Single..For one night more

So from tomorrow afternoon this Flyfisherlady will have her man. Better than a fall of mayfly. I mean it, it is. Thank you all for reading my silly words and especially for your donations.

Fishing Trips VI: Monnow Chums

Why

Fishing is a stupid thing to do. Fly fishing is a particularly stupid thing to do.  Hours of elaborate preparation go into doing something that is inherently pointless.  Money as well is poured into pursuing a purposeless past time. I spent the same on a pair of ill fitting, ugly waders as I could have spent on a timeless, beautiful Diane Von Furstenberg dress. Seriously, manufacturers of fishing apparel should really sort this. It’s annoying.

Fishing is frustrating; especially on a really cold windy day.  Fingers numb, lines get caught in trees and feet are rendered into slightly painful frozen stumps. Why on earth would anyone plop themselves into a river on a cold day?

Indeed, I sometimes wonder why I put myself through the indignity of trying to go to the loo in a semi-public place surrounded by nettles.  I often feel like Houdini carrying out an escape act from waders and many pairs of thermals and leggings.  Flyfisher ladies of the world I salute you, we all deserve a round of applause.

We go through this because going fishing puts us in some of the most precious and beautiful places in the world. We get to immerse ourselves in our surroundings, tuning ourselves to nature’s frequency. The birds, insects, ripples and splashes are even better than radio four and less repetitive.

By and large the fish we catch are gorgeous. Today, I cast into a pool opposite a pub and pulled out a fish that shone like a piece of tin foil crackling out over a roasting dish. I caught a small, newly-run sea trout.

After a day’s fishing, my face is always slightly burnt, my hands are dried out and my hair has gone wild. However, I feel more refreshed than I ever could at a day spa.  Going fishing is my human equivalent of de-fragmenting a hard drive then pressing the restart button.  This feeling of peace and refreshment is why we go.

I'm getting married on May the 24^th. That’s in a month’s time.  I seem to have a constant stream of little jobs to do and things to think about. When the wedding is all over, I’ll want to go fishing, push the restart button and start my life again with the best man in the world at my side.

I think that you will all agree that fishing and the habitats we fish in are important and something we desperately need to preserve because they are delicate and need protecting. So, in some ways as this blog is where the Physicist and I began, I’d like to point out our Just Giving page. We are collecting for the Wild Trout Trust who act like good parents and do so much to look after our rivers. It’s a small way of giving back to the rivers and of course the trout that give us so much.

http://www.justgiving.com/pollyandseth