4/5/20

4/5/20 All quiet on all fronts. Wind East strong and veered Southeast at times and cold followed by good cloud cover. Yesterday’s weather, maximum air temperature 14.6 centigrade. Now we head for Memories past by Eugene Ferris.

Eugene

I hope this finds you well and safe. I thoroughly enjoy your posts on Lough Currane. I am attaching the story of the first fish I ever caught on a fly. The first fish on a fly. This story is of pure luck that I was fishing with a great fisherman on that day. A year after moving to Kerry from California, a person who had fished the waters of Lough Currane for more than four decades invited me out. I had no real experience of fly fishing. Over the following few years, I fished with him about seven or eight times. I caught a salmon, and plenty of browns on the troll, but nothing on a fly. In fact, I spent a great deal of my time undoing knots, and retying leaders when I tried fly fishing. He frequently stopped his own fishing to get me going again. On September 20, 2013 just before lunch we were on a drift north across the outer entrance of the Commeragh. We were less than 15 feet from one of the protruding rocks when I felt a good strong tug, and a few more to follow. I called out ‘fish on’ as my rod bent over. Looking at the steady bend of the rod, he politely asked if I had possibly hooked the rock. A moment or two of silence, the reel began to peel out line. From that second on, I was in a place way beyond my skills. My breath shortened, heart raced, and other parts of my lower anatomy threatened to give way. The fisherman in the boat grew calmer and calmer, as if couching a small boy. He repeated that this was a “good fish, give it time Eugene”. When it jumped the first time, he told me it looked like a specimen. “What’s a specimen?” was my response. The fish fought, and the minutes zipped by. With a great deal of instruction and patience from my seasoned fishing buddy, my first ever fish caught on a fly entered the landing net.  Without him, no doubt I’d have lost that fish. A few photos, no scales to weigh the fish, only an educated guess. Then released it back to live out its life. A day, and a fish I will never forget.   That very day, my passion switched from golf to fly fishing.