fishydreams

On the way to the river yesterday I noticed bee-eaters on the telegraph wires as soon as I turned off the A357 and onto the rough track that leads to the Guadalhorce, and when I saw them it occurred to me that I had not seen these beautiful birds for at least a couple of months. They have been further north and now they are heading to Africa. Today they are on the telegraph wires in southern Andalucía, soon they will have the Mediterranean under their wings and, shortly after, the Sahara.

It remains very hot but the sting of July´s oppressive heat and humidity seems to be easing. They say that July was the hottest month here that has ever been recorded here.

It is not obvious that the summer is drawing to a close but it is waning, almost imperceptibly slowly. Changes are on their way and the bee-eaters know this.

The river has changed too but not in the way I had been expecting. I thought the river would have thinned and slowed but the flows are still reasonable for this time of the year. Instead I discovered that the stretch I intended to fish had been cleared of vegetation by heavy earth moving equipment. I can only assume that they were scooping out gravel but the wounds on the river bank were ugly and it was hard to avoid the feeling that the landscape had been violated.

When I saw the damage I almost turned away to seek out a less disturbed stretch of water but was curious to see if there were fish visible in their old haunts and was happy to discover that the fish were still present although, with the plant cover removed, I would have my work cut out sneaking up on them. Despite these difficulties I persevered and was rewarded with a couple of gypsy barbel and a carp. I lost another gypsy which broke me off on the far bank. It was a good fish too. The little nymph I tempted him with was barbless and I hope that it dropped out straight away or shortly after.

On the way home I succumbed to temptation and dropped into Café Europa for a tapa and a beer. I think the lady there likes me because she served me up an exceptionally fine tapa of boquerones en vinagre. It looked so good that I took a photo of it. She just smiled as I did so. She is probably used to all kinds of weird people dropping in and didn´t bat an eyelid.

Look what hey did to my river! The last time I was here the vegetation next to the river was waist-high. It was a beautiful spot.

There were still some fish around!

This fish was hooked in the shallows at the head of a long run. It turned in the current and before I knew it I was looking at my backing and the fish was splashing at the surface about 35 metres away! Thankfully I managed to keep it out of snags and land it downstream in the slower flows.

A pretty carp.

I think the lady in Café Europa likes me!