DR BELL OF WRINGTON: PIONEER OF RESERVOIR NYMPH FLY FISHING (1888-1974)

This website is dedicated to the life, the artificial flies, the pioneering techniques in stillwater nymph fishing and ultimately the angling legacy of Dr Howard Alexander Bell (1888-1974) of Wrington, Somerset. Dr Bell regularly fished Blagdon Water in the years following WW1 where he sought to devise better methods of catching reservoir trout.

 

As part of this project two new books, containing additional material not on the website, have been published:

A biography entitled Dr Bell of Wrington: Pioneer of Reservoir Fly Fishing written by Adrian Freer published by Welford Court Press is available to purchase from Amazon. For further information click Dr Bell of Wrington. Click the yellow button to go to Amazon.

A catalogue of all Dr Bell's fly patterns entitled Dr Bell's Trout Flies  by Adrian Freer published by Coch-y-Bonddu Books is available from them. For further information click Dr Bell's Trout Flies.

 

As a result of his enquiring and scientific mind Dr Bell did not follow the standard practice of the day of employing 'attractor' patterns but rather he studied the creatures that the fish were targeting and endeavoured to design artificial patterns which replicated them, and retrieved them in a manner which mimicked their progression through the water. He was probably the first angler we know of to implement such an imitative approach to reservoirs and his Blagdon Buzzer is the forerunner of the multitude of buzzer artificials employed today.

 

Reservoir fly anglers who adopt the imitative approach of offering nymph patterns to the trout, recovering them slowly in the manner of the natural creatures, are following in the footsteps of this innovative angler.

 

Dr Bell was a shy, sensitive and reclusive character, some would even say that he was anti-social, who never publicized the results of his groundbreaking work. As far as is known he published nothing in his own lifetime, but a surviving article that he wrote, presumably for his own benefit, has come to light and was published posthumously in 2010 as an appendix in Reservoir Trout Flies by Adrian V W Freer (Crowood Press, 2010) and in his recently published biography Dr Bell of Wrington (Welford Court Press, 2019).

 

Bell was not secretive about his flies or the techniques he was developing but, being the reticent person he was, he did not wish to receive any acclaim that might follow should his achievements become widely known. There are many accounts of how he was prepared to pass on the benefits of his experience to others. All he wanted was to be allowed to fish in solitude, peace and quiet. Who could blame him for that?

 

Despite the profound significance of his innovations, and being the private person that he was, there is little information about Dr Bell that has survived to this day and what remains is scattered over a wide range of resources: books, magazines, correspondence, websites, photographs, official records, archives and the recollections of those who knew him. It was therefore considered that assembling as much material as possible into one place, in a website devoted solely to him, would address this injustice to some small degree. Some of the information recorded here is to some extent duplicated, albeit from different standpoints, but together it provides a fascinating picture of Dr Bell. As well as giving important data about his achievements, some of the snippets demonstrate his human side: he drove an Alvis, enjoyed listening to Rachmaninoff, cultivated cyclamen and smoked Craven A cigarettes!

 

There is a biography of Dr Bell, a history of the development of reservoir fly fishing and some reminiscences by those who knew him. That is followed by references to him gleaned from a variety of books and publications, the dressings of his flies and links to the only surviving article attributed to Dr Bell. There are also several images of flies designed and tied by the doctor. Facsimiles of some pages from his fishing notebook and finally several obituaries. The acknowledgements page lists a number of links to material about him.

 

Several of the illustrations are of poor quality, the reason being that so little is available. There are in fact only three known, low resolution, images of Dr Bell in existence (all of them showing him in Home Guard uniform) and two grainy photographs of Mrs Bell. It was nevertheless decided to reproduce pretty much everything available, despite the imperfections, as even flawed images are better than nothing at all and they do help to provide a clearer insight into this remarkable man. There are no known photographs of him in civilian clothing or angling attire.

 

The amount of information gathered is somewhat meagre but it is nevertheless hoped that there is sufficient to commemorate this important figure in the history of angling and form a fitting tribute to the doctor and his exploits. Although he shunned publicity in any form as it is almost half a century since his passing, and he and Mrs Bell left no direct descendants, now is perhaps the time to make more widely known Dr Bell's revolutionary achievements.

 

Acknowledgement of the source of the material reproduced here has been credited where known; where this has not been possible the website will be updated as new information is gathered. Do return to the website from time to time as addtional material is added.

 

As part of this project of making Dr Bell's legacy more widely known a Wikipedia entry has been created which contains some of the material on this website. This can be accessed at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_A._Bell