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'The Highlight Of My Saltwater Fishing Season'

Guest post by Dan Wilcox, Orvis Saltwater Fly Fishing Festival Attendee

Now in its fifth year, the Orvis Festival is a combination of fly fishing tuition, competition and social event based out of Hayling Island on the UK South Coast. The festival allows entrants to fly fish 25 miles of prime coastline for bass, mullet and other marine species over 3 days. With an Orvis pop up shop at the HQ located at the Langstone Hotel and guides on site providing fishing workshops, it is a great event for new saltwater fly anglers as well those more established to enjoy a weekend of fishing, guidance and socialising with like minded people.

I first discovered The Orvis Saltwater Festival in 2022. I was spending a lot of time researching how to catch mullet on the fly and found the festival films online. They were really inspiring to watch, so many like minded anglers with a common goal in a stunning and varied setting. I first attended in 2023 and with a year of Saltwater Fly Fishing under my belt, I took the plunge and bought a competition ticket. I was really pleased to catch a bass on each day of the competition, with my best being a respectable but far from competitive 37cm.

Fast forward to August 2024 and anticipation and excitement for the Festival has been high all Spring and Summer while I have been spending my fishing time honing my saltwater skills, exploring Hayling Island and the surrounding areas in search of bass and mullet. I enjoyed my best season so far, with my first bass of the year being a healthy mid 40s fish in April. Between newfound experience and advice from other anglers online, I’ve had far fewer blanks but the mullet remain evasive having hooked three but landed zero this season. By the time the festival came around, I was feeling much more confident than the previous year.

The festival began on the Friday morning with registration, all anglers checked in with the Orvis team and collected their score cards and goody bags (which really live up to their name!). In the morning there are talks on saltwater fly fishing by some of the Orvis guides before the competition fishing commences at mid-day. Competition anglers choose where they will fish between the West and Eastern most limits of the fishing grounds, so you need to take into account the state of the tide before heading to your chosen mark for the best chance of success.

For 2024, the Friday competition fishing stopped at 4pm so everyone could make their way to the beach at Ferry Road on the South West of the island where the YETI® Night Station and night fishing session would be waiting. A new addition to the festival, the YETI® Night Station was the stand out feature of the festival for me. Pitched up like an explorer’s camp site, Solo Stove bonfires and coolers full of beer awaited. With an early start the next day, I didn’t fish too long and wanted to make the most of the experience, so I cracked open a cold one by the fire with friends old and new, to soak up the atmosphere as the sun set on a fun day's fishing.

With extended fishing times for 2024, fishing commenced at 5am on Saturday and Sunday. More time on the water allows the opportunity to cover multiple marks as well as the potential for bigger bass that feed more confidently in lower light conditions early in the morning. After a long day fishing and registering any catches with the Orvis team, it was time for the Saturday social. With fresh hot pizza and cold beer flowing, it’s a great time to catch up with other anglers and share stories of the ones that got away, and for the fortunate, the ones that didn’t. I am quite active on social media and met several anglers, who I’d spoken to online, in person for the first time at the festival. But the atmosphere is so friendly and welcoming that if you arrive not knowing anyone, you will leave having made some new friends.

Sunday begins in a very similar way to Saturday, with a 4am alarm and a slightly sore head, but once you are on the water things start to get serious. The pressure is on now to catch that big bass or mullet to give yourself a chance to win some of the incredible prizes on offer. Although at this point I would be pleased with a fish big enough to register for the competition, the minimum size for bass or mullet being 25cm so surely not too much of a challenge. Competition fishing stops slightly earlier at 2pm on the Sunday to allow anglers to return to Orvis HQ and register their catches before the winners are announced and prizes given.

The festival has quickly become the highlight of my saltwater fishing season with this year being even better than the last with the addition of the YETI® Night Station and the night fishing session. Whether you’re new to saltwater fly fishing or an experienced saltwater angler, it’s a fantastic and well run event with something to offer for all.

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