Martyn White

2014/11/172020/11/25

A Scottish fisherman in Japan. I have fished since I was a child, I think I got my first little spinning rod when I was about 4 or 5, but I didn't start fly fishing till I was 9 when a friend of the family gave me an old Daiwa fibreglass rod to get me started. The early years were spent catching wild browns and stocked rainbows from small streams, rivers and lochs near my home. During this time I started tying my own flies and was lucky enough to know some of the best fly tiers in Europe who really helped me improve, probably Davie McPhail influenced me most, not just technically but also my style of tying.

By the time I was 15, I had moved into competitive  fishing and placed in the top ten at Scottish national championships twice, I fished the youth international loch style championship in 2000 in Ireland and 2001 in Wales taking team and individual 1st place in Wales. Becoming British youth champion was a major milestone in my fishing life and although it was great it marked the end of competition fishing for me- at that level I could get little enjoyment from the sport so I changed direction.

I gradually drifted away from trout and started targeting other species like seabass and pike on fly and lures, even stooping to bait fishing in the depths of winter.  This change really opened my eyes to the range of targets available to the fly angler, of course I had read in magazines about bonefish permit and co. but , at that time, never really thought of them as something I would get a chance to fish for.

Moving to Japan opened up easy access to a range of fish that I didn't have much chance of fishing for in Europe and really let me expand my salt water game and I now use only 8wt and up.   I really love sight fishing and have had a few excellent bonefish trips,  which is really why I got into carp on the fly as they really are a nice challenge and help keep the sight fishing skills honed between trips.  I have probably been one of the forerunners in carp fly fishing-although the american dominated media pays me little attention - and actively try to encourage and help people new to this branch of the sport through my blog carpflyjapan and by fishing with newcomers, or anyone looking for some tips. Currently my main targets are carp, and seabass, in summer I enjoy fishing for pelagic species especially mahi mahi- just love how they jump -and I make regular trips to other locations in search of anything I can drop a fly in front of.

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