Over the years, I have tried to get enthusiastic about fishing but I have never really caught the bug. I have coarse fished canals, rivers and lakes and tried shore fishing the sea and despite my love of the outdoors angling just never really hit the spot, I think, I found it too static with long periods of inactivity. There was however, one form of fishing that I longed to try; fly fishing small rivers. It always seemed to me, that it required much skill and stealth and whenever I have been lucky enough to spend a few minutes watching a fly fisherman it has always woken the "Huckleberry Finn" in me. On odd occasions, I would ask anglers that I knew, about fly fishing, I was always told that it was both expensive and difficult.
A couple of years into retirement, and well down the Vagabond Trail we were parked up in Wales, next to a small river, the Afon Dwyfach. I soon learned that it contained trout and once more my interest was awakened. My friend, Andy, a sea fisherman, who was with us gave me much encouragement to give it a go, but of course, we had no fly tackle. A week or so later, whilst mooching around a large car boot sale I bought a fly rod for a fiver and a few days later I picked up a second hand reel and line for a tenner. Well it turns out, that the rod is a 9ft6in #9 and the line was intermediate and not really the ideal set up for my intended use. However, I taught myself to cast with it and tried using it for mackerel before going out and buying some kit that would fish small rivers and streams a little better. So, I now own a couple of 7ft and 7ft 6in #4 weight rods and lines that I put to use as often as possible.
Because of our lifestyle, I meet very few, if any, fly fishermen and so I have to learn everything from books and the Internet etc. never really getting the chance of any friendly tuition. So my progress has been somewhat slow, but to date, I have never been out fishing and returned to the truck wishing that I hadn't bothered.
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