An Interview with Meade Fishing
Back in May, we sent Henry AKA Meade Fishing and filmmaker Patrick Tillard on a fly fishing trip to Islay in Scotland. They had one mission: hit as many fishing spots as you can over the three days.
We sat down with Henry to hear about the trip and you can watch the full film here.
You headed up to Islay for three days of fly fishing. Can you lay out the plan to us?
The plan was simple, 3 days of fishing, 6 different spots, 4 different species. We were after pike, pollock, sea trout and brown trout.
It was a plan that was easy to follow on paper but this is fishing! Which means suddenly you have to add in weather conditions, water levels and the hope the fish are around, let alone even keen to bite. But we gave it a hard push.
Were there any points when you thought about giving up?
Plenty of times that thought crossed my mind! We encountered some fierce winds during the trip, as well as rain from the coast that made me worried I had angered Poseidon.
But the main thing that kept us going was the fact you don’t go up to Scotland expecting sunshine and rainbows and battling the elements is honestly half the fun of an adventure trip like this. And as for the fish, nothing will ever beat fighting for 13 hours just to get that elusive sea trout.
What was the best fishing moment from the trip?
I’ve got to say the last day hiking hours up that tiny stream to the loch and catching small wild brownies on the way up will last with me for a long time. Going back to the basics of using one small dry-fly the whole way up (Irresistible Adams) and hunting fish in each pool was great fun. Those small brownies really smash your fly off the surface.
What did you think of Islay?
I spent a lot of my childhood in Islay each summer fishing and it’s where I caught my first ever fish! So Islay has always been a very special place for me. From the moment I got off that ferry it was a nostalgic blessing to see nothing has changed up there. It’s Scotland at its finest and wildest.
They call the sea trout the Fish of a Thousand Casts and it definitely lived up to that name for you. What were your emotions through the day?
That day was tougher than anything I’ve had on the water in a long time. The wind was horrendous and I’ve never been so frustrated in my fishing career than having sea trout jumping out the water every few minutes in front of me but being unable to wade or cast that extra 3 metres to get to them. We fished for over 13 hours and it was gruelling work with a 7WT in those conditions.
A sea trout is the ultimate fishing target in my opinion, so just the idea that I may catch one kept me casting hour after hour. Add in the fact that the first fish I ever caught on my own was a sea trout in Islay meant I was genuinely pretty emotional all day thinking I could recreate the moment.
For anyone thinking about doing a fly fishing trip to Islay, are there any tips you can give?
2 main tips: bring gear for any species you could think of catching! Islay has such a rich variety of fishing opportunities so if one spot or species isn’t working out then you can easily find a new one to battle with.
And the second is to chat with the locals. It basically seems like most people on the island are fishing legends and have some advice and stories they are more than happy to give you
Finally, beyond this trip, where’s your favourite place to fish in the UK?
Normally I would say chalkstreams are my ultimate fishing location in the UK however after this trip to Islay I just feel slightly embarrassed that I have never tried any saltwater fishing in the UK. So to answer the question in an annoying hypothetical way, my favourite place would be anywhere on the coast that anyone wants to recommend to me…
Anything else you would like to add?
I need to give a massive shout out to PT [Patrick Tillard]. As hard as some moments were I was still fishing at all times which is better than anything else I could have been doing. Whereas PT stood next to me 24/7 with a camera in his hand no matter what the weather. That man is a serious trooper.
And a huge thanks to Cameron from Islay Estates for being an incredible fishing guide getting us into some truly incredible spots as well as an all round top man.
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