No more Brown Trout.

It is with great sadness that we learned yesterday that the venue for our Fly-Tying evenings will be closing at the end of this month. It's a very sorry state of affairs that so many pubs are disappearing all over the country, and especially sad that the Brown Trout in Lamberhurst will be joining them. They have been extremely hospitable to our fly-tying group, as well as serving excellent food and beer, and we will miss them.

Meanwhile Keith is now on the hunt for another suitable venue (our third in the past 12 months), but we have a few ideas, so don't despair. We did have a particularly enjoyable and instructive evening there last night, and Keith demonstrated tying a few flies that are especially useful for high and murky waters, such as this scene from the footbridge a week ago (thanks John).

In fact that was about 1.3 meters and far too high for any sensible person to try fishing, and later tonight it is forecast to get even higher, so no use for those nymphs for several days at least.

We all had lots of fun tying the three demonstrated, which were a Pink Tag, Dark Knight, and Nigel's favourite, the Black PTN. I have mentioned before, that you don't need to be a proficient tyer to enjoy these evenings, and even if you can't quite follow the instructions, you can still produce something, and there's always lots of help on offer.

The more discerning amongst you may be able to identify the two flies below which were tied by very proficient tyers, and the others, which were 'interpretations' but I enjoyed messing about with them.

I was assured that "they will catch fish", though not under what precise conditions, nor whether they might require supplementing with a maggot (in the Winter coarse fishing season of course).

The current incessant rain has put paid to the work party planned for this Saturday, but it looks as if the water levels may have a chance to fall by next week and maybe even clear a bit eventually, so maybe we can use our new flies at some point after all.

Keep your eyes peeled in the next few weeks for the invitation to renew your membership for the next Trout season. Oh, and don't worry, there will still be Brown Trout in our part of the river, just not in Lamberhurst.

Cheers

PeterB