With the onset of our spring rains having occurred in some places and not in others, the weather is foremost on the mind of the river fishermen. In fact our conversations are just a little obsessive at the moment. This is why:
I have been tying along a particular theme recently, that being nymphs with a V-Rib body and a tungsten bead. On this one I was focusing on getting a glowing translucence in the body: Place a 2.5mm black tungsten bead on a #14 or #16 nymph hook. Tie in a rough base (for grip) of bright yellow silk (70 denier used here) Tie in a tail of natural blonde squirrel tail, and use the tag end to build up the thorax a little , so securing the bead. Tie in a small bunch of cock pheasant tail fibres as
The fishing club that I belong to has a very efficient web based booking system. It is all very slick. You log on with a password, tick little boxes, and when you are done it sends you an automated e-mail. Very functional. But back in the day, we had to deal with people! One club had a truly dear lady, whom one phoned at set times in the evening. She chatted away, and got to know each of the regular club members, at least in an “over the phone” kind of way. As a high school kid, my car owning
In Thomas McGuane’s wonderful book of the same name he writes “For the ardent fisherman, progress is toward the kinds of fishing that are never productive in the sense of the blood riots of the hunting-and-fishing periodicals.” That is a deep thought, and one that makes me feel a little better. Clearly I am progressing, because I am not catching a whole pile of fish! Of course I would like to catch some better sized fish, or a few more of them, but I will bow graciously to this “progress” that has been bestowed on me. The truth be told,
These things have started getting up my nose again. [vimeo 105912879 w=500 h=281] Anglers curse from Andrew Fowler on Vimeo.