Claretbumbler

Fishing the Yellow river

Of course you all have heard about the Yellow River, one of the great rivers of the world. For over 5000 kilometers it flows from west to east across the ever changing face of China, providing transport, water, power and irrigation for millions of people. Also known as ‘China’s Sorrow’ for its propensity to floodContinueContinue reading “Fishing the Yellow river”

January fly tying sessions

Still busy at the vice these days as I add some more trout flies ahead of the coming season. The Kate McLaren or Katie as it is often referred to these days needs no introduction but like may other tyers I change the colour of the head hackle to suit different conditions. When fishing forContinueContinue reading “January fly tying sessions”

Thoughts on photographs

For a blog dedicated to fishing I have noticed something strange about my musings here – there are very few photographs of fish! I guess that is partly because I do not catch that many! OK, I may be a bit harsh on myself with that last statement, but I don’t seem to catch asContinueContinue reading “Thoughts on photographs”

Colours of our lives

The cold cuts me like a knife, a raw winter morning of windblown snow and I am stood shivering on the stone breakwater of Stonehaven harbour. My head still pounds from the alcohol of last night which I spent drinking pale ale and awkwardly trying to chat up skinny blue jeaned girls. My old parkaContinueContinue reading “Colours of our lives”

Back at the vice

It has been a while since I tied anything at all so to ease me back in to it I had a short session yesterday evening at the vice. I confess to feeling very rusty to start with and it took a few flies before I settled into some sort of rhythm but that isContinueContinue reading “Back at the vice”

Boxing clever

‘And so this is Christmas’ as the song goes. In this house we were not particularly looking forward to it this year but here we are so making the best of it was the order of the day. A little time off work, eating and drinking, snoozing in front of the telly – we undertookContinueContinue reading “Boxing clever”

32 – Episode 18, Carlow

Storm Barra had rattled the windows and felled trees across the south and west earlier in the week and the cold, windy weather lingered on long after the eye of the storm had passed. Being cooped up indoors for days on end was taking its toll so I decided to fish this Sunday and evenContinueContinue reading “32 – Episode 18, Carlow”

Little adoo at Gulladoo

I could tell she was unimpressed. There are a million jobs to be done around the house but I badly needed some time off to do a bit of fishing so I broached the subject of a day on the bank to my better half. The look said it all, there was no need forContinueContinue reading “Little adoo at Gulladoo”

Choosing an outboard

old Evinrude Years ago getting around on the big western loughs was a straight forward business, you hired one of the local boatmen who would row you around all day for a pittance. Tough, weather beaten lads with arms like Popeye and who knew their lough intimately. Many a tale is told of the oldContinueContinue reading “Choosing an outboard”

Out of Cleggan

Autumn is usually a good time of the year for sea fishing off the Irish coast so when I was offered a place on a small boat fishing out of Cleggan I jumped at the chance. It has been a couple of years since I did any saltwater fishing and this would be a niceContinueContinue reading “Out of Cleggan”