Check out the bargain deals under the bargain tab. You will find quality fishing rods below other stores costs. The same fishing rod only not the same price. Put your hard earned money that you save towards something else by shopping at John Norris. Salmon and trout rods are offered as are spinning rods and fly fishing rods. Find your favorite brand such as Daiwa, Loop, Partridge, Pflueger, and Shakespeare in the bargain area. Excellent deals also on Greys, Hardy, and Sage rods.

Scoop nets and twist and lock nets that are made well are affordable to capture your big catch of the day.

Find fly selections and lures at a discounted price. When you accidentally lose a fly or lure you won’t be bothered as you saved a bundle. You now know where to shop to find discounted fishing tackle.

Discounted fly reels and spools are found to suit your fishing rod needs. Stock up now while the prices are low.

Many different sizes and types of hooks, a hook sharpener, and a hook eye threader available.

Fly line, sinking line, and floating line is available for the type of fish you are headed to catch on your fishing trip.

You will even find bargains on clothing for your fishing trip. Men and women’s vests, sweaters, waders, trousers, jackets, waistcoats, women’s outfits and men’s outfits. Keep the bug pests away with comfortable hats. You will keep your feet cozy with the wool blend stockings. For easy care all stockings are machine washable. Find water-resistant boots to suit your style.

Enjoy the knowledge of knowing you saved a bundle so you can sit back, relax, and concentrate on your much needed and wanted fishing trip.

The annual fee of £99 is donated in their entirety to Claire House Children’s Hospice, along with the proceeds of the annual dinner. To join Liverpool Fly Fishers visit their website.

Searching the web brings up a number of specialist sites and those of land agents tasked with flogging off someones pride and joy. The following suggestions might just help you locate a fishery for sale and find your dream home and ideal job in the same move:

• http://www.fisheries4sale.com

Fisheries4Sale is the website of renowned Chartered Surveyors and Property Agents Fenn Wright. Unfortunately the site has a bias towards coarse fisheries for sale and is lacking if you are looking to purchase a fly fishing business. The few examples are presented very well with maps, plans, pictures and a lengthy description. This is a good website that lacks listings and is updated infrequently, however this could my well be due to the state of the market itself.

• http://www.businessesforsale.com

This is a specific business site and therefore focuses more on the corporate aspects of purchasing a fishery. This is good for the angling enthusiast as the lack of imagery, descriptions and fishing related information means you are more likely to make a business decision rather than a major investment based on emotion. This site is rarely updated and listings are unfortunately infrequent.

• http://www.sandersonproperty.co.uk

This website offers a good balance of varied listings and although dominated by carp fisheries there are sometimes great fly fishing venues for sale.

Last Christmas I got fishing tackle vouchers, a few books and the usual novelty gifts for the angler. None of these have improved by fishing or helped me to catch more fish. The fishing tackle that has improved my catch rate is an IPod.

That’s right. I am 100% sure that an MP3 player has made me more a more successful fly fisherman!

Let me explain. I usually go fly fishing alone, as I live in Manchester and my fishing friends are based in the North East of England where I first took up the sport many years ago. Except for passing the time of day with anglers at fisheries in Cheshire or fisheries in Lancashire and swapping tactics with my fellow fly fishing practionioners I tend to thrash the water alone.

An IPod has therefore given me the chance to choose between the peace and quiet of the English countryside or the opportunity to listen to great music whilst doing what I enjoy most without any interference from anyone else. It could not be more relaxing after a hard day at week at work.

I also think my IPod has helped me catch more fish. Try it.

Pre IPod I found that I regularly adopted the ’standard retrieve’. The thing every angler does. You default to it whilst retrieving fishing flies when not concentrating on the job. It is usually repetitive. It doesnt mimick the movement of an insect and is not life like in any way. As a result it often means you can go for periods without catching fish due to a preoccupation with your surroundings.

With my IPod blasting out my favourite tunes, I soon started to vary my retrieve in time to what ever was playing at the time.

As a result the timing of my retreive varies and the movement of my fly is more erratic. The more realistic movement of artificial fishing flies led very quickly to takes.

After successfully landing a few Rainbow Trout from the lake it was clear the day was going more successfully than normal. In total I caught ten fish in four hours. I’ve never done that before.

I’ve caught more before, but never on a short ticket. I am sure that my IPod was the fly fishing secret that gave me a great days sport.

Since then I have visited a few more fly fisheries and had similar success. I firmly believe my IPod is responsible.

It remains to see if this new tactic becomes a distraction when fishing the dry fly. Roll on the summer.

For the anoraks, here are Top 10 combinations of tunes and tactics.

My Top 10 Fly Fishing Tunes:

1. Bar Tender and the Thief – Sterophonics
2. Massachusetts – The Bee Gees
3. Make me smile – Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
4. I used to love Her – Guns n’ Roses
5. This Is The One – Stone Roses
6. Take your Mama – Scissor Sisters
7. Islands in the stream – Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers
8. Video killed the Radio Star – Buggles
9. Spitting games – Snow Patrol
10. Whole lotta Rosie – ACDC

Beware.

There are a couple of drawbacks associated with using an IPod whilst fly fishing:

• Thunder and Lightning – Holding one of the best lighning conductors in a storm is best avoided, so be careful that you dont miss any tell tale thunder whilst listening to your favourite music in the open air for hours on end.

• Appearing arrogant or deaf – I have inadvertently ignored a couple of anglers without realising it.
• Looking Like an Idiot – Avoid tapping your foot or bursting in to song and looking like a first class charlie!

From the one that got away to the monster Tweed Salmon landed on a hand tied Jock Scott, you will always have something to share with other fly fishermen.

We are an opinionated bunch so discussions about top fly fishing tackle, who exactly is the top dog at your favourite trout fisheries, or how best to fish a Buzzer Fishing Fly encourage a flurry of opinions. Post your advice for beginners, seek guidance from a seasoned fisherman or brag about your catch in this Fly Fishing Blog.We want your opinions so feel free to post your stories, comment on artcles or submit links to your top sites.

Generations of anglers have learned that catching brown, blue, tiger, or rainbow trout, and even sea trout relies upon:

The Fly – Choosing the right fly is one thing. Presenting it to the prey in an appealing fashion is often more important.

The Cast – Power and distance often dominate the keen beginner, in a desire to emulate advanced fly-casting experts. Technique, Timing and Tactics will often improve your chances of catching fish and help enjoy fly-fishing.

The Retrieve – The challenge of mimicking an insect from a distance of twenty yards using only a nine-foot fishing rod, fluorocarbon and modern fly line is a difficult one. Learning the diverse characteristics of each fishing fly is essential to adapt to the conditions and hoodwink even the most stubborn rainbow trout.

The Fish – Be your prey. By understanding the behaviour, characteristics, habit and attitude of the rainbow rout you can catch more fish. Different species of trout exhibit contrasting responses to the influence of the environment around them.

Nature – Learn to understand and pre-empt the changing environment and choose the right approach for different water conditions, weather factors and even the by near by fauna.

With this in mind, and a desire to further improve my own fly casting I am eager for your comments and suggestions as to how best to improve the fly casting technique in the following video. Already, dozens of fly fisherman have contributed their own fly casting tips to ensure that we all improve together.

Fly Casting Video

In my opinion this fly casting shows good technique and timing, however as this is set against the back drop of a fast flowing river it is difficult to see the effect of the line when it comes in to contact with the water. Inevitably, this river is likely to be a lot more forgiving than a calm Stillwater without ripple when fishing the dry fly on a quiet day.The five fly casting tips that I recommend are:

1. The line (and fly) goes in the direction you point the rod tip during the fly casting.

2. Good fly casting is not strength-related; it is timing-related. Thus you must practice the timing of the cast to become a good caster. At least ten minutes a day to become a good caster in a month.

3. Proper stroking and stopping of the rod are fundamental to good fly casting. The caster loads energy into the rod during the casting stroke. The rod releases the energy into the line in the cast. The caster loads a little energy (a short, low-energy stroke) into the top of the rod for short casts; he loads a lot of energy (a short, powerful stroke) into the middle and bottom of the rod for a long cast.

4. Fly casting arcs (the arc the rod makes in the air during the cast) are small for short casts and large for long casts.

5. Stopping the rod after the fly casting stroke is critical to forming the casting loop, and it allows the rod to unload, thus casting the line.

Got any more fly casting tips? Please get in touch.

Buzzers are midge pupa and take their name from the buzzing noise they make when in a swarm. They begin life as a bloodworm, living in the mud found on the bottom of still waters. The bloodworms get their colour from oxygen and haemoglobin within.

Buzzer’s loose their blood red colour prior to hatching and become darker before making their way from the lake bottom.  With a characteristic wriggle Buzzer’s swim from the bottom of the lake up to the surface before stopping to rest or for the right conditions to hatch. When they stop wriggling towards the surface they slowly sink back down before swimming upwards again. When they eventually reach the surface they hang from the surface film and hatch out in to adult buzzers or midge.

There are a number of ways to accurately imitate Buzzer’s with an artificial Buzzer Fishing Fly:

Traditional Buzzer Fishing

This method is worth a try on any day in water less than twelve feet deep using a floating line with at least twelve feet of leader and three flies. If the fish are well below the surface use the weighted buzzer fishing fly on the point. The length of leader will determine how deep you fish. The trick is finding the correct depth.

Cast out and wait for the point fly to sink deep enough to attract fish. Start a very slow retrieve and hold the rod tip about a foot above the water. Patience is a virtue here as a slow retrieve is the key imitating the movement of the Buzzer Fishing Fly. Often keeping the flies static is the best tactic for successful fly fishing. After retrieving in a few feet of fishing line pause for a few seconds to mimic the natural decent in the water of a natural Buzzer.

A traditional alternative, particularly in Scotland is a bead head buzzer or bloodworm on the point, buzzer on the middle dropper and a Black Pennell on the top dropper. With this set up you will be fishing the three stages of the buzzers life cycle.

The Bloodworm Fishing Fly

The Bloodworm fishing fly is often deadly when trout fishing at still waters. Using much the same method as above, with the Bloodworm Fishing Fly only on the point, use a very slow retrieve. Be patient once more and stay alert to strike at the slightest hint of a take.

Hanging Out The Washing

This approach requires a ten foot leader, with a Booby Fishing Fly on the point and a Buzzer Fishing Fly on the middle dropper and a traditional wet fly on the top dropper. A Buzzer Fishing Fly is often used on the top dropper with a good measure of success, particularly in boat fly fishing.

As with the traditional style of Buzzer Fishing, cast out, let the fly line settle, and retrieve to straighten out any kinks in the fly line. Either static or with a very slow retrieve is best to dry and catch fish. Move the line quicker on the retrieve more so than traditional method if a patient approach proves unsuccessful.

The Deep Booby

Change to a sinking line, with the booby on the point and the Buzzer Fishing Fly on one or both droppers. The Booby will hold the Buzzer’s off the bottom if the dropper length is set with the depth of the water. Hold back on the retrieve, as a static approach is likely work well but do try different tactics for the retrieve.

Fly Fishing with Bite Indicator’s

The Buzzer Fishing Fly and the bite indicator is a recent set up that continues to grow in popularity due to the effectiveness of the bite indicator at catching Rainbow Trout. Fly Fishing with Bite Indicator’s is controversial. Purists correctly point out the similarity to coarse fishing.

Use a short leader of at least five feet. Put a Buzzer Fishing Fly on the point and set the distance from the fishing fly to the Bite Indicator at the length to match the depth of where you think the fish are. Cast out, tidy up if you must and leave the fly static. Strike at sign of movement of the fly fishing Bite Indicator, don’t just wait for the Bite Indicator to disappear – it isn’t JAWS.

Trout can still be found close top the surface, particularly in spring fed fisheries, or those with an aerator to add oxygen to the water. This can attract fish just below the surface. It is not uncommon for Rainbow trout to be lethargic and extremely difficult to entice. A patient approach with a team of buzzers at the correct depth is often a successful way to go fly fishing in hot weather.

Lures

Wet Flies

Buzzers

Boobies

Viva