Czech Nymphing

80% of what trout and grayling eat is subsurface and the majority of that is taken directly from the riverbed.  So, if you want to improve your catch rate, you are better off fishing subsurface and this is the principle of ‘Czech Nymphing’.
Oliver Edwards takes the viewer to the river Ure to find the real insects that the trout and grayling feed on and shows us how to create his own devastatingly effective copy, a ‘super realistic’ pattern and one that Oliver is world famous for devising.
He demonstrates how to ‘read a river’ and look for the right places to ‘Czech nymph’ and shares all the ‘tricks of the trade’ taught to him by the master of the art, Czech fly fisherman, Vit Misar, the England team’s ‘minder’ during the 1996 World Championships in the Czech Republic.

Upstream Nymphing

Classic upstream nymphing was once the preserve of the refined and genteel world of fly fishing on English chalk streams.  But as Oliver will show, although it is strenuous, it is an easy technique to master and very effective on fast-flowing freestone rivers anywhere in the world. 
Knowing what the fish eat is central to becoming an effective fly fisher. Hepagenids are found in abundance, so that’s the tying that Oliver demonstrates.  The pattern is one of his own creations and is unlike other artificials that fly fishers will have seen.  The result is devastatingly effective.
Oliver demonstrates various techniques including the ‘Klink’ and Dink’ - a Klinkhåmer dry fly with a nymph hanging off the hook bend and lets the viewer into a ‘never shown before’ secret used with this style, a technique developed by competition fly fishermen for speed.  In this sequence we clearly see the fish take both the nymph and the dry fly and how a grayling takes a dry fly – to the best of our knowledge a ‘TV first’!

Search & Sight Fishing

Frank Sawyer occupies a unique place in fly fishing history as the greatest nymph fisherman of all and here, Oliver pays tribute to his techniques of search fishing and sight-fishing.
The two flies Oliver demonstrates are fly fishing classics devised by Sawyer.  Both are flies that any keen fly fisherman will almost certainly have in their fly boxes.  However, because they are so well known and easy to tie they have been ‘bastardised’ over the years and so Oliver goes back to Frank’s original instructions and ties them as he originally intended.
After tying the ‘Killer Bug’, Oliver shows how to search-fish on the Upper Avon and demonstrates the second tying sequence; Frank’s Pheasant Tail Nymph, probably the best known fly in the world and one that is ideal for demonstrating sight-fishing on the crystal-clear waters of the Lambourn, where stealth is the key.

Bug Hunting and the Fresh Water Shrimp
Freshwater shrimps are the preferred food for trout and grayling and are found all over the world but particularly in alkaline waters.  Oliver demonstrates ‘The Deep Diving Shrimp’ a variant of his classic shrimp pattern suitable for the deep swirling hatch pools that Oliver wants to fish.
Oliver shows how to fish a hatch pool, catching beautifully marked fish up to two kilos in weight after which he demonstrates the lighter ‘Masterclass Grey Shrimp’ on some of the gentler runs, lower down the same river.
Oliver shows that by matching the weight of an artificial pattern to water conditions, fishing shrimp can be very simple.

Dry Fly Fishing

Whilst Oliver Edwards is world famous for his nymphing skills, he’s also a highly accomplished dry fly fisherman and has represented his country at international level many times.
Oliver demonstrates the only two patterns he uses when imitating duns (upwinged flies); ‘The Paradun’, simple to tie and lands correctly on virtually every cast and ‘The Footprint Dun’, a little trickier but a great pattern for fish that come up to the fly and then turn away at the last second.  A specially constructed water tank offers us a remarkable view of the fly from the fish’s perspective.
Oliver tries these patterns out on a Northern British freestone river where this technique was developed and shows how, even on a day with no fish rising, his little fly brings fish up from nowhere!

Mayfly Time on a Chalk Stream

Although Mayflies are found on rivers in many places around the world, for many, fishing the fabled Mayfly hatch on a British chalk stream would be a once in a life time experience and remains for most of us, just a dream.
To get access to one of these rivers during those two weeks in late May and early June is not only expensive but next to impossible and attracts fly fishers from all over the world.
Oliver has developed a unique copy of the Mayfly – his ‘Mohican Mayfly’, which he shows how to tie and demonstrates on the River Avon.  Plenty of action, with fish up to two kilos is illustrated with underwater shots and close-up shots of trout taking real Mayflies as well as Oliver’s ‘Mohican Mayfly’.
As with all Oliver’s fishing demonstrations, the viewer gets the information they need to tackle this technique confidently, all delivered in Oliver’s engaging, easy going style.