Breaking Trail

If you’re familiar with the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia, you’ll know just how intimidating it can be. Hard country. Extreme. Absolutely nothing about it is easy.

Your first impulse when faced with all that extremity is to start buying gear, and lots of it. It’s clear why Aussies spend most of their disposable income on trucks, boats and fishing tackle. Once you’ve acquired the offensive capability to invade the Philippines, and tackle that will survive the attentions of a range of huge, thuggish fish, a fly rod just seems a tad, well, silly.

It’s easy now for us to entertain thoughts of hunting a northern Australian tidal flat with a fly rod, but think what it must have been like forty years ago. For one thing, there were very few people fishing that country at all, especially in the northern Kimberley, and you can be pretty sure only one of them had a fly rod in his hands. That guy was Ron Pearson.

A TRUE PIONEER

‘Pioneer’ isn’t something you just casually add to your CV. It’s something that is attributed to you by your peers, or should be, and it’s a retrospective thing — like ‘hero’. There are plenty of big names in fly fishing today; some are true pioneers, and some even attain hero-like status in fly-fishing’s pantheon of fame.

Most of the trails these people broke for us are by now well trodden, in some cases acquiring near theme-park status. Any well-heeled individual can put him or herself in the gun seat of a flats skiff or drift boat on the world’s premium ‘destination’ fisheries. A good guide will more or less guarantee a shot at a bragging sized trophy and join you for a drink in the bar of your hotel or lodge at the end of the day, where you can tick a few items off your bucket list.

Pioneering, on the other hand, involves finding where those trophies live, what they eat and how they behave, then figuring out how to get there and catch them. And remember, this is not sauntering down to an angling car park on the Yellowstone with a new killer fly pattern, but taking on one of the truly awesome — and I don’t mean in the valley girl sense — wildernesses on earth. Many of those top fishing guides have done this, and in some cases are still doing it. When you find yourself in the presence of one of these individuals, you can’t avoid a slight feeling of inadequacy.

I had the pleasure of meeting and fishing with Ron Pearson last season. I spent the better part of four years with my partner Margaret in the remote Bardi aboriginal community of One Arm Point, where I was surprised to learn that Ron had been the high school principal for many years. I knew of Ron through the usual fly-fishing scuttlebutt, but this trip was arranged by Mark Bantich, another well-known Aussie saltwater fly enthusiast. I spent three days fishing with Ron and Mark, and ran an interrupted interview over the duration. Ron has plenty to say, and the great thing about interviewing an old teacher is all you really have to do is press ‘record’.

BEGINNINGS

I ask how he got interested in fly fishing. “I grew into it,” said Ron. “I won some fly gear in a raffle by the WA Trout and Freshwater Angling Association. It was a very soft rod with a too-light line, which made casting in a wind impossible. With no one around to offer advice, particularly on casting, I took to books. My reading suggested practice casting on water, so I went to a local jetty. I caught a small cod or wrasse, I think on a Royal Coachman, which made me forget trout for a long time and look at salt water!”

Putting together a real saltwater fly outfit was an issue. “At the time, nothing of any significance was available in Western Australia. This severely inhibited fly fishing in the salt. Wind, getting close enough to the quarry, and finding suitable flies were big problems. Living in the remote Kimberley made information and equipment a problem. I had no acceptable radio contact. Mail came in fortnightly and at times was just thrown out the plane window.

“During a Christmas holiday break I met the late Doug Clegg at Linnett’s Tackle Shop; a genuine character who did not recognise traditional boundaries and started the renaissance for me. Fly rods were built out of existing bait and spinning rods or blanks. I met Max Garth through Doug. When Max wanted a fly rod Doug grabbed a saw and cut off a piece below the ferrule on a light beach rod, and said, ‘Here’s your fly rod!’

“My favourite 12-weight fly rod was built on a Butterworth CR3126 blank, designed for fishing luderick off the rocks in the eastern states. It was matched with a real fly reel, the Hardy Marquis No.2, and a weight forward 12S line. Max Garth supplied the other ingredient that boosted the catch rate over the fence: he tied some Lefty’s Deceivers and sent them to me. There is hardly a single Kimberley fish that will not eat these flies! When I found out how good they were, I pinched a heap of them out of his tackle box.

“The late John Erskine sent me two carbon fibre rods to try out, along with a fibreglass Sage. Talk about a disaster! I broke the first carbon rod on about the fifth small fish, a trevally. Mortified does not adequately describe my feelings. Even worse, the second one broke after approximately a dozen fish, again all small, mainly trevally and queenfish. Not so with the fibreglass. I loved that Sage. It caught heaps of fish. I should never have given it back to him. It was a long time before I worked out the critical flexing point of carbon fibre!

“I’ve still got an early favourite hanging in the shed, built on a one-piece surfcasting blank (see the accompanying photo of Garth’s Rock). Noddy Radford, who worked at Mike Roennfeldt’s shop, The Tackle Box, went through the blanks with me and we built a rod on it. Can’t remember what blank, just picked one that looked right! Trial and error, based on little knowledge in those days. I have a very strong right arm, but I think my arm would pack up if I tried to fish it now. Heavy as buggery, but it bent and did not break, try what may. Lifted tuna out of their circling mode better than any rod I’ve had.

“High sticking is a carbon fibre problem and is probably the reason there is such an emphasis on fly reel drags these days; playing the fish through the reel rather than the rod. Carbon fibre rods cast so well, but I still like to play the fish through the rod and enjoy the added challenge of rim control! Perhaps one day there will be a high tech rod that will both cast and bend! It has been a long time since I’ve broken a carbon rod on a fish. Now I mainly fish with others and avoid the difficulty of netting a fish without over-flexing the rod, a problem when fishing alone.

“Learning to catch fish on fly without a knowledgeable mentor was difficult. However a transfer to the Kimberley helped greatly with an untapped supply of fish willing to assist my education! Among others, Jock Grey, the Patron Saint of novice swoffers, tied hundreds of flies for me to try. The standouts were consistently white, and white Deceivers were the cream on the cake! A prime motivator in those times was to provide food for the table. Various species of trevally were the main fish to start with. Gradually that expanded to include cod, Spanish flag, assorted mackerel, jacks, barramundi, etc.”

THOSE KIMBERLEY TIDES

I tell Ron that the huge Kimberley tide is the biggest obstacle for me up there. They make everything extremely difficult and sometimes near impossible for a fly fisher.

“My first teaching appointment was to remote Sunday Island, off the tip of the Dampier Peninsula, the home of the Bardi Jawi people. We had a love of the sea in common and they were generous with sharing their knowledge. I learned that the stage of the tide was more important than whether it was day or night. The tides herd sea life, particularly fish, into certain places at certain times. The seasons are also different and each season is an important time for particular species. Chasing the predominant species in their peak season makes sense. The Bardi Jawi are keen ‘flats’ fishers, using a spear instead of a fishing rod. The skill required to catch fish this way makes fly fishing look like a stroll in the park.

“Where to look, spotting fish, the right stage of the tide, the best way to approach the fish; these things are a major factor in successfully catching fish on fly. I have many old friends among the Bardi Jawi people, a lot now have passed on but are not forgotten by me.

“Disregard tide and season in the Kimberley and you will miss out on fish. Anglers coming north in the cool dry season expecting to catch heaps of barramundi are a good example of this. To be successful you need to know your fish well. What does it eat, where can it find its food and what stage of the tide will it be feeding aggressively? Alternatively, where will you find it resting up and what can you do to stir it up into a feeding mode?

“Fly fishers must be more aware of the location and habits of the quarry and they must approach within the limited casting distance without spooking the quarry. Presentation requirements vary considerably between species, and what they are doing at the time is crucial. For example, tuna feeding on baitfish balls will remain on the surface long enough for a steady approach and a cast. When feeding on flying fish they travel fast and stop little. You need to sit and wait upwind of the school and be lucky enough to have them pass by within casting distance. Frustrating fishing at times!”

ACCORDING TO GARTH

Get into an Aussie saltwater fly discussion and sooner or later Ron Pearson’s name comes up. Many of the top salt fly anglers know and have fished with Ron; some got their start in fly fishing through his encouragement. Another name that often comes up in the same conversations is an old mate of Ron’s, Max Garth, who passed away at the end of October.

“To Max, theories were debatable, and he expected to be proved wrong only by results, not talk. When Max locked on to an idea, only results would change his mind. Max’s all-consuming enthusiasm for his current ‘thing’ often clouded a view of the ‘other’ Max! A number of kids have benefited from his mentoring and generosity. Lending and giving away fly gear to interested and hopeful fishers were never a problem for him. He got a lot of pleasure in assisting people to catch a fish on fly. Sharing ideas on aspects of fishing anywhere and anytime was an obsession for Max.”

I tell Ron that I once got into a hilarious online forum discussion with Max on saltwater fly reels. He was making a fervid pitch for his ideal big fish handling fly outfit, the 30-ounce Penn 49 Mariner strapped to a 14-weight fly rod, not exactly your wussie dry fly wand. Garth loved getting hooked up to something really big and ornery off the man-killing rocks of the WA coast. Small, wiry and feisty, he was the bull rider of Aussie saltwater fly fishing. Max tired of my lack of enthusiasm for what seemed to him only common sense, and when I argued I simply didn’t want to fish with a ‘fly’ reel that weighed a full kilogram, he just called me a ‘ponce’. That cracked me up. Unfortunately, he was promptly ‘moderated’ out of the discussion for obstreperousness, not the first or last time for Max to be bounced off an Internet forum.

“Max revelled in discussion at any level, which was often mistaken for aggressiveness. While I share many of Max’s viewpoints on fishing I couldn’t match his ardour for discussion! Latterly his health no longer allowed him to participate to the extent that he did, or would like to do, but there was nothing like a discussion on fishing to get a few more of his cylinders firing! Max Garth was very influential in the development of saltwater fly in Australia.”

GOING LIGHT

Speaking of what’s on the horizon for Aussie swoffers, Ron says, “In an increasingly crowded world, frontiers have been pushed back so far that there are scant areas of true wilderness. Fishing pressure has increased dramatically, both recreationally and commercially. Planning and care for the future must be a priority. Responsible fishing by all is necessary for this to happen.

“Like most fishers we tend to focus on ‘big’. Big is beautiful! Or is it? Big fish are usually the breeding females; should we target them? Access to plentiful big fish in virgin waters is restricted to small areas with limited access. Visiting such places is restricted by time and expense and not available to everyone. That is fine for a cashed-up angler to make a special trip but that is not often available for regular fishing throughout the year. We need to think about alternatives available to us. In a nutshell, how can we ‘value add’ to our sport? Basically we need a change in attitudes. I believe we can achieve this by putting less emphasis on ‘big’ and more on the ‘how’ — sight fishing and matching gear to fish size, for example.”

I make the point that fly fishing opens up a whole new approach to fish that are normally ignored, and is to some extent self-limiting. You can do more to limit your catch and increase the fun factor by doing a little downsizing. On this trip, both Ron and Mark spent a lot of time fishing for small fish on 4-weight outfits. They had a great time with diminutive queenies, flag, emperor, tuskfish and trevally, that most anglers wouldn’t waste a glance at. This backfired a couple of times when they hooked up and lost some bruising ‘blue bastards’ (painted sweetlip), but it made me wonder if it wasn’t the light gear and subtle approach that got the eat from the blueys in the first place. They both just laughed and threatened to break out 2-weights! Ron has great fun with these micro-rods on whiting and other critters down south.

COOPERATIVE FISHING

“We should appreciate all species of fish not just the prestige varieties,” says Ron. “All fish should have possession limits! Common trevally, for instance, are great sport but such suckers to strike they are often treated without care, and as a result are quickly reduced in numbers and become scarce. Cooperative fishing, rather than competitive fishing, based on size or numbers, reduces the motivation to fish to excess. Either kill and eat the fish and limit your catch, or carefully release it to preserve stocks.”

Ron says that except for deep reef fishing and some other heavy tackle situations he would back the fly rod against any gear. Reef dwelling fish can be very old, and it’s easy to fish out a reef with bait or jigging gear, but even fly fishers have to be careful they don’t spoil their own game by going too hard. Although he did it for unselfish reasons, to provide welcome food to residents of the Bardi Jawi community, Ron regrets often taking too many fish in the past — and on a fly rod.

“I remember filling a boat with Spanish mackerel, several times. I think of that when I fish the old places now and wonder where the fish are. I remember being kept awake at night by the noise of GTs crashing shoals of mullet along the beach in the moonlight. I don’t expect to hear that again.”

Only pioneers say things like that. It makes me think I wasted too much time in safe occupations, but, like Ron, I also like to think that on some night in the future an eager young swoffer is kept awake by giant trevally feeding in the moonlight.