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Hans van Klinken
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Matt
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Matt Hayes,
England / Norway website
:
http://www.matthayes.tv/
Can you tell something more about yourself ?
Well, I am a professional
fisherman ( a drop-out really!) I gave up a really successful office job
to try my luck at writing and making fishing tv programmes and the rest is
history. I have made lots of tv shows for Discovery television about
fishing and I have travelled the world chasing my dream. I am married with
two kids. My wife (I have re-married) is a Norwegian girl and between us
we run the Winsnes fly fishing lodge on Gaula in the summer. We are on one
of the best beats of one of Norway's prime salmon rivers so life is not so
bad...
How long have you been
a fly fisherman, and where have you been fishing among others ?
I started fly
fishing over twenty years ago but for many years I just dabbled. My
casting was poor and I found it a little frustrating although I always
loved the thrill of feeling or seeing a fish take a fly. About six or
seven years ago, I started to do a lot more fly fishing and I really fell
in love with it. Since then I have learned to tie my own flies, done a lot
of fly fishing for saltwater fish and pike on the fly and currently I am
learning the double-hand technique for salmon. Nowadays I fly fish for
anything from trout and grayling through salmon and sea trout to pike,
bonefish and tarpon (when I get the chance!)
Why do you like river
Glomma and the Kvennan Fly Fishing zone ?
I think that it is
a really beautiful place with lots of character. The river splits into
many small side channels, bends a lot and flows around islands. Every
step brings you closer to yet another great looking place and really
there is so much water that it provides endless challenges. The fishing
is great, too, of course, and the fish always seem willing to rise for a
dry fly. I love the idea of the catch and release zone. So much of
Norway is being ruined by over-zealous catch and kill fishing and none
more so than Glomma, a river that should be at the top of Norway's
fishing tree. Thanks to Kvennan, the river has a chance to show a new
generation of fly fishers what made people like Hans van Klinken so
crazy about it. Good luck to you and the enlightened local land owners -
you get my full support!
Can you tell
something about the old days at river Glomma ?
Not really -
only what I have read in van Klinken's book and hearsay from some of our
salmon fishing guests. It is not difficult to imagine, when you fish
Glomma and see the quality of the habitat and the diversity of fly life,
just how great it could be for trout and grayling. It is a legendary
river and certainly I was rather dismayed when I fished some of the
public zones to see just how badly it has been abused and raped.
Did you catch any really
big fish in Glomma ?
Well, I have
caught grayling to just over one kilo and brown trout to one point five
but it is all new to me - I have not spent so much time
in the river, yet. I know that the river holds
some hidden monsters and in the next few seasons I intend to make their
acquaintance!
What is your
favourite dry fly ?
I love
Klinkhammers- I have caught some big grayling and trout on them and my
one and only arctic char on dry fly. In recent years I am becoming
increasingly convinced that CDC patterns are superior. I don't like
elaborate flies - I like flies that look as if they will work if you
know what I mean. I do all of my own tying and at the moment I am tying
a lot of CDC ready for next summer.
What is your favourite nymph
?
Pink
shrimp, tied with bright, fluorescent dubbing. Big grayling and trout
love them!
How long leader do you use,
and how thick is your tippet ?
That depends. When I am fishing for pike, my leader is only six or seven
feet long, comprising some heavy mono and a wire tippet while if I am
buzzer fishing it can be six meters long. I
tie leader according to the fly I am fishing, the mood of the fish,
conditions on the day. When I am trout and
grayling fishing with dry fly I make my own tapered leaders out of
co-polymer (fluorocarbon sinks too quickly) and I taper the leader by
joining together lengths of different diameters. Typically, the leader
is 1.5 times the length of the rod. For nymphing I use fluorocarbon and
I like the leader to be quite long - around 1.5 rod lengths usually.
Do you loose a lot of fish
when fishing without a barb on your hook ?
No. I don't
think it makes much difference and at the end of the day if it is kinder
to the fish, losing the odd big one is a reasonable price to pay
What
do you think about the new rules & regulations ?
Brilliant! I wish it would become a national law in Norway. The country
has been raped an abused by greedy visiting anglers. It is sad that
rules have to be introduced to curb excessive behaviour but they are.
What should be your best
advice for a fellow Glomma fly fisherman ?
Enjoy the surroundings, enjoy the beautiful country and fish for the
sport and the challenge - not the table.
What should be your best
advice for river management ?
I think
that river management should be left to professional people and based on
careful consideration of the river and the environment. Too many rivers
are managed by people with selfish motives such as killing pike in the
mistaken belief that it is good for the other fishes or to allow the
killing of too many fish when it is obvious that the fishing is in serious
decline.
Make no mistake, with the amount of fishing pressure being placed on
Norway's rivers by visiting anglers the country needs water management.
These pressures will only increase over time and for those of us who like
to catch big fish, controlling the level and type of angling pressure will
become increasingly important.
Is there something more you
want to share ?
Only some more rod hours on a beautiful river, in the summer, with a
Dutch man who wears a flat cap when he is fishing...
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