How To Travel Across The Globe And Actually Catch Fish

Guest blog written by Postfly Ambassador Rob Dudley. Tweed. Tweed and Sweaters. Tweed, Sweaters, and Salmon. That is what people think about when they think of fishing in Scotland. Well luckily for me, I had the opportunity to go to Scotland and fish the River Tweed with Callum Conner from Scotia Fishing, and see what Scotland was all about! New Fishery, New Technique There were a few obstacles on our way to the river. Beautiful scenery, sheep, more sheep, and lots and lots of nettles (those little plants that sting and get EVERYWHERE). The most major obstacle for me though was that we were going to be employing a technique known as, “French Nymphing,” that I had never done before. Fortunately, I was in good hands with Callum and after few kind Scottish reminders to “lob and not flick” my casts, we were on our way to a belter of a day! All of the fish in the River Tweed are wild and willing, especially the many “wee broonies” in that inhabit the river. On one of my first casts I managed to land a small brown trout and shake the fear of being skunked 3,000 miles from home. Soon after that we got into what Callum was calling the “money pool” and my French Nymphing was getting better by the cast. I was able to land my first ever grayling, which was an absolute horse! Fishing In The Shadows Of Castles Once we had fished that stretch of river to our hearts’ desires we moved to another stretch of the famous Tweed that was in the shadow of a 14th century castle. It was hard not to picture William Wallace, otherwise known as Braveheart, waging war on the British as I tracked my indicator over each drift. I was able to get into some fish in this pool as well. Our final spot of the day lead us through a great meadow and some more nasty nettles, but resulted in an absolutely smashing broonie! All in all it was a magical experience. I did lose a few flies to the bottom of the river, but as William Wallace would say, “they can take our FLIES, but they can never take our freedom!” Need to fill your flybox before your trip of a lifetime (even if it's just at your local river)? Subscribe to Postfly now to never run out of flies again.