Category: Folks I know


This weekend I had the good fortune to go fishing with Paul Morgan who is very well known as a publisher and seller of books relating to fishing and field sports. If you have not already seen it, Paul´s vast collection can be seen on http://www.anglebooks.com/

Paul and I were planning to discuss a book which I have written and that he was interested in publishing but, like myself, he is an enthusiastic fly fisherman and we were both keen to do some fishing first. You have to get your priorities right! Continue reading

While I have been immersed in deluge of exam marking here in Spain, back in Ireland my old partners in crime, my brother Sean and Mark McCann have been doing what they do best – sinking pints and fly fishing for the elusive brown trout of Lough Arrow and Lough Sheelin.

Needless to say I am wracked with jealousy. The only mildly amusing moment I have had over the last few days occurred during the marking if the IB Biology when one candidate stated that the answer to a question was “That´s just the way things are. God works in mysterious ways!” Continue reading

A little over a week ago I began three days of filming on the Río Grande and Río Guadalhorce for Spanish national television. I was joined on the rivers by my friend John Langridge who is a great character and a hugely experienced fisherman. He is also a veteran of several films on fishing and an author of a dozen or so books on fishing. The TV people got in touch with John and he in turn asked me if I wanted to be involved. As if he needed to ask! Fishing is always fun on these rivers but in the company of a fisherman like John I knew I was going to be in for a real blast. Continue reading

Harry Abbott and I organised a rendezvous at the river the other day. It took us a little while to meet up. We both arrived at our chosen spot on the river at different times and Harry wandered off upstream and I ventured downstream! Continue reading

Viagra Falls

Sometimes being Irish can be a bit of a drag. For one thing your political overlords are an inept bunch, the economy is teetering, the cutbacks are digging in everywhere. And, of course, the weather is always crap. Continue reading

My friend Harry Abbott has returned to Spain after a long journey which took in some fishing in Thailand and New Zealand. He told me that yesterday, while I was trying to stuff some understanding of Science in to unreceptive brains of indifferent teenagers, he popped off to the river to see if he could catch a few fish. Continue reading

Here´s an odd thing. A colleague at work, David Días, told me on Monday morning that he had caught a huge pike. When he told me how big it was I though he was just pulling my leg. He claimed that his fish weighed, wait for it…. 29 kilograms! Continue reading

I normally fish alone but today I was joined by Norman Smith and John Langridge and I could not have wished for better fishing companions. I had not met John before although we have corresponded by email a few times. He is one of these guys who eats, sleeps and breathes fishing and is the author of several fishing books. I have read one of these, Aphrodite´s carp, and highly recommend it, and I am very keen to read the others.

John decided to try bait fishing as well as fly fishing and went off to see if he could interest the fish in some luncheon meat. Norman and I just stuck to the flies. Continue reading

If you cast an eye over this blog from time to time you may remember a guy Called Harry Abbott. Harry lives here in Spain and we meet up from time to time to go fishing together. He is not only an accomplished fly fisherman, but a fellow float tuber, a bird watcher and wildlife enthusiast. He is also great fun and his après pêche “raconteuring” over a beer or two always winds up a day´s fishing perfectly.

For the last few years he has been setting off on fishing adventures in Thailand and New Zealand and sends me back pictures and updates from his travels. I try extremely hard to contain my jealousy! Continue reading

The Apes of Gibraltar

If you have ever been to Gibraltar you won´t need me to remind you of what a quirky place it is. It prides itself as being a little bit of Britain, complete with bobbies on the beat, big red post boxes,  BHS and Marks and Spencer on the main drag and plenty of pubs showing premiership football where you can sink a pint of London Pride. But then you look a little closer and you see people walking around in T shirts during a February afternoon and you hear the fusion of English and Spanish spoken by the locals. Look behind you and you will see, above the buildings, an enormous slab of Jurassic limestone piercing the blue sky. The air is full of the screeches of Mediterranean gulls and the northern coast of Morocco, a continent apart, is only separated from you by a slither of water. Continue reading