It sometimes appears that the world conspires to keep the simple pleasures of life at bay, or at least that is the way things were beginning to appear to me. Sunday was the first time in three weeks or so that I had a chance to get out to the river to see if I could trick a few fish into ingesting one of the simple little nymphs I tie up at home. View full article »
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Well, I guess I have been milking this TV thing long enough and this will be the last installment. Monday 28 April was the last day of filming and unfortunately I could not be there. While John and the TV crew had a final few hours on the river, I was back at work. View full article »
The third day of our filming allowed us to fish the Guadalhorce for the first time. The river had cleared overnight and things began to look good when I saw a nice carp feeding in the shallows on my way to meeting the boys for breakfast at Cártama Estación. There it was in the shallows beneath the iron bridge lowering its head and working though the mud leaving clouds of silt to work their way downstream. As far I was concerned that carp was a good omen. The river was clear. The fish were there for the taking. View full article »
The latest news from Ireland is that my nephew John Hogan has caught his first brown trout on a fly. His Dad sent me the news and his Mum sent me a photograph featuring John, his Dad Sean, and Meg the dog. View full article »
While I have been immersed in deluge of exam marking here in Spain, back in Ireland my old partners in crime, my brother Sean and Mark McCann have been doing what they do best – sinking pints and fly fishing for the elusive brown trout of Lough Arrow and Lough Sheelin.
Needless to say I am wracked with jealousy. The only mildly amusing moment I have had over the last few days occurred during the marking if the IB Biology when one candidate stated that the answer to a question was “That´s just the way things are. God works in mysterious ways!” View full article »
One of the unusual features of human mind is the curious interest we show in the behaviour and motivation of chickens. For instance I have lost count of the number of times people have asked me why the chicken crossed the road. And I have often been challenged to state what came first, the chicken or the egg?
The first question, the road one, has a large number of possible answers, each considered to be hilarious. The second question, about the egg, is supposed to entice us to stroke our chins in contemplation even though it is a pretty dumb question if you know anything about science. The most memorable answer that I can recall is the dismissive comment that a chicken is simply “an egg´s way of making another egg.” View full article »
Something happened yesterday right out of the blue and it cracked me up.
I was paying for some diesel at the service station. This can take a little while because I need to get a receipt to claim some tax back later. While this was going on I was looking at the characters queuing at the other till. One guy comes up to the till looking a little dishevelled and he said “here´s 20 euros for the unleaded I just put into the Lamborghini at pump number four.” View full article »
Not a million miles from where I live there is a fishing tackle business which includes an extraordinary museum. We made a visit here during our second day of filming for Jara y Sedal. There is heaps of fishing gear here but it is the exhibited items of tackle that really steal the show. View full article »
There is a pool on the river where a friend of mine, Barry Anderson, caught a shed-load of barbel a few weeks ago, some nice ones too. It is not very big. It is a hole really but I thought it might not be in the best taste to write “Barry´s Hole” as a title to this post in case I got a fat lip when we next meet.
The pool is small and, truth be told, I have known about it for a few years and managed to extract a few barbel from it, though none of the bigger ones I have seen in there. Those big boys will ignore a nymph and just cruise around nonchalantly while their repeated refusals send your heart rate through the roof. Fly fishing is supposed to be relaxing but, Christ, there is nothing relaxing about seeing a bigger barbel than you have ever landed, swim up to take a look at your nymph and then turning away again! View full article »
The second day of filming began in a very civilised way with a pitufo mixto and a café con leche in Éstacion de Cártama. The film crew were looking a bit weary, no doubt after a late night (it was feria time in Cártama). Guillermo, one of the producers, looked decidedly bleary-eyed through the fog of his cigarette smoke as he tried to kick start his day with a strong coffee. When he finally got to talking it was simply to express the view that it might have been good to have had one less beer the previous night and maybe one more hour of sleep. I guess many of us know how that feels. View full article »
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