The buzz of the Fly Fair
What has ten thousand legs, feathers galore and smells of mothballs? Dom Garnett reports from Britain’s greatest fly tying extravaganza...
IF YOU ever feared modern anglers were becoming all too detached from the sport’s traditions, a trip to the British Fly Fair International is an eye-opener, to put it mildly.
Even if you couldn’t tell a Czech Nymph from an Irish Dabbler, it’s an event you should attend at least once in your life.
Traditional as the art form is, there has never been a time of greater convergence between the game and coarse fishing worlds. These days, you are just as likely to discover giant pike flies or grayling specials as you are a set of trout and salmon classics.
Nor should you be fooled into thinking this is some alien, aesthetic domain. You’ll find just about any natural coarse fish food painstakingly copied and tied here, from a crayfish to a freshwater shrimp.
Better still, there are no secrets and you can watch exactly how each is made! These creations can be deadly, as well as artful, and I’m not entirely surprised to see our own Dr Paul Garner doing the rounds, as fascinated as I am.
Indeed, as new ideas ‘hatch’, the game is changing. Over a decade ago, as a fledgling writer from a coarse fishing background, I felt rather like a townie trying to break into an exclusive country club.
Nowadays, the doors have been blown clean off – and while there are still a few stick-in-the-muds in both coarse and fly camps, thousands of us are more fluid in our habits. From mullet and bass to chub, perch and carp, the rules and the very demographic of game fishing are shifting.
Indeed, after hearing traditional types moaning that the sport was in danger of becoming ‘a bloody Saga holiday’ at my first-ever BFFI many years ago, stubborn old boys are now more likely to tut at the increase in tattooed hipsters and
women. Many of these are clearly ‘youngsters’ of well under 60!
Just as newer fishing recruits have swelled the ranks of lure anglers, the same is now happening with fly fishing and the whole ‘roll it your own way’ attitude that goes with it.
And it’s bloody wonderful to see new faces who don’t share the same preconceptions of their great grandads. Many of the new breed are
as happy on the local canal as on a chalk stream, while their specially tied creations range from incredible feats of realism to flights of pure fancy. Like the very anglers, all have their place.
It’s a beautiful, broader church these days, fuelled by many different regions, species and styles of tying and angling. In fact, the whole of fishing could learn from the wonderful creativity and openness of the BFFI.