0:00:04 > 0:00:06There are two kinds of fish tales.
0:00:06 > 0:00:10The fish you caught and the one that got away.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13The first is about holding something in your hands above the water,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16about mastery, possession and resolution.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23The other is about the space between your hands, letting go,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27about mystery, the questions, the elusive.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30I am not a fisherman.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35I read the obituaries in the New York Times first thing every day,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38not to see who's died but to let my mind wander
0:00:38 > 0:00:39into the lives of others.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Perhaps some lives can be immortalised
0:00:43 > 0:00:44and others only imagined.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49Ten years ago, I found the obituary of Megan Boyd.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02"Megan Boyd, whose fabled expertise
0:01:02 > 0:01:06"at tying enchantingly delicate fishing flies put her work in museums
0:01:06 > 0:01:09"and the hands of collectors around the world
0:01:09 > 0:01:11"and prompted Queen Elizabeth II to award her
0:01:11 > 0:01:15"the British Empire medal, died November 15 in Golspie, Scotland.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17"She was 86.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22"From tiny strands of hair, she made magic.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26"The classic Scottish flies, like the Jock Scott, Silver Doctor
0:01:26 > 0:01:30"and Durham Ranger. And the fly named after her, the Megan Boyd
0:01:30 > 0:01:33"a nifty blue and black number famous for attracting salmon
0:01:33 > 0:01:38"at the height of summer when the water was low, hot and dead.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40"She likes to sell to fishermen she knew."
0:01:40 > 0:01:42The more I read the words,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44the more it felt like they were being read TO me,
0:01:44 > 0:01:46like an invitation to a fairy tale
0:01:46 > 0:01:49or whispered in my ear like a riddle.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53- "Why does the salmon take a fly?" - Why does the salmon take a fly?
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Why does a salmon take a fly?
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Well, nobody knows.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05And Megan, when she was tying, her flies caught fish.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28I kept asking my parents to take me to see Megan.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34And I suppose at that time they couldn't really afford
0:02:34 > 0:02:35to pay for me to go up there.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41So I sold the air rifle to get my fare to go up and see Megan.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47And I remember going from Aberdeen to Inverness
0:02:47 > 0:02:50and changing trains at Inverness.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52Then it was another three or four hours by train
0:02:52 > 0:02:54from Inverness up to Brora.
0:02:55 > 0:02:56It took forever.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16'This is Brora. This train is for...'
0:03:16 > 0:03:20Then when I got to Brora, I got off the train and I stopped
0:03:20 > 0:03:23the first person I saw and says, "Can you tell me where Megan Boyd lives?"
0:03:23 > 0:03:27And they turned round and said, "Yes, it's about three miles up the road."
0:03:28 > 0:03:31And I thought I was never going to get there.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45When I arrived at the house,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49she was actually around the corner in her fly-tying shed, tying flies
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and she said, "I was just wondering when you were going to appear."
0:04:00 > 0:04:03At first, she looked like a man.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07In a skirt.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10She cut her own hair, and the way she'd cut her hair...
0:04:10 > 0:04:12And she always wore a tie.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24There was no electricity in the house. And it was kind of eerie.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Especially when you went to bed at night.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38The first night I was there, I remember lying in the bed
0:04:38 > 0:04:40and hearing these noises.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44And saying, what the hell is that?
0:04:44 > 0:04:46Next morning, I saw Megan and I said,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48"Megan, there's funny noises coming from the house."
0:04:48 > 0:04:51She said, "Oh, it's the foxes under the house."
0:05:24 > 0:05:26We heard about the Boyds,
0:05:26 > 0:05:32that they had thought that they might take in paying guests,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34that they would look after them,
0:05:34 > 0:05:36you know, they would feed them and things.
0:05:42 > 0:05:48They used to come up the whole of July, and my father and his staff
0:05:48 > 0:05:49stayed in the Marine Hotel.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55But the family, myself, my brother, we stayed at the Boyds'.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00It was then that I met Megan, in 1934.
0:06:03 > 0:06:08We had the house. And they had living quarters above the garage.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12And they just came in and cooked and served us the food.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19It was just a lovely, carefree childhood, you might say.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21An idyllic time.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36# Two times one are two
0:06:36 > 0:06:37# Two times two are four
0:06:37 > 0:06:39# Two times three are six. #
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And right on to two times twelve!
0:06:46 > 0:06:51I was in school with Megan, yes. Until she left, earlier than I did.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56I carried on in school to 18 and she left at 14,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58which was the age then when you could leave school.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07She didn't play girly games with us.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11But, well, we didn't have very many games, did we?
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Hopscotch and...
0:07:16 > 0:07:20The Farmer's In His Den and Blind Man's Bluff and stuff like that.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29She didn't join in with girls. She didn't join in with boys either.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32She just, she was Megan and that was it.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Her father, I think he had maybe been a river watcher at some time
0:07:42 > 0:07:45but he was a cantankerous old fellow.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49And the old boy used to bring other crofters in
0:07:49 > 0:07:50every morning at 11 o'clock.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54I don't know what the mother's name was,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57she would make them coffee. And I remember we would always say to her,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59"What on earth did you marry him for?!"
0:07:59 > 0:08:01And you know what her reply was?
0:08:01 > 0:08:05"Well," she said, "I saved some other poor woman of misery,"
0:08:05 > 0:08:07or something like that she said.
0:08:17 > 0:08:18I asked Megan one day,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21"Why did you learn to tie flies?"
0:08:21 > 0:08:23And she said, "Because they're pretty."
0:08:28 > 0:08:32And her father gave her a fly, and it was a blue charm.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38And she said it was very pretty.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52She got a little vice. She was given a book
0:11:52 > 0:11:54when she was 15,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57and she basically looked at the pictures,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00read a bit about the book and taught herself to tie.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07It's not a big book. It's quite small,
0:12:07 > 0:12:08so thick
0:12:08 > 0:12:13and it's everything on building fully-dressed flies.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19It tells you how to marry wings, usually on a single hook.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24And Megan perfected her craft
0:12:24 > 0:12:28with just tying and tying flies for years.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32'Pattern one, blue charm,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35'tag, silver thread
0:12:35 > 0:12:39'and golden yellow floss.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43'Tail, a topping.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48'Body of black floss...
0:12:48 > 0:12:51'times one,
0:12:51 > 0:12:52'two,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54'three,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56'four...
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It was more than a year before I was able, was allowed to tie
0:12:59 > 0:13:01a completed fly.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02'..six...'
0:13:02 > 0:13:05She'd have you a couple of months on one part of the fly,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08a couple of months on the other part of the fly, a couple of months
0:13:08 > 0:13:10on another part of the fly.
0:13:10 > 0:13:11Then it all came together and she says,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14"Right, you're ready to tie a basic, simple fly."
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Nothing fancy.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Then she used to have a look at the fly and say,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29"That's OK. This is OK. That's wrong. This is wrong."
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Then you used take the fly all to pieces again
0:13:32 > 0:13:34and use the same hook again.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37'Once, twice...
0:13:40 > 0:13:43'..three times, four...'
0:13:43 > 0:13:46When you went to bed at night-time,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51Megan always made a hot-water bottle for you, to keep you warm.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54The next morning, you emptied out the hot-water bottle.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56The water from the hot-water bottle,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59you used to wash your hands and face in the morning.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03So water was never wasted at Megan's.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08There was always water in the house that came off the hill but she
0:14:08 > 0:14:12would never use it in case a sheep or something had fallen in and died.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17So every morning, she went down to Brora, every second day.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26She used to come in and fill big canisters, buckets,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28what have you, for her water.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47They didn't have electricity. It was all paraffin lamps.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52'15, 16...
0:14:56 > 0:15:00'Drips of oval, silver tinsel,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04'turned once, twice, three times.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08'No, start again.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12'Once, twice, three times.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18'Throat, a deep blue hackle.'
0:15:19 > 0:15:22We used to stay there for a couple of weeks at a time.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26Then go back home.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Megan would give me material and say, "I want you to do this part
0:15:29 > 0:15:31"of the fly or this part of the fly,
0:15:31 > 0:15:34"then post them back up to Brora."
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Then maybe a month, or two months later, a letter would come
0:15:37 > 0:15:41saying, "This fly was OK. This fly, you did this wrong.
0:15:41 > 0:15:45"That fly, you did this wrong. Improve on that part."
0:15:45 > 0:15:48And that's the way it went for a couple of years.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54'..12, 13, 14,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57'15, 16...
0:16:03 > 0:16:06'Wings of mottled brown,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09'turkey-tail strips, set upright.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15'And narrow strips of teal, along the upper edge.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20'A topping over.'
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Megan never tried trout flies at all.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36She may have done it at the very, very beginning
0:16:36 > 0:16:40but she was straight into salmon fly tying because the people
0:16:40 > 0:16:45our father knew, and our friends, were all salmon fishers.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58I mean, anywhere they've got Atlantic salmon, you'll find Megan's name.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Part of the excitement of salmon fishing
0:17:20 > 0:17:21is this very romantic
0:17:21 > 0:17:24lifestyle of the fish, the angler's quarry.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33They spend two or three years in the rivers before they get
0:17:33 > 0:17:39this urge, where they want to go to sea, to stuff themselves, to eat.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48Somehow, it's in their genes to go out of the rivers.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Something is calling them.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05They go all over the Atlantic, mostly through the Faroe Islands,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08into the Norwegian Sea, up to Greenland and Iceland.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14The huge journey that is undertaken from its native headwaters,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16right out to feed under the ice cap
0:18:16 > 0:18:18and to come back to propagate the species.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Once that fish goes out to sea, I don't think we have
0:18:24 > 0:18:26any control over it at all.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35This is a very special love story, going all over the world
0:18:35 > 0:18:40and then coming back home to spawn with his girlfriend.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Our first commission
0:19:04 > 0:19:06for fly tying,
0:19:06 > 0:19:13she had to convert an angler's fly box from old gut-eye flies
0:19:13 > 0:19:16to the new irons, you know, single irons.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19And her commission for doing that was £5.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26With that money, she was able to buy a four-piece suit
0:19:26 > 0:19:29for her father from Army And Navy stores in London
0:19:29 > 0:19:32and still have enough money left over
0:19:32 > 0:19:36to buy raw materials to start her business.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41A lot of the feathers that were used
0:19:41 > 0:19:43in Megan's day were
0:19:43 > 0:19:47a spin-off from the millinery trade,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51brought in specifically to make ladies' hats.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59These birds were brought in by the English gentry, you know,
0:19:59 > 0:20:00from India and Africa.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07There were actually thousands of different high Victorian
0:20:07 > 0:20:11and Edwardian patterns, each vying with the other to incorporate
0:20:11 > 0:20:14more and more high imperial exotic materials.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20There was Indian crow from South America.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23There was blue chatterer from South America.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Toucan feathers.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Ibis.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Various parrot feathers.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Jungle cock.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40Bustard from Africa and India.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53My father was a ghillie on the River Helmsdale for about 40 years
0:20:53 > 0:20:58and he used to pick up flies for his clients and, of course,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02I would be in there, rummaging around on the floor beneath our table
0:21:02 > 0:21:06and just watching her create these amazing patterns.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10That's it, finished.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15It's one of Megan's patterns. It's a land over.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Megan always said to me, "Put life in your fly."
0:21:54 > 0:21:58There are 197 pools on the river.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00I've caught fish on every pool in the Helmsdale River.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03If a stone moves during the winter time, I know that stone moved
0:22:03 > 0:22:05because I know all the lies.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13To read a river, read the pools, this all takes experience,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16years and years of experience.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19That's why people come to the river and they have a ghillie.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25I was Michael Wigan's grandmother's ghillie.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29She didn't have any other ghillie but me.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34My granny was four months fishing every year for 20 years.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37So I came up every summer, since I was a kiddie.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44In Scotland, the fishing right is not attached to a land right.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49So you have the right as the fishing owner
0:22:49 > 0:22:51to all the animals in that water.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23The only thing Megan wanted to do was tie flies.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33She was sometimes out in the summertime,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36maybe at four or five o'clock in the morning -
0:23:36 > 0:23:37wi' starting to tie flies.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52She used to sit in windows in front of her
0:23:52 > 0:23:56and she wasn't looking at what she was doing. It was just automatic.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59It got to the point where she would look out the window
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and still make the fly, while she was looking out the window.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20RADIO: 'The shipping forecast for the next 12 hours.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23'A disturbance near the Hebrides...
0:24:23 > 0:24:29'The coast of Ireland, Wales and England, winds south-westerly,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32'moderate or fresh locally, visibility good.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37'The coast of Scotland, winds south, moderate. Visibility, good.'
0:27:02 > 0:27:06I don't think I was ever out at her house
0:27:06 > 0:27:10because then the war came and I got married and I had children
0:27:10 > 0:27:14and Megan was out there and I was in the village.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28Megan used to ride a motorbike.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32It had handlebars like a Highland cow.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35They went along the way and turned out the way, you know?
0:27:35 > 0:27:37As young bairns, we used to run up the road
0:27:37 > 0:27:39and cheer her as she went past.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49And that was when she used to wear the khaki and the trousers.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52And I believe she got in the snow. She went in the ditch.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55There was another chap with a motorbike and he didn't offer...
0:27:55 > 0:27:59He stopped but he didn't offer to help her.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04And eventually, when she got it out, he discovered that she was a lady.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Megan was a special... what do you call them?
0:28:19 > 0:28:23Looks out to sea and watches for aircraft. What you call them again?
0:28:25 > 0:28:27She was a warden.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31This stretch was the stretch you can see outside her house,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34the beach area, in case they got invaded.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47It was a listening post, I think, out there,
0:28:47 > 0:28:52to see what was going on, watching the seas and the sky.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05RADIO: 'Shetlands, Orkneys and Faeroes.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09'Winds, southeast, moderate or fresh, extensive fog.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11'Further outlook, similar.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17'It will be cooler than of late, ground frost locally at night.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19'Outlook for Saturday, continuing unsettled.'
0:29:52 > 0:29:55They were works of art - every one.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59So even the local lads, rather than tie their own,
0:29:59 > 0:30:02were buying from Megan.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06And Megan would charge them then something like half a crown a fly.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10And then people on the river, some of the gentry, the toffs,
0:30:10 > 0:30:15got to know about her flies and, of course, they would offer her more
0:30:15 > 0:30:18to try and get them done quickly.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32I think people realised that there was something really
0:30:32 > 0:30:34rather rare and special about her work.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36And she must have known that she was very,
0:30:36 > 0:30:40very good because people beat at her door from all over the world.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58Megan must've made hundreds of thousands of flies.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00Thousands and thousands of flies.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Because everybody that came to Helmsdale put an order in
0:31:03 > 0:31:06for flies and collected them on the way up.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10They... Some people flew up, others came by car,
0:31:10 > 0:31:13but they all stopped at Megan's wee house and got their flies.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31She liked to hear the stories of flies catching big fish.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Countess of Seafield,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50Caithness Choice,
0:31:50 > 0:31:54Cairngorm, Clydesdale,
0:31:54 > 0:31:56Deffenbecker,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59Dunrobin,
0:31:59 > 0:32:01Lady Wyfold,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Lady Margaret...
0:32:03 > 0:32:06All the flies that Megan tied are designed herself.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09My father has a copy of it.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Megan's Fancy.
0:32:13 > 0:32:14Meg Bill.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Monsain.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19Monset.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26There was one that was named The White Lady.
0:32:30 > 0:32:31'The White Lady.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38'Threads of ivory and gold and pale blue silk.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41'And feathers of white and blue swan.
0:32:51 > 0:32:57'Tail of white silk - turned once, twice, three times.'
0:32:57 > 0:33:02Everyone is always looking for the perfect fly, if you like,
0:33:02 > 0:33:06to use the pattern they think that's going to lure the most fish.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09'Body - one third gold,
0:33:09 > 0:33:14'one third silver and one third blue floss.'
0:33:14 > 0:33:17I believe people came with bits of their eyebrows that they
0:33:17 > 0:33:20wanted incorporated into a special pattern, bits of the family parrot.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22And she had pretty much seen it all.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25'Ribs of oval gold tinsel -
0:33:25 > 0:33:29'turned once, twice, three times.'
0:33:29 > 0:33:31She remarked on the colour of my hair,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34and she and asked me for a piece of it.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38I'd have been about 18, 19.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43But it wasn't a lock of my hair at the time,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46it was a lock of my first hair.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51'Wings - a pair of titbits and morning dove.'
0:33:51 > 0:33:54I still have a packet with two feathers that she gave me,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and I have never dared use them. And they were like talismans for me.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01'And married strips of white and blue swan.
0:34:10 > 0:34:11Megan always said to me,
0:34:11 > 0:34:16"Remember, Colin, you're tying flies for fishermen, not for fish."
0:34:28 > 0:34:32Many times you will fish for a week and you'll not catch anything.
0:34:32 > 0:34:38And you actually, you start to wander. Your mind wanders.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42And that is what fishing is really about, it's not just catching fish.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51It's escaping into something, which I think anglers feel is
0:34:51 > 0:34:55the real world and not the one that they have left behind for the day.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06They like to see their fly work beautifully
0:35:06 > 0:35:10and turn over a beautiful long line, you know, running across the river,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14with a lovely presentation of the fly to a certain fish.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24It's almost like calligraphy.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29And there is a magic, even a bit of black magic, to fishing.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39The thing that really subsumes the anglers' interest is
0:35:39 > 0:35:42what is going on under the water where he can't see.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46And you need to swim your fly and swim your bait in your mind,
0:35:46 > 0:35:47in your imagination,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49right into the fish's mouth.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58When we spay cast, we use the term kiss the water.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01And we lift and turn and let the line just kiss
0:36:01 > 0:36:05the water for a second before we cast it forward.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55The biggest salmon ever caught was caught by a woman.
0:36:55 > 0:37:00The best fly-fish-caught salmon was by a woman.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04And the best one-day catch by any person was by a woman.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14I was seen to climb out of a bedroom window,
0:37:14 > 0:37:19leaving two very young children, and go down to the loch with his rod.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29Like most women, I think we fish in a much gentler way.
0:37:29 > 0:37:32Be as quiet as possible and not thump the water.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35And also watch the water all the time.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42I started fishing when I was about 50.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44And I had had a few casts
0:37:44 > 0:37:47in a river before and I always thought it was rather boring.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49But then after my husband and sister died,
0:37:49 > 0:37:53some very kind friends invited me up to Scotland to fish.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00They were really experienced salmon fishers,
0:38:00 > 0:38:02and I almost wished I hadn't come
0:38:02 > 0:38:06because they all had lots of fly boxes and I only had one fly.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08And they all went to places
0:38:08 > 0:38:10where they'd caught fish the previous year,
0:38:10 > 0:38:14so I wandered further up the river where nobody was,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17and I suddenly saw a fish very near the bank, head and tailing.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22So I said to the head gillie, "Can I go up there and fish?"
0:38:22 > 0:38:25And he said, "Of course you can, nobody catches anything up there."
0:38:25 > 0:38:30So I had about three casts just where I had seen the fish
0:38:30 > 0:38:32and suddenly I felt this tug.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37I called out to the gillie and my cousin replied,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40"Oh, you're probably hooked on a branch or something."
0:38:40 > 0:38:44So I just went on, it must've been about a half an hour,
0:38:44 > 0:38:47and suddenly my fish surfaced a bit.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Then the gillie came with the net and there was an enormous silence
0:38:51 > 0:38:54and I said in this sort of pathetic voice,
0:38:54 > 0:38:55"What are you doing with my fish?"
0:38:55 > 0:38:59And they answered back, "Bloody hell, we can't get it in the net."
0:38:59 > 0:39:05And I dropped my rod and walked down and I saw this absolute monster.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07And I thought, "My God, I didn't even..."
0:39:07 > 0:39:10I thought actually it wasn't a salmon.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13I put my hands up to my face and I thought, "What have I done?"
0:39:13 > 0:39:15And it was this huge fish.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19And it turned out it weighed 45 pounds 6 ounces.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21And it was a sort of record.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27And there it is in my hall, hanging up on the wall.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31And I sometimes look at it and I just can't believe it.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32It was like a gift from heaven.
0:39:45 > 0:39:47But she never worked on a Sunday.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51You wouldn't go up there on a Sunday and find her.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54She used to get into her car on a Sunday and just disappear.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58If she stayed at home on a Sunday, she knew somebody would come
0:39:58 > 0:40:02to the house and say, "Megan, I'm short of flies, can you tie me this?
0:40:02 > 0:40:06"Can you make me this?" And to stop that, she just disappeared.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11There is a place that I remember...
0:40:11 > 0:40:13Glen of the Fairies sticks in my mind.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15Glen of the Fairies.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39SHOUTING
0:42:39 > 0:42:42DRUMS
0:42:42 > 0:42:45DRUMS AND BAGPIPES
0:42:57 > 0:43:00This is the wonderful thing about salmon -
0:43:00 > 0:43:04they come down the coast in shoals, they know their own river,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07and a lot of these fish will go within 50 yards
0:43:07 > 0:43:09of where they were born.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17A lot of people that came to fish the river were
0:43:17 > 0:43:19people of influence, you know.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29She was a name on everyone's lips
0:43:29 > 0:43:33because they all used her devastating flies.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00I know she got one or two letters from an agency that used to
0:44:00 > 0:44:05look after Prince Charles's affairs, that wrote to her and said,
0:44:05 > 0:44:08"could you tie summer flies for Prince Charles?
0:44:08 > 0:44:10"But don't tell anybody."
0:44:21 > 0:44:23'The White Lady.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33'A tag of oval silver and blue silk.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42'A train of blue and white swan.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52'Bodice of white ostrich.'
0:44:54 > 0:44:58They used to come very quietly to the house.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00Nobody knew they had been and gone, you know?
0:45:00 > 0:45:04'Ribs of oval gold tinsel.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07'Hackle - yellow and blue swan.'
0:45:07 > 0:45:10We know that Prince Charles went to visit her and I bet she would have
0:45:10 > 0:45:14made him sit down on the rickety old chair just the same as anybody else.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22Class was nothing to Megan. She used to call him Charlie. Prince Charlie.
0:45:26 > 0:45:28The number of times that she would say,
0:45:28 > 0:45:33"You've just missed HRH," which, of course, was Prince Charles.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42'Dear Charlie.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44'Best wishes to you and Lady Diana.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50'May you enjoy a lifetime of peace and happiness.
0:45:50 > 0:45:52'I have made a special fly for the occasion that
0:45:52 > 0:45:55'I would like you to give to your new wife.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59'Tell her, "You now have the best catch you will ever have." '
0:46:05 > 0:46:09You know, she had the British Empire medal awarded to her.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11And she wrote to the Queen and told the Queen,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14"Dear Elizabeth, I can't come because I am playing bridge
0:46:14 > 0:46:15"on Saturday night."
0:46:15 > 0:46:19I said to Megan, I says, "Are you going down to collect it
0:46:19 > 0:46:23"from the Queen?" She says, "No, I'm not going down." I said, "Why not?"
0:46:23 > 0:46:26She says, "Who's going to look after my dog?"
0:46:26 > 0:46:28A dog called Patch.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32And Megan got a nice letter back from the Queen, stating,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35"Well, sorry you couldn't come, this is why you were awarded
0:46:35 > 0:46:38"the Empire medal. And PS - how did your evening go?"
0:46:51 > 0:46:53'Popham.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56'Tag.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00'Silver tinsel.
0:47:00 > 0:47:01'Tail.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05'A topping and Indian crow.'
0:47:06 > 0:47:09They were tied for fishing, not for putting in frames.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12'One third orange floss,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15'one third yellow floss.'
0:47:15 > 0:47:19They're all for use, to catch fish, they never were for framing.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25'Wings of married strands of bustard.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28'Florican.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30'Peacock wing.
0:47:30 > 0:47:36'Scarlet... No, orange and yellow swan.'
0:47:43 > 0:47:46To take a fish out of water and kill it...
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Oh, no, I couldn't do that.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52In fact, that is only thing she said to me about her business -
0:47:52 > 0:47:55that she's making things that killed fish.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00She hated the thought that a fly, a fishing fly killed a fish.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07And that's why she never went fishing.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16I've often said that you can teach a man to fish
0:48:16 > 0:48:20and you will show him how to wish the rest of his life away.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34The classic salmon fly itself, unfortunately,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37as good as it is to look at, once you have fished with it,
0:48:37 > 0:48:40you know, it really does mess up the feathers.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57A lot of these feathers were available then
0:48:57 > 0:48:59and are no longer available now
0:48:59 > 0:49:03because some of the birds have gone out of existence.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24Trends changed and everybody wanted hairwing flies because,
0:49:24 > 0:49:26A - they were cheaper,
0:49:26 > 0:49:28and the feather wings went out of fashion.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34Hairwing fly - you can tie one in ten minutes.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36There is no married wing.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40There's not the same amount of material going into the fly.
0:49:40 > 0:49:45We started using squirrel tail, deer hair, buck tail.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48We could dye them all and they were stronger than feathers.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53And I remember her tying me a Hairy Mary and she said,
0:49:53 > 0:49:58"The wing must be from a roe deer in its summer coat."
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Now, I was told that the original wing for the Hairy Mary
0:50:01 > 0:50:05came from the pubic hair of a barmaid in Inverness in 1961.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Nowadays, a lot of the people use superglue
0:50:10 > 0:50:12and stick the stuff onto a hook.
0:50:15 > 0:50:16Now it's like a...
0:50:18 > 0:50:20Fishing with a shaving brush.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28She probably thought that the hairwing flies
0:50:28 > 0:50:30were an insult to her ability.
0:50:34 > 0:50:36She had to keep tying flies.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39Cos she had to, it was in her blood.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01I fished for about 20 years, and every year I saw there were fewer
0:51:01 > 0:51:03and fewer fish coming back.
0:51:04 > 0:51:06There's lots of talk about global warming
0:51:06 > 0:51:09and how it is affecting the migratory routes.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16I'm aware, you know, the numbers that they have produced
0:51:16 > 0:51:19about collapsing salmon runs, but we haven't seen that.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22And in fact, in the North Highlands, we have a counter,
0:51:22 > 0:51:27an electronic means of counting fish going over an electric beam...
0:51:28 > 0:51:31And our counter says that the runs are steady.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40Everywhere, not just in Iceland -
0:51:40 > 0:51:44we looked up what is happening in Norway and Scotland -
0:51:44 > 0:51:46the stocks are going down and I said, "Oh, my God,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49"they're going to disappear."
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Pattern two... This is Megan's.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00"Tag - silver oval.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04"Tail - topping and teal green parrot.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08"Body - 1/5 yellow seal, 1/5 orange seal,
0:52:08 > 0:52:13"1/5 red seal and 2/5 blue seal.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16"Wing - two strands of bustard,
0:52:16 > 0:52:21"blue and yellow swan with broad strip of red swan on top.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23"Finish off with a head of..."
0:52:27 > 0:52:30I went wrong.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41It didn't happen overnight.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45I mean, it just came on and it just got worse and worse.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55In fact, my mum knew she was losing her eyesight long before I...
0:52:55 > 0:52:57before I did.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03It was heartbreaking, really, because she had got such a talent.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07And to have her eyesight being taken away because of her talent...
0:53:12 > 0:53:15She didn't have electricity in the house. You know,
0:53:15 > 0:53:19she's a fly tier and she needs all the light in the world, you see.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21No wonder she went blind.
0:53:32 > 0:53:33She did tie flies. She did tie a few.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35You know, you can tie a fly in the dark,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38even now, as long as you have the materials at hand.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41You know, your fingertips are incredibly sensitive,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44fly tiers' especially. You know, it's like a great pianist.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54She could only make out shadows.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00Then shortly after that, she went into a home.
0:54:09 > 0:54:10She went into the village,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13but I don't think she really enjoyed it there.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15It wasn't her environment.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34She used to hold my hand all the time when we were talking and so on.
0:54:34 > 0:54:40And I remember she told me about the Prince of Wales.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45His favourite fly was called the Popham.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54I came to see her one day and she was sleeping on the chair.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56And I said, "I'll come back." And her neighbour said,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59"No, no, she has been waiting all morning for you."
0:55:04 > 0:55:07There was a little frame of flies on top of the television,
0:55:07 > 0:55:10and in the middle was a Popham.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13And I asked her what the flies were for
0:55:13 > 0:55:15and she said they were for a toff.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21He wanted to take her to London to try and save her sight.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23And she went, but only on one condition,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26that he personally would meet her at the other end.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37And, of course, Megan went down, he did meet her.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39And obviously took her to hospital,
0:55:39 > 0:55:41and they couldn't save her sight.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13She kept shouting, "Die, die, die!"
0:56:15 > 0:56:17That's all I can tell you about that.
0:56:26 > 0:56:28If you ask a fish, the fish would say,
0:56:28 > 0:56:31"Please, I would like to be released rather than killed."
0:56:31 > 0:56:33There you go.
0:56:37 > 0:56:38I'd like to return him.
0:56:40 > 0:56:41Thank you.
0:57:19 > 0:57:24The water in Scotland doesn't actually belong to anyone at all.
0:57:37 > 0:57:39I hope we never discover actually
0:57:39 > 0:57:43what it is that makes a salmon take a fly -
0:57:43 > 0:57:46a bunch of feathers on a piece of metal.