After school yesterday I took two of my sixth form Biology students, Frank Huisman and Elliot Lee, to the river to have a go at fly fishing. They had honed their casting skills on the school volleyball court the previous day and were keen to cast a fly where there might be a fish in the general vicinity (we all agreed that the prospects of catching on the volleyball court were not great). Continue reading
Category: Folks I know
It is a little while since I fished Concepción Reservoir from a float tube but I did so this morning in the excellent company of Johan Terblanche. Johan is frequent visitor to Andalucía and another fishing nut. He has caught, amongst other things, shark on the fly. Our quarry today was likely to be smaller and less dangerous which is perfectly fine in my book! Continue reading
A couple of weeks back Steve Lawler and I headed off to Extremadura to see if there were any fish swimming around up there and to meet up with some fly fishermen who had been up there for a few days. These guys had abandoned the grim weather in Scotland to find equally grim weather in Extremadura. But these were hardy types and not given to complaining. Fishing, if it teaches you nothing else, will help you to be philosophical and reminds us to keep our expectations in check. Continue reading
I heard from Dave Felce a little earlier today and he told me about a fine pike he caught. His words describe the circumstances better than mine and he was kind enough to allow me to reproduce his account below, together with a photo of the fish and its captor…… Continue reading
If you don´t want to witness the pathetic spectacle of some bloke gushing over his daughter´s achievement you better look away now……. Continue reading
Sad news came from New Zealand this week. A man called Murray Thompson passed away. Cancer got him. It is a long time since I met him and I met him only once. On that occasion he handed over the keys to his fishing hut on the shore of Lake Onslow to my brother and me. He didn´t know either of us from Adam. We were just a couple of fly fishermen who showed up at his door during an inhospitable spell of foul weather. We were looking for somewhere to go fishing when local rivers had become muddy torrents.
We talked a little while. Murray was famously strong and played rugby for Otago back in the day. He was as solid as an ox. When we had dispensed with a little small talk he handed over the keys and asked in return only two things; that we leave a small contribution to the upkeep of the hut, and that we leave behind something that might be of some use to subsequent visitors. He did not specify what – maybe a can of stew. Maybe a six pack of beer. Continue reading
As promised, here is Harry´s report on his latest exploits: Continue reading
Last week I met up with three visiting fishermen and, on Sunday, we spent a few hours on the river before going to take a look at Concepción Reservoir. I had been lucky enough to meet Simon Thompson pretty recently at the CLA game fair in Leeds. Simon is another blogger and has a great blog which, if you have not seen it already, is well worth a visit. You can reach it (I hope) by clicking on this link: http://has2btheflyway.com
Though Simon and I were no strangers to this river (we had spent an afternoon on the Guadalhorce last year) it was the first visit for the other two members of the fishing party, Simon´s brother Stuart and Jonathon, who is Simon´s long-time fishing buddy.
The boys were all set up for a week´s fishing but they seem to have been plagued with bad luck from the outset. To start off with, the heavens opened up early in the week and, not to put too fine a point on it, it absolutely pissed down. At this time of year we might get a little rain, or more likely, none at all. The torrential rain made news headlines here and there are Youtube sequences showing cars and trucks pushed through towns by the muddy waters. Continue reading
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