Paul Arden | Wednesday, 19 August 2026
Tracy is away this week so I’m on FP. I thought I had a couple of FPs in reserve from Kalyn but I can’t find them! So instead you get me again today. Party time!
Last night was my cooking night. Which has inspired me to write about things that I do once/week. Because, you guessed it, ordinarily I cook once/week. I don’t always cook the same meal and have half a dozen meals that I cook on some sort of random rotation. Last night was spuds. Or “French Potatoes” as I call them.
Recipe: spuds.
Also: onions, garlic, red and yellow peppers, chillies, mushrooms, peas, cooking cream, white wine, mixed herbs, salt and pepper.
The reason I call it “French Potatoes” is because I was using Herbs de Provence. However I can’t get these herbs in Malaysia, but Mixed Herbs is pretty similar. “Mixed Herbs Potatoes” however sounds less exciting than “French Potatoes”. My other meals are Indian Curry, Thai Curry, Italian Pasta… you get the idea! In fact that’s all my recipes! I sometimes bake potatoes in the over and I once made pizza that required a hammer to eat.
It takes about 90 minutes and half a bottle of wine to prepare “French Potatoes”. Serve with Cheddar Cheese and bread. Guests love it and often ask for the recipe. After living on it for a week you would too.
Also once/week I do a town supplies run. That was Monday this week. Town is a 45 minute drive plus whatever boat drive up the lake to reach the truck (usually about another 45 minutes). Interluded with a pleasant few climbs up and down “The Stairs of Death.”
Fresh food, petrol, meet the wife, buy whatever other supplies I need, wash my socks and have a long run. My long run is usually around 2hrs in duration, around and around an airfield. If it’s particularly hot and humid then this could be as short as 17km but it’s usually longer, and 21km is my favoured distance. Learning to pace myself here in the tropics has been hard. Go too fast and the body overheats, heart rate goes into overdrive and it’s not possible to run much more than an hour this way, and once elevated, I can’t seem to bring the HR back down again either. So *not* overheating and trying to stay in Zone 2 for as much of the run as possible is the goal.
Also once/week I have a very long indoor/in-boat bike ride. This is usually 5 hours in duration. That for me is a Saturday night deal and part of the Ironman training squad of which I’m a member. Between the long bike ride and the long run, this is the core weekly training for me. Come rain or shine, this must happen week-in week-out. Rain is the best actually, then I’m fast! The rest of the week is full of shorter rides, swims, weights and soon more shorter runs too. Garmin tells me it’s 13 weeks and 3 days to the Malaysian Ironman. That’s starting to really get my attention in a big way and I particularly want to improve my swimming.
I’ve been trying to lose a bit of weight this past week or so. 83KG is about my optimal skinniness. I check my weight twice/week. Once when arriving home and again after my long run. I can lose 2KG on that run despite drinking 2 lites of water/electrolytes. It is brutal.
Right, I’m going to move the Battleship to the centre of the lake. See if I can find some snakehead babies. I have a Zoom casting lesson at 7pm today on Advanced Spey Casting. This is for an MCI candidate. Far more information than he needs for the exam, but I think he will enjoy it and it will make him a better single-handed Spey caster. This is the class I teach on the second pass through the Spey casts. It involves dipping on the Sweep (which is the primary focus) and can also involve way-points and some other variations — but these usually happen on the third pass through.
Nowadays I see the primary reason for dipping is to set up a lower rod position enabling a wider, longer delivery stroke, while also enabling the option of a higher forward trajectory. Both of which will allow longer casts.
A very long dynamic roll cast with most 5/6 lines is around 80-90 feet. Add an angle change and 70’+ is a long single handed Spey cast (excluding shooting heads). I like the MED or Trout Expert lines for long fishing Spey casts because we can include all the Presentation Casts and Mends too, which in turn makes the casts very fishable. If you can single-handed Spey cast 70+ feet (and everything up to that of course, with accuracy), with the full range of Spey Casts (Single, Double, Snake Roll, Circle C and Snap T — all forehand and backhand, and with the ability to make angle changes up to or beyond 90 degrees), and with the addition of the most useful Presentation Casts and Mends, then you really have opened up a lot of options for yourself on larger rivers.
It takes a lot of work to get there, but extremely handy skills to have. In fact you can fish water that rarely gets attention.
This is becoming a long FP! A couple of things I have noticed in my Zoom coaching is how much improvement occurs in other aspects of someone’s casting after learning the Spey casts. And also, very importantly, these Sweep movements can be integrated into change of direction Shots. It’s one of the things that can take you from being a good caster to being really very good. So if that’s your goal and you don’t currently Spey cast then I can certainly recommend learning.
Have a great day!
Cheers, Paul
POD some bald headed bloke Spey casting on Mystery River X, New Zealand.