Monday: | Andy Dear |
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Tuesday: | Paul Arden |
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Wednesday: | Chris Avery |
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Thursday: | Martyn White |
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Friday: | Mika Lappalainen |
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Saturday: | Viking Lars |
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Sunday: | Tracy&James |
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Gates
Monday, 11 December 2023
Every now and again I have strange little insights about the peripheral experiences of fishing, and the effects they have had on my adult life. Most recently it was a random epiphany about the role that "Gates" had on me as a young man. I know that sounds a bit strange, but bear with me....there are deeper metaphors and meanings here.
Wet Season fun
Tuesday, 5 December 2023
I’ve always liked the weather. I think as a fly fisherman that this is important. If you don’t like being outside in the rain, then fly fishing probably isn’t for you! Just being outside, no matter what the conditions, always makes me feel alive. And it sure is pretty damned wet over here at the moment.
How to get things moving?
Wednesday, 6 December 2023
Knowing there was a while to the next Annual and General Meetings of the Willowbrook Fly Fishers club and wary from my experiences now that things could and probably would just get caught up in the bureaucracy and blocked for a year of inactivity. Either directly, with cod science that is so hard to dispute on the hoof, or with anecdotal evidence dressed in a veil of ‘common-sense’ and presented as knowledge.
Or, as so often the case, when trying to discuss an issue that ruffles feathers, finding it gets waylaid by some wonderfully imaginative obfuscation to transform the discussion from whatever topic, into some personal recollections of shooting Rooks as teenagers, or the increasing Badger numbers, or the benefits of old fashioned milk bottles, (yes I’ve heard each of those at the AGM delaying the agenda), or berating these nameless city newcomers for thinking that they understand the countryside!
Switched in an instance to a topic everyone felt more secure chattering around, chipping in, and the whole flock start clucking and chirping contently until that troublesome change is put safely away and forgotten.
Getting a Bit Previous?
Thursday, 7 December 2023
It's been a busy week for me; topping up my big fly box, putting a couple of fly selections together for Christmas, a podcast and, of course, a bit of fishing.
Superstitious?
Friday, 8 December 2023
First winter season week starts to be done. It has been pretty good one. Our team, reindeer and workers has been doing great job, when it is like this, this is easy work.
My biggest doubt was on Sunday. I have had same pullover/sweater (made from wool) for over 10 years. Last spring, Satu bought new one which similar as old one. Old one has some extra holes and to be honest, it has seen better days. It has been heavily used, about 180 days per year, every day during the winter.
The Scourge of Trout
Saturday, 9 December 2023
There is little doubt that Frederic M. Halford was a special type and a character. He’s considered the father of modern dry fly fishing - and for a good reason. He was a near-religious dry fly fisherman, fishing the famed chalk streams of southern England. There are a lot of stories about him and his relationship with others, and especially G. E. M. Skues, but many - if not most - are not true.
Planning 2024
Sunday, 10 December 2023
It's the time of year that we start planning for the casting and fishing trips for the next year. We already have several dates for casting competitions during the summer. Firstly the three Game Fairs; the Welsh GF in June (at a new venue in south Wales), the Scottish GF in early July and the English one, this time at Blenheim near Oxfordshire during the last weekend in July. Since the Welsh GF has been rescheduled for earlier in the year, the final of the triple (#5 distance, salmon overhead distance and trout accuracy) GF Championship will be at Blenheim – this should be a much better attended spectacle. We might need to do a recce to Blenheim in the New Year to check on the set-up at this new venue, though I will start promoting this very soon as there is a fantastic trophy to win from James who is the current holder after winning the final earlier this year.