A mind-rest: 60 seconds of a flyfisher’s sunset
A mind-rest: 60 seconds of a flyfisher’s sunset
21 September 2020
Sneaky!
It was the 18th April 1999. Guy and I were fishing the uMngeni on Brigadoon, on what my fishing log describes as “Blacks Water”. That was the section of river above the confluence of the Furth Stream, and at some time not long past, it had been the farm of John Black, and if memory serves, Derek Fly had bought it or taken it over, and its length was now added to the beat known to us as Brigadoon. At that time all the riverside lands from the Furth confluence up to Picnic Pool were planted to maize, and the
14 June 2020
Making my way West to Winter
Making my way west, away from the brutal hissing, rattling black highway, puts me in the folds of soft hills. Soft hills decked in the ochres, fawn, brown, yellow, maple orange and bare sticks of winter’s onset. The only hard lines are the escarpment, where the berg presses against the sky in a stark outline. It is an outline of a boundary against which we retreat. It reminds me of my prized dorm bed at boarding school, that fit in a corner against the walls of the basement boiler, and was warm in winter. So too, the berg is a
5 June 2020
Pewter and Charcoal: Colour
The final post in a series exploring black and white images of the flyfisher’s world. This one takes us back to an appreciation of colour
20 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal: Solitude, Middleton and Gierach
exploring the writing of Harry Middleton and John Gierach, together with a B & W image taken on the uMngeni River
16 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal, Giants and the Yorkshire Dales
The writing of Laurence Catlow, and a contrast between the mountains of Yorkshire and the Drakensberg in South Africa
14 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal: a little Brown and Catlow
The boyhood joy of small Brown Trout, the writing of Laurence Catlow, and the rich texture of black and white imagery
10 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal: Gierach and conservation perfection
Exploring the writing of John Gierach, and a flyfishers obsession with stream restoration
7 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal: La Branche and my hausberg
Exploring the writing of George La Branche and the concept of a flyfisher’s hausberg
4 May 2020
Pewter and Charcoal, Lyons and a lone angler
“Several times she has fallen asleep during my diatribes and I know perhaps the largest truth of this business of angling: it is private, and teaches privateness and the quiet satisfaction of something sweet and full inside” Wrote Nick Lyons in Seasonable Angler. Lyons wrote a column by that same name in the magazine “Flyfisherman” for 22 years . Back when our currency had some value, I used to subscribe to it, and always read that column first. I have enjoyed his writing ever since. I think this image captures the essence of privateness, quiet satisfaction et al:
2 May 2020