Excuse me sir! It's upstream dr fly only here.

So, through sheer luck or a chance meeting with a friend of a friends Uncles Dad, you have managed to secure an afternoon on one of our well known Trout streams such as the Itchen, Test or Derbyshire Wye. You've arrived on the bank side with a bulging fly box and high hopes of a memorable day, you can't see any fish rising so you tie on a pheasant tail nymph as a general imitation. Within what seems like seconds, the river keeper materialises out of nowhere and says "Excuse me sir! It's upstream dry fly only here" You mumble something about "being sorry" and fiddle with the pockets of your fishing vest. However what you really wanted to say but didn't have the courage was "Why is that then?"

You will see all sorts of different reasons given for the upstream dry fly rule. You will hear things like "It gives the fish sanctuary below the surface" or "It's more sporting". While there may be elements of truth in this, the real reason could be far more interesting - because a rich bloke decided he knew best over 150 years ago. The gentleman in question is the angling author and self declared fly fishing expert F.M Halford. Halford was born into a wealthy family in 1844, he saw himself as a pioneer of entomology, studying the contents of fish’s stomachs for clues about their diets and observing Trout feeding on the surface.

While this may sound like a dedication to the sport, this was actually Halfords downfall. Halford became obsessed with the winged insects that he saw the trout eating, so much so that he dismissed the idea of fishing below the surface as a waste of time contrary to the fellow fisherman of his era. He also seemingly dismissed the theory that general imitation patterns could be just as effective, trying instead to painstakingly tie perfect imitations. Halfords views were that the only worthwhile of fishing for Trout was to fish with a dry fly and the only way of using the dry fly without it becoming sodden within seconds was to cast upstream and let the current bring the fly downstream naturally, hence the upstream dry fly.

The question is then, if Halfords views were so blinkered and if other anglers at the time were successfully using subsurface patterns then why were Halfords views taken as gospel by other anglers and fishery owners at the time ?

The answer could be because Halford was living through a period of huge change. He was writing and publishing his theories just as fly fishing was becoming a popular pastime. With the advent of the steam train, more and more people were able to travel to the chalk streams which Halford was now involved in. Crucially this meant that the gentleman of London, with huge disposable incomes and increasing leisure time were able to embrace the chalk streams and pay large amounts of money to have beats to themselves exclusively or even purchase fishing estates and lodges along their banks, they could set off from London in the morning and be home for a nightcap the same evening, something that until then had been impossible.

These gentleman listened to Halford for no other reason other than they didn't know any better - he was one of the few people at the time who was writing lots of literature about the merits of the upstream dry fly. The more people that listened to Halford the more his theories became gospel - that the only worthwhile to fish for trout was with a dry fly! There were many who were successfully fishing with subsurface flies and disagreed fundamentally with Halford, however maybe they just didn't disagree loud enough - Halford certainly didn't listen to them!

So next time the keeper catches you with a downstream Dog Nobbler instead of an upstream Greenwell's Glory, blame it on F.M Halford or if you want to fish there again say sorry and fiddle with your pockets.