Yesterday evening turned out to be as good as I could have asked for. The shadows were lengthening when I got to the river and I figured on about and hour and a half or so of decent fishing light.
August seems to be the month for carp on the Guadalhorce. I remember making much the same observation last year. The barbel resolutely refused to play ball and, even in shallow runs where they will often grab at a passing nymph, they were nervous and inclined to scatter when the fly landed in the water. Barbel can be like this and so I left them alone and wandered off to see if there were any carp about.
There were. Sometimes they give themselves away by the trail of sediment they displace and which passes downstream and a little brown cloud is always worth investigating to see if it has a feeding fish at its head. And sometimes the carp wallow in water so shallow that their backs clear the surface. They remind me of hogs as they rock from side to side and they are so intent on feeding that they can be approached quite closely.
The big problem with these carp is not finding them but trying to figure when they have taken the nymph. You are not likely to see this happen. It is a question of placing the nymph a little ahead of the fish and tightening when you think it has had enough time to approach and suck it up. This is a matter of judgement and luck but yesterday my luck was in and I managed to catch three carp this was before the light was gone.
The third fish was beached in the shallows and was a little too muddy for a photograph and while I was splashing some water over him to beautify him for his portrait, the carp realised he was unrestrained and made a quick getaway. Good for him.
It seems odd that foxes, which I have seen few of over the years, seem very abundant here. I managed to get a photograph of one on the river bank opposite. On the rough track back to the main road I thought I might chance across another nightjar. Like the bee eaters, these will be thinking of Africa soon. To my surprise I did see the unmistakable silhouette of one of these birds just off the A357 flying low over the sealed road.
The first one
The second one
Not so far away this time!
El zorro
fishydreams 