Henry Gilbey's World of Fishing Blog

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• Off to photograph tigerfish next week.......

  Posted 10:18, 2 September 2010

  • Apart from a few jaunts over to Ireland and France etc., I have deliberately not really done any “big trips” since last year – but next week I am heading out to Tanzania to photograph tigerfish. My work can take me all over the place, but the chance to get back to Africa is always that bit extra special, and especially when I am going to be able to stick my lenses in front of these extraordinary fish……..
  • I have photographed tigerfish a couple of times, and mainly on the Caprivi Strip in Zambia with the guys from FlyCastaway. From the first time I saw a tigerfish I was utterly blown away by these magnificent creatures, indeed a species like this could only exist in Africa if you ask me. I have never been to Tanzania, but it is fast becoming the number one place for chasing really big tigers – 20lb plus fish, and the trip next week is mainly about fly fishing for them. Bring it on as they say !! I am heading out with a mate to photograph with a bunch of South Africans from a company called Tourette Fishing, and where we are headed is apparently properly wild and out there. I love this kind of stuff.
  • As always, I am hoping for some really good light to help show the fishing off as well as possible. I will take what I get, but often you get this stunning soft light in Africa first thing in the morning, and hopefully the guys will oblige and smash a monster tiger just at the right time to allow the early sun to light up those mighty flanks on the fish. I have seen tigerfish landed to 12lbs, but I know they had a fish of 32lbs last year on the river we are heading to in Tanzania, with multiple tigers over the magical 20lb mark. Nowhere on earth feels like Africa. I can’t explain it properly, but you either go there and “get it”, or otherwise the sheer unpredictability and difference of it all goes and freaks you out. I love new places, and I know that sleeping pills will be required on the flight down to Dar Es Salaam (via Dubai) next Tuesday to get me some sleep. I tend to get pretty buzzed up on jaunts like this, and the fact that it’s work still gives me the most almighty kick.
  • I then get back to the UK early on 17th September, in time for my eldest daughter’s 6th birthday (where does time go these days ?). I do all I can not to miss my girls’ birthdays, and the day after this one I head back to southern Ireland. Reports are still coming in of some awesome bass fishing, indeed Cian of Absolute Fishing in Tramore is convinced that this is the best season they have had for years. Will it still be firing when us guys get over there ? We shall see, but you most likely guess that I am already completely overexcited about this one. As I always am if we are honest. We anglers are mere children at heart. Tie me down, torture me, and tell me that I can only go back to one country for the rest of my life and I would choose Ireland every single time. I seriously need to do some proper fishing, for my opportunities to get out and about around here have been completely nonexistent recently. Moving house and work have conspired to keep me away from my fishing tackle, but if there is one advantage it’s that I have not been recently tempted into purchasing shiny new bass lures. Rest assured though that a few bits and pieces might or might not be turning up in time for Ireland…………
  • Sorry for the lack of photos by the way, but I am doing emails and internet from the library in Torpoint at the moment - while we have to wait for internet access to be set up in the new place. And the library computers will not allow me to upload photos. I would do it on my laptop via the WiFi here, but that is not working properly. Good eh ??!!

     

  Comments (2)

  Categories: Bass fishing, Fly fishing, Freshwater fishing, Photography

• Settling in to the new house.....

  Posted 10:18, 31 August 2010

  • We did the move last Thursday, and that first evening it was just my wife and I in the new house after the removals guys had left at around 6pm. Our girls were up on Dartmoor with a relation for a few days while we moved. Nearly everything was boxed up, so my wife and I did the honourable thing and got a take away from Torpoint and ate it at the one table we had set up. You look around and can’t quite believe the new place is actually and legally yours – well ok, yours and the bank’s.
  • I am actually writing this blog post from the library in Torpoint, due to the fact that the internet is not yet up and running at the new house. But I can live with that to be where we are living now. It’s just awesome. Moving house is not an easy thing to do at the best of times, I don’t need to tell you that, but as a family we have moved to a place that we believe ticks every single box for us.
  • One of the biggest thrills of this new place is the fact that we can head out of our backdoor and go walking with our sheepdog Jess – all without needing to get in a car. The first thing I do most mornings when I am at home is to go for a decent walk, so you can imagine how much it means to have so much walking around where we are living now. This morning for example, I went out at about 7am and saw nobody. Peace and quiet, and a great time for thinking about stuff.
  • I get my PCs custom built by SPC Computers in Plymouth, and Darren kindly came around on Friday to help me put my office back together in the new place. I can not tell you how much it helps to be able to speak to real people with regards to computers. Help desks don’t do it for me. The plan is to knock an old woodshed down outside and get an office built in its place, but for the moment I am in the house and it’s working great.
  • But the out and out and biggest thrill for me is seeing my two girls running around the garden. We had a bunch of mates over for a barbie on Sunday, and there were a load of kids just messing around in the garden and having a blast. That does it for me. Life’s a pretty simple thing in my opinion, and the simplest things mean the most. Family is where it’s at, and I feel that we are starting to grow into the new place if that makes sense. I look around all the time and can’t believe we are actually living here. Just going for a picnic tea and a swim on the beach yesterday afternoon (ok, my wife, Jess and the girls did, not me, far too cold !!) was about as easy as going to the local parks where we used to live in Plymouth. Not that going to the beach from there was ever much of a mission. If work goes well today then we might well all head back to the beach for the girls’ tea later on this afternoon.
  • As for the fishing, I am a bit out of touch with what is going on locally. Ben Field told me that the Opening Day for his new fishing tackle shop “The Art of Fishing” in St. Merryn went really well on Saturday. I speak a lot to my mate Cian of Absolute Fishing over in southern Ireland, and recent reports are of some simply outstanding bass fishing. The kind that is so good that I would have jumped on a plane straight over there if we had not been moving house. I am heading over after my photo trip to Tanzania next week, so there’s loads to look forward to on that front. I hope you all had a fantastic Bank Holiday weekend. I can’t see a cloud in the sky outside of my office or the local library.........
     

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  Categories: Bass fishing

• Brand new fishing tackle shop in north Cornwall - Open Day on Saturday 28th August

  Posted 04:50, 25 August 2010

  

  • I am really pleased to be able to report that there is a brand new fishing tackle shop opening up in St.Merryn in North Cornwall - and their Shop Opening Day starts at 9am this Saturday, 28th August. If you are anywhere near to this stunning part of the world then please drop in and see what is going on - it's very close to Padstow if that is any help. Ben Field is the owner of this new venture called The Art of Fishing (check their website here), and let me assure you that he is a tackle tart of the highest degree, indeed he makes me feel a whole lot better about myself/my own problem when I speak to him !! I am gutted not to be going along to his Open Day, but we are in the middle of moving house and it's a bit of a mission.......best of luck Ben, hope it goes really well, have a fantastic opening day.

  

  • Here's Ben out fishing on his beloved north coast of Cornwall !! He's a passionate angler, and I know how much he wants to make this new tackle shop into a fantastic service for all kinds of fishermen. He's got some great people coming along to the Open Day - see here for full details, and here is how to get to the new shop. I spoke to Ben yesterday and he assures me that there is a good bit of squirrelly bass stuff in the new shop, so guess where I am heading when we have done the house move ? Not that I have a problem or anything like that. Honestly, Ben has got it far worse than me. The fact that I need a removal firm just to move my fishing gear is perfectly normal isn't it ?
  • Best of luck to the people involved in this new venture - anybody who goes into fishing to really make a proper go of it has my utmost respect. Please do drop in when you are in the area, and please let me know how the Open Day goes if you are around and about. I do give a lot of credit to Ben for being one of the people who literally dragged me over to the Daiwa France stand at the Nantes bass show and made me look at a whole different (modern bass) side to the Daiwa that I thought I knew. He knows his stuff big time.
  • Anyway, I now need to start breaking down my office for our house move tomorrow. Help. It's incredible the stuff you accumulate over the years. I will update the blog as and when I can, and the plan is to get the office up and running in the new place as quickly as possible because I need to clear a load more work before I head off on this photo job to Tanzania in early September. Can't wait to get back to Africa and put some big tigerfish in front of my lenses once more, but before that, my family and I are really excited about this house move. It's been a long time "happening", so we can't really believe that by the end of this week we are actually going to be in our new home. Here we go......

  Comments (6)

  Categories: Bass fishing, Fishing tackle, Saltwater fishing

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