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Sticking the boots in

Filed under: Other bits and bobs, Published fishing writing — Leave a comment
August 28, 2020

This article was published under the heading “Feet on the Ground” by Fly Fishing and Fly Tying monthly, August 2020.

I remember seeing an advert for a pair of wading boots one time. It was in a magazine, this one maybe, a few years ago. The details have receded a little into the mist but I remember clearly enough that the advert featured a picture of a particular brand of boots worn by some guy who happened to find himself in some kind of social setting, maybe a cocktail bar or somewhere similar. You couldn´t see who was wearing the boots because the picture spanned only the distance between knee-level and the floor. The guy wearing the boots was not alone in the photo. Just in front of him and facing towards him was a pair of slender and shapely legs supported on elegant stiletto heels. 

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The home stretch

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 6 Comments
August 2, 2020

The closest part of the Guadalhorce to where I live is just downstream of the confluence of the Río Grande. It is very roughly half way from the reservoir at El Chorro and the mouth of the river in Málaga where the river splits into two parallel channels embracing a lovely little wild space rich in birdlife before the waters are finally discharged into the Mediterranean. Getting to “my” stretch takes just a few minutes by car and earlier this year I carried out the journey on foot which takes about an hour. The heat at this time of the year is too punishing for this to be an option. View full article »

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In a class of their own

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
July 24, 2020

Johan and I spotted a good barbel in the river the other day and I couldn´t resist the temptation to have another crack at it yesterday. When Johan and I we came across it on Tuesday this was one of three fish holding in fast flowing shallows just below a broad pool. In fast skinny water like this fish are difficult at the best of times. View full article »

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Not quite a marlin

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
July 22, 2020

Yesterday I spent the morning and early afternoon fishing on the river with Johan Terblanche. Johan and I have fished together several times over the last two or three years and when he pops over to this neck of the woods from his home in Luxembourg he drops me a line and we meet up to see if we can catch black bass or, as was the case yesterday, some gypsy barbel from the river. View full article »

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Serendipity

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
July 18, 2020

Today, for the first time, I caught a gypsy barbel on a streamer. It was a very handsome fish and I don´t think it would have been any less than four pounds in weight. The streamer was being used because I had intended to fish for black bass but the bass were not very interested today and, while I managed to catch a few, they were small fish. Interestingly, the same streamer was taken by two carp, both unseen before they were hooked and both taken as I was fishing close to the steep shoreline. View full article »

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Woodlice on the march

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 6 Comments
July 9, 2020

I was walking the dogs this morning and we came across an interesting sight. There were huge numbers of woodlice marching down a hill in a continuous and steady stream. I have never seen this before and so we ditched our plans to have a long walk through the campo so that I could return home to grab my camera and record the spectacle. View full article »

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Mean cows

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
July 2, 2020

When Steve Lawler and I reached the second fishing spot he had planned to show me on Friday we both chickened out of the trek across an open filed to the shore of the reservoir. There were a few cattle in the field there and neither of us trusted them. In particular there were three shady characters standing in the shadow of a tree and one of them had a mean look in her eyes. View full article »

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Camping with Leo

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Other bits and bobs, Published fishing writing — 3 Comments
June 19, 2020

Yesterday, quite out of the blue, a bunch of photos came my way from Mark McCann as attachments to an email. Mark is an old fishing buddy and, along with my brother Sean, we are veterans of many fishing campaigns. Coincidentally Sean came across some photos as well and, while not currently in digital form, I am hoping that these may be coming my way soon. The photos Mark sent recorded a fishing trip we went on about 10 years ago. It was significant because my son Leo who was then 12 was invited along. View full article »

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What kind of bugs end up in the river?

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Flies and fly tying, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
June 14, 2020

The gypsy barbel in my local river are predominantly bottom feeders and they are well adapted to finding invertebrates in the mud and in and around the stones. I suspect that when they are in muddy stretches that it is senses other than eyesight that direct them towards their dinners. Because of this I nearly always use smallish nymphs to target them, generally tied on a size 14 hook and usually with a small tungsten bead. View full article »

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Whose egg is it anyway?

Filed under: Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
June 13, 2020

I went and bought three new hens on Tuesday because a bastard campo dog managed to dig into the enclosure and take all my hens a couple of weeks ago. Between that sad event and the purchasing of the new hens I planned to greatly increase the security of the enclosure. I had intended to install a moat, a trip wire that activated remotely operated machine guns, bury land mines and to install a bunch of battle-hardened mercenaries in a series of watch towers each night equipped with state of the art night vision goggles. However when calculations were done I realised that the budget for these security measures would be similar to that for constructing Trump´s idiotic border wall with Mexico. To break even I would have to have each of my three hens lay an egg each per day for the next 487 million years. View full article »

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