Well, it’s only another couple of weeks (if that) till the end of the trout season. It’s a shame as the last couple of weeks have been pretty bad weather wise so I have not gotten any fishing done. In the morning I am going with a friend to attack another river, not the Kelvin however… we are going a little further afield.
I have missed going fishing the last wee while…..hell if the truth be told I’ve been like a caged thirsty animal with a drink of water just out of reach. All I seem to do is think about casting a dry fly over a rising trout or just plain searching the water with the anticipation of a possible take. I don’t know about how you fall asleep but my thoughts are full of bubbling streams and hooking tiny brownies and then slipping them back.
I was thinking the other day about why I go fishing. Especially fly fishing. It has something to do with the concentration involved……it just seems to blank everything else out….you know what I mean??? Like my 89 year old Grandfather loves his garden…..it is his hobby. He tells us about when my Grandmother was still alive and she would notice that he had had a hard time at work or something was on his mind and she would say “you know, that little corner over their, it could do with a little flower” and he would go and do it. It took his mind off his problems. I think everyone should have something in their lives that they can do that will take their mind off their problems. Fly fishing takes my mind off any problems that I have. Their is something about the concentration that is needed to cast and recast to a 8inch brownie that is laying just next to a submerged log that has overhanging branches that centres your mind……and when you catch it…..well the satisfaction is soothing…..and if you don’t……hell there will be another one just around the corner and you can always come back for that one later!!
I dont know when I first wanted to fish although one of my earliest memories is chasing bees around the garden with a pole with a piece of string and a flower on the end…strange eh? Maybe its a hunting thing!! My mum n dad (now deceased a few years) did their best to encourage me but they did not really know much about fishing. I went with an uncle a few times (a confirmed bait fisher and still is) whom I learned the basics and then was introduced to the fly by a family friend. That was the person who taught me the basics of fly tying as well. I mostly fished lochs and reservoirs from the bank and did not really know how to fish rivers properly with the fly until I fished the Kelvin. I fished the River Leven for a few years…not with the fly though…with worms and maggots…not static lining though…still caught hee haw!!! When I first started fishing the fly in the Kelvin I didn’t have a clue, basically it was downstream and across in the riffles….which caught me a surprising amount of fish. If someone was totally new to fly fishing then I would recommend this to get a feel of a few fish. But then everyone recommends the way they first discovered how to catch fish don’t they??
Anyway, where was I …….oh yes….thinking about fishing, falling asleep thinking about fly fishing……hell… I like messing about in rivers as well. I like nature, I like seeing kingfishers, otters, trout and trees for that matter……we all know how I feel about trees 🙂 I have already said that my parents are deceased, I suppose one of the things that I enjoy is contemplating about what life would have been like if they were still alive (they both died young) ….its that clearness of thought that comes when you are just sitting having a rest before you move on to the next spot.
When Im not going fishing….or I cant go fishing what with the weather n all……. the next best thing I have found is mucking about making my little web site and writing in this little blog. The site and blog started as a fishing diary for myself…somewhere to put up pictures of fish that I have caught or situations that I have been in. I love memories……I hate forgetting things… not very good when my memory is like Autumn leaves in a stream.
I always find it amazing at the amount of people that visit and the reasons that some of them visit (you should see my logs….and no i wont tell you how many 🙂 ) Im also thrilled at the people ive met through the blog….from the guys I go fishing with regulary to all the people that i email and feel like I know to the guy i run into from time to time and who gave me a lift home one night (you know who you are)!!
Anyway, I had better get to sleep as I have an early start in the morning ……getting picked up at 0900. There is also a good possibilty of a grayling as well…..it would be nice if I caught one…I have still to lose myself to that “Lady of the Stream”