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What the parrot said

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July 19, 2014

Today some bird told me that I was I was good looking. I was told this not just once but several times. This does not happen to me very often, as it happens, so I felt pretty flattered. More precisely I was called “guapo” the Spanish term for good looking, which is pretty much what you might expect here in rural Andalucía.

Things might have been even better if I had been called “guapo” by a human being but, like I said, it was a bird. My admirer was a red tailed parrot which, I understand, is also known of as an African Grey.

This particular bird was in a cage at a roadside service station on the A357. It had a pretty impressive repertoire which, in addition to “guapo,” included the greeting ¡hola! and I am sure it has a much broader vocabulary had we had time to become better acquainted. It was certainly well able to wolf whistle! View full article »

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Embalse de Guadalcacín

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July 18, 2014

I have fished this huge reservoir, the largest in Cadiz province, several times now, most recently with a little “band of brothers” consisting of myself, my son Leo and a few of his mates and, despite this, I came to realise I knew little enough about the reservoir itself.

I have since tried to make amends and what I have learnt is very interesting. For starters it is the water which has produced the heaviest bass recorded in Spain, a 4 kg whopper. This fish was taken in 2000 by a Malagueno. View full article »

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The Boys´Fishing Trip

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July 14, 2014

We have just returned from the Province of Cadiz, where we spent a couple of nights staying at a place called Tajo del Aguila on the shore of an enormous reservoir called Embalse de Guadalcacín.

The group consisted of me and my son Leo and three of his school buddies, Ryan Edwards, Damian Le Chat Lewis and Daniel Porter. Our aim was to see if we could catch a few black bass on the fly. Leo and Daniel had fished here before but both the reservoir and fly fishing were unknown to the others. View full article »

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A Brilliant Invention

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July 10, 2014

When I was a kid, at about the age when I felt my first stirrings of sexual awareness, I came across a rather curious object. It was a pen. It had a picture of a woman in a bathing suit on its side. The curious thing was that when the pen was held upright, as it would be in use, the woman´s bathing costume slid down revealing her naked figure beneath. As far as I was concerned, this was an invention as awe inspiring as any I could imagine. It was right up there with the great pyramids of Egypt and the hanging gardens of Babylon. The human imagination is capable of great things and the “swimming costume” pen was testimony to our creativeness. View full article »

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Fishing Report 5 July

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July 5, 2014

My kids tell me that we are living in the 21st century. Fair enough, I will have to take their word for it. And one of the benefits of living in these enlightened times, they tell me, is that our lives are enriched by technology.

I´ve noticed this myself. If you find yourself in a social situation everyone seems to have their head buried in some little hand held device checking emails, finding out about the bowel movements of their favourite celebrity on Twitter, or just surfing the web. Boring old farts like me, who like to regale fishing stories to whoever happens to be sitting nearby, have our work cut out for us. View full article »

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Murray Thompson´s Trout

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July 3, 2014

Murray Thompson owns a fishing hut up in the high tussock country of central Otago in New Zealand. I have stayed there on a few occasions and, if I could afford either option, which I can not, I would sooner stay in Murray´s  fishing hut than in the honeymoon suite at the Ritz. View full article »

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Fishing report of July 2

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July 2, 2014

It felt just a little bit odd today on the river. It was the first time I have fished alone for a little while and, although I enjoy the freedom this gives me, it has been fun to be out on the river with company. View full article »

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Fishing with Simon Thompson

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June 30, 2014

On Saturday morning I had a chance to spend some time on the river with Simon Thompson. Simon is a keen fly fisherman who normally fishes for sea trout and salmon and his home waters in the UK include the Eden, and the Ribble. He was staying in Fuengirola and keen to see a bit more of the Guadalhorce River.

The fishing was a little slow to be honest, and we caught only a few smallish fish before finally trying a new pool. Then our luck changed and Simon caught a lovely fish, the best of the day, just in the shallows where the current spilled into the pool. This was his biggest gipsy so far and I was delighted for him. I was lucky to get a decent fish myself shortly after. Both fish took smallish nymphs. View full article »

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Leo Graduates

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June 29, 2014

This blog thing has become something of a diary for me. It records not only my successes and failures on the river bank which, frankly, matter little to anyone else, but it also records other, more significant events.

One such event is the graduation of our son Leo from the English International College, the only school he has ever attended. This event, which took place last Friday, was the fifteenth “Speech Day” I have attended as a teacher but, of course, it was particularly significant not just for me but for his long-suffering mum, Catriona and his sister, Pippa.

The highlight was when he was presented with a book, the complete works of Shakespeare, which was signed by his teachers. The presentation was made by Robin Cousins OBE, the Olympic gold medallist ice skater and Dancing on Ice TV judge. I had a pretty good chat with Robin before the ceremony. He is a very nice guy. He brought his Olympic medal with him and doesn´t mind other people wearing it although he said he would never himself do this because he wants to recall that particular sensation as a unique memory. Fair enough. When the Director got his hands on the medal and put it around his neck we all figured that Cousins would never get the thing back again! View full article »

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Fishing with Paul Morgan

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June 25, 2014

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! View full article »

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