Fly Fishing - stream thought

Entries in Fly Fishing (4)

Sunday

07Mar2010

Back to fishing after a long winter.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Well, today I went to the river after a long absence for Winter. The air temperature was 0C and occasional pockets of snow still lie in the hollows.

Working on the theory that trout coming out of a hard winter will be conserving energy in the slow waters, I tried weighted nymphs and clyde-style wets near the banks and under trees. But no signs of trout, not even a small tug.

But it was great to get out again. Saw two pipistrelle bats hunting in the daylight, some needle flies, courting ravens.

Got out of the water unable to feel my hands and feet.

Here is a photo of today's Welsh Dee.

flyfishertc |

What attracts us to fly fishing?

Sunday, June 28, 2009

So many different reasons, of course, with countless books and blogs having been written on the subject. Common reasons given include "closeness to nature," relaxation, food, sport, comradeship and a psychological "calling" akin to a primordial hunting instinct, the last being a bit questionable, in my view.

There is, I think, a more fundamental reason. It is knowing something very deeply, not just intellectually but experientially. The intersection of many things at an instant: the trout's behaviour, the structure of the river and its currents, the shape of the river bed, the weather, the fly life, the expert use of rod and fly-line, the tying and presentation of flies, your own limitations, the sound of your own heart-beat, the structure of your own consciousness.

Fly fishing, in its deepest sense, is a phenomenological inquiry. Hence the need for restraint as well put at Classical Angler .

flyfishertc |