Category: Folks I know


Mayfly time

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
June 28, 2018

My brother Sean and our close friend Mark McCann head off fishing the mayfly every year on Lough Arrow and it is one of my few regrets about living in Spain and working as a teacher that I am unable to join them. I do however insist on getting a full report and Sean invariably provides an account in his own inimitable style. Mr McCann has also contributed to the cause this year and I have therefore, in the finest tradition of plagiarism, stolen their words and pictures, without their knowledge or consent, and include them here for us all to enjoy.

 

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Frank the mountain man

Filed under: Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
June 24, 2018

I was in Bavaria last week with a school group and met a very interesting chap. His name is Frank. He has a surname too but I don´t know what it is. Frank taught our students how to rock climb on a climbing wall outside the hostel. Frank is no spring chicken. We guessed his age at something greater than 60, maybe a good bit more, but he was fit as a fiddle and there wasn´t an ounce of fat on his wiry frame. Continue reading →

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Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Monthly

Filed under: Flies and fly tying, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs, Published fishing writing — 2 Comments
June 18, 2018

Every now and then I send off a bit of writing to Fly Fishing and Fly Tying Monthly in the hope they may decide to publish it. If they do accept my little article I get a modest remuneration that, as it happens, almost exactly equals the cost of an annual subscription. So, the way I see it, if I get one article published each year I get to read the best magazine out there (the editor may be reading this!) for free. Continue reading →

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News from the river

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
May 19, 2018

It was very nice to meet up with Simon Thompson on Wednesday evening and to spend a little time with him on the river. Work and other commitments made it a pretty brief visit but we managed a couple of fish between us and Simon was out again on Friday and had some more.

Today I was at the river again and had a mighty tussle with a carp. I had been given the cold shoulder by a bunch of carp on this stretch of the river a little while back and felt that I had a score to settle. Continue reading →

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New boots

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
May 13, 2018

My neoprene fishing boots have seen better days. They are full of rips and tears. In places they seem to be hanging on by a thread. Thinking about it, my neoprene chest waders are just as bad. I took these waders on an outing to Concepción reservoir after work on Friday and it turns out that, despite my best efforts to patch them up, they have nearly as many holes as my landing net. When I finally dragged my arse out my float tube after three hours casting to largely indifferent black bass, my legs looked like water balloons and the water sloshing around inside the waders was waist high. Continue reading →

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Out on the river with Paul Reddish

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Flies and fly tying, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
April 21, 2018

I have just come back from the river after spending a very fine afternoon fishing with Paul Reddish. Paul is excellent company and is a very accomplished fly fisherman. Today we were accompanied by Paul´s wife Fiona and her sister Shona who is over from Australia. Continue reading →

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The view from the top

Filed under: Folks I know, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 2 Comments
January 24, 2018

On Saturday a bunch of us went on a long walk that took us to the top of a mountain called La Concha. All told, we covered about 17km over pretty unforgiving terrain, often in single file. I suppose you should work on your fitness before such an undertaking but I thought it best to prepare by sitting on the sofa with my father in law and watching Bear Grylls on the telly!

Bear Grylls tells us that drinking urine is a convenient substitute for coffee when out in the wilderness and there is nowhere to plug in a kettle (and of course it has no caffeine!) and that eating rabbit droppings is just a simple question of mind over matter: just pop them in your mouth and imagine they´re maltesers! Continue reading →

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Fishing program link

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 1 Comment
January 14, 2018

The Spanish TV program that featured John Langridge and myself fishing on the Guadalhorce was aired a little while back and I put a link on the blog to allow people to see it. That link appears to have been deactivated in some way but Colin McLachlan tells me that it is now up and running once again. Here it is if you would like to have a look:

http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/jara-y-sedal/jara-sedal-barbos-del-guadalhorce/4310751/

Please let me know if you try it and it doesn´t work. Assuming it does I hope you enjoy it!

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The program features gypsy barbel fishing in Malaga´s Río Guadalhorce.

 

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Barbel and Baubles

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Natural history, Other bits and bobs — 4 Comments
December 30, 2017

I don´t know about you but I´ve spent the Christmas period sitting on my arse with my feet up on the coffee table. I noticed that some idiot left an open box of Quality Street lying around. They won´t do that again in a hurry!

This shameful self-indulgence is tolerated and even encouraged at this time of year and usually acts as a catalyst to sign up to healthy new year´s resolution like marathon running, cross-channel swimming, mountain climbing or at least taking the dogs for a walk. Continue reading →

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Meet the family

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — 7 Comments
December 28, 2017

One of the great benefits of the blog, as far as I´m concerned, is that it has introduced me to a new extended family made up of other fly fishermen and like-minded souls. Many live overseas and have been in touch from time to time. Others I have had a chance to meet up with in person, often on the river bank. Continue reading →

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