The Flyfishers’ founding fathers
To many Fielders, Mayfair’s Savile Club will be familiar as the venue for the annual delight that is the Macnab Dinner. However, even those whose exploits with rod and gun have seen them elevated to piscatorial peerage by grassing a salmon as part of the hat-trick may be unaware of the lodger upstairs. Tucked away above the sumptuous Savile is probably the best-kept secret in clubland. A venerable institution, tracing its origins back to 1884, the Flyfishers’ Club is thriving in its latest (and permanent) home on the aptlynamed Brook Street.
When I was invited there for dinner as the guest of flyfisher Charles Dring, I arrived a little early. Their attentive steward showed me in and brought me a welcome whisky and soda while I meandered, agog, among the sort of angling ephemera that not only charts the history of the sport but also forms the most exquisite display across several rooms. From the wondrous and vibrant cases of gut-eye salmon irons in the hallway through to a creel that reputedly belonged
