Frank Sawyer MBE (1906–1980) was an English riverkeeper, writer, and inventor of such flies as the Pheasant Tail Nymph.
He was employed by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey as assistant keeper to Fred Martin and managed the six miles of river around Lake House, now owned by the musician Sting.
The SDFFA waters included some six miles of prime chalk stream fishing on Salisbury Plain and a number of small lakes that were constructed by Sawyer in the 1960s.
[1] By the time Sawyer took over as head keeper on the SDFFA waters, natural regeneration of wild trout had dropped markedly due to the decline of the water meadows, increased pollution and large amounts of silt running into the river from surrounding farm land and the Army's tank manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain.
By the early 1930s the fishery could no longer sustain a wild trout population large enough to meet the demands of fishermen.
This involved dredging the worst-hit areas of the river to remove mud and silt, and return the bed to chalk and gravel.
Water meadow carrier streams were restored to provide a natural filter and a nursery for small fish and insects.
Organic mud from rotting leaves built up in a few areas but the main problem was the lack of growth in the fish despite an apparent abundance of fly.
Sawyer's discovery on the importance of chalk was made partly by accident and remained controversial long after his death.
Sawyer identified that the chalk cleared the water, broke down organic matter and caused an explosion in insect, snail and crustacean numbers – all important food sources for trout.
Unfortunately, the use of chalk failed to gain much traction in fishery management as the practice of stocking large, easy to catch farm reared trout was becoming more widespread.
The health of the water and food supply was much less relevant as the farm reared fish were often caught within days of being stocked and had enough fat to last a season.
The SDFFA and other more traditional fisheries continued to work on natural regeneration and healthy waters but the demands of chalking six miles of river were too much for a fishery working on a tight budget and the SDFFA adopted a stocking policy using trout reared in its own stock ponds.
Sawyer developed the Killer Bug as a means of controlling grayling numbers on the River Avon, where at the time it was considered vermin.
The Killer Bug is designed to imitate the freshwater shrimp but also looks similar to a hatching sedge; it was named by Sawyer's friend Lee Wulff.
The Bow Tie Buzzer must be attached to the tippet in a specific manner to allow the pattern to function properly.
A biography of Sawyer entitled Man of the Riverside written by Sidney Vines was published by George Allen and Unwin in 1984.