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UK Fishing Holidays
Devon,
River Wye,
Norfolk
weekend breaks,
tuition
Worldwide Fishing Holidays
Sweden,
India & Nepal,
Florida
Mongolia,
France,
Greenland
Spain,
Ireland,
Africa
Iceland
Dream fishing vacations
mahseer,
taimen,
trout,
salmon
grayling,
tench,
carp,
barbel
Arctic char,
tigerfish
freshwater rivers & lakes
fly fishing &
coarse fishing
pure water,
unspoilt locations
Atlantic sea fishing
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Newsletter 2002
Fishing Holidays worldwide with Angling travel
For Colour Brochure, advice, and booking
phone or fax (+44 or 0) 7866 470238
Dear Angling Traveller,
What a great year - despite the fact that, for all the wrong reasons, foot and mouth and terrorism have made 2001 a year that we'll never forget. However, what the problems have highlighted is that you can never predict exactly what life has got in store for you and that it is crazy to put things off that you really want to experience. We don't think that fishing has ever been more important: it can give you a break from a life that is increasingly stressful and introduce you to new friends, experiences and countries where you can really feel revived, sense the dormant child coming out in you again.
2001, despite the sadness of the autumn's events, was for Angling Travel a tremendous year of adventure, shared companionship and delight in the beauty of the places we take our groups to. Thank you so much for contributing to the wonderful success of our courses and overseas adventures. We so value the fact that you have trusted us, given us your business and allowed us the chance to design your fishing holiday of a lifetime. Thank you too for your moving and inspiring letters about your trips - I wish we had anywhere near the space to print more of your generous comments. They really do make our hard work worthwhile. It's truly heart-warming to see so many old friends come back each year and to meet new people to with whom we can share the fishing, the places and the people that are so special to us. Whether you are yearning for the spectacular, remote fishing of Mongolia, India or Greenland, or curious about the extraordinary potential of Spain, or want a quick taste of paradise on one of our weekend courses in one of our magical venues in England, we can give you what you want.
If you are considering coming on one of our trips for the first time, you can be sure that you will be making the most of your valuable fishing time. An Angling Travel trip is tried and tested, involving rivers, fishing, guides and operators in which we have great faith. We know that our customers are very discriminating anglers and we believe that the opportunities and service we offer are worthy of your continuing loyalty. We will continue to do everything in our power to offer you the trip of a lifetime. Is the wilderness calling you? Is it time to listen?
Cast far and wide this year with Angling Travel, have the tightest of lines and fulfil your fishing dreams.
Looking forward to seeing you in 2002!
PS. Remember that you are always welcome to phone us to discuss any of our trips in more detail.
PPS. Some of our trips make the perfect gift for family or friends. We can help you choose the best option, and can always arrange for your recipient to change the date and venue of your booking if you or they so wish.
PPPS. Phone / write if you want a signed copy of John's much-lauded new book ' Trout at Ten Thousand Feet.' Stunning adventures, mesmerising descriptions. Just £12.99 plus £1 p&p.
We look forward to helping you make your fishing dreams come true this year.
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What's special about Angling travel
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Would you enjoy an Angling Travel fishing trip? |
- Do you love fish and fishing?
- Do you enjoy meeting likeminded people?
- Do you have a desire to learn more about fishing techniques, rivers, fish, the people that become your hosts, yourself?
- Do you have a respect, a love for the natural world?
- Do you enjoy, or dream of spending time by the most beautiful, untouched rivers this country and the world has to offer? If so, welcome!
- Cast far and wide this year with Angling Travel, have the tightest of lines and fulfil your fishing dreams.
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For those who don't know us, Angling Travel grew organically out of the travels, writing and television work of that most passionate of anglers and conservationists,
John Bailey. We've been established for ten years now. There seems to be room for a small, intimate, highly focused company catering for busy people without months on their hands to ferret out what we can provide you with - the best fishing secrets on the planet. What makes us different is our size. We don't run many trips each year and we strive to make each one work completely and maintain high standards of service. John travels frequently but only every year or two does he find something he feels good enough to put on our lists. Life is short so he only takes clients to places that he personally loves, places he trusts to be special, places he is absolutely happy with. And is always passionate about.
We're living in an age when things just have to change, when there has to be a new depth of awareness and a real respect for wild things. And wild fishing is what Angling Travel is about - all our venues and all the fish that you will catch with us are as virgin and pristine as you will find in this developed planet of ours. Our aim, as it always has been, is simply to take you to the best, unspoilt, wildest locations you can dream of to catch the fish of your dreams.
In safety, comparative comfort and secure in the knowledge that you have your best
chance of finding fish.
We're strict about catch and release apart from occasional fish for the table when they're required. We encourage barbless hooks, unhooking fish in the water, and photographing fish in the margins rather than on the bank. We care deeply about the people and the places you visit. We are taking you into very sensitive areas and feel it is necessary to treat them with understanding, tact and concern. We want to leave the environment better for our involvement and not railroad the people there into western ways.
It's common for travel companies to boast that they've sent huge numbers of thousands of clients abroad the season past. We do the opposite: we see you as friends booking to go with John on a small, well organised expedition on which you're not a number but a team mate, a cherished companion (most of our clients find us through word of mouth recommendation).
Because we only see a hundred anglers each year, we get to know them personally and more often than not come to regard them as real friends. It's been wonderful (and heart-warming) to see so many old friends on our trips and courses once again in the past twelve months. The fact that so many of you book and re-book means a very great deal to us. Not only do we enjoy your company vastly but also it says to us that the Company is doing something right. We've also made some great new friends as well, anglers that we hope will stay with us over the years. Mention must be made, for example of Messrs Jack and Chris Boggis, aged eight and twelve respectively. They fished the Wye like demons, caught the monsters they deserved and made us all realise just how great the first discoveries of childhood are. Everybody who has come into contact with Angling Travel shares the same desire to learn: to learn about the environment, the rivers, the fish, fishing techniques and the people that become our hosts.
Memories of 2001
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What do we give you? |
- In depth knowledge of the locality, its people, fishing methods, wildlife.
- The very best fishing the world has to offer
- Every aspect of your travel arrangements supervised.
- Detailed written information before every trip, whether in the UK or abroad and as many follow up phone calls as you require.
- A pre trip meeting if you and John deem it necessary.
- Detailed itineraries.
- John's help and companionship on tour whether it's needed one minute or twenty-four hours a day.
- Post trip briefings and frequent reunions where photos, trannies and stories are swapped.
- Corporate days or weekends arranged.
- Private tuition sometimes available on British waters.
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Now let's consider the angling. We like to think that we are really offering tried and tested trips to some of the more discriminating of the angling community. We've seen some absolutely cracking fish. In 2001 John remembers, "the image of Lee and Gwyn's two double figure
barbel caught within the space of an hour of each other. And Alan's stunningly beautiful golden
mahseer. John Morris's equally splendid forty-pound silver - a real honey of a fish if ever there were one.
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"The location (Spain) is fantastic - surroundings are truly wild and the fish are stunning... An
exceptionally enjoyable week as always in remote and beautiful surroundings..."
Tim Ellis, Hertfordshire
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Then those
Andalucian barbel - creatures that glowed like the sun. What beauties. Then, of course, we saw a whole clutch of Mongolian taimen as the autumn approached. Taimen, like mahseer, we never tire of but this year's catches in
Mongolia were, I guess, the most beautiful I've personally ever seen. Perhaps because we were there later in the year and because the water was so low and clear it seemed to me that the colours were particularly enhanced. We all know taimen have those extraordinary red tails and roots but, this year, their whole body after body seemed to be like a burnished, russet gold - if you can imagine such a thing. I also managed to bag myself a grayling just half a centimetre shy of the fifty mark... I guess it weighed around about four and a half pounds and was arguably the most heart-stopping fish I've ever, personally landed, certainly when it comes to sheer beauty. But, then, I just don't know... they're all fantastic, aren't they?"
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'Amazing location, unsurpassable fishing and good company... what else is there?'
Dan Taylor, Reading
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Greenland Magic
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Book your trip to Greenland in 2002 |
- Depending on how hard you fish, expect to catch between 10 and 100 char each day. It's not unusual for a group of five to come back having landed two thousand char.
- The char can be caught on fly or spinner and average between two and three pounds but go all the way to ten pounds plus.
- If you're new to flyfishing, quick success will have you hooked.
- Go with us and fish two or three rivers.
- Comfortable tented camps pitched right by the rivers themselves.
- Angling Travel has been in Greenland since 1994 and has experience on eleven rivers.
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Greenland is a land of snow and ice and rivers as pure as anywhere you will fine in the world. It is the home, the absolute centre of the world's Arctic char populations. The west coast rivers that we fish absolutely heave with these extraordinarily beautiful, fascinating creatures that run them in their hundreds of thousands. Explosively coloured, shining silver to throbbing, vivid reds, fish of between four and seven pounds. It's fly fishing beyond compare. It simply takes your breath away. John has made many trips to Greenland since the early 1990s and sampled a whole clutch of rivers. We like to think now that we're concentrating on the best of the bunch and 2001 saw us send a group with a new, Greenlandic partner. The trip was a success and many hundreds of fish were caught. Access to the camp will be easier and facilities improved again for 2002 when John expects once again to head a group.
This is the most basic camping of all of the trips we offer. Still, you'll have everything you need. You'll share a tent, spacious, modern and, if we do get a storm, completely waterproof. There will probably be a mess tent too, and a local cook. Expect to be offered seal, musk ox, whale, reindeer and, of course,
Arctic char which are, quite simply, the most heavenly fish you will ever eat.
The Greenlandic fly fishing experience is absolutely unique in every way. Imagine fishing small, crystal rivers back home for grilse - fish between three and eight pounds perhaps. But in Greenland they're running not in tens or scores but in hundreds and thousands. On every river that we visit, you'll find crystal clear water so it's possible to stalk individual fish.
Still, considering many pools can hold five hundred or even a thousand fish this isn't always easy! Most rivers in Greenland tend to be comparatively short but this one offers a total of around fifteen miles of fishing - and that includes three large lakes. The bottom line here is that you are constantly fishing new water, which presents new challenges and new fish. We try to take you to at least two, if not three, rivers during your stay. This makes for constant variety and exploration: chances are that at some stage you'll fish a pool that's never before seen fly or spinner. The river valleys themselves are so fertile, spewing out of the ice cap, hurling themselves five or ten miles perhaps to the sea. Pools and white water alternate and sometimes you can follow, catching char almost to where the river comes out of the ice itself. Snow-capped mountains rear up behind you, most summer days the skies are the purest blue. Deep, echoing silence brings you a peace we have lost in our normal lives.
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'I had high expectations of Greenland, but they were surpassed within the first hours.. stunning char fishing- the best!'
John Dunbar. Wilmslow
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And the fight of an Arctic char is unforgettable. These are the bonefish of freshwater. You can fish with a number six weight, a six pound leader and hook fish after fish and see your backing appear time after time. Sometimes they'll come up for a dry fly, other times you'll catch them down deep on heavy nymphs or lures. A team of Czech nymphs will do the trick on other days but sometimes it will be a shrimp pattern or nothing. Or, if you wish, take a wand-like spinning rod onto the fast water and flick a tiny spoon here and there in the white water and simply scream as a seven pounder hammers into it and rips you away to the sea.
You are likely to see musk ox, reindeer, Arctic fox, reindeer and many varieties of eagles and hawks. On the boat journey you might see whales hunting, icebergs, seals. All this in the land of the midnight sun. Unless the sky is cloudy, chances are you'll be able to read a book in your tent at midnight without a torch or, if the successes of the day haven't been enough, go down to the river at 1.00 am and catch a char as the sun is rising once more
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'The best thing was the remote location'
Keith Trenter, Windsor, Royal Berks
'...and the grandeur of the scenery'
Colin Short, Bournemouth
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John is very keen to go back and explore even more river systems. In 1994, John visited what he still thinks is the very greatest of the char locations, Paradise Valley. There is a distinct possibility that he will be allowed in for a few days in this coming year. One place has already been promised and if this trip does in fact occur, there'll be a real scramble for the rest of the places to join him. Greenland is a truly magnificent experience whether or not you decide on a guided trip or just go on dates to suit you for a week or so on a single river, staying in an organised camp. The potential for stunning char is enormous in Greenland - nobody alive knows what the country has still to offer. So, if you're interested in joining what will definitely be the experience of a lifetime, give us a call now because numbers are necessarily limited.
Barbel Crazy |
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Join a weekend barbel course in 2002 |
- Seventy plus River Wye courses over nine years. Over six hundred anglers have joined us. Less than ten people have blanked.
- Countless double to fish nudging thirteen pounds.
- Perfect your approach to touch legering, stalking, float fishing or free-lining.
- Over seven miles of river, much of it for your exclusive use.
- A maximum of six anglers per course to ensure detailed, personal attention to your individual needs.
- Top accommodation with great food and endless bar stories
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I love
barbel more than I can even begin to describe (we both do). There's something about them that is totally compelling. Perhaps it's that sleek shape, those ever-unique, subtle colours or just their fascinating lifestyle. It was with great sadness that all the courses to the River Wye before September had to be called off because of the foot and mouth epidemic. I think all of us miss barbel with an ache you associate with a lost love and it was with virtually a whoop of joy that we flooded back onto the Herefordshire meadows in mid-September.
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Good company, great venue, ... Great fishing ... more than just another fishing trip ...'
Lee Faulkes. Uxbridge
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The fish and the fishing obviously hadn't suffered by our absence! There is no doubt whatsoever that the barbel we saw in September, October and November were very probably the most beautiful that we've seen for at least ten years or so. They hadn't been fished for at least nine or ten months and they positively glowed with vitality. It also appeared that there were more big fish around for whatever reason; in fact, the courses we were able to slip in produced an extraordinarily high percentage of double figure fish. Every person who has booked on an Angling Travel barbel course this year has come away with at least one fish and in most cases considerably more. Personal records have been broken too. In part, perhaps, that was because the barbel were rested but also we truly believe that each and every season we are all getting more and more in tune with this fascinating river.
Of course, we don't base these courses on ten pounders alone. It was lovely having Howie along - a complete beginner but one who very soon showed real dexterity and even managed three barbel in his first serious day. We feel it's important to get a feel of the river, a knowledge of different swims and of the multitude of methods that you can use to attack them. Learn more about touch legering and float fishing.
Personal tuition is not, of course, obligatory but if there is any aspect of barbel fishing that you're a little bit cloudy about, this is the opportunity to have John point you in the right direction. If a barbel of any size comes along that's a bonus and, anyway, aren't they just magnificent at seven or eight pounds? The River Wye is a wonderful place, stunningly beautiful and a treasured haven for increasingly rare wildlife. If you haven't been, and you're a keen river fisherman, then you really should give it a go. We stay in a cosy country inn with a bar that hums with fishermen's tales, and in the evenings enjoy John's slide show, some great food and camaraderie in the bar.
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'John inspires with his enthusiasm and knowledge, the course was fun, good company, good fishing, food and accommodation, and we also caught fish! Especially good value.
Geoff Kent. London E6
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We restrict numbers on these courses and as we know quite a few of our old customers are keen to join us again in 2002 for what is invariably a relaxed, happy and informative experience, our advice is to book early!
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'So beautiful. So exciting. So mobile. Always thinking. Always trying something new. And the friendliness. I didn't feel at all out of place but totally accepted. I like to think I made some real friends. I'm totally hooked. (Hmm!)'
Howie Nicol, Tooting, SW17
'The best thing was meeting John and yourself and the other anglers, (and of course the Barbel fishing)! My advice to anyone else is - don't think about it, do it! You won't be disappointed - it was worth every penny.'
Andy O'Reilly, St Albans
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The Spanish Experience
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Join us barbel fishing in Spain |
- Excellent new hotel accommodation with swimming pool.
- Lunchtime barbeques.
- Exotic fishing within easy reach.
- Dazzling fishing.
- Several new locations.
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March saw John make a flurry of mini expeditions that took him all across
Spain. He'd already done a good deal of research back in 2000 and 2001 but foot and mouth made it imperative that real inroads were made. And they were. The two expeditions we ran in the early summer were highly successful. The fact that the vast majority want to re-book means quite a lot, we guess! What is it then, about the Spanish experience that's just so exhilarating? The weather? Virtually always warm and sunny with blue sky from dawn to dusk, along with those velvety warm nights. The valley itself?
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'If you love good company, great food and most of all fantastic fishing, then come hell or high ....... Book it... I will.'
Alex Whitelaw, Aston
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Set in a National Park, surrounded by woods, mountains? The river.. crystal clear? The Andalucian barbel themselves? Very numerous, sometimes very large, nearly always visible and absolutely always all but unstoppable when hooked... whether on float, lead or even fly. (Yes, we caught several on nymph and mayfly patterns.) Or is it, even, the hotel? Ramon's bar and the brilliant food? Our villas by the swimming pool? Perhaps it's the bass fishing that we can sample in the great lake that feeds our river.
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'thank you for a wonderful Spanish trip - stunning scenery, excellent and incredibly cheap food (and drink), friendly locals and brilliant fishing.'
Kerry Jordan, Bury St Edmonds
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This is a wonderful, serene place that all of us marvelled at. And bass, for most, proved to be a new but riveting species. They are about the size of our perch but they fight harder and pose infinitely more of a challenge. Exciting news - we are now allowed access to the far bank to launch a canoe to penetrate the unfished waters of the gorge. The new private beat also looks stunning and full of fish. AND John made another exploratory visit in December 2001 and located a second river in easy striking distance giving us lots of options. Lazy midday barbecues. Toasting each other at midnight outside on the balcony.. No wonder so many of us can't wait to get back.
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'The scenery was breathtaking.. .the number of barbel just below the surface was astounding.. (they) would come to within two feet of me.. .some in the region of about 8 to 9 lbs. Dad was into a good fish which was powering away and giving him a cracking fight.. .after a short, spectacular fight fight I landed a barbel of about 5 lbs that was absolutely dazzling. The colours were really vivid — not only do they fight harder than our barbel but their two-tone coloration makes them the most beautiful barbel of all. The orange underbelly on the fish we caught ranged from butterctmp yellow to tangerine. And the 7 mile long lake holds a massive head of big carp, big Andalucian barbel and lots of black bass.'
Simon Rolph, Barbel Society Magazine article about this trip
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In December John located two more extraordinary rivers holding the giant Comizo barbel (see picture below) that previously anglers have only fished for carp-style in large lakes. The river is supposedly clear, beautiful and remote. The hotel is brand new and on the waterside, The barbel there grow well into the twenty pound bracket. And they can be caught on any method, once again including dry fly.
John is genuinely starstruck ...
'I admit a few hours fishing. 20th December.
21°C! Bright sun. Three beautiful barbel (one on a nymph!) Not a soul in sight except the kingfisher which sat with me for ten full minutes.'
Regardless of your background, Spain will provide variety and a challenge fishing for truly stunning fish. You will never catch a more spectacular barbel. Or possibly a bigger one! Andalucians average six to ten pounds but twenty pounders are possible and the record is somewhere around thirty.
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'I don't know how you find such wonderful locations, but I am very glad that you do!
Everything about the trip to Spain was first class; the accommodation, fishing, people, the list
is endless. A big thank you!'.... It was much more than just the fishing (as good as it is) the whole ambience was so relaxing. The format for the trip is superb.
Bryan Burgin, Chelmsford
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Indian Dreams
John says, "I'm looking forward to the 2002 Indian journey more than almost any other in my life - and that's saying something after seventeen trips to the subcontinent. I'm looking forward to going with some people that have already been out there and absolutely love the place, some people who've never been but are throbbing with excitement at the prospect, the magnificent river, the
mahseer, the guides and everything about this exotic experience.
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Fish for Mahseer in India 2002 |
- Our group expedition means you can take full advantage of John's experience and enjoy the company of likeminded anglers
- You can travel alone or with a friend on dates to suit you at any time between November and March.
- Mahseer to a hundred pounds plus taken from the stretch. Many fish in the twenty to sixty pound bracket.
- An excellent, well established camp, fantastic food, immaculate service and endless chilled Kingfisher beer.
- Individual log cabins with personal w.cs, hot water for showers, electric lighting and fans.
- Fish from the bank or from your coracle. One coracle and ghillie per angler.
- John has made thirteen trips to India since 1989. He really understands the country, its people, the rivers and the fishing.
- An abundance of exotic wildlife and birdlife
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I'm also desperately looking forward to getting to grips with the new camp up river in that lonely, stunningly beautiful gorge. Two great fishermen, Alan and Leo were with me when the guides were talking about the size of fish that they know live there. Just hearing their stories made our knees wobble, made our hair stano on end. We all know what sixty pound mahseer fight like.. . What about fish potentially twice that size in the fastest water on the river? It's going to be awesome, we suspect.
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'The Garden of Eden still exists.., one of the Great Fun experiences not to be ....... very well organised and run. Couldn't really fault it. Professional and helpful.., cheerful and kind. Very enjoyable. It certainly was good value. My head is still full of kaleidoscopic images... it's not just the fishing but the whole experience of the strange and exotic land, people and wildlife'.
John Morris. Somerset
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And the potential for 2003 is even more awesome The camp is an absolute dream: stunningly beautiful, very well organised with exceilent food, a wide range of wildife. Large, comfortably furnished log cabins and even your own shower and bc! Even more reassuring is the fact tnat eacn fisherman goes out on the river with his own highly experienced ghillie in their own coracle. This is extremely important: hooking a mahseer can be a terrifying business if you're expected to leap into a foaming river to follow a fleeing fish.
The great thing about a coracle is that you can follow a fish - and you don't stop mahseer - in complete safety. Bob down rapids, fish white water or big, deep, slow, menacing pools. Furthermore, far, far fewer fish are lost this way and no-one likes to think of a mahseer tethered on a rock or left with a plug or spinner in its jaw. The fishing is excellent, with mahseer caught in the nineties last season for those of you who've always cherished the mahseer dream. A record catch of 104 pounds was made in this stretch and last season fishing was excellent with mahseer up to 95 pounds caught. Catching my own fifty pound mahseer - with a lot of help from John and the ghillies - was one of the highlights of my life. You will discover that the ghillies are amazingly skilled and experienced and will really help you get to know the river. John adds,
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'What a place. I am so glad I finally allowed myself this trip. Why did I think about it for a couple of years before going? Thankyou for arranging my best fishing trip ever.Your organisation and background support were invaluable.'
John Altree. Cambridge
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'After the team leave, I'm going to do a bit of exploring on my own, something I haven't managed time for over the last three or four years. I'm dropping down river this time, heading for the next major series of rapids some thirty miles from our present camp. I've heard very good reports about the river and the fishing. It's in its fledgling stages but it sounds as though it could be good. Once again, I'm looking forward to reporting back - hopefully at the February 2002 Angling Travel Reunion.'
'India becomes a way of life. Mahseer fishing is a drug that can easily become an obsession. Put simply, the River Cauvery is a part of the Angling Travel year just too precious ever to let go.'
Fishing is limited so book well in advance for January 2003. If you feel the pull of India, just imagine...
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'John's watercraft and expert guidance are first class, unintrusive and professional. I am very grateful to you both... Wonderful fishing, stunning environment, great memories.'
John Chester. Taunton
'Your trips have changed my whole outlook on life, I will always be so grateful for that... nothing will stop me returning with you next year,'
Alan Felstead, Braintree
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Mongolia
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Fish for taimen in Mongolia 2002 |
- One hundred and fifty metre-plus taimen caught by Angling Travel since 1997 (fish of twenty pounds plus). It could be you.
- Brilliant fly fishing for lenok trout to over ten pounds. Twenty fish a day is not unusual.
- Endless grayling to around three pounds - stunning fish, totally unique to this river system.
- Comfortable, fast helicopter transport within Mongolia.
- Cabins with beds and hot showers.
- Boat and horse transport possible from camp.
- Friendly and welcoming camp staff who are committed to making your trip the best it can be
- Our trips have been featured in Trout Fisherman, The Field and the Sportfish catalogue.
- Angling Travel has been in Mongolia since 1994.
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Every year it seems that the
Mongolian experience just gets better and better. This year, settled weather, a dropping, clearing river, great company, a comfortable camp and some unforgettable food made the whole experience sublime. The majority of fishing was on the fly.. .though this didn't necessarily inhibit Leo who landed a fish of 1.24m (forty pounds or thereabouts) on a nymph!
Plenty of good fish fell to streamer patterns and a monster of 1 .35m (four and a half feet long, or around about fifty to fifty-five pounds) was caught by the admirable (if rather scruffy) John Chester on a dead bait. These are monsters! The great Khan of all, the taimen, the oldest salmonid in the world. A fish out of the dinosaur age, so huge, so impressive that you'll never hook anything like one on a fly or spinning rod again.There are also grayling of colours, sizes, quantities and fighting qualities you can't believe. The rivers abound too in lenok trout, rose coloured and magnificently spotted fish averaging between four and seven pounds.
For everybody who we've ever taken out to Mongolia, it's been a life-changing experience in many ways. It's very difficult to pinpoint what makes this extraordinary, wondrously remote camp so unforgettable. It is absurdly beautiful and the Mongolians themselves are the most warm, kind, generous, fun hosts who deeply appreciate the natural world. The fishing is probably as good as anything you'll find in the whole world of wild river opportunity. Add eagles, elks, nomadic merchants on horseback...
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'The best fly fishing in the world, where complete duffers can catch dozens of stunning Mongolian grayling - one of the world's loveliest fish. Whoppers they were too, with fish up to 31b, and the average at more than llb'
Keith Elliott. Article. The Independent on Sunday
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Night time is special, sitting around the woodburner hearing tales of the countryside. Or perhaps listening to folk tunes that your host will gladly sing to you. Outside the wolves are calling, a frost is falling and the star-sprinkled sky is like a planetarium. Mongolia's magic is all of these things but something else. Something almost indefinable. It's as though you're part of the world still but out of it. You've entered a new space and time that's being enjoyed by people of exactly like-mind. As Christopher said every morning this year... we are the luckiest men in the world!
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'Excellent group of people on the trip.., like everything I hoped for. The right mix of people, fish and wilderness. The camp - excellent. The camp staff - more than excellent. Mix of people - excellent. The fishing - First class. May you be an hour in heaven before the devil knows you're dead (Old Irish blessing)'
Joe Whoriskey. Londonderry
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Some wonderful news. Angling Travel likes to do its bit where it can - we're sponsoring a school out in India, for example. In Mongolia you would hardly believe the poverty and deprivation that there is in the local village some forty hours away by horse.
We've already pledged to do what we can to basic necessities for these cut off, often imperilled people. Leo - who has been to Mongolia with us now four times - is celebrating his twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with his lovely wife Karin. They haven't asked their guests for presents.. simply for contributions to the Mongolian Fund. What a lovely gesture.
This trip offers you the potential for your most incredible angling achievements- how about a taimen of fifty pounds on fly? What would it be like to share the deep companionship of likeminded anglers, all of whom have caught huge taimen by the end of the trip? All in a stunning landscape of snow-capped mountains, blue skies and golden larch forests. Seize the moment and make sure you're on the very
next expedition.
Individual private days and weekends
John found the time in 2001 to guide some individuals to waters that mean a huge amount to him. There's an
estate carp lake for example. Awesomely beautiful. It's all stalking in crystal-clear water. Big, big fish - certainly over forty pounds. They come almost under your rod tip. You hardly dare breathe at times! This is a stunningly beautiful, crystal-clear Norfolk estate lake where you will see shoals of tench way above seven pounds in weight gliding at your very feet. That doesn't always mean that it's going to be easy: remember these fish have
hardly ever been tackled before and you might have to use natural baits like lobworm or maggot until they get usec to recognising corn, say, as food.
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'The whole experience was for us, fantastic. Anytime you need help to use up all that film or fish at the boathouse please call and let me know...Time and money not a problem.
Alex Whitelaw. Aston
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If you dream to fish for unmarked tench in a beautiful place with traditional methods then
there is absolutely no doubt that this would be the day or weekend for you. The rebirth of the River Wensum. . John has access to one or two short lengths of the Wensum that are almost as they were thirty years ago in its heyday. Shoals of roach - as yet not as massive as they were but growing all the time. Plenty of chub to six pounds. All in a lovely, unspoiled setting.
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'It was honestly the best time of my life... I am so looking forward to next years trips already!
Out of this world setting, superb company. Indescribable fish. Thankyou.'
Richard Meads, Hinckley
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Or take a boat with him up an almost unknown pike river just a mile or two from the sea. It's a lost, lonely land, a haven for ornithologists and pike men too! You can expect fish into double figures, realistically hope for a twenty and keep your fingers crossed for a thirty. What is for sure is that you'll be fishing alone for pike that have rarely, if ever, been touched. It's almost like reliving the Broadband experience of the 1960s.
Or maybe you just fancy a day with John on the
River Wye. Sometimes, before or after courses, John finds himself with a day or two free to roam and explore. He's always happy if somebody of like-mind wishes to 1oin nim on one of these days. It's a perfect opportunity
to see exactly how he fishes the river in his own unique way. It's a leisured, informative learning experience that can go on until John himself has just worn himself out....
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Discover For Yourself Why Angling Travel Is So Special |
- Get together four friends for a country weekend in England or Wales.
- Tried and tested trips to some of the most remarkable fishing waters on the anglers' world map.
- Join a major expedition to pristine wildernesses These trips are led by John - he'll know the guides, the country and its customs, the waters and the best methods.
- Bait fishing, lure fishing or fly fishing - the experience of a lifetime awaits.
- We will continue to search for and let you know of exciting new venues.
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What else?
We also have luxurious trips to the
Zambezi River in Africa which combine super fishing for tigerfish with the best of African game viewing and the unique pleasures of luxury lodge life. Treat yourself.. .and maybe someone you level And we're still following leads about the Goliath tiger fish - the most wanted sport fish on earth - If you've been put off by the seeming impossibilities of travel we consider a group Goliath expedition a definite possibility in 2003. We're always hunting out and thoroughly investigating the sort of destinations you dream of.
Of course, we'll still be running our trips to Sweden for those extraordinary
Baltic pike and journeys to the South of
France for some lovely warm weather barbel fishing. This is a superb family destination or a hideaway for you and your partner and we highly recommend it. John's also researching new possibilities in Mongolia and Austria.
Fancy meeting up at our Reunion? Catch up with the old friends you've made on our trips or come to see what we're all about. Some good Norfolk fishing, there's wild carp just by the hotel, and the Wensun, excellent company, slides of fishing from all over the world, a celebration dinner in a lovely country hotel on a Norfolk estate.
Phone 01452 813241 now...
Fulfil your fishing dreams.
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Last updated
2nd October 2003
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Angling Travel
Mayfaire
Slad Valley, Near Painswick
Gloucestershire GL6 7QD
Great Britain
Book now or
ask for our colour brochure
Phone or Fax 01452 813241
(International +44 1452 813241)
mobile (UK) 07866 470238
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