- end of a three day migraine! I hope anyway! #
Powered by Twitter Tools
|
|
|
Powered by Twitter Tools This picture was actually sent to me by a chap called Tommy – he photographed these weird long white worm like things sprouting from the river – like him I have absolutely no idea what they are – they were nowhere near any pipes etc.  Wiggly wiggly worm? Anyway – after a brief email exchange Paul was dispatched to checkout weird white long things – he has not got back to me yet – when he does I will let you know his findings. If he starts acting funnier we will know he is an alien. To see all of the tenuous fishing post selection you can click here. It started at the start of the year as an attempt to post a picture a week which had a tenuous link to fishing for 52 weeks – due to me being a bit shite I often missed a few weeks and then had to catch up somehow. Only having a few weeks to go until 52 is kinda scary! I really enjoy having a fishing blog – you may have noticed this over the years! I enjoy it so much I recommend everyone has one – because of the success of Urban Fly Fisher everyone at one point appeared to want to create a website dedicated to the Kelvin 🙂 When I look back over the last half dozen years I have gained not just a collection of words utilising grammatical errors, poor punctuation aided by dodgy photos – it is more the knowledge and friendships I have made because of them that mean the most! Of course some people say I am an evil self publicist who is a right shady bastard but one tries to pay them no heed! #grin# You see, there is something essential about having fishing pals – I was not blessed with any buddies that fish as I picked my rod back up after the hedonism of my youth. I have gained all my fishing buddies through writing Urban Fly Fisher- and some of the guys I met then went on to meet each other and become good friends and of course now fish together often forgetting to let me know they hauling them in somewhere altogether!
The online fishing world in Glasgow (and surrounding areas) is a small one – everyone knows everyone else and there is always someone who is willing to meet up for a fish – especially if you are a fly fishing novice – I think it is great! Some say I only fish with people so there is a buffer between me and the cows and there may unconsciously be an element of truth to that however there is also another reason. You see – the problem is you really cannot learn how to fly fish from a book alone – or a website or forum for that matter! Sure on a forum you can ask a question and someone can give you a long concise answer however you will still probably only get 20% of what they are saying as really you have got to see, feel and experience the answer for you to understand it – this is why having real live fishing buddies are essential – to share knowledge and experience.
When I fish with a pal I always dedicate some time to watching them fish – it is nice to see how someone else will approach a situation and it is just nice to see your buddy catching a fish – there is something nice about pointing out a rising fish to a pal and watching him catch it. Yes – the internet can be kind to you as long as you don’t act like a total tool – I see guys all the time acting like totals tanks on the internet – yea sure it is all very funny at the time however the people they are acting the arse towards are the people that they will want to try and engage as fishing buddies. Result = a life of having no fishing buddies and consequently not learning from the experience that they can teach you. Of course you are unable to get a lift anywhere as well – obviously nobody posts on forums there favourite spots either! Like I say writing urban fly fisher is great fun – apart from when someone told me I was fatter in real life than I looked online in front of a couple of hundred folk – thanks buddy – that has now started people commenting on my weight at every available opportunity – “you’ve lost a fair bit of weight” – thanks, that’s what happens when you are under pressure to be an online fishing sex god – I am heading towards middle age with the youngsters snapping at the heels!
Anyhoo – get out there, be nice and ask questions – with a bit of luck you will meet some lovely folk who will improve your fishing no end – enjoy your pals company and take the time to learn something every time you head out with them. Think about it – when was the last time you learnt something from a pal? Let me know in the comments! Time to get the old vise out for the Winter – I fully intend on visiting the Milngavie Fly Tyers again this year if I can find the time the odd Thursday night. Been flicking through my books on fly tying and always find this one a joy..
(the image is an affiliate link to Amazon which means I get a bung if you buy a copy) I somehow managed to get my hands on a signed copy a couple of years ago – a chap in the states visited A.K.Best at his home and got him to sign a copy for me – he also gave me some flies in a rather nice box. If you are new to tying or even not so new it gives handy practical tips on almost every aspect of fly tying technique – not patterns – pure how to tie flies! It is a great book with huge pictures which shows a lot of detail. Enjoy! The clocks went back on Saturday night meaning I was up even earlier on Sunday – I was instructed to leave the house with the boy so decided that a trip to the Salmon ladder in Milngavie was in order – let me stop you right there before you get all excited n’ stuff – I never seen any Salmon!  A distinct lack of the silver stuff! I mean – you would have thought I would have, the burn was high and had a good amount of water coming over the falls – it was only when I walked down the burn did I notice that even though it was at a good height it was not in spate or anything – more “just a good height”
 No expense spared - thanks East Dunbartonshire Council... It was weird – I mean there was a fair amount of water coming down but when I walked down the burn (I was actually headed to a play park) I reckoned it was up a foot..  Up a foot - what is that white stuff? The extra water created some lovely deep looking pools and long dry fly ripples – the water was gin clear as well. It reminded me of when I first fished the Allander when I was about 12 or 13 – my Mother and Father had took me down to fish it – I was using a worm and the river was in full spate – I got talking to another boy who got a take and it took him under the bank – I was amazed – I think at this point I had till never actually caught anything – it was probably one of my fist times out fishing with an outfit that had been bought from a catalogue – it came with a swim feeder! Anyway – after the park I headed back to the fish pass to not see any fish again..  They could have been sly Ninja fish... The boy dropped his balloon in the river and I pretended to try and catch it in case anyone was watching – secretly I wanted to see it go down the falls but the damn thing bobbed about at the top – we threw stones at it however it refused to burst – we cruised off to a local DIY store and I spent the afternoon putting a new roof on my shed.
Powered by Twitter Tools Some more photos – why not!
The last day of the season is upon us – not the proper trout one – the funky salmon one!
Just ten weeks to go until the new year – aye, from these on in it will be an uphill struggle until the new season is upon us!
|
|
