If you know the Río Grande at all you may well know about a stretch of water I call the “Goat” pool. It is a relatively deep pool and fish remain there throughout the year, even in high summer when much of the rest of the river pretty much dries out. If you are looking upstream the left bank gives easy access but if you go stomping up to the river you will put everything down. The opposite bank is quite elevated and leads up to a goat farm. You can sit on an enormous rock here and look down. The water is deep there and, chances are, there will be fish swimming around right below you. View full article »
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My wife has X ray eyes. She can take one look at me and see right into my soul. She can see through anyone but not as well as she can see through me. There is no point lying to her and I can forget trying to keep any secrets. She knows the thoughts that rattle around in my head better than I do.
So she was not surprised that, when I said I might take a look at the river this morning, on the way back from Málaga, I did a little more than see how the river was clearing after heavy rain. I disappeared fishing. View full article »
Málaga seems to be underwater at the moment. The news here is all about flooding and rivers bursting their banks and social media is full of images and videos of people being rescued by helicopter, of flood water charging though urban streets, flooded underpasses, water cascading down into the metro system in Málaga, and of cars and buses immersed in water. There has been at least one fatality so far. We have largely escaped damage ourselves but others have not been so lucky. View full article »
So you think scuba divers are cool? Maybe you visualize a diver as some sexy neoprene-clad temptress who unzips her wetsuit a little, shakes her hair and says “Wow that was great! I really get a kick out of hand-feeding those giant groupers! And l just love the way those huge manta rays glide by like enormous birds!” View full article »
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 »
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 »
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