Latest Entries »

Black Bass at Concepción

Filed under: Books and stuff, Fishing reports — Leave a comment
July 24, 2015

It has been a very hot summer here so far. It can seem sometimes as though opening the front door is like opening the door of a blast furnace. Outside, our dog Brutus is panting away. He lies in the shade but it is not  cool even there. Brutus is a campo dog and he has never been in the habit of being indoors but even he will sneak in just a little and lie just inside the front door where the tiles on the floor are a little cooler.

The heat has also put the brakes on fishing to a large extent. The river is warm and the fish are in the same kind of torpid mood as Brutus, the other dogs and the rest of us. Where it is deep enough on the reservoirs the bass will leave the shallows for much of the day and early morning and late evening are likely to be the optimum times to catch them. View full article »

Read More & Comment

A Monster from British Columbia

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know, Natural history — 5 Comments
July 20, 2015

Yesterday I received a short message by email and a single attached photograph. It came all the way from British Columbia and showed the irrepressible John Langridge holding onto the tail of a fish he had just landed.  This fish, a white sturgeon, was about the weight of me, my wife Catriona and our two teenage kids put together!

I have only a few details about the capture of the fish. It was taken in the Fraser River which is the longest river in British Columbia and took 45 minutes to subdue. It towed the boat along as if it were a dog being taken for a walk and was eventually landed a full mile from where it was hooked. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Dry River

Filed under: Books and stuff, Published fishing writing — 8 Comments
July 15, 2015

A few years ago an unusual thing happened on the Guadalhorce, my local river. The river dried up completely over nearly its entire length and there was, as a result, a great loss of fish. I visited the river regularly during this period and saw the river shrink down to some isolated pools which were alive with struggling fish. Later even these pools dried out and the fish they held died in their hundreds.

The river thins each summer (it is thinning now) but it usually continues to flow, albeit with reduced volume, until the autumn rains arrive and breathe new life into it. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Me and glamorous young women

Filed under: Folks I know, Other bits and bobs — Leave a comment
July 11, 2015

There are not a whole lot of perks in my line of work but occasionally I get to hang out with attractive and intelligent young ladies. Before this can happen, of course, I need to be tidied up a bit myself. I am routinely fumigated, showered and put into a suit. Once a year they even parade me around in an academic gown ask me to pretend that lofty thoughts floating are around in my head.

As if! View full article »

Read More & Comment

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Filed under: Flies and fly tying — Leave a comment
July 10, 2015

Fly fishing and Fly Tying monthly is running a fly tying league and entrants can submit flies into either the “open” or the “novice” category. This month published pictures of some of the winning entries.

I have been tying flies on and off for more than 20 years and I have to admit that my flies look absolutely crap compared to those produced even the “novice” category. The judges are looking for evidence of tying skill, a sense of proportion, a neat head, a tidy hackle and that kind of thing. If they ever saw anything that came from my vice they would probably laugh. Or maybe cry. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Barracuda

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Folks I know, Natural history — Leave a comment
July 7, 2015

John Langridge has been catching some barracuda in the Indian Ocean these last few days. They are creatures of such menace that they have carved a certain reputation for themselves.

I have never caught barracuda myself but I did have the chance to see one firsthand, in its own element, back in the days when I did a lot of scuba diving. We were in the Red Sea and I was partnered with the divemaster guy on a “livaboard” dive boat. We had spent some time suspended just off a vertical rock face that plummeted into the abyss when the divemaster fella beckoned for me to join him in the open water. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Up to his old tricks

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports, Folks I know — Leave a comment

We have family here at the moment and I have been unable to slip quietly away to the river for a bit of “psychological readjustment.” The result of this is that I have been unusually grumpy for the last couple of days. The weather hash´t helped. It has been punishingly hot and so we “retreated” indoors for much of the day watching Wimbledon on the telly.

While we have all been competing for the most comfortable spot on the sofa to watch Andy Murray, or arguing about whose turn it is to do the washing up, others have been “living the dream” and headed out to sea to do battle with giant fish. Last week Steven Lawler reported on a great big tuna a neighbour of his caught out on a charter from Sotogrande. He tells me that it took three of them an hour and a half to finally land it and they estimated its weight at 200kg. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Fishing report of 28 June

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports — 2 Comments
June 29, 2015

I reckon God must be getting old. Old folks often feel the chill a little and like to turn the central heating up and that certainly seems to be happening here. The weather people say we are experiencing a little heat wave which should pass in a few days. Maybe. I figure it is just God twiddling the dials that adjust the thermostat.

On Saturday morning I collected Leo from a friend´s house in Fuengirola and took him to the river to see if the fish were up and about. They were, but they were sluggish, as was Leo himself after a night on the beer and just a few hours of sleep. View full article »

Read More & Comment

Feckin flies

Filed under: Fish and fishing, Fishing reports — 2 Comments
June 21, 2015

I spent Sunday afternoon and evening with Steven Lawler on the Guadalhorce river. Steven has recently been out in Bosnia fishing for trout and grayling and he showed me some of the tiny nymphs and dries used to catch them in gin-clear water. He said he figured I would like Bosnia and after listening to tales of his adventures there I must admit that it sounds like my kind of place.

We had no prospects of catching trout or grayling on the Guadalhorce of course but were looking forward to catching some barbel and maybe, if the gods smiles on us, a carp or two. View full article »

Read More & Comment

May the odds be ever in your favour

Filed under: Fish and fishing — Leave a comment

I don´t know if you have read The Hunger Games or seen the films they made of these books. Pippa is a big fan and dragged me off to the cinema to watch them. I won´t ruin the plot but the story involves young people meeting untimely and often violent ends, often at the hands of others of a similar age.

This is an interesting and disturbing theme and breaks the Hollywood mould somewhat. After all the ones who get killed in the movies are usually “baddies” and, franky, we are all perfectly happy to see the end of them.

In the Hunger Games a bunch of kids are selected and thrown into some huge arena where they have to survive and kill one another until only one remains. It is the kind of thing that the Romans would have loved but with a few futuristic elements thrown in for good measure.

When these poor unfortunate kids are selected for the games by the “Capitol” they often hear the catch phrase “may the odds be ever in your favour” View full article »

Read More & Comment