I’ve been very fortunate over the past few years to spend time with some of my personal fly fishing heroes. I can now add David Southall to that list. Whilst we’ve met several times at gatherings and workshops, we’d never got around to arranging any time on the water together.

 

At last years BFFI, one of the auction prizes was a day with the man himself. As all the auction proceeds were going to charity, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to fulfill yet another fly fishing ambition. I set Chiara the task of winning the auction and as ‘buying things’ is an area in which she excels, I confidently continued to browse the rest of the show.

 

David had generously offered us a second days fishing as his guests so once we’d agreed on a date, Chiara and I made plans for our much awaited trip up to Driffield in East Yorkshire.

We were a little trepidatious as during our pre trip communications, David had mentioned that the current fishing conditions “couldn’t be worse!”.
He went on to say that he’d fished the river Derwent for 15 years and it was now the lowest he’d ever seen it. He even suggested rescheduling but as he was heading off to fish Yellowstone 3 days after our intended visit, we’d have had to postpone it until next trout season. We took the collective decision to press on as we all like a challenge!

 

 

So, you’re probably asking “who is this David Southall geezer anyway?”

 

David is one of those quietly efficient anglers who fly fishes primarily because he loves it.
He is an all round master fly fisherman with a particular leaning towards Tenkara and light line presentation methods.
His articles are regularly featured in fishing publications all over the world.
He has helped companies and individuals develop better lines, rods and flies yet his own equipment is functional and unfussy.
He fishes virtually every day and as a result is one of the fittest septuagenarians I’ve ever seen.

 

The poor conditions that greeted us would only serve to emphasise just how skilled this man is. We didn’t see one other angler on either the river Derwent or Pickering Beck in our 2 full days of fishing on these famous and popular spots. Perhaps it wasn’t too surprising as our arrival was met with some long awaited rain and accompanying swirling winds.

 

As it was technically Chiara’s day, she and David shared a rod but I was more than happy to spend most of the time observing. The first half of day one on the Derwent was fruitless and the extent of the challenge was becoming more and more apparent. That said, there was never a doubt in David’s mind that they would catch fish although even I was beginning to doubt his optimism.
As predicted though, the slightly warmer afternoon saw he and Chiara conjure up quality fish from some improbable water and his legend was confirmed.

 

The second day was even colder with a swirling wind and yet more rain! The diminutive Pickering Beck was the venue and today, we would all have our own rod. There was no option but to split up as the super spooky fish were scattered by even the slightest disturbance. Another slow start to the day produced mostly small Grayling on tiny flies but again, a confident David suggested we would fare better as the day wore on. This was again the case and that afternoon Chiara and I were treated to the spectacle of Mr Southall catching both Trout and Grayling from a tiny Beck with a 6ft 3in split cane rod, silk fly line and a size 20 dry fly during a hatch of iron blue duns.

 

It was a great couple of days. Many of my long held beliefs were challenged an many myths were dispelled. I also learned an awful lot and thankfully had a lot of stuff I thought I knew, confirmed.
The one thing that I know for sure though is that fly fishing is really simple … and really complicated.