Search and Sight Fishing : Frank Sawyer occupies a unique place in fly fishing history. He used no bobber, yarn indicator or any other device, which would ‘set depth’ and support the nymph. Nor did he nip a split shot to the leader, he relied solely on the built in ballast of his artificials to achieve depth. To detect ‘takes’ he greased up his leader to within a yard or so of the nymph. This floating part of the leader was his only ‘strike indicator’ when he search fished.

In this video it is started by search fishing for trout and grayling on a stretch of the Upper Avon which Frank Sawyer keepered. They then go to the crystal clear waters of the Lambourn sight fishing for trout and grayling using his famous Pheasant Tail Nymph.

The Deep Diving Shrimp and Chalk Stream Entomolgy :

You can obviously catch fish without any knowledge of entomology whatsoever, but to be consistently successful, particularly when after wild brown trout and grayling, having some understanding of aquatic insects is a definite advantage.

Freshwater shrimps are a preferred food for trout and grayling, and in alkaline waters, such as our English chalk streams, they can be found in truly biblical numbers, which is why my Masterclass Leaded Shrimp pattern works so well.

But for those deep hatch pools with powerful swirling currents something much heavier is required. So the trick here is to ballast the hook with a tungsten sleeve. Tungsten is twice as dense as lead, so you get all the weight you need without spoiling the outline of the Shrimp. In this video, you see in detail, every step of tying this ‘heavyweight’- and Oliver Edwards demonstrates how to fish it, in the fast complex currents of a hatchpool.

Running Time : 120 Mins