A Sea Trout Fishing Book by John Gray
Sea Trout Nights by John Gray is a recently published book on sea trout fishing, with the focus on night fly fishing for sea trout on Scottish rivers.
the latest addition to the sea trout fisher’s bookshelf
Fly fishing for sea trout through summer nights on British rivers is a very special pastime, unlike any other branch of game fishing and practised by a relatively small band of enthusiasts. Accordingly, in comparison to the wealth of literature published over the past century or more on the subjects of trout fishing and salmon fishing, a single shelf of a collector’s bookcase might comfortably accommodate the lion’s share of books written over the years specifically on Sea Trout Fishing. Noteworthy among those sea trout fishing books are volumes by authors such as Hamish Stuart, R.C. Bridgett, Jeffery Bluett, F.W. Holiday, T.C. Kingsmill Moore, Charles C. McLaren, Jock Scott, Charles Bingham, Graeme Harris and Moc Morgan, James Waltham, Steffan Jones and, most famous of them all, Hugh Falkus. Published in October 2020, the year of the Lockdown, SEA TROUT NIGHTS by John Gray is the most recent potential addition to the sea trout fisher’s bookshelf.
SEA TROUT NIGHTS
Half a Century of Night Fishing on Scottish Rivers
John Gray
The author caught his first sea trout in the nineteen sixties, sparking an enduring passion that still keeps him from his bed on summer nights. In PART ONE of this book, we follow him in his search for sea trout over some four decades on some of the best of our Scottish sea trout rivers, including the Endrick, Earn, Allan, Border Esk and Spey. He even makes a short but memorable foray to Wales along the way.
In PART TWO, he draws on a lifetime’s experience to guide the novice on his quest for that first very special sea trout to be caught on the fly at night. He gives sound advice on Where and When we might fish; how we might be affected by Water and Weather; the Ways and Means we might employ on the river; with a final detailed and well-illustrated chapter on Flies and Fly Tying, including some of the author’s own original and highly innovative, yet simply made, lures that have served him well for many years, including the Needle Fly and Needle Tube Fly.
This book extends to some 250 pages with more than 170 illustrations, maps and black and white photographs, all taken by the author.
Sea Trout Nights Book Contents
The book includes the following chapters:
PART ONE – THE RIVERS
1 On Endrick Water
2 On the River Earn at Comrie
3 On Allan Water
4 On the River Earn at Crieff
5 Welsh Interlude
6 On the Border Esk
7 On the River Spey
PART TWO – HOW TO CATCH A SEA TROUT
8 The Sea Trout
9 Where and When
10 Water and Weather
11 Ways and Means
12 Flies and Fly Tying
“SEA TROUT NIGHTS” is a recently published book on sea trout fishing by John Gray. As the title suggests, the focus of the book is on river fly fishing for sea trout at night. The author describes his experiences of nighttime fly fishing for sea trout on some of the most productive Scottish sea trout rivers, such as the Spey, Earn and Border Esk, and offers practical guidelines on where, when and how to catch the elusive sea-trout at night on British rivers, with a useful chapter on flies and fly tying. The chapter on “Where and When” includes information on the fishing waters of the many accessible angling clubs and associations offering sea trout fishing throughout Scotland, England and Wales, and the best times to fish them. The “Water & Weather” chapter offers advice on optimum night fishing conditions, while sea trout fishing tackle and tactics are covered in “Ways and Means”. Last but not least is the chapter on “Flies and Fly Tying”, describing the origin and development of some of the author’s own innovative and simply tied sea trout flies such as the Needle Tube Fly, which has proven so effective over the years, both here and abroad, for salmon as well as sea trout. This is a sea trout fishing book which gives a rare insight into Scottish sea trout fishing, nighttime river fly fishing in particular.
