Good morning from a chilly but not too bad Foxford. My apologies for disappearing last week. My intentions were to have done some fishing and have some good fishy news to report. Well, life has a way of taking control and changing plans and thus it was. No fishing done and no time to write a blog. The weather has been crap anyway and I’d say that if I did have time to fish the chances of getting conditions were small. Hopefully it will improve soon.

Someone once said to me that the anticipation of a fishing trip is often better than trip and there is a fair bit of truth in that. Fishing is not just about the catching, sometimes it’s about the absence of it. It’s the anticipation that builds, the plans you make in your head, and the gentle pull of the water that stays with you even when you’re landlocked by responsibility. The urge to get out hasn’t left me of course and if possible, this weekend I’ll wet a line somewhere.

The long month of January is nearing an end and we will soon be looking forward to a day on the Moy again. I had a phone call earlier from a friend who was very happy telling me about a good club fly tying session last night. He called to plan some dates for club events and I could feel the excited tone in his voice as he went through the calendar.

So, this isn’t a blog about fish caught or the one that got away. It’s about the trips that are getting away from my schedule for now. But the season is turning, the days are (slowly) getting longer. Fishing is a thread that runs through the fabric of life here. Im just back from a quick visit to the coffee shop where Peter, the guy that runs it, smiled at me, and said “nearly Feburary, not log now Mick”. He is correct, not long.