As Christmas rolls around again, I get to thinking. Thinking about how wildly unpredictable, frustratingly unpredictable, the weather is from a flyfishing point of view. Just yesterday I rang the metaphorical bell after a last business meeting of the year, and took a re-look at what was going on outside the window. The weather app had suggested a frontal storm at midday, followed by that golden period of humid, cloudy weather which one sometimes gets between the storm and the mist and drizzle which follows it. That golden period of gloomy light, mixed with patches of brightness, but all under a dome of seemingly imminent heavy rain. By the time I was having my morning coffee, the Norwegian prediction had changed to one of heavy and incessant rain. My fishing buddy’s sad reply that he wouldn’t be able to join me, had the sting taken out of it. I wouldn’t be heading out either. But as I looked out that window, I saw no storm at all, and the heavy dome, cloudy-bright-dull thing unfolding in front of my eyes. Like a fool, I believed the Norwegians and didn’t follow my gut, which was a screaming at me to go fishing.
Today is going to be heavy rain all day. According to the Norwegians. Thus far, they are dead wrong again, with that cloudy dome of perfection persisting, and I have gone and made other plans. Damn it! The rivers are clear too. In fact when I crossed the Inzinga on Monday it was downright low, and most certainly clean.
So assuming the Norwegians are going to remain dead wrong, the rivers will still be clear tomorrow, and I will be on the water. If I look at this time last year, and if history repeats itself, I could be cowering from some dangerous lightning, and a tributary could be a raging torrent of chocolate of the not so sweet type. But if I can get in a fish or two beforehand, the diesel will have been worth it. Better still if I can get in some photos.
And speaking of photos:
With my budget having allowed me to replace my DSLR after a year or more’s hiatus, I am just loving being behind the lens again. I know my phone takes great pictures, but this is just so much better! My creative side is beginning to feel nourished again, and strangely it has served to put me behind the keyboard too. I may just get back into submitting writing and photos to some of those magazines. That’ll be fun. But not as much fun as venturing out under the freedom of holiday skies, with a fly rod and a camera. Venturing out into the searing heat, lightning, drizzle, wind, and mud in search of the experiences which mid-summer invariably holds for us, and are so sweetly amplified by the freedom of a mind which comes with the end-of-year break.
So don’t expect to find me in a shopping mall.
