All blogged out for the day

The wind picked up again in the afternoon and I had some phone calls to make which could not be put off any longer so I failed to make it to the river today. Maybe tomorrow I will wet a line for the first time this year. I’m sure that most of you can empathise with me; there is always something urgent which needs to be taken care of before any ideas of fishing can be turned into reality. I spent a bit of time on wordpress getting to know a bit more about what I can and can’t do here. I suppose that will prove to be time well spent in the future.

St.Patrick’s day is just around the corner, next Tuesday to be exact. Here in Ireland that is an excuse for the over consumption of drink, parades of tractors and dodgy floats in every rural town and general giddiness among the populace.

For me St. Patrick’s Day marks the true start of the fishing season after a long empty winter. Around this time we gather to ‘tumble’ the angling boats which have been in storage since last October. 8 or so hardy souls gather to lift the boats out of a shed and get them ready to be launched over the coming weeks on loughs across Mayo. Conn, Cullen, Beltra, Mask and Corrib will all be visited and one or more boats safely moored up. This saves us from loading, hauling and unloading a boat every time we want to go fishing and as long as we remember to make a phone call or text to the actual owner of the boat beforehand, you simply borrow someone elses boat for the day. If it so happens that one particular lough is fishing well we sometimes divert a boat from a less productive water to the good one. Cullen for example weeds up after the mayfly so we tend to move that boat off once the fishing tails away and plonk it on Mask or Carra.

Of course, all of this pulling and dragging of heavy boats is inclined to leave one with a powerful thirst. Under these circumstances it is highly desirable to deport to a local hostelry after the lifting to perch up on a high stool and enjoy a pint or two.

Now folks, I feel ‘blogged out’ and will sign off.