Salmo The Leaper - Hugh Falkus

[@georg.camerone56]

I am an old man now and have fished the river I was so privileged to grow up beside since the '70s, and fell in it long before then. Hugh was and is my fishing hero. The man is a legend. flew a bluddy Spitfire, never mind being the best observational angler ever. Thank you for uploading this. I am in tears (literally) of joy xxxxxx

[@delagreenpicti2022]

Me to I’m 50 He was Shot down over Holland 🇳🇱 I think, spent the rest of the war in captivity much to his disgust.

[@steveg8322]

​@@delagreenpicti2022I'm told his German captors were only too glad to be rid of him as he was a somewhat less than a model prisoner and drove them crazy 😂

[@jpmacmahlior8343]

Wasn't he a pervert I thought they called him Huge Phallus because he couldn't keep his pecker under control?

[@PaulDavies-od4ou]

Jesus, get a grip people.....the guy wasn't even that good at fishing and nicked a lot of ideas for his own.......and I'd love to see him jump in with rubber CHEST waders and be so cocky.....anyone can do that with thigh waders as they little more than long wellies. Guy was an arrogant tit.

[@michaelnewton5483]

What a remarkable man a man I was lucky to call my friend , I spent a month assisting Hugh on his fishing course at boat of Garton, I enjoyed hughs magnetic company laughing long chats and the odd tear , I stayed at Hughes cottage to enjoy new y🎉ear in 1989 , memories for the rest of my life . Brilliant to watch this again , thank you .

[@davidnorwich3771]

I met Hugh Falkus a few times when I ran my rod making business. A nice man and always a gentleman. The last time I saw him was at a CLA gamefair on fishermans row. I forget which one. He burst in from the rear of our unit. “Pardon me, pardon me, I need to take a shortcut. I'm late and I have a demonstration to give.” Of he went holding a number of salmon rods under his arm. He then abruptly turned and came back, “I love your rods you know. My clients sometimes bring them for tution.They are very good. Politics though I can't use them I'm tied up with Bruce and Walker as you know!” A good memory.😊

[@walliswizard]

You did make good rods! I rather fancied one myself back in the day. Sadly my fly fishing days are few and far between.

[@12dougreed]

Many thanks for the video. I watched this years ago fantastic to see it again. Hugh Falkus my hero when in my teens, I used his method to catch sea trout from the day I bought his wonderful book Sea Trout Fishing. .

[@ibana8449]

What a delight to watch, read the books and failed to find "Salmo the Leaper", until today. Thank you for sharing.

[@KENZIEthewildgooseman]

Fantastic, you’ve got to respect The Silver Tourist and Hugh Falkus…his books on Salmon ,Sea-trout fishing our true angling bibles and haven’t been bettered to this day…thank you for uploading 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻Ed , Mind you Stephan Jones’s new book on Sea trout fishing for 2023 comes close !

[@stewartferguson9774]

Thanks for finding and sharing this.I’ve been searching for it for ages.Much appreciated.

[@erichope1224]

I have this on VHS and not watched it for years. Great and memorable film. Thanks very much for a trip down memory lane.

[@cdavidal]

Hi Glenn, and thank you very much for uploading this gem. I'm from Argentina, and I'm also a fan of Mr. Falkus. I bought this video on VHS on eBay from a girl in the UK, I still have it. In addition to the knowledge transmitted from him, it is worth noting the effort it must have taken to make those films in the 70s; today it is a very simple thing to do with just a cell phone. Again, really apreciatte you for having uploaded this.

[@ianmunroe6042]

Great to see this again. Classic Falkus, author, fisherman and Countryman.

[@dannyshorts1383]

I just bought "Salmon fishing" from a used books store on Amazon. I'm italian and don't know if/when will meet any salmon except at the supermarket. But who knows, I want to be prepared, just in case... 😂

[@kingdom777866]

The greatest Angler writer ever, his book “Salmon”is the best Angling book ever written.. even if your not an Angler ! Down to earth with everything he ventured into, he took the snobbery out of Salmon fishing.. rather like a Dick Walker of the game fishing world ! I miss him..

[@walliswizard]

His autobiography "Some of it was fun" is worth a read I get the impression he was a bit of "his own salesman", but I think the world needs its personalities like this.

[@johnwilson6779]

Changed days indeed,not sure what Hugh Falkus would think of rivers now!

[@grahamlittlefair8107]

Im not sure what he would think of the catch and release rubbish of today.

[@354sd]

I used to love this programme

[@keithhyett5697]

Wonderful to see this great film again after so many years. Falkus was a true nature lover and lived in the golden age of Salmon and Sea trout fishing. I understand that the Cumbrian Esk is not the river it once was, along with so many other similar stories all over the UK. His book The Stolen Years , a memoir of his childhood, is just a fantastic read about an era which unfortunately is now long past.

[@clintwaddington1996]

The Cumbrian Esk is certainly not the river it was in the 60s and 70s. I grew up on the river and the Irt in the 80s and even then the rivers were stuffed with fish. Whilst runs today do not compare to those times but fish still do run, and in numbers. I know some working, family, anglers who have landed 20-30 Salmon this season so the Irt and Esk are not dead.

[@keithhyett5697]

@@clintwaddington1996 Really appreciate your feedback and so pleased to hear the river is still producing fish. I hope to visit the Ravenglass area next year.

[@FishingCaledonia]

Superb, took me back that did. Thank you.

[@raftonpounder6696]

I hope you get to keep this up. I posted it a few years ago and Channel 4 made me delete it.

[@Rockpool6911]

Thank you for uploading this, My fishing hero, brought a tear to my eye! I would thoroughly recommend reading his book( The Stolen Years) about his childhood, If you can relate to some of the stories as I can, it may bring a tear to your eye also!!

[@captainflint89]

i am discovering night fishing on my local river for sea trout thanks to this man and his book , a hero to me and to many others

[@noelstanton6361]

Many thanks for sharing this wonderful video thanks

[@davidgray3321]

What a wonderful documentary

[@robsmith8024]

Thanks Glen, you absolute star🎣

[@martin7955]

What a winderful life he lived ! He is missed as a child i read his books and saw this may he rest in peace

[@delagreenpicti2022]

This is a masterpiece In film 🎥 Loved this as a kid and still do! 1977?

[@baitrunner5193]

He would be turning in his grave if he could see the state of things today

[@Punch-and-Jewdy-Show]

26:09 . . Lol !! 😂😂😂 They don’t make TV shows like this anymore 👍

[@robsmith8024]

Baywatch maybe😜

[@clarewatson1397]

Brilliant to watch this again! As relevant today as it was back then. It would be great to see this important piece of work digitally remastered and re released.

[@johncutler3942]

Top upload! Marvellous to see this again

[@59TOBE]

What agreat video love to watch many thanks ❤

[@adam232king]

i just wish our rivers where still the same as they where then😭😭😭

[@frankdooley6451]

I'm sure be glad he's not around today to see the loss of the salmon runs. Terrible state of affairs.

[@kentdaniel6886]

Brilliant

[@shaunwilmott3142]

Don't know if you all know but you can stay in his cottage called Craig cottage his study is kept just how he left it.

[@delagreenpicti2022]

Thanks 🙏

[@delagreenpicti2022]

I just. Checked it out it’s booked solid ,till January 25

[@robsmith8024]

@@delagreenpicti2022Hi, I did wonder about that so checked with the letting company. The family who own Cragg are having some renovations done and don’t have a finish date, hence it appears unavailable. Tight Lines

[@robsmith8024]

⁠@@delagreenpicti2022I visited Cragg in July and the work has not started yet and no evidence of it starting anytime soon. The house looks like it’s been mothballed, I was able to peer through the window into Hugh’s study, still intact I’m glad to say. That said I spoke with the new owners of Knott End who believed that the work was still scheduled so who knows. We can only hope🎣

[@robbiebanks9182]

I simply love the sound of the old fly reels giving line .Not so fond of the newer silent disc drags .

[@oxyfee6486]

Those Pop bottles sure do swim fast up stream.😂

[@PaulDavies-od4ou]

At 22.....salmon flyfishing is just faffing about trying to make spinning a bit harder.....

[@outoftownr3906]

Lovely chap with the nickname Huge Phalus.

[@johnkidd797]

I do love this and Hugh but as a highlander it seems like it's all very posh English coming to fish our rivers. My consolation is that I've had more fish on these rivers than they could dream of and not a bit of tweed in sight.

[@12dougreed]

The only reason for the posh as you say is money and tradition , nothing really posh about sea trout at night, same as wild fouling. I only take out a fly rod after dark. Not only is it more exciting, more productive, it's quiet as most of the locals are frightened of the ghosts and witches that walk the river banks by night.

[@johnkidd797]

@@12dougreed Nah, were not, can't beat a moonlit sea trout session. Unfortunately the countless fish of the 1970's are a distant memory. I like to fish for them in salt water also. As for tradition and money I'm well aware of the history and that's the way things are, I have my own decent slice of land here looking down on the Moray Firth and have travelled many countries for work but my land is the most beautiful.👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@Adrian-jk4kx]

Magic.

[@MrKapeji]

Caught several Sewin using his "Secret Weapon" fly.

[@12dougreed]

I didn't use his pattern's,but used his method. I fished the Towy for 35 years and found local Fly's worked best .

[@martin7955]

Great angler rivers ard very bad now in ireland we ve lost our rivers and our land

[@carlhughes9584]

A salmon take a lure out of boredom?! And this guy was an wxpert .....

[@martin7955]

They do

[@robsmith8024]

Selective

[@carlhughes9584]

@@martin7955 Salmon aren't capable of being bored you 🤡......they don't have human emotion! Next you will be saying they take lures as they jealous of them!

[@robsmith8024]

Nothing like taking a quote out of context, eh Carl. I’ll put a bit of meat on the bone shall I “the most likely answer is habit, the feeding habit when they were feeding at sea in a similar water temperature, of course it could be out of curiosity, anger or boredom” and he finishes with “whatever is going on in their grey heads I have no idea” There, that readdresses the balance!

[@carlhughes9584]

@@robsmith8024 A fish hasn't the capacity to be ' bored ' you fool! The most obvious explanation, is that a salmon attacks out of aggression as it sees the ' fly ' as a small fish that's dared to enter it's personal space. But if you want to believe a fish is just bored, go on then you 🤡

[@robertjones-yo4ql]

EXCELLENT

[@Garymarshall-x1m]

why do some people slag falkus if you dont like him dont watch

[@baitrunner5193]

He was a great man

[@whitetroutchannel]

in the begininng there was falkus..

[@angusmcangus7914]

The author of the Bible, Sea Trout Fishing.

[@walliswizard]

@@angusmcangus7914 In Hugh We Trust

[@carlhughes9584]

And he wasn't even that good a seatrout angler was he?

[@angusmcangus7914]

@@carlhughes9584 did you know him and fish with him?

[@carlhughes9584]

​@@angusmcangus7914No but I know 2 people who fished with him and said this.......just because someone writes well and has a big ego, doesn't mean he's the best angler .......

[@patrickjohnson8323]

Hugh falkus an absolutle legaend 💯

[@rangerwhite5165]

The fish running up the shallows in low water at 28.00, are actually bottles tied to mono and pulled through the runs. You can see it if you look closely. Also, the night sequence was filmed during the day, with a filter, so the moon is actually the sun. Some things he used to get the edit for the film. I remember seeing this on vhs in the 80s. A great watch.

[@carlhughes9584]

It's fake.......like all the planted dead fish......cringeworthy.

[@12dougreed]

You are funny

[@carlhughes9584]

@@12dougreed I'm not trying to be ' funny '......any sane person, can easily tell the fish are already dead. You can tell by the lack of reaction when they get whacked with the priest

[@robsmith8024]

I’d heard that ranger white, the bottles do look a bit suss. Not so sure on the sun though as you don’t normally get that kind of shimmer when the ambient sun light all around is bright anyway, you could be right though🎣. Interestingly I never realised,until now, how scripted the scenes with Michael Hordern were, notice when Falkus walks off and says “don’t forget your net” that Falkus didn’t look back to see he had forgotten his net. Tackling up outside Cragg you would think Hordern was in a Dickens play. “Now Hugh, what fly, Eh”😆

[@PaulDavies-od4ou]

​@@robsmith8024 whole think looks suss.....can tell fish already dead. Michael far too pompous and bombastic.....so not very good acting. As you say it's not a scene out of a Victorian novel, but should be casual.....2 mates fishing.

[@boydovens4180]

I am glad your not here to see the tragic way we treat our waters , by the pouring of raw sewage into our rivers and the way it is accepted by the authorities , another nail in the coffin for nature .

[@carlhughes9584]

But didn't this happen in 70s?

[@robsmith8024]

@@carlhughes9584Certainly not to the extent it is now, water companies dumping sewage with impunity and contempt for the our waterways and coastline. Even farmers, who you would think as custodians of the land, are not helping with the intensive farming methods. Sadly but unsurprisingly profit and greed are the route cause. There is only ever going to be one winner between dividends for shareholders and necessary investment to control pollution.

[@whitetroutchannel]

​​@@carlhughes9584yes it did but weve supposedly a lot more enviromental laws and reforms these days and better sewerage infrastructure so it shouldnt be happening on the same scale but it is

[@martin7955]

What river was this ?

[@williamh5103]

The Esk upstream of Muncaster Castle.

[@williammorrison5678]

Forgot to order the skip, my arse.😅

[@davidquinn7144]

We need to stop all catching of salmon and sea trout . We won’t know what we have till there all gone shame on us .

[@robsmith8024]

They are in decline but not at the hands of the fisherman where catch an release (salmon) is commonplace and mandatory in England and Wales. The real enemy, and more prolific since Falkus’s day, is dubious agricultural practices, pollution by the water industry, netting and poaching. Go north of the border especially the West Coast of Scotland then you will see the enormous damage aqua culture has done, decimated wild fish stocks. You can’t lay this situation at the angler’s door.

[@whitetroutchannel]

weve had catch and release for 10 years in northern ireland over the past 5 years an estimate 40,000 fish have been killed solely due to sewerage run off and industrial/agriculture run off, please dont blame anglers, we are the ones who truely care

[@villa50bis]

Would love to watch this, but the resolution makes it look like it was filmed with a potato. Pity

[@carlhughes9584]

@ 16.06 ' why salmon should take any lure is a mystery '.......why?? Id say most salmonoids take a lure, not because of food, but because they think its an annoying intruder into their space. Its so blindingly obvious......thet must nip any fish that gets into their space. They havent got hands to punch or push someone away......just look how a dog reacts if a little dog runs very close past it unexpectedly.......it will chase and sometimes manage to bite the dog on its backside. Its not rocket science.......the salmon takes a lure because its pissing him off!!

[@julianglantz]

What’s a salmonoid? (If you’re going to criticise something made so long ago, with added ‘wisdom’ of your own, at least get your spelling right, you pompous bore).

[@12dougreed]

Then why do they suck on a bunch of worms?

[@carlhughes9584]

@@12dougreed They haven't got hands! Anything moving and invading their space, is likely to be mouthed by them either out of aggression or curiosity. If you had some odd moving close by you and you're not sure what it is, you might prod it with your hands to see what is was........clearly a fish can't do this! It's not fckn rocket science

[@whitetroutchannel]

you should right a book "not what to do when fishing" youve all the answers mate, look at the amount of comments youve left fs

[@carlhughes9584]

Ive never understood this fascination with Falkus.......its like a repressed homo erotic thing and all these old men have a crush on him.

[@steveg8322]

Careful,you sound like someone who will soon be wearing panties.

[@12dougreed]

Ok most of us are now old. But in our days he was the only one writing any sense about our sport. Especially night fishing. That said, you can get back to your computer game

[@martin7955]

​@12dougreed he spoke about salmon are animals as creatures not as fish but as special animals ,and he was right ,sea trout the same

[@carlhughes9584]

Hugh went out with 2 big Labradors at night which suggests he was scared of the dark!

[@Punch-and-Jewdy-Show]

As far as I’m aware Labs are not aggressive dogs.. in fact they are the opposite, they would likely come over for a stroke. He was probably just taking them for a bit of exercise. You have a strange way of looking at the world.. judging by all of the bitter comments you’ve left.

[@carlhughes9584]

@@Punch-and-Jewdy-Show But he's still not going out on his own.......dogs have superior senses and can warn. Not got a funny view of the world at all, I can just see through bullshit!

[@12dougreed]

@@carlhughes9584 I doubt very much that he was one bit frightened of the dark. Sounds like you are. What is it, the ghost and spooky wookys? That one thing I like about fishing in Wales, not many on the river bank at night.

[@carlhughes9584]

@@12dougreed You are a first class clown.....he went out with 2 bloody big dogs so I think he might have been scared of the dark.....I'm.not in the slightest

[@whitetroutchannel]

​@@carlhughes9584anyone who takes off in a spitfire to intercept a rake of german bombers isnt afraid of much

[@carlhughes9584]

Many of these fish you can tell are already dead.....where he taps the head of an obviously dead salmon with his priest ,🙄 Cringeworthy....

[@julianglantz]

What’s really cringeworthy is your responses. Filmmakers are allowed some ‘poetic licence’, and this film, notwithstanding its flaws, is a wonderfully evocative and important piece of angling history. What’s your contribution, you miserable so-and -so?

[@carlhughes9584]

Stupid.....he jumped in with only thigh waders yet rest of video in chest waders........can't believe no ones ever mentioned this. Would have been very different if he'd jumped in with heavy rubber chest waders! They heavy as it is without being full of water.....

[@SFTor1]

I've been in the drink with rubber chest waders. You can swim.

[@Punch-and-Jewdy-Show]

The pressure of the water will keep the rubber tight to your body and push any water out.. I don’t know if you’ve ever stood in a pair of chest waders before, but they become highly compressed against your legs and body and all of the air is expelled so it would be difficult for water to get in.

[@carlhughes9584]

@@Punch-and-Jewdy-Show So why didn't he mention this?? And why did he come out the river and empty his waders of all that water?? Stop trying to make out you know what you are talking about about you 🤡!!

[@whitetroutchannel]

id reccommend "seatrout fishers bible" by carl hughes, hes a freakin expert

[@carlhughes9584]

Poor Kathleen. He treated her like shit.

[@shaunpreston2839]

Iv caught thousands off seatrout up too doubles and not one at nite!

[@raftonpounder6696]

Do you fish at night?

[@shaunpreston2839]

@raftonpounder6696 I never fish at night you don't have too, there's alot off mythes about these fish, there very easy too catch if you no how, and very hard fighting!

[@raftonpounder6696]

@@shaunpreston2839 but you can’t catch them at night if you don’t fish at night can you? I have caught thousands of them but the best sport is at night. That’s the point. Nobody says you can’t catch them during the day. First light is lethal for the worm. As is the evening. But the night is the cream.

[@carlhughes9584]

​@@raftonpounder6696 is it bollocks.. n

[@carlhughes9584]

I see no ' magic ' being on a river at night. I'm not scared of the dark at all, but how can it compare with seeing the river full of life in the day? Flyfishing is a visual sport.