This is my cousin with her first ever fish on a fly. I had the great privilege to be able to assist her in its capture. The fish took the fly about 8 m from the bank, on a day which was so windy that to cast you only needed to hold your rod in the air and let the wind do the work.

I also caught a fish that day, not quite as big as her one, which was similarly close to the bank. It took literally within 10 seconds of my first cast touching down, just over the edge of a thick weedbed growing from the shore.