Harry Abbott, my old partner in crime, is down in New Zealand at the moment. He has just been over to Lake Onslow on the trail of the fat brown trout that swim around there. Unfortunately the weather is against him and it is unseasonably cold. After 3 hours or so of misery he threw in the towel. Continue reading
Category: Fish and fishing
My brother Sean has just gone off and bought himself a kayak. How this came about is an amusing story in itself. Out of the blue came an unexpected windfall from his work. It was not a fortune, by any means, but it was enough to allow him to go and buy himself a pretty respectable kayak.
So he turns up at the shop and then sees an even better one – much better! And for just a little bit more. He had been given clearance by his long- suffering wife to use the unexpected bonus to make a one-off purchase but, of course, she was not around when he decided to upgrade to an all-singing, all-dancing kayak with the necessary accessories. Continue reading
It´s that time of the year now when most of us abandon any thoughts of fishing. The rods are stowed away somewhere. Maybe there is a decent fishing book on the go, or a few flies to tie up, but otherwise things have gone quiet.
Personally, I have my feet up on the coffee table and am eyeing up a box of biscuits doing the rounds of the living room. After that I might send my son Leo into the kitchen to procure a beer for me. Continue reading
If you know the Río Grande at all you may well know about a stretch of water I call the “Goat” pool. It is a relatively deep pool and fish remain there throughout the year, even in high summer when much of the rest of the river pretty much dries out. If you are looking upstream the left bank gives easy access but if you go stomping up to the river you will put everything down. The opposite bank is quite elevated and leads up to a goat farm. You can sit on an enormous rock here and look down. The water is deep there and, chances are, there will be fish swimming around right below you. Continue reading
My wife has X ray eyes. She can take one look at me and see right into my soul. She can see through anyone but not as well as she can see through me. There is no point lying to her and I can forget trying to keep any secrets. She knows the thoughts that rattle around in my head better than I do.
So she was not surprised that, when I said I might take a look at the river this morning, on the way back from Málaga, I did a little more than see how the river was clearing after heavy rain. I disappeared fishing. Continue reading
So you think scuba divers are cool? Maybe you visualize a diver as some sexy neoprene-clad temptress who unzips her wetsuit a little, shakes her hair and says “Wow that was great! I really get a kick out of hand-feeding those giant groupers! And l just love the way those huge manta rays glide by like enormous birds!” Continue reading
You should never pass up the opportunity to put on a pair of wellies and stand in a puddle. If you don´t believe me just ask a kid, any kid. They may not be able to explain what makes it so much fun to be simply splashing around. They just know that it is. Kids are wise that way. For me there is something about being partially immersed in a muddy liquid while your feet are warm and dry that is very satisfying, Christ knows why. Continue reading
Many people would dismiss fly fishing as the arcane preoccupation of a bunch of oddballs who really ought to know better. It seems pointless and silly to do what I love to do whenever a half chance arises: wander off to the river, spend a few hours creeping around the banks, catch a few fish, put them back and then go home again.
It is nevertheless true to say that for many of us such an affliction exists. We can´t shake it off and nor do we want to. Continue reading
It´s a long time since I caught a carp on a dry fly but the chance presented itself a couple of weeks back on Concepción. The fishing for black bass seemed pretty dead and so I paddled my float tube over to the river mouth of the Río Verde. There are usually a few barbel and carp hanging around there and I thought I might be able to sneak up on one or two. Continue reading
I guess there are a lot of reasons you might have for heading off to the river for a few hours. Maybe you want a bit of peace and quiet, maybe you need a blast of fresh air, or to stretch your legs and get some useful exercise without working up a sweat. Yesterday I went to the river to shake words out of my head.
The previous night I performed a couple of stints of standup at a school fund raising show, each of about 20 minutes duration and had managed to finally deliver scripts that had been floating around in my head for ages. Prior to this I had been performing these only to Brutus, our ancient dog, as we took our daily walk around the campo (the other three dogs tend to run around like crazy and don´t listen to anything). Continue reading
fishydreams 