Guest Post By Joe Walker
When Michael made the long trip down from Derbyshire to join me for his Orvis Experience Saltwater day on the South Wales coast, he brought with him a staggering 50 years of freshwater fly fishing experience (I can but hope to amass that much), a positive and enquiring attitude (essential in Saltwater success!) and a willingness to hit 10,000 steps on his pedometer! That made for a potent combination and exactly the attributes required to get the very best out of a day exploring what saltwater fly fishing can offer in the UK, and how to start unlocking it’s potential.
Having dipped a toe briefly in the salt before, Michael had ticked off a few species, but modestly proclaimed that they were "more by luck than judgement”. After a while spent discussing some of the core principals and theories for swinging the odds in your favour, it was time to stroll across the dunes, through the mats of sea purslane, past the flowering sea holly and out onto the expansive sandy-flats to put theory into practice.
With Michael's rod rigged for opportunistic bass roaming the shallows looking for careless juvenile mullet, and my back-up Helios set up to ensnare bigger mullet, we set about exploring the margins as the Bristol Channel tide crawled relentlessly back over the sand.
Water clarity concealed both flies and fish more than I would have liked close to the estuary, but golden grey mullet were certainly present. and Michael’s searching casts came tantalisingly close to connecting on a few occasions. But as the tide climbed, only reckless school-bass found the mullet flies.
Time then to go hunting more promising prey. Leaving Michael prospecting for bass along the channel, I snuck round into the marshes and was eventually met with the glorious sight of a busy shoal of thick-lipped mullet, hard at work feeding in the fringes of the samphire. Carefully retreating, I retraced my steps and beckoned Michael round, advising a super-stealthy crawling approach along the raised bank to get into casting range. He listened attentively as I passed instruction regarding placement of the flies and speed of retrieve and began casting into the thronging fish.
As it does with mullet, it took perseverance and a few heart-stopping missed takes before the line finally pulled tight into a good fish that had greedily snatched at the tagged green shrimp on the dropper. Michael's 50 years of experience gave him all the tools he needed to skilfully balance the pressure and play the fish towards the net after a couple of attempts, thick-lipped mullet being remarkably net-shy. But then… it was in! A plump mullet, fin-perfect and sporting a rather smiley expression. But not as big a smiley expression as Michael, who was pleased as punch with his first Welsh mullet - and rightly so!