The biggest fish I have hooked on the Guadalhorce just came off the line after we had been battling it out for fifteen minutes or so. I never saw it but from the dogged and unrelenting nature of the fight it can only have been a carp. I knew shortly after I had hooked it that it was something out of the ordinary. It had the assurance that big fish have. To be honest, I hooked it without being aware that it had taken my nymph. I had been casting to some barbel that were swimming close to the surface of discoloured water when the nymph sank to the bottom and was hoovered in by the carp. Continue reading
Category: Flies and fly tying
Lost monster
May 27, 2017
On the river with Harry and David
May 15, 2017
Yesterday afternoon I joined my old partner in crime Harry Abbott and David Blair for a few hours on the river. I had been a little worried that the water might not have cleared after recent rain but the river was mending well and was quite fishable although probably not quite at its best. Continue reading →
A dry fly for barbel
May 1, 2017
Most of my barbel are taken on nymphs but they will take a fly if they are up on top and it is a very exciting way to fish for them if ever the opportunity arises. Johan Terblanche and I fished to some barbel recently that were feeding on tiny things in the surface film. Every now and then a fish would station itself and rise pretty steadily. If you managed to drift a fly over a fish like this you were in with a shot. Continue reading →
Worth a pint
March 26, 2017
I treated myself to a pint on the way home from the river yesterday. On balance, I probably deserved one. There have been few opportunities to fish in recent weeks and even yesterday I barely managed to negotiate my exit pass. I was down for the shopping run but Catriona told me I could head off to the river for a couple of hours as long as I cleaned out the fridge first. Continue reading →
More about mice
Filed under: Books and stuff, Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
October 14, 2016
If you are desperate enough to visit this blog from time to time you will be familiar with the broad range of topics under discussion. Keith Baxter who recently joined Steven Lawler and me on a fishing trip to Jaen told me that he had enjoyed my book Dry River. He described it as “eclectic” which is fair enough and, I suppose, the same can be said about this blog.
So let´s get down to business and talk about mice. Continue reading →
Flies on parade
August 29, 2016
Every now and then I come across another fisherman´s box of flies and think to myself “Christ, I wish I could tie a few like that!”
That was certainly true of Mariano Alcaide´s flies. These live in various multi-compartment fly boxes in orderly rows and remind me of soldiers on parade during an inspection. My own flies do not march in line and are merely tossed into compartments of a couple of fly boxes. They look less like soldiers on parade than battlefield casualties in the bloody aftermath of some military catastrophe. Continue reading →
Johan´s bass flies
August 24, 2016
Today I had a chance to pick up some bass flies that Johan Terblanche very kindly tied for me. I was away from home during his recent visit but he was good enough to leave them with some nearby friends and when I dropped in on them today to collect my daughter who had spent the night there, I was duly given the flies. Continue reading →
A nice carp
Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
July 2, 2016
I caught a good carp today. It took a fly intended for black bass and I had no reason initially to think it was not a big bass. The fly was cast in close to the margin and I had just begun to work it back when everything went solid.
I saw a flash of flank initially and it did seem pretty dark but then the fish sounded and for the next 10 minutes or so I saw nothing beyond the end of my fly line or the first few inches of leader. Continue reading →
French Nymphing
June 27, 2016
In the face of it “French nymphing” sounds like a highly dubious activity that might appeal only deranged perverts. Thankfully it is not quite as dodgy as it sounds. French nymphing so no more and no less than a simple and very effective way of extracting trout from rivers. I knew a little about it before receiving some instruction a little over a week ago on the Upper Guadalquivir. Continue reading →
What´s the best fly for carp?
May 11, 2016
Good question. Like many good questions the answer is not straightforward. In fact it doesn´t have an answer at all. The truth is carp are very adaptable and they do what fish do best, which is to feed on whatever is available and, given the choice, the source of food that provides the most nutrition for the effort required to obtain it. Carp, just like the rest of us, want the most bang for their buck.
If you asked a seasoned trout fisherman what the best fly for trout is you will get a deluge of answers. You will get suggested patterns ranging from diminutive midges through to large streamers and Chernobyl Ants that look like the Titanic but have greater inherent buoyancy. The real answer to the question, unsatisfactory as it may be, is “it depends.” And it is the things that it depends on that make fly fishing so absorbing. Continue reading →
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