Thursday 17 May 2018

Savour every day like its your last



There is no doubt that if ever I was given the chance of starting again in life then becoming a fly fisherman is one thing that would not be changed .  I am hard pushed to think of anything other than my family which has given me such pleasure during my life .  It isn't always easy and doesn't always bring you the success that you want but it is always gratifying .  I wrote a piece recently in Fly fishing and Fly tying magazine taking a humorous look at growing old and fly fishing ,  one of the serious points in the writing was how the pleasure gained from fishing has become more holistic as I get older .  The pleasure coming more and more from the whole experience ,  the catch whilst important is not the be all and end all .  




The places that I am privileged to fish are in themselves places of true beauty .  Peace, tranquillity and nature combine to provide me with a place where the everyday stresses are banished .  I know I am fortunate that the corner of the country where I live is a little less congested and a lot less unspoilt than so many parts of the UK .  But for many of us when we are fishing the "place " where we are has little to do with the physical surroundings .  



I visited my Dad the other evening as I do a few times a week.  He is nearly 90 and due to ill health is in a nursing home .  My interest in angling was stirred by him and also encouraged .  Sadly he is increasingly frail and struggling with Alzheimer's. Recently we chatted about fishing and it saddens him that he can not recall so many of the incidents I remind him of from when we fished together .  He said to me "Savour every day like its your last" You will never know when your last days fishing could be and you damn well will want to remember it.  A sobering thought but I guess none of us knows what lurks around the corner. 



Dad was a coarse fisherman , his favoured quarry was the roach and I think he always thought I had betrayed my roots by becoming a "posh" fly fisherman .   I have to say that there is nothing coarse about fishing for Roach its a fish that demands a high level of skill and delicate tackle.  He always loved fishing in rivers , he went to a commercial still water once many years ago that day he caught the biggest roach he had every caught and also the biggest perch but he never wanted to go to one again . There was no wildlife and it was like fishing in a bloody goldfish bowl was his considered opinion.  I showed him the picture above , ( ipads are great for that ) and I was pleased to say that he did say it was a river he could enjoy .   He also asked if the bluebells were out last week and was there plenty of wildlife around the stream.  I guess old Dad understands about the holistic thing as well.  






Tuesday 1 May 2018

Worth the Wait




They do say that is something is really worth having then its worth waiting for .  Well this last month I got the phone call I have been waiting for for over eight years ,  a place had become available in the small fishing club on a beautiful North Yorkshire stream.  This isn't a expensive club but what it has a few miles of the most pristine of wild streams in some of the prettiest surroundings anyone could wish for .






Tree lined and pretty much unspoilt ,  challenging fishing in a pristine stream for wild fish what more could you want... 







My first day was on a work party , an ideal way to meet some of the other members , have a chat and generally relish the thoughts of warm summer evenings here with rising fish,,,



I know it sounds weird after waiting so many years but knowing that the river is there for me now whenever I wish meant that yes I needed to fish but I also knew that if I couldn't catch one on the dry then I wasn't going to bother,  now it was bloody cold and I hadn't seen a rising fish all day .  My back was hurting and my dodgy knee was playing up.  But I did want one fish .  Well after wandering and watching I saw a rise and after a few casts with a little cdc IOBO.  This was the result.  Small but a definite harbinger of things to come. Roll on Summer .......






Wykeham lakes Scarborough

 I have just read that the above fishery is going under new management ,  Great news its somewhere that I have fished in the past but my rec...