for 12 week letter. I spoke earlier about the mental health issues associated with fishing. Is it not also a mental health issue if someone is cocooning or has underlying health issues themselves, or caring for someone else that does, and anglers are allowed to park outside their front door? People sitting in their houses afraid to go out and anglers are setting up rods and coughing, sneezing and spitting outside your front door? I just think that is terrible.

Of the 24 houses in this small estate, there are only 3 or 4 that DON’T have either elderly residents, people with health issues, people cocooning, people who work in residential care homes, people who work in the NHS or some issue or illness that is either a danger to themselves, their families or others in their work environment. One of the care home workers has anglers regularly parking at the side of his house. The width of a footpath away.

With all this in mind, is it really fair to simply say that fishing should be allowed? The potential for a resident taking their dog for a walk and bringing something into their home is high. Children using the playground potentially picking up something and taking it into a house with a grandparent living with them is high. If one single person caught coronavirus as a result of anglers visiting an area, that would be one too many in my view.

Then there is a chance of anglers spreading the disease between other anglers. One country that seemed to get on top of Covid-19 very early on and kept reinfections to a minimum was South Korea. They basically tested every single citizen in any city that Coronavirus sprung up in. If any person was found to be positive for Covid-19 they were told to isolate for 14 days. What they discovered was that up to 18%, almost one in five, of every person who tested positive for Covid-19 showed no symptoms whatsoever. No cough, temperature, sore throat, headache… Nothing. However, these people were still as contagious and as likely to pass on the virus as someone who was extremely ill. As we are really only testing key workers and people with symptoms at the minute we have absolutely no idea of the numbers of people who are asymptomatic. These people going to the shop for essentials or out for their daily exercise or deciding to go somehwere for some fihsing, could be responsible for a number of new infections. We simply don’t know.

A quick search on google shows that Covid-19 can remain active on different surfaces for different lengths of time. Up to 4 days on wood and 5 or 6 days on hard metal surfaces. There just is no way to access the river here without going through a gate or over stiles or other fences. There is a risk that this disease could be spread by simply climbing a gate or a stile. I have seen advice that you should sanitise your hands before and after using any gate or stile but, in reality, how many are going to do that? An extremely careful and responsible angler might do that but it only takes one person not to and there is a potential for spreading further.

Do farmers and landowners want people coming from far and wide to walk on their land? A couple of farmers near me are out everyday checking their livestock and using the gates and stiles to enter their fields to check their stock. I have read a few requests from farmers on social media for people to respect their livelihoods and stay away from their land until things have eased off.

If anglers really want to fish, I don’t have a problem with the actual fishing part. However, I feel it is vitally important for angling clubs to identify access points to their rivers and lakes for anglers to park at. Away from any houses or people that have no choice in the matter. If this cannot be arranged or accommodated for then fishing should not take place.

I am lucky in that I live beside the river and can access it without the need to use public land. I am also completely happy not to wet a line this season if it means that we don’t spread Covid-19 and we can get fishing next season and future seasons. If me not fishing encourages others not to fish and helps even one more person NOT to catch coronavirus, I’ll happily give this season a miss. If me NOT fishing this season lessens the risk to my own family members then I’ll happily give the season a miss too.

Fishing, is JUST a hobby at the end of the day and I feel that it is just not fair that someone should feel scared in their own home over something as trivial as fishing.

Well, that is what I had written last weekend. Since then, things have developed extremely quickly.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a speech on Sunday evening saying that we should start to take steps to ease the lockdown. People were encouraged back to work, people could exercise for as long and as many times in a day as they wanted and they could drive the entire length and breadth of England if they wanted. People in England have been allowed to fish again since Wednesday and there have been no shortage of people seizing the opportunity to do so. The devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have taken different approaches and have stuck to the ‘Stay at Home’ message that came with the initial lockdown. In saying that, there have been some easing of restrictions with Garden Centres and Recycling centres allowed to open again in Northern Ireland and then completely out of the blue on Thursday evening, the Minister for the Northern Ireland Department of Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Edwin Poots, announced that he would reopen the Public Angling Estate from this coming Monday, 18^th May. No one was expecting it. No one was prepared for it.

This is lifted from the DAERA website:

“Fisheries Minister Edwin Poots has confirmed that the Public Angling Estate (PAE) will gradually re-open to local anglers, from Monday.
All PAE’s across Northern Ireland will re-open to the public for recreational use, but anglers should only use the DAERA facilities within their local area, and should not travel long distances. Minister Poots also confirmed that car parking facilities will remain closed until 27 May 2020.
Speaking about the announcement, the Minister said: “In the interests of public health, I shut down the angling estate on 30 March, to discourage unnecessary journeys and protect my staff as well as anglers themselves, given that the majority are in the 50+ age bracket and many have concessionary angling licences due to underlying health issues.
“While car parks will remain closed until 27 May to discourage long journeys, I have decided to permit local anglers back on to the Public Angling Estate so that they can participate in their favourite recreational activity.
“By its nature, angling is a solo sport or hobby, and its participants can enjoy a day’s fishing without being in close contact with others. The sport has huge benefits for people’s mental and physical well-being and in this time of uncertainty, I know that many people have missed the solitude and peace that angling and being outdoors with nature, brings them.
“However, let me be clear – anglers must continue to follow social distancing guidelines, practice good hand hygiene and walk to their nearest PAE, fishing alone or with a member of their own household. I do not want to see crowds of people near the river banks and fisheries.””

So, fishing is only open to those who can WALK to their fishing spots? Some chance.

This appeared to be only for DAERA waters and as I type this there has been no word whatsoever form the Lough’s Agency. Many private fisheries are also completely in the dark as to whether they can open or not although some have already done so and many more have decided to open next week on the back of the words of the minister. To me, this message says; Stay at home, but if you can walk to your fishing spots you can now do so from Monday but don’t be driving. Will every single angler take it as such? I have already been speaking to a few who are intending to drive 20 odd miles to remote loughs to fish on Monday. Who would want to be a police officer doing road checks and Covid 19 controls next week?

Then the news came yesterday afternoon that the Faughan Anglers had decided that the Faughan would open on 20^th May. My heart sank. The only thing in our favour is, perhaps, by the time more anglers will venture this far upstream, maybe the infection rates will have fallen to safer levels. Maybe there won’t be as many people in hospital or entering hospital on a daily basis. Maybe there will be fewer asymptomatic Covid-19 infected people and maybe, just maybe, anglers will show some empathy, manners and basic common decency and not park their vehicles in places with potential to cause problems with people who live there. That’s an awful lot of maybes.

Please don’t read this as, “This guy doesn’t want anyone fishing on his patch”. As I have said from the very beginning of this post, I have absolutely no problem with the actual fishing part. The Faughan is over 25 miles long and I have no problem with anyone fishing any part of it. As long as we can minimise the risk to residents living along the Faughan or any other river or lough for that matter.

Take care everyone.

How do we get back to Clay Shooting after the Coronavirus lockdown?

We are currently five weeks into the government lockdown which began as an attempt to curtail the spread of the new Coronavirus and Covid-19. Everything closed up at that time and all sporting events were cancelled, including clay shooting. It was announced on the16^th April, that the lockdown would continue for another 3 weeks at least.

I haven’t be near my shooting ground since the outbreak began. We had our last shoots at the beginning of March and I haven’t been to the ground since.

There is no getting away from Coronavirus and Covid-19. Every time you turn on the TV there is either a news programme, government press conference or advert telling you to stay home, stay safe and protect the NHS. Every time you lift your phone that is all that appears on facebook or most websites. There is really no getting away from it.

The hope is, that after the next few weeks, new cases of the disease will not be as common as they are now. “Flattening the curve”, are the new buzz words and if they can get the curve flattened then steps will be made to allow people to return to work and schools to reopen etc. This appears to be happening as I type this, on Friday 24^th April, but daily death rates are still well over 600 UK wide and we will probably pass the grim total of 20,000 deaths from Covid 19 by the time this weekend is out.

If and when the line flattens sufficiently, they hope for some sort of normality to return. They are hoping to get the Premier League started again but only play games “behind closed doors” with no fans mixing or interacting with each other on a personal level and risking another outbreak of Covid-19 cases and the curve going the wrong way again.

They hope to ease people back into society, perhaps the younger generation first and then the older and more vulnerable in society will be the last to be allowed back to ‘normality’ again.

This is all well and good in theory. However, from a shooting viewpoint and clay shooting in particular, will we be able to just go back to the way we were before the virus? With government experts warning that social distancing will have to continue until a vaccine is found for Covid-19, I am not really sure if we can or not.

I’ll try to run through some of the things that I’ve been overthinking about in past few days.

There are a few of us that set up the traps for our sporting shoots at my club. Most of our traps are on trolleys, to wheel about, and we also have use of a quad and trailer. Can anyone just jump on the quad and take a trap somewhere. What if someone else has been on the quad beforehand? Do we need to be disinfecting the handlebars of the quad and the latches of the trailer every time we go to open and close them?

We still work with cables to release the clays from the traps. Do these need to be dipped in disinfectant every time we take them out and bring them in again?

If I set a trap and then decide it needs moved slightly, am I the only person whose allowed to touch it?

Is someone allowed to take clays out of a box and hand them to me to fill a trap?

Do we need to be disinfecting spanners, sockets etc. when using them to adjust trap settings?

That is only getting the traps set. Then on the day of a shoot, how do we keep social distancing within the clubhouse. How do we handle cash as people pay their entry fees or club memberships etc. How do we give out food and tea and coffee etc.

Then, how do we run the actual shooting? Our club works with squads on our Sporting shoots. We have sheets made with 7 names on a sheet but sometimes they put 2 sheets together to make the squad bigger so a bigger group can go round together. My view of the club and the shoots is that it is more to do with the social aspect rather than the shooting. If a squad of 10 or 12 want to go together for a bit of slagging and banter then that is how they enjoy their days shooting and they are welcome to do that. How can we now keep 7 people socially distanced at a shooting stand? Do we need to disinfect the buttons each time a different person goes to use them. We surely just can’t hand the marking sheet and pen about willy nilly the way we have been. Can we?

One of the great things about being at a shooting ground is trying out a different gun that someone has just bought or someone new has brought to the ground. Do we now have to ban anyone from touching a gun or any other piece of equipment that does not belong to them?

Will shooters be forced to wear PPE? Eye and ear protection are essential Personal Protection Equipment at a shooting ground anyway but will masks and gloves become as essential. Will it be up to the individual shooter to bring their own equipment or will we as a club have to provide it? Has anyone even tried shooting while wearing a mask? Well, legally anyway? Lol. Will we have to ask people to leave the ground who refuse to wear a mask?

I know most of this is way over the top but I feel many of these things will require guidance and advice from the various associations. I feel that this could put an extra burden on me personally as one of the club’s Safety Officers. Extra responsibility that I just don’t need or want.

I do think it is possible to keep social distancing while shooting sporting clays. As an example, you could have a shooting stand with an area marked off on each side for the buttoner and referee with the rest of the squad standing further back behind the rest of the squad. I don’t really see it as being a big issue either. But the issues around the handling of buttons, marking sheets and pens still remain.

Down the Line shooting, as well as the other trap disciplines, should be OK, in theory. With the shooting stands 9 feet apart, this should be well outside the government recommendation of 6ft apart. Does this still be the case with 5 shooters and a referee and a scorer standing under a cover for the duration of a line? I’m sure it is.

Some people I’ve been speaking to are thinking that DTL could be started up again first and then Sporting could start later on in the year. That is all well and good but if 20 people turn up to shoot DTL with only one layout in operation, it gets back to keeping the rest distanced enough until it is their turn to shoot.

Another aspect that my club should also consider is that Sporting has the become the most profitable discipline at the club. If we can’t shoot sporting then we will lose around 50% of our membership and the largest portion of our income in the past couple of years. There are very few of our members that shoot Sporting that would ever dream of shooting DTL. They just don’t like it. Just in the same way as many of our DTL shooting members wouldn’t entertain the idea of shooting Sporting. If my club can only get back to shooting DTL, it will definitely struggle, and that is a best case scenario.

These are extremely difficult times for everyone and it will be interesting to see if any information of how we can possibly move forward with our shooting again, once things begin to get back on track, is forthcoming from the CPSA or other associations.

In saying all of that, unless I personally see that new infections are extremely rare and there is some sort of normality returning, I really can’t see me lifting a gun again. My interest in DTL is at an all time low and if that is all we are able to shoot, I honestly think I’d prefer staying at home.

Stay safe everyone and hopefully we can get back to enjoying our sport, the way we remember it, as soon as possible.

Clay shooting disciplines.

Clay shooting, or clay pigeon shooting, is a generic term that covers all of the shooting disciplines that involve trying to shoot clay targets with a shotgun.

These disciplines can be broken down further into three main areas.  Trap, Skeet and Sporting.  

These three main areas can then be broken down further into the different individual disciplines that these terms cover.  For example.  Trap covers disciplines like Down The Line (DTL), Automatic Ball Trap (ABT), Double Rise, Universal Trench and Olympic Trap.  What makes these disciplines alike is that they are all shot a specific distance from the trap houses with a rising, going away target.

Skeet is different in that there are 2 trap houses at each end of a semi circle, a High House and a Low House, and the shooters move around the arc shooting at targets from each 'house'.  The main disciplines of Skeet shooting shot here are National or English Skeet, NSSA Skeet, Skeet Doubles and Olympic Skeet.

Sporting is designed to be more like simulated game shooting and targets are set to resemble game targets that you may encounter on a game shoot such as Rabbit clays along the ground, settling ducks, springing teals or driven pheasants. The most common disciplines shot here in Sporting are English Sporting, Compak Sporting and FITASC.

Just like the term "Salmon fishing", which covers all of the methods of trying to catch salmon with a rod and line including Fly Fishing, Spinning and worming, there are disciplines of clay shooting that many prefer over others.  In many cases, some people will only shoot one individual shooting discipline and not try anything else.  There are DTL shooters who you could not pay money to, to get them to shoot Sporting.  Many Skeet shooters will not shoot DTL and there are many Sporting shooters who do not like any of the trap disciplines at all.

I have shot a few different disciplines of clay shooting over the years.  I started off with DTL. I have also shot Automatic Ball Trap, Sporting, Compak Sporting, Skeet and Olympic Trap.  I have enjoyed some more than others.

My heart will always lie with DTL.  It is what I have shot the most of and what I have the best memories of.  The memories are not of big scores and winning shoots but of helping out at my club, doing work to the grounds, the craic and the banter with some really good people, some of whom are no longer with us, and the contentment I have found while shooting the discipline.

I remember 'works evenings' at the club.  Every Wednesday evening during the summer doing bits and pieces to the ground.  George Gillan was in charge of the tea.  You weren't that long started until you heard, "Tea's Up!" This happened about 5 times in the few hours you were at the ground.  I had so much coffee on a Wednesday evening I couldn't sleep. 

Derek Crockett was well into his 70's when I first met him but he lived for the club.  On a Saturday, the shooting didn't start until 1pm but we were at the ground from 11am and he was scraping out the drains along the lane with a garden rake in case they blocked and the water washed the lane.  Filling in pot holes on the lane.  Doing bits and pieces that very few people ever noticed but you see them glaringly now as there is no one doing those wee jobs.  It is these memories I hold dear and I almost feel I owe it to Derek and George and the others who are no longer with us, to help the club as much as I can.

DTL is as much a part of me as anything else in my life.  I just don't have the same connection with any of the other disciplines.  We shoot Sporting at our ground but this has only been a relatively recent thing.  I really only ever seen Sporting as a break from DTL.  'Something else', just to break up the weeks and weeks and weeks of DTL shooting.  I enjoy the sporting shoot and the craic and banter on the day of a shoot but I always looked forward to getting back to DTL again once it was over.

Unfortunately I just don't have the same drive and hunger for shooting DTL that I once had either.

Discipline is such an important word in DTL.  To shoot DTL well, you must have discipline.  You almost have to go into a robotic state of closing the gun, mounting the gun, calling at the same time, pulling the trigger at the same time, etc.  Everything else switches off and you go into auto pilot not even thinking about what you are trying to do.  You step onto the line, switch off, wait until the referee has called the line finished and you are not even sure what you've shot. I miss that.  I just can't switch off anymore.  I go onto a line now and start looking at the scenery or the wildlife or the farm animals and usually drop silly targets during the line.  I'm not sure if I'll ever get the bug back unfortunately.

With DTL now, I like to try and help people coming through.  I'm not a coach by any means but I like to try to pass on my knowledge to others and help them to improve as best as I can.  Seeing someone, I've given some advice or assistance to, shooting a good score in a competition now gives me as much pleasure as shooting big scores myself.

Sporting would be my next favourite discipline.  Seeing the different targets and needing to move the gun completely differently to DTL. I am not a good sporting shooter under the stretch of anyone's imagination.  In our 40 bird club shoots, if I break 30 targets I am more than happy.

I like to feel that I am being tested when I shoot any discipline.  If I shoot targets at any discipline and get the notion in my head that they are too easy, I will lose interest very quickly. 

People seem to have different opinions on what makes a 'good' sporting shoot.  There are people I know who want to shoot 40 out of 40 at every shoot.  My own view is that if there are a lot of scores over 37 or 38, the targets are too easy.  There are people more than capable of shooting these big scores every shoot, some have the ability to shoot scores like that at any shoot, but when it gets to the stage where there are more scores in the 30s than the 20s on the scoreboard, the targets are more than likely a bit soft.

I've always been a bit weird in that I have always enjoyed the fishing, rather than catching fish.  I have enjoyed training and working gun dogs rather than shooting over them myself and it would appear to be the same with sporting clays.  I enjoy setting up the shoot and setting different targets more than I enjoy shooting on the day of a shoot.

I try to get my ideas for targets from birds I have seen at different times.  I could be salmon fishing and see a pair of crows or pigeons flying over my head and think, "Oh, I wonder how I could go about setting that pair of birds?" Or from pheasants I've seen during my game shooting days and things like that. 

For at least a week before a sporting shoot my head is in overdrive.  I overthink at the best of times but on the week of a shoot, my head is buzzing with ideas on where I could set a trap to get a target that I can picture in my head.  Where would I set the stand for it? Would that target interfere with a different stand? What way is the wind going to be blowing on the day of the shoot so that the shards of broken clay get carried away from the shooters rather than at them? What other target could I put on with that one...?  A million ideas bouncing off each other at any one time.  I absolutely love it. 

When I set a stand and a pair of traps for a sporting shoot, I try to think of the lower class shooters.  I really don't mind if I don't hit a single target on a stand as long as I feel I am being tested.  There are not many who think this way however so I try to set targets where even the complete novice should hit at least half of them.  If I put on a target that I think is a bit more tricky, I will put on a relatively simple target along with it that, really, most people will hit every time.  Even the simple target will be missed though. Sometimes it doesn't quite work out that way but even if a stand does turn out quite difficult, I think most people enjoy the test of a harder stand rather than just pointing the gun in a general direction and pulling the trigger in a more than a simple one. It is impossible to please everyone though.

I get as much enjoyment now if someone should come up to me after a shoot and mention that they enjoyed the targets.  I really don't mind at all if they tell me the targets were rubbish as I'll know not to set that target again but a simple, "...those were good targets today...", means much more to me than shooting a big score myself.

Our ground is on the side of a hill so I try to think of the shooters that will be attending the shoot rather than what I want to shoot myself.  I try to keep it that the older shooters, and indeed the younger ones too, don't have to haul up hill again after the round has finished.  I try to work with the huts and covered stands we have so that shooters can remain as dry as possible if the heavens should open. 

I have shot a few 100 Bird registered sporting shoots and I can't say that I particularly enjoyed them.  It wasn't that I was missing targets or found the targets overly difficult, but they just lacked the atmosphere of the club shoot.  The 'No coaching at the Stand' rule really takes the interest out of the shoot for me.  If I see someone struggling at a club shoot, I will try to tell them how to shoot the target.  Where to hold the gun to pick up the target, where to move to and roughly where the point of the gun should be compared to the clay.  Not being allowed to do this at a registered shoot really took the interest out of it for me.

I prefer 'English Sporting', much more than Compak Sporting.  I find it hard to keep my concentration at this form of sporting.  I have really only shot Compak at my own club though and I am usually the one buttoning to set off the targets.  You need fingers like a Piano player and a lot of concentration and watching to make sure you set off the correct targets at the correct time.  Buttoning fries my brain before I get a chance to shoot.  Perhaps this is the reason I don't like it as much as other disciplines?  I'm not sure.

I believe out of all the disciplines I've shot, Skeet is my least favourite.  

I had shot DTL for years and had started sporting shooting before I shot skeet.  The first time I shot skeet, I did quite like it.  It was at a 100 bird all rounder and there was 25 skeet as part of the competition.  I think I hit 18 or 19 that day and managed to finish third overall in the competition.  The DTL and Sporting pulled me out that day.  I shot a few practice lines of Skeet following that but hadn't shot it that much.

It was Easter Monday 2017 and we were meant to go to a 50 Bird Sporting shoot but it was called off at the last minute due to a bereavement in the area around the shoot.  We then got invited to a skeet ground to shoot 100 skeet.  There were only five of us there.

I went out on my first round and shot 22.  That was fine.  It was my next round that I completely lost interest in Skeet.

As I have already said,  I have to feel that I am being tested when shooting.  If I don't feel that, I just lose interest.  This is exactly what happened on that round of skeet.  I started off and had shot right round to the middle stand, which is apparently the most difficult stand on skeet with the pair being the most difficult to shoot.  I shot the pair with no trouble at all and shot the rest.  I was then told to choose a target to repeat on the last stand for my straight, which I missed.  I came out of that round of skeet and all I could think was, "...I could have had a straight there and this is only my fourth round of skeet."  I almost completely lost all respect I had for skeet as a discipline.  I should not be able to come so close to a straight after only shooting it 4 times.  I just lost interest in skeet there and then.

The next round I dropped 7 full targets and didn't care a jot. I was bored. I was just wasting shells.  I had no interest in being there or shooting these 'soft' targets.  I gave myself a talking to after that round though and told myself to get myself together and shoot the last round well, which I did and finished with a 24.  In only my fourth time shooting skeet, I had shot 88 targets out of 100 including missing 7 in one line when I just gave up.

I am not belittling anyone who enjoys skeet or skeet as a discipline. I know people prefer different things and I know, and have great admiration and respect, for those people I know personally who have represented their associations at International level at the discipline, but it just isn't for me.  I can't lose myself in a line the way I do at DTL.  The stopping and starting and only shooting 4 targets per stand, I don't particularly enjoy.  I personally cannot give skeet the respect it deserves to shoot it well.  

My favourite discipline of all, that I have tried, is Olympic Trap.  Now that is a test.  I have only shot Olympic Trap twice in my life.  The first time was at a charity event to raise funds for a local shooter, and good friend to my own club, who was having surgery in England.  Logue's Hill CPC hosted the event and we went for the day. I only hit 16 targets in my first line of 25 but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think I shot 19 on my last line but it is a long time since I felt such a buzz shooting.  That is a test.

Olympic Trap is a discipline that I would love to shoot much more often.  Unfortunately, the closest grounds to me are roughly 50 miles away.  There is nowhere local to shoot it so I just don't get to shoot it as often as I'd like.

So there you have it.  That is how I feel personally about the various clay shooting disciplines that I have tried and been involved with. As I said at the beginning, I have enjoyed some more than others.

Anyone reading this will have their own thoughts and opinions and very few of them will match mine. But that's great as it would be boring if everyone thought the same way. 

As long as you are enjoying your shooting, that is the most important aspect of all. 

Shoot well everyone!