Rudeness
18/11/06
In my last updates I'd
been pondering at the leaves stubbornness to change
colour propoerly and to finally succumb to gravity
and drop. Well, the weather broke in the week, windy,
colder and heavy downpours; The leaves finally gave
up, donning their stunning autumn coats and dropping,
swirling like orange snow to the ground. Driving down
the Avenue from Devizes Road towards Wilton was a
truly amazing sight, the air full of leaves, looking
for all the world like a miniature kite festival as
they played on the air currents as the traffic
whizzed through.
I organised another work party on the Nadder last week, with another stirling effort being put in by SaDAC members spending a day clearing up overgrown stretches. In line with fishing buzz words, we added a significant amount of 'large wooden debris' in spots around the water while at the same time clearing some stretches to allow light to reach the water. Over the spring/summer I'll transplant ranunculous into these newly cleared stretches and see what happens. It's only the 2nd work party I've ever organised so theres alot to learn still, one thing that really did suddenly make me think was the health & safety and insurance angles. With volunteers using tools provided by the club what happens if there's an accident? Well, there was no accident this time (thankfully) and now the issue has been raised we will have a better understanding of what we can and can't allow volunteers to do in the future. One thing I'm sure of though, there WILL be more work parties. They've proved to be a huge amount of fun, satisfying to actually achieve so much on oft-neglected stretches of river AND realy help the club to maintain it's enourmously varied fishing.
Over the months that I've been publishing my ramblings here I've seriously begun to think about how I could get an article into print, not only would it potentially help me buy a proper camera but I'd really like to start writing creatively instead of all the technical papers and reports I publish at work. So where to start? Well, I e-mailed the editor of two of the country's leading fishing magazines and a couple of 'expert' writers just to ask their advice on how to start, I inlcuded a link to the blog so they could see that I was serious and at least could string a sentence together. What response did I get I hear you ask? A polite sorry I'm too busy, some sage advice from a seasoned pro? NOTHING, not a bloody sausage. Honestly I can appreciate that it's a tough thing to crack, getting into print, I appreciate that they're probably extremely busy but 3 months since I emailed them my inbox remains as empty as a can of special brew in Glastonbury. I just find that somewhat unproffessional to be honest. I'm busy at work but still always find time to email back to the string of students trying to get information about sustainable construction and the research field in general. I just feel it's common courtesy to respond at least. I'm just suprised at these 'professionals' in the fishing field. Perhaps I'm not as good at this as I think I am?
Anyway, enough ranting from me, see you next time.
Malcolm
I organised another work party on the Nadder last week, with another stirling effort being put in by SaDAC members spending a day clearing up overgrown stretches. In line with fishing buzz words, we added a significant amount of 'large wooden debris' in spots around the water while at the same time clearing some stretches to allow light to reach the water. Over the spring/summer I'll transplant ranunculous into these newly cleared stretches and see what happens. It's only the 2nd work party I've ever organised so theres alot to learn still, one thing that really did suddenly make me think was the health & safety and insurance angles. With volunteers using tools provided by the club what happens if there's an accident? Well, there was no accident this time (thankfully) and now the issue has been raised we will have a better understanding of what we can and can't allow volunteers to do in the future. One thing I'm sure of though, there WILL be more work parties. They've proved to be a huge amount of fun, satisfying to actually achieve so much on oft-neglected stretches of river AND realy help the club to maintain it's enourmously varied fishing.
Over the months that I've been publishing my ramblings here I've seriously begun to think about how I could get an article into print, not only would it potentially help me buy a proper camera but I'd really like to start writing creatively instead of all the technical papers and reports I publish at work. So where to start? Well, I e-mailed the editor of two of the country's leading fishing magazines and a couple of 'expert' writers just to ask their advice on how to start, I inlcuded a link to the blog so they could see that I was serious and at least could string a sentence together. What response did I get I hear you ask? A polite sorry I'm too busy, some sage advice from a seasoned pro? NOTHING, not a bloody sausage. Honestly I can appreciate that it's a tough thing to crack, getting into print, I appreciate that they're probably extremely busy but 3 months since I emailed them my inbox remains as empty as a can of special brew in Glastonbury. I just find that somewhat unproffessional to be honest. I'm busy at work but still always find time to email back to the string of students trying to get information about sustainable construction and the research field in general. I just feel it's common courtesy to respond at least. I'm just suprised at these 'professionals' in the fishing field. Perhaps I'm not as good at this as I think I am?
Anyway, enough ranting from me, see you next time.
Malcolm
First Frosts
03/11/06
The last two days we had
our first proper frosts of the year, -2 to -4ish, not
hugely cold, but a lovely feeling to go out to the
river, steam gently rising off the water and have the
grass crunching under your feet as you walk. If
anything, today's update is an homage to the start of
winter. The wooly hat is out, the scarf has been
found from the back of the cupboard where it has lain
uncared for all summer long and yesterday morning I
shifted fifteen hundredweight of logs ready for the
cold nights.
I spent a few hours early morning on the Nadder in Salisbury where it winds its way, unnoticed behind the Churchfields industrial estate, in search of toothy critters. There's something quite surreal about fishing behind somewhere as bustling and noisy as Churchfields. The lorries beeping as they reverse, people shouting, to-ing and fro-ing and generally being very busy, then there's me, an island of calm just outside of it all. An observer of the hustle of modern life without being directly involved, to be honest the river was more interesting after 5 minutes anyway. Turning my back on the modern world I worked my way downstream from the boathouse pool, casting some garish monstrosity on the end of my fly line in the hope that it looked remotely fishy and thus attractive to pike. In the following 2 hours I caught and returned 2 small jack pike, a fair sized perch and 2 pink visitors to the river, on their way upstream. The Avon used to be famed for it's spring salmon run, the only salmon I've ever caught or seen from the catchment have been in October/November, out of season... Returning the salmon carefully back to the water is a pleasant experience however and watching them power back off, knowing that they are fine gives a great sense of satisfaction. More pike action soon I hope, as the weather gets colder.
For now I leave, as usual, with a few photo's. A picture paints a thousand words so they say.
I spent a few hours early morning on the Nadder in Salisbury where it winds its way, unnoticed behind the Churchfields industrial estate, in search of toothy critters. There's something quite surreal about fishing behind somewhere as bustling and noisy as Churchfields. The lorries beeping as they reverse, people shouting, to-ing and fro-ing and generally being very busy, then there's me, an island of calm just outside of it all. An observer of the hustle of modern life without being directly involved, to be honest the river was more interesting after 5 minutes anyway. Turning my back on the modern world I worked my way downstream from the boathouse pool, casting some garish monstrosity on the end of my fly line in the hope that it looked remotely fishy and thus attractive to pike. In the following 2 hours I caught and returned 2 small jack pike, a fair sized perch and 2 pink visitors to the river, on their way upstream. The Avon used to be famed for it's spring salmon run, the only salmon I've ever caught or seen from the catchment have been in October/November, out of season... Returning the salmon carefully back to the water is a pleasant experience however and watching them power back off, knowing that they are fine gives a great sense of satisfaction. More pike action soon I hope, as the weather gets colder.
For now I leave, as usual, with a few photo's. A picture paints a thousand words so they say.