Hi,

Following Bernies thread with interest and I have no wish to hijack only to add the following tangent.

How does one find an instructor. Bernie has found one for £75 for 4 hours, I presume there are more expensive instructors, is this down to quality of instruction, are there unscroupulous instructors and how do you spot one?
(This discussion would be far easier in a pub)

Regards

Dave

A good start would be to look on the AAPGAI website AAPGAI Professional fly fishing instruction throughout the UK
The next way is to get recommendations, I have had lessons from two instructors in Yorkshire, Stephen Cheetham (SteveC on this forum)Fly Fishing Instruction, North Country Spiders and Fuller's Earth Fullers Earth and Roger Beck Beckfisher UK Fly Fishing School: qualified, professional tuition in Yorkshire and Scotland, I would recommend both.
Good luck

__________________
[I]"The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line." William Humphrey in "The Armchair Angler"[/I]

Hi Dave,

I paid £35 for an hour, but i think that is o'k for Lechlade which is where I went.
if you can get £75 for 3 hours from a accredited instructor who also comes with personal recommendations then that's a bargain I reckon.

Regan i notice you say a good place to look is aapgai, so is the gaia, apgai sites, just as a matter of interest do you know the difference between an aapgai instructor and an apgai instructor? brian mcg on here and myself were taking casting classes at the club for very very little money, more or less for getting the satisfaction out of teaching, its amazing you ask too much and people moan, you ask too little and people think your no good,we went for weeks and had very few takers this was for a fiver believe it or not ,brian being an apgai ,and myself a gaia ,you cant win honestly,the thing is the people that did turn up to the club were more than happy

__________________
GAIA INSTRUCTOR

Save your money and ask on here if there is anyone that would mind spending a day out with you........i bet there will be as most anglers are happy to help........good luck!

Come to fife ill take you out

__________________
GAIA INSTRUCTOR

The reason I recommended that site as a 'start' is that my first instructor was from there, neither of my other recommendations are from there but I have had lessons from both so I'm confident in both, and they are from his neck of the woods.
I was only commenting on what I know, obviously there are many more very good instructors.

__________________
[I]"The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line." William Humphrey in "The Armchair Angler"[/I]

yes the answer is they are the same, a lot of people think they are more advanced because of the extra A this is not the case

__________________
GAIA INSTRUCTOR

Hi Dave,

If i were seeking tuition i'd proberbly look for a two in one instrutor, by that i mean someone who has qualifications as an instructor but also has reached high levels in competiton fishing.

A couple of examples { in England } would be,

For casting + river fishing...... John Tyzack { AAPGAI Instructor } who has also won many river fishing National Championships with a knowledge and experience of representing his country at very high levels which would be worth every penny.

For Stillwater casting + fishing..... somebody like Phil Dixon { GAIC Level 2 } would be a sound choice....... Phil has also won National Stillwater Championships and as John continues to represent his country at a very high level. Infact, i'm almost certain that both of these Instructors have also represented there countries in opposite disaplines as well, Phil having a rivers cap. and John have a Stillwater cap.

Two different Instructor qualifications............ but two highly experienced men.

__________________
www.te-ff.org/
Trout Fisherman Magazine.
Hardy/Greys. Fulling Mill.

Dave, i think the answer is to see what you want to learn, if they are able to perform what you want to learn i.e they learned it, they will be able to communicate that to you.

qualifications are a good benchmark of ability but also consider how comfortable you will be with their personality and style of communication, if you remember teachers at school, some were better with you than others, if you aim to have a few lessons trying different instructors can give you different ways of communicating, not right or wrong but different ways of reaching the same place.