Graeme Christie | Tuesday, 13 October 2026
Paul wrote yesterday about living in a haze. Smoke from Indonesia, thick enough that he got lost on a lake he has lived on for ten years.
Mine is the other kind. This week has been an onslaught of problems, one after another, none of them to do with fish. You can’t see the hills in that either.
Meanwhile the water is changing without me. Our harbour is now over 17 degrees. Five or six weeks ago it was 14.4. The fish will be returning.
How far it goes is another matter. A large El Niño is forecast. In theory that means hotter water. Others report that the prevailing westerly takes the warm water offshore and leaves it cooler on the sheltered easterly coast, which is where I mostly fish. Hmmm. Let’s see where it ends.
I like to keep fit and I’m running quite a bit at the moment. A few half marathons are scheduled. It keeps me ready for a fishing life, whenever that turns up. I should throw in some gym. I won’t. Once I’m on a bent I keep it going, as is my wont.
Paul is six weeks from an Ironman, so I’ll say no more about half marathons.
What I have let slide is casting practice. It has served me well and it’s time it came back. I put in some nice shots last week. The fly went where it had to go, which I was happy with. I am a better fisher than I was before casting lessons with Paul. The hook-ups were another story. Paul said of his own week that the rod apparently forgot. Rods forget quickly. Mine was off on the hook-ups and I knew it could be better.
Some twenty minute sessions on the grass fit into a week like this one. A day on the water mostly doesn’t. If the real fishing is going to be rationed for a while, I can accept that, as long as I turn up to it being able to cast. It might even be the answer to the haze. Half an hour with a rod and nobody asking me anything.
Although maybe I’ll make a boat journey this weekend and test the harbour. I also still have some smelting trout ideas and plan to have a go at that in two weeks as well. I’ll try some dead drifting ideas.
The harbour is 17 and climbing. I’ll be at the park this week.
Fluff on the leader, as Rickard advised on Saturday. Great article. I like a simple knot in the middle as well.