Page 30 - Studio International - May 1974

and over is due to the fact that they were contained 3o yds of casting line and 200 yds the moment of gaffing when their thrashing
caught, not by Wells, but by his guests to of backing. His casts were specially made for tails caught the trace and pulled the hooks
whom he always gave the most promising places. him of heavy twisted gut, tapering from about out. The late Mr E. F. J. Baugh, Wells's
One of them, the late Major W. H. S. Alston, 3o to 20 lb b/s. Wells would use only the nephew, to whom I am greatly indebted for
killed salmon of 60, 61 and 63 lb. Wells's bag double 'Turk' Knot for attaching the fly. much information, recalls that his uncle and he
of 849 was made up as follows : When bait fishing, what was known then as spent a long time in pursuit of a fish in the 8o lb
Bolstad River the 'bullet' trace was used. This was made up class which, lying underneath a bridge, refused
of twisted gut with a b/s of 20 to 30 lb. The every lure they could contrive. Another
casting line was secured to the top swivel. burst through the fjord nets, placed near the
A few inches below a second swivel was mouth of the river, submerging one of the oil
inserted and to this was attached the 'bullet', drum floats in the process.
a round ball of lead with a hole through it. Wells himself did not bother much about the
The secret of this device lay in the use of soft excellent sea trout in his river but his guests
copper wire for securing the 'bullet' to the caught them up to 8 or 91b, often on the dry fly.
swivel and the nature of the attachment. This Space does not permit a detailed study of
was such that when the 'bullet' became Wells, the dry-fly fisherman, but those who
snagged, a strong jerk would straighten the fished with him at Stockbridge testify to the
wire causing it to drop off and allow the rest of same thoroughness and attention to detail which
the tackle to be recovered. he imparted to every undertaking. His catch of
Wells fished from the stern of the boat (on large trout usually exceeded the normal run
the Bolstad the boat always proceeded for the water. He relied mainly on about six
downstream stern first) and covered every foot patterns of hackled fly throughout the season
of water, whether with fly or bait. He attributed and his favourites were blue-winged olive,
much of his success to the skill and knowledge rough olive, taperer, b.w.o., grey wulff and tup.
of his gillie, Mathias, in whose house Wells and He became a convert to nymph fishing,which he
his guests always lodged. The nature of the considered more exacting than the dry fly, and
river and size of the fish required boatmanship he had a simple method of converting the one
of the highest order for the passage downstream into the other. He would spit on his dry fly and
in pursuit of a large salmon was fraught with rub the cast in mud to produce a sinking
danger from rocks and rapids. combination.
Wells was so humble and reticent about his In latter years, although remarkably nimble
achievements that he could seldom be coaxed and with eyesight miraculously unimpaired - he
into speaking of them. It was the writer's good read the Financial Times stock prices without
fortune, however, to find him twice disposed glasses - he was often escorted on the Houghton
to talk about his beloved Bolstad. Sharing a tray Club water by Mr Alfred Lunn, to whom he
of tea with him one evening in the Flyfishers' bequeathed his trout rods and tackle. In a letter
Club I asked him how he had got on in Norway written shortly before his death, Wells records
that season. Had others been present, it was his good fortune in what turned out to be his last
In his Both year he killed his 8oth salmon of doubtful whether much information would season. His catch at Stockbridge in that brief
40 lb or over. have been imparted. Even so, the conversation period included three rainbow trout of over 5 lb
Rather more than half of Wells's salmon opened on an unpromising note. 'Oh very and three brown trout averaging 3 lb. He was
were killed on prawn, just over a third on fly poor!' he murmured from behind The Times still catching fish within a week or two of his
and the remainder by spinning with spoon, City page. I assumed that this signified the end death. All this in his 93rd year. It was
spook and sprat. All but a few were hooked and of the matter but, putting the paper aside, he characteristic of the man that during
played from a boat kept on each pool but the went on: `Sowerby (the late Mr Murray convalescence from a severe operation in the
fisherman always came ashore for the gaffing. Sowerby) did quite well.' Oh really, what did winter of 1962, which would have reduced
It was quite usual for a large fish to be hooked he get ?"His first fish weighed 65 lb and his ordinary mortals to a static existence, he
at the top of the beat and be landed a mile or second 52 !' Next time we met in the Club he should set about putting himself into condition
two below, but at least one of the `great fish', was in a more expansive mood and spoke at for spring on the Test. This he did by a
of which more anon, ran right down into the length about his adventures with three 'great programme of walks, gradually increasing the
fjord. fish'. Wells's assessment of a 'great' salmon was target from too to about 50o yards.
Wells's salmon equipment was simple but one that in his estimation exceeded 70 lb. He As an authority on port and claret, of which
powerful. 'I only use the strongest' he once thought any of the three might have been in the he kept a remarkable cellar at Eton, Wells's
remarked to the writer. He used the same rod 80-90 lb category. One of these monsters was reputation was unchallenged. His dinner
for both fly and bait fishing, a 13 ft Hardy hooked on a spoon in the tail-end of Osen lake. parties at Eton and afterwards, at which the
split-cane with two tops, the shorter and stiffer It was followed unseen right down into the food was really an appendange to the wine,
for bait, the longer for fly. This rod, after fjord, three miles below, Wells playing it from were highly esteemed for the supreme quality
several breakages, was gradually reduced to the stern of the boat, as always descending stern of the wine. Each course was followed by a little
about 12 ft. His flies, Thunder and Lightning, first, a risky passage on account of the rapids cheese and biscuit to clear the palate for the
Mar Lodge, Dusty Miller, etc., were lightly and rocks which had to be negotiated. The first next wine. He thought it essential that the
dressed and tied on double-hooks preferably glimpse of the fish that Wells and Mathias colour of wine should be revealed and dinner
with gut eyes. In his view large single hooks had was when it was at last brought to the up to the port stage was always served on a
were unsuitable for the Bolstad fish whose surface exhausted and ready for the gaff. Alas, white table-cloth. For many years he advised
weight and power tended to enlarge the hold its great weight and the length of the encounter his old friend, the late John Christie, about the
to a dangerous width. The size of flies, mainly had jointly served to widen the hold in its mouth choice of wines for Glyndebourne. Later in life
1½ to 4/0, strikes one as being curiously small and, as it rolled over, the hooks pulled out. he tended to prefer Burgundy to claret but
for such a deep and turbulent river. The reel The other two 'great fish' were also lost near was baulked by the difficulty of finding wine
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