Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Peter Harsagyi

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #15 on: 31/08/2014 at 20:29 »
My main reason of fishing is being in the moment… No other activities give me the sense of being totally there where I am at the moment. When I wake up, I'm already thinking about the coffee, when I drink my coffee, I'm already elsewhere - shit, it's too late, I should be at work….when I am on a meeting I think about other things I must do…but when I'm on the water, I am the water, the fish, and everything around.

..and the tug on the line

Mike Barrio

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #16 on: 02/09/2014 at 12:02 »
"There's more to fishing than catching fish" ....... An old saying that I reckon is worth quoting :cool:

It's funny how our fishing evolves, we enjoy the moment of catching our first fish, next perhaps is that day of catching more than one, then we might dream of catching numbers, say half a dozen, or ten, or twenty! Thoughts might then move on to a big one, which can of course lead to personal bests and the search to better them. What about species, yes I've caught a few trout, but can I catch a Sea Trout, Salmon and Pike ..... we can find ourselves hooked on the need to tick boxes. Tactics and locations can come into play in this journey too, can I catch them on dries, oh for a day on that beat on the Dee, could I fish a full season with just these six flies? The journey is never ending!

Care must be taken with ones thoughts, something that does not appeal today may well turn out to be a future passion. Knocking somebody else's sport because it doesn't fit in with our own personal journey is a very easy mistake to make, I've been there myself! Back in the early 90s I can remember reading the magazines and looking at the photos of folk holding up large, not very pretty Rainbows which they'd apparently caught on what I thought were not the bonniest of flies, how could catching a stocked Rainbow with an Orange Fritz compare with a nice Brown on an Adams. I didn't want to go there and frequently said so to my friends. Then, one dour evening on the river, my friends decided to pack it in and head up to a local stocked fishery for some sport. I said that I would just head home and they knew that I didn't like "stocky bashing", but after a lot of badgering about being out with friends and being a grumpy purist "F.....", I gave in and joined them. The trout were rising when we got there, but what would I do, I didn't have any of those Fritz flies, or Cats Whiskers and I felt totally out of place! My rod was still set up with my river dries, so I decided to cast these to the rises. I had a great time with a dry Adams and Sedge tempting numerous trout, this almost felt like "proper fishing" and was actually quite enjoyable :oops ........... and that specific evening was probably the point that lead me to running my own stocked trout fishery for more than ten years! What a turnaround :shock

I've come to realise, that for me, it is all about being on the water, or simply being out there. I've enjoyed a few evenings on the river with Sandy recently, Sandy has a knack for not picking the best days for this and it has usually poured with rain :z4 He is patient, I take a while to get kitted out and get my waders on, as I lack that urge to get started and we enjoy the walk in to the beat as there are usually deer, otters and the like to be seen. On our last trip we moved slowly up the beat searching the water for rises, just how we were going to spot fish in the heavy rain I'm not sure, but we went through the motions chatting along the way. Having not seen a fish, we decided to sit on the bank at a spot that has usually been productive and wait for them to come on. We sat chatting away for a good while and saw no signs of any fish, but then spotted another angler further down our bank, slowly working his way towards us. When the angler had covered the water a couple of pools below he then wandered up the bank, it turned out we both knew him and hadn't seen him for a while, so he sat down and joined us for a chat. After a while we invited him to fish through the pool and we wandered back down the beat. We spotted a rising fish at last and once we'd studied it for a while I nodded at Sandy to wade in and have a go as he likes this particular spot, I continued downstream to a couple of known lies and sat and watched them for a while, but saw nothing rise. The rain was getting heavy now and the light had gone, I heard Sandy coming through the growth behind me and we decided it obviously wasn't going to happen that evening and that it was time to head back to the car. We chatted all the way back as usual and commented about how it had been a most enjoyable evening on the river. I realised when I got home and after a cuppa to warm me up, that I didn't have a single cast that evening ...... but yes, I had thoroughly enjoyed my fishing! :cool:

Looking forward to the next one! :z16

Mike

Marc Fauvet

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #17 on: 02/09/2014 at 12:38 »
mushy poetry in the attempt to justify a blank...  :z4 :z4 :z4


Mike Barrio

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #18 on: 02/09/2014 at 12:50 »
mushy poetry in the attempt to justify a blank...  :z4 :z4 :z4

 :z4  :z4  :z4

Mark Zhang

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #19 on: 02/09/2014 at 15:14 »
mushy poetry in the attempt to justify a blank...  :z4 :z4 :z4


I don't think Mike is looking forward this one.  :z4

Iain Cameron

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #20 on: 03/09/2014 at 06:44 »
good post Mike. One aspect I enjoy is simply being away from everyday thoughts, and absorbing myself in watery, fishy musings. And the sandwiches. I like filling my pockets with sandwiches.

Matt Henderson

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #21 on: 03/09/2014 at 08:03 »
I love my iPad, phone, telly, computer, radio, ipod etc etc etc but what I love about fishing is, I spend a day turned off, I might have my phone in my pocket but its not coming out in case it gets wet.  Invariably singal is poor when fishing, I stand in the water listening to the water, the birds, the weather, the metronomic step, cast, fish, watching the wildlife. (I met a lady the other day who has been going to the west coast on multiple trips to see an otter.  She was not impressed when I said I'd seen them loads on the Don just "across the road" from Asda in Dyce).  So in short peace and quiet, no IT, and lots of contemplation, and not many fish  :wink


Simon

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #22 on: 04/09/2014 at 09:29 »
i wonder if my poetry might be  better than my fly fishing?   :z4

Allan Liddle

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #23 on: 04/09/2014 at 14:04 »
Yup good post Mike.

I've had great days out when i haven't caught anything, that said i've had better ones when i have  :z4

Mike Barrio

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #24 on: 01/10/2014 at 11:27 »
A kind of getting started video recently released by Tony Jay ....


Euan Innes

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #25 on: 01/10/2014 at 12:33 »
What a thoroughly nice bloke!
Good old chap even had a dram in the man shed. Very seventies indeed!  :z4
Unfortunately I thought the information on rods, reels and line a bit seventies too but hey ho, there you go.
When is the next episode in which he catches two salmon on a split wing dry Greenwell?  :z4 (ask Hamish about that one!)

 :z1

Mike Barrio

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #26 on: 10/01/2015 at 20:43 »
When is the next episode in which he catches two salmon on a split wing dry Greenwell?  :z4 (ask Hamish about that one!)

 :z1

Hamish ..... the question needs to be asked :z13

Hamish Young

Re: Why do you fish?
« Reply #27 on: 10/01/2015 at 23:32 »
Two things Mike....

1. You needed to be there.
2. No, you really needed to be there  :z7

It goes back to some dude that Euan and I bumped into on Loch Assynt, I was already having a bad morning and then we bumped into this guy down at the loch side. In a nutshell he was a prize Richard who insisted the only way to catch Salmon on Loch Assynt was with a Greenwells Glory dry fly, split wing naturally..... I near throttled him. In my mind, anyway.

H :wink

 




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