MUCH of history can be explained by Mankind’s pursuit of the new and it strikes me that some of the nuances of angling’s appeal derive from a constant mixture of novelty and the familiar. Its experience is a stipple of energy and stimulus, like a Pointillist painting; as with love, fishing is ‘a many-splendoured thing’.
I was thinking of this towards summer’s end, when I had an invitation to the fabled Naver—a river where I had never yet managed to swim my hooks. Although I have been blessed with fishing in some 40 countries, from the Arctic Circle to the South Seas, the fin-feverish anticipation of visiting ‘pastures new’ (in this case, treescapes and gravelly meanders) was still as delicious as plunging one’s spoon into a freshly opened jar of jam.
Angling’s geographical spectrum is nowadays astonishing and (except in Covid times) has been expanded by entrepreneurs to cover much of the globe. In any fishing hut, you will hear folk discussing their wish list and, before I hand in my dinner pail, I hope to visit Chile, Bhutan, Brazil and Tasmania, as well as further acquainting myself with New Zealand, Montana and the outlying Seychelles atolls. I guess it’s only a matter of time before some tour operator begins offering trips to the Bay of Rainbows on the moon.
Some of my travels have seemed genuine explorations. In the early days of fishing off southern Cuba, the guides were still working out the flats and, when chasing giant trevally off one Tahitian motu, my boatman admitted that he didn’t even know what lay around the next corner. On the Kola peninsula’s River Umba in Russia, many of the salmon pools still had no names, and my Venezuelan canoe-paddler in the jungly creeks where we were hunting tarpon had never before seen a fly rod.
Denne historien er fra October 20, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra October 20, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
