Why fly fishing?
As a sport fly fishing to me is about lots of things not just the ability to catch fish. I started fly fishing at the age of 16 in Perthshire, Scotland. I was very lucky, I lived on a stunningly beautiful sporting estate with a small private loch in front of my cottage. I learned the techniques of casting from my then husband a keen trout and salmon fisherman. Many many evenings were spent lazily drifting down the loch in a boat casting to wild brown trout and Canadian brook trout. When we weren't trout fishing, in the late Autumn, we would travel into the wild highland scenery of Glen Almond and fish for fresh run silver salmon. Often fishing with fly, though sometimes worms or spinners. The experience of catching a salmon on fly is brilliant and something I will never forget.
I spent long summer days fishing highland lochs with nothing but the sound of grouse on the moor and high overhead the faint sound of a Golden Eagle calling. The weather could be bright and sunny with piercingly blue skies one minute and then wild and windy the next, but always the beauty of the place was second to none.
The wild brownies we typically caught would weigh in at around 3/4 lb and taste sweet and succulent.
Not many of us get to start our fishing experiences in such great surroundings, but can still experience them on our fishing trips and holidays.
In the years that have followed I have fished as far afield as Tasmania and New Zealand as well as Ireland, Wales and Germany.
It is my aim to introduce many more people to the pleasures of fly fishing and the joys of catching wild fish in beautiful places.
If you are interested in joining me and learning the gentle art of fly casting with either double or single handed rods please email me on suemacniven@damselflyfishing.co.uk