How precious is time?
'You should sue', said someone
in an email last week pointing me in the direction of an advert for a
country park in the Cotswolds who had re-worked my "Time is precious.
Use it fishing" slogan to read "Time is precious. Use it wisely".
Naturally I have a copyright lawyer on speed dial ..........
I must admit I did at first feel sorely tempted for a whole
variety of reasons. To start with it did seem a bit of a cheek to take my
strap line and re-work it without much attempt to disguise the original
idea - the venue even features fishing. Punishing them for that might be
satisfying. Then of course if we really got into it in court the ensuing
publicity, win or lose, might be worth any financial risk. And add to that
the opportunity for some mega-buck payout to recompense me for a heinous
copyright violation. Well, case closed really.
As I pondered the many other possible advantages to resorting
to the law (actually there are not any) I began to feel a tad guilty. Was
"Time is precious. Use it fishing" really an original idea of
mine? The truth is it wasn't. I stole it from someone else, so here is my
confession.
Years ago I was in the United States driving up The Strip in
Las Vegas where I spied this billboard that featured a typical Vegas
blonde. You can imagine the type but the other more distracting thing about
her was the massive diamond ring she wore. And the strap line? Time is
precious. Buy her diamonds. It was a short leap of imagination to apply the
thought to fishing, well for me at least.
I am not sure if absolution will come my way for telling the
truth but as Benjamin Disraeli said, "Time is precious, but
truth is more precious than time". And as for calling a lawyer, I
guess I have now probably blown my chances. Anyway time is certainly too
precious for petty vendettas.
Hungerford Literary
Festival - Sunday October 19th
I'll be talking about Life of a Chalkstream
at the Hungerford Literary Festival on Sunday along with Nicola Chester who
knows everything there is to know about otters.
Organised by the very excellent Hungerford Bookshop and with a
host of authors far more famous that me, I'll be on at at a very
civilised time of 2pm at The Bear Hotel.
If you are into cycling I am followed by Sky Sports Ned
Boulting talking about On
the Road Bike which asks why we have become a nation of
obsessive cyclists.
September feedback draw
Spooky was again the feedback word of the month. Small flies
were the most successful and the biggest fish I heard of (10lbs at
Mottisfont Abbey) fell to a size 20 Adams.
Well done this month to Nemanja Pasalic who fished at
Broadlands and collects a signed copy of Life of a Chalkstream.
For everyone else the end of season draw for the three Abel
Hemostats gets ever closer.
Hatch of the Month
If I had to pick a single fly to fish
through the winter it would be a toss up between the ubiquitous Pheasant
Tail Nymph and the nutritious shrimp.
Shrimps, especially during winter, are one
of the staples in the diet of both trout and grayling. It doesn't take much
to work out why. If you get a chance to run your hand through the weed or
kick sample some gravel compare the shrimps to the nymphs - in fish food
terms it is the difference between a T-bone steak and a cocktail sausage.
Both the fish, but more particularly
grayling, will go to great lengths to find shrimps, Trout will flap
sideways along the river bed, almost as if creating a redd to find them.
Grayling are more scientific, pushing their snouts under the gravel. If you
see grayling tailing up, with little puffs of silt emerging from around
their heads it is time to tie on a shrimp. Personally I like bright pink
and orange patterns as they are easy to track as you tumble them along the
river bed.
Click here
for my Hatch Calendar with the full October advice.
Half term fishing
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Feeding time at Nether Wallop Mill
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Half term
sneaks in under the wire to cover the last week of our season here at
Nether Wallop Mill, where we close up shop on October 31st.
As with
last year I have spectacularly misjudged how many fish to put in so once
again we have a huge stock we'll happily let you take away. It would be
nice to think that the fish will overwinter but the truth is that the lake
will soon become the plat
du jour for every otter and heron in the vicinity. Here is the
video of these trutta piranhas at feeding time.
I won't make myself a hostage to fortune by saying you can't fail, but I'd
be truly amazed if you did. The options for Family Days, Father & Son
trips and Private Tuition are all listed here.
Chalkstream news for October
October is the month of
greatest change on the chalkstreams; the trees will lose their leaves and
the rivers will start to fill with the autumn rains. In the rivers grayling
become our fish of choice as the trout lose interest, beginning to pair up
slowly turning from brown to vivid red.
Sunrise: 7.07am
Sunset: 6.42pm
Average
temperature: 8-14C
Days
of rain: 13 (+0.25mm)
Weed cutting: After mid-October
there are no restrictions on when and where weed may be cut; likewise bank
repairs and restoration projects will be happening.
Closing dates: The trout season
closes by law on October 31st but by tradition all beats are closed by
October 15th. Grayling are governed by the coarse fishing regulations so
may continue right through to March 14. These are the grayling rivers we
cover are:
River Avon
October 14 - March 14
River Coln
October 1 - March 14
Driffield Beck
October 1- February 28
River Lambourn October
14 - December 31
River Test &
tributaries October 15 - March 14
Have a good
week.
Best
wishes,
Founder & Managing Director
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