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Dapping - a forgotten art of fishing
By Roger Kingston
Dapping - A forgotten form of fishing Over 20 years ago I worked as a ghillie on Loch Hope, one of the great Scottish sea trout lochs, which was often mentioned in the same breath as Lochs Mare Stack and Dionard. A form of fishing here was dapping on what would have been considered purely “fly only” waters and this was much loved by the regulars and ghillies alike. Dapping involves a long telescopic rod, often 17 feet long and usually made of fibreglass. Though in the old days these would be made of split cane and be very heavy. A fly reel filled with monofilament line to which 12 feet of a synthetic “blow line” would be attached and below this would be a 4 foot leader with the fly at the end. The rod would be held vertically and line let out and the blow line would catch the wind and then the fisherman would control the angulation of the rod so that the artificial fly would skate across the surface of the water enticing the sea trout and salmon to take. The fly would often be an artificially tied daddy longlegs or grasshopper though the natural was deadly. On the Irish loughs the mayfly was king. More usually the fly would look more like a shaving brush resembling no natural insect life but fortunately no one bothered to tell the fish and they would take this readily. In terms of skill the this form of fishing takes no time at all to learn but a lifetime to master. Whilst like most fishing being in the right place at the right time with decent weather will account for 60% of what it takes the remaining 40% is often what makes the difference between a bag full of fish and an empty plate! The skill in dapping depends entirely on the strike and setting of the hook. The strike would depend on the species, salmon take in a totally different manner to a sea trout and the latter has a myriad of ways of doing so. But in each case the response requires careful split second assessment otherwise the fish is long gone. The greatest exponent of this craft was Herbert MacDonald, one of the last great Scottish Ghillies. Herbert had been a rubber planter in Malaya before the war and had been a prisoner of the Japanese in the mines on mainland Japan. He was a haunted soul who hid his anguish with his passion for fishing and he would pull a salmon out of the loch when everyone else had blanked all week. Herbert would predict the days sport by looking to the hills in the morning and depending on the cloud cover and wind speed could predict with great accuracy the days sport. He maintained that the quality of the light on the water was the key, if the water was “battleship grey” or the colour of “Stephensons ink” then fishing would be poor but if the wind was to the south east and the light on the water was a golden brown the woe betide any client that wasn’t on the water first for the castle drift. These happy memories remain imprinted in my mind long after the old ghillies have gone and the lochs a shadow of their former glory. Pollution, over exploitation of fish stocks on the high seas, the Lloyds crash which saw most of the well maintained sporting estates sold off has seen to a loss of interest in the sport of dapping as the fish are no longer there. However with international destinations becoming available I would love to send a dapping line over the lakes of New Zealand and the rivers of Tierra del Fuego. In the meantime the stillwater fisheries of England brimming with rainbow trout are perfect for dapping to see a resurgence. Cann’t wait to get back on the water!
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http://www.lochhope.co.uk
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Great story Roger. But I for one can't fish to save my life. Plus ya gotta have patience. More than that, it's more the experience and the communing that's more important than the actual catching of fish.
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
The truth about fishing is that if there are fish there and they are biting you'll have a great day. When conditions are hard thats when the skill comes in.
What do I prefer and its the first option everytime!
That's a great Intel, as my children were growing up, most sunday's we would get all the fishing gear together and spend the day fishing at Waitara Taranaki NZ, had to travel some way, but my 5 children love it, and it was a great days outing before going home and milking the cows.
Thanks for bringing back the memories.
Elsie
Very Nice Roger, A great Piece of intel and story. It makes me want to grab my rod and get out there and tease a few fish.:)
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