Paul Arden | Tuesday, 9 January 2024
I can’t hear “busy as a bee” nowadays without hearing Monty in “Withnail and I”. That’s one of those movies I watch again and again. Often I subject guests to it on an evening Battleship movie night.
I’m doing MCI theory with seven people and CCI theory with three people, in three different associations. I have 35 coaching students which is rather many, and seven of them are training for competitive casting. Four are beginners – well actually four were beginners; only one I would still currently class as a “beginner” – and the rest are training to be better fly fishers with deadly casts.
And I’ve been on the Sexyloops board quite a lot recently too. Always interesting! I am planning a complete Sexyloops rebuild over the coming months. That’s going to take some work; just organising it is already a lot of work!
And I’ve been fishing - Big Fish week last week. Saturday evening I had a 6.4KG Snakehead followed by an intense four hour in-boat bike ride. A fantastic day!! I’ll be making the movie later today – of the fish, not the bike ride. Watching me cycle on an indoor bike for four hours would be rather dull viewing. Some people even question my sanity over this but that’s nothing new.
And of course this is January, when traditionally people start ordering many HT fly rods from us. So roll up, roll up, email me your next fly rod order today!!
This month I’m going to install Satellite Internet on the Battleship roof, so that I can coach fly casting from remote parts of the lake. Last year my mobility was severely restricted. Trying to buy the RV equipment in Malaysia is not a simple affair however! It will also require at least two more 100W solar panels and a 200Ah deep cycle gel battery (great fun lifting that thing down the “Stairs of Doom” – fall and you die, crushed by the weight of a 42KG battery).
But, and it’s a big butt, I want to be on the fish. Even from my most remote Zoom anchorage to some of the best fishing on the lake, is a 2hr speedboat ride. I think I fished down there on my own only once last year. I did take Peter and Ingebrigt as separate guests down to this more remote fishing ground. The real reason I got the Battleship in the first place was so I could fish down there regularly.
And this way, I figure I can bring in another few more flycasting students as well, because none of my day will be lost travelling to and from fishing grounds, since the Battleship will be moored amongst them. So when I find out how to order the hardware, I want here in Malaysia, then it’s all systems go.
OK… I have a flycasting lesson coming up in Australia shortly. Competition casting! But you don’t have to be a competition caster or even a good caster to book a course with me. I can promise you however, that by the end of the course you will be an outstanding flycaster. (As long as you train of course; it’s not magic!).
Oh yes: Sungai Tiang. The Wet Season is almost over. So if you fancy a trip up River Tiang to catch Mahseer, here in the Malaysian jungle, then drop me a line. We are building their website and social media pages at the moment. First few trips you will also have my presence while we eliminate any teething issues. It’s going to be a fantastic experience; I really do enjoy my time on that river.
Have a great week! Big Fish video will be available at some point later today.
Cheers, Paul