fishydreams

An odd thing happened on the river yesterday when Leo and I paid it a visit. Up until this point it had been business as usual and we had managed to catch a couple of fish. Leo, over the years, has become an accomplished fisherman and he has little need for any instruction from me. We often fish a little way apart so as to allow ourselves our own “private” stretch of undisturbed water and, at the time that the odd thing happened, he was a couple of hundred metres upstream of me.

Initially I became aware of some commotion and then noticed a group of horse riders were moving downstream along the river margins. Some little way downstream of Leo they crossed the shallow river and then continued walking in my direction.

Just before they arrived and, at the moment I was turning to great them, I became aware that a carp was tight against the bank and within casting distance. The fish was maybe a foot from the margin and I managed to land the nymph about 8 inches from it and even closer to the edge. The fish bulged a little and, after a delay of a couple of seconds, I tentatively lifted the rod and discovered that the carp had taken the nymph and that battle was now underway.

At this point I greeted the horse riders and invited them to continue with their stroll but they were fascinated by the drama that had begun to unfold and they remained where they were as the fish ran through the river and the leader cut through the film like cheese wire. It was a little strange performing to an audience of horse riders. Before long the fish was beached and unhooked and I took it over to the horse people to give them a better look. The carp was typical of those that are found along this stretch. It was fully scaled and had that distinctive orange coloration on the lower part of the tail fin and the anal fin. They are beautiful fish. The horse party consisted of four horses and five riders with the lead horse carrying two people. The riders people were both Spanish and English speakers and were both men and women (well, each was actually one or the other!) We conversed very briefly in each language but I was keen to make it quick in order to cause the least stress for the fish. They asked the two questions I was expecting: first, they wanted to know what kind of fish it was and, second, what I was going to do with it. I told them that it was a carp and that I had only borrowed it temporarily from the river with a view to admiring it briefly and taking its photograph. The man on the first horse asked for a picture and was kind enough to take a photograph with my own camera for me.

With the moment recorded for posterity I walked back to the river and slipped the carp back into the water and it swam off strongly. Like the turtle that was disturbed during its afternoon nap, I am confident that the fish was quite unharmed as a result of our little rendezvous and that it is now, a day later, continuing to cruise the river margin feeding on the little invertebrates it finds in the sediment of the river´s floor. It is unlikely ever to be caught again.

This turtle was chilling when we arrived but duly launched himself into the river when we got too close. The water is getting colder now so he was probably pretty pissed off!

This gypsy barbel took a dry fly – a Royal Wulff.

Leo with a barbel that was taken on a little bead head nymph.

The orange colour on the tail and anal fin is very distinctive on this fish, as is the evidence that I have been eating too many mince pies recently!

A horse admires the fish.

Leo and I got a bit chilled when the evening came but we were treated to a fine sunset as we walked through a citrus grove on the way back to the car.