fishydreams

On Saturday I met up with Clive Smith and we had a crack at the barbel on the Río Grande. There have been some heavy rains recently and the Guadalhorce has coloured up and is not yet returned to form. The Río Grande is a more challenging river but at least it was running clear and we had a shot at a few fish in the steadier flows.

The day did not start well. My aged car produces a range of sounds during its normal operation. It brings to mind the percussion section of the Royal Philharmonic – even on a good day. But on our way to the river a new sound entered the mix and it turned out to be the two ends of a sheared exhaust pipe trailing along the ground. I´ll spare you the details but the ensuing drama involved a tow truck and a trip to the garage where the car was deposited.

Clive was a great help during all of this and he was good enough to drive us back to the river and later to drop me home. While we were waiting for my rescuer to turn up in a truck from Málaga he told me about how he was a relative newcomer to fly fishing even though he had been fishing for many years. He is also an avid bird watcher, an archer and a photographer. He lives close to the Laguna de la Fuente de Piedra which is famous for the flamingos that breed there.

Clive was excellent company on the river but the fishing was a challenging. We did manage a good fish between us and it was returned to the river without undue ceremony. I´m sure we will wet a line together soon, hopefully when the Guadalhorce is restored to order and the water clears up.

Here is Clive en route to the river. At this point we had finished sorting out problems with my car and could finally get on with a bit of fishing!

It´s not what it looks like. I didn´t run him over your Honour! This is the tow truck guy trying to get the exhaust tube off the ground so we could get the car up onto his truck.