T H E F L Y D R E S S E R S G U I L D Sussex Branch Newsletter June/July 2014 Monday 19 th 2014 Deadly disease spread by rats in river water doubles in two years: Fears of further cases of Weil's following recent hot weather Weil's disease is a bacterial infection which attacks the kidneys and liver Illness, which can be deadly, is spread by rat urine in river water Cases doubled in past 24 months - with 70 diagnosed last year By Ben Spencer A deadly illness spread by rat urine in river water has reached record levels, latest figures show. Cases of Weil s disease, a bacterial infection which attacks the kidneys and liver, have doubled in the past two years. It can be contracted after swimming in rivers and lakes which may be of concern after the recent hot weather. Cases of Weil's disease, a bacterial infection which attacks the kidneys and liver and is spread by rat urine in rivers, have doubled in the past two years (library image) Cases of Weil's disease, a bacterial infection which attacks the kidneys and liver and is spread by rat urine in rivers, have doubled in the past two years (library image) There were 70 hospital admissions for Weil s disease last year more than any other 12-month period in the past ten years and double the figure for two years ago, according to NHS records. The illness also known as leptospirosis has claimed four lives in the UK since 2009. Olympic rowing champion Andy Holmes died of Weil s disease in 2010 aged 51, after it is believed the bacteria entered his body through blisters on his hands. It can also be transmitted through cuts and scratches or the lining of the mouth, throat or eyes, after contact with infected rat urine or contaminated water. The illness - also known as leptospirosis - has claimed four lives in the UK since 2009, NHS figures show People who work near waterways are most at risk. Last year s casualties included two fish farmers, a wildlife park worker and two water sports instructors. Also infected were a professional gardener, a builder clearing out a swimming pool and a pub manager cleaning out flood water. Although rats are the main carriers of the disease, it can also be spread by animals such as cattle, mice, foxes and badgers. Last year s only fatality was a 60-year-old woman from a travelling family, who experts said had been exposed to rats as well as water that could have harboured the bacteria. The sharp rise in Weil s disease comes as the Government is being urged to sanction the use of stronger poisons to crack down on rat infestations. Pest control experts fear the winter flooding could be partly to blame for the increase in infections, as it forced rats out of their usual habitats. A Public Health England spokesman said Weil s disease is still rare, adding: The risk can be greatly reduced by not swimming or wading in water that might be contaminated. 'If you develop a flu-like illness seven to 12 days after contact with fresh surface water or with rats, then visit your GP and explain you may have been exposed to leptospirosis. Complete recovery is the usual outcome after leptospirosis, and there are unlikely to be any long-term effects. 1
brass plate which was shaped to provide a measuring weir at the head of the lock. The measuring facility was to be retained. The difference in the water levels upstream and downstream of the measuring weir was 1.99m. In addition, provision had to be made for otters to pass under the road bridge immediately downstream of the lock. This would prevent otter road kill (if they used it). The design to also provide facilities for bats, if practicable. Obvious additional requirements were buildability and adjustability (to invent a word). To maintain the gauging facility, the difference in the water levels would have to be maintained at no less than 450mm. Which can be achievable, as salmon and sea trout can easily jump over such an obstruction. Indeed studies in France had shown that multiple leaps in steps of up to 1.5m will not unduly fatigue ascending game fish. The otter pass was provided by building a number of brick steps into the side of the bridge supports about 500mm apart, horizontally. Before conversion to a Lock, the structure had been a water turbine feed and the brick delivery culvert was still in position behind the lock wall. We sealed off the culvert upstream and downstream and cut bat access slots in the brick sides to the lock to provide a bat roosting cave. Buildability was achieved by cutting a temporary bypass channel, diverting the river flow from upstream of the gauging plate to outfall just upstream of the road bridge. Adjustability of the fish pass was provided by forming a pool and weir from reinforced concrete guide channels to take hardwood timber weirs. When fishing at Arlington in the match against Eastbourne I caught four trout. That evening when filleting the fish I managed to cut through the stomach of one of them. The larger picture above shows about one third of the contents. The smaller picture shows an enlarged view of an iridescent blue beetle with a brown head. I have managed to identify this as lema melanopa or the cereal leaf beetle which can be a significant pest of winter wheat. I have not been able to identify any of the others but the larger brown beetle above right of the blue one might be an alder beetle. It is about 6-7 mm long. Can anyone help to identify any of the insects in the pictures? I was fishing just subsurface with black buzzer on a size 12 hook. The pattern was of raked out seal s fur (i.e. not a skinny type). Most of the trout were hooked well away from the reservoir bank. If you would like a high resolution picture the please contact me at beehives@btinternet.com. John Plowman. Chairman s Chat June 2014 Original Lock An old lock in Hampshire posed some interesting problems (to us). The lock had been modified to form a river flow measuring station by the recent addition of a rectangular 2
Olive Turkey Biot Emerger (Keith Wallington) Lock modified to for a fish pass To date game fish have been seen readily ascending the pass, no otter deaths have occurred and I know nothing of the bats but have not received any complaints! Tony W Top o the water: Flies to Try in July This is the first in a series of monthly article (time permitting), where the object is to show some flies that should help you to catch each month. A with most things there is an ulterior motive it means I have to sit and tie some flies that I will need each month. To start we have 3 dry flies as we are now approaching the cream of the dry fly sport on our still waters and rivers too. Warm, long evenings, give us the opportunity to get out after work (or after the crowds have gone) and fish well past 10pm and into the twilight, whenever the fisheries let us! Without getting too technical the key to the sport at this time of year are small and medium olives (small to medium sized mayflies if you prefer) and sedges (caddis if you have gone American) and the ubiquitous midges. I have concentrated on two of these three groups as midges are easily imitated using CDC Shuttlecock or Shipmans buzzers. Therefore the three patterns below contain one olive emerger pattern and two proper dry flies (one olive and one sedge). Hook: Thread: Abdomen: Size 18 to Size 24 Partridge Klinkhamer Extreme To suit overall colour here I have used Olive (as fine as you can tie with nano silk or dyneema are excellent) Dyed Turkey Biot (Here I have used olive but browns, tans, natural are also good) Thorax: Fine waterproof dubbing to match colour here I have used olive beaver dubbing Post: Hackle: Grey Tiemco AeroWing (or grey poly yarn or grey antron) Genetic Saddle Hackle Grizzle Key points to remember Don t be frightened of the small hook sizes recommended Partridge Klinkhamer hooks have a weird sizing so a size 18 Klinkhamer hook is actually a size 12 normal hook! Biots can be fragile a quick soak in a glass of water softens them enough to wrap without them cracking. When wrapping the biot remember it needs touching turns that way the fuzz on the leading edge of the biot doesn t get covered so you get a funky furry segmented effect. Grey wing posts are great they are a contrasting colour to both white and black so if you have water with a sunny glare (white) they show up and if you have a dark shadow area (black) they also show up. Brighter colours for the post such as orange or yellow or pink aren t as visible when the water surface has both bright and dark spots. Also grey looks more natural (like the real insect wings) when viewed from the trout s perspective. Oh yes, one final thing I have tied all the flies but I have indicated where these flies have originated from as I usually have tweaked them or tied them slightly differently (to make them quicker to tie or to work slightly better) however no indication of creator means yours truly is to blame. 3 Guinea Adams Hook: Size 10 to Size 16 Down Eye Dry Fly (I have used a Grip 11001) Thread: White or Grey here I have used white dyneema
Tail: Thorax: Hackle: Pale Cock Hackle Fibres (Silver Badger, Cream, Blue Dun are all fine) Natural Guinea Fowl Wing Quill Fibres Genetic Saddle Hackle Grizzle then underside cut flat to let the pattern sit in the surface film Key points to remember The thorax is made by taking approx 5 fibres (herl) from a guinea fowl wing quill and wrapping it in touching turns. The natural white spots on the dark wing feather mean that if you wrap carefully you get a lovely grey/white alternating segment effect. Dry fly hackles are notorious for unwrapping after a trout or two s teeth have got at it. To make them more robust wrap your thread backwards and then forwards through the hackle before finishing the fly. A tip to stop the thread binding down the hackle fibres is to spin your bobbin until the thread is as tightly wound as possible and then wrap the thread as fast as you can through the hackle for some reason the faster you are the less you bind down (I don t know why it works it just does!). stress free way to create the caddis wings? Buy them already made Veniard do a great range of natural feather ones and Hemmingway s do an excellent range of synthetic ones. Tip for fishing this fly if the fish aren t coming to the fly strip it in with short jerky 1 ft pulls and then leave it 20-30 seconds and repeat. This jerky retrieve imitates the natural skittering on the surface of the hatching insect and the egg laying female. I hope this has inspired you to dig out the vice and tie during the summer (fly tying is not just for winter!). Need any further advice or help tying these patterns or need any of the materials just call me on the shop number 01273 252504 Mon to Fri 9 to 5. Tight Threads Paul Davis Taped Wing Caddis (Oliver Edwards) Hook: Size 12 to Size 16 Down Eye Dry Fly (I have used a Charles Jardine General Purpose Hook) Thread: Body: Wing: Hackle: Antenna: To suit colour of overall fly here I have used white dyneema Dyed Deer Hair cut into 1cm pieces then dubbed (here I have used medium brown deer hair) Natural mottled game bird feather (or even Indian hen feathers) coated in varnish and then cut out into caddis wing shape. Genetic Saddle Hackle Golden Badger Cock Hackle Stems Key points to remember Dubbing deer hair (or any other really coarse hair) is a pain. A tip to make life easier is if you make a dubbing loop with the thread, add a bit of tacky dubbing wax to the inside of the loop and then just dab the deer hair to this waxed area and it sticks like magic. Then just spin your bobbin to close and twist the loop and you are ready to wrap the dubbed body. However if you want to completely take the pain out of dubbing deer hair buy deer hair dubbing brushes in the colours you want just tie in the core and wrap the brush job done with no mess and no fuss. Also want an easy and YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU! We need volunteers to distribute ifish* 2014 posters and leaflets to tackle shops and fisheries across the south east. If you can help please e-mail Paul Davis - flytyer@inbox.com. It would help if could indicate which the fisheries/tackle shops you can visit. *ifish is the south s only Fly Fishing Show and is organised by our branch. This year it is on Saturday 22 nd November at Clair Hall, Haywards Heath. Put it in your diaries NOW! New Items at the Fly Tying Shop I have just had a delivery of some new items which are shown below. Please call me at the shop, 01273 252504 if you would like to place an order. Tenkara Rods 4
We have just had delivered a few Tenkara rods. These are 12ft rods with a 7:3 design - which are excellent all round rods and perfect for most situations. They are telescopic and pack down to just 54cm(1ft 9in). They are made from top quality carbon and have excellent cork handles. They have a whip braded line at the tip and a removable butt screw to enable cleaning of the sections. They come in a velour bag and an aluminium tube (length 59cm). They are just 44.99. Fly Boxes Dry Fly or Hook/Bead Boxes We have 2 styles of plastic boxes ideal for dry flies or hooks and beads: We also have the new superslim fly boxes these are 180mm x 95mm x 12mm they have a clear lid so you can see the contents type 1 has slitted foam for 168 flies, and type 2 has 12 compartments with a magnetic base (to stop the flies being blown or jumping out). Both boxes are 3.99 each. Box one is a crystal clear hard plastic with 6 compartments (95mm x 70mm x 20mm) at 1.30 each Box two is a translucent plastic with 8 compartments (110mm x 75mm x 15mm) at 1.20 each 5
Published by the Sussex Branch of the Flydressers Guild Chairman: Tony Woolnough 01273 483833 Secretary: Paul Bond 01273 420410 Treasurer: Roy Gurney 01273 506184 Editor: Andy Steer, Flat 6 Southdown House, 2 Silverdale Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN20 7AL Phone: 01323 439688 E-mail: a.v.steer@talk21.com Visit our web site Sussexflydressers.org.uk Sussex FDG V Eastbourne FF Once again Mary made bacon rolls, this time wrapping them in foil to allow us to get going early, but this backfired as the boats were not ready to go until 9-30. It was decided that we would not stop for lunch to make up time. Fishing was found to be difficult except for Ray Fisher for us and Rod Fox for Eastbourne, both with 6 fish. Again we all managed fish David painter and John Ploughman had 8 fish in the boat (4 each) Mike Richardson also had 4 fish. Sussex FDG 29 fish Easrbourne FF 23 fish. A winning total of 45.3lbs against 39.5lbs. Although hard we all had a good day, and we would like to thank Mary for looking after us (especially me); this year Mary fished and had 3 fish. Regards Bill 6
Competiton 18 th May 2014 Eastbourne & District Fly Fishers Club Fish1 Fish2 Fish3 Fish4 Fish 5 Fish 6 Total Weight Fish caught Boat 1 Derek Holt 0 Robin White 1.13 1.13 1 Boat 2 Neil Cutmore 1.14 2.2 4 2 Mike Richardson 1.5 1.13 1.12 1.13 6.11 4 Boat 3 Alan Skinner 1.5 1.5 1 Alan Branch 1.8 1.4.5 1.8 4.14 3 Boat 4 John Lyon 1.13 1.4.5 1.12 4.13 3 Rod Fox 1.3 1.6 1.6 2.3 1.15 1.6 8.13 6 Boat 5 Caroline Cutmore 0 Mary Carden 2.2 1.6 1.10.5 5.2 3 Sussex Fly Dressers Total 39.5 23 Boat 1 Bill Smith 1.6 1.6 1 Jerry Newland 1.3 1.5 1.5 3.13 3 Boat 2 John Ploughman 1.12.5 1.4.5 2 1.4 6.5 4 David Painter 1.13 1.11 1.10.5 1.5 6.75 4 Boat 3 Chris Croucher 1.9 1.12 1.5 4.1 3 Steve Mustchin 2.1 1.7 3.8 2 Boat 4 Ray Love 1.12 1.13 1.6 4.65 3 Ray Fisher 1.6 2.1 1.5 1.1 1.12 1.13 10.15 6 Boat 5 Bill Black 1.9 1.9 1 John Lindley 1.7 1.8 2.15 2 Total 45.3 29 7