Getting to the final in any event can be a little nerve wracking, especially when qualifying for the first time. Fishing isn’t seen as a competitive sport by some, lending itself more to recreation and relaxation as an activity, but try telling that to the intrepid bunch of fly fishers who have been dreaming of catching a trophy Trout during lockdown. “Have a glass of not so seriou”s is the sage advice dispensed at the TOPS Corporate Challenge and for good reason…
What to throw at the problem is the @#$%&$! problem. That fish are fussy, no frustrated angler will argue about and when it comes to fly fishing for Trout the debate quickly devolves into fly patterns? It is a question more worn than a green and gold jersey when the Boks are playing.
I thought it would never end! O.k, so you can’t have a legal smoke of satisfaction after the act or toast in celebration with your fishing buddies, but at least you can get out of jail and back on the water. That it is a pandemic there’s no debating, from where, we’ll probably never really know and it’s not going to help if we did, but quite frankly I’m sick and tired of it monopolizing the conversation. We need to look forward and focus on the important things in life…
‘…..and don’t panic!’ is a phrase that your fishing guide will advise when you hook into a Trophy fish just before the pandemonium erupts. The problem is that when someone tells you not to panic it usually means that there is something to panic about.
Floating around a lake, stuffed into a tube is to many a gentleman fly fisher like replacing a chess set with checkers pieces. It’s still a game but lacks the same finesse and skill or so many traditionalists would have you believe.
The first frosts of the season is something worth celebrating from a Winter fishing perspective. It is a time in which the Trout embrace the colder water temperatures and feed a little more aggressively before they switch into spawning mode.
