What Is It About Fly Fishing?

Really what is it? The sight of buds on the trees, the slight shift in air temperature, the sudden realisation that although it's still light the days works are over. A recurring thought rises, like a trout to a fly, 'I must get my fly gear together, and a boat, we need a boat'.

Now as regular readers will no doubt have noticed I only fish for free, wild fish caught in wild places as nature intended. Due to the rampant over crowding of a small island sometimes those wild places are hidden between discarded shopping trolleys and dumped stolen mopeds. But as in all things, we must learn to seek out the simple comforts that nature offers. What is hidden suddenly reveals itself, the elusive wonder of nature poking its head out from between the debris of urban degradation.

So the great dichotomy of the fly continues, the simple life of simple unadorned pleasures, pursued with the aid of kit and equipment that are often stunning examples of the machinists craft, and jaw-droppingly expensive. See:

Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God.

- Tony Blake

Scholars have long known that fishing eventually turns men into philosophers. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to buy decent tackle on a philosopher's salary.

- Patrick F. McManus

If we carry purism to it's logical conclusion, to do it right you'd have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each.

- John Gierach

See?

All this kit reviewing is getting in the way of buying food so I'm delighted to tell you that this post is supported by boaterexam.com which in my book makes them very very nice people. If you're in Canada and have a boat it's now mandatory to have a ticket to show you're taking the whole health and safety thing seriously, conveniently you can now take your Boating licence online, so you don't have to take a day off from working like a dog to afford that new reel!

See you out there, I'm the one in the silly VERY COOL hat

Your pal

SBW

New Zealand Earthquake and Mrs BoB

I don't know if you've seen this mornings news but an earthquake has hit New Zealand's south island.
Power is out, sanitation is out, the domestic gas supply is unsafe, water is out, and at least 65 people are reported dead, hundreds are trapped and the city is in turmoil. BoB (Brother of bushwacker) lives pretty close to the epicentre in the south islands capital Christchurch.  BoB, Mrs BoB and the small BoB's are safe.

I just wanted to tell you how proud of Mrs BoB I am, she was right in the middle of the city and being properly trained in First Aid was one of the first people on the scene and rescued several people from one of the crushed buses.

On a lighter note MoB (our mum) called to tell me that BoB was already in the garden setting up a trap to collect rainwater and I quote

"He's like Ray feckin' Mears that brother"

Thanks for reading
SBW
PS If you'd like to leave a message for them in the comments - I'm sure they'd be delighted to hear from you - just sayin' 'sall.