Highs, lows and hilo

There is nothing like the joy — and despair — of a quiet day fishing in the sunshine to escape the troubles of the world, Jamie Tusting.

- Jamie Tusting

Saturday morning broke bright, sunny and windy. It felt like the first Saturday in a long time that the weather was pleasant enough to spend all day outside. It was strange then that, only a few days before, the country had been told to stay indoors.

When that announcement came through, I thought not of whether I needed to bulk buy pasta, but about the fishing trips I had planned over the next few months. Trout fishing in Derbyshire, sea trout in Denmark and the possibility of sharks off Penzance. All of them were put abruptly on hold.

It wasn’t long before my innovative fishing friends found a way to pursue their passion for the sport and I was promptly added to a WhatsApp group named “fly-tying through corona”.

Though I have persevered with fishing for quite some years, I have never had the inclination to tie my own flies. Perhaps this had been due to the lack of a willing tutor, or possibly the lack of time in an otherwise hectic life. But with time now a luxury we all had, I was up for the challenge. It didn’t take me long to find a fly-tying starter kit online and troutcatchers.co.uk despatched my purchase within hours.

Fun and rewarding

I very quickly found tying flies to be fun and rewarding, despite being rather fiddly and at times frustrating. After a few attempts at a pheasant tail nymph and a botched march brown, I began to think about how I could put my newly acquired skill to practical application sooner than the end of the lockdown.