My hold on sanity may seem pretty tenuous at times but I take comfort in the thought that nearly everyone in the whole world seems to be completely off their trolley. Don´t even get me started talking about Trump or the delusional numbskulls who put him in office. If I get started on that we´ll be here all day. Instead, let´s head off to Japan to see the latest evidence that, as a species, we have walked right up to the edge of the cliff of rational thought and are peeking into the abyss. Quite a few have jumped already. View full article »
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You should never pass up the opportunity to put on a pair of wellies and stand in a puddle. If you don´t believe me just ask a kid, any kid. They may not be able to explain what makes it so much fun to be simply splashing around. They just know that it is. Kids are wise that way. For me there is something about being partially immersed in a muddy liquid while your feet are warm and dry that is very satisfying, Christ knows why. View full article »
Many people would dismiss fly fishing as the arcane preoccupation of a bunch of oddballs who really ought to know better. It seems pointless and silly to do what I love to do whenever a half chance arises: wander off to the river, spend a few hours creeping around the banks, catch a few fish, put them back and then go home again.
It is nevertheless true to say that for many of us such an affliction exists. We can´t shake it off and nor do we want to. View full article »
It´s a long time since I caught a carp on a dry fly but the chance presented itself a couple of weeks back on Concepción. The fishing for black bass seemed pretty dead and so I paddled my float tube over to the river mouth of the Río Verde. There are usually a few barbel and carp hanging around there and I thought I might be able to sneak up on one or two. View full article »
I guess there are a lot of reasons you might have for heading off to the river for a few hours. Maybe you want a bit of peace and quiet, maybe you need a blast of fresh air, or to stretch your legs and get some useful exercise without working up a sweat. Yesterday I went to the river to shake words out of my head.
The previous night I performed a couple of stints of standup at a school fund raising show, each of about 20 minutes duration and had managed to finally deliver scripts that had been floating around in my head for ages. Prior to this I had been performing these only to Brutus, our ancient dog, as we took our daily walk around the campo (the other three dogs tend to run around like crazy and don´t listen to anything). View full article »
You can do worse than spend a day afloat with a few fellow fishing nuts. I have done this many times on the big limestone loughs in Ireland with my brother Sean and our friend Mark McCann. When the fishing has been slow, as it often is, we have enjoyed the kind of verbal exchanges that only a bunch of inveterate bullshitters can provide. View full article »
Every now and then the fish on my local river are prepared to cut you some slack. Maybe they feel a little collective guilt for the times in the past when they have spurned all your offerings and sent you home scratching your head. Luckily for me yesterday was one of those days. View full article »
On the first day of October I was fortunate enough to spend a few hours fishing the upper Guadalquivir with Steven Lawler and Keith Baxter under the expert tutelage of Antonio Lloreda. The fish here will rise to dries but the most consistent way to catch them, particularly in the earlier part of the day, is on little nymphs and it was a real eye opener to see how effective this approach can be. View full article »
The other day an email arrived from my brother Sean. He was not full of news but a means of sharing with myself and our old fishing buddy Mark McCann, a photograph of a particularly beautiful trout caught on Lough Sheelin. View full article »
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