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Means fair or foul

Breeding season for us ‘week-end hatchery guys’, brings on some peculiar behaviour. We go fishing with toolboxes, brush-cutters, wire cages, cleaning equipment, poles, thermometers and the like. And on many trips we don’t get to fish at all. But we still have a lot of fun. While we catch most of our brood fish fairly, and on fly, it is silently acknowledged that to trap them is equally honourable. This requires a good fish trap in the feeder stream.   Fish trap building:    

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23 May 2013

A Photo tip for fishermen

So often we fish a piece of water that is not quite as clean as we would like it. Added to this, it seems that our cameras pick up the brown in the water well beyond levels that we experience out on the stream. The result is a set of photos to which your friends may visibly recoil, even if just a little, or perhaps the pictures will draw the odd remark. At the risk of misrepresenting the truth, here is a little tip to clean those pictures up, just a little.   Here is your original picture:  

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16 May 2013

Standing still

Many years ago, I used to fish stillwaters with a fellow by the name of Guy, who had bad knees.  I don’t know how bad the knees were. All I know is that when I was crouching in the tall grass or beside a bush at the water’s edge, he was standing tall, because it was uncomfortable for him to crouch. So I was at an advantage. I could take cover just a little more than he could. So the fish were less likely to see me, and I would catch more fish. Neat! Except that it didn’t work like

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10 May 2013

Waelcyrge

Waelcyrge is the Gaelic spelling of the word Valkyrie. And the Valkyries, are apparently winged figures of Anglo-Saxon mythology. They come swiftly over the battlefield after the dust has settled, and choose at random, the lucky souls that are destined to Valhalla (Heaven). And loosely linked to this, the Vikings may have brought to Britain when they invaded, the practice of planting Yew trees in their graveyards, as a means of linking the bodies below with Valhalla above. Yew trees still grow in English graveyards to this day.  The first Viking king of Britain was King Canute, who was famously

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4 May 2013

A sense of space: composing your fishing picture.

Forget the camera for now. Let’s just look at composing a picture in the countryside. Here we are experiencing the river running as a relatively thin thread through beautiful countryside. The angler is far off, and barely visible. He is diminutive in the large landscape, and that landscape is wide open, and it’s vastness is evident: In the picture above we lose the sense of high mountains. We cannot fully appreciate how high they are, and the degree to which they dominated the river valley that lovely morning. To achieve this, try orienting the picture the other way. In other

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28 April 2013

8 things to consider about sun gloves

I recently started wearing sun gloves when out fly-fishing. Here are my personal observations: 1. Sun protection. I suppose this has to be number one on the list. I started wearing them for this reason alone. I simply didn’t want my hands to look like my grandmother’s did, with large dark spots on the back, and with a leathery look, and regular little bleeding nicks. The gloves seem to do the job well, and considering that sun-cream washes off ones hands, the glove would be the way to go. We have harsh sun conditions here in South Africa, and one

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23 April 2013

The call of a crane

A kind and generous friend recently asked me to describe to him in words, the sound of a crowned crane. I suppose it was because I had recently done a short piece on cranes. Perhaps it was because he hasn’t heard a crane before, but on reflection, I think it had more to do with him setting me a writer’s challenge:   The sound of a crane comes on the wind. A wind that whisks through swaying grass, and moans off against the far hill, like air over an open bottle. A wind that briefly rattles the thousand  paper leaves

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22 April 2013

Going back

Once every two years we go back to the North Eastern Cape.   It’s not often enough, I know, but we figured, when we started this thing all those years ago, that we could sell every second year to wives and family. In fact we were confident that we could ensure the event would take place if we did it seldom enough. And we were right I suppose, because we have indeed been back every second year like clockwork.

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20 April 2013
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