My Q&A's started as an idea to interview some of the memorable people I've met in fly fishing, both online as well as offline. Rather than a true interview I decided to keep it simple by asking a few Q&A's.
I reached out to Chris in 2010 after finding out we both cherished fond memories with the late Mel Krieger. Along the years we kept in touch. Chris is a busy guy but finally we met in 2019 where Chris gave a casting demonstration during a casting event at Finest Fly Fishing, fly shop in Germany owned by a friend.
1) Q: Why, when and how did you pick up fly fishing?
“Well, I think it's like most people really, through the family, through my dad, through my father, he was a fisherman. He was a very bad fly fisherman. In fact, couldn't cast at all very well. He was a very good worm fisherman. And he didn't like to buy licenses, my dad. He was a poacher.
So he fished all over the place illegally. And didn't really, really understand how somebody could own a river. This was in the Midlands on the border to Wales. It's a place called Shropshire. That's where I was born. And that's where I first really started to get interested in fishing at all.
First of all, it was fly tying that I really got interested in. My dad bought me a vise and he wanted me to tie him flies because he couldn't. I think with my brother I was around about eight or nine years old. Yeah, it was like a game for us.
“I was into skateboarding and all sorts of things like that”
I was into skateboarding and all sorts of things like that. But my dad used to take us to a local lake and he just couldn't get the fly out at all. He took us to a lake called Patshull in the Midlands. So me and my brother started to pick up the rod and mess around with the rod. But it was fly tying that interested me at the beginning. I loved to see the flies and my dad just was really proud if he could make something.
And it was just a beautiful place to be, very, very quiet. And I just liked to be on this lake with my dad. And I was standing behind him and he hit me with a fly. So I thought, if we're going to catch some fish here, I better get onto it myself.
Yeah, I was born in 1966. So yeah, I'm pretty old now. So it was the late 70s, like 77, things like that. 70, maybe even earlier, 76. So it was an interesting time. But I just liked all sorts of things. I like sport and I liked, it wasn't just fly fishing, but I really loved fly tying as a kid.”
Did you even have an idea how fly casting even looked like, should be done?
“Well, my dad did ask somebody from the lake to come and give us a hand. So I was looking at him how he did it. But it was just intuitive. I just went for it alone and with my dad together and we sort of managed to get the fly out somehow.
So I didn't really have any books or any videos or anything. I just looked at this guy and tried to emulate and tried to do the same thing. But I just looked at somebody and I just had a desire to get the fly out any way I could. So I didn't think about how to hold a rod or I don't know, line tension or any style. I didn't care. I just wanted to get the fly out any way I could.”
Did you, by the way, go fly fishing only or do you also do spin fishing and maybe carp fishing for instance?
“No, I never fished any other way. Only with the fly once or twice with a worm with my dad, but it was always fly fishing. I just loved the feeling of it and I loved also the equipment. I loved the reels because they were so simple. I just liked the whole thing about it. I didn't have words to describe it in those days. I just liked it.”
Do you remember what kind of gear you had?
“Yeah, I bought my Abu Diplomat. I thought that was the most beautiful reel I ever saw. I loved that reel and I think I had a Daiwa fly rod with my dad, but I just liked the feel of it and the lightness and also the color of the fly lines. Yeah, bright green and just thought everything was so cool about it. That's how I got into it.”
2) Q: Every game has its heroes. Did you have someone in the fly fishing community who inspired you during your early years?
“There was one guy who I lived in a village called Bridnorth. It's a very small market town in the Shropshire of England. There was a guy there, a fly tier, and he had his own little shop. He was a professional fly tier and his name was Sid Knight. I first went to his shop years ago and he was just unbelievably encouraging and helped me to tie flies. So Sid would probably be one of the biggest inspirations when I was a young kid.
I was quite an energetic kid and loved sports, but I never really found something that really tested me or had enough discipline. So I started to dance when I was around about 15, 16. Hip hop, breakdancing, electric boogie and all that sort of stuff.
I was quite good at it. Then my mom said to me, if you like dancing so much, why don't you go to a dancing school? In those days, it wasn't really a good thing to be a dancer. It was quite looked down upon. So I kept it a bit of a secret because nobody wanted to be, you couldn't really admit to being a dancer because that meant you were strange.
“I never really found something
that really tested me”
But I just loved it from the very beginning. It was cool to be a breakdancer, but the dance that I really liked that was the most challenging was ballet. Yeah, because it was very, very difficult and really a lot of rules. And it was really, I don't know, you had a lot of discipline and you have to work really hard. And I just fell in love with that because it was super difficult. And then I really pushed myself.
After a while, the people started to realize what I was doing and I didn't want to keep that secret. It was just a thing I love to do. And I completely threw myself into dance completely. And yeah, I ended up in a good school in London, in the Royal Ballet School and toured all around the world. And yeah, it was fantastic.
And then I looked for another job around Europe and I ended up in Berlin because Germany had so many fantastic dance companies. So I wanted to go and check out what was going on in Germany. So I went to Germany and I ended up in the Komische Oper. That's an opera house. It was behind the wall. So I arrived in Berlin in January 1990. So that was like one or two months after the wall came down.
I got a job in this company and they said I have to start immediately. Yeah, they say if you want to have the contract, you have to start tomorrow because so many of the dancers left when the wall opened. Many of the dancers just got in the Trabant and left Berlin. But for me, it was exactly the opposite because I wanted to have a Russian teacher because they're the best ballet teachers. So for me, it was perfect.
So I ended up in this company called the Komische Oper and I was living in the east part of the city. So it was a wild time. There were really no rules. And yeah, I was dancing every day and that's what I wanted to do. I was dancing 200 or more shows a year. So I was totally happy.
I wasn't earning any money, only earning 800 East (German) Marks. And then this is a funny story. I used to go once a week to West Berlin. So I used to go over Checkpoint Charlie and then go into West Berlin a couple of hours because I had no money. I only had East Marks which were worth nothing. And then I started to hang out in a fly fishing shop in West Berlin.
“...it was a wild time”
And there was a cool guy there, a very, very unusual man called Ralf Hoffman. And we used to talk about life and everything and wine and women and I don't know, anything, but never about fly fishing. Always about something else, about art or music or anything.
And then I asked Ralf if I could buy a rod, a Sage rod. And he said to me, yes, of course, I've got loads of Sage rods here. Which one do you want? And I said, I'd like to have this LL rod. I was interested in the smoothness of this rod. And he said to me, it costs 900 Deutsch Marks. And I said, well, I only have 800 East Marks, which is worth nothing. But he gave me the rod and then I could pay him back slowly.
So I had a very great friendship with this guy and he helped me a lot. So that's another guy who really helped form me. I just, in the shop there were this, it was quite interesting time because it was the (Sage) RPL time, like in the end of the 80s. So you had these RPL rods, but the one that really looks so beautiful was this LL rod. Yeah, it was just so beautiful with this rosewood insert. And it just looks so gorgeous. And then we took it out onto the street and it was much softer than the other rods. And that really, really appealed to me somehow. I didn't know why. I just liked that it was so smooth.
I read some magazines and stupidly I sold the rod and I regretted it. Really, really regretted it selling it. But somebody called me up from Berlin and said, we found your rod on a market. And I said to him, how do you know it's my rod? And he said, because your name is on the tube. So I said, please go and buy it. And he bought it for 50 euros. I think 20 years ago. So I got the rod back and I still love to cast that rod. It's a Sage LL five weight, nine foot.
But I think, I mean, rods have developed and graphite has developed, but I still love the action of those rods for dry fly fishing is still beautiful. I just was in contact with Ed Engel, who also wrote that he loves these rods. So yeah, some of the best ones that have ever been made, I think still to this day.
“... he (Paul) is a fabulous caster”
So I was hanging out with Paul. It was quite crazy times with techno music and lots of red wine. And he's a crazy guy, but he was he's in his craziness so brilliant as well. So I have a lot to thank Paul Arden for because he opened my eyes up to fly casting a lot as well.
He had a different style back then. Actually, he held the rods really differently. And it was before this 170 style (casting style specifically used by competition distance casters), this morphing technique was before that. And I must admit, he was very beautiful to watch how he cast in those days. I'm not such a fan of this distance casting today.
But in those days in the 90s in Berlin, Paul had a girlfriend. So we were hanging out. And he is fabulous fly caster. So I learned a lot from him. So those were the people really when I was younger, who really helped me form my style and who I really looked up to.
I had a girlfriend who was a dancer. She was in the same company as I was. And she and her family came from Thüringen. So I used to go and visit her grandmother. In Thüringen, and she made these Thüringen klösse, they call this like a dumpling. Fantastic lady.
And I found out there's some rivers there in Thüringen that have got trout and grayling in them. So I went to these rivers, and they were absolutely brilliant. The Saale, the Schwarze (tributary of the Saale) before the cormorant came, these were like full of big grayling and big trout. But the people in the villages, they didn't think anything was in them. So the tickets were really, really cheap. There are only 15 East Marks for a day ticket. So I was having a whale of a time fishing on these great rivers in Thüringen.
And also the Fario Club in Berlin, they had a river called, they have a river called the Dose, which they've been looking after and just basically rejuvenating for many, many years, which had big trout in it as well in the Mayfly time. And there's some other small streams around Berlin, going towards Hamburg. So I just fished all over the place.
I think they only had one fly reel you could buy in the DDR and it was called the Libelle. But the people, the fishermen in the club were just really skilled with not very good equipment. And I thought that was so cool because they didn't rely on expensive rods and stuff. So I really learned a lot in that time in Berlin. Some really great people there.”
“… most of the fishermen that I knew practiced catch and release in the 90s, in the beginning of the 90s in Berlin. Yes, I think most of them were practicing catch and release back then. I think the people were starting to already release the fish or the fishermen that I knew anyway, they were releasing the fish back.”
3) Q: I think we both started fly fishing around the same period, early 1980’s, fly fishing has changed a lot. What are in your view the three most game changing developments in fly fishing?
“It's difficult to say really. I think the first time I saw a large arbor reel, I must admit that blew me away, this whole idea of it. Yes, it was definitely a Loop. And I saw it in a vitrine, in a glass case in Berlin in the shop. I thought, what the hell is that? It's just enormous, big. And I really like, and I still like to this day, these Ari 't Hart reels, the Remco and the Aras.
They have a small arbor, the Hardy reels had an even smaller arbor. And then to see these ridiculously big Loop reels. I started to fish with them and I realised it's just a different dimension because the line didn't have so many coils in them, and you could retrieve the line much quicker and for a break you would us the palm of your hand which is is sensitive. So I think the large arbor reels from Loop/Danielsson that was really a big step forward for me personally.
I looked today actually because I was interested to find that out and it was actually 1985 when the first Loop reel started to come out. Of course, graphite at the beginning of the 80s. I think that went in the wrong direction. The rods became stiffer and stiffer and stiffer and stiffer until they're almost like sticks. So that's why I still like these softer rods.
And now with Guideline, we have these rods that are not so stiff. They are fishermen's rods because they bend and you can play fish on thin tippets. The old (Sage) TCRs and Methods and things. I think that, in my opinion, they were way too hard and too stiff.”
“... the rods became stiffer and stiffer until they're almost like sticks”
“… then tapered leaders. I think the energy transfer from a tapered leader is really fantastic. I was fishing in Spain this year in May and there was lots of cotton in the air, like crazy amount of white cotton and that was sticking on the knots and made the leader sink or made it drag. So I forgot how good a tapered leader really is. A knotless tapered leader because you don't get all this debris on the leader that drags the fly. So I think we've taken that for granted now. But if you fish like an old knotted leader, sometimes it's good, it adds stiffness and stuff. But these beautiful tapered leaders from today, they really help if you want to have a good drag-free drift, in my opinion.”
4) Q: Got to talk about casting and of course about Mel. Let's start with Mel first. How did you meet Mel and how did the friendship come along?
“Well, I have three children and my first daughter, Alba, she was born in Berlin and her mom, she's Spanish. So with my ex-wife Paloma we decided to go to Spain (in 2000) when Alba was born. And I had a bit of a hard time there because it was really into fly fishing, but in Valencia, it's quite dry. So I didn't think there was any fishing in Spain whatsoever.
So I went to this casal, it's called a casal (community hall), you take a bocadillo with you like a sandwich. We all met up and I couldn't speak any Spanish. So I had to learn Spanish quick to speak to these guys because they were tying these fabulous flies. And then one guy could speak a bit of English said to me, in one month, Mel Krieger is going to come to Spain. He said he translated Mel's book (The Essence of Fly Casting) into Spanish. And we're going to do a tour around and I'd really like you to meet him because he's a super cool guy.
“I didn't know who Mel Krieger was...”
So I went to this meeting and yes, it was like meeting a guru for me. I didn't know who Mel Krieger was. I knew that he was in the fly fishing world, a big name, but I didn't know. I'd never seen his videos. I didn't have a video recording those days, like a VHS or anything.
I just went to this casal and I met Mel, he talked to the people and he was just enthralling person and really, really super interesting. And then Fanny Krieger, his wife, she said to me, who are you? So I explained who I was and she said to me, you're going to translate Mel's book into German. So I said, okay, I can try. So then I went with Mel around Spain and Mel tested me and I became an instructor in Spain with Mel Krieger, he was my certifier. And then Mel became almost like my dad.
Yeah, typical hat on, he was full of life, full of funny jokes, dirty jokes, always could make a speech at the end of a meal and a fabulous teacher. And that's what really got me the most is how he could teach because he could really convey fly casting so well. It was just amazing to see how he, the tools he had to help people learn the difficult movements of fly casting.
He had so many tools and so much knowledge and so much human kindness, the people just melted. So I just, of course, I fell in love with the guy and just wanted to learn as much as I could. We got on really, really well and still have some very cherished letters from him. And then I said to Mel, why don't you come to Europe with me and we can do a big tour around Europe.
So I managed to get Mel over, which it wasn't very easy, you know, because of the past with Fanny Krieger, she lost her family in World War Two. I think she went to university or went to school and came back and the family were gone in the Holocaust. So it was very, very difficult to persuade Mel and Fanny to come over, but they did (in 2004 or 2005), which I was very proud of.
I just translated his book together with Peer Doering-Arjes into German. I can speak German, but to translate the book, I totally underestimated how difficult it would be because some of the words are just not translatable. Like, I don't know, like stroke, casting stroke, you know, it's called 'streichen' in German, that doesn't work.
So I had to find somebody and I found Peer. He's a doctor, a bamboo rod builder, a very intelligent man. And I asked Peer if he would help me and together with Peer, we translated the book. And yes, I'm very proud to say it's probably one of the best selling German fly casting books of all time now. Yes, fly casting has developed, but I think that book is just an amazing piece of work, even to this day, it's still valid.
Of course, fly casting has developed and things, but the way Mel could distil difficult movement into understandable chunks for people to learn is just incredible to this day. And I've used I used his techniques in my dance teaching. Yeah, I was still dancing and teaching dance. So I was using Mel's philosophy in my dance teaching, in my dance classes. Mel also wrote a piece called 'Observations on Teaching Fly Casting'. It's a fantastic work, but you could just change the title and call it 'Observations on Teaching Classical Dance'. It doesn't matter, you could just change the name because it's so brilliant, his approach to movement. So I used his teaching techniques to teach my dance students. But they didn't know...
“So I used his teaching techniques to teach my dance students”
There's different ways to teach movement to different people. And Mel was just, even though I had fantastic dance teachers, I never met anybody who could give the tools you need to become a better fly caster or a mover better than him. It was just fun, he made it fun. And you learn very quickly when you're having fun. So he was using all these tools. He was a very, very big part of my life. I have some really funny pictures of me and Mel in the snow, building a snowman.”
Your casting, did it change before you met Mel and after you worked with Mel?
“Yeah, definitely a huge amount, yeah. Because he gave me so many unusual exercises to do. And I don't know, one of them that I still do today with my students is to try and not straighten the fly line. You cast with as little force as possible, and try not to straighten the line.
So a big light went off in my head and I was using way too much power and to cast with finesse and delicacy. That's what he gave me. To present a fly, you hardly need no energy or effort.”
Do you have a story with or about Mel that you never told anyone or written?
“I've told a few stories that I've had, but that's a good question. I think I've told almost everything I've experienced with him. Yeah, I must admit, there's one moment that I found was really, really profound.
I was in Slovenia fishing with Mel together and I caught a big rainbow trout and I hooked it, brought it in, he landed it and then I took the fly out of the fish and started to cast again.
And Mel grabbed my shoulder and said, stop. And I said, what's wrong with you? And he said, you have to enjoy that fish and enjoy the moment and you have to honor it somehow and sit down for a minute, maybe even 10 minutes. So we sat down on the stone together and then I realized how life was so fast around me and how everything's measured with speed today. Fast computers, fast cars, fast, when it's fast, it's good.
But Mel slowed me down and I really enjoyed this beautiful fish much more because I didn't just go out and get another one. It was enough. It was enough. And he sort of, yeah, I don't know the English word anymore, he took away the acceleration out of my body and made me appreciate the moment. That was a very, very strong moment. And to this day I think about it.
“... Mel grabbed my shoulder and said, stop”
No, I think that's important. I think fly fishing is a wonderful pastime because it makes you realize actually that slow things can be also very, very beautiful and rewarding. It's not just fast things that are good, but in our society today, I think everything that's fast is good.”
“… I mean, of course, you get slower when you get older, but I think fly fishing, even for the young students I have and the young fly fishermen I meet today, they calm down with fly fishing. They get out into the nature, they start to breathe. You know, they take deep breaths, you look around what you have and you have beautiful surroundings and their shoulders start to come down. I think it makes people appreciate the moment.
That's why I really love fly fishing. It makes me... Yeah, it just calms me down.”
5) Q: Along the years I’ve read a lot of books on fly casting, watched many videos (including Mel’s). These days there’s an insane number of fly casting instructions on Youtube. You have been giving casting lessons and demonstrations for quite some time yourself. What is your thought on how casting instruction is done these days?
“Well, that's a good question. Difficult to answer. I think sometimes style is taught rather than the substance. And any sort of deviation from the style of this particular instructor is thought of as wrong.
But I think what's really important is the substance of fly casting and that we're all different and all people are tall, small, fast, slow. There's no one way to cast a fly rod. And there's a lot of dogma in fly casting. And that's my sort of message in the future from Mel Krieger to be open minded. There's not only one way to cast a fly rod with the index finger or in a certain style.
You know, you have to be open minded and adapted to that particular person. So I try to teach substance. And I look at the students and then I try to adapt it and help them as best I can without being too dogmatic. And many of these videos say you have to do this, and you have to do that.
“... there's a lot of dogma in fly casting”
But this guy didn't want to know how to cast, he knew how to cast, he wanted to improve the double haul. So I said to him, Hey, first of all, we have to, you know, we have to move the rod, which is not easy. And then he held the rod under his shoulder and with his hook, and he could cast really really well. So I think you have to be open minded and adapted to that particular student.
And not too much dogma. That's why I think you have to be open minded. And, you know, I think you never stop learning in fly fishing. That's what's the wonder of it, it's a constant learning curve. And I've had I've been really privileged to meet these great people like Joan Wulff, went to her house and cast with her together and Mel and Paul and hundreds of other people who have influenced me. But I've tried to just be open minded.
For example, I'm trying to learn now Italian style of casting (also known as TLT, Total Casting Technique), which is completely reversed of what we do, they have very short rods, three weight, super fast rods. And if the wind blows, they use one line weight lighter. So it's completely contrary to what we do. So I'm trying to be open minded and learn all different styles.
And at the end of the day, you make your own style, like with spey casting, underhand casting, Italian casting, I don't know, millions of different versions. But I try to be open minded and use it for the particular place where I am.”
So do students walk away with a Rownes style of casting?
“No, I don't like that too much. I like them to go away with their own style, because they're all themselves. And they're all everybody's different, thank goodness. But I think, yeah, I try to give them a style that's based on finesse, and delicacy and not power.
“... (casting) based on finesse, and delicacy and not power”
Maybe that would be my something to give to the students, I think they have a good understanding of the mechanics of fly casting. Not just not style. And then they can find their own way to improve. And maybe they, you know, they, they become better than all of us. So, you know, I just try to help them on as best I can.
But I do like to give them a knowledge of finesse, and not power. To be to be streamlined and, and use just enough force to straighten the line out and not too much brute power.”
Well, many years ago, you made this video about casting
“Yeah, that's called the Perfect Loop. I just wanted to do something different in those days, because everybody was making videos with big fish and loud music. And nobody was making anything aesthetic.
I find fly casting a wonderfully aesthetic movement, almost like dancing. And everything was AC DC music and hardcore guys with beards for me, that's exactly the opposite of what I like about fly fishing. I like quietness and delicacy and I like fine presentations and spooky trout and stuff. So I thought I'd make a video to go in the completely opposite direction. And that's what the Perfect Loop was about.
And I was very lucky to find two people to help me make the video who are also some fabulous fly casters themselves. So they helped me make this video and it was just an exercise to try to go in the opposite direction of everything that was happening coming from heavy rock music and stuff.”
Do you still get reached out because people watch that video?
“Yes, I do. Yeah, the nicest response I have, I've had two times actually said people have started fly fishing because of that video. Because they just like music. They like the movement. And they didn't really know anything about fly fishing. But they said, Wow, that looks cool.
“I wanted to show the beauty of casting”
There's one guy came up and said, I want to say thank you because I started fly fishing because of that video. So some people thought I was, you know, being arrogant and showing how good I was. But it was a different exercise. It was just to show how aesthetically beautiful fly casting can be.”
I thought it was a commercial for the Loop brand?
“Oh, no. Didn't get any money from Loop. It was meant to be. It was meant to be a commercial. But at the same time, I was using it as a vehicle just to go in the opposite direction of the movement that I saw at that time, because everybody was it was more about like rock and hardcore. I wanted to show the beauty of casting. I wanted to show an opposite thing. That's what that video is about.”
6) Q: Fly fishing has, certainly for newcomers, become a very difficult/complex sport as in so many technicalities, gear orientated approach (have you seen the number of different types of fly lines available these days!), etc. Aren’t we (both anglers as well as the ‘industry’) making fly fishing too difficult?
“Yeah, I think the answer to that question is yes. I think sometimes it's over complicated and the millions of lines and I mean, some of them are really specialised and very, very good for specific moment. But I think there's so much to choose from now.
And I'm very proud that some of in the (Norwegian) company that I work for, Guideline, they're trying to make that easier for people to understand these lines and trying to make these kits where there's not too many options, but covers what you need for salmon fishing or trout fishing.
“...is going in a direction where it's becoming incredibly complicated”
So yeah, I think we should get, don't forget that the goal is to catch a fish and to make it as easy as possible. For example, all this talk about fly lines, you know, and the American system (AFTM) of how to measure a fly line the first nine meters and stuff. It's so confusing and different companies have different rods and different stiffnesses and the people get so confused and the rods don't load or they're overloaded and they don't know what to do.
So I think it's great that the Guideline rods have got the gram rating that you can use grams to load the rod. And we give like a gram range, what we think is good for that rod that takes a lot of the confusion out of it. So yeah, I'm all for making it simpler.
And I think at the end of the day, we all know that you just take your rod, one or two rods out and two or three lines and you have faith in them and then you catch a fish. And but saying that some of the specialized lines, they really, really do help you in specific situations.
So it's good if you broaden your knowledge, but now there's a forest of lines and rods and stuff. Yes, I'm all for keeping it simple.”
7) Q: What is in your view the single most important skill to improve to become a better fly fisher(wo)man?
“Yeah, well, that's quite easy to answer. I think it's without doubt improve your casting. We practice everything in fly fishing, you practice perfecting your fly tying, your knots you perfect many, many things. But for some reason, not many people make the efforts to improve their casting or improve their presentation. And I think that's the key.
The key to improving your success in the water is to have control over the fly line and your presentation. Many people want to buy it somehow with a better fly rod. But that won't work.
That's why it's very similar to dance in a way, because you can't buy it. You have to work at it. So it fits me very well. But I think if you have a perfect fly, but you can't present it well, you're just not going to catch the fish. But if you can present the fly well with the wrong fly, you're going to have a chance to catch that fish.
“... spend some time to improve your fly casting
and I'm sure you'll catch more fish”
So I think perfecting your fly casting is very important. I mean, nobody, if you play golf, nobody thinks twice about going to an instructor, taking some lessons, going to the driving range, putting green and perfecting your score, to play 18 holes. But a fly fisherman wants one rod, never practice and catch a big fish. Obviously, that's not going to work.
Everybody who fishes with you is obviously watching whether you have a terrible cast in between?
“Yes, of course, everybody does, you know, nobody's perfect. But I think to go out and practice your fly casting can really give you the tools you need to catch these very big fish. I was very lucky to fish on the Henry's Fork. This is like Cambridge University of fly fishing. I was very lucky to meet Rene Harrop in his super cool pick pup on the river bank. I saw him fishing upstream and I wanted to see how this dude, this famous man who I really admire, was fishing.
He's so delicate and so precise. His casts are not long, they're very measured, very precise and very accurate and very stealthy. And that's what I really like about fly fishing. So I think, yeah, the answer would be spend some time to improve your fly casting and I'm sure you'll catch more fish.
And I try to keep my casting demonstrations light hearted and to show that enthusiasm. I just like to cast a fly rod and I like to have the loop as it unfurls in the air. I like to see it. And I also like to see other people casting and catching fish. But I think it should also be entertaining or at least it's not too serious. At the end of the day, it's just some plastic rolling out.”
8) Q: Do you have any other hobbies besides fly fishing?
“No, I don't dance anymore. I'm too old for that. My wife is a professional teacher, so she has her own school. So she's still teaching dance. And I was teaching up until about five years ago. And then I had a really, really good class of kids.
I realized I couldn't really get much further as a teacher because they were really, really good. So I thought maybe it's now time to concentrate on fly fishing. I'm a salesman for Guideline which I really wanted to push and also to teach fly casting a lot more. So now I don't I don't dance, teach dance anymore or choreograph.
“... simple bread and butter and a glass of red wine is heaven”
So and hobbies. I like to cook, but I must admit, fly fishing is quite a big thing. You know, even fly tying, rod building. I built my first bamboo rod in October. So I'm starting to build rods now. I have to get much more into fly tying. I love to read books as well, fly fishing books, especially from the great authors. So that's about it, really. It is my life now. And it's enthralling.
It's never ending. But, you know, I have three children, a family and this business I work with Guideline and salesman. So that's also a lot.”
9) Q: Describe your ideal fishing day (type of water, species, alone or with a friend, etc.)
“I like, I really love wild trout. Brown trout is my favourite fish. I just think they're just a beautiful creature and I love to catch them. And an ideal day would be to catch some some brown trout. I don't really care if they're big or small. I just think they're like jewels, every one of them.
And I must admit, I really love it when there's a hatch of insects. It gets less and less and less all over the world, I think, because of climate change and pesticides and everything. I really love the anticipation of a fly hatch, and then to see the flies coming off and then to see how everything evolves and the fish start to get interested in one particular insect. So I love to fish on rivers where they still have hatches.
10) Q: What dish or food can we wake you up in the middle of the night?
“That's a good one. I was thinking about that. I like Indian food. Currys, I like curries very, very much. But I really love a glass of red wine with some just simple bread and good cheese. So a plate of cheese and a glass of red wine.”
“I just love cheeses of all sorts”
“No, not Emmentaler. I like, I actually like, all cheeses, but I like Cabrales. Cabrales is from a place where I've fished, I've fished all over the place. It's in northern Spain called Asturias. It's a region, it almost looks like Wales. It's very, very green. And they have a particular cheese there.
It's a blue cheese. And it's super strong. So you only need a little amount. But that that cheese is fabulous. So I like that, but that wouldn't be the night. But yeah, I just love cheeses of all sorts, French cheese. And that with just simple bread and butter and a glass of red wine is heaven.”
11) Q: Final question. Where would you fish if it was the last time you would be able to fish?
“I don't know, I could speak the whole night now. But there's one place that I have a particular affinity to, and that's the Laxa in northern Iceland. That's where I found probably the most peace. There are few roads, there are no aeroplanes. It's just the nature, pure nature and very, very big wild brown trout, which are very strong.
So the Laxa Laxardalur, that's hard to beat for me. I think that's where I'd like to spend my last day if I was fishing. Because, yeah, it's a very spiritual place there. And I think the people also, they looked after the river.
I don't know if you know this, I tried to make it as quick as possible, but it's a very interesting story. In the 1970s in Iceland, they wanted to build a dam on the Laxa River, and they wanted to flood the whole valley. So the farmers got together at the funeral of an old woman.
They used the funeral as an excuse, and they got all together, and they planned to destroy the dam. So two brothers from the valley, they went down to a building site in Akureyri and stole dynamite. And they went back up to the valley, and they went where they started to build the dam, and they blew the dam up. Because they said it's a holy river, and they can't dam it. It's against all the rights of people. And this was in the 1970s.
“... some of them were arrested”
Now there's like a plaque on the side of the river commemorating where these two brothers actually blew up the dam they were starting to be built, but they destroyed it before it was completed.
And I met one of these brothers, a very old man. And you know, I was so thankful that he did that, because it gave me the chance to fish on that amazing river, the river Laxa. So that's, I think it's a holy river and it flows from a lake into the sea. There's nothing to stop it. And the brown trout are beautiful and big and they rise.
Unfortunately, one of the most beautiful places I ever fished was in Russia Kola, but now that's closed, which is so sad. So I think we have to take the advantage in fishing these amazing places because life changes so quickly. So for me, definitely would be on the river Laxa Laxardalur."
Okay, well, that was my final question, Chris.
"Thanks, Jay"
Thank you so much for your time Chris! Hope we get to meet again soon
Chris started a few years ago a website to celebrate the art of fishing with the dry fly, take a look here.
3) Q&A with Edoardo Scapin
4) Q&A with Hoagy Carmichael
5) Q&A with Jorge Trucco
6) Q&A with Per Brandin
7) Q&A with Jack Dennis
8) Q&A with Charles Jardine
9) Q&A with Christopher Rownes
10) Q&A with Leon Hanson
11) Q&A with Joe Messinger Jr.
12) Q&A with Mike Valla
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