I caught a turtle on the fly yesterday which probably allows me to be considered among the world´s foremost authorities on fly fishing for reptiles. It has to be said that I had no intention of catching the thing and so I cannot pretend that this outcome was the result of focused effort or cunning strategy. What happened, as you can probably figure, is that I cast a fly out in the hope of catching a black bass when this dumb turtle showed up and decided it wanted to get in on the action.
Continue readingCategory: Flies and fly tying
A turtle on the fly
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
May 4, 2024
An Unholy Trinity
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 4 Comments
April 8, 2024
I had a chance to meet up last week in Ireland with my brother Sean and our old fishing buddy Mark for a long anticipated fishing trip. This was to have been a multi-day adventure but Mark announced that he would have to cut things short due to work commitments and, naturally, he was berated by Sean and me for getting his life priorities arseways.
Continue reading →Man cave
February 11, 2024
I don´t know how long Catriona had been asking me to clear all the crap out of the loft. It was obviously a job that needed doing but, largely out of laziness, I slipped into the old “out of sight out of mind” mindset and kicked the idea into the long grass.
Continue reading →Deenish Island
February 2, 2024
My brother Sean informed me about a fish farm proposal on the south west coast of Ireland which is going to have horrible effects locally if it is allowed to go ahead. He asked that I, and any others who might have similar views, send a message of objection before a deadline for such public consultation expires on Feb 12.
Continue reading →Hit job
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Other bits and bobs — 4 Comments
October 5, 2022
I had it in mind to fish surface flies for bass on my recent outing with Steve Lawler. This can be a lot of fun if the fish are well disposed to hanging around close to the surface. For the hotter part of the summer they seem to prefer to stay deep and surface flies are likely, not only to be ignored, but very probably not even seen. But maybe in the autumn, I began to think, might they be inclined to look up?
Continue reading →Best in the world?
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September 11, 2022
Listen, I´m a pretty modest bloke most of the time, but it occurred to me that I might actually be the finest living exponent of the the art of fly fishing for the elusive Guadalhorce Nase. Despite my world-beating expertise I have only caught them on my last three outings to the river. The first time I took one on a dry fly and when I looked at the thing I said to myself “what the hell is that?”
Continue reading →The flies that are everywhere
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Flies and fly tying, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 4 Comments
August 25, 2022
So what does a fly look like, more or less? I guess we can probably agree that it might black and scruffy and has some wings and legs sticking out somewhere. Why even that silly question about what flies look like? I guess it is because fishing “flies” can quite legitimately mimic molluscs, crustaceans, worms, fish and more. To the extent that anything we cast with a fly rod becomes a “fly” pretty much by default, we have to accept that many flies are not flies at all!
Continue reading →Worthy of a pint
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
May 29, 2022
After a few hours on the river I tend to treat myself to a pint in the local watering hole in Villafranco del Guadalhorce. This has become my little “après pêche” ritual and, after fooling around for a couple of hours on the riverbank, a cold beer tastes about as good as a cold beer is every likely to taste.
Continue reading →Fooling around with Marge
May 12, 2022
You may remember a fly that we have used here to extract the odd fish from our rivers when they are a bit off colour (the rivers, not the fish!). It is a mop fly and both the barbel and carp seem happy to take it as they grub around in their murky world. In a moment of silliness I named my version of this fly “Marge” on account of its resemblance to Homer Simpson´s wife.
What I am about to write is really further silliness and so, if you are a sensible person living a busy and purposeful life, you should really stop reading immediately and go and do something worthwhile.
Continue reading →Taking a fish for a walk
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 6 Comments
April 26, 2022
My river is in flood at the moment, receding but still pretty coloured, and the best way I could describe it is as a continuous shallow stream the colour of a cafe con leche. If you wanted to match it for speed, to keep up perhaps with a drifting leaf, you would need to walk downstream at a pretty brisk pace.
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