Author: Gill Pinches

Tom Sturdy was the first Tanfield Angling Club River keeper and he became Water Bailiff on £1 per week in March 1899. ‘Silent Tom’ (as he was known) was credited with the ability ‘to train fish to be free risers to the fly’. No one has ever worked out how but perhaps it was something to do with his ‘Sturdy’s Fancy’. This was a particularly successful grayling fly he designed (tying instructions are given in the September 2016 edition of Fly Fishing and Fly Tying).

Following in the fly-tying footsteps of Tom Sturdy, the club held its first fly-tying event on Sunday 10 Oct, with half a dozen members attending, and by all accounts it was a journey of discovery for attendees, we even managed to tie some F-Flies. How effective they are remains to be discovered!

The next evening will be at The Bruce Arms, in West Tanfield on Sunday 10th November at 18:00.  For those interested and new to tying we will by tying the Brassie Nymph, and for those more experienced tiers just come along for the social.

We have devised a beginner programme and included several of the Fly Dressers Guild Award Scheme flies, so you can follow the one that works for you, alternatively you can just come along and do your own thing. 

There will be a small fee per evening £10 per evening, and a supplement of £5 for materials if you would like to follow the beginners programme (which is open to everyone).

If you would like to attend please drop Owen an email – [email protected]

Internationally acclaimed fly-fishing instructor, author and artist, Charles Jardine and local fly-fishing guide, six times English National Fly Fishing Champion and contributor to the UK’s leading Fly Fishing Publications, Fred Bainbridge presented two Masterclass events at Tanfield Angling Club on 26/27 October.

Charles ran through his set ups for dry fly, rivercraft and demonstrated his world-class casting techniques whilst Fred focussed on a variety of nymphing set-ups and demonstrated his hugely successful Euro-nymphing techniques.

On the Saturday evening Charles hosted a fly-tying demonstration at Riverdale.

Thanks to Riverdale and Oliver’s Pantry for their support of the event.

All in a Day’s Work! Getting ready for the new season in 2020!

The Red Tag fly, designed by the founder of TAC, Maximillian Walbran, was mentioned in the 2016 Autumn edition of Flydresser (page 29). Apparently he had been recommended to try the fly ‘Worcester Gem’ on his Yorkshire rivers. He consequently then changed the name of the ‘Worcester Gem’ to ‘the Red Tag’ and first mentioned it in a chapter on grayling flies in his book British Angling Flies (second edition).

The Red Tag – Walbran’s version

Body: bright green peacock’s harl over which winds a red cock’s hackle, and a scrap of crimson floss silk at the tail.

However FM Halford had described it, some three years before, in Floating Flies & How to Dress Them. Here he said the Hackle was Blood red game cock; the Body was copper-coloured peacock herl with 2 or 3 stands twisted together. The tag was Ibis or scarlet wool.

We continue to research the addition of diploid trout to the river and thankfully the first three years of our Investigation has been very successful. The Environment Agency are happy with the data that we are providing and are supportive of our continuing work on this subject.