Casting & Fly Fishing Instruction

Roger Dowsett is a professional game angling instructor and holds the Game Angling Instructor Certificate (GAIC) for both trout & salmon fishing.

These certificates are awarded by the Game Angling Instructor Association (GAIA) to candidates who are able to demonstrate their proficiency to instruct game anglers and prospective game anglers of all ages and abilities. This accreditation ensures a good overall knowledge of the life cycles and behaviour of all salmonids, casting theory and practice, tackle and tactics, entomology, angling safety and angling law.

Trout Fishing Instruction

Fly fishing instruction can be provided in many forms: from an individual lesson either as an introduction to fly fishing or to improve a particular aspect of casting; as a series of lessons, perhaps forming part of a custom 'learn to fly fish' short break; or as a formal course.

Casting lessons for individuals or small groups are usually provided on our private stocked lochan, but we can also teach on some of our local trout waters. Casting lessons usually last from 2 to 4 hours, but for complete beginners we would recommend a half day 'Introduction to Fly Fishing' to begin with. This covers safety, tackle, an introduction to the roll and overhead casts, and also includes some 'fishing time' - a chance to catch your first trout. It is a memorable introductory experience for novices.

If you wish to arrange a custom short break to learn to fly fish, we would usually recommend at least 3 days to provide a good grounding in the basic skills. In this time we focus on developing your proficiency in fly casting (roll cast, overhead cast, shooting line, false casting, hauling etc.), but also cover safety, tackle and entomology and spend quite a lot of time fly fishing for trout using various tactics.

We also run occasional 'Learn to Fly Fish'  weekend courses during the spring and early summer for those wanting to take a short break to learn to fly fish as part of a group.

For all our tuition, we can provide all the fishing tackle required. For larger groups, where necessary and by prior arrangement, ghillies or additional qualified instructors can be brought in to assist.

Trout fishing instruction is not limited to casting. For those already proficient in casting, who want to widen their fishing skills we can provide instruction in different tactics e.g. you may have good experience of rainbow trout fishing and now want to learn 'loch style' boat fishing or dry fly river fishing for wild brown trout.

Salmon Fishing Instruction

There are a variety of ways to learn to fly fish for salmon, but as a dedicated holiday the majority of our guests choose customised short breaks of 3 to 4 days.

Salmon casting instruction usually takes place on the river, generally on but not limited to the River Alness. Occasionally we start things off with a short session on grass or on the lochan. It is much easier to learn a basic cast with a double-handed salmon rod than a single handed trout rod, though of course it still takes a lot of time and practice to master these casts. For beginners we start with the overhead and roll casts, but we also teach the jump roll, single Spey, double Spey and snake roll casts.

For novices seeking their first taste of salmon fishing we generally recommend a full day as an introduction, which provides an enjoyable day out with a chance to catch your first salmon. For dedicated 'Learn to Salmon Fish' short breaks we would recommend at least 2 days, preferably 3 or 4 days as this gives us a chance to look at the more advanced casts and provides more fishing time and therefore more opportunity to catch that first salmon.

Our 'Learn to Salmon Fish' courses are 4 days in length and cover the same things on the river as you would on a short break. The main difference is that there are also some presentations on various aspects of salmon fishing including the salmon life cycle, salmon behaviour and tactics etc.

As with trout fishing, instruction need not be limited to casting and we can also teach you different tactics, 'rivercraft' and 'how to catch salmon'.